Monthly Archives: December 2009

“He then answered, ‘Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’” (John 9: 25)

Old Posts

“For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” (Thomas Jefferson)

____________________

Facebook Group His Name is Yahweh:

I use the Facebook group His Name is Yahweh to notify people when I post a new SnyderTalk.  If you are not already a fan, you should consider signing up.  Click here to visit the site.

____________________

Email Distribution List:

I have created an email distribution list that I use to notify people when I post a new SnyderTalk.  If you would like to be on that list, send your email address to nhsny@yahoo.com.  If you know others who are interested in SnyderTalk content, tell them to send me their email address, and I’ll put them on the list.

____________________

Websites you need to see:

____________________

SnyderTalk® Commentary:

Today I’ll show you where Yahweh’s Name appears in Mark chapter 11.  I’m skipping chapters because I’m addressing only chapters that should include the Name Yahweh.

Mark 11

  1. As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples,
  2. and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.
  3. “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.”
  4. They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it.
  5. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
  6. They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission.
  7. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it.
  8. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields.
  9. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna!  BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF YAHWEH;
  10. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!”
  11. Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.
  12. On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.
  13. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
  14. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.
  15. Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves;
  16. and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple.
  17. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”
  18. The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.
  19. When evening came, they would go out of the city.
  20. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.
  21. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”
  22. And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God.
  23. “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
  24. “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
  25. “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.
  26. “But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”
  27. They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him,
  28. and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?”
  29. And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
  30. “Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.”
  31. They began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’
  32. “But shall we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet.
  33. Answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Commentary:

When the Messiah made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, people in the crowd who knew about His many miracles shouted “Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Yahweh.”  They were quoting Psalm 118: 26.

Matthew’s gospel gives us a glimpse of the anguish Yeshua was experiencing at that time: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the Name of Yahweh!’” (Matthew 23: 37-39)

It was ironic.  A multitude of ordinary people with no formal religious training believed in Him.  They knew He is Yahweh.  John 8: 30 makes that clear.  Most of the religious elite and people who were steeped in Jewish religious tradition rejected Him.  It reminds me of a time when Yeshua gave sight to a man who had been born blind:

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth.  And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”  Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.  “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.  “While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”  When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing.  Therefore the neighbors, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, “Is not this the one who used to sit and beg?”  Others were saying, “This is he,” still others were saying, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.”  So they were saying to him, “How then were your eyes opened?”  He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’; so I went away and washed, and I received sight.”  They said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.  Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.  Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”  Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.  So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”

The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.  For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.”  He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”  He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?”  They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”  The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.  “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.  “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.  “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”  They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.

Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  He answered, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”  Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you.” And he said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Him.  And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”  Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?”  Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. (John 9: 1-41)

When you think about it, the irony squares perfectly with Yahweh’s plan.  Humble people of faith are able to see, but the proud and haughty don’t have a clue.  It’s that way today, too.  Yahweh takes ordinary people like you and me and does miraculous things through us if we will just let Him.  Keep that in mind the next time you face a challenging situation.  Lean on Yahweh.  He won’t let you down.

The Corruption of the Priesthood

As a group, the priests were a corrupt bunch, and that isn’t just my opinion.  To understand what I mean, you need a little background information.  According to Josephus and the Talmud, the corruption of the priesthood occurred long before Yeshua’s birth.  Herod the Great initiated the practice of selling the office of high priest to the family willing to pay the most money for it.  Dr. Phillip Moore, a Bible scholar and writer, explained it this way:

“For nearly a century a detestable abuse prevailed, which consisted in the arbitrary nomination and deposition of the high priest.  The high priesthood, which for fifteen centuries had been preserved in the same family, being hereditary according to the divine command (Josephus.  Book XX, Chapter X, 1), had at the time of Christ’s advent become an object of commercial speculation.  Herod commenced these arbitrary changes (Josephus.  Book XV, Chapter III, 1), and after Judea became one of the Roman conquests the election of the high priest took place almost every year at Jerusalem, the procurators appointing and deposing them in the same manner as the praetorians later on made and unmade emperors. (Josephus.  Book XVIII, Chapter II, 3; Book XX, Chapter IX, 4)  The Talmud speaks sorrowfully of this venality and the yearly changes of the high priest.

This sacred office was given to the one that offered the most money for it, and mothers were particularly anxious that their sons should be nominated to this dignity (Talmud Yoma )….M. Derembourg, a modern Jewish savant, has remarked: ‘A few priestly, aristocratic, powerful, and vain families, who cared for neither the dignity nor the interests of the altar, quarreled with each other respecting appointments, influence, and wealth.”

(The quote above is from Phillip Moore, The End of History—Messiah Conspiracy, Vol. I, Atlanta: Ramshead Press International Corporation, 1996, p. 71.)

The priests had turned Judaism into repetitious ceremonies that lacked the kind of reverence for and faith in Yahweh that He requires.  In their minds, their traditions were the heart and soul of their faith.  They could not have been more mistaken.

Below are 2 pictures.  The first one is of the Eastern Gate, or the Golden Gate, to the Old City of Jerusalem from outside the city walls.  It leads to the Temple Mount.  In Yeshua’s day, it led directly to the Temple.  This is the gate the Messiah used when He made His triumphal entry before Passover the year He was crucified.  As you can see, the gate has been blocked up.  The Ottoman Turks did it in 1530 A.D. when they learned that the Messiah would return through the Eastern Gate.  The Ottoman Turks were Muslims, and they intended to deny Him access to the city.  They also put a Muslim graveyard in front of the Eastern Gate because they understood that the Torah prohibits Jewish people from walking on graves.  I’ve been there, and I’ve seen it.  The graves extend to within a few feet of the gate.  The second picture is of the Eastern Gate from atop the Temple Mount platform.

The Eastern Gate from Outside the City Walls

The Eastern Gate from Atop the Temple Mount Platform

____________________

News Items of Interest:

To my readers in Iran:

You’re winning.  The whole world is watching now.  The courage you’ve demonstrated by defying the tyrannical dictators who have had an iron grip on your country for more than 3 decades is impressive.  Don’t give up the fight because you will complete your victory in the end.  Yahweh bless you and keep you as you go about your important work.

____________________

His Name is Yahweh:

There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is Yahweh.  His Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5.  If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should.  The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org