Ten Tribes Studies (13 February, 2013, ADAR 3, 5773)
Contents:
1. The Tribe of the Month of Adar: Different Opinions.
2. The Biblical Blessings are ALSO Obligations.
3. New Article. Billions on the Way?
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1. The Tribe of the Month of Adar: Different Opinions.
Re Brit-Am Now no. 2012: Ten Tribes Studies.
#4. New Month of Adar: Purim, Esther, Naphtali
The Hebrew month of Adar has begun. This month is marked by the feast of Purim on which the Book of Esther is read. Esther and her uncle Mordecai were from the Tribe of Benjamin. They were descended from King Saul. Each Hebrew Month has its own Israelite Tribe. We mentioned the opinion of the Ari that Adar is the month of Naphtali. Fishel Mael ("Shivtei Yisroel") quotes the Midrash Peliah that agrees with the Ari on this matter, and the Rabad (Rabbeinu Abraham ben David, 1125-1198, Provence, France) who ascribes the month of Adar to the Tribe of Joseph.
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2. The Biblical Blessings are ALSO Obligations.
In principle the blessings that we have been promised are also OBLIGATIONS that we should strive towards.
Consider the Extract below and then see our remark following it:
Exodus 22:
20 Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. 21 Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him. 22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. 23 For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. 24 You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.
25 So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. 26 No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
27 I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. 31 And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. 32 You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.
Comment:
We are warned to do good. We are promised that if we obey the Almighty then the foreign heathen nations will be driven out from before us (Exodus 23:23). Shortly afterwards we are enjoined not to let these foreigners dwell in our land (Exodus 23:33).
In other words the promised blessing is not just something that will necessarily automatically come to us. It is rather a goal we should strive after and a commandment we should keep once the goal has been achieved.
This deduction may be considered a general principle.
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3. New Article. Billions on the Way?
It Really May Be Thousands of Millions! A Problem of Translation Solved! (or at least along the line)
Contents:
1. Introduction.
2. The KJ Rendering of thousands of millions and Hebrew Grammar
3. The Other Translations
4. The Alternative Hebrew Terms.
5. R.M . Shlanger: "Revavah Means Without Limitation!"
6. Conclusion