The Book of Yasher (Jasher) Parts 19 and 20

   Hi, and thank you for joining me at 144Judah! We are now on "The Book of Yasher" (Jasher). This is an apocryphal text, meaning it was taken out of the bible. This book is included in some versions still today. One of the biggest reasons for doing this: it is referenced in three sections in the bible. Why would they take a book out that has been referenced? Well, we know that they did this also to Enoch, and Enoch is a very important book. I tend to find when "official" people don't include something, it means they don't want us to know what's what. And...me, being me, doesn't like that. So, pull up a chair, and put your thinking cap on. Better yet, put your feeling cap on, and let me know what you feel about this! Any questions? Email me at theawakeningtalk@gmail.com. 

19 SODOM & GOMORRAH

The Abominations of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Two Heavenly Messengers sent to Save Lot. The Cities of the Plain and all their Inhabitants Destroyed by Fire

1 And the cities of Sodom had four judges to four cities, and these were their names, Serak in the city of Sodom, Sharkad in Gomorrah, Zabnac in Admah, and Menon in Zeboyim. (I couldn't find any name meanings for any of these.)

2 And Eliezer Abraham's servant applied to them different names, and he converted Serak to Shakra, Sharkad to Shakrura, Zebnac to Kezobim, and Menon to Matzlodin. (I am trying to find out why and what the importance of this is. I haven't been able to find anything thus far. When I do, I will come back and edit this response. :)

3 And by desire of their four judges the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had beds erected in the streets of the cities, and if a man came to these places they laid hold of him and brought him to one of their beds, and by force made him to lie in them. (This place is horrible.)

4 And as he lay down, three men would stand at his head and three at his feet, and measure him by the length of the bed, and if the man was less than the bed these six men would stretch him at each end, and when he cried out to them they would not answer him.

5 And if he was longer than the bed they would draw together the two sides of the bed at each end, until the man had reached the gates of death.

6 And if he continued to cry out to them, they would answer him, saying, Thus shall it be done to a man that comes into our land.

7 And when men heard all these things that the people of the cities of Sodom did, they refrained from coming there. (Geesh... no kidding. These people are completely evil. No wonder it was destroyed.)

8 And when a poor man came to their land they would give him silver and gold, and cause a proclamation in the whole city not to give him a morsel of bread to eat, and if the stranger should remain there some days, and die from hunger, not having been able to obtain a morsel of bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him.

9 And those that could recognize the silver or gold which they had given him took it back, and at his death they also stripped him of his garments, and they would fight about them, and he that prevailed over his neighbor took them.

10 They would after that carry him and bury him under some of the shrubs in the deserts; so they did all the days to any one that came to them and died in their land.

11 And in the course of time Sarah sent Eliezer to Sodom, to see Lot and inquire after his welfare.

12 And Eliezer went to Sodom, and he met a man of Sodom fighting with a stranger, and the man of Sodom stripped the poor man of all his clothes and went away.

13 And this poor man cried to Eliezer (Name meaning: My God is help) and supplicated his favor on account of what the man of Sodom had done to him.

14 And he said to him, Why did you act thus to the poor man who came to your land?

15 And the man of Sodom answered Eliezer, saying, Is this man your brother, or have the people of Sodom made you a judge this day, that you speak about this man?

16 And Eliezer strove with the man of Sodom on account of the poor man, and when Eliezer approached to recover the poor man's clothes from the man of Sodom, he hastened and with a stone smote Eliezer in the forehead.

17 And the blood flowed copiously from Eliezer's forehead, and when the man saw the blood he caught hold of Eliezer, saying, Give me my hire for having rid you of this bad blood that was in your forehead, for such is the custom and the law in our land.

18 And Eliezer said to him, You have wounded me and require me to pay you your hire; and Eliezer would not hearken to the words of the man of Sodom.

19 And the man laid hold of Eliezer and brought him to Shakra the judge of Sodom for judgment.

20 And the man spoke to the judge, saying, I beseech you my lord, thus has this man done, for I smote him with a stone that the blood flowed from his forehead, and he is unwilling to give me my hire.

21 And the judge said to Eliezer, This man speaks truth to you, give him his hire, for this is the custom in our land; and Eliezer heard the words of the judge, and he lifted up a stone and smote the judge, and the stone struck on his forehead, and the blood flowed copiously from the forehead of the judge, and Eliezer said, If this then is the custom in your land give you unto this man what I should have given him, for this has been your decision, you did decree it. (HA!)

22 And Eliezer left the man of Sodom with the judge, and he went away.

23 And when the kings of Elam had made war with the kings of Sodom, the kings of Elam captured all the property of Sodom, and they took Lot captive, with his property, and when it was told to Abraham he went and made war with the kings of Elam, and he recovered from their hands all the property of Lot as well as the property of Sodom.

24 At that time the wife of Lot bare him a daughter, and he called her name Paltith, saying, Because YAHWEH had delivered him and his whole household from the kings of Elam; and Paltith daughter of Lot grew up, and one of the men of Sodom took her for a wife.

25 And a poor man came into the city to seek a maintenance, and he remained in the city some days, and all the people of Sodom caused a proclamation of their custom not to give this man a morsel of bread to eat, until he dropped dead upon the earth, and they did so.

26 And Paltith the daughter of Lot saw this man lying in the streets starved with hunger, and no one would give him any thing to keep him alive, and he was just upon the point of death.

27 And her soul was filled with pity on account of the man, and she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the soul of this man was revived.

28 For when she went forth to fetch water she would put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it him to eat; so she did many days.

29 And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could bear starvation for so many days.

30 And they said to each other, This can only be that he eats and drinks, for no man can bear starvation for so many days or live as this man has, without even his countenance changing; and three men concealed themselves in a place where the poor man was stationed, to know who it was that brought him bread to eat.

31 And Paltith daughter of Lot went forth that day to fetch water, and she put bread into her pitcher of water, and she went to draw water by the poor man's place, and she took out the bread from the pitcher and gave it to the poor man and he ate it.

32 And the three men saw what Paltith did to the poor man, and they said to her, It is you then who have supported him, and therefore has he not starved, nor changed in appearance nor died like the rest.

33 And the three men went out of the place in which they were concealed, and they seized Paltith and the bread which was in the poor man's hand.

34 And they took Paltith and brought her before their judges, and they said to them, Thus did she do, and it is she who supplied the poor man with bread, therefore did he not die all this time; now therefore declare to us the punishment due to this woman for having transgressed our law.

35 And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and cast her into the fire and she was burned to ashes. (I don't remember this in the bible either.)  Just checked again in case I missed something...  Remember that Lot had two daughters in Genesis, two of which raped him and ended up pregnant. They named their children Moab and Ben-Ammi (Ammonites). 

Once again, Wikipedia: The daughters of the biblical patriarch Lot appear in chapter 19 of the Book of Genesis, in two connected stories. In the first, Lot offers his daughters to a Sodomite mob; in the second, his daughters have sex with Lot without his knowledge to bear him children.

Only two daughters are explicitly mentioned in Genesis, both unnamed. However, the Hebrew midrash (interpretation) The Book of Jasher describes another daughter by the name of Paltith, who is burned to death by the Sodomites for breaking their law against giving charity to foreigners.^[1]

The story of Lot offering his daughters to the Sodomites is also found in surahs 11 and 15 of the Quran, although there is no mention of the rape of Lot.

36 And in the city of Admah there was a woman to whom they did the like.

37 For a traveler came into the city of Admah to abide there all night, with the intention of going home in the morning, and he sat opposite the door of the house of the young woman's father, to remain there, as the sun had set when he had reached that place; and the young woman saw him sitting by the door of the house.

38 And he asked her for a drink of water and she said to him, Who are you? and he said to her, I was this day going on the road, and reached here when the sun set, so I will abide here all night, and in the morning I will arise early and continue my journey.

39 And the young woman went into the house and fetched the man bread and water to eat and drink.

40 And this affair became known to the people of Admah, and they assembled and brought the young woman before the judges, that they should judge her for this act.

41 And the judge said, The judgment of death must pass upon this woman because she transgressed our law, and this therefore is the decision concerning her.

42 And the people of those cities assembled and brought out the young woman, and anointed her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed, and they placed her before a swarm of bees which were then in their hives, and the bees flew upon her and stung her that her whole body was swelled. (Holy cow...)

43 And the young woman cried out on account of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her, and her cries ascended to heaven.

44 And YAHWEH was provoked at this and at all the works of the cities of Sodom, for they had abundance of food, and had tranquility among them, and still would not sustain the poor and the needy, and in those days their evil doings and sins became great before YAHWEH. (Thank God!)

45 And YAHWEH sent for two of the heavenly messengers that had come to Abraham's house, to destroy Sodom and its cities.

46 And the heavenly messengers rose up from the door of Abraham's tent, after they had eaten and drunk, and they reached Sodom in the evening, and Lot was then sitting in the gate of Sodom, and when he saw them he rose to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground.

47 And he pressed them greatly and brought them into his house, and he gave them victuals which they ate, and they abode all night in his house. (So now this makes a lot more sense. The story of Lot and the two angels/messengers, was sort of copy and pasted in. You can tell that someone tampered (once again) with the text. Why leave this part out? 

48 And the heavenly messengers said to Lot, Arise, go forth from this place, you and all belonging to you, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of this city, for YAHWEH will destroy this place.

49 And the heavenly messengers laid hold upon the hand of Lot and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hands of his children, and all belonging to him, and they brought him forth and set him without the cities.

50 And they said to Lot, Escape for your life, and he fled and all belonging to him.

51 Then YAHWEH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah and upon all these cities brimstone and fire from YAHWEH out of heaven.

52 And he overthrew these cities, all the plain and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground; and Ado the wife of Lot looked back to see the destruction of the cities, for her compassion was moved on account of her daughters who remained in Sodom, for they did not go with her. (This wasn't mentioned in this way either. It was just said that she shouldn't look back and she did.)

53 And when she looked back she became a pillar of salt, and it is yet in that place unto this day. 

SODOM AND GEMORRAH FOUND!

Sulfur Balls of Sodom and Gomorrah (youtube.com)

Check out the link above! You can actually see the Sulfur balls light right up!

54 And the oxen which stood in that place daily licked up the salt to the extremities of their feet, and in the morning it would spring forth afresh, and they again licked it up unto this day.

55 And Lot and two of his daughters that remained with him fled and escaped to the cave of Adullam, and they remained there for some time.

56 And Abraham rose up early in the morning to see what had been done to the cities of Sodom; and he looked and beheld the smoke of the cities going up like the smoke of a furnace.

57 And Lot and his two daughters remained in the cave, and they made their father drink wine, and they lay with him, for they said there was no man upon earth that could raise up seed from them, for they thought that the whole earth was destroyed.

58 And they both lay with their father, and they conceived and bare sons, and the first born called the name of her son Moab, saying, From my father did I conceive him; he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

59 And the younger also called her son Benami; he is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

60 And after this Lot and his two daughters went away from there, and he dwelt on the other side of the Jordan with his two daughters and their sons, and the sons of Lot grew up, and they went and took themselves wives from the land of Canaan, and they begat children and they were fruitful and multiplied.

20 ABRAHAM GOES TO PHILISTINES

Abraham goes to the land of the Philistines, and again tells the People that Sarah is his Sister. Abimelech (Name means the king is my father) the King desires her for a Wife. An Heavenly Messenger warns him, and commands him to return her to her Husband. The whole land afflicted on account of the matter. Sarah Restored to Abraham, who entreats YAHWEH to heal the People of Abimelech.

1 And at that time Abraham journeyed from the plain of Mamre, and he went to the land of the Philistines, and he dwelt in Gerar; it was in the twenty-fifth year of Abraham's being in the land of Canaan, and the hundredth year of the life of Abraham, that he came to Gerar in the land of the Philistines.

2 And when they entered the land he said to Sarah his wife, Say you are my sister, to any one that shall ask you, in order that we may escape the evil of the inhabitants of the land. (Once again, I don't get how this is a good thing. I get that she is beautiful and everyone is sexing everyone up, but... nevermind. I just answered my own question.)

3 And as Abraham was dwelling in the land of the Philistines, the servants of Abimelech, king of the Philistines, saw that Sarah was exceedingly beautiful, and they asked Abraham concerning her, and he said, She is my sister.

4 And the servants of Abimelech went to Abimelech, saying, A man from the land of Canaan is come to dwell in the land, and he has a sister that is exceeding fair.

5 And Abimelech heard the words of his servants who praised Sarah to him, and Abimelech sent his officers, and they brought Sarah to the king.

6 And Sarah came to the house of Abimelech, and the king saw that Sarah was beautiful, and she pleased him exceedingly.

7 And he approached her and said to her, What is that man to you with whom you did come to our land? and Sarah answered and said He is my brother, and we came from the land of Canaan to dwell wherever we could find a place.

8 And Abimelech said to Sarah, Behold my land is before you, place your brother in any part of this land that pleases you, and it will be our duty to exalt and elevate him above all the people of the land since he is your brother.

9 And Abimelech sent for Abraham, and Abraham came to Abimelech.

10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, Behold I have given orders that you shalt be honored as you desire on account of your sister Sarah.

11 And Abraham went forth from the king, and the king's present followed him.

12 As at evening time, before men lie down to rest, the king was sitting upon his throne, and a deep sleep fell upon him, and he lay upon the throne and slept till morning.

13 And he dreamed that an heavenly messenger of YAHWEH came to him with a drawn sword in his hand, and the heavenly messenger stood over Abimelech, and wished to slay him with the sword, and the king was terrified in his dream, and said to the heavenly messenger, In what have I sinned against you that you come to slay me with your sword?

14 And the heavenly messenger answered and said to Abimelech, Behold you diest on account of the woman which you did yesternight bring to your house, for she is a married woman, the wife of Abraham who came to your house; now therefore return that man his wife, for she is his wife; and should you not return her, know that you wilt surely die, you and all belonging to you.

15 And on that night there was a great outcry in the land of the Philistines, and the inhabitants of the land saw the figure of a man standing with a drawn sword in his hand, and he smote the inhabitants of the land with the sword, yea he continued to smite them.

16 And the heavenly messenger of YAHWEH smote the whole land of the Philistines on that night, and there was a great confusion on that night and on the following morning.

17 And every womb was closed, and all their issues, and the hand of YAHWEH was upon them on account of Sarah, wife of Abraham, whom Abimelech had taken.

18 And in the morning Abimelech rose with terror and confusion and with a great dread, and he sent and had his servants called in, and he related his dream to them, and the people were greatly afraid.

19 And one man standing among the servants of the king answered the king, saying, O sovereign king, restore this woman to her husband, for he is her husband, for the like happened to the king of Egypt when this man came to Egypt.

20 And he said concerning his wife, She is my sister, for such is his manner of doing when he comes to dwell in the land in which he is a stranger.

21 And Pharaoh sent and took this woman for a wife and YAHWEH brought upon him grievous plagues until he returned the woman to her husband.

22 Now therefore, O sovereign king, know what happened yesternight to the whole land, for there was a very great consternation and great pain and lamentation, and we know that it was on account of the woman which you did take.

23 Now, therefore, restore this woman to her husband, lest it should befall us as it did to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his subjects, and that we may not die; and Abimelech hastened and called and had Sarah called for, and she came before him, and he had Abraham called for, and he came before him.

24 And Abimelech said to them, What is this work you have been doing in saying you are brother and sister, and I took this woman for a wife?

25 And Abraham said, Because I thought I should suffer death on account of my wife; and Abimelech took flocks and herds, and men servants and maid servants, and a thousand pieces of silver, and he gave them to Abraham, and he returned Sarah to him.

26 And Abimelech said to Abraham, Behold the whole land is before you, dwell in it wherever you shalt choose.

27 And Abraham and Sarah, his wife, went forth from the king's presence with honor and respect, and they dwelt in the land, even in Gerar. (I still don't get the fact that he is basically prostituting his wife out. The angels killed people because of her. Why not just guard her... I don't get it.)

28 And all the inhabitants of the land of the Philistines and the king's servants were still in pain, through the plague which the heavenly messenger had inflicted upon them the whole night on account of Sarah.

29 And Abimelech sent for Abraham, saying, Pray now for your servants to YAHWEH your Elohim, that he may put away this mortality from among us.

30 And Abraham prayed on account of Abimelech and his subjects, and YAHWEH heard the prayer of Abraham, and he healed Abimelech and all his subjects. (And I forgot about this part...So, I guess I get it again.)

This is one of those moments on how can we possibly understand what was going on if we don't have all the information in front of us. Alas... I will keep reading, and I hope you do, too! Tomorrow we will talk about parts 21 and 22~ If you'd like to learn more, email me at: theawakeningtalk@gmail.com

The Book of Yasher (Jasher) Parts 17 and 18

  Hi, and thank you for joining me at 144Judah! We are now on "The Book of Yasher" (Jasher). This is an apocryphal text, meaning it was taken out of the bible. This book is included in some versions still today. One of the biggest reasons for doing this: it is referenced in three sections in the bible. Why would they take a book out that has been referenced? Well, we know that they did this also to Enoch, and Enoch is a very important book. I tend to find when "official" people don't include something, it means they don't want us to know what's what. And...me, being me, doesn't like that. So, pull up a chair, and put your thinking cap on. Better yet, put your feeling cap on, and let me know what you feel about this! Any questions? Email me at theawakeningtalk@gmail.com. 

17 COVENANT WITH ABRAM

YAHWEH Appears to Abram and Establishes the Covenant of Circumcision, and calls his name Abraham, and Sarai, He calls Sarah

1 And in those days, in the ninety-first year of the life of Abram, the children of Chittim made war with the children of Tubal, for when YAHWEH had scattered the sons of men upon the face of the earth, the children of Chittim went and embodied themselves in the plain of Canopia, and they built themselves cities there and dwelt by the river Tibreu.

2 And the children of Tubal dwelt in Tuscanah, and their boundaries reached the river Tibreu, and the children of Tubal built a city in Tuscanan, and they called the name Sabinah, after the name of Sabinah son of Tubal their father, and they dwelt there unto this day.

3 And it was at that time the children of Chittim made war with the children of Tubal, and the children of Tubal were smitten before the children of Chittim, and the children of Chittim caused three hundred and seventy men to fall from the children of Tubal.

4 And at that time the children of Tubal (In the ancient texts, Tubal is mentioned as the son of Japheth, who was one of Noah’s sons.) swore to the children of Chittim, saying, You shall not intermarry among us, and no man shall give his daughter to any of the sons of Chittim.

5 For all the daughters of Tubal were in those days fair, for no women were then found in the whole earth so fair as the daughters of Tubal.  (This reminds me of the other times that this happened... um, hello...Nephilim...)

6 And all who delighted in the beauty of women went to the daughters of Tubal and took wives from them, and the sons of men, kings and princes, who greatly delighted in the beauty of women, took wives in those days from the daughters of Tubal.

7 And at the end of three years after the children of Tubal had sworn to the children of Chittim not to give them their daughters for wives, about twenty men of the children of Chittim went to take some of the daughters of Tubal, but they found none.

8 For the children of Tubal kept their oaths not to intermarry with them, and they would not break their oaths.

9 And in the days of harvest the children of Tubal went into their fields to get in their harvest, when the young men of Chittim assembled and went to the city of Sabinah, and each man took a young woman from the daughters of Tubal, and they came to their cities.

10 And the children of Tubal heard of it and they went to make war with them, and they could not prevail over them, for the mountain was exceedingly high from them, and when they saw they could not prevail over them they returned to their land.

11 And at the revolution of the year the children of Tubal went and hired about ten thousand men from those cities that were near them, and they went to war with the children of Chittim.

12 And the children of Tubal went to war with the children of Chittim, to destroy their land and to distress them, and in this engagement the children of Tubal prevailed over the children of Chittim, and the children of Chittim, seeing that they were greatly distressed, lifted up the children which they had had by the daughters of Tubal, upon the wall which had been built, to be before the eyes of the children of Tubal. (Just horrible and super evil. Just a repeat of the last cycle before the flood.)

13 And the children of Chittim said to them, Have you come to make war with your own sons and daughters, and have we not been considered your flesh and bones from that time till now?

14 And when the children of Tubal heard this they ceased to make war with the children of Chittim, and they went away.

15 And they returned to their cities, and the children of Chittim at that time assembled and built two cities by the sea, and they called one Purtu and the other Ariza. (This isn't in the bible at all... no explanation of it anyway.)

16 And Abram the son of Terah was then ninety-nine years old.

17 At that time YAHWEH appeared to him and he said to him, I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will greatly multiply your seed, and this is the covenant which I make between me and you, that every male child be circumcised, you and your seed after you.

18 At eight days old shall it be circumcised, and this covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.

19 And now therefore your name shall no more be called Abram but Abraham, and your wife shall no more be called Sarai but Sarah.

20 For I will bless you both, and I will multiply your seed after you that you shall become a great nation, and kings shall come forth from you. 

This last part is all the same as the bible. 

18 ABRAHAM & SARAH

Abraham Entertains Three Heavenly Messengers, who eat with him. Sarah is promised a Son. The People of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of all the Cities of the Plain become very Wicked

1 And Abraham rose and did all that YAHWEH had ordered him, and he took the men of his household and those bought with his money, and he circumcised them as YAHWEH had commanded him.

2 And there was not one left whom he did not circumcise, and Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised in the flesh of their foreskin; thirteen years old was Ishmael when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 

(This part is curious. Why circumcision? Why mutilate? Is it because we aren't from here and this is something that didn't evolve? Like a cleanliness thing? or something else?) 

Check out this information that I found on Circumcision and the Medical reasons.. Why Would God Command Circumcision? - Reasons to Believe

3 And in the third day Abraham went out of his tent and sat at the door to enjoy the heat of the sun, during the pain of his flesh.

4 And YAHWEH appeared to him in the plain of Mamre, and sent three of his ministering heavenly messengers to visit him, and he was sitting at the door of the tent, and he lifted his eyes and saw, and lo three men were coming from a distance, and he rose up and ran to meet them, and he bowed down to them and brought them into his house.

5 And he said to them, If now I have found favor in your sight, turn in and eat a morsel of bread; and he pressed them, and they turned in and he gave them water and they washed their feet, and he placed them under a tree at the door of the tent.

6 And Abraham ran and took a calf, tender and good, and he hastened to kill it, and gave it to his servant Eliezer to dress.

7 And Abraham came to Sarah into the tent, and he said to her, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes to cover the pot containing the meat, and she did so.

8 And Abraham hastened and brought before them butter and milk, beef and mutton, and gave it before them to eat before the flesh of the calf was sufficiently done, and they did eat.

9 And when they had done eating one of them said to him, I will return to you according to the time of life, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.

10 And the men afterward departed and went their ways, to the places to which they were sent.

11 In those days all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the whole five cities, were exceedingly wicked and sinful against YAHWEH and they provoked YAHWEH with their abominations, and they strengthened in aging abominably and scornfully before YAHWEH, and their wickedness and crimes were in those days great before YAHWEH.

12 And they had in their land a very extensive valley, about half a day's walk, and in it there were fountains of water and a great deal of herbage surrounding the water.

13 And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah went there four times in the year, with their wives and children and all belonging to them, and they rejoiced there with timbrels (tambourines) and dances.

14 And in the time of rejoicing they would all rise and lay hold of their neighbor's wives, and some, the virgin daughters of their neighbors, and they enjoyed them, and each man saw his wife and daughter in the hands of his neighbor and did not say a word. (Dear Lord... What the heck... This wasn't talked about in the Bible. We just know that they were evil people.)

15 And they did so from morning to night, and they afterward returned home each man to his house and each woman to her tent; so they always did four times in the year.

16 Also when a stranger came into their cities and brought goods which he had purchased with a view to dispose of there, the people of these cities would assemble, men, women and children, young and old, and go to the man and take his goods by force, giving a little to each man until there was an end to all the goods of the owner which he had brought into the land.

17 And if the owner of the goods quarreled with them, saying, What is this work which you have done to me, then they would approach to him one by one, and each would show him the little which he took and taunt him, saying, I only took that little which you did give me; and when he heard this from them all, he would arise and go from them in sorrow and bitterness of soul, when they would all arise and go after him, and drive him out of the city with great noise and tumult.

18 And there was a man from the country of Elam (

1. Hebrew Origin:

   • In Hebrew, Elam possibly means either “hidden” or “eternity” 12.
   • It appears in the Old Testament as the name of several characters, including a son of Shem who was the ancestor of the Elamite peoples 1.
   • The concept of hiddenness or eternity adds depth to this name.)

who was leisurely going on the road, seated upon his ass, which carried a fine mantle of divers colors, and the mantle was bound with a cord upon the ass.

19 And the man was on his journey passing through the street of Sodom when the sun set in the evening, and he remained there in order to abide during the night, but no one would let him into his house; and at that time there was in Sodom a wicked and mischievous man, one skillful to do evil, and his name was Hedad.

20 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the street of the city, and he came to him and said, Whence come you and whither did you go?

21 And the man said to him, I am traveling from Hebron to Elam where I belong, and as I passed the sun set and no one would suffer me to enter his house, though I had bread and water and also straw and provender for my ass, and am short of nothing.

22 And Hedad answered and said to him, All that you shalt want shall be supplied by me, but in the street you shalt not abide all night.

23 And Hedad brought him to his house, and he took off the mantle from the ass with the cord, and brought them to his house, and he gave the ass straw and provender while the traveler ate and drank in Hedad's house, and he abode there that night.

24 And in the morning the traveler rose up early to continue his journey, when Hedad said to him, Wait, comfort your heart with a morsel of bread and then go, and the man did so; and he remained with him, and they both ate and drank together during the day, when the man rose up to go.

25 And Hedad said to him, Behold now the day is declining, you hadst better remain all night that your heart may be comforted; and he pressed him so that he tarried there all night, and on the second day he rose up early to go away, when Hedad pressed him, saying, Comfort your heart with a morsel of bread and then go, and he remained and ate with him also the second day, and then the man rose up to continue his journey.

26 And Hedad said to him, Behold now the day is declining, remain with me to comfort your heart and in the morning rise up early and go your way.

27 And the man would not remain, but rose and saddled his ass, and while he was saddling his ass the wife of Hedad said to her husband, Behold this man has remained with us for two days eating and drinking and he has given us nothing, and now shall he go away from us without giving anything? and Hedad said to her, Be silent.

28 And the man saddled his ass to go, and he asked Hedad to give him the cord and mantle to tie it upon the ass.

29 And Hedad said to him, What say you? And he said to him, That you my lord shalt give me the cord and the mantle made with divers colors which you did conceal with you in your house to take care of it.

30 And Hedad answered the man, saying, This is the interpretation of your dream, the cord which you did see, means that your life will be lengthened out like a cord, and having seen the mantle colored with all sorts of colors, means that you shalt have a vineyard in which you wilt plant trees of all fruits.

31 And the traveler answered, saying, Not so my lord, for I was awake when I gave you the cord and also a mantle woven with different colors, which you did take off the ass to put them by for me; and Hedad answered and said, Surely I have told you the interpretation of your dream and it is a good dream, and this is the interpretation thereof.

32 Now the sons of men give me four pieces of silver, which is my charge for interpreting dreams, and of you only I require three pieces of silver.

33 And the man was provoked at the words of Hedad, and he cried bitterly, and he brought Hedad to Serak judge of Sodom. (What a sneaky sneak.)

34 And the man laid his cause before Serak the judge, when Hedad replied, saying, It is not so, but thus the matter stands; and the judge said to the traveler, This man Hedad tells you truth, for he is famed in the cities for the accurate interpretation of dreams.

35 And the man cried at the word of the judge, and he said, Not so my lord, for it was in the day that I gave him the cord and mantle which was upon the ass, in order to put them by in his house; and they both disputed before the judge, the one saying, Thus the matter was, and the other declaring otherwise.

36 And Hedad said to the man, Give me four pieces of silver that I charge for my interpretations of dreams; I will not make any allowance; and give me the expense of the four meals that you did eat in my house.

37 And the man said to Hedad, Truly I will pay you for what I ate in your house, only give me the cord and mantle which you did conceal in your house.

38 And Hedad replied before the judge and said to the man, Did I not tell you the interpretation of your dream? the cord means that your days shall be prolonged like a cord, and the mantle, that you wilt have a vineyard in which you wilt plant all kinds of fruit trees.

39 This is the proper interpretation of your dream, now give me the four pieces of silver that I require as a compensation, for I will make you no allowance.

40 And the man cried at the words of Hedad and they both quarreled before the judge, and the judge gave orders to his servants, who drove them rashly from the house.

41 And they went away quarreling from the judge, when the people of Sodom heard them, and they gathered about them and they exclaimed against the stranger, and they drove him rashly from the city.

42 And the man continued his journey upon his ass with bitterness of soul, lamenting and weeping.

43 And while he was going along he wept at what had happened to him in the corrupt city of Sodom. (This wasn't mentioned at all in the bible.)   

Thanks again for studying with me! This Book is super interesting and definitely adds to the story. Join me tomorrow for parts 19 and 20! If you have any questions, or if you'd like to discuss anything about this or my blog, you can reach me at: theawakeningtalk@gmail.com :)

It's in the Bible... (Part Two - The END OF TIME)

 Hi, and thank you for reading my blog at 144Judah! As always, I give All Praises to The Most High God!  Continuing on from our last post, we are going to rewind, so to speak, and start where I mentioned Famine. 

Sign 3: Famine

The next sign listed in Matthew 24:7 is “there will be famines.”

These famines are described in Revelation 6:5-6:

And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” And look! A black horse! And he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. I heard a voice in between the four living creatures saying, “A liter of wheat for a denarius, and three liters of barley for a denarius! But don’t damage the oil and the wine!”

When John saw this vision, a denarius was the wage for about one day of work (Matthew 20:2). The major wars of the second seal will quickly lead to widespread inflation, famine, and many people starving.

(We have had a lot of famine over the years. Prices have risen higher and higher, and in today's age, we are seeing them go even higher. I believe that it is only going to get worse. Inflation has been going out the roof.  Gas has climbed significantly in the last year, and now that the war is in Israel, I believe that we are going to be hit again. 

From: Global hunger crisis: Famine closes in | World Vision

The world faces one of the most cruel and devastating crises of our time: Hunger.

Soaring food prices driven by the war in Ukraine, persistent drought and other extreme weather events, and the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have escalated extreme hunger worldwide.

Today, nearly 45 million people in 37 countries are at risk of starvation. Due to a lack of adequate nutrition, 22 million children are suffering from wasting — severe weight loss that can lead to death if not treated. This number is equal to the combined populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, and Philadelphia.

A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in the Horn of Africa: Across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, nearly 4.9 million girls and boys are acutely malnourished in drought-affected areas and need urgent care.

When the children are hungry, they will start crying, asking for food and will not stop.—Hawa, a mother in Somalia

In Somalia alone, about 6.7 million people will likely face acute food insecurity, and experts predict famine in two districts, Baidoa and Burhakaba — where at least 300,000 people are already living with “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity.

More go hungry, and malnutrition persists

Hunger has exacted a heavy toll on women and children in Baidoa. According to a doctor at Bay Regional Hospital, which offers free medical care to Somalis experiencing severe malnutrition, one to two children are dying daily. Children who recover from malnutrition continue to receive outpatient services, including through World Vision–supported therapeutic clinics and mobile health and nutrition outreach programs.

“When the children are hungry, they will start crying, asking for food and will not stop. When I have water, I give [it to] them to stop crying but it will be … a moment before they start again, demanding for food,” says Hawa, a 30-year-old mother living in an internal displacement camp in Baidoa.

Almighty God, You are our sustainer, especially in the most challenging times. We pray for You to give the hungry their daily bread (Matthew 6:11) and end their persistent hunger. We ask You to restore health, well-being, and livelihoods. We know no emergency or crisis is too much for You to relieve. 

 From USAFacts.org

More than half a million people experienced homelessness in America last year. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. That’s about 18 per 10,000 people in the US, up about 2,000 people from 2020.

Did you know that the Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians face the biggest Homelessness in America? 

Who is homeless in America?

Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders are 1.8% of the homeless population despite being just 0.26% of the US population. They have the nation’s highest rate of homelessness at 121 per 10,000 people.

Twenty-four percent of all homeless people identify as Hispanic. This is higher than the national proportion of the Hispanic population: 19%.

One reason Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have such high rates of homelessness could be because of Hawaii’s lack of affordable housing. Many native Hawaiians are also on wait lists for homeland leases.

Veterans also experience homelessness at a slightly higher rate than the overall population. Twenty out of every 10,000 veterans are homeless, compared to the nation’s overall rate of 18 per 10,000.

It is now even worse in America with the border being in near shambles. We don't have room for our own people and now we are taking on an even bigger problem. 

What does this have to do with food? We have too many people coming through, our country is printing money with nothing to back it up, and the drugs and child trafficking that is coming through is at an all-time high. We have powerful people buying the US farmland and not farming. We have government regulations on everything...food, energy, big pharma. And now, Biden, "the resident", is talking about getting rid of gas stoves. The prices are going up everywhere, the pipelines have been shut down. Trucks were shut down for a while last year, and the production/people working is at a major low. PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO WORK ANYMORE. 

People are starting to wake up to the fact that they have been slaves. 

Does this sound familiar? Could it be that the Israel that God talks about in the Bible isn't in fact a state, but a people? YES. It is in the Bible, after all. He also talks about the people that say they are Jews but are not and are nothing but the SYNAGOGUE OF SATAN. 

COULD THIS BE OUR VERY OWN EXODUS? GET OUT OF HER! GET OUT OF BABYLON! 

What does that mean? 

Get out of her? 

Get out of Babylon?

IT means get out of the world. Get out of the false doctrines. Where your heart is there lies your treasure...

Matthew 6:20-25

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Yet, another clue that we are indeed in the end times... the birthing pains are getting bigger. 

In other words, if you have an eye toward The Most High God, you won't be in darkness. You won't fear. If your treasure lies in money, fame and fortune, you aren't looking toward what really matters. GOD. That doesn't mean you won't have anything; it just means that you won't place those things above God. No idols, remember? That includes people... even your husbands, wives and kids... Nobody or anything in life is more important than God. 

GOD, HUSBAND/WIFE, then kids. Concentric Circles of importance. 

From Rapture Forums...

In a vision, God revealed to Daniel that in “the time of the end,” travel and knowledge will increase: “But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.” Daniel 12:4 (NLT)

According to the book of Daniel, two things will increase in “the time of the end” – travel and knowledge.

Is this the case now?

At the time the Book of Daniel was written, horses were the world’s the fastest mode of transportation.

In fact, horses remained the world’s fastest mode of transportation for over 2,000 years until the Industrial Revolution spawned such innovations as the steamboat, the locomotive, and the horseless carriage.

Prior to the 20th Century, most people rarely traveled more than 30 miles from where they were born. Today, people routinely travel from one continent to another within the same day. My own family has traveled across the United States in a week during our roadtrip in 2021. It was nothing to drive a 15 hour drive and have fun along the way. 

Today’s world is definitely not “the way it’s always been.”

Frequency and speed of travel have markedly increased!   

WHO GAVE US THIS TECHNOLOGY?

What about knowledge?

In Daniel’s time, few people received a formal education. In fact, basic literacy was a foreign concept to all but an elite minority of the world until the past 100 to 150 years.

Yet, in the past century alone, human knowledge of science, biology, technology, and countless fields of endeavor has exploded. And the advent of the Internet has created a worldwide archive of human knowledge that far exceeds even the wildest dreams of the great ancient civilizations.

WHO GAVE US THIS KNOWLEDGE?

Is humanity’s knowledge base today “the same as previous generations?”

Absolutely not. Human knowledge has also markedly increased.

Given that all this can be ascertained from mere observation, how can anyone say with a straight face that “things today are the same as they’ve always been?”

 

Not only do we have the internet, but we have virtual reality games, cell phones and computers that keep getting smaller and smaller. Video game systems. We went from barely any phones in the 90s to an explosion in the 2000s. We went from a gigantic box computer, and even not long before that a computer that was as big as a room, to your phone being the fastest computer--something that can be held in the palm of your hand.  In a few seconds you can get hard to answer questions from your phone, Alexa or Google without breaking a sweat. 

And here I thought dictionaries and encyclopedias were pretty cool to have back in high school. My kids have never had to use an actual map, a phone book or an encyclopedia. EVERYTHING is at our fingertips!

WHAT TIME ARE WE IN? ARE WE IN THE SECOND COMING OR ARE WE IN THE LITTLE SEASON?

From the clear truth.com

Disease and Death

Revelation 6:7-8 says: "And when He opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” And I looked and look! A sickly-green horse! And the one who sat on it, his name is Death, and the grave follows with him. And authority was given to him over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild animals of the earth."

War and famine will lead to widespread disease. Packs of wild animals, including former pets, will roam the streets looking for food (this is also mentioned in Leviticus 26:22). Earthquakes will add to the death toll.

The compounding effects of the first four signs will cause one-quarter of humanity to die. When you see 25% of the world population die, you will know that the fourth sign has been fulfilled.

Matthew 24:8 says, “But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.”

The True Gospel Will Be Preached and Suppressed

Next, Jesus explained what would happen to His followers: "At that time they will hand you over to oppression, and will kill you. And you will be hated by all the nations because of My name." (Matthew 24:9)

This sign will actually occur in parallel with the first four signs.

This is explained in Luke 21:12: 

"But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you,

delivering you up to synagogues and prisons,

bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake."

As a false Christianity rises in power, it will seek to suppress true Christianity.

True Christians will be thrown in prison and brought before leaders to be judged.

This will be an opportunity for them to preach to world leaders as a witness (Luke 21:13-15).

This will be a time of sifting among the followers of Christ. Some will hold on to their beliefs and boldly proclaim the truth. Others will abandon their faith and betray their friends and relatives (Matthew 24:10-13).

During this time, the true followers of Jesus Christ will finish preaching the true Gospel to the whole world. Jesus told His followers, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to all the creation” (Mark 16:15). Matthew 24:14 says, “And this good news of the Kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

So look for those who preach the real Good News to the whole world. Look for those who are “hated by all nations” when they do not follow the false Christianity that will be popular at the end of the age. Those will be the real followers of Christ—a group you might want to be a part of.

Evangelist, other Christians in Uganda Assaulted

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Hard-line Muslims at an open-air evangelistic event in eastern Uganda on Aug. 11 assaulted a preacher and more than 20 other Christians for his teaching about Christ’s divinity, sources said.

Robert Faisali Miya, a 34-year-old father of four, was also struck with a thorny object and stomped on during the event in Busolwe, 236 kilometers (147 miles) northeast of Kampala, an eyewitness said.

On the third day of a five-day event planned by an undisclosed church from another town, Miya cited passages from the Koran as examples that acknowledge the uniqueness of Christ, and said the Bible affirms His uniqueness as the Son of God who grants forgiveness by virtue of His death and resurrection.

Muslims began chanting the jihadist slogan, “Allah Akbar [God is greater],” and a Muslim leader known in the area to be hard-line sheikh, Hiisa Mubaraka, rushed to the podium and pulled the evangelist down, said the eyewitness.

Christian Evangelists Attacked for Preaching to Muslims in Uganda

Both sustain knife wounds.

October 23, 2022 By Our East Africa Correspondent 

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Two evangelists in eastern Uganda were beaten and slashed with knives after leading several Muslims to Christ, sources said.

And that is just a tiny bit... Christians are being persecuted all over the globe. The news site where I got this information above has a ton of listings just like this. 

To read more click here. 

I look forward to the next blog!  Part Three (The End of Time)