Modesty and Dress – Part 2
11/12/16 (9/12) Video Broadcast
Modesty and Dress - Part 2 - Study
Part 2 - Comments and Questions
Modesty and Dress - Part 3 - Study01:29:34
Part 3 - Comments and Quesetions01:49:28
Modesty and Dress - Part 4 - Study01:58:01
Part 4 - Comments and Questions47:50
Modesty and Dress - Part 5 - Study01:44:59
Part 5 - comments and Questions01:47:57
We are ready to begin our
study portion for today's
broadcast, HalleluYah!
And we are once again
to tackle the ever so
controversial topic
of modesty and dress.
Boy doesn't hardly get any
more controversial than
that, start talking about
the way somebody appears
to other people and what
modesty truly is and the
kind of appearance
we're supposed to have.
We're actually, we're
going beyond dress, we're
even talking about things
today like beards and
things like that.
We're talking about our
overall appearance, we're
expanding a little
bit here into that.
We're going to talk
about that today.
Our last segment we
did some very close
examinations on the
reasons why our appearance
does matter and what
Yahweh requires of us as
disciples of Yahshua and
if you've missed that
first segment, a lot of
what I share today, you
may not understand
properly or you may just
you know really miss out
on why it really does
matter and why does it
matter what our outward
appearance is.
Because our clothing
talks, that's right our
clothing talks, we talked about this last segment and you know the way we look as our first impression. Everyone, before anyone knows who we are, we speak about who we are through the things that we wear our appearance. It becomes a part of our identity and illustration of who we are and what we are really about right? So it does matter, our clothing does talk. It has speech to it and we talked about that at length in our last segment. I want to say first of all, I 'am not trying to create a bunch of rules and regulations for men to take and force on their wives and teenage daughters or for wives to pressure their husbands to conform to. My stated goal, from the outset of this lesson is to try to get as close to scripture as we possibly can regarding Yahweh's will for modesty and for dress. Please my brothers and my sisters, do not oppress your families over these things particularly details that we're a little fuzzy on and I don't want to create a bunch of pharisaical things here. But I do want to try to get as close as we can to our Father's heart, that's my goal and that's subject to interpretation and I realize that. My own family, my own wife, my own children, my daughters, I don't enforce every tiny little thing that I share with them. I want them to see what I' am sharing and I want them to be convicted about it. I don't want to shove everything down their throat. My goal is to lead and in this you know, as they're able to and willing to follow that leadership that we all need to take this matter to Yahweh. Let His spirit, let His word convict us as to what His will is. Take it to prayer personally, let Yahweh's spirit speak to you regarding these matters. Let His word speak to you regarding these matters. When it comes to what we are communicating with our physical appearance because that can very much be open to interpretation. To one person this kind of clothing speaks this to them and to another person that kind of clothing may speak something a little different. The clothing styles and appearances, we just need to let Yahweh's spirit guide us and give each other some leeway over the details. I'm going to share my heart, the things I'm seeing in the scripture, if you see something different that's your decision but I try to remember our outward appearance reflects on the whole body of the Messiah, not just yourself but also your family and not just your family, your immediate family but your family, you're extended family and the body of Messiah. For myself I want try to play it safe. Be cautious on how I'm representing our Savior. How I'm representing the Messiah, how I'm representing His people to the world because we are Communicating with our appearance. Whether we think we are or not, we are communicating. I don't want the pride of life, I don't want the lust of the eyes. I don't want the things that are not of Yahweh's spirit to be communicated. I want Yahushua the Messiah, His purity, His life, His set-apartness, His holiness to be communicated and I trust that you feel the same way. emember clothing talks and we studied last week, 1 Timothy Chapter 2 Verse 8. I desire therefore men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath, without doubting. We just had a presidential election, the context of this is talking about praying for our leaders without wrath and without doubting and don't be ashamed. Lift up the holy hands as an evening sacrifice to Yahweh. In like manner the women, adorn themselves and modest appear with propriety and moderation. Not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing but which is proper for women professing reverence toward Elohim with good works. We examine this particular scripture, we took a microscope to it, magnifying glass to it and we look deeply in to the lexicon to try to extract the meanings of what's being said here. When we did that we came up with the following attributes, what clothing must communicate according to this particular scripture. Must communicate which is proper that means what's going to be feminine for a woman. What's masculine for a male and what's humble. What's modest, reflective of good behavior? A sense of bashfulness, that means not with wanton eyes as one of the words happened to communicate to us here. A humility rather than flaunting self as in, look at me, look at me. Well ordered, that's actually the word translated modest. Well ordered, not disheveled, not unkempt. That means yes you can brush your hair, you don't want your hair flying out everywhere okay? Respectful shyness, reserve and reticence. Self-control and temperance. Sober mindedness, curbing carnal impulses and desires. Discreet, reverential toward Elohim and finally with faith and without wrath. With faith and without wrath. we know that the fruits of the spirit are seen in this list. Fruits of the spirit are seen here, so when the spirit of Yahweh is living in us, it will manifest in our attitudes, our personality and along with those things are dress and I say this of both men and women. Some modesty study they just are always picking on the women. Picking at them and picking at them. But there can be pride in dress not just in women but in men also.
Yes in men also. Now I realize it says, not with braided hair, gold, pearls and costly clothing. A man's got a whole thing of chain of you know a
bunch of chains around his neck and how about that? Shouldn't that apply to men as well? I think so and costly clothing. I think that would apply to men. I don't think we need to limit this to just the women and then the men would walk around however they want. n some religions, the women are practically looking like -- the only thing you can see are the two eyes. The men are walking around with cowboy outfit then a pair of jeans and I don't think that is reflective of Yahweh's will at all. I think that we both need to be communicating righteousness. An earlier picture that we looked at, you may recall, these two men here. Let me ask you, what do you think these guys are saying with their clothing? What do you think? Do you think that they are clothed with humility? I just don't see humility here, I am looking for it,
I' am not finding it for some reason now. It says, you likewise you younger people submit Yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for Elohim resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.
These guys, they don't look humble, they look like they're like " you don't mess with me, I' am going to bite your head off or I' am going to beat you up, I' am going to punch you up. You mess with me even one second", that's what I' am seeing here and some other people may see something different. see a lot of pride here honestly, certain kinds of sunglasses have a way of communicating, I' am tough guy. I' am not going to put up with you, I' am not going to be gentle with you when you mess, you cross me the
wrong way I' am not going to be Mr. Gentle.
Tough guy appearances give a man a sense of power, a sense of control. A situation don't go the way they want, they will make it go the way they want.
Power and control over other people, because if you cross them the wrong way they'll be quick to fight you right? Is this what disciples of Yahushua are really about? Is this what we're really about? Yahushua says, behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Are sheep aggressive? Be wise as a serpent, harmless as doves.
Does this sound like guys who are just harmless as doves and sheep in the midst of wolves? Somehow I don't get that impression when I see their faces, I just don't. ride can be present in many respects right? Not just women but men also.
It can be also in the length of one's beard, large, long, overgrown beards can be an attempt on the part of the person to gain respect and cause themselves to be exalted, maybe appear as a sage, a wise man, some kind of holy man right? I' am not saying everybody who's got a long, big, bushy overgrown beard has that hidden motive in their heart, but it can be. I' am not saying long beards are bad, one time I had a beard that was long enough to reach my belly button. I didn't want to cut it when I -- I was lying in bed one night and my wife was sleeping on it and I couldn't get my beard out. Is that really necessary? I got to thinking about it, was it really necessary for me to have a beard that long? I wasn't trying to be Mr. Holy Man or Mr. Sage, I was just letting it grow long, I thought it looked nice, I look pretty neat. But I thought, if I' am trying to reach someone with my faith, I wonder if they might be thinking in the back of their mind as I got this big old long beard, I' am not going to listen to this guy because I don't want to become like him, I don't want to have to go around with a two foot long beard.
ut some of us like that image you know? That long bearded image. Maybe there's a hidden motive somewhere and that's not my, I wasn't trying to be anything. I wasn't really sure how long I need to grow my beard but I came to understand, it wasn't necessary for it to be this long and so, maybe I' am even a stumbling block to someone who's blind to the things that Yahweh has shown me and the scripture tells me, Don't curse the deaf and don't put a stumbling block before the blind, Fear my Mighty One. What if me, doing something I don't really think is necessary and growing this long beard I am giving people this impression, you got to be like me. You got to have this beard down to your belly button or whatever and then they're going to look at me, here I' am doing something I don't really need to do and so I shortened it. I want to make sure though my beard was in line with scripture and when I look at scripture, you shall not shave around the sides of your head nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. As I look here at the scripture, the word translated disfigure, Shachath, means to destroy, corrupt, ruin, decay. Technically, this word is in the HIPHIL. The HIPHIL version of that, pardon me I'll back
up here. In the HIPHIL it says, to spoil, ruin and destroy and so you're cutting it, you're taking a razor to it basically. Okay that's clear to me. Within the HIPHIL, spoil, ruin, destroy but what about the edges and what's that all about?
It's the Hebrew word Puah ] meaning corner, edge, side, corner, extremity, corner, side but notice here it's translated side 64 times. Corner 16 times, quarter four times and one time, so the side seems to be the most commonly used way to translate the word. his is a noun it's not a verb so you can't make, it doesn't have a verb form to it. But I noticed that the word had more to do with
sides than corners. The Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Old TestAmeint actually translated it appearance rather than side or corner. I couldn't really get anything clear from the Septuagint. But there are places where corner would make sense. When you reap the harvest of your land you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field. Leviticus 19:9, it could be edges of your field. It could be the sides of your field. What is the side of a field? Nor shall you gather the gleans of your harvest. n Exodus 26:26, you shall make four rings of gold and put the rings on the four corners that are, at its four legs. They're going to be at the corners right? I could see that there maybe could be but I' am thinking it's safe just because we're dealing with sides and corners so just make sure that sides and corners are not cut. Let the beard grow out some. The Jews believe that the corner is the section here between the earlobe and the beard like it's kind of cornered off right here. This part right here let it grow way out and take a curling iron or something to it so it doesn't hang down, get in the way and maybe it get caught in machinery or something. he orthodox, Hasidic that's their view of it,
honestly I have a hard time seeing this what he's talking about. To me the clearest example what a corner edge might be, it would be the jaw line and that's where you're coming down and it goes in right?
Mostly a nine degree corner all the way around. As the beard grows out it seems to me that would be the logical location of the corner and let the beard grow out and maybe even, I just decided I'll cut it square. Make sure I've got my corners in place. I' am not really sure, 100% where the corner is, if it's even a corner at all because if you look at the scripture, the edges, if you look here the word sides here where it says the sides of your head, this word translated sides and this word translated edges it's the the same exact word in Hebrew. No different, Puah. I don't know why they translated side in one place and edge in the other. mean where is the corner on your head? Your head is round, I don't know if anybody's got their head so square that it's got a corner to it. It's translated sides in one place, edges in the other and so I just thought, what about this? What about the sides of your head? What is he talking about when he says sides? It seems like it would be this right here. Conveniently Yahweh left me some hair in that location. The only other place I know of in scripture that talks about the need for keeping your hair trimmed is Ezekiel 44:20 where it says, they shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, talking about the priest in this future temple in Ezekiel 44, this is a thousand year reign so, it's okay to cut your hair. mean he certainly would not have had a priest
being required to cut hair if it was wrong to cut hair. He is saying it is okay and so this word translated Puah is not saying you can never cut your beard at all. Otherwise you'd have to translate the same thing over here and say you can never cut the sides of your hair at all and which would basically mean, your hair is all going to grow long here on the sides and isn't that the difference between a normal man and a Nazarite? Nazarite can't put a razor to his head so otherwise it would make them men of Nazarite. I hope you're following me on this. I' am trying to get to the bottom of the scripture, do my best. It must be okay to trim, in the same way it is okay to trim the sides of your head it must be okay to trim your beard as well. You don't have to let it all grow out and be unkempt and wild. But the question is, where are the corners? Where are the edges? Where are the sides? Where is that at? I can see sides of the head, now that makes sense Puah does translate side 64 times.
I can see that side seemed to be a pretty good translation and maybe both cases so hair and the beard. But Yahweh would be telling me not to shave off the sides of my head if I can't ever shave off my beard at all. ou can say, He doesn't us to cut off the side of our beard, He doesn't want us to cut off the side of our hair but maybe it's corner, so I' am being cautious and letting it grow out beyond the cheekbone below the jaw line and it could be talking about sides here, you know my cheeks. Sort of like, some people got the Abraham Lincoln look, I don't know. But to be safe I go ahead and included the jaw line, let the beard grow out some more before trimming it. I could go a little shorter if I wanted to I just don't like it jutting out. Now if I decided to go clean shaven then I can be sure I' am cutting it off right? There's no way to obey the scripture and go clean shaven. You will be cutting it off period.
here's no way to obey the scripture and cut all your hair off with the intent of going completely bald right? It's the same whether you're clean shaven or you're going bald, going for the bald look. You're looking for the bald look or the clean shaven look, I don't see how it's possible to obey the scripture. I recommend neither of those styles. Many believe, some believe by holding this view, I' am taking the scripture out of context. Otherwise they believe that these things are all part of rituals, pagan rituals for the dead in support of that view they point to the following verse which says, you shall make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor tattoo any marks on you, I am Yahweh. and so thhey believe that all of these things are speaking specifically of rituals for the dead. But the only time it mentioned doing something for the dead, here is in this cutting of the flesh for the dead, everything else does not mention whether or not it's for the dead. It appears to me that these tattooing marks, disfiguring edges, sides of your head and disfiguring edges would all be contextually divorced from this for the dead statement. That's how I' am going to read it. ow it's true that there is some examples in scripture where people would go do the bald look for the dead and cut off the beard for the dead. Isaiah15:2, he's gone up to the temple and Dibon to the high places to weep. Moab will wail over Nebo, over Medeba, on all their heads will be baldness and every beard cut off. Jeremiah 48:37 through 38, for every head shall be bald and every beard clipped on all the hands shall be cuts and on the loins sack cloth. A general lamentation on all the housetops of Moab in the streets. For I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure. Again bald headed, beard cut off right? However, I think that speaking of a complete removal of all hair from the head and the beard and the actual prohibition involves the removal of certain sections of the hair and certain parts of the beard. While it's true that going clean shaven or bald would be a transgression of a command, one would not be Transgressing the actual command unless the sides of the head and beard were shaved in of itself. Also, even if you believe that's the connection with the dead, let's just suppose you do believe that and that any other context is permissible to go clean shaven. It's quite possible that's the only context in which an Israelite man would have shave off his beard to begin with. he very idea of shaving one's beard was really unheard of in any other context, you might also might ask yourself if that's considered to be a pagan ritual to go clean shaven and to cut off your hair on your head. Are you sure you want to participate in something that's something that's considered to be a pagan ritual to being with? I know that Yahushua himself, He grew out His beard. In Isaiah Chapter 50:4, the Master Yahweh has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Master Yahweh has opened my ear and I was not rebellious nor did I turn away, this is Yahushua speaking here. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Hebrew word translated cheeks is Lechi, it can mean jaw. It's actually translated cheek 10 times and jaw or jaw bone 10 times. It's talking about whether it's on the cheek or on the jaw. n order for anyone to grab a handful of beard here off his cheeks or off of his jaw, he must have had a beard that was grown out. More so than the typical beard that you might see here, like see somebody get a handful of that and yank it out, not too easy. I don't think they had tweezers when they're pulling at Yahushua's beard. The kind of beard that's most common today is this right here. It be hard pressed to grab a handful of that. I want to be like Yahushua, that's my goal. I want to represent the body of Messiah, I want to represent Him in everything I do. I think the longer beard is closer to the example of the Messiah. ' am kind of reminded of the story my grandfather once told me years ago. He's a believer, Torah observant believer, has been since the late 70s and he grew out his beard and he worked for the city and he would go from, he was a meter reader, he get to go in houses sometimes to read the water meters. This older lady, he would go to her house and every time she saw him which is about every other month,
she would say, why don't you just cut off that beard, it's nasty. He had a big black beard. It's gross, I don't like it, it's nasty you know all this stuff and he just kind of took it. He didn't say much back. One time he come to her house and she had this painting, the Jesus painting on the wall. He's walking there and he sees it on the wall and he
goes, who's this? She says that's my Jesus. He said, well He has a beard. She never did say another word about his beard after that, that was it. Never a word again about his beard. ut it just goes to show that some of the Christian traditions really don't even line up with the Savior they adore and that's not what the Messiah even looks like but we know he had a beard. In some circles it's a sign of your Christianity, to get around clean shaven. Yet the Savior they adore, they depict as having a beard and the scripture says he had a beard. Not just a beard but a beard that was long enough for someone to grab a hold of and pull it out. Again I don't think they were using tweezers. I've had good paying jobs that were ready to hire me until they told me company policy to have a clean shaven face and nothing compared to the persecution Yahushua went through and maybe it was the clean shaven Romans that saw the opportunity to hurt Yahushua with his beard and disrespect him and the beard Yahweh gave him by pulling it out. But Yahushua took it all for us, blessed be his name. know, some of you out there you're saying, I just can't seem to grow much of a beard. Don't fret, if Yahweh did not give you much facial hair, it's just the way it is. But with what he does give you don't cut it off, do your best to obey the scripture and our Savior's example. Almost all, maybe all men have some small amount of facial hair, maybe some kind of mustache or something. It does not make you any less of a person or any less of a man if you can't grow out a full beard in two weeks. I can't grow any hair on top of my head either so, I don't know, maybe Yahweh made up for it. ctually I read yesterday that those who can grow a full beard are actually, according to Science, more likely to have balding when they get older, interesting. But for those who have tried growing a beard and
you just feel like you can't do it, just do your best. If you don't think, you don't like the way you look, Yahweh made you that way, rejoice and be glad in it. For those who have tried growing a beard, I got this problem, it itched and itched and itched. I found using dandruff shampoo helps. I found that the itch goes away. Other people find that using moisturizing conditioners help or baby shampoos because it's not so rough. Shampoos are only built for beards. void shampoos containing glycerin, glycerin can be pork by the way. But the glycerin tends to be a habitable location for certain organisms that cause itching. Keep the facial hair brushed and combed, depending on how long it is. I have to use a hairbrush on mine but you know we're men and with what facial hair Yahweh gave us we should let it grow. And speaking of that, in the same way Yahushua appealed in the book of Genesis for the guiding principle regarding marriage. It just seems to me that we should contemplate things in a similar manner regarding the beard. Going clean shaven, shaving it all completely off is not really natural. When Yahweh made men, one distinguishing characteristics is he had facial hair and a woman did not. It's one thing He set in place to distinguish between man and a woman. Beards were the norm for all men. His facial hair was and then someone come along and decided they're going to take a razor to it and probably the first guy that did that was mocked and ridiculed and accused of trying to be like a woman, maybe a boy. That alone bothers me. t's almost if not quite certain, it's sort of like rebelling. Yahweh made you this way, no I'll cut if off.
As if man wasn't satisfied with Yahweh's doings so he's going to do something different. Stripping away one of the distinguishing characteristics between men and women and something doesn't seem right about that to me. Blurring the gender lines is one of the things that we see going on, on our generation. Men are not masculine, women are not feminine. I' am not saying you got to have a big bushy beard to be masculine but Yahweh gave, as far as I know at least all men, some facial hair somewhere. What we see here is the feminization of men and masculinization of women being promoted as believers in Yahushua we should be on the opposite end of that spectrum. gain you don't have a big bushy beard like I do, that's okay. Whatever facial hair Yahweh gave you, leave it on your face. It's one of the things Yahweh gave you to make you look different than women. I really think we need to be content with how Yahweh made us. Don't worry about whether it will hinder you from finding a spouse. When we honor Yahweh first that's the best environment to get a blessing, right? The scripture says, a man that finds a wife finds a good thing obtains favor from Yahweh. I don't want to try to add anything to the scriptures but that does seem like it could very well be a reason why he said not to shave the sides of the beards and the head and everything. He made you a certain way. etting back to the dangers of pride in your appearance. Another area where I see pride could be creeping in is actually religious garments.
Things like walking around on a big nice Jewish Tallit, it's not really a garment mentioned in the scripture by the way. The Tallit Katan as we'll talk about that next week. The Tallit with all the little gold little things on it, silky kind of a garment. I' am not saying you can't do that. Why is that there? I don't believe there's anything in the scripture about a prayer shawl. Some would try to connect that with the closet that Yahushua spoke of going to your closet. The word closet, it does not mean prayer shawl, it means closet. Why do we put the shawl on our body? Is there something about it that makes you feel more holy? Just a little cautious here, that doesn't make you holy. It doesn't make you anything special. Let me ask you this question. Every religion has their little garments. Is this righteousness? Is that righteousness?
Or this? Which one is righteousness? Waltzing around with this fancy garb or this man here who's feeding the poor or this man here who's sharing with a prisoner. ighteousness is not walking around with fancy clothing. I' am against religious pride and dress. Yahushua is against religious pride and dress. Matthew 23:5 says, all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the borders of the tassels of their garments. They love the best places at feast, the best seats in the synagogues. Greetings in the marketplace to be called by men Rabbi, Rabbi. Cardinal, Cardinal, Father, Father, Priest, Priest, Reverend, Reverend whatever you want to say. See Christianity has just done their own version of the same thing that Judaism was doing. I don't want to do that. Yahushua commented on their attempt to exalt themselves with the way they're adorned and that's the very thing I' am speaking in this message on modesty and dress, I' am speaking against and both men and women are susceptible to allowing pride to creep in when it comes to the garments we wear. Now the garments here, the tassel is commanded in
scripture. But they are making them extra big, see. It says here in Numbers 15:38, speak to the children of Israel, tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. You shall have the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of Yahweh and do them and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined. That you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy for your Elohim. These Jews were saying, well if I make mine extra big everybody will think that hey, he's really wanting to remember those commands. You see how just a simple command can be turned around and corrupted and pride enter in. he same thing with a beard, I think. My beard is going to be extra, extra big. I don't know maybe. Now, some people believe this command's done away with. We have the Holy Spirit we don't need this tassels to remember the commandments. We have the Holy Spirit, you know the scripture says, John 14:26 the help of the Holy Spirit and the Father was send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you. They justify annulling that command because of what Yahushua said the Holy Spirit would do for us. We have to be careful about using human reasoning to scratch out commandments. Just because the Holy Spirit's able to bring Yahweh's word to our remembrance it does not mean that that commandment is abolished. Does that mean you no longer need a reminder for anything? That no one has to remind you of any commandments at all? Hebrews 12:4, it says, you have not yet resist the drop of bloodshed, striving against sin and you have forgotten the exhortation what speaks to you as sons, my son do not despise the chastening of Yahweh nor be discouraged when you're rebuked by Him. What's He doing here? He's reminding you of something in scripture. y son do not despise the chastening of Yahweh nor detest his correction. Now, why would we need a Bible to remind us of that commandment if we have the Holy Spirit? See? Truth is even the apostles wrote, brethren for the purposes of reminding them of various commandments right? The scripture says in Titus 3:1-2, remind them to be subject to rules and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work. Remind them, speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle in showing all humility to all men. Remind them, why? They got the Holy Spirit. You telling me to deny the Holy Spirit? Well, no, come on. He said, remind them. If we're faithless, He remains faithful He cannot die himself. Remind them of these things, charging them before Yahweh not to strive about words no prophet to the ruin of the ears. eter, considered himself to be at fault if he didn't remind. 2nd Peter 1:10-12, Therefore brethren be even
more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our master and savior Yahushua the Messiah. For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things though you know are established in the present truth. He figured it would be negligent if he didn't remind them. Why do they need a reminder they got the Holy Spirit. Yes I think it's right, as long as I' am in this tent to stir you up by reminding knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Master Yahushua the Messiah showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. ow who among us were to rebuke to the Apostles for reminding people things? The reality is the scriptures are full of reminders and precepts. To help us memorialize the things that Yahweh has said or the things Yahushua has done. In fact, Yahushua took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave to them saying, this is my body which is given for you, do this to remind you in remembrance of me. How can we ever forget Yahushua if we have the Holy Spirit? Yet we're expected to partake of him as an act of remembrance. Will anybody say that you don't have to do this because you got the Holy Spirit now?
I don't buy into this, you don't need it because the Holy Spirit reminds you. If Yahushua is the word, the word is made flesh and we're supposed to keep the precept, remember Yahushua while we reject in the other commandment given for the purpose of remembering.
esides this, are we greater than tall the Saints of the Old TestAmeint yet they were commanded to wear tassels, are we greater than Yahushua Himself who also wore tassels even though he had the Holy Spirit, and didn't need a single reminder. And what is the Spirit supposed to do? It's supposed to remind you, cause you to keep his statutes, his judgments and do him. That's what the Spirit does. One of the statutes and his judgments is to wear tassels. The presence of Yahweh's spirit in our life does not negate the need to wear tassels. Besides if Yahweh said wear them, why do we feel a need to find reasons and not do it? Maybe Yahweh has other reasons besides reminding.
He told Eve, don't partake of the fruit. Didn't explain all the reasons behind it. He says don't eat it, you'll die. You shall die. Just as he had instructed Adam and Eve to not eat it. rompted by the serpent, Eve reasoned, well, Yahweh said that, you know, this and that and then she reasoned and said, okay, I'll do it. Let's not reason, let's just obey. I hope that lays to rest any thought. I mean who has the whole Bible memorized, right? Let's not get in this thought where we don't have to do something because we've got the Holy Spirit now. Yahweh says, to wear it? And so it's good, it's good to have memorials, reminders, things that bring Yahweh's word to the forefronts of our minds. We are humans, we are prone to forgetting, prone to letting our eyes and our hearts turn away from the commandments of Yahweh. magine, you know, you're falling away, you're stopping, you're not serving Yahweh like you're supposed to, and those tassels you put on your clothes every day. You would have to overcome that hurdle, of habit, and physically take the tassels off your garments. If you have any conscience at all, that would be hard to do. Supposed you're being tempted to look at porn or commit adultery, you got them tassels sitting there to remind you of you who are a Messiah, Yahushua imploring you, if you love me, keep my commandments. The Torah's saying, love Yahweh with all your heart, soul and mind. Love your wife, love your husband as yourself. If you have any conscience at all, it would be much harder to turn away from Yahweh's commandments, so that's a reminder, being a part of what your dress includes, modesty in dress. It's all part of it. ahushua, you know, when he wore them, Yahweh used them mildly. Luke 8:43, and now a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years has spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the kraspedon of his garment, and neatly her flow of blood stopped. Again, Matthew Chapter 9:20 is saying the word kraspedon. The word is translated border, but, as you look as kraspedon, it's in classical Greek, prominent edge of a thing, but mentioned here, it says the Jews has such appendages attached to their mantels, remind them of the law. According to Numbers 15:37, 38.and so on. iber lexicon says, in Jewish usage, a tassel or fringe, the four corners of the outer garment one is reminded to observe. The commandments, it's in the four corners, so your wear four of these. It's all commandment, it's all part of his word.
Actually the DuTillet, which is a 450 year old Hebrew manuscript, the book of Matthew, contains sitsi in these passages. Mark 14:34 says, when they crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and when the men of that place recognized him, they sent out into all surrounding region, and brought to him all who were sick, and begged them that they might only touch the hem, the kraspedon of his garment, and as many has touched it were made perfectly well. Yahweh used it. Yahweh used it. So we see, Yahweh used the tassels, Yahushua wore it in a powerful way, and people were begging to touch the tassels of his garment. Maybe it all happened, maybe it will happen again, you never know. Are we representing the Messiah Yahushua in our clothing, the things that we're wearing?
We know Yahweh, Yahushua had the fullness of Yahweh's spirit and didn't need any reminders, but he wore them anyway. This wanted to touch that tassel, and they were healed. It says whoever keeps his word truly in the love of Elohim, was perfected to him. By this we know we're in him. He who says he abides in him, or himself also to walk just as he walked. Guess what, I' am wearing tassels, how about you?
Maybe Yahweh could use it too, you know, to be able to recognize each other. I found that, hey, there's a brother. He's got himself some tassels on, and walk up to him. Hey, shalom, how are you doing? Got a little sign here, you know. It's a little thing we know each other. ut you know, the community around us would know who we are too. We all serve Yahweh, and we all love Yahweh. I can speak from experience, you know. Unbelieving Jews would ask why we're wearing them, because many of them are wearing them without the blue corner attached to their tassels, and some are not wearing them at all. Other people ask, what are these? Let me tell you about Yahushua. You remember the woman who had the flow of blood talk about a Savior? Well, it says that, touch the hem of his garment. If you look it up in the Greek original, it actually has kraspedon there, which is translated hem, but it really means tassel. This is what he was wearing, one of these. I' am trying to live like he did, and so I wear these. It reminds me, this is my WWYD, my WWJD, WWYD.
His name is actually Hebrew, it's Yahushua. Most people know that nowadays. ut you know, this is really, it's really great, because it's a reminder to keep, you know, commandments and to be obedient. A lot of people with Christian background, they're amazed it's even in scripture, and it opens a door for witnessing opportunities. And so, and this is how Yahweh intended it's people to dress and maybe, as a non-Israelite nations would ask them, why do you wear those, you know. There could be other reasons, brothers and sisters. Not just a reminder to keep the commandments. Anyway, if you're interested in learning more about these as part of your dress, both men and women are commanded to wear these. There's nothing that says men only in scripture. Elia.com/tassels.html, and in a longer video study where we go in a deep depth like we do most topics on a weekly broadcast. Elia.com/transcripts. It is the November 8, 2014 broadcast, almost exactly
two years ago in the Roman calendar. It had how to make tassels here, elia.com/maketassels.html. I should mention that for some reason you can't make a set, well, we will send you a set for free. Thanks to the volunteers. We'll send you a set at no charge. hat about the phylacteries? We read about that. What are the phylacteries? It's the strips of parchment they had had. They kept it in boxes, and that would be attached to their left arm, and to the forehead. Yahushua was commenting on how they make their big
phylacteries to be seen by men, he says.
He didn't comment on whether or not that was a commandment or not. But there's probably nothing wrong with doing it. But I don't know for sure that it's all commanded. So, anyway, Deuteronomy 6:7 says, you shall teach them diligently to your children. I' am talking about the commandments. And shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by their way, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates. So bind them as a sign on your hand, and they should be as frontlets between your eyes. It might make the case, it should be tied to your hands somewhere. To have them as frontlets, this seems like it has a spiritual meaning, in that they're bound to your hands, in the sense that all that you do with your hands are governed by the scriptures. All you think with your mind is governed by the scriptures. n support of that view, Exodus 13:14, so it shall be when your son asks you in time to come saying, what is this talking about the Passover? Then you shall say to him, by strength of hand, Yahweh brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And it came to pass when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that Yahweh killed all the first born in the land of Egypt, both the first born of man, and the first born of beast. Therefore I sacrificed to Yahweh all males that open the womb, but all the first born of my sons I redeemed. It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes. For by strength of hand, Yahweh brought us out of Egypt. How could this Passover be a sign on your hand, you know, this whole event, be a sign on your hand and frontlet. his seems like, as a sign, like a sign, like you've always got it in your mind. It's always a part of you and what you're about. So that what it seems to me. It seems like a spiritual being of you here. I don't know that it's physical. But maybe, maybe the binding of the hand you could make this the case. I don't do it, but maybe I, you know, something I need to think about. I had a brother that made a watch one time. He made a watch and he had the commandments on it. I thought that was neat. I wore it. Speaking of watches, a dear brother this past summer gave me a very nice watch, I mean, super nice, rose gold, had the moon face on it. I really, really appreciate it, I liked it. But this gold thing, as I was studying this topic out, you know, I had the sense that the spirit was speaking to me whenever I put this thing on. It was nice, I mean super fancy. nd the concept in First Timothy about the wearing of gold and expensive looking garments, and whenever I wore it, it kind of felt like I was communicating to the world I value riches in wearing expensive things, you know. I love the watch. I mean, my conscious kept speaking to me, and so I started doing this study, I became kind of convinced maybe I shouldn't wear it, unless I could paint it or something. I mean, or maybe I' am here in my house by myself, or something, but brother, the one that gave it to me, if you're watching this, I want you to know, I really, really appreciate it. I'll send it back if you want me to. But just something in my conscience has kept, you know, speaking to me about it. I don't want there to be anything in my heart that promotes pride of life, or the spirit of the world. Satan fell because of that kind of pride. zekiel Chapter 28 says, son of man, take up a limitation for the king of Tyre, say to him, thus says the master Yahweh, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden. In Eden? The garden of Elohim. Every precious stone was your covering, Sardis, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbers and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of Elohim. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways on the day you were created, 'til inequity was found in you. This is a dual meaning here, I believe, satanic and the one who is being led by that same spirit, the king of Tyre. By the abundance of your training, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. herefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of Elohim. I destroyed of covering cherub, for the midst of fiery stones. I don't know what the trading was exactly. Your heart was lifted up, why? Because of your beauty, that's why. That was all a problem. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground, laid you before kings that might gaze at you. That is what brought Lucifer down. ow, could there be Lucifer trying to get us to kind of go along the same route. I don't want to be any part of that. I don't want to be far, far from that. Now I' am 46 years old. My youthful days are past. But there are other ways that this kind of pride can creep in. I think it's best we keep ourselves protected from this, because that is exactly what the world is pursuing with all their might, youth, and beauty, and it's just crazy. So whether you're a man, or whether you're a woman, whether you're young or whether you're old, we need to be on guard against pride. We did not create ourselves. We have no reason to gloat on our appearance, or try to exalt ourselves on our appearance. e have no reason glorify ourselves on our appearance. Yahweh, he is Elohim. It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and sheep of his pasture. He is to be glorified with what he has created, not man. He wants to say, don't you know, don't you know your body's a temple of the Holy Spirit, 1st Corinthians 6:19, who is in you, whom you have from Elohim, and you, you are not your own. You don't belong to yourself. You were bought at a price, therefore, because of that, because of this, therefor, glorify Elohim in your body, and in your spirit, which are Elohim's. So we have to be humble, and not exalt ourselves in any way. We have to be humble. And speaking of that, what about cosmetics? I've picked on the men long enough I think. I'll switch back and forth as we go. But what about cosmetics? I mean, cosmetics are extremely common today, makeup. mean they're mentioned in scripture, Jeremiah 4:30 it says, when you are plundered what will you do? Though you clothed yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornAmeints of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with pain, in vain you will make yourself fair. You're trying to make yourself look nice in vain. Your lovers will despise you, they'll seek your life. What's the motive here? To make themselves fair. I think it's a pretty accurate description in the purpose of cosmetics. nd Kings 9:30, it says when Jehu come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head and looked through the window. What's with the paint? And as Jehu enter the gate, she said, is it peace Zimri, murderer of your master? She's trying to seduce him. He looked up at the window and said, who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. He said, throw her down. So he threw her down, some of her blood spattered on the wall, and the horses trampled her underfoot. I guess it didn't work. I mean every context I can find, I paint in scripture, cosmetics in scripture is always negative. The only women I can find who are wearing it are harlots and Jezebel, who sought to seduce Jehu. Seduction seems to be the aim in each case. The Messiah speaks here in Revelation 2:20, a few things against you, you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, to eat things, sacrifice to idols, seduction is in view here. Please understand me, I' am not calling anybody who wears cosmetic a harlot. I' am not saying that. Please don't think that's what I' am saying. It doesn't mean every person wearing makeup today is trying to seduce men. But let's just say, you know, in scriptures, cosmetics don't have the best reputation. I would think it's pretty much on par with other things, like jewelry and fancy hair, and wearing gold, and putting on fine apparel. I don't know how it would be really much different. As all of these are coming from the same kind of thinking. I mean can't you agree with that? I mean, if there's something different, please, I'd invite you to let me know what that is. here are two other things really that concern me about cosmetics, our goal is to be a person after Now the best artist I know is a man by the name of Daniel Wenikoff. Suppose he made me a painting. Yes Daniel, I' am n trying to embarrass you. he made painting and he spent a lot of time and energy and effort into making me this painting. He could not wait to show me this painting. He was so excited. I mean it was just perfect. I mean everything was just so. Finally the day came and he presented it to me and I said, oh, that's really nice. Then he watched me as I took as I took a paint brush and fixed this over here for you, and put little colors over here. It's actually changed the work that he had done. ow would Daniel feel at that point? Like a little rejection I would say. I mean, maybe even offended. I probably would think that what I did may have looked worse, or he would have made it look that way. I mean he had the capability of making it look that way, but he didn't. As a person seeking to be after Yahweh's own heart, I wonder if that's what women are doing when they paint themselves. I mean he made them just how he wanted them to look. They come along, no, no, no. Put color over here, a little dash of black over here, and that's what they do. Now I don't pretend to know everything about the heart of Yahweh, but it makes sense to me that he wouldn't be too happy about that. Maybe even offended. It's more like the beard. I mean, he gave us facial hair, we come along, no, I don't want that. Different look altogether here, almost seems rebellious. At a minimum, it doesn't seem to be respecting Yahweh's ownership of our bodies. e know something very similar to that will be offensive to us. It makes sense to me, he would be offended also just as my friend Daniel, I' am sure he would be not too happy about my attempts to fix his paintings hanging on the wall. I mean, let's say he didn't give it to you. He had it on the wall there on display, and I go, oh no Daniel, I think I like this over here better. Now wait a minute, that's my painting. Yeah, but I like this better over here. You know he's at an art show, I' am over there fixing all his paintings for him. He owns the painting, right? Who owns your body? Yahweh owns your body, and you go along, and no, I don't like what you did. I want to, maybe in Yahweh's eyes, all your little paint stuff is ugly. It's just we being conditioned by our culture to see it as being pretty. Honestly I think makeup is ugly. I mean, I can't stand the makeup all being caked on. The second thing that concerns me also that can be involved in cosmetics is this. ow, does anybody recognize this person right here? Anyone know who that is? I have question. Who is that? Do you know them? This is a very, very popular country music singer. Now do you recognize them? It's the same person, believe it or not, it's Carrie Underwood without the makeup and with the makeup. You can't even tell that's the same person. And here's another example, that's the same one. It's sad because these people have got millions of dollars to spend on their makeup and their appearance. And these photo shopped, air brushed pictures. hese people, these young women, young girls grow up and they're like, I don't look that nice. I don't look like that. They feel inferior. They feel like they're not going to measure up in this world, and that they're not going to be attractive to young men, and that they have to somehow reach this level. But you know, to me it's deceptive, it's deception. This is what I really look like on the left, and what I try to portray myself as is on the right. I've heard women say, well I need to go put my face on, I'll be back. They go put the makeup on. It's like wearing a mask, really. I mean, it's not the color of your lips. Sorry, but this is not the way your lips look. Sorry to draw on your face, but it is not the way your eyelids look. It's not your cheeks, it's not your eyelashes. I mean it's like wearing a wig or a hair piece. Now someone might say, well Tom, you're just going to extreme. ut just as our clothing is communication, so can cosmetics communicate the following message. I' am not content with my creator made me. I must put on a mask, and cause myself to appear differently than how he made me, and make everyone think I look different than the way I was actually created by Yahweh to look. You get my drift? I' am trying to reason with you. Maybe I' am totally off. It makes perfect sense to me. Now someone might say, well what about braces, you know, would it be a sin? You know, Yahweh gave you crooked teeth, and so, can you not get braces? Yeah I made my son get, I paid for my son to get braces. I didn't make him do it. Because the dentist told me, the way his teeth were constructed, he would likely lose all of his teeth by the time he reached 45 years of age. And so I don't have a problem with that. And listen, I don't want to be a Pharisee or extremist. just want to be sure they're honoring Yahweh in every aspect of our lives, including our physical appearance. I have serious questions as to whether wearing cosmetics is really in honor to him, just as I would question whether changing that painting that is hanging on Daniel Wenikoff's wall is in honor to him. I' am not trying to embarrass you Daniel. But if we don't like the natural face, maybe we've been seduced by the spirit of the world. Eve didn't have any makeup, yet you know Adam was like, whoo, that's beautiful, wow Yahweh, thank you. Can't we be content with what Yahweh has given us, even the areas we don't think we look normal. Can we be content? mean I lost hair. Younger than usual age, I lost hair and I have had people chuckle over it and make little jokes here and there, whatever. I' am well into poking a little fun at myself too and say, you know, my hair fell out, it landed on my chin, you know. But maybe the people in this world don't like my half bald head. But it doesn't really matter that much. I mean, I'll comb what little hair I've got left and move on. Yeah, I mean, it's probably considered to be a genetic defect. But Yahweh allowed it in my life, and so he must have approved the way I look. Well it's not really going to matter in eternity, really. Is it really going to matter in six trillion years of eternity whether my head had this much hair, that much hair? I mean, our time in this life is so short, our life on this planet compared to eternity is like a grain of sand compared to the size of the universe. What does it matter what people in this life think of my head, or your face, or whatever else. I mean obviously Yahweh put a stamp of approval on it, and so my appearance is my mark of his ownership. He is master of it. He made me this way, I have to be willing to be content with it, and I'll seek to glorify him above my body and spirit, which are his. I don't belong to myself anyway. I would hope that we would all share in that same kind of contentment and desire. Can we do that? Can we take that step? on't let your identity be in what you look like so much, except that what you look like would honor and glorify your creator who loves you far more than any other human being on the plant. Man is going to fail you every time. You put your hope in what they think of you, one person think your face is too fat, and one person says it's too skinny, one person says your nose is too long, one says too short, one says too flat, one says too this and too that. What do you do with what they say really? Whoever you're going to be married to will find it plenty good enough, and be content, and love you no matter what. Besides, it's the kind of man you want anyway. ou don't want somebody that just marries you because of the way you look, start getting baggy eyes and wrinkled face, then what will you have. Hopefully someone that loves you for you, right? That's what you want, someone who love you just the way you are. No masks, not painting anything, not pretending anything. This is who I am. If you don't love me for what I am then in 40 years you probably won't love me the way I am either. So I want someone I can trust. Now speaking of hair, I mean, is it a sin for a man to have long hair? How about a woman to have short hair, is that a sin? ell, the scripture we looked at earlier, contextually talking about the 1,000 year reign, and the preserving established again, and the temples reestablished again, this is our future prophecy, it's never happened. Ezekiel 44:18, they shall have linen turbans on their heads, and then trousers on their bodies, talking about the priests. They shall not cloth themselves with anything that causes sweat. He's talking about linen and wool together, or wool on their body. Now when they go to the outer court, the outer court of the people, they should take off their garments once they've ministered, lead them in the holy chambers, put on the other garments, and their holy garments, they shall not sanctify the people. hey shall not shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long. But they shall keep their hair well-trimmed. So they don't want complete shaving and complete removal of hair, and doesn't want the hair to grow long either, but just keep their hair well-trimmed, which is pretty much what we do today, most of us. Now, this scripture is speaking of a future time, once again. Yahweh is talking about the thousand year reign. To my knowledge, there's nothing in the Torah that requires a priest to keep their hair well-trimmed. But this will be Yahweh's expectation in the age to come. I've wondered, why Yahweh would require that in that particular time period. Now, one possible explanation, I' am just musing here, I' am not making a doctrine out of this, is that the earthly priesthood is supposed to be a reflection of the Melchizedek priesthood. e know that much. Now Yahushua the Messiah from what we read, in other parts of Ezekiel, is going to be dwelling in that very temple, in the priestly functioning there, and he will be both priest and king. He, having short hair, therefore, being more, an accurate representation of Melchizedek priest if he had short hair. Now, if that's the case, since I' am a part of the Melchizedek priesthood, the royal priesthood, I would want to be a reflection of Yahushua as well and so I'll want to keep my hair well-trimmed. That's the closest I can come to anything resembling a commandment here. Maybe I' am stretching it out, and maybe I' am just trying to get as close to scripture as I possibly can. Now Nazarites are actually required to let their hair grow long. umbers Chapter 6:5 says, all the days the valve of separation, the razors took them upon its head, until the days are fulfilled for which he would separate himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy, then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. Samson, Samuel, maybe John the Baptist were all Nazarites. Yahushua was not a Nazarite, because he didn't drink from the fruit of vine. However, one might argue he is presently, today, a Nazarite, based on what it said here in this scripture. ark 14:23. He took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it. And he said to them, this is my blood, of the new covenant, which is shed for many. But surely I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of Elohim. So, with Yahushua have long hair now? Is he taking a Nazarite vow? I don't know. Does hair grow in heaven? Does it grow in heaven? I mean, 2000 years of hair growth, I mean, it would be probably a mile long. Would there be dead ends at break off? I mean, where do you go with this? Was it even a Nazarite vow? Part of a Nazarite vow is to refrain from fruit of the vine, but there's also, you can't go near a dead body, would be another one. Yahushua himself had a dead body, and he was in a tomb. here do we go with this? It's not really clear to me, where do you go? Paul, when he was talking about long hair and short hair, it says in 1st Corinthians 11: 14, does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for recovering? Now if Yahushua took a Nazarite vow, which required him to let his hair grow, I don't see why Paul would have dishonored him, as Yahushua dishonoring himself for 2000 years. I' am not sure we can say Yahushua was taking a Nazarite vow. I mean did grapes grow in heaven? Does Yahushua have the ability to drink wine there? I don't know. I don't if he would. But I mean, one thing to consider is Yahushua as a final act of temptation, the very last thing he was tempted with was to violate the very thing he said about not partaking, not drinking. He said, I won't drink of the fruit of his vine until I drink it with you. It's the final time where he was tempted with this as a last temptation. ohn 19:28 through 30 says, now after this Yahushua, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled said, I thirst. Now a vessel of what, sour wine is the fruit of the vine, was sitting there, and they felt a sponge with sour wine, put it on a hyssop and put it to his mouth. And when Yahushua has received the sour wine, he said, it is finished and bowing his head he gave up the spirit. Now it sounds like he, he drank it. And that would have been a violation of his commitment to his disciples. But the truth is he did not drink it because other, other versions get clarity. Thankfully we have multiple witnesses here. Matthew 27:33, when they came to a place called Golgotha, that's place of the skull, they gave them sour wine and mingled with all the drink. But when he tasted it, he would not drink. So he did not drink it. So the purpose of the vow, or the commitment may have been to set up this final temptation, because up to that point, he had never experienced a temptation, and one had to resist the fruit of the vine, right? Up to that point, he never had to say no to grapes. I think that the gall and the wine was taught to be a pain reliever. So it amidst of all the pain he was suffering, he may have been tempted to drink it, but he refused and said no. I tell you, I know what it is now. Okay, it's maybe knew what it was, but do you want to confirm? He did taste it, he never drank it, he kept his commitment. So maybe that was part of the reason for the vow, that he might be tempted at all points just as we are, even for a Nazarene. If someone wants to take a Nazarite vow today, it's going to be tough because you got no way to get free of it that I know of. aul, along with four other men took a Nazarite vow, which would mean his hair would be required to grow, depending on how long the Nazarite vow, if it was two years, four years. His hair could have been quite long. And so, you know, if you're going to take a Nazarite vow, it seems to me that you'd have to take it for life, because according to number 6, you got to do different things with the priest involved, in order to be cleansed, unless there's some way maybe to spiritualize it. I don't know how you do it, but, but other than Nazarite vow, I don't know of any scripture that really speaks to permitting men to grow their hair out. Getting back here at this statement in 1st Corinthians 11:14 to 15, I can understand why Paul, he's taking a lesson from nature here, for men to have short hair, women have long hair. But then he says, with anyone who seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches or assemblies of Elohim. nd so, I really believe this custom here is talking about long hair and short hair. I don't believe it's talking about the head covering. So that all makes sense too, because I mean, Paul himself had long hair. It can't be a commandment, but maybe an encouragement, to look at the nature of things and conserve that you're dishonoring yourself by going against nature. And women are permitted to have long hair, and encouraged to, to glory to them when they let it grow out. It's more fitting with how nature intended things to be. Maybe this is another reason for the priest being required to keep their hair well-trimmed. ook of Ezekiel, priests are in a place of honor for the glory of Elohim. They should not be going against nature, dishonoring themselves, or the office that they hold. Now we are also a royal priesthood. Chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation is on special people. You may proclaim the praises of him that called you out of darkness, into his marvelous life who once were not a people, but now are the people of Elohim. Who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. HalleluYah. It seems to me we should not bring dishonor to the priesthood. Put those two together, but it's not a commandment. on't be contentious about it, it's not a custom, and maybe that would accommodate for the Nazarite vow in other contexts where maybe hair would need to be shaved. But, and just as Paul did, I can't make a commandment out of it. We have an admonishment in regarding the nature of things. That's kind of where it's limited. We are out of time, and we're going to pick up again next week as we continue our examination into modesty in dress. I want to reiterate, I' am not trying to create a bunch of rules and regulations for men to take in, and force on their wives and teenage daughters or whoever, or for wives to pressure their husbands and conform to this and that. I' am going to state a goal from the outset. And when it gets close to scripture as I possibly can, regarding Yahweh's will from modesty in dress, and we need to take this matter to Yahweh, that his spirit lead and convict us to what his will is, take it to prayer, that Yahweh's spirit speak to you regarding this matters. y own wife, my own daughters may or may not be exactly where I am, every little point I made. I don't really know, because I've given them a certain amount of freedom to explore the will of Yahweh on this, because when it comes to what we're communicating with their physical appearance, they can be very open to interpretation. And to one person, certain clothing style or aspect communicates one this, to another it's another. I want us all to hear Yahweh's spirit, because that's what's really going to convict the person, is the Spirit of Yahweh in each of us, and give each of us some leeway. n some of the details, I share my heart, the things I' am seeing. You see something different, that's your decision. But try to remember that our outward appearance does reflect, not just on you, but on me, on Messiah, on Yahweh, on his name, everything. For me, I want to play it safe. I want to be cautious on how I represent my Savior and his word and his principles and the things that he is about. I want to be very cautious in how I represent him to the world, because we're communicating with our appearance, whether we think we are or we're not, we are communicating. I don't want the pride of life, I don't want the lust of eyes or any of the things that are not of his spirit, to be communicated. I don't mean adulterers and adulteresses who try to be a friend of the world. want Yahushua the Messiah, his life, his love, his purity, his set apartness, his holiness, to be communicated. And I trust that's the way you feel as well. Let's pray. Oh Father Yahweh, we just desire for righteousness and love and purity and truth to reign, Father Yahweh, in our hearts first and foremost, and then out of our hearts, our mouth will speak. And out of our hearts, our adornment will speak as well. And Father we choose contentment with how you've made us. We choose to adhere ourselves to the principles in your word regarding these matters. We pray Father that you would convict the hearts, that you would reach the people with truth of your word, by your spirit, and that we would all be in conformity to your will, the praise of your glory. For truly, this body you've given us is your body. We give it completely to you, because we know it's yours to begin with. You bought us with a price, with the precious blood of Yahushua Hamashiach. We don't want to buy it back. We don't want it back. We want you to have it. We don't want to own it. We know if we own it, it's going to hell. We don't want to go to the lake of fire. Father, we want you to take ownership, and we Yahweh's own heart. give it completely to you. For truly yours is the kingdom and power and glory and majesty, and all praise, honor, and worship belongs to you.
clothing talks, we talked about this last segment and you know the way we look as our first impression. Everyone, before anyone knows who we are, we speak about who we are through the things that we wear our appearance. It becomes a part of our identity and illustration of who we are and what we are really about right? So it does matter, our clothing does talk. It has speech to it and we talked about that at length in our last segment. I want to say first of all, I 'am not trying to create a bunch of rules and regulations for men to take and force on their wives and teenage daughters or for wives to pressure their husbands to conform to. My stated goal, from the outset of this lesson is to try to get as close to scripture as we possibly can regarding Yahweh's will for modesty and for dress. Please my brothers and my sisters, do not oppress your families over these things particularly details that we're a little fuzzy on and I don't want to create a bunch of pharisaical things here. But I do want to try to get as close as we can to our Father's heart, that's my goal and that's subject to interpretation and I realize that. My own family, my own wife, my own children, my daughters, I don't enforce every tiny little thing that I share with them. I want them to see what I' am sharing and I want them to be convicted about it. I don't want to shove everything down their throat. My goal is to lead and in this you know, as they're able to and willing to follow that leadership that we all need to take this matter to Yahweh. Let His spirit, let His word convict us as to what His will is. Take it to prayer personally, let Yahweh's spirit speak to you regarding these matters. Let His word speak to you regarding these matters. When it comes to what we are communicating with our physical appearance because that can very much be open to interpretation. To one person this kind of clothing speaks this to them and to another person that kind of clothing may speak something a little different. The clothing styles and appearances, we just need to let Yahweh's spirit guide us and give each other some leeway over the details. I'm going to share my heart, the things I'm seeing in the scripture, if you see something different that's your decision but I try to remember our outward appearance reflects on the whole body of the Messiah, not just yourself but also your family and not just your family, your immediate family but your family, you're extended family and the body of Messiah. For myself I want try to play it safe. Be cautious on how I'm representing our Savior. How I'm representing the Messiah, how I'm representing His people to the world because we are Communicating with our appearance. Whether we think we are or not, we are communicating. I don't want the pride of life, I don't want the lust of the eyes. I don't want the things that are not of Yahweh's spirit to be communicated. I want Yahushua the Messiah, His purity, His life, His set-apartness, His holiness to be communicated and I trust that you feel the same way. emember clothing talks and we studied last week, 1 Timothy Chapter 2 Verse 8. I desire therefore men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath, without doubting. We just had a presidential election, the context of this is talking about praying for our leaders without wrath and without doubting and don't be ashamed. Lift up the holy hands as an evening sacrifice to Yahweh. In like manner the women, adorn themselves and modest appear with propriety and moderation. Not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing but which is proper for women professing reverence toward Elohim with good works. We examine this particular scripture, we took a microscope to it, magnifying glass to it and we look deeply in to the lexicon to try to extract the meanings of what's being said here. When we did that we came up with the following attributes, what clothing must communicate according to this particular scripture. Must communicate which is proper that means what's going to be feminine for a woman. What's masculine for a male and what's humble. What's modest, reflective of good behavior? A sense of bashfulness, that means not with wanton eyes as one of the words happened to communicate to us here. A humility rather than flaunting self as in, look at me, look at me. Well ordered, that's actually the word translated modest. Well ordered, not disheveled, not unkempt. That means yes you can brush your hair, you don't want your hair flying out everywhere okay? Respectful shyness, reserve and reticence. Self-control and temperance. Sober mindedness, curbing carnal impulses and desires. Discreet, reverential toward Elohim and finally with faith and without wrath. With faith and without wrath. we know that the fruits of the spirit are seen in this list. Fruits of the spirit are seen here, so when the spirit of Yahweh is living in us, it will manifest in our attitudes, our personality and along with those things are dress and I say this of both men and women. Some modesty study they just are always picking on the women. Picking at them and picking at them. But there can be pride in dress not just in women but in men also.
Yes in men also. Now I realize it says, not with braided hair, gold, pearls and costly clothing. A man's got a whole thing of chain of you know a
bunch of chains around his neck and how about that? Shouldn't that apply to men as well? I think so and costly clothing. I think that would apply to men. I don't think we need to limit this to just the women and then the men would walk around however they want. n some religions, the women are practically looking like -- the only thing you can see are the two eyes. The men are walking around with cowboy outfit then a pair of jeans and I don't think that is reflective of Yahweh's will at all. I think that we both need to be communicating righteousness. An earlier picture that we looked at, you may recall, these two men here. Let me ask you, what do you think these guys are saying with their clothing? What do you think? Do you think that they are clothed with humility? I just don't see humility here, I am looking for it,
I' am not finding it for some reason now. It says, you likewise you younger people submit Yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility, for Elohim resist the proud but gives grace to the humble.
These guys, they don't look humble, they look like they're like " you don't mess with me, I' am going to bite your head off or I' am going to beat you up, I' am going to punch you up. You mess with me even one second", that's what I' am seeing here and some other people may see something different. see a lot of pride here honestly, certain kinds of sunglasses have a way of communicating, I' am tough guy. I' am not going to put up with you, I' am not going to be gentle with you when you mess, you cross me the
wrong way I' am not going to be Mr. Gentle.
Tough guy appearances give a man a sense of power, a sense of control. A situation don't go the way they want, they will make it go the way they want.
Power and control over other people, because if you cross them the wrong way they'll be quick to fight you right? Is this what disciples of Yahushua are really about? Is this what we're really about? Yahushua says, behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Are sheep aggressive? Be wise as a serpent, harmless as doves.
Does this sound like guys who are just harmless as doves and sheep in the midst of wolves? Somehow I don't get that impression when I see their faces, I just don't. ride can be present in many respects right? Not just women but men also.
It can be also in the length of one's beard, large, long, overgrown beards can be an attempt on the part of the person to gain respect and cause themselves to be exalted, maybe appear as a sage, a wise man, some kind of holy man right? I' am not saying everybody who's got a long, big, bushy overgrown beard has that hidden motive in their heart, but it can be. I' am not saying long beards are bad, one time I had a beard that was long enough to reach my belly button. I didn't want to cut it when I -- I was lying in bed one night and my wife was sleeping on it and I couldn't get my beard out. Is that really necessary? I got to thinking about it, was it really necessary for me to have a beard that long? I wasn't trying to be Mr. Holy Man or Mr. Sage, I was just letting it grow long, I thought it looked nice, I look pretty neat. But I thought, if I' am trying to reach someone with my faith, I wonder if they might be thinking in the back of their mind as I got this big old long beard, I' am not going to listen to this guy because I don't want to become like him, I don't want to have to go around with a two foot long beard.
ut some of us like that image you know? That long bearded image. Maybe there's a hidden motive somewhere and that's not my, I wasn't trying to be anything. I wasn't really sure how long I need to grow my beard but I came to understand, it wasn't necessary for it to be this long and so, maybe I' am even a stumbling block to someone who's blind to the things that Yahweh has shown me and the scripture tells me, Don't curse the deaf and don't put a stumbling block before the blind, Fear my Mighty One. What if me, doing something I don't really think is necessary and growing this long beard I am giving people this impression, you got to be like me. You got to have this beard down to your belly button or whatever and then they're going to look at me, here I' am doing something I don't really need to do and so I shortened it. I want to make sure though my beard was in line with scripture and when I look at scripture, you shall not shave around the sides of your head nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. As I look here at the scripture, the word translated disfigure, Shachath, means to destroy, corrupt, ruin, decay. Technically, this word is in the HIPHIL. The HIPHIL version of that, pardon me I'll back
up here. In the HIPHIL it says, to spoil, ruin and destroy and so you're cutting it, you're taking a razor to it basically. Okay that's clear to me. Within the HIPHIL, spoil, ruin, destroy but what about the edges and what's that all about?
It's the Hebrew word Puah ] meaning corner, edge, side, corner, extremity, corner, side but notice here it's translated side 64 times. Corner 16 times, quarter four times and one time, so the side seems to be the most commonly used way to translate the word. his is a noun it's not a verb so you can't make, it doesn't have a verb form to it. But I noticed that the word had more to do with
sides than corners. The Septuagint which is a Greek translation of the Old TestAmeint actually translated it appearance rather than side or corner. I couldn't really get anything clear from the Septuagint. But there are places where corner would make sense. When you reap the harvest of your land you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field. Leviticus 19:9, it could be edges of your field. It could be the sides of your field. What is the side of a field? Nor shall you gather the gleans of your harvest. n Exodus 26:26, you shall make four rings of gold and put the rings on the four corners that are, at its four legs. They're going to be at the corners right? I could see that there maybe could be but I' am thinking it's safe just because we're dealing with sides and corners so just make sure that sides and corners are not cut. Let the beard grow out some. The Jews believe that the corner is the section here between the earlobe and the beard like it's kind of cornered off right here. This part right here let it grow way out and take a curling iron or something to it so it doesn't hang down, get in the way and maybe it get caught in machinery or something. he orthodox, Hasidic that's their view of it,
honestly I have a hard time seeing this what he's talking about. To me the clearest example what a corner edge might be, it would be the jaw line and that's where you're coming down and it goes in right?
Mostly a nine degree corner all the way around. As the beard grows out it seems to me that would be the logical location of the corner and let the beard grow out and maybe even, I just decided I'll cut it square. Make sure I've got my corners in place. I' am not really sure, 100% where the corner is, if it's even a corner at all because if you look at the scripture, the edges, if you look here the word sides here where it says the sides of your head, this word translated sides and this word translated edges it's the the same exact word in Hebrew. No different, Puah. I don't know why they translated side in one place and edge in the other. mean where is the corner on your head? Your head is round, I don't know if anybody's got their head so square that it's got a corner to it. It's translated sides in one place, edges in the other and so I just thought, what about this? What about the sides of your head? What is he talking about when he says sides? It seems like it would be this right here. Conveniently Yahweh left me some hair in that location. The only other place I know of in scripture that talks about the need for keeping your hair trimmed is Ezekiel 44:20 where it says, they shall neither shave their heads nor let their hair grow long, talking about the priest in this future temple in Ezekiel 44, this is a thousand year reign so, it's okay to cut your hair. mean he certainly would not have had a priest
being required to cut hair if it was wrong to cut hair. He is saying it is okay and so this word translated Puah is not saying you can never cut your beard at all. Otherwise you'd have to translate the same thing over here and say you can never cut the sides of your hair at all and which would basically mean, your hair is all going to grow long here on the sides and isn't that the difference between a normal man and a Nazarite? Nazarite can't put a razor to his head so otherwise it would make them men of Nazarite. I hope you're following me on this. I' am trying to get to the bottom of the scripture, do my best. It must be okay to trim, in the same way it is okay to trim the sides of your head it must be okay to trim your beard as well. You don't have to let it all grow out and be unkempt and wild. But the question is, where are the corners? Where are the edges? Where are the sides? Where is that at? I can see sides of the head, now that makes sense Puah does translate side 64 times.
I can see that side seemed to be a pretty good translation and maybe both cases so hair and the beard. But Yahweh would be telling me not to shave off the sides of my head if I can't ever shave off my beard at all. ou can say, He doesn't us to cut off the side of our beard, He doesn't want us to cut off the side of our hair but maybe it's corner, so I' am being cautious and letting it grow out beyond the cheekbone below the jaw line and it could be talking about sides here, you know my cheeks. Sort of like, some people got the Abraham Lincoln look, I don't know. But to be safe I go ahead and included the jaw line, let the beard grow out some more before trimming it. I could go a little shorter if I wanted to I just don't like it jutting out. Now if I decided to go clean shaven then I can be sure I' am cutting it off right? There's no way to obey the scripture and go clean shaven. You will be cutting it off period.
here's no way to obey the scripture and cut all your hair off with the intent of going completely bald right? It's the same whether you're clean shaven or you're going bald, going for the bald look. You're looking for the bald look or the clean shaven look, I don't see how it's possible to obey the scripture. I recommend neither of those styles. Many believe, some believe by holding this view, I' am taking the scripture out of context. Otherwise they believe that these things are all part of rituals, pagan rituals for the dead in support of that view they point to the following verse which says, you shall make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor tattoo any marks on you, I am Yahweh. and so thhey believe that all of these things are speaking specifically of rituals for the dead. But the only time it mentioned doing something for the dead, here is in this cutting of the flesh for the dead, everything else does not mention whether or not it's for the dead. It appears to me that these tattooing marks, disfiguring edges, sides of your head and disfiguring edges would all be contextually divorced from this for the dead statement. That's how I' am going to read it. ow it's true that there is some examples in scripture where people would go do the bald look for the dead and cut off the beard for the dead. Isaiah15:2, he's gone up to the temple and Dibon to the high places to weep. Moab will wail over Nebo, over Medeba, on all their heads will be baldness and every beard cut off. Jeremiah 48:37 through 38, for every head shall be bald and every beard clipped on all the hands shall be cuts and on the loins sack cloth. A general lamentation on all the housetops of Moab in the streets. For I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure. Again bald headed, beard cut off right? However, I think that speaking of a complete removal of all hair from the head and the beard and the actual prohibition involves the removal of certain sections of the hair and certain parts of the beard. While it's true that going clean shaven or bald would be a transgression of a command, one would not be Transgressing the actual command unless the sides of the head and beard were shaved in of itself. Also, even if you believe that's the connection with the dead, let's just suppose you do believe that and that any other context is permissible to go clean shaven. It's quite possible that's the only context in which an Israelite man would have shave off his beard to begin with. he very idea of shaving one's beard was really unheard of in any other context, you might also might ask yourself if that's considered to be a pagan ritual to go clean shaven and to cut off your hair on your head. Are you sure you want to participate in something that's something that's considered to be a pagan ritual to being with? I know that Yahushua himself, He grew out His beard. In Isaiah Chapter 50:4, the Master Yahweh has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning, He awakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Master Yahweh has opened my ear and I was not rebellious nor did I turn away, this is Yahushua speaking here. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Hebrew word translated cheeks is Lechi, it can mean jaw. It's actually translated cheek 10 times and jaw or jaw bone 10 times. It's talking about whether it's on the cheek or on the jaw. n order for anyone to grab a handful of beard here off his cheeks or off of his jaw, he must have had a beard that was grown out. More so than the typical beard that you might see here, like see somebody get a handful of that and yank it out, not too easy. I don't think they had tweezers when they're pulling at Yahushua's beard. The kind of beard that's most common today is this right here. It be hard pressed to grab a handful of that. I want to be like Yahushua, that's my goal. I want to represent the body of Messiah, I want to represent Him in everything I do. I think the longer beard is closer to the example of the Messiah. ' am kind of reminded of the story my grandfather once told me years ago. He's a believer, Torah observant believer, has been since the late 70s and he grew out his beard and he worked for the city and he would go from, he was a meter reader, he get to go in houses sometimes to read the water meters. This older lady, he would go to her house and every time she saw him which is about every other month,
she would say, why don't you just cut off that beard, it's nasty. He had a big black beard. It's gross, I don't like it, it's nasty you know all this stuff and he just kind of took it. He didn't say much back. One time he come to her house and she had this painting, the Jesus painting on the wall. He's walking there and he sees it on the wall and he
goes, who's this? She says that's my Jesus. He said, well He has a beard. She never did say another word about his beard after that, that was it. Never a word again about his beard. ut it just goes to show that some of the Christian traditions really don't even line up with the Savior they adore and that's not what the Messiah even looks like but we know he had a beard. In some circles it's a sign of your Christianity, to get around clean shaven. Yet the Savior they adore, they depict as having a beard and the scripture says he had a beard. Not just a beard but a beard that was long enough for someone to grab a hold of and pull it out. Again I don't think they were using tweezers. I've had good paying jobs that were ready to hire me until they told me company policy to have a clean shaven face and nothing compared to the persecution Yahushua went through and maybe it was the clean shaven Romans that saw the opportunity to hurt Yahushua with his beard and disrespect him and the beard Yahweh gave him by pulling it out. But Yahushua took it all for us, blessed be his name. know, some of you out there you're saying, I just can't seem to grow much of a beard. Don't fret, if Yahweh did not give you much facial hair, it's just the way it is. But with what he does give you don't cut it off, do your best to obey the scripture and our Savior's example. Almost all, maybe all men have some small amount of facial hair, maybe some kind of mustache or something. It does not make you any less of a person or any less of a man if you can't grow out a full beard in two weeks. I can't grow any hair on top of my head either so, I don't know, maybe Yahweh made up for it. ctually I read yesterday that those who can grow a full beard are actually, according to Science, more likely to have balding when they get older, interesting. But for those who have tried growing a beard and
you just feel like you can't do it, just do your best. If you don't think, you don't like the way you look, Yahweh made you that way, rejoice and be glad in it. For those who have tried growing a beard, I got this problem, it itched and itched and itched. I found using dandruff shampoo helps. I found that the itch goes away. Other people find that using moisturizing conditioners help or baby shampoos because it's not so rough. Shampoos are only built for beards. void shampoos containing glycerin, glycerin can be pork by the way. But the glycerin tends to be a habitable location for certain organisms that cause itching. Keep the facial hair brushed and combed, depending on how long it is. I have to use a hairbrush on mine but you know we're men and with what facial hair Yahweh gave us we should let it grow. And speaking of that, in the same way Yahushua appealed in the book of Genesis for the guiding principle regarding marriage. It just seems to me that we should contemplate things in a similar manner regarding the beard. Going clean shaven, shaving it all completely off is not really natural. When Yahweh made men, one distinguishing characteristics is he had facial hair and a woman did not. It's one thing He set in place to distinguish between man and a woman. Beards were the norm for all men. His facial hair was and then someone come along and decided they're going to take a razor to it and probably the first guy that did that was mocked and ridiculed and accused of trying to be like a woman, maybe a boy. That alone bothers me. t's almost if not quite certain, it's sort of like rebelling. Yahweh made you this way, no I'll cut if off.
As if man wasn't satisfied with Yahweh's doings so he's going to do something different. Stripping away one of the distinguishing characteristics between men and women and something doesn't seem right about that to me. Blurring the gender lines is one of the things that we see going on, on our generation. Men are not masculine, women are not feminine. I' am not saying you got to have a big bushy beard to be masculine but Yahweh gave, as far as I know at least all men, some facial hair somewhere. What we see here is the feminization of men and masculinization of women being promoted as believers in Yahushua we should be on the opposite end of that spectrum. gain you don't have a big bushy beard like I do, that's okay. Whatever facial hair Yahweh gave you, leave it on your face. It's one of the things Yahweh gave you to make you look different than women. I really think we need to be content with how Yahweh made us. Don't worry about whether it will hinder you from finding a spouse. When we honor Yahweh first that's the best environment to get a blessing, right? The scripture says, a man that finds a wife finds a good thing obtains favor from Yahweh. I don't want to try to add anything to the scriptures but that does seem like it could very well be a reason why he said not to shave the sides of the beards and the head and everything. He made you a certain way. etting back to the dangers of pride in your appearance. Another area where I see pride could be creeping in is actually religious garments.
Things like walking around on a big nice Jewish Tallit, it's not really a garment mentioned in the scripture by the way. The Tallit Katan as we'll talk about that next week. The Tallit with all the little gold little things on it, silky kind of a garment. I' am not saying you can't do that. Why is that there? I don't believe there's anything in the scripture about a prayer shawl. Some would try to connect that with the closet that Yahushua spoke of going to your closet. The word closet, it does not mean prayer shawl, it means closet. Why do we put the shawl on our body? Is there something about it that makes you feel more holy? Just a little cautious here, that doesn't make you holy. It doesn't make you anything special. Let me ask you this question. Every religion has their little garments. Is this righteousness? Is that righteousness?
Or this? Which one is righteousness? Waltzing around with this fancy garb or this man here who's feeding the poor or this man here who's sharing with a prisoner. ighteousness is not walking around with fancy clothing. I' am against religious pride and dress. Yahushua is against religious pride and dress. Matthew 23:5 says, all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the borders of the tassels of their garments. They love the best places at feast, the best seats in the synagogues. Greetings in the marketplace to be called by men Rabbi, Rabbi. Cardinal, Cardinal, Father, Father, Priest, Priest, Reverend, Reverend whatever you want to say. See Christianity has just done their own version of the same thing that Judaism was doing. I don't want to do that. Yahushua commented on their attempt to exalt themselves with the way they're adorned and that's the very thing I' am speaking in this message on modesty and dress, I' am speaking against and both men and women are susceptible to allowing pride to creep in when it comes to the garments we wear. Now the garments here, the tassel is commanded in
scripture. But they are making them extra big, see. It says here in Numbers 15:38, speak to the children of Israel, tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. You shall have the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of Yahweh and do them and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined. That you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy for your Elohim. These Jews were saying, well if I make mine extra big everybody will think that hey, he's really wanting to remember those commands. You see how just a simple command can be turned around and corrupted and pride enter in. he same thing with a beard, I think. My beard is going to be extra, extra big. I don't know maybe. Now, some people believe this command's done away with. We have the Holy Spirit we don't need this tassels to remember the commandments. We have the Holy Spirit, you know the scripture says, John 14:26 the help of the Holy Spirit and the Father was send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things I said to you. They justify annulling that command because of what Yahushua said the Holy Spirit would do for us. We have to be careful about using human reasoning to scratch out commandments. Just because the Holy Spirit's able to bring Yahweh's word to our remembrance it does not mean that that commandment is abolished. Does that mean you no longer need a reminder for anything? That no one has to remind you of any commandments at all? Hebrews 12:4, it says, you have not yet resist the drop of bloodshed, striving against sin and you have forgotten the exhortation what speaks to you as sons, my son do not despise the chastening of Yahweh nor be discouraged when you're rebuked by Him. What's He doing here? He's reminding you of something in scripture. y son do not despise the chastening of Yahweh nor detest his correction. Now, why would we need a Bible to remind us of that commandment if we have the Holy Spirit? See? Truth is even the apostles wrote, brethren for the purposes of reminding them of various commandments right? The scripture says in Titus 3:1-2, remind them to be subject to rules and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work. Remind them, speak evil of no one, be peaceable, gentle in showing all humility to all men. Remind them, why? They got the Holy Spirit. You telling me to deny the Holy Spirit? Well, no, come on. He said, remind them. If we're faithless, He remains faithful He cannot die himself. Remind them of these things, charging them before Yahweh not to strive about words no prophet to the ruin of the ears. eter, considered himself to be at fault if he didn't remind. 2nd Peter 1:10-12, Therefore brethren be even
more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our master and savior Yahushua the Messiah. For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things though you know are established in the present truth. He figured it would be negligent if he didn't remind them. Why do they need a reminder they got the Holy Spirit. Yes I think it's right, as long as I' am in this tent to stir you up by reminding knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Master Yahushua the Messiah showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. ow who among us were to rebuke to the Apostles for reminding people things? The reality is the scriptures are full of reminders and precepts. To help us memorialize the things that Yahweh has said or the things Yahushua has done. In fact, Yahushua took bread, gave thanks and broke it and gave to them saying, this is my body which is given for you, do this to remind you in remembrance of me. How can we ever forget Yahushua if we have the Holy Spirit? Yet we're expected to partake of him as an act of remembrance. Will anybody say that you don't have to do this because you got the Holy Spirit now?
I don't buy into this, you don't need it because the Holy Spirit reminds you. If Yahushua is the word, the word is made flesh and we're supposed to keep the precept, remember Yahushua while we reject in the other commandment given for the purpose of remembering.
esides this, are we greater than tall the Saints of the Old TestAmeint yet they were commanded to wear tassels, are we greater than Yahushua Himself who also wore tassels even though he had the Holy Spirit, and didn't need a single reminder. And what is the Spirit supposed to do? It's supposed to remind you, cause you to keep his statutes, his judgments and do him. That's what the Spirit does. One of the statutes and his judgments is to wear tassels. The presence of Yahweh's spirit in our life does not negate the need to wear tassels. Besides if Yahweh said wear them, why do we feel a need to find reasons and not do it? Maybe Yahweh has other reasons besides reminding.
He told Eve, don't partake of the fruit. Didn't explain all the reasons behind it. He says don't eat it, you'll die. You shall die. Just as he had instructed Adam and Eve to not eat it. rompted by the serpent, Eve reasoned, well, Yahweh said that, you know, this and that and then she reasoned and said, okay, I'll do it. Let's not reason, let's just obey. I hope that lays to rest any thought. I mean who has the whole Bible memorized, right? Let's not get in this thought where we don't have to do something because we've got the Holy Spirit now. Yahweh says, to wear it? And so it's good, it's good to have memorials, reminders, things that bring Yahweh's word to the forefronts of our minds. We are humans, we are prone to forgetting, prone to letting our eyes and our hearts turn away from the commandments of Yahweh. magine, you know, you're falling away, you're stopping, you're not serving Yahweh like you're supposed to, and those tassels you put on your clothes every day. You would have to overcome that hurdle, of habit, and physically take the tassels off your garments. If you have any conscience at all, that would be hard to do. Supposed you're being tempted to look at porn or commit adultery, you got them tassels sitting there to remind you of you who are a Messiah, Yahushua imploring you, if you love me, keep my commandments. The Torah's saying, love Yahweh with all your heart, soul and mind. Love your wife, love your husband as yourself. If you have any conscience at all, it would be much harder to turn away from Yahweh's commandments, so that's a reminder, being a part of what your dress includes, modesty in dress. It's all part of it. ahushua, you know, when he wore them, Yahweh used them mildly. Luke 8:43, and now a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years has spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the kraspedon of his garment, and neatly her flow of blood stopped. Again, Matthew Chapter 9:20 is saying the word kraspedon. The word is translated border, but, as you look as kraspedon, it's in classical Greek, prominent edge of a thing, but mentioned here, it says the Jews has such appendages attached to their mantels, remind them of the law. According to Numbers 15:37, 38.and so on. iber lexicon says, in Jewish usage, a tassel or fringe, the four corners of the outer garment one is reminded to observe. The commandments, it's in the four corners, so your wear four of these. It's all commandment, it's all part of his word.
Actually the DuTillet, which is a 450 year old Hebrew manuscript, the book of Matthew, contains sitsi in these passages. Mark 14:34 says, when they crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and when the men of that place recognized him, they sent out into all surrounding region, and brought to him all who were sick, and begged them that they might only touch the hem, the kraspedon of his garment, and as many has touched it were made perfectly well. Yahweh used it. Yahweh used it. So we see, Yahweh used the tassels, Yahushua wore it in a powerful way, and people were begging to touch the tassels of his garment. Maybe it all happened, maybe it will happen again, you never know. Are we representing the Messiah Yahushua in our clothing, the things that we're wearing?
We know Yahweh, Yahushua had the fullness of Yahweh's spirit and didn't need any reminders, but he wore them anyway. This wanted to touch that tassel, and they were healed. It says whoever keeps his word truly in the love of Elohim, was perfected to him. By this we know we're in him. He who says he abides in him, or himself also to walk just as he walked. Guess what, I' am wearing tassels, how about you?
Maybe Yahweh could use it too, you know, to be able to recognize each other. I found that, hey, there's a brother. He's got himself some tassels on, and walk up to him. Hey, shalom, how are you doing? Got a little sign here, you know. It's a little thing we know each other. ut you know, the community around us would know who we are too. We all serve Yahweh, and we all love Yahweh. I can speak from experience, you know. Unbelieving Jews would ask why we're wearing them, because many of them are wearing them without the blue corner attached to their tassels, and some are not wearing them at all. Other people ask, what are these? Let me tell you about Yahushua. You remember the woman who had the flow of blood talk about a Savior? Well, it says that, touch the hem of his garment. If you look it up in the Greek original, it actually has kraspedon there, which is translated hem, but it really means tassel. This is what he was wearing, one of these. I' am trying to live like he did, and so I wear these. It reminds me, this is my WWYD, my WWJD, WWYD.
His name is actually Hebrew, it's Yahushua. Most people know that nowadays. ut you know, this is really, it's really great, because it's a reminder to keep, you know, commandments and to be obedient. A lot of people with Christian background, they're amazed it's even in scripture, and it opens a door for witnessing opportunities. And so, and this is how Yahweh intended it's people to dress and maybe, as a non-Israelite nations would ask them, why do you wear those, you know. There could be other reasons, brothers and sisters. Not just a reminder to keep the commandments. Anyway, if you're interested in learning more about these as part of your dress, both men and women are commanded to wear these. There's nothing that says men only in scripture. Elia.com/tassels.html, and in a longer video study where we go in a deep depth like we do most topics on a weekly broadcast. Elia.com/transcripts. It is the November 8, 2014 broadcast, almost exactly
two years ago in the Roman calendar. It had how to make tassels here, elia.com/maketassels.html. I should mention that for some reason you can't make a set, well, we will send you a set for free. Thanks to the volunteers. We'll send you a set at no charge. hat about the phylacteries? We read about that. What are the phylacteries? It's the strips of parchment they had had. They kept it in boxes, and that would be attached to their left arm, and to the forehead. Yahushua was commenting on how they make their big
phylacteries to be seen by men, he says.
He didn't comment on whether or not that was a commandment or not. But there's probably nothing wrong with doing it. But I don't know for sure that it's all commanded. So, anyway, Deuteronomy 6:7 says, you shall teach them diligently to your children. I' am talking about the commandments. And shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by their way, when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates. So bind them as a sign on your hand, and they should be as frontlets between your eyes. It might make the case, it should be tied to your hands somewhere. To have them as frontlets, this seems like it has a spiritual meaning, in that they're bound to your hands, in the sense that all that you do with your hands are governed by the scriptures. All you think with your mind is governed by the scriptures. n support of that view, Exodus 13:14, so it shall be when your son asks you in time to come saying, what is this talking about the Passover? Then you shall say to him, by strength of hand, Yahweh brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And it came to pass when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that Yahweh killed all the first born in the land of Egypt, both the first born of man, and the first born of beast. Therefore I sacrificed to Yahweh all males that open the womb, but all the first born of my sons I redeemed. It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes. For by strength of hand, Yahweh brought us out of Egypt. How could this Passover be a sign on your hand, you know, this whole event, be a sign on your hand and frontlet. his seems like, as a sign, like a sign, like you've always got it in your mind. It's always a part of you and what you're about. So that what it seems to me. It seems like a spiritual being of you here. I don't know that it's physical. But maybe, maybe the binding of the hand you could make this the case. I don't do it, but maybe I, you know, something I need to think about. I had a brother that made a watch one time. He made a watch and he had the commandments on it. I thought that was neat. I wore it. Speaking of watches, a dear brother this past summer gave me a very nice watch, I mean, super nice, rose gold, had the moon face on it. I really, really appreciate it, I liked it. But this gold thing, as I was studying this topic out, you know, I had the sense that the spirit was speaking to me whenever I put this thing on. It was nice, I mean super fancy. nd the concept in First Timothy about the wearing of gold and expensive looking garments, and whenever I wore it, it kind of felt like I was communicating to the world I value riches in wearing expensive things, you know. I love the watch. I mean, my conscious kept speaking to me, and so I started doing this study, I became kind of convinced maybe I shouldn't wear it, unless I could paint it or something. I mean, or maybe I' am here in my house by myself, or something, but brother, the one that gave it to me, if you're watching this, I want you to know, I really, really appreciate it. I'll send it back if you want me to. But just something in my conscience has kept, you know, speaking to me about it. I don't want there to be anything in my heart that promotes pride of life, or the spirit of the world. Satan fell because of that kind of pride. zekiel Chapter 28 says, son of man, take up a limitation for the king of Tyre, say to him, thus says the master Yahweh, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden. In Eden? The garden of Elohim. Every precious stone was your covering, Sardis, topaz and diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbers and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of Elohim. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways on the day you were created, 'til inequity was found in you. This is a dual meaning here, I believe, satanic and the one who is being led by that same spirit, the king of Tyre. By the abundance of your training, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. herefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of Elohim. I destroyed of covering cherub, for the midst of fiery stones. I don't know what the trading was exactly. Your heart was lifted up, why? Because of your beauty, that's why. That was all a problem. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground, laid you before kings that might gaze at you. That is what brought Lucifer down. ow, could there be Lucifer trying to get us to kind of go along the same route. I don't want to be any part of that. I don't want to be far, far from that. Now I' am 46 years old. My youthful days are past. But there are other ways that this kind of pride can creep in. I think it's best we keep ourselves protected from this, because that is exactly what the world is pursuing with all their might, youth, and beauty, and it's just crazy. So whether you're a man, or whether you're a woman, whether you're young or whether you're old, we need to be on guard against pride. We did not create ourselves. We have no reason to gloat on our appearance, or try to exalt ourselves on our appearance. e have no reason glorify ourselves on our appearance. Yahweh, he is Elohim. It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and sheep of his pasture. He is to be glorified with what he has created, not man. He wants to say, don't you know, don't you know your body's a temple of the Holy Spirit, 1st Corinthians 6:19, who is in you, whom you have from Elohim, and you, you are not your own. You don't belong to yourself. You were bought at a price, therefore, because of that, because of this, therefor, glorify Elohim in your body, and in your spirit, which are Elohim's. So we have to be humble, and not exalt ourselves in any way. We have to be humble. And speaking of that, what about cosmetics? I've picked on the men long enough I think. I'll switch back and forth as we go. But what about cosmetics? I mean, cosmetics are extremely common today, makeup. mean they're mentioned in scripture, Jeremiah 4:30 it says, when you are plundered what will you do? Though you clothed yourself with crimson, though you adorn yourself with ornAmeints of gold, though you enlarge your eyes with pain, in vain you will make yourself fair. You're trying to make yourself look nice in vain. Your lovers will despise you, they'll seek your life. What's the motive here? To make themselves fair. I think it's a pretty accurate description in the purpose of cosmetics. nd Kings 9:30, it says when Jehu come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head and looked through the window. What's with the paint? And as Jehu enter the gate, she said, is it peace Zimri, murderer of your master? She's trying to seduce him. He looked up at the window and said, who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. He said, throw her down. So he threw her down, some of her blood spattered on the wall, and the horses trampled her underfoot. I guess it didn't work. I mean every context I can find, I paint in scripture, cosmetics in scripture is always negative. The only women I can find who are wearing it are harlots and Jezebel, who sought to seduce Jehu. Seduction seems to be the aim in each case. The Messiah speaks here in Revelation 2:20, a few things against you, you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants to commit sexual immorality, to eat things, sacrifice to idols, seduction is in view here. Please understand me, I' am not calling anybody who wears cosmetic a harlot. I' am not saying that. Please don't think that's what I' am saying. It doesn't mean every person wearing makeup today is trying to seduce men. But let's just say, you know, in scriptures, cosmetics don't have the best reputation. I would think it's pretty much on par with other things, like jewelry and fancy hair, and wearing gold, and putting on fine apparel. I don't know how it would be really much different. As all of these are coming from the same kind of thinking. I mean can't you agree with that? I mean, if there's something different, please, I'd invite you to let me know what that is. here are two other things really that concern me about cosmetics, our goal is to be a person after Now the best artist I know is a man by the name of Daniel Wenikoff. Suppose he made me a painting. Yes Daniel, I' am n trying to embarrass you. he made painting and he spent a lot of time and energy and effort into making me this painting. He could not wait to show me this painting. He was so excited. I mean it was just perfect. I mean everything was just so. Finally the day came and he presented it to me and I said, oh, that's really nice. Then he watched me as I took as I took a paint brush and fixed this over here for you, and put little colors over here. It's actually changed the work that he had done. ow would Daniel feel at that point? Like a little rejection I would say. I mean, maybe even offended. I probably would think that what I did may have looked worse, or he would have made it look that way. I mean he had the capability of making it look that way, but he didn't. As a person seeking to be after Yahweh's own heart, I wonder if that's what women are doing when they paint themselves. I mean he made them just how he wanted them to look. They come along, no, no, no. Put color over here, a little dash of black over here, and that's what they do. Now I don't pretend to know everything about the heart of Yahweh, but it makes sense to me that he wouldn't be too happy about that. Maybe even offended. It's more like the beard. I mean, he gave us facial hair, we come along, no, I don't want that. Different look altogether here, almost seems rebellious. At a minimum, it doesn't seem to be respecting Yahweh's ownership of our bodies. e know something very similar to that will be offensive to us. It makes sense to me, he would be offended also just as my friend Daniel, I' am sure he would be not too happy about my attempts to fix his paintings hanging on the wall. I mean, let's say he didn't give it to you. He had it on the wall there on display, and I go, oh no Daniel, I think I like this over here better. Now wait a minute, that's my painting. Yeah, but I like this better over here. You know he's at an art show, I' am over there fixing all his paintings for him. He owns the painting, right? Who owns your body? Yahweh owns your body, and you go along, and no, I don't like what you did. I want to, maybe in Yahweh's eyes, all your little paint stuff is ugly. It's just we being conditioned by our culture to see it as being pretty. Honestly I think makeup is ugly. I mean, I can't stand the makeup all being caked on. The second thing that concerns me also that can be involved in cosmetics is this. ow, does anybody recognize this person right here? Anyone know who that is? I have question. Who is that? Do you know them? This is a very, very popular country music singer. Now do you recognize them? It's the same person, believe it or not, it's Carrie Underwood without the makeup and with the makeup. You can't even tell that's the same person. And here's another example, that's the same one. It's sad because these people have got millions of dollars to spend on their makeup and their appearance. And these photo shopped, air brushed pictures. hese people, these young women, young girls grow up and they're like, I don't look that nice. I don't look like that. They feel inferior. They feel like they're not going to measure up in this world, and that they're not going to be attractive to young men, and that they have to somehow reach this level. But you know, to me it's deceptive, it's deception. This is what I really look like on the left, and what I try to portray myself as is on the right. I've heard women say, well I need to go put my face on, I'll be back. They go put the makeup on. It's like wearing a mask, really. I mean, it's not the color of your lips. Sorry, but this is not the way your lips look. Sorry to draw on your face, but it is not the way your eyelids look. It's not your cheeks, it's not your eyelashes. I mean it's like wearing a wig or a hair piece. Now someone might say, well Tom, you're just going to extreme. ut just as our clothing is communication, so can cosmetics communicate the following message. I' am not content with my creator made me. I must put on a mask, and cause myself to appear differently than how he made me, and make everyone think I look different than the way I was actually created by Yahweh to look. You get my drift? I' am trying to reason with you. Maybe I' am totally off. It makes perfect sense to me. Now someone might say, well what about braces, you know, would it be a sin? You know, Yahweh gave you crooked teeth, and so, can you not get braces? Yeah I made my son get, I paid for my son to get braces. I didn't make him do it. Because the dentist told me, the way his teeth were constructed, he would likely lose all of his teeth by the time he reached 45 years of age. And so I don't have a problem with that. And listen, I don't want to be a Pharisee or extremist. just want to be sure they're honoring Yahweh in every aspect of our lives, including our physical appearance. I have serious questions as to whether wearing cosmetics is really in honor to him, just as I would question whether changing that painting that is hanging on Daniel Wenikoff's wall is in honor to him. I' am not trying to embarrass you Daniel. But if we don't like the natural face, maybe we've been seduced by the spirit of the world. Eve didn't have any makeup, yet you know Adam was like, whoo, that's beautiful, wow Yahweh, thank you. Can't we be content with what Yahweh has given us, even the areas we don't think we look normal. Can we be content? mean I lost hair. Younger than usual age, I lost hair and I have had people chuckle over it and make little jokes here and there, whatever. I' am well into poking a little fun at myself too and say, you know, my hair fell out, it landed on my chin, you know. But maybe the people in this world don't like my half bald head. But it doesn't really matter that much. I mean, I'll comb what little hair I've got left and move on. Yeah, I mean, it's probably considered to be a genetic defect. But Yahweh allowed it in my life, and so he must have approved the way I look. Well it's not really going to matter in eternity, really. Is it really going to matter in six trillion years of eternity whether my head had this much hair, that much hair? I mean, our time in this life is so short, our life on this planet compared to eternity is like a grain of sand compared to the size of the universe. What does it matter what people in this life think of my head, or your face, or whatever else. I mean obviously Yahweh put a stamp of approval on it, and so my appearance is my mark of his ownership. He is master of it. He made me this way, I have to be willing to be content with it, and I'll seek to glorify him above my body and spirit, which are his. I don't belong to myself anyway. I would hope that we would all share in that same kind of contentment and desire. Can we do that? Can we take that step? on't let your identity be in what you look like so much, except that what you look like would honor and glorify your creator who loves you far more than any other human being on the plant. Man is going to fail you every time. You put your hope in what they think of you, one person think your face is too fat, and one person says it's too skinny, one person says your nose is too long, one says too short, one says too flat, one says too this and too that. What do you do with what they say really? Whoever you're going to be married to will find it plenty good enough, and be content, and love you no matter what. Besides, it's the kind of man you want anyway. ou don't want somebody that just marries you because of the way you look, start getting baggy eyes and wrinkled face, then what will you have. Hopefully someone that loves you for you, right? That's what you want, someone who love you just the way you are. No masks, not painting anything, not pretending anything. This is who I am. If you don't love me for what I am then in 40 years you probably won't love me the way I am either. So I want someone I can trust. Now speaking of hair, I mean, is it a sin for a man to have long hair? How about a woman to have short hair, is that a sin? ell, the scripture we looked at earlier, contextually talking about the 1,000 year reign, and the preserving established again, and the temples reestablished again, this is our future prophecy, it's never happened. Ezekiel 44:18, they shall have linen turbans on their heads, and then trousers on their bodies, talking about the priests. They shall not cloth themselves with anything that causes sweat. He's talking about linen and wool together, or wool on their body. Now when they go to the outer court, the outer court of the people, they should take off their garments once they've ministered, lead them in the holy chambers, put on the other garments, and their holy garments, they shall not sanctify the people. hey shall not shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long. But they shall keep their hair well-trimmed. So they don't want complete shaving and complete removal of hair, and doesn't want the hair to grow long either, but just keep their hair well-trimmed, which is pretty much what we do today, most of us. Now, this scripture is speaking of a future time, once again. Yahweh is talking about the thousand year reign. To my knowledge, there's nothing in the Torah that requires a priest to keep their hair well-trimmed. But this will be Yahweh's expectation in the age to come. I've wondered, why Yahweh would require that in that particular time period. Now, one possible explanation, I' am just musing here, I' am not making a doctrine out of this, is that the earthly priesthood is supposed to be a reflection of the Melchizedek priesthood. e know that much. Now Yahushua the Messiah from what we read, in other parts of Ezekiel, is going to be dwelling in that very temple, in the priestly functioning there, and he will be both priest and king. He, having short hair, therefore, being more, an accurate representation of Melchizedek priest if he had short hair. Now, if that's the case, since I' am a part of the Melchizedek priesthood, the royal priesthood, I would want to be a reflection of Yahushua as well and so I'll want to keep my hair well-trimmed. That's the closest I can come to anything resembling a commandment here. Maybe I' am stretching it out, and maybe I' am just trying to get as close to scripture as I possibly can. Now Nazarites are actually required to let their hair grow long. umbers Chapter 6:5 says, all the days the valve of separation, the razors took them upon its head, until the days are fulfilled for which he would separate himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy, then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. Samson, Samuel, maybe John the Baptist were all Nazarites. Yahushua was not a Nazarite, because he didn't drink from the fruit of vine. However, one might argue he is presently, today, a Nazarite, based on what it said here in this scripture. ark 14:23. He took the cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank from it. And he said to them, this is my blood, of the new covenant, which is shed for many. But surely I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine, until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of Elohim. So, with Yahushua have long hair now? Is he taking a Nazarite vow? I don't know. Does hair grow in heaven? Does it grow in heaven? I mean, 2000 years of hair growth, I mean, it would be probably a mile long. Would there be dead ends at break off? I mean, where do you go with this? Was it even a Nazarite vow? Part of a Nazarite vow is to refrain from fruit of the vine, but there's also, you can't go near a dead body, would be another one. Yahushua himself had a dead body, and he was in a tomb. here do we go with this? It's not really clear to me, where do you go? Paul, when he was talking about long hair and short hair, it says in 1st Corinthians 11: 14, does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for recovering? Now if Yahushua took a Nazarite vow, which required him to let his hair grow, I don't see why Paul would have dishonored him, as Yahushua dishonoring himself for 2000 years. I' am not sure we can say Yahushua was taking a Nazarite vow. I mean did grapes grow in heaven? Does Yahushua have the ability to drink wine there? I don't know. I don't if he would. But I mean, one thing to consider is Yahushua as a final act of temptation, the very last thing he was tempted with was to violate the very thing he said about not partaking, not drinking. He said, I won't drink of the fruit of his vine until I drink it with you. It's the final time where he was tempted with this as a last temptation. ohn 19:28 through 30 says, now after this Yahushua, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled said, I thirst. Now a vessel of what, sour wine is the fruit of the vine, was sitting there, and they felt a sponge with sour wine, put it on a hyssop and put it to his mouth. And when Yahushua has received the sour wine, he said, it is finished and bowing his head he gave up the spirit. Now it sounds like he, he drank it. And that would have been a violation of his commitment to his disciples. But the truth is he did not drink it because other, other versions get clarity. Thankfully we have multiple witnesses here. Matthew 27:33, when they came to a place called Golgotha, that's place of the skull, they gave them sour wine and mingled with all the drink. But when he tasted it, he would not drink. So he did not drink it. So the purpose of the vow, or the commitment may have been to set up this final temptation, because up to that point, he had never experienced a temptation, and one had to resist the fruit of the vine, right? Up to that point, he never had to say no to grapes. I think that the gall and the wine was taught to be a pain reliever. So it amidst of all the pain he was suffering, he may have been tempted to drink it, but he refused and said no. I tell you, I know what it is now. Okay, it's maybe knew what it was, but do you want to confirm? He did taste it, he never drank it, he kept his commitment. So maybe that was part of the reason for the vow, that he might be tempted at all points just as we are, even for a Nazarene. If someone wants to take a Nazarite vow today, it's going to be tough because you got no way to get free of it that I know of. aul, along with four other men took a Nazarite vow, which would mean his hair would be required to grow, depending on how long the Nazarite vow, if it was two years, four years. His hair could have been quite long. And so, you know, if you're going to take a Nazarite vow, it seems to me that you'd have to take it for life, because according to number 6, you got to do different things with the priest involved, in order to be cleansed, unless there's some way maybe to spiritualize it. I don't know how you do it, but, but other than Nazarite vow, I don't know of any scripture that really speaks to permitting men to grow their hair out. Getting back here at this statement in 1st Corinthians 11:14 to 15, I can understand why Paul, he's taking a lesson from nature here, for men to have short hair, women have long hair. But then he says, with anyone who seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches or assemblies of Elohim. nd so, I really believe this custom here is talking about long hair and short hair. I don't believe it's talking about the head covering. So that all makes sense too, because I mean, Paul himself had long hair. It can't be a commandment, but maybe an encouragement, to look at the nature of things and conserve that you're dishonoring yourself by going against nature. And women are permitted to have long hair, and encouraged to, to glory to them when they let it grow out. It's more fitting with how nature intended things to be. Maybe this is another reason for the priest being required to keep their hair well-trimmed. ook of Ezekiel, priests are in a place of honor for the glory of Elohim. They should not be going against nature, dishonoring themselves, or the office that they hold. Now we are also a royal priesthood. Chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation is on special people. You may proclaim the praises of him that called you out of darkness, into his marvelous life who once were not a people, but now are the people of Elohim. Who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. HalleluYah. It seems to me we should not bring dishonor to the priesthood. Put those two together, but it's not a commandment. on't be contentious about it, it's not a custom, and maybe that would accommodate for the Nazarite vow in other contexts where maybe hair would need to be shaved. But, and just as Paul did, I can't make a commandment out of it. We have an admonishment in regarding the nature of things. That's kind of where it's limited. We are out of time, and we're going to pick up again next week as we continue our examination into modesty in dress. I want to reiterate, I' am not trying to create a bunch of rules and regulations for men to take in, and force on their wives and teenage daughters or whoever, or for wives to pressure their husbands and conform to this and that. I' am going to state a goal from the outset. And when it gets close to scripture as I possibly can, regarding Yahweh's will from modesty in dress, and we need to take this matter to Yahweh, that his spirit lead and convict us to what his will is, take it to prayer, that Yahweh's spirit speak to you regarding this matters. y own wife, my own daughters may or may not be exactly where I am, every little point I made. I don't really know, because I've given them a certain amount of freedom to explore the will of Yahweh on this, because when it comes to what we're communicating with their physical appearance, they can be very open to interpretation. And to one person, certain clothing style or aspect communicates one this, to another it's another. I want us all to hear Yahweh's spirit, because that's what's really going to convict the person, is the Spirit of Yahweh in each of us, and give each of us some leeway. n some of the details, I share my heart, the things I' am seeing. You see something different, that's your decision. But try to remember that our outward appearance does reflect, not just on you, but on me, on Messiah, on Yahweh, on his name, everything. For me, I want to play it safe. I want to be cautious on how I represent my Savior and his word and his principles and the things that he is about. I want to be very cautious in how I represent him to the world, because we're communicating with our appearance, whether we think we are or we're not, we are communicating. I don't want the pride of life, I don't want the lust of eyes or any of the things that are not of his spirit, to be communicated. I don't mean adulterers and adulteresses who try to be a friend of the world. want Yahushua the Messiah, his life, his love, his purity, his set apartness, his holiness, to be communicated. And I trust that's the way you feel as well. Let's pray. Oh Father Yahweh, we just desire for righteousness and love and purity and truth to reign, Father Yahweh, in our hearts first and foremost, and then out of our hearts, our mouth will speak. And out of our hearts, our adornment will speak as well. And Father we choose contentment with how you've made us. We choose to adhere ourselves to the principles in your word regarding these matters. We pray Father that you would convict the hearts, that you would reach the people with truth of your word, by your spirit, and that we would all be in conformity to your will, the praise of your glory. For truly, this body you've given us is your body. We give it completely to you, because we know it's yours to begin with. You bought us with a price, with the precious blood of Yahushua Hamashiach. We don't want to buy it back. We don't want it back. We want you to have it. We don't want to own it. We know if we own it, it's going to hell. We don't want to go to the lake of fire. Father, we want you to take ownership, and we Yahweh's own heart. give it completely to you. For truly yours is the kingdom and power and glory and majesty, and all praise, honor, and worship belongs to you.