We need to understand that the Torah is not a legal code of do’s and don’ts. It’s a foundation from which numerous principles will flow.

The writers of the “new testament” were aware of this. For instance:

Speaking of the burning bush passage, this is where we are going to get our start.

My plan is to go through the Torah, and find precepts and principles by which we can live. So many times Yahushua said that people were hard of hearing. He would often say, “To him who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Yahweh’s word is speaking to those who have the ears to hear it. To hear it, we know that Yahweh wants us to have the heart of the man in Psalm 119:

And if this is our longing, our desire.. it will be granted to us:

If we have this hunger, this thirst for righteousness within our souls, we will be filled. He will not hide His commandments from us, as we apply the things we have learned.

And even as I share with you in this and following studies, it is likely that I will cover some things and even though you hear me, it won’t fully sink in. This is not because I’m better than anyone else. And I’m sure I could sit and listen to others go over some commands in the Torah and even though I hear them, it may not sink in. Actually, I will probably even be sharing some things here myself that even though I share it and it’s in the word, it may not fully sink in.

Why? Because even if we hear it, we may not understand all the ways in which we may not be applying them to our lives, unknowingly…

But our growth in Messiah is a process. Sanctification is a process of hearing, learning, applying.. but it all starts with having ears to hear.. and that all starts with hungering for the things of Elohim:

So let’s search it out. Yahushua talked about the burning bush passage. From that He said that we could gain an understanding that we will be raised again. This is interesting because there is not any such word as “resurrection” in the Torah. But Yahushua shared how one could take a statement from Yahweh to indicate that the dead would be raised.

So let’s take a look at this passage for a moment:

Unless there is a resurrection, Yahweh cannot be the Elohim of Abraham if Abraham is dead and ceases to exist. Only if Abraham is raised again can Yahweh be the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Now I find this whole passage very interesting, but not just because of what it tells us regarding the resurrection of the dead.

The first thing you want to know when you meet someone is to know their name.

And after you know their name, this is what you call them. Sadly, this has not been true of those who profess to know our Heavenly Father.

His name has been suppressed by men and until the last 50 years or so, not many even knew what His name was.

But Yahweh set His name up to be a memorial to ALL generations

Man has his memorials, such as The Wall on Washington DC, so that the names of the men who fought and died in the vietnam war would not be forgotten.

Yahweh also has His memorial. His memorial IS His name. There is no doubt that He is speaking directly as to the vocalization of His name here in Exodus 3. The vocalization, Yahweh, is what He chose to be remembered by. The Hebrew word, “Shem” can refer to character, or person.. or specifically their literal written and spoken name. In this context, it is clearly speaking of His literal written and spoken name.

“Yahweh” is the name that Yahweh chose to attach to Himself, and be the word chosen to bring remembrance to His character.

Some say He has many names, but in reality he has many titles that describe him, such as Creator, Master, and Father – but only one personal name. Likewise, we have many titles that will describe us, such as father, son, brother, or sister, but only one personal name.

What is a memorial?

02143 זֵכֶר zeker {zay’-ker} or זֶכֶר zeker {zeh’-ker}
Meaning: 1) memorial, remembrance 1a) remembrance, memory 1b) memorial
Origin: from 02142; TWOT – 551a; n m
Usage: AV – remembrance 11, memorial 5, memory 5, remembered 1, scent 1; 23

02142 זָכַר zakar {zaw-kar’}
Meaning: 1) to remember, recall, call to mind 1a) (Qal) to remember, recall 1b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to remember, remind 1c2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance 1c3) to mention 1c4) to record 1c5) to make a memorial, make remembrance
Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 551; v
Usage: AV – remember 172, mention 21, remembrance 10, recorder 9, mindful 6, think 3, bring to remembrance 2, record 2, misc 8; 233

Consider all of the scriptures which speak of “Memorials” (Zakar)

It is interesting to me that in the same way ancient Israel forgot Yahweh’s name for “Ba’al” which means “lord,” we can look into most modern bibles today and find that man has set aside Yahweh’s memorial name for “Lord.”

01168 בַּעַל Ba`al {bah’-al}
Meaning: Baal = “lord” n pr m 1) supreme male divinity of the Phoenicians or Canaanites 2) a Reubenite 3) the son of Jehiel and grandfather of Saul n pr loc 4) a town of Simeon, probably identical to Baalath-beer
Origin: the same as 01167; TWOT – 262a
Usage: AV – Baal 62, Baalim 18; 80

Is it just a coincidence? Probably not. It seems to me that satan has been trying to cause people to forget Yahweh’s memorial name for thousands of years. Anything that Yahweh seeks to establish and memoriallze Himself with.. the enemy seeks to cause people to forget.

The excuse that people use today for replacing Yahweh’s name with “LORD” is that they believe the name is too holy to be pronounced.

Some “rabbis” asserted that a person who pronounces Yahweh according to its letters (instead of using a substitute) has no place in the World to Come, and should be put to death. The name was pronounced 10 times on the day of atonement, and only by the high priest.

The idea that Yahweh’s name is too holy to be pronounced and that only the high priest should utter it is exactly what the pagan idol worshippers believed.

In fact, the term “Ba’al” wasn’t really the name of any idol in Israel. “Ba’al” was a substitute title! If you look on Wikipedia under the name Ba’al it states:

“In some texts it is used for Hadad, a god of the rain, thunder, fertility and agriculture, and the lord of Heaven. Since only priests were allowed to utter his divine name, Hadad, Ba‛al was commonly used.”

Wikipedia

Get that, only priest were allowed to utter the name of their idol, so people had to use “ba’al” or “Lord” instead.

So the idea that Yahweh’s name is too holy to be pronounced by the common people is simply an imitation of demon-worshiping idolators.

Yahweh told us the exact opposite. He said that His name is a memorial…that means that it is something that we remember, and use. In fact, in the Hebrew scriptures Yahweh’s name is used nearly 7,000 times.

If you were to look at the common Hebrew words in all of scripture, you would find that they are as follows:

1. W (And)
2. HA ((The)
3. L ((To, for)
4. B ((In / at / by)
5. et ((An untranslated verb meaning proximity [accusative case])
6. MI (From)
7. Yahweh

So the 7th most frequently used word in the Hebrew text is actually “Yahweh”. It is found over 1,000 times more than the words which are translated “into, who, and all” each of which which are all used about 5,500 hundred times

So Yahweh places a memorial, His name, into the scriptures nearly 7,000 times… and 7,000 times man takes it out of our modern bibles.

And they admit doing it. You can read about it in the preface of many bibles. For instance, the NIV:

“In regard to the divine name YHWH, commonly referred to as the Tetragrammaton, the translators adopted the device used in most English versions…

New International Version – Preface

This statement runs true in the majority of modern English translations. The primary reasoning for replacing the name of Yahweh with something else is ‘tradition’. In other words, “As long as everyone else does it, it must be okay”.

..of rendering that name as “LORD” in capital letters to distinguish it from adonai, another Hebrew word rendered “Lord” for which small letters are used.

Now in the Revised standard preface they get more aggressive about defending the practice:

“the use of any proper name for the one and only God, as though there were other gods from whom He had to be distinguished, was discontinued in Judaism before the Christian era and is entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.”

Revised Standard Version – Preface

Question: Who are they to decide what is appropriate for one’s faith? I thought it was their job is to translate, not decide what we are to believe!

To me, this statement is a sad commentary of how far some have gone from the scriptures. Not only do they say why they have chosen to replace Yahweh’s name with a title of their choosing but they also state that ‘use of any proper name…is entirely inappropriate!’

Amazing! Who invented the idea of having a name of our Creator? Is it not Yahweh Himself??

Is Yahweh also ‘entirely inappropriate’ for placing His name there in scripture over some 7000 times? Are they saying indeed that the one whom they claim to worship is ‘entirely inappropriate’ for placing His name there? Oh my!

Furthermore, they say it is ‘entirely inappropriate for the universal faith of the Christian Church.’ But to me this begs the question, “Why have a different substitution for the name “Yahweh” in each language? Would it not be more ‘universal’ to use ONE NAME?” Yahweh has said:

Translators are participating in a tradition which undermines Yahweh’s desire to make His name great among the Gentiles. They are thwarting Yahweh’s efforts removing His name from His own book!

Every word of Elohim is pure.. you have no business adding to it. He didn’t put “LORD” in all those places where translators put them… he put HIS MEMORIAL NAME. How dare anyone change it? They will be found liars. For instance, we read:

This is a lie. It is not true! His name is NOT “the LORD.” They will be rebuked by Yahweh and found liars because they have added to His words. And even worse, they took away from it:

This tells us how Yahweh feels about those who add to and take away from His holy scriptures. Very harsh words indeed…

So what about us? What do we do when we read things like this:

We RESTORE! We restore the name back into the text. We don’t read it as they put it. We read it as He put it.

I know that many of you reading this may have not known these things, and so ignorantly you just were doing what the translators had written. I do understand that, but now that you do know…you don’t want to memorialize their practice of removing Yahweh’s name from His own book. You don’t want to memorialize man’s tradition, which is rooted in paganism. You want to memorialize Yahweh’s name.. just as He said:

Are we part of that “all generations?” Absolutely we are.

Another memorial that is often forgotten today..

No leavened bread shall be eaten. This is talking about the feast of unleavened bread. When Yahweh called the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, after telling them that He had a memorial name for them to use, the very first thing He told them to obey, their first act of obedience… was the observance of Passover.

And so many times, Yahweh, when speaking to the children of Israel, would identify Himself this way, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” Yahweh calls us to “Remember” this. The word “Remember” here is the Hebrew word:

02142 זָכַר zakar {zaw-kar’}
Meaning: 1) to remember, recall, call to mind 1a) (Qal) to remember, recall 1b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to cause to remember, remind 1c2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance 1c3) to mention 1c4) to record 1c5) to make a memorial, make remembrance
Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 551; v
Usage: AV – remember 172, mention 21, remembrance 10, recorder 9, mindful 6, think 3, bring to remembrance 2, record 2, misc 8; 233

02143 זֵכֶר zeker {zay’-ker} or זֶכֶר zeker {zeh’-ker}
Meaning: 1) memorial, remembrance 1a) remembrance, memory 1b) memorial
Origin: from 02142; TWOT – 551a; n m
Usage: AV – remembrance 11, memorial 5, memory 5, remembered 1, scent 1; 23

The only difference is the Zakar is a verb, and Zeker converts that verb to a noun.

But as I said earlier, the enemy wants man to forget Yahweh’s memorials.

It’s for this reason that so many people forget the Sabbath:

And we will see later that after He told them to observe Passover, when they crossed the red sea the very next thing He expected of them was to keep His Sabbath in Exodus 16. Yahweh is all about memorials, remembrances, things that He wants to remembered by.

But the enemy would rather we forget the very things that Yahweh wants us to remember.

It’s for this reason that Yahweh’s memorials are absent from modern religions. Instead, we have memorials of sun worship and memorials of man’s traditions. Satan wants to memorialize his observances and what he inspired men to do. That’s why we have the modern holidays, such as Christmas, which are rooted in the worship of demons, or paganism.

Those are the enemy’s memorials, not Yahweh’s memorials. They are substitutions for Yahweh’s memorials. The enemy has also inspired an alternative Sabbath.

Rather than on the 7th day of the week, which would memorialize Yahweh’s acts of creation, instead we have a “Sunday Sabbath” (which today usually isn’t even observed as a real Sabbath).

Today, this day is rarely even observed as a sabbath anymore, unlike in early American Christianity. Now, it’s often just a day to go to church in the morning, watch football in the afternoon, go to church in the evening, and then watch more football on the “sunday night game.” at least during that time of year.

But it hardly matters anyway, since it’s not the Sabbath at all. In every place the word “Sabbath” occurs in the New Testament, it always is talking about the 7th day of the week.

At any rate, do we see the enemy’s hand here?

Now there is a connection between the eating of unleavened bread, and the partaking of the Master’s supper:

The bread which He gave them was unleavened bread. It is a memorial. Do we see the connection here? He was sharing with them that HE IS the unleavened bread that they were commanded to partake of in:

So Yahushua IS represented in the unleavened bread that is eaten during the feast of unleavened bread. Now modern Christians do observe a form of this, but they tie it into their own memorial, the Sunday observance, rather than Yahweh’s Memorial, Passover.

But these things are all the natural result of what happens when people choose to separate themselves from Israel. Sozoman, a church historian who lived from 400 to 450AD, said in regard to the Sabbath made the following statement:

“Assemblies are not held in all churches on the same time or manner. The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”

Sozoman, Ecclesiastical History, book VII Chapter 19.

So by that time, Constantine Christianity had not quite made it’s full mark.. the Roman Catholic Church had not yet propagated its ways to the whole christian world, but we can see that it was gaining influence as believers were keeping both days. They were actually required to keep “sunday” because of Constantine’s decree:

“On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed.”

(Constantine, March 7, 321. Codex Justinianus lib. 3, tit. 12, 3; trans. in Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. 3, p. 380, note 1)

So that’s a little history lesson for those who do not know. Satan kept whittling away at one of Yahweh’s memorials, slowly but surely. The removal of Yahweh’s name from the Greek texts was already well established from about the middle of the 2nd century (about 150 AD) due to the influence of men like Justin Martyr, a man who lived during that time. Justin said:

“For God cannot be called by any proper name”

(Justin’s Hortatory Address to the Greeks, 21)

“For no one can utter the name of the ineffable God; and if any one dare to say that there is a name, he raves with a hopeless madness.”

(I Apol.,61)

Question: did Yahweh Himself rave with hopeless madness when He said “This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” in Exodus 3:15? Was the psalmist raving with hopeless madness when saying “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of Yahweh.” in Psalm 116:17?

Brothers and sisters, the memorials of Yahweh have been desecrated. The memorials of Yahweh have been corrupted. The memorials of Yahweh have been forgotten. It is our job to restore them back to their proper place.

Just as the Jewish people were robbed and plundered, hidden in the prison houses of sectarianism and denominationalism in the first century, so are the people today. And it’s all because of the preference of traditions of men over the commandments of Yahweh. It is because man prefers his own memorials rather than the memorials of Yahweh. Man seeks to exist in the place of Elohim.

This was a memorial for Yahweh, because Amalek had done a wicked thing. Amalek

Now King Saul came along and decided that he would not honor Yahweh’s memorial. Notice that it says:

Saul decided that he was going to give himself the glory, and then not do what Yahweh said:

We have the same thing going on today. Yahweh has His memorials, but then man sets up memorials to himself:

Then they go around acting as if they are obedient to Yahweh’s commandments, but they are not. They are obedient (perhaps unknowingly) to their own version of how to keep the commandments.

And the leaders who allow this kind of thing will blame the people. I’ve heard from Pastors who say, “Well the PEOPLE this is what they want. They want their Sunday observance. They want their Christmas, they don’t want to call Him Yahweh” The PEOPLE want their own way. The reality is that such pastors often want glory for themselves, and so he listens to the people and obeys their voice:

Just as Saul, who rejected a memorial of Yahweh, was rejected from being a leader over Yahweh’s people, those who disregard the memorials of Yahweh and would rather set up monuments to themselves instead have no business being in leadership over a congregation or church.

We must choose to put Yahweh first in all things. And rather than “fearing the people and obeying their voice” we ALL need to fear Yahweh and obey HIS voice.

He doesn’t care so much about your song services, your sacrifices of praise to Him.. as He does in obeying His voice.. the voice of the Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep.

And if people choose to go on, and keep their own memorials rather than the memorials of Yahweh

If they choose to be stubborn and rebellious, and continue in their own memorials rather than Yahweh’s memorials, and they do it willfully, purposely and intentionally because they “fear other people and obey their voice” if they want to continue in their ways and do what comes out of their own heart rather than what comes out of the holy scriptures… this is nothing more than witchcraft and idolatry.

What is witchcraft? Why is “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry?”

We know the enemy seeks to rebel against Yahweh. He is the first rebel, the one who leads others into his ways… joining forces with him…seeking to gain glory for himself, rather than glorifying Yahweh. When a person rebels against Yahweh’s commands and does their own thing because they fear the people and obey their voice..they are making the people their idol, and they are walking in the ways of satan. This is the heart of witchcraft… seeking to use the power of satan the devil for selfish gain. It is joining forces with HIM in rebellion against Yahweh.

Now I am not trying to condemn anyone who is disregarding Yahweh’s memorials out of ignorance, out of not knowing any better, out of just blindness to realizing the importance HE places on them.

I don’t believe anyone who is “doing the best they know to do at the time” is walking in rebellion, or stubbornness.

I am talking about those who KNOW what the will of Yahweh is.. but in their heart they are saying.. and maybe someone ready this study today is doing this, I don’t know.. in their heart they are saying “But what will people think of me if I start using the TRUE MEMORIAL NAME instead of “the LORD” (man’s memorial)? What will people think of me if I start keeping the real day to remember, “the Sabbath” instead of man’s memorial, the memorial of Constantine, “Sunday worship?” Or, what will people think of me if I start keeping the Passover, and honoring the Messiah as the Passover Lamb, and observing this feast of unleavened bread (Yahweh’s memorial) rather than doing the traditional “Eucharist” on Sunday (man’s memorial)?

If you are too concerned about what think about you, and because of that you prefer your own memorials and monuments, MAN’s memorials and monuments over what Yahweh has said are HIS memorials in His word… and you fear the people and obey their voice instead.. I’m sorry, but you are no better than Saul. And if that is your attitude, you need to repent or you, like Saul, could be rejected from being kings and priests unto the Lamb.

And someone may say, well I’m not a king.. Yahushua is the king. Don’t be stubborn.

That’s not what the word says:

It is Yahushua who will make us kings and priests. He is the one who we need to follow. He feared Yahweh and obeyed His voice to the death.

Today, many choose to memorialize his birth (even though he didn’t ask us to) and they do it on a day that He was not born. They also memorialize his resurrection (and name that day Easter, memorializing the name of a pagan goddess) most typically on a day that He was not resurrected. Likewise, they divorce the Messiah from Passover…an observance that Yahweh inspired to memorialize the Messiah’s death…as well as memorialize our own deliverance from our own “EGYPT” as I will be sharing about next week.

Meanwhile, as I was writing this study I came across something very interesting…

It’s from the verse we read earlier about Yahweh’s name being His banner:

Now the word banner is from:

05251 נֵס nec {nace}
Meaning: 1) something lifted up, standard, signal, signal pole, ensign, banner, sign, sail 1a) standard (as rallying point), signal 1b) standard (pole) 1c) ensign, signal
Origin: from 05264; TWOT – 1379a; n m
Usage: AV – standard 7, ensign 6, pole 2, banner 2, sail 2, sign 1; 20

This word is also used here:

Now Yahushua said:

So Yahushua was lifted up from the earth on a “nayce” which is something lifted up. But why would Yahushua compare Himself to the serpent?

Because on Him was laid the iniquity of us all:

So He was lifted up and our sins would be placed on HIM.. for this reason, the innocent lamb of Yahweh was cursed.. hanged on a tree. On him was our sins.. and thus depicted as a serpent.

But remember, the enemy, the serpents were destroying the people of Israel…

The people despised Yahweh’s bread, sent from heaven. The manna, so Yahweh gave them what they wanted.. the serpents, instead. So when they repented, Yahweh placed a serpent on the “nayce” and when they looked at the pole, they lived.

Well, the same word, “nayce” is used here:

This is a Messianic prophecy. It is predicted that the Messiah would stand as a “nayce” to to the people. He was lifted up as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness. And the Gentiles accepted Him.. we are waiting for the Jewish people to accept Him still, but the Gentiles have accepted Him. But Yahushua had to be lifted up from the earth, He had to stand as a “nayce” for the people. As Yahushua said:

HalleluYah!! We should all be drawn to HIM…and to the example that He gave. He upheld Yahweh’s memorials. He called upon the name of Yahweh and glorified His name:

Yahweh couldn’t hold back when Yahushua said.. Glorify YOUR NAME. His Name is glorified through this awesome act of Yahushua dying for our sins… the name of “Yahweh” becomes our banner…our “nayce,” that standard that is lifted up against the enemy.

The altar’s name was Yahweh-Nissi. Nissi is the possessive, or first person of “nayce.” The altar was called this. Yahushua was offered up as an offering as well… and if you do any research at all into what Yahweh’s name is all about.. you will see that it is ALL ABOUT GRACE.

So do we see why Yahushua being lifted up from the earth, and His Name all being ONE here? His name and His Messiah are a manifestation of His mercy, graciousness, longsuffering, and forgiveness of sin.

And since Yahushua has drawn all men to Himself through this awesome act, why don’t we live like He did?

Why don’t we cleave to Yahweh’s memorial, His Sabbath, like He did? Why don’t we call upon the memorial name, Yahweh, like He did? Why don’t we choose to obey Yahweh rather than fearing man, like He did? Why don’t we do the things He asked us to do and memorialize His death on Passover, as He asked us to?

If we do, then we are truly learning to be His disciples (taught ones). If we do, we are honoring Yahweh’s memorials. All of Yahweh’s feast days are memorials. Let’s cease from the setting aside of HIS memorials, in favor of our own. Let’s all RESTORE His memorials, that we might give Him the glory that is due His name.

And as we do so, my brothers and sisters, may Yahweh bless you… and may Yahweh have mercy on us all!!