Numbers 35

Ruminations on Numbers 35.

On the set of the western movie “Rust” on Thursday, October 21, Alec Baldwin was practicing removing his gun from the holster and pointing it at the camera in preparation for a scene in the movie. Suddenly the gun discharged, killing the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, and wounding the director Joel Souza who was directly behind her. The gun had been certified as “cold” i.e. not containing real ammunition before being given to Mr. Baldwin. Horrifying, apparently accidental, but a wife and mother lost her life.

In the Torah in B’midbar (Numbers) 35 God gave explicit instructions on how Israel was to respond to accidental killing. The Levites were allotted 48 cities spread throughout the land of Israel with some in each tribe as they were not given a tribal territory of their own. Six of these Levitical cities were specially designated as cities of refuge. Three of these were on the west side of the Jordan and three were on the east. This was to allow easy access for anyone who might need to flee to their protection.

When a person killed someone they had to flee to a city of refuge where the congregation would be called to determine if the killing were intentional thus murder or accidental in what we might term manslaughter. If the congregation found the killer guilty of murder—intentional, planned and malicious—he was turned over to the avenger of blood who would kill him. If he was found innocent of intentional malfeasance he was sent back to the city of refuge where he would be safe. The killer was required to live in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest. If he ever ventured outside the city the avenger of blood could slay him with no repercussions. The killer could not pay a ransom to shorten his stay—for safety he had to live in the city of refuge until the death of the High Priest.

The killer, if designated a murderer, had to die, there was no recourse nor forgiveness. 35: 33 ‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.’ The only justice for murder is the slaying of the one who committed murder. We find this idea also in Genesis 9: 6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
God makes plain in the text that this is a perpetual obligation. Numbers 35: 29 These things shall be for a statutory ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Today, if the killing of Halyna Hutchins had taken place in ancient Israel Mr Baldwin would have been compelled to flee to a city of refuge. If found innocent of intentional harm he would then live in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest.
It is pretty easy to read this passage and pass it off as irrelevant. For at least two reasons: 1- most Christians don’t believe Yeshua (Jesus) when he said he didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets 2- none of us would ever kill anyone and if we did accidentally, our culture assures us we did nothing wrong and deserve no punishment.

The Bible does not hold to the view that intent determines guilt. Halyna Hutchins is dead regardless of Alec Baldwin’s intent. She is made in the image of her creator and her death carries vast importance with that creator.

For those who follow Yeshua (Jesus) and accept him as their Redeemer and Savior this passage carries great weight. One of the things Yeshua did (any in many ways the ancient sages agree with him) was dig deep into the intent of the law (Torah) and how our behavior relates to it. In Matthew 5 he reminds his listeners that the Torah tells us that those who murder are subject to judgment. But, he goes on to say, that anyone who is angry with his brother is subject to judgment. Those who call their brother a fool are in danger of the fires of hell. In other words, Yeshua is linking anger, slander and hatred to murder. In 1 John 3:15 the apostle corroborates Yeshua’s point by affirming that whoever hates his brother is a murderer. In rabbinical tradition one who indulges in lashon hara (evil speech) murders three people—himself, his listener and the one being spoken of.

We probably have all said something inadvertently that really injured someone. Off-the-cuff criticism, snide insults, angry retaliation often lead to angry words and damaged feelings that in Yeshua’s description render us subject to judgment.

How do we run to the city of refuge? What does that mean today? Psalm 91 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God in whom I trust!” Yeshua promises in John 6:37 “whoever comes to me I will never cast out!”
So we come to the shelter of the “Most High” and surrender to his provision and enter His city. Hebrews 12: 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Yeshua, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

We discover two powerful truths as we enter our “city of refuge.” First our high priest has died. By coming to the city and accepting his sacrifice and atoning death we are set free to return home. Second the sprinkled blood does speak better than the blood of Abel. Abel’s blood cried out for justice. Justice can only come for Abel with the shedding of the blood of Cain, his murderer. The sprinkled blood of Yeshua satisfies our bloodguiltiness before the law. By shedding his blood he meets the demand of the law for the shedding of blood of the guilty party. When we accept his sacrifice in our behalf his blood purchases our freedom as expiation for the land has been made “by the blood of him who shed it.” Isaiah 53: 5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

Thus we find that for the person who comes to the Lord with a truly repentant heart, provision has been made for the unintentional damage we do to each other and forgiveness when the hurt is intentional and malicious. Psalm 46: 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

May we all find our way to the city of refuge.

Ruminations

I have been struggling with insomnia the last while. This means I get up a little earlier. This morning when I left the house for a run it was before 5 am. It was dark and marvelously clear. Omnipresent smoke has suffocated our valley from California, Oregon and northern Utah fires. The sun sets as a flaming red ball resembling what one sees in smog shrouded cities. Our little valley which is world famous for its air quality now features a smoky atmosphere that burns your eyes and chokes your throat.

But this morning I could see the stars. The waning moon was beautiful but not so bright as to drown out the sparkling lights filling the heavens. As I ran past the trees in the windbreak I startled a couple of owls (I think) and they launched themselves into flight with considerable noise and fanfare. Two days ago when I ran, a surprised coyote shot across the road in front of me. All the nocturnal activity reminds me that just because I can't see it doesn't mean nothing is happening.

Due east, Orion shone brilliantly as if reclining on his side. I couldn't see the Big Dipper at first. So I went backwards. I found Polaris and then tracked my way to the Big Dipper. It was in the northeastern sky and the end of the handle just concealed below the horizon.
Often when I run I listen to music. A favorite group of mine is Casting Crowns. Two days ago I was listening and they sang a song titled "Wedding Day." It begins "There's a stirring in the throne room And all creation holds it's breath Waiting now to see the bride groom Wondering how the bride will dress And she wears white."

The words almost stopped me. Knowing how screwed up I can be and also, all of mankind, I was curiously affected knowing the purity and righteousness of the bride depends on Him. The song goes on to say "When someone wins your heart And says you're beautiful
When you don't know you are." It was a potent reminder that a true measure of spirituality is the ability to see people as they can be and not as they are.

Today the lyrics "caught between the God we want and the God who is" captured my attention. One of the 10 commands is to have "no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath." One of the greatest temptations of humans is to form God into their own image or, at least, make Him someone they can make peace with or accept.

We even find good Christians trying to bend reality to fit their concept of the Bible. In essence they work extremely hard to shove God into their box trumpeting this is how God has to be because that is how they perceive Him. I have found a great deal of peace by realizing that I will never discover a "truth" that disagrees with who God is. Yeshua (Jesus) said "I am the way, the truth and the life" and also "everyone on the side of truth listens to me."

This is why I will never see a chasm between the revelation of God and science. Paul says in Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse." Oddly Paul doesn't say here that we will see "His eternal power and divine nature" from a book--he says we will see it in what he has made.

This means you can relax. As Paul also says "we can do nothing against the truth." A natural example would be a group getting together and voting that they are no longer under the laws of gravity. When they step off a cliff they will quickly discover that we truly can do nothing against the truth. It is important to remember that collisions with the truth can be painful.

This got rather long. But it has been percolating inside of me for some time. I know I take myself way too seriously at times. Remember that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. I hope you find something to watch, read, listen to, and share that brings you joy.

Swallowing Camels

Swallowing Camels
Letters from the MIA Shepherd's Council

By John Conrad

In 1974, Jamie Buckingham wrote a book about the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service, (JAARS) the aviation arm of the Wycliffe Bible Translators. This group consists of radio technicians, mechanics and pilots who fly small planes into the Amazon rainforests and African jungles. Their precious cargo is translators who master the language of indigenous peoples, painstakingly develop an alphabet for the native language and then gradually create a written language. The next step is to teach the people how to read their own language. After this careful foundation is laid, they translate the Bible into the "new" language and give the people the gift of the Word of God in their own language. Miracles and transformations follow in the native cultures as Godly harvests spring up from the planting of His Word. 

Jamie spent two years flying into the jungles--interviewing jungle pilots and witnessing the impact of the written word of God on the local populations. The book displayed all his considerable skill producing a story that inspires and also clearly recognizes the sacrifice and devotion displayed by these spiritual aviation pioneers. 

Convinced that the story belonged to the Kingdom, Jamie donated all the royalties. To his dismay, Jamie took a lot of flak from the group from which he least expected it--the Wycliffe translators themselves. They found fault with many aspects of the book, particularly some facts. The smallest detail incorrectly reported provoked scathing responses. Accusations streamed in. He called a "Teak" tree an "ironwood" tree. He incorrectly identified a "tribesman" as an "Indian." He described a chocolate-skinned native as "brown." Jamie drowned in an avalanche of nit-picking and fault-finding. 

He snapped. Firing a letter to one of Wycliffe's directors he branded the entire organization "jot and tittle" people who "strain at gnats and swallow camels." This director wrote back to Jamie, thanked him for the book and expressed his approval of Jamie's work with the organization. As a caveat he gently reminded Jamie, "When you are translating the bible, you need 'jot and tittle people.'" After painful reflection, Jamie realized the source of the problem. He wrote the book to tell a powerful story, to show men and women of God braving impossible odds to bring His Word to a lost world. He tried to get the facts right but, for him, exact details paled in importance to communicating the story. Conversely, the translators cared immensely about exact detail. Their craft demanded precision and painstaking care. A letter or sound not exactly correct completely changes the meaning of a word. The development of a written language leaves little room for error. The translators were nit-pickers and hair-splitters because their craft demanded it. 

This story speaks to Messianics today. Many who have come to see the eternal truth of Torah, the Hebraic background of scripture and the Jewish identity of Yeshua arrived at these truths through deliberate study and research. Deliverance from an error-saturated church culture demanded an ability to walk alone, even when accompanied by a chorus of boos and cat-calling from the pews. These pioneers learned to depend upon their own ability to think and research. They became suspicious of tradition, groupthink, and anything approaching consensus that seemed to sacrifice truth at the expense of conformity. 

An example of this is Hale Harris's experience when he shared his growing conviction based upon scripture that the seventh day Sabbath had not been abolished. The church leader informed of this belief immediately exclaimed, "Careful now, Hale. You are beginning to color outside the lines!" The experience of so many in the burgeoning Messianic movement with this typical tradition based, scripturally ignorant thinking produced a mistrust of leaders. Over time a hardy band of Robinson Crusoes, people on their own little islands, self- sufficient and unaware of the existence of others, developed within the Messianic community. 

In large part due to the Robinson Crusoe mentality, efforts to create groups or fellowships were doomed. The very characteristics so necessary to break out of the crowd (Ex 23:2 "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong") have now become impediments. Annual congregation splits are common. Messianics can't walk together. The originally healthy questioning of church traditions has often grown into an antipathy for the church and a distrust of all leaders. This is a problem for a people called to build a restored nation. 

In our zeal to be right we are often not righteous. Yeshua declared the weighty matters of Torah to be "justice, mercy and faithfulness." (Matt 23:23) This would indicate that our observance of Torah must be girded with these qualities. If not, our spiritual house will be in jeopardy. The situation articulated in 1 Cor 3 describes us: Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in the Messiah.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? 

I praise Yeshua for the extensive scriptural understanding of Messianic men and women and their commitment to the truth. However, perhaps it is time to ask the Ruach for guidance and temperance to learn to walk together. Our Torah obedience would be more believable if we were able to do it together. Also because much of this walk is new to us we are still learning. We occasionally fall down. Just as illustrated in the example with Jamie's book, we need people who can conscientiously ferret out the truth but we also need those who see the big picture. As Paul addresses in the 1 Corinthians 3 text, maturity reveals itself in unity not necessarily "new" Torah truths. 

There are many legitimate areas of concern facing us as we walk this restoration pathway. What does it mean not to "kindle a fire on the Sabbath"? What is Aviv Barley? How do we nullify the Torah through our own traditions? The questions go on and on. In addressing these legitimate questions we must avoid the spirit that comes from the enemy-one of finicky attention to details that misses the broad picture. As alluded to earlier, Yeshua rebuked the Pharisees, Matt 23:24 "You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel" It is a wonderful testimony to the Father's faithfulness to see the thousands of faithful believers returning to the truth of Torah and with a zeal for the truth. However, in our zeal to follow Torah and return to the Hebraic nature of our faith we must remember that our walk with our brother is the most reliable outward indicator of our walk with our Creator. 

The prophetic word foretelling the joining of the two sticks-the stick of Joseph with the stick of Judah-demands an ability to walk together, to become unified, to submit to one another. The gifts of independence, careful study, meticulous attention must be redeemed to be used by the Father to build his nation in this day. Similarly Paul reminds us of the purpose for the authority YHWH had given him in 2 Corinthians 13:10 "the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down." May all of those in the MIA devote the wonderful gifts the Father has showered upon us to His work in this day of "restoring all things."

© 2006 Messianic Israel Alliance

Who’s Your Momma?

WHO’S YOUR MAMMA?
by Dr. John Conrad


                “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
                In this day when God has promised to restore all things, putting the house of Israel back together seems as impossible as making Humpy Dumpty whole. The life of our patriarch, Jacob, provides insight into this restoration.
                Genesis 35:16-26: Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and she suffered severe labor. When she was in severe labor the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for now you have another son.”  It came about as her soul was departing (for she died), that she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).  Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
                 It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now there were twelve sons of Jacob – the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, then Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Zebulun; the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;  and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid: Dan and Naphtali; and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s maid: Gad and Asher.
                In the Torah a person’s name describes his mission. Yahweh promises Abram in Genesis 12:2-3, “And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Name in both Hebrew and English refers not only to the given name but includes the character and reputation of the man. God changed Abram’s given name to Abraham to underscore his mission as “father of a multitude.”
                Yahweh’s promise to Abraham transferred to Isaac (not Ishmael) then to Jacob (not Esau) and thus to Jacob’s 12 sons. In this passage the sons are grouped according to their mother. Two sisters, Leah and Rachel, were Jacob’s wives. Jacob chose Rachel, but he was tricked by the girls’ father, Laban, into marrying Leah first. This subterfuge undermined the marriage. Leah and Rachel spent their lives as Jacob’s wives fighting a battle to win the approval of both Jacob and God. Leah had six sons which she named. Every name was not only the son’s mission but a repudiation of her sister and a calculated move to give her an advantage in the ongoing war:
• Reuben, “Look, a son.”
• Shimon, “The Lord has heard.”
• Levi, “Attached, joined or connected.” (“Now my husband will be attached to me.”)
• Judah, “Praise.” (“This time I will praise Him.”)
                The Bible makes clear that these names were attempts by Leah to “show up” Rachel.
                After Leah bore these four sons, Rachel demanded that Jacob “give me children or I die!” Jacob retorted, “Am I in the place of God to withhold children from your womb?” In desperation, Rachel commanded her handmaid, Bilhah, to go into her husband that she “too may have children.” Israel conceived two sons with Bilhah. Both boys are named by Rachel.
• Dan, “Judge.” (“Yahweh has vindicated me.”)
• Naphtali, “Wrestling.” (“I have struggled with my sister and overcome.”)
                Rachel, not Bilhah, named the boys using the names as weapons against Leah in the continuing turf war.
                When Leah saw she had quit bearing children, she forced her handmaid, Zilpah, upon Jacob. The names given by Leah continue to be adversarial:
• Gad, “Fortune.” (“How fortunate.”) 
• Asher, “Happy.” (“Happy am I for women will call me happy.”)
                Inflaming this sibling rivalry, Jacob confined his nightly companionship to Rachel. Leah’s young son Reuben found mandrakes and brought them to his mother Leah. Mandrakes were believed to assist in conception and pregnancy. When Rachel saw the mandrakes she was jealous and asked for some. Leah angrily replied, “Now that you have taken my husband, will you take my mandrakes as well? You can have my mandrakes if Jacob comes to sleep with me tonight.” Rachel gladly accepted this bargain, somehow not realizing that mandrakes are not what produce children. Surprise, surprise! Leah became pregnant and delivered Issachar. Leah follows with another son Zebulun.
• Issachar, “Wages or recompense.” (“God has given me my wages.”)
• Zebulun, “Dwelling.” (“Now my husband will dwell with me.”)
Finally, Rachel bore a son:
• Joseph, “He will add.” (“May Yahweh give me another son.”)
                She was grateful for Joseph, but saw him as just the start of her quest to get even with Leah. This brings us to our initial passage in Genesis 35 where Rachel gave birth to Benoni, “son of my suffering.”
                Oddly, the father finally intervened and changed his name to Benjamin. This is the only son that Jacob names.
• Benjamin, “son of my right hand.”
                All things work together for good – but not all things are good. Polygamy is not good. It rends the heart. It shares that which cannot be shared. It destroys intimacy. Similarly, idolatry is evil. It shares the worshiper’s heart for Yahweh with another god. However, God uses Jacob’s polygamy for his purposes. Through Israel’s struggling sons he will raise up the redemptive nation of Israel. Israel’s family is a picture of reality, not perfection.
                The family was torn by preference; Rachel over Leah, Joseph above his brothers. Israel’s wives were consumed by contrasting desires springing from specific deficits and blinding them to everything else in life. Leah ached for the love of her husband, Jacob. Rachel yearned for a son. In their single minded quest to achieve their goals they destroyed the relationships in their lives and objectified all the people that were important to them. The sisters permanently alienated each other. Their handmaids lost their humanity and became pawns just like the sons. Jacob stopped being a husband--he became the herd sire. All became weapons to use against each other. This internal warfare became so fierce that Reuben, the firstborn son of Leah and Jacob, slept with Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid, in an incredible display of hatred, revenge, and repudiation directed at his father, his aunt, and the mother of Dan and Naphtali. This violation cost him his birthright. When, in a future chapter, the brothers, led by Judah, sold Joseph into slavery, it demonstrated a terrible reality. The fault lines drawn in the family, based upon the identity of each son’s mother, had opened wide enough to induce murder.
                The reconciliation of Joseph to his brothers only became possible when they realized they all had one father. When Judah offered himself as a slave to Joseph to avert the damage that losing Benjamin would cause Israel, Joseph is undone. Judah’s evident love for Jacob and for Benjamin removed the last shred of his resistance to reconciliation.
                Genesis 44:30-45:1 “Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. “For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.’ “Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.
                “For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me – for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?”
                Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
                The history of Israel, both Ephraim and Judah, reeks of battle lines drawn over the identity of our “mothers” – our cultures, our churches, our fellowships. The apostle Paul consented to the death of Stephen, a fellow Jew, because of Stephen’s faith in Yeshua. Hundreds of thousands of Jews and rival Christians died at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church during the Inquisition. The Crusaders invited the Jewish population of Jerusalem to the Great Synagogue promising them safety and then burned it to the ground with everyone in it. When Cromwell conquered Ireland he was responsible for the destruction of possibly one fourth of the entire population because he was on a crusade against the hated Roman Catholic heretics. Hitler successfully recruited Christians in Germany to assist in his final solution against the Jews because of the deep collective memory of German Christians distrusting and hating all things coming from the “mother of the synagogue.”
                Also we can see in the names of our denominations and fellowships the continuing trend of the battle launched by Leah and Rachel. For example, man created The Roman Catholic (Universal) Church (i.e. “the only church”) and The Orthodox Church (i.e. “the one with good teaching, so you know what this says about the rest.”) Furthermore, each Orthodox group is delineated by its geographical origin; Greek, Russian, Armenian, etc. Anabaptists are against baptism, that is, infant baptism, so take that Catholics. Baptists are not only opposed to infant baptism, but against sprinkling. Then, if you are a Berean Baptist, you diligently search out the scripture to show what is true (i.e. “sorry about your Mickey Mouse group.”) And the beat goes on.
                Furthermore, research into the histories and roots of these different groups may reveal idolatry and other grievous sins--enough to declare them heretics and outside the Abrahamic inheritance. For instance, we forget that those who see themselves as Ephraim have Rachel as their mother. Sadly, Rachel hid stolen idols from her husband and from her father (Genesis 31:19).
                Benjamin, the only son named by his father, became the instrument for bringing together Israel’s 12 sons. Truly, he was a “son of trouble or suffering” whose birth caused his mother Rachel’s death. But Israel’s prophetic gift correctly identified him as the “son of my right hand.”
                Our Father reconciled us to himself by sending Yeshua, a son of Judah and David. Yeshua’s death and resurrection gave us the ultimate good deal. For accepting his death on our behalf, he, who knew no sin, takes our sin and grants us the righteousness of God. There is no bargain in history approaching this one.
                However, we mustn’t forget this statement: “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through the Messiah and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in the Messiah reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
                This good deal hinges on one fact; Yahweh chooses not to count our sins against us. Joseph’s touching scene – where he breaks down weeping and calls his brothers to him – only happens when all the participants stop counting past hurts. They love their mothers, but they lay down the historical pain and mistreatment and choose to be defined by their one father. For Joseph and Judah to be joined together each had to forgive the sins of their mothers and forget the angry past of retribution and revenge. Similarly today, Judah and Ephraim will come together by acknowledging Malachi 2:10’s question; “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us?” This reconciliation seems impossible, but through our God all things are possible.

Printed in the MIA Herald, December 2010.

Bearing False Witness

Among the ten commandments, "you shall not bear false witness" is often quoted. In the Bible no conflict could be decided on the testimony of one witness, it required at least two. Also, if it were determined that two of you got together to lie about someone else the penalty you sought for them was brought down on your head.

It is important to realize that a witness has to have seen the event. It can't be hearsay, it can't be something someone told you. When John sees the prophetic bride of the Messiah, the New Jerusalem, it is built in a perfect cube resembling the Most Holy Place and has 12 foundations and 12 gates. The 12 gates are each made of a single pearl and have the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed on them. The 12 foundation stones are 12 different types of stones and have the names of the 12 apostles written on them. Each stone is unique but each furnishes essential strength to the foundation of the city.

Remember even the apostle Paul was not part of this foundation. No discredit to him but to be part of the foundation, one had to be chosen and have the qualification of being a witness of Yeshua's (Jesus) ministry from his baptism to his resurrection. Just hearing about it wasn't enough to make you a witness. John stresses this in 1 John 1:1 "...what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--"

We do tremendous disservice to our King and to each other when we pass on information based upon hearsay and gossip. Just this past week I read a quote from a Brazilian politician asserting the ancient blood libel against Jews. How can someone believe something that has been shown to be false thousands of times? By living in echo chambers and believing whatever appeals to our biases without taking the time to really ascertain its truth. This absolutely insane accusation is responsible for hundreds of thousands of Jews losing their lives over the past centuries.

Bearing false witness against people and institutions you don't like is just as sinful as bearing false witness against your friends and the groups you do like. If you don't know the truth of an accusation best to just let it die with you. I find myself wanting to comment on hundreds of FB memes and quotes but I don't realizing I would just generate more heat than light. Some of the most wicked and evil plots have been successful because people were primed by repeated slander and falsehood until they acted out of "righteous" wrath and committed unbelievable infamy because they couldn't be bothered to "love the truth."

Think about the foundation of the New Jerusalem and see if we can't make that our pattern.