The Truth About the Name Jehovah

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network.

I'm Michael Brown, and I'm not going to be taking calls today. I've got a special guest from Jerusalem, Joel Rosenberg. He is a best-selling author. He's got more than 5 million books in print.

He is the editor-in-chief for all Israel News and all Arab News, and the president and CEO of Near East Media. He's met with a long line of well-known leaders in the Middle East, Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, wide range, brings a lot of fascinating insights. And Joel, no hype in saying this, but I listened to the audiobook just finished a couple days ago of Libyan Diversion, your brand new book that we're going to talk about. But outside of listening to the Bible on audio, which I do regularly, supplementing other ways of taking the Scripture, I've listened to more of your audiobooks than any other author. The novels are really, I mean, they draw me in. They keep my attention.

It feels like I'm reading actual news on the edge of my seat as if it's stuff that's actually happening. And of course, there's no bad stuff in it. There's no profanity and junk in it, and there's faith involved.

A little bit of violence. Yeah, keep up the great work. So, Joel, before we get into the new book, Libyan Diversion, talk about your own background in terms of Middle East studies, interaction, how you got where you are today. Sure. Well, great to be with you, Michael.

First, I'll just put my cards on the table. I'm a failed political consultant. So after I graduated from Syracuse University, I moved to Washington, D.C., I got married and moved to Washington, D.C. and got involved in the political world there. And just over the next 10 years, every single candidate that I ever worked for lost. And that was pretty frustrating and humiliating.

But, you know, some of them were quite interesting. One of them, the last candidate I ever worked for was former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He had been prime minister from 1996 to 1999.

He lost his reelection. And in the fall of 2000, he was putting together a comeback campaign team. And I got hired as a junior communications media aide, not a senior adviser or anything like that, a junior guy. But and, you know, anyway, it was fascinating to work for him.

But he did not come back for nine more years. So my point is, I had studied at Tel Aviv University for six months. I had immersed myself for a decade or more, I mean, longer, I guess, in the history and the politics of the Middle East.

But, you know, but basically I have a failed political consultant who decided one day after that Netanyahu failed campaign to start making things up for a living. And I wrote my first political thriller in January of 2001. That's when I started it. And that's that's the novel that sort of put me on the map. It was called The Last Jihad. The first page of that novel put you inside the cockpit of a jet plane that was hijacked by radical Islamist terrorists coming in on a kamikaze attack mission into an American city. Now, that was almost nine months before what really did end up happening on September 11th, 2001, which was eerie. And the arc of the novel starts with this kamikaze attack on the United States, but then leads to my fictional American president deciding to remove Saddam Hussein from power because of his connection between terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

That was so strange to people. And so like, how could you have known or where did you even get this fictional idea? It's just so close to real life that it I mean, the book became number one on Amazon, 11 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. But I wasn't a PhD in Middle Eastern history.

I wasn't somebody who, you know, I wasn't a former assistant secretary of state or CIA operative, you know, I'm a guy who wrote a novel in a Yeah, I spent a lot of time in politics. But, but for for unbelievers, they thought, wow, this is just strange, but you're like a modern Nostradamus. And then Christians were saying, Well, it's like prophetic. Now, I never claimed it was prophetic.

I wasn't predicting what was coming. I was trying to write a worst case scenario first ever political thriller that I'd ever done. But I wanted it to be seem real. I wanted it to be based on a concept that that was plausible. And it just it just hit so much closer to reality than I ever imagined or anybody else. And suddenly, I had a career.

Yeah, amazing. And that's the thing that's so striking the eerie relevance of what you're writing, you know, some of us have read historical novels. So it's based on history.

But then the person writes with some flourish. These are almost like historical novels in advance, you know, making them in that sense prophetic. It reminds me, Joel, of a scholarly conference I was at in the late 1980s in Chicago. So some of the world's top biblical scholars were there. And there was a seminar discussing aspects of interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Sixty, seventy people in the seminar. Some of the top Matthew scholars in the world were there. And then there was time for interaction with the audience. At a certain point, I raised my hand and and I gave my perspective. And afterwards, one of the top Matthew scholars in the world came up to me and said, man, that was amazing insight.

You should have kept talking. Well, I didn't base it on Matthew scholarship. I based it on all my years of interaction with rabbis and ultra-orthodox Jews where I could kind of feel some of what happened back in Matthew's day. And they're like, those are amazing insights. Like, well, actually, it was just kind of projecting what I knew back on the text in that way. So what you're doing, you're not just it's not just a shot in the dark.

It's based on interacting, understanding that this would seem to be logical and plausible. So over the years now, you've had some amazing open doors for you, even wrote a whole book, just not fiction, but your real life encounters with different leaders. Who have you met with, interacted with, whose names we might know? Well, I mean, probably where it started was when I wrote a trilogy of novels maybe 10 years ago, almost about ISIS trying to assassinate King Abdullah, the second of Jordan, and blow up his palace and take over his kingdom and assassinate his family. For some reason, Michael, I made King Abdullah of Jordan an actual character in the book by name.

That is not the brightest move, especially when you live across the river from him. But what happened is King Abdullah, one of his advisors, read the second book in the series and brought it to the king and said, Your Majesty, you have to read this. And he said, Why? He said, Because you're in it.

Amazing. Talking about it looks like a novel. He goes, I know it's a novel.

It goes. So it's made up. Yes. Well, how? What do you mean I'm in it? Because you're a character. I'm a character in the book.

Yes, you're a character and they're trying to kill you and take over your kingdom. And he's like, What? What in the world are you talking about? But he ended up reading the novel.

And it was called the first hostage. And rather than banning me from the kingdom of Jordan forever, which he very well could have maybe should have done. He invited my wife and me to come to Amman Jordan, all expense paid for five days to get to know him and his senior leadership.

Amazing. This set into motion him inviting me to bring a delegation of evangelical Christian leaders from the United States, though I at that point was an Israeli citizen with my wife and kids and two sons who serve the Israeli army and so forth. But anyway, so and that led to seven other or seven total delegations of evangelical leaders and me being invited to meet with President el Sisi in Egypt, Mohammed bin Salman, the controversial and very consequential crown prince of Saudi Arabia, two different trips to go see him and his inner circle. Well, him Mohammed bin Zayed, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, the leaders of Bahrain and Morocco, like, and of course, the Prime Minister here in Israel, Netanyahu and and and Yair Lapid at a different point, the opposition leader and Prime Minister.

So it is open doors that shouldn't have been opened. I mean, I'm just being honest. I'm not a billionaire and I'm not a political I don't have a political movement behind me. I'm I'm a failed political consultant who makes things up for a living in terms of political thrillers.

But it is what these things have captured the interest and imagination of these various leaders. And and now also, yes, I do run a news agency, so I'm trying to write actual factual to do it. You know, you can't write fake news all the time. But but yes, what's happening is that God is using the novels, the books to open doors.

We can talk about why would he do that for a kid who grew up in a town of 5000 people in upstate New York, son of an Orthodox Jew who came to faith in Jesus, son of a Gentile mom who grew up in a church that didn't preach Jesus. Like, there's no reason you can't there's no obvious reason. You know, I'm not a senator, not a congressman. I'm not, you know, in some intelligence agency, there's no obvious reason why God would open doors for me to go meet with the most powerful leaders in the Middle East. But it's happening. And I'm trying to be a faithful ambassador, a faithful witness for Jesus as I go. Amazing. And, you know, what a reminder that God knows how to open doors and that if God has a purpose for your life, he knows how to do this. It's not that Joel hired the most powerful PR team in the world to make this happen or had certain connections.

There are no connections that you can just get or acquire or pay for to make doors like this open or to have one book after another be a national bestseller. If you haven't read any of Jill Rosenberg's novels, I mean, they really are. Trust me, I've spent many hours joyfully listening and then I quit. Come on. What's going to happen next? Seriously. And it's it's been a it's been a great, healthy diversion for me just to kind of chill or a long ride and to take these in. So the newest book, The Libyan Diversion, we'll talk about that in the lead character, Marcus Riker, in a moment.

Joe, we've got a minute before the break. Where do people find all Israel news and all Arab news? What are the websites for those?

Sure. The best place to go is to all Israel dot com. Again, all Israel dot com. And it's cross linked to all Arab news. Or you could just go to my website, my home page, Joel Rosenberg dot com, and you'll find links to the all Israel news site, the other one. And I've got a TBN show we'll talk about later, The Rosenberg Report, every Thursday night at 9 p.m. on Eastern on on TBN, which is which is dealing with the only primetime television show of news and commentary about Israel and the region produced here in Israel.

Right. Called The Rosenberg Report. And of the Marcus Riker novels, which was the first in that series? The first was The Kremlin Conspiracy, which I wrote about seven years ago about a dictator rising to power in Moscow, who can't who's trying to decide between invading Ukraine or the Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. And yeah, that's crazy how that's played out.

Really, it really is. And that yeah, that was that had quite an ending to that. So if you haven't read any of these, check them out. You can start with The Kremlin Conspiracy, get the newest the Libyan diversion. We will be right back with my special guest, Joel Rosenberg. Again, brand new book, The Libyan Diversion.

We'll be right back. All the reality of the human condition is that we all really do need help, help from those around us, and mostly God's help. Jesus even said to his followers that he was the vine and we were the branches apart from him.

We can do nothing. That's pretty helpless. In another place in the Bible, it says, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it.

So the Bible's pretty clear. God sees that we are pretty helpless without him, but we spend much of our lives fighting against that reality, thinking that we are very self-sufficient. That is, until we have some rude awakening that reminds us that apart from God, we are pretty helpless. And only those who do realize they need help are the ones on the right track. So the next time someone says you need help, you can say without any shame at all.

God is right. I do need help. The Truth Network. This is how we rise up. It's The Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on The Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back, friends, to The Line of Fire broadcast.

Not taking any calls today. We've got a very special guest, my friend, Joel Rosenberg. We don't get to spend a lot of time together, but it's always wonderful when we can spend time together. And I have just been blessed and thrilled to see the doors God's opened for him and the favor that's been on his books and the eerily prophetic nature of the books that he has written. So, Joel, before we dig into Marcus Riker, the character and the Libyan diversion, the latest book, why do you think that God has opened these doors for you?

You said there's no obvious reason, but you had some ideas. Obviously, you've been able to open doors through that for other evangelical leaders, to meet with leaders in the Muslim world, which is so important to better understand these influential leaders in the Muslim world and to better understand Muslim culture, et cetera, and then to get a better perspective on Israel, where you want to be fair to all different sides and not just come from one strong perspective, you know, pro-Palestinian, pro-Israel, rather, pro-truth, pro-accuracy. But what are your thoughts on what God's purposes might be in these doors that he's opened for you?

Well, Michael, that's a good question. And I think the simplest way to put it is my wife, Lynn, and I began, you know, years ago, but certainly when we made Aliyah and became dual U.S.-Israeli citizens and started living here in Israel and specifically in Jerusalem, we started praying for our neighbors, right, and who are our neighbors. You know, it's the Egyptians and the Jordanians and the Lebanese and the Syrians and the Iraqis and the Saudis and the Gulf States and the Iranians and so forth, and we started praying, Lord, bless these people, move and strengthen the churches in Israel and the Palestinian territories in these regions. Bless these leaders who have made peace and open the doors for you to bring more leaders to make peace with Israel. You command us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. But also we pray that everybody in this region, whether they're poor or powerful, that they would at least have a chance to hear the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Somebody would be a witness to them, and then give them a chance to at least receive or reject Jesus.

But if they haven't even heard, how can they call on the name of the one they haven't even heard of, right? So that was our heart, and that was really instilled, you know, growing up as followers of Jesus. Lynn in New Jersey, me in New York, of course I had to get rid of all my New Jersey jokes when I met her.

New Yorkers don't look so fondly on New Jersey. But anyway, yeah, we wanted to be a witness, and we looked at the life of the Apostle Paul. Now he was usually in chains, but remember he had this incredible calling, a very specific calling in Acts chapter 9. The Lord said through Ananias that Paul would be the witness for Jesus to, of course to the children of Israel, and to kings, and to the Gentiles. So that was interesting, right, because that's basically everybody.

You're either a Jew or a Gentile. In this case he added in kings, which doesn't always have to be literally a monarch, but leaders. At every level of society they need someone to be a prayer warrior for them, and a witness, and an ambassador to them. Paul himself wanted to be a witness. He wanted to go to Rome and meet Nero, who was the most demonic leader on the planet, one of the most in history, setting Christians on fire to create lampposts.

I don't think he was quite in that full-on demonic stage quite at that point when Paul wanted to meet with him, but God did that. And so we just believe that every single person on earth needs a friend who knows Jesus. Now, it's a little crazy when I said to the board of our nonprofit ministry, the Joshua Fund, which is really a venture capital firm in a sense, to raise and deploy funds to strengthen the church in Israel and in the rest of the Middle East.

We've raised and deployed about $100 million over 16, almost 17 years. But when I asked the board and staff, would you guys pray that I would get to meet King Abdullah and just befriend him and pray for him and be a witness to him and so forth? They did pray, but I'm not sure how much faith they had.

Even one of the board members years later came to me and said, I thought you were crazy. I mean, I love you, Joel, but you're a Jew, you're an Israeli, you're a follower of Jesus, you're a Zionist. You're not going to get to meet a descendant of the prophet Mohammed, who's a Muslim moderate Middle East monarch.

These are two great tastes that do not taste great together, son. But what we were really brought up, especially he was discipled in college by a wonderful pastor from India, and he really taught us that we serve a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God, a wonder working God. Now, God can say no to our prayers, but he wants us to aim high. He wants us to pray for open doors. And I guess basically in my life as a failed political consultant and so forth, I had learned that God says no to me a lot.

I'm OK with that. But he might say yes. We have not because we ask not or we ask within pure motive.

But I didn't want to meet these leaders to enrich myself or to gain power or fame or whatever. I just wanted to be a blessing to them here in Israel and in the region. And I think those are the reasons now why God said yes to me.

That's that's a sovereignty question that doesn't make sense to me. But but I think he put in our hearts my heart to pray these specific things because he because he intended to answer them. And that's what we do in our lives is is we're trying to ask the Lord to clean out the clutter and get us thinking the way he thinks. Now, we were imperfect at that.

I'm woefully imperfect at that. But the more we end up praying what he actually wants us to pray, he will deliver those things because that's the whole point. And answered prayer, as you know, Michael, but answered prayer is one of the most powerful ways that we experience the invisible God. Yes.

Yes. And, Joel, I'm so blessed by what you're saying, because it's so Jesus Yeshua centered. It's so Christ centered saying, hey, God, open the door so I can be a witness so I can shine the light of Jesus to all of these different individuals.

You have no political agenda in it, no personal agenda in it, which is an obvious reason why God would choose to use you if you're not pushing your own agenda. But I just want to stay here for a minute. And then the rest of the broadcast, we want to talk about the new book, The Libyan Diversion, and then even get into some of the larger Middle Eastern issues it brings up. Then you can find out more about my guest, Joel Rosenberg, dot com, 13 New York Times bestselling books. You understand when you start the first of any of the novels, it'll pull you ready. You don't have to read them in order. I ended up doing that with the Marcus Riker series, but others just read one here or there. And they'll they'll start you in a captivating way, for sure. So that's Joel Rosenberg dot com.

You also find out about the Rosenberg report that airs on TBN and then all Israel news, all Arab news. But I just want to say this briefly and then we'll come back with our guest after the next break. So God moves on you to pray for something that to me is one of the most faith building things. When the Holy Spirit moves on you, stirs you to pray and then repeatedly moves on you, stirs you to pray. You know that something supernatural is happening. And let me talk to you from the heart. The line of fire broadcast, God gave me a mandate to blanket America with the line of fire broadcast.

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What would please you? The next thing I'm laying on my face literally crying out to God for the national expansion of the line of fire broadcast because he made it clear to me that as the broadcast expands that it will have a revolutionary impact on listeners and that they in turn will have a revolutionary impact in the world around them. And that it was critical for the for the advancing of God's purposes for the role that I play, for the little role that I play. And as soon as I knew it was prayed through, God started bringing in the funds, raised up Trivita as a co-sponsor, raised up so many of you, the sponsors stand with us. So I want to encourage you to join the radio revolution one dollar a day.

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Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome back to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Michael Brown, so pleased to be with you. I am going to answer some Jewish-related questions that were posted on Facebook. So I'm not going to be taking calls now, but I'm going to answer some Jewish-related questions posted on Facebook. So sit back, enjoy. Don't race to Facebook, the Ask Dr. Brown Facebook page.

Don't race over there to post because I already got the questions that I'm answering. So the first is from Alvaro. Is it true that in Genesis, in Hebrew it says, in the beginning creation was in chaos, like after total destruction? It doesn't specifically speak of chaos as much as formless, empty, void. It could be the result of destruction. It could be that something started beautiful and was destroyed. But it could just as well be that it hadn't been formed or shaped yet.

It was just, it was like nothing, and that was going to be shaped and formed. So in the Hebrew, tohu vavohu are the words that are used, often rendered without shape, empty, formless, void. So in Jeremiah 4, a similar description is given, which is like the undoing of creation and a picture of coming judgment. But the words themselves do not convey the devastation of judgment. They're not words like shmama, for example, which would speak of desolation and is often used in those kinds of contexts.

Or, you know, like chevre gadol, or a great destruction, a great breaking. It doesn't talk about that. So it could just as well be that it starts as a shapeless mass and now God is going to form it from there. Catherine, why is Jewish lineage through the mother? So that is according to traditional Judaism. I do believe you can make an argument based on the Hebrew Scriptures that lineage was drawn through the father. Or, unless you're going to say that all of Solomon's wives converted to Judaism or converted better to the practice of Israel, then otherwise none of his kids would have been considered legitimately Israelite. Some have argued that it's either through the mother or the father as long as the Jewish identity is maintained. But I have no problem saying biblically you can point to lineage being paternal. That being said, your question was why in traditional Judaism is it through the mother?

So the argument is taken especially say from the book of Ezra and Nehemiah where the Jewish people had intermarried with foreign wives, which was explicitly contrary to Torah. So they come back from Babylonian exile and now they intermarry with foreign wives. Like, we didn't get it yet. We were just in exile 70 years and we didn't get it yet.

What are we doing? So the men confessing their sin weeping, divorce their wives, and the judgment, the verdict is send them away with their children. Because the children are thereby disqualified. So the traditional Jewish argument would be, and this is a key text, not the only argument, but the reasoning would be, well, why would the kids be sent away if they were legitimately Jewish through the father?

Then why would they be sent away? And it wasn't just an opinion. This was understood as the will of God. And the reason was that coming through the mother, her being pagan, her being heathen, her not being from Israel, that that disqualified the children as well because lineage was traced through the mother. So that's the strongest argument that is given for it. And it's something that should be taken seriously as far as an objection to patrilineal descent. All right.

We go to Cody. Not sure if it qualifies, but in Jesus' time was the Lord referred to as Adonai or the Aramaic Mariah per the Peshitta. The Peshitta does give the Aramaic Mariah, which is my master. And by the way, it's not that that same word could also be used just as a human master or Lord in a different form.

Just like talking about Rabbi was originally my teacher, my master. But it would seem that for the most part, of course, in the Greek-speaking world, they would say Kurios, Lord, instead of the divine name. It would seem that Adonai would be more widely used. However, among Aramaic speakers, Mariah could have been used. It was certainly what was used among the Christian Syriac speakers. But within Judea, if Jesus was being referred to as Lord, could have been Adonai, could have been Mariah as reflected in the Peshitta.

Both would have been possible. My assumption is Adonai, the Hebrew would have been the more normal way of doing it. Carlos, have you or would you have been or just talked about Tisha B'Av in some depth?

Thanks. So, Tisha B'Av is the ninth day of the month of Av. And it occurs right around this time of the year, July, August would be the way it would work out on our calendars. In Jewish tradition, it is the stereotypical day of Jewish tragedy and suffering. It is, in Jewish tradition, the day when the first temple was destroyed and the second temple was destroyed and a number of other terrible tragedies took place in Jewish history. Now, the reason I say in Jewish tradition is because not in every case can it be dated precisely. In other words, in some cases it was very close to the date of a major calamity and then in Jewish tradition gets absorbed into these dates. Others, traditional Jews, many would say, no, these are the exact dates on which it happened. But in short, it would be like having an anniversary and bad things keep happening on this. So, a child dies in a tragic accident on the first day of July of the year 2000 and then ten years later the family is on vacation and they get into a bad car accident. It's the same date, it's the first day of July and then five years after that one of the kids has a miscarriage and so on. And it's on the July 1st and what's about that, so that's just what it's been in Jewish history, Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av.

And of course it's a day of fasting and mourning in Jewish tradition. Corbin, I tell people that the Hebrew word for heal in Exodus 15, 26, 2 Chronicles 30, 20 should be understood as fix what is dysfunctional and is not always physical. One verbal analysis of my intellect was negative, so am I out to lunch? No, you're not out to lunch.

You're not out to lunch. My doctoral dissertation was on the Hebrew word for healing. In Exodus 15, 26, when God says, I'm the Lord, you're a healer.

I want you to think of the context, right? So it says in Hebrew, if you listen carefully to my commands, keep my decrees. All the disease that I put on Egypt, I won't put on you. Well, what were the diseases that he put on Egypt? Those are the plagues.

Those were the judgments and the calamities. So he's saying, I won't put those on you because I'm your healer. So it wasn't only physical healing.

Or, for example, in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, right? That whole passage there, I will hear from them, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land. We don't heal land.

I mean, we don't say that in English. It's really restore. From what? Well, from the results of famine, locust plague, from all the previous things that were going to happen in judgment, there would be restoration. And we know that the root can be used in different contexts, say Leviticus 13, 14, for the remission of sarawat, the severe skin disease, translated as leprosy, but it means something different than leprosy as we know it today, Hansen's disease. But the removal of this disease from the body or from the house. If it was mildew in the house, it would be rafahd. It would be remitted.

It would be removed. So we have other examples. Jeremiah 19, you break a piece of pottery so that it cannot be repaired, the root rafahd is used. 1 Kings 18, 30, for you repent, that Elijah repaired the Lord's broken down altar.

And it's the same root that's used, a different verbal form, but the same root that's used. So I said in my doctoral thesis, the fundamental meaning of rafahd is to restore, make whole. To restore, make whole. So when applied to undrinkable waters in 2 Kings 2 verses 21, 22, when applied to the undrinkable waters there, that those undrinkable waters that were causing death, now were made wholesome. When applied to the Lord's broken down altar or a piece of pottery, repaired. Psalm 60, that the earth is split because of God's judgment, mend its fissures, the same rafahd. It's not heal the earth's fissures, but mend them. And when applied to a sick body, healing.

So it is not quite as broad as to fix what is dysfunctional, but it's very close to that. And in 2 Chronicles 30, 20, they were physically sick because they were under divine judgment. So when the Lord healed them, that's why this word is used, that they were forgiven and healed. And it's that imagery, I believe, from 2 Chronicles 30 that the Israelites had not partaken properly of the Passover. They were not clean, so judgment came, they were sick.

Hezekiah asked for their healing and with it their forgiveness. That, I believe, is what fuels, as far as Paul's understanding in 1 Corinthians 11 about communion. That people were taking unworthily of this Passover meal, right? The Lord's Supper. They were taking of it unworthily, hence there was sickness and people had died. Hence the call to repent and do things in a worthy way. Then obviously prayers for mercy and healing.

So fundamentally, Rafah, to restore, make whole, and then when applied to physical body, it does refer to healing. But yes, you're not out to lunch. If you're out to lunch, you had a very nice lunch. So well done there.

Let's see, that's going to take, I have to get back to that on the other side of the break. Is the name of Jesus and Joshua the same? They are in Greek in the New Testament. Yeah, in the Septuagint, Joshua, Yehoshua, is translated with Jesús, which is not the right translation of Yehoshua, in terms of phonetically. But it is the right translation of Yeshua, which occurs about 30 times for 9 or 10 different people in the Hebrew Bible and is the original name of Jesus. Not Yahshua, as we often point out. Not whatever other names people, Yahushua, forget it, forget it.

Yeshua. But for some reason, the Septuagint, and then following that, the New Testament Greek translates it the same. In Hebrew, they're different words.

Yehoshua is the long form. Joshua in English. Yeshua, the short form. Jesus in English. But both in the Septuagint come into Greek as Jesús. And I still have not found a satisfactory, phonetic, historical, linguistic explanation of it. I'm sure it's there.

I just have not been satisfied with what I've heard and read thus far. But for sure, Yehoshua is Joshua in English. Yeshua is Jesus in English.

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If you do call, tell them Dr. Brown sent you. All right, Richard, through the abomination of desolation period in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, do you hold to the thought that Petra will be the location where Jewish people go to, or will it be to other wilderness places? God promises to meet them face to face. Does God come to meet them at the very end or sooner before the Battle of Armageddon?

Thank you. Hey, I appreciate the very precise question. I am not sure that I can answer that from our vantage point here in advance. In other words, a lot of prophecy becomes clearer as we get closer to it. For sure, in the first century, the Jewish believers that did flee, that were reminded of Yeshua's warnings, many did flee to Petra.

That is fairly well documented. But will that happen again in the same physical way at that time? When will the Lord come and meet with his people? My understanding in terms of him meeting with Israel would be with his physical return. And as they've cried out to him and said, Baruch haba b'shem Adonai, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And as they looked on the one they pierced and recognizing who he is, I believe if there is that face to face encounter, that perhaps is spoken on Hosea 2, that it will take place there at that time.

So after his return. In terms of a fleeing and what that will look like at the end, we know what it looked like before the second temple was destroyed. If there is a third temple built, as I expect there will be in a final battle of persecution, what will that look like?

I just don't know that we can answer it in any definitive way at this time. But in the midst of it, people who remember the warnings will know what they need to do. Adam, a close buddy of mine believes that Jews are still to adhere to the law. He absolutely believes that they receive the Spirit, but believes that adherence to the law is still a commandment or expectation for the Jew.

Would love to get your feedback on it. I have messianic Jewish friends that believe that the new covenant does take the principles of the Torah and now applies them to our lives today. And that a Jewish believer should still live as a Jew, more that a Gentile believer should live like a Jew. It's not for salvation, it's not for justification, it's not even for righteousness. It's just covenantal calling, history being a witness in the earth. I respect that view, but it's not my own. And it's interesting, in 1 Corinthians 7, beginning in verse 17, where Paul is talking about if you were called, meaning called to salvation, circumcised, don't become uncircumcised.

If you were called uncircumcised, don't become circumcised. Remaining the calling in which you were called. Well, many of us came to faith as secular Jews. And we now are fervent followers of Jesus Yeshua. And we have a deep sense of connection to our Jewish people around the world, and to Israel. And a connection in history to the Jewish people. And yet, being Jewish in terms of a seven-day Sabbath, or certain dietary laws, or other things like that, or the calendar, was not part of our lives. It's almost something that we'd be putting on now that was not part of who we were when we came to faith. I do not see anything explicit in the New Testament calling Jewish believers to adhere to the Torah. And, let me say this, I absolutely recognize that God writes things at our hearts. I absolutely believe that God is raised at Messianic congregations.

For me, unless I'm traveling speaking on the weekend, in which case I'm like the priest ministering in the temple on the Sabbath, Saturday is my day of rest, and there's no reason for you to make it a different day, right? In other words, God never changed the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday, let alone made it mandatory for everyone. But I don't see a New Testament mandate. It may have been the assumption in the book of Acts that Jews continue to live as Jews, but with the destruction of the temple, and with the full instituting of the new and better covenant, and with the fact that we get called from so many different backgrounds, I believe it's a heart matter in obedience to the Lord as opposed to a doctrinal matter. All Jewish believers must observe the law.

And then even there, how far? Where do you go? Whose standard? Whose interpretation? Yes, Sabbath?

Okay, what about new moons? What about this purity law? So I find tremendous inconsistency.

I don't find anyone that really does it consistently in a way that I can't pick holes in and fault. Well, no, but that's okay for them. No, no, now we're playing games, kind of setting a standard, but then varying it as we get called out on it. I'm not insulting those who feel that way. I'm simply saying it's not my own view.

And especially, let me urge this. For all of you who are born again, forgiven of your sin through the blood of Jesus, seeking to honor and please the God of Israel, especially to my Gentile Christian friends, please don't fall into the trap of believing that if you could somehow live more Jewishly, look more Jewish, adhere more to Torah law, that you would somehow be closer to the Lord, or that you would be a better witness to the Jewish people. If you find, hey, Seventh-day Sabbath is beautiful, God never changed it, and you feel observed that wonderful, it's between you and God, no one says you can't. If you say, hey, you know, it must have been a reason God gave the dietary laws. I think I'm just going to live by them. Fine, you're free to, you're free to live by them.

You're absolutely free to. But don't think that now taking on a Jewish look or appearance or trying to live a certain way is going to make you a better witness to Jewish people. What it makes you seem for the most part is weird because you're trying to figure out why are you, Gentile Christian, doing these things when you're evidently not Jewish, and then in so many other ways, you're clearly not Jewish in terms of lifestyle, and emphasis, and mindset, self-defeating.

Just saying, just saying. If it's part of enjoyable lifestyle, it's part of a messianic congregation, and you're clear in your identity in the Lord, that's great. Wonderful. Praise God.

Good for you. And others find their identity in Jesus expressed best in the church, wonderful. But make sure your core identity is being in the Lord, in Yeshua.

That's it. Yes, I'm Jewish. Yes, I'm a man.

Yes, I'm American. But my core identity is a child of God through faith in Yeshua. That's my core identity. That's what I boast in, that he's my Savior, he's my Lord. Right?

My boast is in the cross of the Messiah. Nothing else. Nothing else. Alright, let's get back to the questions. Ben, how do we rightly apply what we know about David, about how David and Solomon structured tabernacle temple worship to our worship and praise under the new covenant? We apply it in not a strict way. We learn from it spiritually.

As opposed to, you have to do this, you have to do this, you have to do this. We learn from it. We learn reverence. We learn the importance of approaching God in an honorable way. We understand that there is a progression from the outer court to the inner court to the holy place, the holiest place of all. We understand those things.

We, how can I say it? We don't trivialize the presence of God. We don't trivialize what it means to enter the holiest place of all through the blood of Jesus. But I've seen so many different approaches through it. You know, and you do this first, you do this second, just whatever works its way out best in your life based on the principles there.

You can construct a liturgy or a praise service based on your understanding, but just don't go rigid about it because it's by application in terms of the larger points, not all the specific details. Mason, is it morally okay in any context for a Christian to wear a yarmulke? I went to Israel recently and bought a yarmulke as a tourist shop, a white one with a Jerusalem Franciscan cross on it. I mainly bought it because I thought it looked cool, but then was concerned about any religious implications of only one that might be contrary to Christianity. That's not the contrary, only a yarmulke.

Why? It's a Jewish sign of reverence for God. It was not a biblical command. It wasn't the custom in Yeshua's day.

But why? Why would there be anything wrong with it? There are plenty of God-fearing Yeshua-loving people who wear yarmulkes and plenty of people seeking to honor God that don't know Yeshua, that wear yarmulkes. There's nothing morally wrong about it. It's not covering your head. That's not what Paul's talking about in 1 Corinthians 11. Just don't think, oh, if I wear it, I'm going to get special or I'm going to get closer to God if I wear it or I'm going to witness better to Jewish people. No, it's going to be the contrary.

That's a perfect example, right? And you're not asking about that. If I wear it, I'll be a better witness to Jewish people. No, they'll think, why are you wearing it? You're not Jewish.

They'll find out you're not Jewish within seconds of talking to you or even just looking sometimes. But to own it or maybe you're interceding for Israel and you like to put it on to remind you to pray for Jewish people when you pray? Fine. Or if you go into a messianic synagogue and others had yarmulkes and you put it on? Fine. There's nothing morally wrong about it. But don't make it part of your lifestyle like, okay, I'm going to look Jewish and get closer to God or be a better witness to Jewish people.

No, it won't work like that. Hey, you know what's really interesting? If you want to know who real Jews are, look at who the Hebrew Israelites attack with hatred and venom, especially the radical ones. Jews like me, Jews living in Israel, right? Ashkenazi Jews, Friday Jews around the world. Look at who the white supremacists attack as Jews. Do you know who they attack as Jews?

Same people, us. Then look who's been kicked out of many countries as Jews because our ancestors wouldn't conform to the Catholic Church or Islam and got kicked out. You want to know who the Jews are, right?

Even without all DNA emphasis and other proofs. You just look at the ones that the black supremacists attack and the white supremacists attack and the ones being attacked living in the land right now. And the same ones, we trace our history, we've been kicked out of other countries as Jews for these very reasons. Fortunately, when the Jews doesn't save you, only knowing that Jesus is sure brings us into a relationship with God. May that be what God does in our people and increase the measure in the days of God. Another program powered by the Truth Network.