Nazarene Israelite Two House Congregation of Port Elizabeth

What is the significance of Wisdom, knowledge and understanding to us?

We commence our study by reading (YHVH)’s words to Moses in Exodus 31: 1 – 5, in this way:‘Now YHVH spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. (3) And I have filled him with the Spirit of Elohim in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, (4) to make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, (5) and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”’Elohim’s Spirit working in the mind (or spirit) of Bezalel endowed him with wisdom, understanding and knowledge to perform all sorts of special work in the interior design of the temple of Elohim. The name Bezalel transliterated in Hebrew means ‘the shadow of El’. Bezalel was the son of Uri which transliterated in Hebrew means ‘my light’ – so Bezalel the shadow of El was the son of my light. Bezalel therefore reminds us of Yahshua our Messiah, who is ‘the image of Elohim’ (as per Colossians 1: 15)the Son of Elohim, who is according to first John 1: 5 ‘light’ and who is busy building the temple of Elohim.

Let’s turn to the book of Proverbs to read more about wisdom, knowledge and understanding:We start reading from Proverbs 2: 1 – 3, as follows: ‘My son, if you will receive my sayings, and treasure my commandments within you, (2) make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; (3) for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding.’This was in fact what King Solomon asked YHVH to give him, when He told him to ask whatever he desires as recorded in first Kings 3: 9, saying: “So give Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Thine?” Solomon continues in Proverbs 2 telling us in verses 4 – 6, saying: ‘If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; (5) then you will discern the fear of YHVH,and discover the knowledge of Elohim. (6) For YHVH gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.’We read further from verses 7 – 22, ‘He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity. (8) Guarding the paths of justice, and He preserves the way of His godly ones. (9) Then you will discern righteousness and justice and equity and every good course. (10) For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; (11) discretion will guard you, understanding will watch over you. (12) To deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things; (13) from those who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; (14) who delight in doing evil and  rejoice in the perversity of evil; (15) whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways; (16) to deliver you from the strange (non-Israelite) woman, from the adulteress who flatters with her words; (17)that leaves the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her Elohim; (18) for her house sinks down to death, and her tracks lead to the dead; (19) none who go to her return again, nor do they reach the paths of life. (20)So you will walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of the righteous. (21) For the upright will live in the land,and the blameless will remain in it; (22) but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be uprooted from it.’From this we understand that the wisdom, understanding and knowledge from Elohim are able to keep us on the right paths and lead us away from perverse people, but most of all, also from the harlot.

But who or what is this harlot that the book of Proverbs is referring to? We find the answer in Revelation 17: 1 – 5, as follows: ‘And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, (2) with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.”  (3) And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on the scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. (4) And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of unclean things of her immorality, (5)and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”’ If we seek the wisdom, knowledge and understanding from YHVH and study is Torah,TorahT

Torah, it will definitely keep us from the harlot, since they teach that Torah is the curse that J*e*s*u*s redeemed them from. Elohim’s true congregation teaches that the blessings of the Law are as recorded in Deuteronomy 28, together with the curses and when Yahshua became the sacrifice, he effectively did away with the sacrificial requirements of the law in respect of sin. However, even though YHVH does not require sin offerings any longer, righteous sacrifices will again be offered in the future, as witnessed in Psalm 51: 16 – 19, in this way: “For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. (17) The sacrifices of Elohim are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O Elohim, Thou wilt not despise. (18) By Thy favor do good to Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. (19) Then Thou wilt delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then young bulls will be offered on Thine altar.”Messiah has become the Sacrifice required by the law to pay for indebtedness for transgressing Elohim’s Torah. We read from Colossians 2: 14, ‘having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.’ This does not say, like many in Christianity believe that Yahshua nailed the law to the cross, but that He nailed our certificate of debt for breaking the law to the cross – meaning He has redeemed us from having to die the second death for our own sins, provided we repent and start obeying Elohim’s teachings.

To fully understand the importance of wisdom, understanding and knowledge, let’s turn to the book of Proverbs written by King Solomon. We read therefore from Proverbs 9: 10, ‘The fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.’ If Eve feared YHVH; if she respected His word, she would already have had the wisdom not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If King Solomon feared YHVH enough, he would have obeyed Him and not take so many wives which resulted in idolatry and the split in the kingdom of Israel, leaving us as the lost ten tribes of the house of Israel in the situation we are in today. But as they say: it is all water under the bridge and thanks to Elohim’s wonderful love for us His people, He has sent Yahshua to reconcile us back to Him, but also to Brother Judah. Continuing with this theme we read from Proverbs 15: 14, ‘The mind of the intelligent (understanding one) seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly.’  For those familiar with the Amidah a Jewish prayer recited daily, the forth blessing (out of 19) said in this prayer, which is for understanding or insight, in this way: ‘You graciously endow man with wisdom and teach insight to frail mortal. So endow us graciously from Yourself with wisdom, insight and discernment. Blessed are You, Adonai, gracious giver of wisdom.’  It is by reading from Colossians 1: 9& 10, that we understand that Rav Shaul as a Jew knew about this blessing in the Amidah, when he spoke to the brethren in Colossae, saying: ‘For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (10) so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Master, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of Elohim.’

Continuing in Colossians 1 we read firstly about Yahshua’s reconciling work from verses 21 – 23, as follows: ‘And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, (22) yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—(23)If indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Shaul, was made a minister.’ Then we read about Elohim’s mystery from verses 25 - 27 and Colossians 2: 2 & 3, in this way: ‘Of this congregation I was made a minister according to the stewardship from Elohim bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of Elohim, (26) that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints, (27) to whom Elohim willed to make known that the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Messiah in you, the hope of glory. (2: 2) That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of Elohim’s mystery, that is Messiah Himself, (3) in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ But how could all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge be hidden in Messiah? Because Messiah, being the living word of Elohim, He is also accordingly the embodiment of all wisdom, understanding and knowledge. 

The Psalmist shows us in Psalm 119 that we need understanding to be able to keep Elohim’s commandments, as witnessed in verses 34, 73 and 98, as follows: ‘Give me understanding, that I may observe Thy Law, and keep it with all my heart. (73) Thy hands made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments. (98) Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine.’Yes it takes understanding to realize that Elohim’s commandments are for our good! The mystery that YHVH created the universe by Yahshua in whom are the hidden treasures of wisdom, knowledge and understanding is confirmed in Proverbs 3: 19 & 20, in this way: ‘YHVH by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding He established the heavens. (20) By His knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies drip with dew.’  Elohim’s Torah or word contains wisdom, understanding and knowledge – therefore when He looked into His word, the blueprint of all creation, He created His dwelling place on earth. That is the whole purpose of creation – when YHVH created Adam in His image and likeness, His purpose was to build a dwelling place for Him on earth, in Adam. Over time He intended to fill man with wisdom, knowledge and understanding that would give him eternal life. However, Adam and Eve preferred to partake of the tree of (earthly) knowledge of good and evil, instead of the tree of (eternal) life. Therefore, they doomed themselves to death and had to leave the Garden of Eden or paradise and start fending for themselves.  

Later when YHVH again decided to build the tabernacle in the wildernessas a dwelling place for Him on earth, He filled Bezalel (the shadow of El, the son of light) with wisdom, knowledge and understanding thus empowering him to build a dwelling place for Him. A shadow is a reflection of reality – when the sun casts a shadow of you on the ground, it looks like you, but it is not really you. Therefore the shadow of El looked like El, but was not Elohim. We see the reason for Elohim to fill Bezalel with wisdom, knowledge and understanding is to ‘make artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings.’ Rav Kepha, in understanding what Yahshua explained to Him in Matthew 16: 18, said in first Peter 2: 5, ‘you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Elohim through Yahshua Messiah.’Living stones are able to change shape and can be formed. Similarly to Bezalel we read about Yahshua from Isaiah 11: 1 & 2 in this way: ‘Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. (2) And the Spirit of YHVH will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of YHVH.’  We read further bout Messiah in Zechariah 6: 12 & 13: “Then say to him, ‘Thus says YHVH of hosts, “Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of YHVH. (13) Yes, it is He who will build the temple of YHVH, and He who will bear the honor and sit on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.”

We read further about Yahshua from Colossians 1: 15 – 18, as follows: ‘And He is the image of the invisible Elohim (the one who came to show or manifest Elohim to us), the first-born of all creation. (16) For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him. (17) And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (18) He is also Head of the body, the congregation; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.’Messiah the Son of Man has already qualified when He was born-again as the Son of Elohim at His resurrection (as we are told in Romans 1: 4[1]). He willingly gave His life for the sins of the world, but also to be able to remarry His bride the general assembly and congregation of the first-born, enrolled in the book of life in heaven, when He returns. However, He also had to go away, so that the Set-apart Spirit could come to indwell those of us whom the Father called out of this world, after immersion in Messiah’s saving name and the laying on of hands by the elders in the congregation. Ever since Messiah’s ascension to heaven, those called out of the world by YHVH who have been immersed, and are being taught in the congregation of first-fruit believers by those who came before them, to equip them for the work of service, to build up the body of Messiah, until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of Elohim, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Messiah (as par Ephesians 4: 12 & 13).

A summary of this process is given in Ephesians 2: 11 – 14, 19 – 22, in this way: ‘Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Un-circumcision” by the so-called ‘Circumcision,’ which is performed in the flesh by human hands— (12) remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Elohim in the world. (13) But now in Messiah Yahshua you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah.(14) For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. (19) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of Elohim’s household, (20) having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yahshua Himself being the corner stone, (21) in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Master; (22)in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of Elohim in the Spirit.’ It is for this reason that having wisdom, understanding and knowledge is so important, since it gives us as individuals the ability as living stones to make YHVH a dwelling place in us, upon the earth. Not only as individuals, but more so as a congregation of called our believers.

In the beginning there were two kinds of wisdom available to man, and in a similar way Rav Yaa’cov warns in James 3: 13 -17, saying: ‘Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. (14) But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. (15) This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. (16) For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. (17) But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. (18) And the seed whose fruit is righteous is sown in peace by those who make peace.’ It is important to notice that wisdom and understanding is connected to works and behavior. Wisdom and understanding gives us the ability to discern and is connected to how we behave. We see from verse 16 above that jealousy and self-seeking result in confusion and every foul deed. Because wisdom, understanding and knowledge brings stability and order, we need to strive to obtain the right wisdom in our lives.If we partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in our lives, by leaning on our own understanding, we are heading the wrong way. On the contrary if we are seeking for wisdom, knowledge and understanding from Elohim’s word and those who teach only from His word, we will be known by the fruit in our lives. There would not be any hypocrisy and as it says in verse 18 of James 3, ‘And the seed whose fruit is righteous is sown in peace by those who make peace.’

Let’s see what our Master Yahshua the Messiah had to say about the fruit we bear in Matthew 7: 15 – 27, in this way: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) So then, you will know them by their fruits. (21) Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. (22) Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Master, Master, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ (23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ (24)‘Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock(meaning Messiah the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of Elohim).(25) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. (26) And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. (27) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house and it fell, and great was its fall.”

Finally, Yahshua told the parable about the 10 virgins (the remnant from the lost ten tribes called out of the world) in Matthew 25: five are wise and five are foolish. The five wise virgins make sure that they have enough oil indicative of their Scriptural Study and lifestyle, during which they acquire ample wisdom, understanding and knowledge about Elohim and His way and practice the same, whilst the foolish virgins are not that diligent in getting to know all they can about Elohim and His way – they are just cruising along leisurely. We read the end result from verse 5 – 12, as follows: “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. (6) But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ (7) Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. (8) And the foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ (9)But the prudent answered, saying, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’  (10)And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. (11) And later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Master, Master, open up for us.’ (12) But He answered and said, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’”People it is time to wake up, by not only regularly studying Torah, to acquire wisdom, knowledge and understanding but also by diligently apply it in our lives, if we want to be part of the five prudent virgins ready to marry our bridegroom when He returns.

 

[1]Romans 1: 4, ‘Who was declared the Son of Elohim with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Yahshua Messiah our Master.’