Thomas Jefferson
So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses. Exodus 1:11 NASB
Taskmasters – Charlton Heston. That’s the image I have of Moses. Forget Ridley Scott. My Moses is the rugged hero, the man who stood up against oppression and carried forth the purposes of the mighty God. A man who raised his staff to see the children saved and the Egyptians crushed. But my picture is Hollywood’s, not the Bible’s.
One example is the translation of sarie misim, literally, representatives of the king with regard to tribute. TWOT notes: “The institution of tribute or corvee involves involuntary, unpaid labour or other service for a superior power—a feudal lord, a king, or a foreign ruler (Ex 1:11; Est 10:1; Lam 1:1).”[1] Something very important in contained in this expurgated translation. What’s missing? Taxation! “Slavery in Hebrew begins with a tax.”[2] The Egyptians didn’t begin enslaving the Hebrews with labor camps. They began with burdensome taxation. By the way, so did every other oppressive empire.
Perhaps we need to reflect on some of the thoughts of our founders.
“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” Thomas Jefferson
“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson
“The power to tax is the power to destroy.” John Marshall
The Bible is right. But its lesson is hidden in a bad translation. Taxation is the power to enslave put into the hands of human corruption. Pay your taxes to God. He knows what to do with the money. But everyone else? Slavery stands behind the money, ready to assert its desire to control. There is a very good reason God hates taxes.
Moses isn’t a tax reformer. He is a spokesman for God, a God who opposes the power of taxation in the hands of humans. Slavery is the inevitable result of granting the power to tax into the hands of those who wish to control. God’s kingdom is not based on compulsion. It is based on attraction. There is nothing attractive in being forced to support values, institutions and rituals that are contrary to my way of life, especially the biblical way of life. Taskmasters? Not quite. Tax-masters! Welcome to Egypt.
Topical Index: sarie misim, taskmasters, tax, Exodus 1:11
[1] Carr, G. L. (1999). 1218 מַס., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (516). Chicago: Moody Press.
[2] Aviya Kushner, The Grammar of God, p. 85.
“There is a very good reason God hates taxes.” … O man! how do I love this YHWH.
The disciples were “sons of thunder”, zealots, hiding away in Dammesek / Qumran, fleeing to the hills, bearing arms…
Should we not all be Anarchists against the Antichrist?
Ah, Pieter — that begs two questions, “who is the antichrist?” and is anarchy (disorder due to the absence or nonrecognition of authority) is ever advised by God for His people? Perhaps we should discover the answers to those two questions before we proceed, especially since we may be our own worst enemy.
Two very revealing questions Suzanne! 1) Who/what is an anti-messiah, i.e. the one anti/against the anointed King of Israel, and 2)What does anarchy, i.e., total disregard for authority within the Kingdom look like?
Thanks you! Your words are always so carefully chosen, thought out, and make us think.
Skip,
Yesterday, you said, “It is the voice that “walks” back and forth, back and forth, repeating the sound over and over. There are no feet. There is no body.”
I’m wondering who you would say came to visit Abraham in Genesis 18. When Abraham sees the 3 figures standing nearby, (Yehovah in bodily form and 2 angels,) all 3 are called men. He bows down and calls Him Lord. Throughout Genesis there’s no indication that Abraham doesn’t recognize to whom he is speaking.
And later, in John 8:56-59, Yeshua said to the crowd, “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing “MY” day. He saw it and was glad. The Jews said to him, “You are not yet 50 years old and you have seen Abraham?”
Yeshua responded, I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I Am.” He was making a statement of eternal self-existence and He clearly was claiming deity.
And, it sounds to me like the book of John (chapter 8) is making the claim that the One who visited Abraham in Genesis 18 was Yeshua. Any thoughts?
Also, I’m wondering if you are suggesting that trinitarians are lost and will be eternally separated from G-d?
What about these thoughts, Judi? In Genesis 18, verse 1 seems to plainly say that it was YHWH appearing to Abraham. And in John 8, when in verse 56 Yeshua says “Abraham rejoiced to see My day,” Yeshua was referring to the “Day of Christ,” a future time of justice and peace (Hebrews 11:10). Apparently Abraham had some knowledge about the future Messiah and His kingdom. And to show the Jewish leaders that the idea of a future Messiah had been around a long, long time, but now the reality of that Messiah stood before them, Yeshua said in verse 58 that before Abraham was, “I am he…I am that person.” Translator bias has us reading “I AM.” In all other instances in the New Testament, this Greek phrase is rendered, “I am he,” no matter who it’s talking about.
And a personal speculation of mine: Couldn’t God have His word be whatever He wants it to be? And if He wants His word to be a specific individual at a specific time for a specific purpose, could He not do it? Is there anything prohibiting God from speaking into existence anything he wants?
Judi, hopes this helps:
Can you “smell” the 3 Divine Aspects / Entities in the following?
Gen.12:1 Now YHWH said unto Abram: …
Gen.13:14 And YHWH said unto Abram …
Gen.15:1 After these things the Word of YHWH came unto Abram in a vision
Gen.17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, YHWH appeared to Abram, and said unto him: I am El Shaddai…
AND
Gen.15:17 And it came to pass that,
when the sun went down and there was [1] very thick darkness,
behold a [2] smoking furnace [fire]
and a [3] flaming torch [lighted lamp]
that [2&3] passed between these pieces.
18 In that day YHWH made a covenant with Abram …
By the way, I do not support the Trinity Doctrine. At best it is false, at worse a deception from HaSatan.
Yeshua is not the complete YHWH; He is not El Shaddai (I think); He is not Very Thick Darkness; He is not the Smoking Furnace. But He is definitely the Word and the Light and maybe more…
Quickly from George, South Africa. I am not suggesting that Trinitarians are eternally lost. How could I possibly know that? I am only suggesting that Jews have the right to interpret the Hebrew Scriptures according to their understanding and it seems a bit arrogant to tell them what their own sacred writings really mean. The issue of the Trinity doesn’t appear in the Tanakh unless it is read back into the text. Who Abraham encountered is certainly YHVH in the form of a man, but that is not the same as saying that YHVH in the form of a man is Yeshua pre-incarnate. Anyway, all I wanted to do was help us see how Jews understand the text.
https://www.google.com/search?q=the+herodian+mind+utube&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclMD9eJXcA
These two talks by Walter Veith focus on the temporal power that the world imposes, as traced back to the opportunity afforded to Cain and his ilk to rule and make grievous laws over the “children of disobedience”, and followed down through time. He points out that this temporal power has been repeatedly imposed on the true worshipers of YHVH, usually as a result of straying from the safety that Torah affords us.
Note the quote from whistleblower and former legal counsel to the World Bank, Karen Hudes on the second video The Herodian Mind, pt. 2, at about 50 minutes in. She says “People don’t know that their IRS revenue is going to the Vatican.” Dr. Veith outlines that path in these two videos.
Hi Laurita, I didn’t have an opportunity to watch these, but it’s definitely on my to-do list. I was reading psalms 1 and 2 the other day and got pretty much the same thing. It would seem (reading from a paleo perspective) that the “raging” and “vain contemplations” are “imposed” on the people and nations. I’ve always read ps 2:3 as those attempting to cast off YHWH’s restraints, however, it could be that the tearing off of the bands is a drawing away of the people to their devotion (mussar) and the casting off of cords is the division of the people ( literally, the shaking off of intertwining (unity). God’s “restraints” can’t be thwarted or cast off, but the peoples is a different story. Sounds like balaam’s advise to balak.
Something to fight in prayer for!
YHWH bless you and keep you……
Always lots of fun new things to chew on and consider with you, Robert! This is great! Have a blessed day!
His Body
It walks and it talks, it has hands and feet and you are a part of it.
~ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it ~
(1 Corinthians 12.27)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJL7Eis0Rb0
sorry, this comment belongs to 11-27!
Skip, moving on from government taxes, the leaders of Israel taxed the people so much that they could barely survive. How about churches today that want the “full” tithe to come to the church? From what I’ve learned from some rabbi’s, they live on 90% of their income, the other 10% is God’s, and it does not necessarily have to all go to their synagogue. How should we be towards our giving? So much of this thinking beckons to controlling people. Can you give some insight?
Judi,
Re-read chapter 18 word for word and you will find that HASHEM was in the tent with Abraham when the three ” men” appear. According to tradition this is only three days after his circumcision the day his wound would be most painful.
The three appear and he ran to the three, leaving ” who ” behind, would anyone dare to leave the MOST HIGH to welcome strangers. He does bow down and call them Lord, this only proves again the Abraham is the most humble of the patriarchs, a servant to all. After having been entertained by him we are told the men, not how many, turn toward Sodom and Abraham and HASHEM have the discussion about Sodom’s fate. HASHEM departs. If you look at the beginning of chapter nineteen we discover only two go down to Sodom. Leaving the question of what happened to the third. If it wasn’t HASHEM then why didn’t all three go down. Again tradition speaks to this that the third stayed behind to minister to Abraham’s wounds for his kindness.
As we have learned from Skip many times we have to leave our paradigm and read Scripture word for word. Sometimes this only raises more questions than the answers we are looking for.
Skip, perfect timing on this taskmaster/taxmaster topic…it totally prepared me to hear the exact SAME principle this morning regarding passages from Maccabees from Aleph-Beta/ Rabbi David Forhman…great connection I won’t forget!
https://www.alephbeta.org/course/lecture/chanukah-2015-5776?utm_source=Chanukah+Release+2015&utm_campaign=Chanukah+Release+2015&utm_medium=email
Well said, Skip! Thanks.
Kushner also says on page 85 of my eBook version, “Technically, these masters are “taskmasters”…Then as now, there is no business as profitable as unpaid labor.”
So, in the United States, are we talking about the federal government or Corporate America and Wall Street? Or are we talking about the 400 richest Americans that control more wealth than the 150 million people in the bottom 50 percent of the population?
All of the above. Except I have read that 250 have more assets than that bottom 2.5 million people of the world
Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream. This is an “unbiased” documentary. ?. Of course there are sources of information out there without a bias because human beings don’t have a bias. Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts. ?