The Royal Convocation
For behold, the kings assembled; they came on together. Psalm 48:4 ESV
Assembled – The kings marched together in order to pass before the city of God. What was the result? They were astonished, humbled, afraid. They fled in terror and confusion. No nation stands before Him.
David’s declaration of the majesty of the Lord and the awesome specter of His city is proper in this hymn of praise. But his use of the word no‘adu teaches us something more than the overwhelming power of God. This word, translated “assembled,” comes from the root ya’ad. It means, “to appoint, to betroth, to assemble, to meet, to set.” As you can imagine, it is used quite often in personal relationships. One particular derivation of the word is significant because of its implications for the apostolic writings (the New Testament). That derivation is ‘edah, meaning “congregation.” In Hebrew, ‘edah describes the self-designation of the Qumran community. In other words, it is more than likely that this word was used to describe the congregations of religious followers in first century Israel including those who followed Yeshua HaMashiach. We must note that ‘edah is not just any assembly. Because it comes from the root ya’ad, it implies that this assembly is called for a purpose. We also discover that it is first used in Exodus 12:3 when God addresses the children of Israel. He calls them an ‘edah. One hundred and forty five times this word describes God’s chosen “congregation” in the Tanakh, and in one hundred and twenty seven of those occurrences the word is translated as synagoge in the LXX. That should make it clear. God’s Israel is an ‘edah.
How does this help us understand what Paul says, or Matthew, Mark and James? Those men would have thought of a synagogue as an ‘edah (or as its close synonym qahal). They did not think that the religious assemblies of their time were somehow brand new creations of Yeshua. In fact, they routinely attended services as part of the ‘edah and they constantly asserted that they practice their faith according to the expectations of the ‘edah. The Greek word ekklesia is connected to the Hebrew ‘edah and qahal. If we want to understand what these men said about the “church,” we must begin in Exodus with ‘edah. We can choose to start our thinking with ekklesia in Acts, but to do so is to ignore everything the authors knew about the connection between ‘edah and ekklesia. In other words, to put it as bluntly as possible, “church” is an invention of men. The God of Israel calls His people ‘edah.
Perhaps this helps us understand why churches seem to be able to invent their own worship patterns without regard to Scriptural foundations. Perhaps we now recognize that the hierarchy of Rome has more influence on the formation of the church than the Bible. Maybe this is why the church is constantly evolving. It has no foundation in God. It stands on the work of Jerome, Luther and Calvin. Attend if you wish. No harm there (hopefully), but remember that you are not in the house of the Lord. You are visiting the temples of Constantine.
Topical Index: church, ‘edah, qahal, Exodus 12:3, ya’ad, assembly, Psalm 48:4
CONFERENCE IN VIRGINIA BEACH and PHOENIX: The perfect time to be in Virginia Beach is next weekend for the 3rd conference of the year. TOPIC: The Ten Commandments in Paleo-Hebrew. WHAT A TREAT TO SEE ALL THE HIDDEN MEANINGS! This is for all of you who can’t make it to Phoenix the following week. I thought East Coast people deserved the same insights. So please come. All the information is on my CALENDAR PAGE. And then Phoenix for the second look at this fascinating material.
Wonder how many would be brave enough or rather smart enough to have that as their sign?
No many, right now I am totally confused because it applies to all the different denominations (which clearly are also confused) or just the catholic church?
Aside from celebrating Shabbat in the home on Friday evenings, how would a service in an edah run on Saturdays?
Well, knowing humans, as I am one of them, it is also possible that a building that had the word ‘Edah as a name still could be as confused as the ones that say Synagogue or Church. I mean, if we got confused because we had the wrong name, making the name right could fix it, correct?
I think the confusion is even deeper, unfortunately.
The question is, what DOES straighten out the people of YHVH?
The Reformers, if I may speak for them a bit, here, came flying out of corruption, holding their noses and yelling for all they were worth, and I, for one, am thankful that they did, because if they had not, it is highly doubtful to me that we could be here on this forum, freely expressing ourselves and what we believe. Yes, corruption does stink, but some of it they could not detect because you can only shift out of a paradigm so much at a time. I don’t actually think that any of them, up front, set out to congeal denominations in their own image. Instead, I think it may be more of human nature to not want to change yet again. It just is too uncomfy! Why do we not, instead of insisting that THEY have it all right on their first try, be willing to KEEP ON SHIFTING. Oh, wait. That is what Skip and the beautiful people here are doing! We have to keep going!
One of the better examples I have found of the attitude people typically seem to take toward dealing with change is demonstrated in that fantastic battle cry for the Civil War that James Russell Lowell wrote: “The Present Crisis”. I may have been a bit overboard as a mother, but I required all my children to memorize that one and be able to explain each line!
Can’t wait to see this all come together and begin to share it – our group of families that meet together on Shabbat now feel that they need ‘structure’ and are leaning towards appointing elders etc…so with Dana – how would one look?
Dear Skip,
Interesting subject and timing. We (Husband and I) have been looking at the Nicolaitans. and what their doctrine was as well as the meanings of the word. Of course there are lots of opinions, but it must be understood… if we can address the appearance of the word twice.
The names/words we found meaning conquerors, destroyer of the people, connected Hebraically to Balaam, a twister for money. Hmm, as we debated, it seems that what you wrote here may be the seed.
When we are under LEADERSHIP of OTHER than TORAH, we are conquered, destroyed by acceptable sin, and twisted by others for control and money.
I hear often how Popery is the TOTAL enemy and Anti-Christ. In my Christian circles the damage of the “crescent moon” concept and the engraved words “GOD HAS NO SON” is more acceptable than an evil distortion of a church group.
It explains a lot. Distortion is an evil and destroys us but there is a second evil out there that is also threatening. God help us all awaken. Thank you for your work.
.
Dana, that’s a good question especially for those new to the Messianic Way, or maybe those starting a group. It seems to me that the Father, in His Infinite Wisdom does not give us a lot of specific structure to follow, per se. Neither does He give us a lot of instruction on how to keep Shabbat – a lot of do’s and donts . Shabbat is simply “Holy Time”, a time to knock of the daily grind of work and focus on the spiritual side of our lives and where possible get together to worship with fellow believers.
For what it is worth, for your consideration, here is a weekly routine we typically follow is our fellowship called “Hallel Fellowship” here in Santa Rosa in northern California.
We start around noon with Hebrew dancing for about an hour or so while brethren are arriving. Around 1pm, we start our formal worship service with that beautiful dance “Hodu Hodu”. You can find it on Youtube. This is a lovely simple dance that even most of the dance challenged enjoy participating in! This is followed by announcements, an short general discussion on relevant issues, finishing up with praise to God for good things happening and prayers for needs. Next we have about an hour long teaching and discussion on a Torah portion. After a 15 -20 min break for snacks we continue with a teaching / discussion from the Prophets / Psalms or New testament.
Next we move to the back of our meeting room and one of the ladies will say a prayer as she lights the Sabbath candle. This is followed by a brief hand washing ceremony with water poured over everyone’s hands while a prayer for clean hands and clean thoughts in all our actions is uttered.
Then we have a Kiddush with challah bread and a glass of wine / grape juice for everyone.
It’s usually now about 4.30 pm to 5pm and we end Shabbat with a potluck meal. Some continue on with more Hebrew dancing, some participate in Hebrew class, and the rest simply fellowship before going back to “the world” for another week!
This routine works for us but like I said in beginning of my post it is not set in concrete nor is it a “Thus says the Lord” statement.
Shalom
Sounds lovely. Maybe you will invite me one day.
I wrote quite a bit about “what to do when you’re not supposed to do anything” some time ago. It’s all on the web site. Shabbat does lack specifics from the text. For good reason. But traditions seem to fill in the gaps. That’s OK as long as we all know they are traditions. No sense excluding someone because they have a different pattern.
Most definitely, Skip, we want to have you come out to the San Francisco Bay area sometime.
Our group in Santa Rosa is relatively small – usually between 20 -30 every Shabbat. I would want to pull together a larger attendance than that to justify bringing you out here. But I notice that there has been an increase in small groups forming in and around Walnut Creek area. Then there are a number of groups in Sacramento and other cities in the greater hinterland. I need to connect with some friends that I have in some of those groups and brainstorm about what we could possibly put together.
A couple of questions:
Do you have many people from the general northern California area who are TW readers?
Does Bob Gorelik have Bay Area connections or roots. Pierann seems to think that she noticed someplace something about Bob having a connect with Northern Cal? If that were the case, it would naturally be helpful too in exploring things.
As it stands right now, our group in Santa Rosa alone would not justify bring you out here……but I will continue to give it thought and discuss with others too.
Pierann and I so appreciate the insights you bring to all of us and its only a matter of time before we work out going down to meet up with you at Phoenix or someplace else you are scheduled.
Shalom
Great. I would love to come to the Bay area next year. Just contact Rosanne (she handles all the conferences) at rosannemoen@mac.com when you are ready.
I don’t know anything about the “crescent moon” or the “God has no Son” stuff, but I do know that evil only needs the smallest twist on the truth in order to capture its victims. Consider Havvah. All that was necessary was NOT to deny God’s words but simply to apply them differently. I often wonder if the development of replacement theology since the time of Justin Martyr hasn’t been one long example of how evil needs only the smallest opening to completely divert millions from the truth.
I do agree and accept the horrific damage of multiple years of distortion but as ugly and damaging as it is, it will only be overcome by teaching and it will not happen overnight unless as a result of Messiahs coming. It is a long term battle. My concern is that I see this distortion battle as only PART of the BATTLE. The “crescent moon” worship goes back to THE WORD. God mentions: the days of Gideon when, after killing the enemy, he removes the crescent moon ornaments from the camels necks; and the WORDS “GOD HAS NO SON” appears above the door way of Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. This presents another battle unrecognized because the believers that I speak with, have POPERY nailed as THE ANTI-CHRIST POWER. This position leaves ISRAEL which is in determined “Caliphate territory” with no concern because people are watching Rome (Nicolaitan?). Rome is never listed as destroyed at Messiah’s coming ( Zechariah 14). I can find 39 names of nations slated for destruction by Messiah, NONE are Catholic or Rome. I ask Christians “What is the RESURRECTED CALIPHATE? and they have no idea. Question: Is this lack of awareness unimportant?
Thanks for clarifying. You are right, Messiah is a Jew and will come back as a Jew in Jerusalem. Rome has nothing to do with the God of Israel.
I think there are a lot of us searching for what edah looks like. I’ve been in the structured programmed setting and “hebraic” or not, it eventually starts to feel sterile. I wonder if it’s only in a very small group that intimacy is enhanced. Three people are not really enough but more than 6 or 7 and you start to need structure, which in itself can become the problem. But look, even with this I’m imposing a structure. (wry grin)
On the other hand, there are times when I desire a larger group – I’m thinking of feast days like Shavuot and Sukkot week. Then it’s nice to be part of a larger community that comes together for that purpose. I don’t have any idea really what I’m looking for – just that I haven’t found it…..Maybe it’s a pipe dream.
Skip,
Please tape the VA Beach Conference! I cannot make it & would like to purchase it. This is such an important teaching! Important to the re-building of the foundation of faith on the righteous plumbline, along with His name, feasts & appointed times,etc. thank you again!!
My plan, if I can get it all done, is to have the entire subject available as a PDF download or purchase at the conferences. Still lots to do.