LEVITICUS Chapter 23
LEV 23:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
LEV 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
LEV 23:28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God.
LEV 23:29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.
LEV 23:30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
LEV 23:31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
LEV 23:32 It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate YOUR SABBATH.
While denying oneself food and water in the timeframe is not specifically outlined in scripture as the acceptable form of "AFFLICTING" ones own Soul on the 10th Day of the Seventh Month of the Scriptural Calendar...it has been practiced at least as far back as the days of Isaiah the Prophet, though Isaiah, illustrates that one can deny oneself food and water in the timeframe, and still fail to "AFFLICT" oneself, fail to "HUMBLE" oneself, fail to PLEASE YAH' in the Timeframe!
Zecheriah declares the time will come when this timeframe will be observed as a FEAST DAY!
Zechariah 8:18-19.... And the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 19 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love truth and peace.
The nature of this "SELF AFFLICTION" this "SELF DENIAL" can be summed up in a single passage of scripture from Isaiah 58, and we will look at more verses from the passage later in this post, but for now, note a single verse...Isaiah 58:13
ISA 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
I had a conversation about fasting on Yom Kippur with Branch Davidian Survivor Clive Doyle years ago, in which he noted an event in which David Koresh on Yom Kippur at Mt. Carmel one time, around 1985 to 1987, made a profound impact on everyone at Mt. Carmel, Clive stated to me...loosely paraphrased:
We at Mt. Carmel, had for years had fasted on Yom Kippur. And we had all be fasting when David called all of us into the Chapel and held up an Apple, and stated..."I Was reading the scriptures and found one, by which God revealed tome, it is okay for me to eat this Apple today, On Yom Kippur!I Am going to take a bite of this apple, and scripture says I can do so without sinning against The LORD...and if you can tell me where it says such in Scripture, You can eat an Apple too!...we were all shocked, and he took a bite, and ate it, and ate the whole apple, and no one could tell him the scripture he was talking about...
I asked Clive at this point, "Well, what was the Scripture that he referred to that said it is okay to eay on Yom Kippur? Clive replied
He never told us, but we accepted that he found one, knowing David as we did. In those days, David knew he was, and some of us at Mt. Carmel knew, but most did not. He had to prove himself, over and over again, one person at a time, and gradually we all knew who he was.
I asked Clive at that point in our phone call as I stood in my Yard in North Carolina on the Phone with him..."Well, did anyone else get to eat and did he ever later tell you what the Scripture was...I mean, how did he justify being able to do so on Yom Kippur?"
Clive replied:
"No, one could answer him with the correct passage of scripture, so nobody else got to eat.
But the thing is this, When God sends a new messenger, he gives that messenger his Authority, and so when that Messenger speaks, it is as if GOD himself is speaking, ANd so what was a law in one generation, may not be in another generation. God gives these guys the understanding they need to do the task he needs them to do. That doesn't mean they are right about everything, but as they are anointed, if God tells them to do a certain thing, even though he told others in prior generations not to...than that thing is THE LAW of GOD, and those under such messenger, are bound to obey such. So, we just figured God told David it was okay for him to eat the apple, and later reasoned amongst ourselves that because of his position, and the fact that HE TOLD us it was okay to eat on Yom Kippur, that it was no longer neccessary to fast on such timeframe, so we quit fasting on Yom Kippur.
Now, while I agree with much, of what Clive said, I know now, by my own calling, anointing, and experience that David would not have given such a challenge, if it were not in fact possible to answer from SCRIPTURE, VERY CLEARLY...why it is okay to eat on YOM KIPPUR!
Now note, he did not tell those in audience that day that it was okay NOT TO "AFFLICT" ones own soul in the timeframe, he told them, "I Was reading the scriptures and found one, by which God revealed tome, it is okay for me to eat this Apple today, On Yom Kippur!"
So there had to be an actual Scripture he was referencing, and recently, the LORD SHOWN me the very passage David was referring to...and WHY it is NOT OKAY...NOT TO AFFLICT one's own soul on YOM KIPPUR, but IT IS OKAY...to EAT FOOD in the timeframe!
AFFLICTION ONES OWN SOUL, is about SELF DENIAL.
BUT THE REASON one is doing such on THE DAY OF ATONEMENT and one's attitude during such, is as important, if not moreso than the route one chooses to AFFLICT ones own soul in the first place!
Self Denial, can come in many fashions, as long as it is "SELF DENIAL" and "Afflcting" one's own soul. THere were reasons Yah did not observe the FASTING of those crying out in Isaiah 58.
As I read it, sure, they went without food and water, but were they afflicted in such? Is it possible to deny oneself food and water and fail to Afflict oneself, fail to humble oneself?
Isa 58:3 Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
ISA 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Even their "REST" was work! They still Exacted all thier labors!
The "AFFLICTION" of Leviticus 23 is not named in detail as "HOW" one is to "Afflict" oneself...only that we are to do so.
Is denying onself food and water afflicting oneself, sure it is. But one can do such, and fail to afflict oneself in denying oneself to eat or drink. Thus there is more one way to Afflict oneself, that which YAH desires as I read it, have more to do with matters of the heart, than the body.
Isaiah 58
ISA 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
ISA 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
ISA 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
These people in ISAIAH 58 who cried out that their Denying themselves food and water, their "HIDING" themeselves from Hunger, "hiding from thine own flesh"... who fasted food and water and yet cried out to know why YAH did not observe their fast...they missed the greater point...the TRUE AFFLICTION Yah wants, is the sacrafice of pride! He even desires us to FEED PEOPLE on a day when everyone says no one should be eating,....is Denying oneself food and water...the "FAST" which YAH' has chosen? Or is it to FAST OUR PRIDE in repentance,to "loose the bands of wickedness" from ones own soul, to undo the heavy burdens of others, to even, yes, on a day everyone says "DON"T EAT"...give bread to those most tempted to eat on such a day, to "give bread to the hungry"...to bring the poor into our homes and clothe the naked, and to "HIDE NOT" from our own flesh...is this not the TRUE FAST desired of YAH?
This is what David was doing at that time Clive noted to me with the APPLE at Yom Kippur!
NOTE the WORDS OF CHRIST YEHESHUA in Matthew 4:4
It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God
So David was in fact TRYING to FEED THE HUNGRY on Yom Kippur with that Apple Demonstration...to HONOR YAH' in How he kept YOM KIPPUR...but he was also recognizing the TRUE BREAD that man needs is THE WORD OF GOD...and he was trying to FEED BOTH BODY AND SOUL of those in attendance at that Apple Demonstration at Mt. Carmel on Yom Kippur all those years ago!
For THOSE COMING HERE, SEEKING THE TRUTH OF YAH' and his Righteousness, I pray you find it,
SHALOM!
-Benjamin
King James Version: Isaiah Chapter 58
ISA 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
ISA 58:2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
ISA 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
ISA 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
ISA 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
ISA 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
ISA 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
ISA 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
ISA 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
ISA 58:10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
ISA 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
ISA 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
ISA 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
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