Revelation 4 - paraphrased with inline interpretive notes

After I had seen and heard these things, a door opened into heaven. The same voice I had heard speaking to me before like a trumpet then said to me,
"Come up here!  I will show you the things that must take place afterwards".

Instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw [the appearance of] One seated on a throne in heaven. The appearance of the One sitting on the throne was like jasper and carnelian stone, while an emerald rainbow circled the throne. Around the throne were twenty four thrones of elders. Twenty four elders sat upon them, wearing white robes and golden crowns of victory.

Flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder came from the throne. Directly in front of the throne were seven blazing torches [as in a seven branched menorah] these [lights] were the seven spirits of God.  Approaching the throne was something like a sea of glass, like clear crystal.

Adjacent to the the throne in each direction there were [joined as one] four living creatures, all of them having eyes in front and behind. Of the four living creatures, one was like a lion, another like an ox.  A third had a face like that of Adam. And the fourth had the head of an eagle [appearing] as though it were in flight. 

Each of the four living creatures had six wings [being able to move  and carry the throne in every direction] and [individually and together] they possessed eyes to see in every direction.  Day and night the four living creatures never cease to say, “Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh Adonai Elohei-Tzva’ot, asher haya v’hoveh v’yavo!" [Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Hosts, who was and who is and who is to come!”]

At those times when the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the One who sits upon the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty four elders bow down and worship the One who lives forever and ever.  

They throw their crowns of victory down in front of the throne and say, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to [be the One recognized to] have [the] glory, honor, and power, [in salvation] because you created all things; they came into existence and were created because of your will."

<> Revelation 5 >

Knowing

Holy Blessed One
Your Presence is love
I cannot know without You
I cannot learn without You
I cannot think without You
Adam tried to know without You
but learned only to be faithless
Our every thought now circles endlessly
in self-centredness
How can we be forgiven?
How can we be restored to You?
How can we expel from our soul the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?
How can we think again only with You?
How can we learn again only with You?
How can we know again only with You?
How can we enter with You into Your rest?



See this poem in expanded layout here:

https://sway.com/6yg135fSDjQzWRZt

Our Approach to Knowledge and Our Repentance #1

The first human approach to knowledge was to attempt to know the essence of all things on our own, apart from obedience to God, apart from the help of God — to know the good and evil of all things. Therefore we come now to the final consequence of this process, which is as it must be, all out war with God.  For even though it is only God's mercy that continues to sustain our existence, we make war with God, now in every way we can, trying ourselves to be God.

Our approach to knowledge in the Garden of Eden was to attempt to be the great hero for all creation, to obtain the essence of all knowledge, to know the good and evil of all things, on our own, to take responsibility to give eternal perfection to all creation. This is the way that seemed right to us but its end is death.

We have been following this way that leads to death ever since. We cannot correct ourselves from this action, from this process of seeking by means of our own intellect alone to possess the knowledge of the essence of all things, the good and evil of all creation, the knowledge that we think contains all wisdom and understanding. We cannot correct ourselves from trying to make our own intellect the God and Master of all things. We cannot change ourselves from being what we have made ourselves to be: the thieves of Divine understanding. We have destroyed ourselves. But there is One whose love sustains us despite ourselves.

How has this One sustained us? He has transformed the knowledge of good and evil into that which transcends itself.  What does this mean?  He has revealed His own understanding of good and evil, the understanding of good and evil which is possessed by the Creator, which transcends the knowledge of good and evil which has destroyed our intellect.  This is His wisdom to reveal this higher Divine understanding.

In acquiring in the isolation of our own intellect the knowledge of the essence of all creation, the good and evil of all creation we acquired the knowledge of the essence of ourselves and ourselves knowing ourselves in isolation in endless reduction.  We have made our knowledge of ourselves to be infinitely alone.  We have destroyed ourselves through endlessly knowing ourselves knowing ourselves, with no escape of knowing ourselves through God, through God's knowing us.  For we rejected God's knowledge of us by disobeying His commandment and eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, attempting to acquire all knowledge with our own intellect alone.

Now God has revealed the hope of our salvation in revealing His own understanding in His own wisdom as the Creator of the good and evil of all creation, including His creation of Adam.  In this His revelation of His own mind, He has attached us to Himself.  Only by being and by remaining attached to Him through His revelation can we be saved from the death of our lonely self-knowledge, caught in the hell of infinite endless reduction. This revelation from God is His revelation of the Anointed One of Israel.

THE GRAND FEAST

Shemos: 22:30

Sources: Midrash Tehillim 766, Torah Shleimah p.147

The Torah warns: "Do not eat flesh torn off in the field by a predator. Cast it to the dogs". (22:30)

Rabbi Berachia said in the name of Rabbi Yaacov: "If someone eats animal flesh torn off by a predator, he will be judged by Hashem". But if he keeps this mitzvah, then a grand feast will be prepared for him. When Moshiach comes - He will eat the Livyoson fish and special meat, as it says: "And you will eat food and be satisfied". (Joel 2:26)

http://www.congregationlubavitch.org/page.asp?pageID=%7B33101C19-832E-41C2-B722-7A63D9D4AAD2%7D

What is the meaning of this feast? This commandment is given to the nations of Noah. It is given to restrain the lust of devouring G-d’s creatures. Should humans become no different from predators the hope of Mashiach could not shine through them to all creatures.

The livyoson, like a dragon of the sea, is a symbol of the very nature of the earth and its ecology in the absence of G-d’s immediate and personal presence. This is due to Adam’s sin. The poetic image of feasting on the livyoson is the promise of all creation being resotred to a state that is equal to and greater than that which would have been had Adam never sinned. A choice to east in a manner that is in contrast to that which the predators are forced now to eat can be a choice to testify to this hope and faith in the promise of Mashiach in the Torah and Scriptures.

The Corner of Your Field

Lev. 23:22 You shall not remove the corner of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.

A Comment On The Israel Bible
"This Biblical imperative is still practiced in Israel today. Each season, farmers throughout Israel leave over millions of pounds of produce from the fields which are then collected by volunteers and distributed to poor people all over the country."
Read more at http://theisraelbible.com/bible/leviticus/chapter-23/verse-22#sFeViLLfzXAJYEXO.99


Proverbs 11:26 He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him.

The Israel Bible comments:
The Bible commands the Israelites to set aside a certain portion of their crops, grown in the Land of Israel, for the poor . The corners of their fields, the forgotten sheaves and the grains that fall during harvest are all left for the needy (Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:19).
Read more at http://theisraelbible.com/bible/proverbs/chapter-11/verse-26#s3i4V2JcAuFppHC8.99

Lev. 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am Hashem your God.
Deuteronomy 24: 19-20
19 When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go back to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; that Hashem thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands.
20 When thou beatest thine olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
24:20 When you beat your olive-tree:

The Israel Bible Comments:
Just as food must be left in the fields for the poor during the time of the harvest, so too fruit must be left on the trees. In describing the process of removing the fruit from the olive tree, the verse says “when you beat your olive tree.” Olive trees were harvested by beating the branches with a stick, causing the olives to fall to the ground. According to the Sages, this hints to the blessing of abundance in the Land of Israel. There will be so much produce that the farmers will only need to harvest what falls off with the beating of the tree branches; they will not need to bother to climb a ladder in order to reach what was left at the top! What remains on the tree is left for the poor and needy.

Read more at http://theisraelbible.com/bible/deuteronomy/chapter-24#wxS5odwWkP4hL3Cc.99

Mahx Note:
The corner of the field in this commandment is only the corner of the field in the Land of Israel. Nevertheless, the clear principle of leaving “the corners” of what G-d provides for us for the poor is a principle that we can clearly understand that G-d would desire to see followed anywhere. To do so because it is G-d’s expressed will for the Land of Israel is very near to the spirit of direct obedience to the commandment itself. But how can this be done? One cannot obey a commandment, in its spirit anymore than in its letter, according to one’s own ideas.

It is essential to look more closely at what is given as this commandment in the Torah. Indeed, there is more than one commandment about leaving behind a measure of one’s harvest of G-d’s blessing for the poor. These commandments can, however, in essence, be seen to be one commandment.
There is the commandment to leave the corners of the field no matter what the crop. Then there is the commandment to leave behind any gleanings that fall in the field, and the commandment not to go back and fetch any sheaf left in the field. There is also the commandment not to strip the vineyards bare, not to go over them a second time, but to leave grapes for the poor. And there is the commandment not to remove all the olives from the olive trees, but to leave some for those who are without other resources.

All these commandments are like one principle being commanded. This principle does not take away from the specifics of each commandment as spelled out to the letter. Rather, the principle adds them together and thereby adds to them. How so?

From understanding the principle, that it is G-d’s will to provide for the stranger and the poor out of the blessings with which he blesses whomever he blesses is to realize that there are “corners” to the Land of Israel itself through which G-d wills to provide for all the spiritually poor strangers of the nation who would take hold of the “corners of the garments” of the children of Israel to go with them to worship the G-d of Jerusalem.

Just so, there are no limits to G-d’s will to bless those who seek his blessing through Avraham, in accordance with his promises to Abraham, to Yitzchak and Yaakov. Therefore, anyone who will seek to leave a portion of the blessings they have recieved for the poor, and do so because G-d commanded this of the children of Israel, will be shown a way of doing this in holiness to the pleasure of G-d.

Deuteronomy 1:8 w/Mahx Notes

https://www.icloud.com/pages/0NM4d7xZhCX07SyEYyfNCYhpg#Deut._1-8

The Master of Prayer and Romans 8:3

What the Torah could not do without the Master of Prayer the Torah could do with the Master of Prayer.

What the Torah could not do by itself through the human being due to the weakness of the fallen human being, God did through sending His son with the Torah, that His son, in accordance with the Torah might condemn sin in the flesh and justify the human being in the Torah through him.

Romans 8 KJV
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

What the Torah could not do together with the fallen nature of Adam, God sending his own Son in the likeness of the fallen nature of Adam, and for sin, did — through his Son in fulfillment of the Torah.

Romans 8 Youngs Literal Translation
3 for what the law was not able to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, His own Son having sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, did condemn the sin in the flesh,

4 that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

What is it said here that the Torah was to do? It is said here that the Torah was to condemn sin in the flesh. And by implication then it was to establish its own righteousness in the human being. In short, then, due to the weakness of the flesh the Torah was not even able to fully condemn sin in the flesh. And accordingly it was not able to establish its righteousness in the human being.

What does it mean that the Torah should condemn sin in the flesh? This is not to condemn the human being but to condemn sin without condemning the human being. That is, therefore, to establish that the crime is the crime against the Torah and that it has been committed. The crime is condemned. However, it is not the purpose of the Torah to destroy the criminal, but to establish the condemnation of the crime, so that the criminal might be saved from the guilt and power of the crime.

What does it mean that the flesh was weak so that the Torah was not able to accomplish this on its own? The human being in the condition called "the flesh" would not be subject to the truth of the Torah. It could not be. It did not ever fully listen to the Torah, but tried to justify itself against what it thought would be the condemnation of the Torah, and therefore to justify itself in the Torah, against the true testimony of the Torah, which is that the sinful human being is worthy in the end of nothing but death — yet this is because of the unworthiness of sin, whereas the One who gave the Torah desires life for the human being. And this is the full testimony of the Torah. But the flesh, that aspect of the human being subject directly to death for sin, was weak in being overcome by inner shame and the fear of death, and could not hear this full testimony. Therefore it gave itself over in abandonment to sin, or deafened itself entirely to the Torah and did what was right in its own eyes, or continued ceaselessly to hope in finding some way to justify itself in the Torah. And so there was not one righteous human being who repented perfectly in the Torah, hearing perfectly its testimony. It was then that God sent His Son and established beyond all defense the condemnation of sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Torah might be fulfilled in those brought into his Spirit, who walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

Where do we see this very teaching from the Torah itself?

Exodus 32
9 …The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.

10 "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."

11 Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

And:

Deuteronomy 9
13 …"The LORD spoke further to me, saying, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people.

14 Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

15 "So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.…

For this is understandable in that it can be seen that Moshe recognized that Hashem would certainly keep His covenant with Avraham, Isaac and Jacob and save Israel as His people, as He brought them up out of Egypt and gave them His Torah, so He would bring them into the Land of Testimony. Therefore Moshe knew that Hashem's covenant was made so as to be dependent upon a Tzaddik from below praying and beseeching Him for the forgiveness of His people, Israel. Accordingly, he knew that if he prayed then for Israel his prayer would be heard. For the covenant was certain that Hashem would Himself provide that Tzaddik who would pray from below for Israel when Hashem would be prepared to destroy them altogether and the prayer of that Tzaddik would be heard.

Now this is the prayer of one who incarnates the Torah itself, so that it is heard not only Above but also Below that it is the Torah that pleads for Israel and does not condemn the children of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob.