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InnocentBlood by Fran Regan
08/15/2010
I realize that this portion of Deuteronomy is speaking of the laws governing intentional and unintentional killing or murder.
I think, however, we can look a little deeper and see much more – even the Good News! We will also see how Cain, who we have always held at arm’s length, may be closer to us than is comfortable or we would like to think. Deuteronomy 21: 1 “When anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which Yah your Elohim is giving you to possess, and it is not known who smote him,…” The ‘one’ slain in the field – is #2491 – chalal – lamed, lamed, chet – pierced (espec. to death); fig. (2) polluted - from 2490 (3) first x gather the grape x take inheritance (1)Who was pierced/wounded for our transgressions? Zech. 12:10; Psalms 22:16 Isaiah 53:5 “But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our crookednesses. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (2) Who became sin (polluted) for us? 2Corinthians 5:12 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of Elohim.” (3) Who is the first (born) of the harvest (grape – of all); (from the dead)? Colossians 1:15 “who is the likeness of the invisible Elohim, the first-born of all creation.” Colossians 1:18 “And He is the Head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that He might become the One who is first in all.” The One slain in the field…….. each one of these definitions of ‘slain’ in this verse describe The One that was slain for us. According to Matthew 13:38, the field is the world. He was slain in the world, by the world and for the world – and yet the world did not even know who He was. It is not known who smote or killed this One because we all (the whole world) killed Him. John 1:10,11 tells us “He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him, and the world did not know Him.” He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” No one claimed Him, or responsibility for what had been done to Him, so they were measuring the distance to the nearest city – kind of like ‘casting lots’, to see who would be. And yet in His mercy, “through Him is completely restored to favor all unto Himself, …..through the blood of His stake.” Innocent blood, I might add. Colossians 1:20 vs 14 “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,..” “..and they shall measure the distance from the slain man to the cities round about..” “And it shall be that the elders of the city nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer ….And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near…” The city (#5892) nearest (#7138) the slain man City - #5892 – iyr – resh yud ayin – a place guarded by waking or a watch, from 5782 – the idea of opening the eyes to wake, wake up, lift, master, stir up self Nearest - #7138 – qarowb – beit, vav, resh, qof – near in place, kindred, time, kinfolk, near of kin, neighbor Cities are made up of people – the city (or people) nearest to the slain man (near of kin). We have seen that the one slain identifies our Redeemer. The definition of ‘nearest’ identifies Him also as our Kinsman. Yahshua (the One slain – the One pierced to death, the One polluted for us, the One who is the Firstborn of all) is also our Kinsman-Redeemer. The priests, the sons of Levi came near because “Yah your Elohim has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the Name of Yah, and by their mouth every strife and every stroke is tried.” 21:5 Judgment begins at the house of Yah (1Peter 4:17). The city nearest the slain man is Yah’s own people whose eyes are opening, waking up and beginning to master self. vs 8 O Yah, forgive (3722) Your people Israel, whom You have redeemed (6299) and do not allow innocent (5355) blood in the midst of Your people Israel…” forgive - 3722 – kaphar - resh, pey, kaph – to cover, to expiate, cancel, make an atonement, cleanse, pardon, reconcile – Our guilt is cancelled. We are pardoned through His blood. redeem - 6299 – padah –- hey, dalet, pey – to sever, ransom, release, preserve, deliver – We are severed in order to be grafted in. Yah is our deliverance. innocent - 5355 - naqiy – yud, qof, nun – blameless, clean, clear, exempted, free, guiltless, from 5352 – to be or make clean, acquit altogether, be blameless, cleanse, hold guiltless, leave unpunished – Yahshua is the innocent blood that forgives and redeems His people, acquitting us altogether and holding us guiltless. The only One who can cover (make atonement, reconcile, make clean) is the One Who is the innocent blood . Just as Yahshua is both our High Priest and the sacrifice, He is also both the innocent blood that was shed and our Kinsman Redeemer/revenger of blood. Which brings us to Genesis 4:10, 11 “And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out (6817) to Me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened (6425) its mouth (6310) to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” Cries out – 6817 - tsa’aq – qof, ayin, tsade – shriek, to proclaim (assembly) call together, cry out, gather selves together Bible Dictionary: sounded like thunder, summoned, was assembled, bellowed like a bull What is happening here? Abel’s blood/righteous blood (Matthew 23:35) is shrieking, proclaiming an assembly, calling, gathering, summoning with a thunderous sound, bellowing like a bull – but who was he calling? Righteous/innocent blood had just been shed in the land. This brought a curse. An alarm was being sounded. Yah’s ways had been challenged. Deuteronomy 19:13 – “Your eye shall not pardon him, but you shall purge the blood of innocent blood from Israel, so that it might be well (2995) with you.” 2995 - Yabne’el – lamed, alef, nun, beit, yud - built of God – from 1129 – to build, obtain children, make, repair, with 410 – strength, might, Almighty “Your eye shall not pardon him, but you shall purge the blood of innocent blood from Israel, so that it might be built of Yah.” Yah had just told Cain in Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, is there not acceptance? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should master it.” To follow Yah’s ways and commands, it will be well with us, it will be built of Yah. However, Cain chose, according to Deuteronomy 17:2 “to do what is evil in the eyes of Yah your Elohim, in transgressing His covenant”. He chose not to obey and, as a consequence, sin (which is the transgression of Yah’s commands) like a crouching lion, overcame him. It was crouching at the door. It could not come through the door unless Cain allowed it – the same with us. The Door or our Kinsman Redeemer, our High Priest is between us and the adversary – we have to make the choice to go around Him and put ourselves in harm’s way. We’re told the same thing in Jeremiah 7:23 “But I commanded them this thing, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. Also, Walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, so that it may be well with you.” As in…. Deuteronomy 19:9 “when you guard all this command to do it, which I am commanding you today, to love Yah your Elohim and to walk in His ways all the days…” and then in vs 13 it states it will be well with us It is by guarding and doing Yah’s commands that it is well with us. When we walk in His ways and Obey His voice, we and everything we do will be built of Yah. But “Sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for us, but we should master it.” Sin is still there, crouching, waiting. But Yah says we should master it – which means we can. “And now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened (6425) its mouth (6310) to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” Genesis 4:11 Opened - 6425 – pelec – samech, lamed, pey – a balance, scales, weight, from 6424 – to roll flat, prepare, to weigh mentally, weigh Mouth - 6310 – peh – hey, pey – commandment, appointment, two-edged, word Cain has been weighed in the balance (judged) mentally and found wanting on Yah’s scale, (which is His two-edged word, His commandment). Was this the assembly being called, being thundered for – the judges who judge the innocent blood? James 2:12 tells us, we also, are judged by Yah’s ‘law of liberty’ (commandments). Deu. 19:6 tells us as in Matt. 15:19 – that murder is of the heart – from hate. Regarding the one who killed unintentionally: “… he was not worthy of death, since he had not hated him before.” “For out of the heart come forth …… murders .,…...” The actual act is simply a reflection of the heart. It was Cain’s heart that was not right with Yah. His actions were simply a result of what was already going on in his heart. It is the same with us. Through Cain’s example we can see the result of turning from Yah’s commandments. It will not be well with us. Genesis 4:14 “See, You have driven me (1644) from the face of the ground (127) today, (3117) and I am hidden (5640) from Your face. I shall be a fugitive (5110) and a wanderer (5128) on the earth, (776) and it shall be that anyone who finds me kills me.” (“I shall be hidden”) 1644 – garish, gimel, resh, shin – to drive out from a possession; to expatriate (to drive from native land, to exile), or divorce, cast out, divorced woman, drive away, put away, trouble, thrust out 127 – adamah – alef, dalet, mem, hey – country, earth, ground, husband, man, land 3117 – yowm – mem, vav, yud - a space of time determined by an associated term, age, season, process of time, in trouble 5640 – catham – samech, tav, mem – or shin, tav, mem – to stop up, repair, to keep secret – closed up, hidden, secret, shut out, (up), stop 5110 – nuwd – nun vav, dalet – to nod, waver, to wander, flee, disappear; from shaking the head in sympathy to tossing the head in scorn, [we’ve seen both extremes] to console, deplore, mourn, way, wandering 5128 – nuwa – nun, vav, ayin – to waver, fugitive, to go up and down, be gone away, be moved, reel, remove, scatter, shake, sift, stagger, to and fro wander (up and down) 776 – erets – alef, rest, tsade – to be firm, the earth or partitively a land, country, field, land, nations, way wilderness, world, earth Matthew 5:21-22 “You heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and whoever murders shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to judgment…” We have seen that murder is actually a ‘heart thing’. Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, but do not sin.’ Do not let the sun go down on your rage, nor give place to the devil.” (who we are told is like a lion seeking whom he may devour/crouching at the door). “And Yah said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why is your face fallen? If you do well, is there not acceptance? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should master it.” Is not Yah speaking to all of us? To do well is to keep His commandments (so that it might be built of Yah) – obviously not to do well is to choose not to keep His commandments but do things our own way. Cain has shown us the consequences of not listening and obeying, of doing things our own way. How many of us are suffering these very same consequences today – either through our own actions or the actions of our fathers? (Genesis 4:14) “See, You have exiled /divorced/driven me from/upon/against the face of (from) ‘my’ land/husband/country for a determined space of time for a season of trouble …” “…and I am hidden/shut out from/a secret from Your face. I shall be a fugitive/disappear/wander/mourn and a wanderer/go up and down/to and fro/(be) scatter(ed) on (in) the earth, world, field, nations ……” Cain said he was: exiled divorced from Yah driven from my land (an expatriate) hidden a secret scattered in the earth/gentile nations shall wander up and down, to and fro Does that remind you of anyone or anything else? Genesis 4:16 “So Cain went out from the presence of Yah and dwelt (2416) in the land of Nod (5112) on the east of Eden.” Dwelt - 2416 – chay – hey, yud – alive, raw (flesh), fresh, strong, age, congregation, from 2421 – het yud, hey – to live, to revive, keep alive, give/promise life, preserve, recover, repair, restore to life, God save alive, surely be whole Nod - 5112 – nowd – nun, vav, dalet - exile, wandering Cain (representing maybe all of us?) went away from Yah’s face (because he rejected Yah’s commands/ways) and was kept alive with a promise of life and restoration in the land of his exile and wanderings. It was the very innocent blood that was shed that would deliver him from his curse. (unmerited favor) Is the mark of Cain simply not having Yah’s mark of love and obedience to His Commands? Is the mark of Cain, as a consequence, being in exile/hidden from His face and Israel’s (prophesied) divorce from Yah? Is the mark of Cain our scattering among (being hidden in) the nations (in the fields) of the earth, away from the protection of our ‘Husband’ and our land for a specified or determined space of time called a season of trouble? We were shut out from Yah’s face, [Yah’s Covenant] and we made our own, as we were divorced and exiled – a people without a country or a protector; a people without hope in the world. Does Cain represent the unrighteousness, rebelliousness and disobedience of both houses - of all the earth? Is Abel, therefore, and the unknown man slain in the field, representative of the righteous/obedient? Ephesians 2:11-13 “Therefore remember that you, once gentiles in the flesh, who are called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, That at that time (G2540 – set time or season corresponding to the H3117 ‘today’ a specific period of time?) you were without Messiah, excluded (exiled?) from the citizenship of Israel (hidden?) and strangers from the covenants of promise (divorced?) having no hope and without Elohim in the world (a season of trouble). But now in Messiah Yahshua you who once were far off (wanderers/scattered upon the face of the earth) have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah.” (innocent blood shed in the field/world - One the world did not know or recognize – our ‘near kinsman’) and restored to life in Him (redeemed and forgiven – brought back from our wanderings/exile/death). The gentiles (who are represented by Cain who departed from Yah’s face) are to be co-heirs, (the secret?) united in the same body or assembly (kept alive with a promise of life and restoration/repair) and partakers together in the promise in Messiah (He would take us back as His bride and bring us back to our land) through the Good News (Ephesians 3:6) which included the shedding of innocent blood. (John 11:51-52 – “but he did not say this from himself, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Yahshua was about to die for the nation, And not for the nation only, but to gather together into one the children of Elohim who were scattered abroad.” The Good News was proclaimed even with Cain. Have we really understood who exactly Cain represents? Not just the gentiles nations – not just the first murderer who was cursed - but all the unrighteous/rebellious/disobedient to Yah’s commands – Yah will recover/restore/repair through His innocent blood, which was shed for the world (in the field). The world tried to cover this innocent blood and so is cursed. Genesis 4:15 – Cain’s hope (in his desperate situation of being exiled and divorced or sent out from the presence of Yah) was given by Yah in the form of a sign and a ‘sevenfold vengeance’. (This is for us too.) Does Yah ever leave anyone without hope in the world? Could the sign (which is a token, beacon – something obvious), be the result of his disobedience – his exile, his wandering? Could the ‘sevenfold vengeance’ be the Covenant, Yah ‘sevening’ Himself (7659)? So even though Cain went into exile and is known as the first murderer, we see his example relived over and over in all of us. And instead of certain death from ‘anyone who finds him’, Yah gave him hope and the promise of life and restoration in His covenant (again, unmerited favor). Ezekiel 18:20 “The being who sins shall die.” (also v.23 with Gen. 4:7) 2Chronicles 6:36 “When they sin against You – for there is no one who does not sin…” through v39 But Ezekiel tells us, “If an unrighteous man turns from his ways….he shall live and not die”. It was Yahshua’s free from sin or pollution, innocent blood that was shed for our redemption which gives us hope, even though this is not always recognized [the unknown man slain in the field/world]. He is also the One who avenges us, restores and delivers us – brings us back from the dead, from exile and will in the end, as our Avenger, deal with the one (Satan) who inflicted us with sin and death. There will be no place Satan can flee – no place of refuge - from the presence/face of Yah, our Avenger – because he is guilty. He will be judged. His heart is lifted up and Yah says that “the guilt of innocent blood must be purged from our midst to do what is right in the eyes of Yah. (Deuteronomy 21:9). By our recognizing (and taking responsibility for) the One slain, (Yahshua) we are forgiven through His innocent blood and we are (or will be) avenged, restored and made righteous. By following His commands and His ways, we will be built of Yah with an everlasting foundation. He will be our Elohim and we will be His people. He is our avenger, our Kinsman-Redeemer. “It will be well with us” (Deb 19:13) “when we do what is right in the eyes of Yah.” (Deu. 21:9)
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