Elazar represents you and I, Israel. Judah and Efrayim. Elazar was from Bethany. Bethany is the Hebrew word that means the house of the sick or afflicted. We are in this state today because we were scattered from our home (Israel) and from our brothers the Jewish people. This is also a reference to the Ten lost tribes of Israel. The affliction of Israel.
You can find the commentaries to this every where in Jewish writings. The affliction of Israel is the scattering of our people. For the last 2000 years you and I as the people of Israel have experienced our greatest form of exile in the history of Israel.
Can we honestly say that we are not in exile? Do you remember how good Babylon was to the Jewish people in exile from Israel? In Babylon the Jewish people experienced their greatest success and prosperity. As Christians you know deep in your heart that one day things will change for you and persecution will come because of your belief in the G-D of Israel. Even in this great country of ours!
The Christian message today is that we are not poor or afflicted. They say we are rich and in need of nothing. We are just waiting on the rapture and our reward. But what does YHVH say about His people in exile? Jeremiah 4:18-19 “Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto thy heart.Or surely
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.”
Isaiah 63:8-10”For He said, Surely, they are my people, children that will not deal falsely: so He was their Saviour. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old. But they rebelled, and grieved His holy Spirit: therefore He was turned to be their enemy, and Himself fought against them.
Zephaniah 3:11-12 “In that day shalt thou not be put to shame for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the name of YHVH.”
In that Day is an idiom for the tribulation or Jacob’s trouble. The tribulation period is the end of Israel’s exile and the regathering of the whole house of Israel to the land of Israel.
Isaiah 2;2 ”And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of YHVH’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of YHVH, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth (Torah) the law, and the word of YHVH from Jerusalem.(1) Or instruction )
And He will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of YHVH.
The light is the Torah. Proverbs 6:23”For the commandment is a lamp; And the law is light; And reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”
How do we know that we are living in the tribulation period or “In that Day”? Here are a few things to consider. “The controversy of Zion.” The regathering of the whole house of Israel. The last day or the tribulation is and end time war between Jacob and Esau.
Genesis 22:7 “Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.
9And Jacob said, O Elohim of my father Abraham, and Elohim of my father Isaac, ???? which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
Genesis 33:1-4 ”And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah (Southern Kingdom), and unto Rachel (Northern Kingdom), and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.