Welcome to Torah Today Ministries and our continuing miniseries called Two Things Have I Heard. This comes under the umbrella of the special teachings episodes and Torah Today Ministries and but I didn’t know where else to park this. It just seems like this little miniseries belongs here with the special teachings. Now, I hope you’ve listened to the introductory teaching to part one where I introduce this concept based upon Psalm 62:11, which says,
One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard. — Psalm 62:11
It’s important that you listen to that episode as I introduce this principle of how God speaks into the world all kinds of things, but it seems like he always does it in two parts. I mean, even the Bible itself, we have the Hebrew scriptures and we have the Greek scriptures. Well, in this episode, we’re going to look only at the Hebrew scriptures and pairs of stories, pairs of words, words that appear only in two places. And the insights that come up when we compare and align the two halves, the two things that we hear that God speaks. Let me explain.
Let me just give you a few quick examples off the top of my head before we jump on into the teaching for today. You know, in Genesis, we discover and we encounter two huge man-made structures. In fact, probably the two largest man-made structures found in the Bible. And of course, one of those structures is Noah’s ark, which was God’s idea. God gave the plan, the instructions, and all of the dimensions for this to Noah. What is the other structure? Just comes a few chapters later, and that’s the Tower of Babel. This is man’s idea. This was man’s attempt to reach the heavens. So, what we see here in Noah’s ark is like God’s plan for salvation. And over here we see man’s idea of religion trying to reach God. One is made out of living material out of wood. The other is made out of dead material, just brick. One was successful. The other was a dismal failure. One led to fruitfulness in life. The other led to confusion and disruption and division. And we could go on and on and on. And when you take these two things and put them side by side, you get a third bigger picture and you have deeper insight. You know, when you look at something with both eyes, you see depth of field. And when you find these pairs of things in the scriptures and you bring them together, you see depth into the word of God.
In the series called the Hebrew Key, I’ve addressed a few of these as well having to do with words that are found only in two places in scripture. One of those, one of my favorites is called Tamar’s Coat of Many Colors. Now, when you think of a coat of many colors, you think of Joseph, of course. And the Hebrew term for coat of many colors, or at least that’s how we generally translate it, is ketonet passim (כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים). Ketonet passim (כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים). And that phrase is found only in two stories in the Bible. The story of Joseph, of course, but also the story of Tamar and how her brother molested her. So when you take these two stories, the only two stories that contain this particular term, you find Joseph who is betrayed and so harmed by his brothers and you find Tamar who is so harmed by her half-brother. And there’s something very important that takes place. I encourage you to go and listen to that teaching. It’s in the Hebrew Key section.
Another one in the Hebrew Key series is uh about the Hebrew term for tongs. This term is only found two places in the Bible. It talks about the menorah (מְנוֹרָה) in the tabernacle and how the menorah (מְנוֹרָה) is to be made and you have to make it with all its extra vessels. And then in the discussion the listing of the vessels, it mentions tongs. Well, the Hebrew word for tongs is found only in one other place and that’s in Isaiah. And that’s when Isaiah says that the angel took the tongs, took a coal from the altar; they touched the coal to my lips. Now, what does this story about the menorah (מְנוֹרָה) have to do with this story in Isaiah? Quite a lot, it turns out. So, when you take the two stories, these two places where the word, the Hebrew word for tongs appears, it gives us a beautiful third story that allows us to see more deeply into the scriptures and into God’s ways.
Well, anyways, let’s get on with the examples I have for you here. I just have a few and at the end I’ve got some homework for you. So, you can go and look for some of these. And I promise you, if you begin to look for these, you’re going to start seeing this principle everywhere in the Bible. And I think you’ll have a wonderful time with it and will truly deepen your study of God’s word and your love for God’s word. So, let’s go on.
In the Bible, we read of two pairs of twins. There are only two pairs of twins in the scriptures. One pair is Esau (עֵשָׂו) and Jacob (יַעֲקֹב). And then Jacob had a son named Judah (יְהוּדָה). And Judah fathered twins as well. Their names were Perez (פֶּרֶץ) and Zerah (זֶרַח). Now, you can read about these two pair of twins. And when you take the one story and the other story, they’re both very strange births. They both have to do with the color red. They are unusual in some very unusual ways. But why are there two pairs of twins in the Bible? Because one, God, one thing God speaks, but two things we hear. There’s something God wants to speak into our hearts. So, he can only encounter it and learn it. We take these two stories, the only two pairs of twins in scripture, put them side by side.
And then if we go on, we’ll notice something. Now, Esau (עֵשָׂו) was described as admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי) from the word adam (אָדָם), which means red. He was born all red. In fact, you can find the passage in Genesis 25:25. This is what it says.
The first came out red, admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי), all his body like a hairy cloak. So they called his name Esau. — Genesis 25:25
Now that word admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי) is only used in regard to one other person who was born red. Who else had reddish skin? Well in the Hebrew it’s easier to know this. Unfortunately, our English translations translate the word admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי) two different ways usually, but that other person was David. It appears only in the story of Esau and of David in 1 Samuel 16:12. Here’s what it says about David.
And he sent and brought him in. Now he was admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי). He was ruddy. And had beautiful eyes and was handsome. — 1 Samuel 16:12
Now, what’s interesting when you read about Jacob and Esau, we see that Esau is a man of the field. He was reddish like the soil. And he was a man of the field. He loved to live outside. He was hairy like an animal. He had animal appetites. His favorite pastime was hunting, killing, and eating. Yet, it says of Jacob that he was a smooth man, tam (תָּם). He was pure. He was a man who liked to dwell in tents. And according to tradition, he was in the tents because he was learning from his father Isaac, from his grandfather Abraham. And he was one who had a heart for God. So these two men were complete opposites.
Well, what’s interesting is that we read of David that he was admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי) like Esau, but he had beautiful eyes, the eyes of the window of the soul. He had the soul of his ancestor Jacob. He was a man who loved the word of God and loved the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In David, we find this blend of the man who’s the warrior, who was a killer, who is someone to be reckoned with in the battlefield. One who had killed the lion and the bear with his sling, one who killed Goliath, but also one who had a heart for God, who wrote most of our psalms, and um is the ancestor of Messiah, who is referred to as the son of David, David the king. So it’s interesting to see these two terms here. Only two men who are called admoni (אַדְמוֹנִי).
Two sexually daring women. When you read the story of Tamar, now this is not the Tamar who is a daughter of David. This is the Tamar in Genesis 38. We find the story of Tamar and it’s an amazing chapter. But Judah (יְהוּדָה) had two sons and the first son married a young lady named Tamar but he was wicked and he died. So the second son took Tamar as his wife as the scriptures indicate and encouraged. This is called levirate marriage. When a husband dies and leaves no children then his brother will take the woman as his wife. So the second brother takes Tamar, but he was really wicked and God killed him. But there was a third brother and Judah would not give him to Tamar. He just thought, I’m just not going to give any more of my sons to her. So she went and lived as a widow.
But as the third brother grew and became old enough to marry and Judah still not give him to Tamar as a husband, she um she did something sexually daring. She disguised herself as a prostitute, lured Judah into her tent, and she became pregnant by Judah. By the way, those two twins, Perez (פֶּרֶץ) and Zerah (זֶרַח), they’re Tamar’s sons. Okay, that’s the other pair of twins.
But then we also read of Ruth in chapter 3:7 and 8. Now, Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת), Pentecost was just a few weeks ago, and you probably read through the book of Ruth. And Ruth is this godly godly woman but her mother-in-law Naomi tells Ruth to go and lay down with Boaz and it says in chapter 3:7 and 8,
When Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then Ruth came softly and uncovered his feet and laid down. At midnight, the man was startled and turned over. And behold, a woman lay at his feet. — Ruth 3:7–8
And he knew what she was there for. Again, it was levirate marriage. Her husband had died. Boaz was a kinsman redeemer. So, she’s offering herself to him to raise up children in the name of the dead husband. But these were both done in kind of daring uh… ways that uh… wouldn’t pass the sniff test today in today’s church, I don’t think. But when you take Tamar and Ruth and align their stories, you see many parallels, but many opposites. But when you align them and really study them and think on them and chew on them, you’re going to see some depth into the word. Something we don’t have time for in this study.
Now there are two women in the Bible who are called eshet chayil (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל), women of valor. In the last chapter of Proverbs, Solomon takes 22 verses, it’s an acrostic section. The verses begin with the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet and he describes the eshet chayil (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל), a woman of valor, who can find, far beyond pearls is her value. Wonderful, beautiful passage. But there are only two women in the Bible. Of course, there are two. God does things in pairs. There are two women in the Bible called a woman of valor. The first one, believe it or not, is in fact Ruth. Boaz calls her a worthy woman, in Hebrew, an eshet chayil (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל), a woman of valor.
Who is the other? The other one is Esther. Now, if you look up the phrase woman of valor, you will not find it applied to Esther. What we find in Esther and everything in the book of Esther is hidden. In fact, Esther’s name means hidden. God’s name does not appear in the open in the book of Esther, but it’s hidden there four times. And that’s something we’ll do a teaching on later. We find everything in Esther, everything’s hidden under the surface.
And so the fact that Esther is a woman of valor is also hidden. Now the key to understanding this is in Esther chapter 2 verse 15. It says,
And when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Avichayil (אֲבִיחַיִל)… — Esther 2:15
Now listen to the name of her father. Her father’s name was Avichayil (אֲבִיחַיִל). Daughter of Avichayil (אֲבִיחַיִל). What does Avichayil (אֲבִיחַיִל) mean? It means father of valor. So Esther was the daughter of the father of valor. So if he’s the father of valor and he’s the father of Esther, she must be a woman of valor, an eshet chayil (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל). Again, the fact she’s eshet chayil (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל) and everything in her life and the story of Esther, I mean, it proves what a valorous woman she was. But even the fact she’s called an eshet chayil (אֵשֶׁת חַיִל) is hidden in the book. So many things are hidden in Esther that don’t appear on the surface.
Um let’s go to Moses. Two times in the scriptures we see Moses loses his temper. Again, not just once, not three times, two times. Can you think what these two times were? These two times he had a fit of anger. If you want to pause and think about it, we’re going to continue.
The first was in Exodus 2:11 and 12. This is when he saw an Egyptian beating one of the uh Jewish slaves. And it tells us,
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. — Exodus 2:11–12
Now, anger is not mentioned in particular. But why else would he just go to murder this Egyptian? Why not talk to him? Moses had authority. He lived in the palace of Pharaoh for Pete’s sake. He could have done something to bring this to a close, but he had to be angry. He just went and killed him and buried him in the sand.
And of course the other episode is in Numbers 20:9–11 where God told Moses to speak to the rock to bring water out of the rock but instead he struck it not once but twice and water came out. And because of that fit of anger, God prevented Moses from entering into the promised land with the rest of the Israelites.
Now, this brings up another one. How many times did God bring water from the rock? How many times did on how many occasions did Moses have to strike a rock to bring forth water? Well, twice. This is the second one. And he was only supposed to speak to it here, but he didn’t. He struck it. But the first one is back in Exodus 17 verse 6 which says,
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. — Exodus 17:6
So the first time God told him to strike the rock. He did, water came out. But here in Numbers God said speak to the rock to bring forth the water. But Moses was angry. He’s angry at the people and he struck the rock and he struck it again and the water came out. But Moses at that point on was prevented from crossing the Jordan into the land of Israel.
Now, this brings up something else. Crossing bodies of water. Twice in the Torah, we see people crossing a body of water on dry land. Well, one of them has been the Torah and the other one’s in the book of Joshua. But what are these two occasions? Of course, the one occasion is at the Red Sea. There are two dry-water crossings in scripture. The first is at the Red Sea, and you can read about that in Exodus 14.
But the other takes place 40 years later when the Israelites are getting ready to cross the Jordan River. And that’s found in Joshua 3:14–17.
And so when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water… the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of Adonai (אֲדֹנָי) stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan. And all the Israelites passed over on dry ground. — Joshua 3:14–17
So here we see Israel passing through a body of water on dry ground on not just one but two occasions. You need to take those two occasions, lay them side by side, compare them. What’s the difference between this one and this one? What’s the same? What’s different? And then you see depth and a new story come out, a lesson God wants to teach us.
Now, when I said these are only dry water crossings in the scripture. Actually, there’s two others and you can read about those over in Kings, I believe. And it’s when Elijah took his mantle and struck the water and he walked across and then he was taken up with the fiery chariot. His mantle was passed on to Elisha. Elisha came back, struck the water and walked across without getting his feet wet. But again, that takes place as a pair as well.
We’re currently, as I record this, in the book of Numbers. We’re early on in the Torah (תּוֹרָה) portion of Numbers. And so I thought, well, there are two censuses— which is an odd word. It should be censuses or sensei, like cactuses, cacti, I don’t know—But censuses, there are two of them in Numbers. One right at the beginning in chapter 1 and then another one near the end around chapter 26.
Why do we need these censuses in Numbers? What’s so important? What’s going on? Well, here are the passages. Numbers 1:45–46. And then the second one’s in chapter 26 and verse 51. But what I find interesting is the totals that we come up with. In chapter 1, there are 603,550 Israelites. Now, this is referring to the men who are old enough to go out to the army.
But 40 years later, the count is taken and they’ve actually lost some people. Now it’s 601,730. What’s important about this? Put them side by side. Subtract the numbers. See what’s the difference. And when you subtract the second total from the first, you get the number 1,820.
Uh whenever you see that number and it does occur in scriptures but usually in kind of a hidden way, when you see that number it is very significant because you see 1,820 is 26, which is the number of God’s name, times 70, which is a number that means heightened perfection. Seven is a number of perfection and completion. But when you multiply it by 10, it’s heightened perfection. Heightened completion.
And an interesting thing is that God’s name Yud-Hei-Vav-Hei (יהוה) appears in the Torah (תּוֹרָה) exactly 1,820 times.
There are other examples of 1,820 in the Torah (תּוֹרָה). In fact, the very first word of Genesis is the word B’reishit (בְּרֵאשִׁית). It’s six letters long. Beit (בֵּית), resh (רֵשׁ), aleph (אָלֶף), shin (שִׁין), yud (יוּד), tav (תָּו). And when you spell out the names of those six letters and add up their numerical values, guess what they add up to? You guessed it, 1,820. Which is God’s name times heightened perfection, times 70.
So going back to the censuses, it would look like Israel has lost. It’s looked like they don’t have God’s blessing. There aren’t as many of them going out of the wilderness as came into the wilderness. And you know, in your life and in my life, there are things God takes us through and somehow at the end of them, we feel not blessed but diminished.
Well, I have good news for you. Even in the reduction, even when God takes from you, even when it feels like you’ve been diminished, God says, “I’m right in the middle of it. I’ve got my name all over it. It’s perfect. You just keep moving ahead. So, I’ve got you.”
It’s amazing, amazing insight that comes from taking two stories, putting them side by side, comparing them, and then looking into the depths of what they reveal.
So, let me give you some homework. Here are some things you can think about. Some of these are easy, but a few of them are a little more difficult.
So, here’s an easy one. Moses came down from Mount Sinai (סִינַי) twice with a set of the tablets of the Ten Commandments. You know what happened the first time? He was angry and he threw them down. But it wasn’t that he lost his temper. We see God blessed this. This is something that was a good thing though. They needed to be broken because the people were not ready to receive them. But when he came down the second time, his face was glowing and he had the tablets and then they remained with the people. These two descents from Mount Sinai (סִינַי), by the way, are pictures of Yeshua’s (יֵשׁוּעַ) first coming and his return, his future return. But take those two stories, compare them. What is similar and what is different?
You may not realize this, but David was anointed as king twice. Compare those two. Look them up. Find them in the scriptures. What’s the difference between the first anointing and the second? And when you compare these and you uh you study them, then think of Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ). Is Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) the king? Absolutely. But in his first coming, it was like David’s first anointing, but at his return, it’ll be like David’s second anointing. So look at the stories and see if you don’t agree.
Israel’s two exiles, they are currently in an exile. This is called the Roman exile. But what was the previous exile and what’s the difference between the two? And the rabbis write extensively about the reasons for these two exiles but it wasn’t one, it was two. Now the Egyptian exile was not an exile really. An exile is when you are sent out basically as punishment, that’s the consequences of sin. But their going into exile was actually into Egypt, rather was actually God’s blessing upon them because there was a famine throughout the world and Joseph is in Egypt, invites them, come stay with me and I’ll provide your food and you’ll have a place to live and everything will be great. So, their going into Egypt is not really an exile like the other two that are being referred to here.
Now, this one’s a little more difficult. You’re going to have to think about this. There are two times the ark of the covenant “killed” someone. And I put “kill someone” in quotes here because I’m taking a little bit of liberty with killing someone. Now, I’m not talking about Nadav and Avihu (נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא) who took strange fire into the tabernacle and that’s a different thing. And we talked about that a little bit in the previous episode. I’m talking about where someone is presumptuous with the ark of the covenant and it costs them their life. It causes them to fall. It brings them to an end. And this happens two times. And also these two accounts, these two stories are connected to two times the ark rode in a cart. Now the ark was meant to be carried on the shoulders of priests by the staves that go through the rings on the ark. That’s the way it was ordained by God to be carried. But there are two times it rode on a cart and those two times are attached to these two stories. So good luck. You find those and I think you’ll be in for a real surprise and a treat because there’s much to be revealed here.
And then two times God spoke at Mount Sinai (סִינַי). Two times God spoke from atop Mount Sinai (סִינַי). Now you find one of those times back in Exodus, especially in Exodus 20 where he speaks to the mixed multitude and they are terrified by hearing God’s voice. He speaks forth the ten commandments. But there’s a second time he spoke from Mount Sinai (סִינַי) that most people never think about. I’m giving you a hint. I’m going to help you out. It’s in 1 Kings 19. Read the story and then compare those two stories and I promise you, you’ll get some depth and insight into what God is saying.
Now, if you want scriptures for the other things I’ve shared, all of those are in the notes. And I encourage you if you’re listening to this as a podcast while you’re driving the car or whatever uh please go to our website torahtodayministries.organd then you can see the visuals that I’m looking at and sharing here on camera and you can print them out yourselves.
So, I look forward to the next episode where we’ll be doing the same thing we did here, but looking only at New Testament scriptures because this same principle happens throughout the apostolic writings. And so, we’ll limit ourselves just to those writings in the next episode. So, until then, I wish you shalom (שָׁלוֹם) and may God bless.
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