My husband, daughter and I all had ‘appointed times’ at the Western Wall our last night there. My husband met a man from Philadelphia who thought he was Jewish and began asking him questions. My husband explained that he was not Jewish but considered himself Messianic and ‘grafted into the Olive Tree of Israel.’ He was able to answer all of the man’s questions until the man said, “I, too, must be Messianic!” The man was so blessed by their conversation, he had a picture of the two of them taken.
While I was at the Wall praying and crying for my dear friend’s son, my daughter finished her prayer time and went to the flag pole to wait for us. An older Jewish gentleman came over to speak with her. He said a blessing over her. Later she told me that meeting him was an answer to one of her prayers.
When I was finished praying, I went to the flag pole to meet my daughter. She was still visiting with the man whose name was Daniel. He told me she was beautiful and wished he had a son young enough to marry her. We laughed a little over that comment and then the conversation began.
Daniel told me that his family lineage goes back as far as Moses and the Levites. His ancestors not only worshipped at the Temple, but were the priests who officiated the ceremonies and traditions. Then his family went into exile into Yemen until the recent years when he made returned to Israel His sisters moved to New York and Chicago. He desires them to make aliyah (return to the Land) because he misses them very much.
He asked me if I was Jewish and I told him that I was ‘goyim’, one of the nations. He was fascinated by that because I stood in front of him with a traditional head covering and had just come from praying at the Wall.
He asked me how many children I had and their names. As I told him their names, Yishai (Jesse), Yosiah (Josi), Ya’akov (Jacob) and Yemima (Jemima), he became very intrigued that they had Hebrew names. When I finished with Yemima he said, “Like the daughters of Job who were so beautiful there were no women like them in all the land.” He continued, “You know that the Scriptures indicate that these women were not just beautiful at the time of Job,but has inferences to the end times and the coming kingdom that they are still the most beautiful women.” I did not know that, but was extremely blessed by his prophetic words and blessing over my daughter.
I asked him what ‘traditions’ he still holds to and he explained that Pesach (Passover) and (Sukkot) along with Purim and Shabbat were his traditions. I told him that our family keeps the Shabbat. I don’t think he was too surprised by that, but when I told him that we celebrate Pesach and bring people into our home to teach them, he said “You are very good people.” I explained that it was important for ‘gentiles’ to know that if people like him, the Levites and the Jews, had not been faithful for generations to pass the stories onto their children, we could not know the stories and celebrate with them. Again, he said, “You are a good family.”
He then turned the conversation to the Western Wall. He said that as they pray they wait for Messiah Ben David to come. (Note: as they face the Western Wall to pray, they are looking EAST from where Messiah will come. Every eye at that Wall WILL see Him coming in the clouds and they will look on the one they pierced and mourn even more than they do now.)
He asked if I knew about the Messiah Ben David. Was I Messianic? (Messiah Ben David, is the coming King Messiah, Yeshua who will reign from Jerusalem.)
I responded that I am Messianic and I know of Messiah Ben David. I told him that I waited for him to return as King. He was a little confused about the Messiah returning so I explained that as a Messianic, I was a follower of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel. He was definitely not offended and the conversation continued.
I asked him if he ever read the Brit Chadasah (the New Testament). He said that he had not. I told him he should read it because it’s all very Jewish because Yeshua was Jewish.
He said that Yeshua was very Jewish, but he was not a good Jew and did many things wrong. Therefore he could not be the Messiah. Though the Jewish people did not kill him, Pilate found enough wrong with him to have him crucified. Like the Rabbi who claimed to be Messiah several years ago and died, he said Yeshua died too. I agreed with him because Yeshua did die, but I said that Yeshua did not do anything wrong because he kept the Torah perfectly. He said he could agree with that until the judgement by Pilate.
I asked him, “So what do you do with Messiah Ben Yosef.” (Messiah Ben Yosef is known as the ‘suffering Messiah’ written about in Isaiah 53). He said, “Oh, that is a good question. Messiah Ben Yosef must come before Messiah Ben David.” And, he is right.
I told him that according to the book of Daniel, the great prophet after whom he was named, said that the Messiah must come before the destruction of the Temple. He agreed. I then said, “Here we stand at what remains of that Temple. Who came before that destruction that could be considered the Messiah Ben Yosef?” He responded, “Good question.
I went on to explain that the Prophet Jeremiah said that a day would come when a new covenant would be given that would change the hearts of people and the Torah would be written on their hearts. He blessed the great prophet Jeremiah and said the words I spoke were truth. I went on to say that I believe that is what happened to me. I believed that the Spirit of God wrote the words of Torah on my heart and I as a gentile could now follow the Messiah of Israel, Yeshua. He responded, “But I follow Moses.” And, because we love Torah, I was able to say, “We follow Moses, too.”
He then said, “But Christians have their own book that they created.” I explained that they still have the Hebrew Scriptures, but they don’t read them like they should. They do not embrace the fullness of the faith in the Scriptures. Still, I said, he should give the Brit Chadashah a chance and read it.”
He told me they are very anxious for the Third Temple to be build. I told him I was too! The Third Temple will be where Messiah Ben David comes to and once again the Levitical priesthood will have their duties. He, Daniel, will be one of them if Messiah returns in his lifetime.
One of my prayers at the Wall was about meeting someone who could give me some insight on the Jewish view of suicide. I have heard everything from eternal damnation to salvation because ‘we never know’. I wanted to know what the Jewish perspective was. Here, in front of me was a Levite, one called to teach Torah, who I could ask. So I did.
He was very grieved to hear that my friend’s son had killed himself. He said that is very serious in Judaism. If a Jewish person commits suicide they do not get buried in a Jewish cemetery. The reason was because of the preciousness of the soul in the eyes of HaShem (God). Each human has a soul and it is God’s determination when that soul must pass from this life to the next. When we take that decision into our own hands, we commit a very grievous act. He explained that we will all stand before God to give an account of our lives and the one who commits suicide will have to give a greater account – giving the reason why he did not cherish the soul given to him by God. For those that do not walk in faith, there is greater grief as there is hopelessness too. This was the most profound explanation of suicide I have ever heard in my entire life. I thanked him and told him he had been an answer to my prayers at the Wall. I believe he was overwhelmed by that, but it was the truth.
By this time my husband came from praying at the men’s wall and met Daniel, the Levite. Daniel told my husband we are a very blessed family. I said to him, “I, too, wish you had a son for my daughter.” He responded, “You would have your daughter marry a Jew?”
Yes, Daniel, I would.
Pray that Daniel takes the seeds of Messiah Ben Yosef to heart. Pray that he has a desire to read the Brit Chadashah and meets His own Messiah, the true Pesach Lamb, the Lord of the Sabbath, and the one who is returning to Jerusalem as Messiah Ben David, Yeshua.
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