Dr Hollisa Alewine – Footsteps of Messiah Part 168 (Better Homes and Garden)
Better Homes and Garden
The last several newsletters have investigated the Torah's ancient call to hospitality, not just a a nice thing to do, but as a vital preparation to inherit the Kingdom. Our hospitality study trail through the Torah, Prophets, Writings, and New Covenant started with Song of Songs 5:1, a restoration of the Bride and Bridegroom to the Garden of Eden:
"I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”
This hospitality verse is thought to be one source for the traditional belief that the four rivers of Eden flow with milk, honey, wine, and balsam.
In past newsletters, we made the connection between hospitality to the needy and the righteous stranger and one's preparation for to inherit, or even just enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 25:34-46). Entering the Father's House, which was prepared for the righteous from the foundation of the world, is contingent upon preparing one's own house. Yeshua will definitely knock on the door! The very light of the earth was sown for the righteous at the beginning (Ps 97:11), the light of the Word of good works for them to walk in eternally (Eph 2:10).
A better garden will be filled with the multiplication of human beings, the precious crown of creation created to fellowship with the Holy One Himself. Yeshua taught his disciples that the "rooms" of the Garden, their eternal home of inheritance, are being prepared for them, yet they also must prepare to inherit by preparing their own homes on earth. This would cause the Presence of the Creator to dwell comfortably in them. Better home, better Garden.
"Depart from evil and do good, so you will abide forever. For the LORD loves justice and does not forsake His godly ones; they are preserved forever, but the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever." (Ps 37:27-29)
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The commentators to the verse in Song of Songs 5:1 connect it to Psalm 37:27-29 above in the Midrash Rabbah and write, ”The word yishkenu should not be translated as ‘they will dwell,’ but as a causative verb in the present tense, ‘They cause to dwell.’” “If only the righteous dwell upon the earth, what will the wicked do? Shall they fly in the air? Rather, the verse means that the wicked did not cause the Divine Presence to dwell on earth, but the righteous did cause the Divine Presence to dwell on earth.” (5§1)
In yishkenu, you see the root of shachan, "to dwell," and the "Shechinah," or indwelling Presence. The Presence of the Creator Elohim has always longed to have an intimate relationship with human beings. He did not appoint them to rule of the earth in order to be a distant, cold judge of their actions, but so they would administer on His behalf according to His will because His Word was alive in them through fellowship. They would be able rulers because of their daily walking and talking in the special abode, the Garden of Eden.
The Garden is thought to hover just above the Land of Israel, its centerpoint over Jerusalem. From there the Kingdom will be administered by Yeshua. The righteous are those whose lives are a home of hospitality to the Presence of Elohim. They CAUSE Him to descend for the fellowship He longs for with His creation.
Inheriting the Land of Israel, the administrative center of the entire earth, is a matter of preparation. Even in Revelation 21:2, the Bride is described as the inhabitants of New Jerusalem “prepared for her husband.” Prepared. Prepared. Who is the Bride? Those who prepared the better Garden, working the will of the Word in their lives, which affects what Yeshua prepares for them in the Third Heaven, or the Garden of Eden. Is there something in our hospitality study to connect us to this Third Heaven?
