SEDUCTION: The Power and Peril that Frames the Bible’s Story

Delilah's Seduction of Samson the Nazirite

The Scriptures open with a seduction in a garden and close with a seduction in a global city. Between those bookends, story after story shows how seduction targets even “good” people—and why adultery stands as such a high commandment. At the center of it all is covenant love. 

The First Fall: Eden as Spiritual Adultery

In Eden, humanity begins in covenant intimacy with God. Adam and Chavah (Eve) walk with Him, receive His word, and live under His generous boundaries. Their loyalty is meant to be exclusive: one God, one voice, one source of wisdom and life.

The serpent does not attack with open violence but with a whisper. He questions God’s word: “Did God really say…?” He hints that God is withholding something: “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The fruit appears good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise. Desire is awakened, and the boundary suddenly feels narrow.

This is more than disobedience; it is spiritual adultery. Instead of trusting the covenant Partner, they give their ears, eyes, and desires to another voice. They reach for a rival lover—a different source of truth and life. The pattern is set: seduction reframes rebellion as enlightenment and paints the forbidden as beautiful.

In the biblical sense, God is fiercely protective of an exclusive covenant love, not petty or insecure. When Adam and Chavah cross that line, it is not a small technical violation.

Seen in that light, being “kicked out” of Eden and having the way barred by cherubim and a flaming sword is exactly what a jealous Lover‑God does.

Seduction in the Lives of “Good” People

From Genesis onward, Scripture shows how this Eden pattern plays out in human stories, especially around sexual and spiritual unfaithfulness.

Joseph and Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39)

Joseph and Potiphars Wife

Joseph is a righteous young Hebrew serving in an Egyptian household. Potiphar’s wife sees his attractiveness and repeatedly says, “Lie with me.” Her strategy is persistence and proximity. She catches him by his garment; he flees and leaves the garment in her hand.

Here seduction is direct and physical, but Joseph names it accurately: “How could I do this great evil and sin against God?” He sees adultery not only as a betrayal of Potiphar, but as a covenant offense against the Holy One. Seduction is resisted by a greater awareness of God’s presence and claims.

Samson and Delilah (Judges 16)

Samson is set apart as a Nazirite from birth, empowered by the Spirit for Israel’s deliverance. Yet his weakness is his heart for women who do not share his calling. Delilah presses him “day after day” to reveal the source of his strength. She uses tears, questions of love, and emotional pressure. Eventually he “tells her all his heart.”

Seduction here is patient and relational. It does not simply promise pleasure; it trades on Samson’s longing to be understood and loved. The result is catastrophic: his hair is cut, his strength departs, his eyes are gouged out, and he is bound. The strongest man in Israel falls not to armies, but to a persistent seduction that separated his heart from his God‑given consecration.

David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11–12)

David is called a man after God’s own heart, yet one evening he walks on the roof, sees a woman bathing, and sends for her. Whether Bathsheba is more victim, pressured participant, or complicit is debated, but the text is clear about David: he uses his power to take what his eyes desire.

The seduction here is partly self‑seduction: David allows beauty, opportunity, and power to override covenant loyalty—to God, to his wives, and to Uriah. The ripple effects are severe: deception, murder, family collapse, national consequences. Adultery is revealed as a seed that grows into a forest of sorrow.

Israel at Baal‑Peor (Numbers 25)

Israelite men begin to sleep with Moabite women, who invite them to the sacrifices of their gods. What begins as sexual compromise becomes spiritual compromise. They eat and bow down to the Baals; the covenant people are seduced into idolatry through the gateway of physical intimacy.

Here the link between sexual and spiritual adultery is explicit. The body’s unfaithfulness opens the door for the heart’s idolatry. Seduction operates on two levels at once.

The “adulteress” in Proverbs (Proverbs 5–7)

Proverbs personifies sexual seduction in the figure of the forbidden woman. She uses flattery, charm, perfume, and an atmosphere carefully prepared: “I have perfumed my bed…come, let us take our fill of love.” The simple young man follows her “like an ox to the slaughter.”

This is the pedagogy of seduction: it is sensory, urgent, and it always downplays consequences. The wise father warns his son not because desire is evil, but because misdirected desire destroys. Fidelity—sexual and spiritual—is a path to life, not deprivation.

The High Commandment: Adultery as the Shape of Apostasy

Why is “You shall not commit adultery” placed so high among the Ten Words?

1. Marriage is a covenant icon.

   From Genesis 2 onward, marriage is a one‑flesh, exclusive covenant. It is not just about companionship; it is a living parable of God’s own covenant with His people. When a husband and wife pledge exclusive faithfulness, they act out in miniature the drama of God and Israel, and later, Yeshua and His Bride.

2. Adultery is covenant perjury. 

   To commit adultery is not only to seek pleasure in the wrong place; it is to break sworn loyalty, to welcome a third party into a two‑person covenant. That mirrors what happens when the people of God introduce idols, rival trusts, and competing loves into the covenant with Him.

3. The prophets call sin “adultery.”

   Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Hosea all describe Israel as a wife who “plays the harlot,” chasing other gods as lovers. Hosea’s own marriage to an unfaithful woman dramatizes the anguish of God, who loves a people that keeps running away. Sin is narrated not mainly as lawbreaking, but as marital betrayal.

Because of this, the command against adultery stands as a guard around the most powerful metaphor God uses for His relationship with His people. To treat adultery lightly is to treat the covenant lightly.

The Last Seduction: Babylon the Great Prostitute

Without "the Harlot" at the end of the bible, the story is not complete. The seduction of Eden returns in grand, global form.

Harlot of Babylon on the Dragon

Revelation pictures “Babylon the Great” as a richly adorned prostitute, drunk with the blood of the saints. She seduces kings and nations with her luxuries, her power, and her pleasures. Merchants grow rich from her trade; the nations drink the wine of her immorality.

Here seduction is cultural and systemic. Babylon is not just a person; she is a world‑order, a way of life that invites humanity to give its allegiance, fear, and desire to her instead of to the God of Israel and His Messiah. She promises abundance and glory—but at the price of spiritual adultery.

The language deliberately echoes the prophets: fornication, idolatry, harlotry. Humanity, meant to be the pure Bride, is intoxicated by the world’s charms. The temptation of Eden (be like God, define good and evil for yourself) becomes the full‑blown religion of Babylon, where human achievement and wealth replace worship of the Holy One.

Yeshua: the Faithful Bridegroom in a Seductive World

Into this web of seductions steps Yeshua of Natzeret.

He Himself faces a concentrated assault of temptation in the wilderness. The adversary offers Him bread without trust, spectacle without obedience, and the kingdoms of the world without the cross. Each offer is a seduction: “You can have good things—without covenant faithfulness, without suffering, without the Father’s way.” Yeshua resists every offer by cleaving to the Father’s word and will. Where Adam and Israel yielded, He stands.

Yeshua also teaches on adultery in a way that reveals its depth. He insists that lustful looking is already adultery in the heart, because seduction begins with the gaze and the imagination. He calls Himself the Bridegroom and speaks of a coming wedding feast. His mission is not only to forgive individual failures, but to cleanse and restore an unfaithful Bride.

On the cross, Yeshua bears the judgment that our adultery—sexual and spiritual—deserves. In the resurrection, He begins forming a new covenant people whose hearts are being trained to love Him with an undivided devotion. In Revelation, He appears as the Lamb whose Bride has made herself ready, clothed in clean garments, contrasted with the gaudy finery of Babylon.

The Power and Danger of Seduction, and the Path of Faithfulness

Seen through this lens, seduction is not a side theme; it is the main strategy of the enemy throughout Scripture.

- It beautifies rebellion, making it look wise, liberating, and desirable.  

- It questions God’s goodness before it openly rejects God’s commands.  

- It targets the heart’s loyalties, not just outward behavior.  

- It echoes the pattern of adultery: leaving a true covenant Partner for a rival who promises more.

And adultery is such a high commandment because it is the bodily, visible enactment of that spiritual pattern. It is the sin that most clearly shows what all sin is: turning from a faithful Beloved to a tempting stranger.

The way forward is not fear alone, but a deeper love. The more the heart is captivated by the beauty, faithfulness, and tenderness of a loving God, the less persuasive the serpent’s whispers and Babylon’s glitter become. Fidelity—both in marriage and in the secret places of the heart—becomes an act of worship, a prophetic sign that in a world of seduction there is still a people who can say, with simplicity and joy:

“I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine.” 

Epilogue:

Samson, Dagon, and the Final Fall of the Dragon  

In Samson’s last act, a blinded Nazirite is brought into the temple of Dagon as entertainment for his enemies. Leaning against the pillars, he calls on the God of Israel one more time. With his death, the pillars collapse, the temple falls, and the worshipers of Dagon die under the weight of their own god’s house. The scene is stark: a humiliated servant of YHWH, standing between two columns, becomes the instrument by which a false god and his revelers are brought down.

Revelation’s closing visions echo this pattern on a cosmic scale. The great harlot, Babylon, intoxicates kings and nations in her own kind of temple—an order of wealth, power, and idolatry. The dragon empowers the beast and shares in the world’s worship. For a time, the Lamb’s witnesses seem defeated; the powers of the age mock and triumph. But in the end, the harlot is stripped and burned, the city falls, and the dragon is cast down. The very system that exalted itself against God collapses under judgment.

Samson’s death under the ruins of Dagon’s house is a miniature of this larger drama. In both scenes, a world that trusts in a false power structure—a Philistine temple, a Babylonian world‑system—finds that its own “house” becomes the site of its undoing. A seemingly defeated servant of God (Samson in chains, the slain Lamb in Revelation’s earlier visions) is, in fact, the hinge of the story. The toppled temple of Dagon anticipates the toppled city of Babylon; the shamed Nazirite pulling down pillars foreshadows the final downfall of the harlot and the dragon when every rival object of worship is brought to the ground.

THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL WORDS EVER SAID

 וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִי־א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר

Above are the most consequential Hebrew words ever said. They translate to:

'And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light."

Yehi" (יְהִי) is Hebrew for "let there be." Ohr (אוֹר) is the Hebrew word for "light." So Yehi Ohr (יְהִי־א֑וֹר) is translated as "let there be light."

Let's be clear from the beginning who said "Let there be Light."  יֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים (Vayomer Elohim) translates to "And God said." (Remember, Hebrew is written right to left.)

That's how easily all life and goodness began! Without the Light, Earth would be like every other lifeless planet. Elohim simply spoke. I say "goodness" because in the very next verse, verse 4, it reads, "And God saw that the light was good." Elohim did not call the "darkness" good. In fact, "God separated the light from the darkness." This reminds me of the establishment of the Nazirite vow in Numbers 6, seperating the "Nazir." 

 

וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים יְהִי־א֑וֹר וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר, "let there be light," is the third verse in "Bereshit" (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית). Bereshit is the Hebrew title of the first book (sefer) in the Torah. "Bereshit" is more commonly known as "Genesis."

Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית) is Hebrew for "In the beginning." Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית) is the also the first word in Genesis. Therefore, "in the beginning" is the word "In the Beginning," 

The Apostle John wrote in his book, "In the beginning was the Word." Sure enough, In Bereshit the word was Bereshit. 

Ancient pictograph of Bet

The first Hebrew letter in the word Bereshit is the letter Bet בְּ. The letter Bet is pictured as a house. The Hebrew word for "house" is בַּיִת (pronounced bayit),  So it said that the first thing Elohim spoke into existence was a house, a place for all of existence.  

In Jewish mystical and midrashic interpretation, the Torah’s first letter Bet—shaped and named as a bayit, a house—suggests that when God began to create, He was, in effect, speaking a house into existence: His dwelling.”

The very next letter in the word Bereshit is Resh (רֵ). Rosh (רֹאשׁ) is Hebrew for "head" or the "authority." One midrashic/kabbalistic reading sees in bereshit the components (bayit/house) plus rosh (head), suggesting “the Head dwelling in the house,” i.e., God choosing to dwell in His created house.

The first three letters in the word Bereshit (בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית) are בְּרֵא.  They spell the Hebrew word bārā' (בָּרָא) which is a verb meaning "he-created". It is exclusively used in the Old Testament with God as the subject. Bārā' (בְּרֵא) is also the second word in verse 1. Lo and behold, 

then "God created the heavens and the earth."

After the Bet בְּ (House) but before the three letters Bārā'-בְּרֵא (Create), we have the two letters Bet (בְּ) and Resh (רֵ). בְּרֵ is a word as well. It is the Hebrew/Aramaic word "Bar" (בַּר) meaning, Son. (E.g. Jonah Bar Truth, etc.) 

Aleph-1

After the letters בַּר-Bar (Son) there is the letter Aleph (א). Aleph is the first letter in Elohim (אלהים) God. Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet, symbolizing divine oneness and beginning. It is a silent consonant with a numerical value of 1. Aleph represents God as creator and leader. It is historically derived from a pictograph of an ox's head. Aleph signifies strength, power, and unity. 

Putting This Together

The Torah put it together this way:

Bereshit 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

The Apostle John put it together this way: 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

I put this together in order:

In Beginning, the book Genesis.
We have the word, Bereshit.
We start with the letter Bet, a house for God and his creation to be together. 
There we discover the Bar, Son. 
Son is together with Aleph, God. 
Bar with Aleph create the heavens and the earth. 
Then God brought His Light into the world when He said "Let there be Light." 
The "Light" was Good, unlike the Darkeness. 
So Elohim seperated (Nazir) the Light from the Darkness in the world. 
God didn't eliminate the Darkness. Therefore, our Day contains light and darkness. 

CONCLUSION:

We better remember who turned on the Light. Since God seperated the Light from the Darkness, He can let the darkness hover back over the face of earth. 

WHAT DOES A NAZARITE KNOW?

Samson, by Jacques Bellange
 Late 16th–early 17th century. Met Museum

Numbers 6:2—Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord,

The other day in Naples Florida I met a man named Aaron (אהרן). I automatically thought of Moses's brother Aaron who blesses the Israelites in the wilderness. My interaction with that Aaron in Naples inspired this blog post.  

‐--------------------------

In the book of Numbers chapter 6, there is a blessing Adonai provided for Aaron to say over the people in the wilderness. It is known as the Aaronic blessing and otherwise as the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim). 

Numbers 6:22-27—The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

If you will look at the verses in chapter 6 before the blessing, you will find that Numbers 6 is carefully arranged so that the Nazirite vow (6:1–21) prepares for and is framed by the concern for holiness that culminates in the priestly blessing. 

The point I am trying to make is that the blessing Aaron is about to bestow on the Israelites, first requires that the Priest meet a necessary standard of holiness. He needed to be a Nazirite. 

Nazirite, Nazir (נזיר) in Hebrew, is derived from the Hebrew root N-Z-R (נ-ז-ר), meaning "to separate," "consecrate," or "abstain". It refers to a person voluntarily taking a vow of separation to God, characterized by not cutting their hair, abstaining from wine/grape products, and avoiding corpses.  The Nazir was considered "holy unto YHWH".

Flow of Numbers 5–6

Before a Nazir takes the Nazarite vow, the camp (you could say place or even village) has to be prepared. The place around the Nazir has to be purified. 

• Numbers 5–6 form a unit about protecting the holiness of the camp so Yahweh can dwell in Israel’s midst.
• Numbers 5:1–4: removal of the ritually impure from the camp, so that God’s dwelling is not defiled.
• Numbers 5:5–10: restitution for wrongs, cleansing moral/relational guilt.
• Numbers 5:11–31: the ordeal of jealousy, protecting the marriage covenant and the camp from hidden sin.
• Numbers 6:1–21: the Nazirite vow, an intensified, voluntary separation to Yahweh within Israel.

All those preparations lead up to Numbers 6:22–27: the priestly blessing, Yahweh’s own word of blessing and keeping over the whole people.

The pattern moves from purging impurity, to restoring wrong, to dealing with hidden sin, to a model of heightened holiness (the Nazir), and finally to blessing poured out on all Israel.

Famous Nazirites in the Bible

Amos 2:11–12 refers to Nazirites whom God raised up in Israel alongside prophets, showing that there were multiple, unnamed Nazirs in Israel’s history. But as far any specific names, I could find VERY few; I only found three.

The first Nazir is the prophet Samuel who anointed David as the future king of Israel, acting under God's instructions in 1 Samuel 16:1–13. This private ceremony occurred in Bethlehem. Much could be said about Shiloh's significance in Samuel's life too. 

Samuel is considered a lifelong Nazirite based on the vow his mother, Hannah, made before his birth in 1 Samuel 1:11, promising he would be dedicated to God and that no razor would touch his head. While the Hebrew text does not explicitly use the word "Nazirite," it describes the same vow of separation (no alcohol, uncut hair). 

Another is Samson. Samson was a Nazir who was destined to fight the Philistines, but he lost his God-given strength when his hair was cut, violating the core of his vow after being betrayed by Delilah. 

Samson regained his strength in the biblical account after his hair grew back during his imprisonment. While captive and blinded, he prayed to God for strength one last time, allowing him to destroy the temple of Dagon and kill more Philistines in his death than during his life. 

The last famous lifelong Nazir is found in the New Testament. He is John the Baptist. John the Baptist was never explicitly labeled a Nazirite, but John’s desert life, abstention, and prophetic calling created a man radically detached from ordinary social ties and deeply attuned to God’s word, which is exactly what you’d expect from a Nazirite idealized in Numbers 6. Within that consecrated context, he is “filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,” like Samuel in Hannah's womb, and his whole ministry is described as preparing the people for the Lord’s coming (Luke 1:15–17; 3:2–6).

Each of these Nazirites has a very special role in biblical history. 

Samuel identified King David. John the Baptist identified Yeshua, who by they way, was "of Nazareth." Nazareth in the time of Jesus was a small, Jewish village in Lower Galilee. So, interestingly, there is a Nazirite vow, BEFORE there is a place called Nazareth. 

Intensification of Holiness

The priestly blessing itself is the textual climax of this holiness section in the Torah, Numbers 5 and 6.  Placing the priestly blessing immediately after all the intense preparation of holiness distinguishs the Preistly blessing in a way. The text of the blessing becomes a ritual frame for divine favor.

This all suggests two important messages to me:

1. The Nazirite giving the blessing is uniquely empowered by Adonai.
2. The blessing itself has special God given potential for the recipients.

Examing the Blessing

The blessing is actually provided by Adonai.

Numbers 6:22-23—The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 

The blessing itself is simply three lines: 

Numbers 6:

22 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

These three lines compress Yahweh’s protective care, gracious favor, and gift of shalom. The Christian believer may notice something profound. The first line is God the "Father." The second line is the face and grace of Jesus. The third line is the peace that is recieved in the form of the Holy Spirit after Jesus is crucified. 

After all the provisions to guard holiness, God Himself speaks the final word in the last verse.

Numbers 6:27—“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” 

Fast Forward

That expression, "put my name upon the people" reminded me of verses in the last book of the bible—Revelation. 

Revelation 14:1 pictures 144,000 having the Lamb’s name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads, explicitly signifying that they belong to God and stand under His protection. Revelation 22:4 describes the consummation: “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads,” combining the shining face and the name themes in Numbers 6 in an eschatological, priestly blessing scene.

Implication

If the connections I am drawing are accurate, I believe that would make Jesus the embodiment of the Aaronic Blessing. 

Here is the biblical‑theological line:

The Nazirite role is explicitly to “prepare the way of the Lord” and “give knowledge of salvation to His people,” which is essentially to stand just before the coming blessing and announce it. 

The Nazirite stands at the threshold of the Aaronic blessing in Numbers. John the Baptist embodies that threshold role. Thus the case can be made that Yeshua is the Aaronic blessing fulfilled. 

When the risen Yeshua appears to the disciples, His repeated greeting “Peace be with you” is often read against “the Lord…give you peace” in Numbers 6:26, presenting Him as the giver and embodiment of that promised shalom.

Studies on intertextual “echoes of the Aaronic blessing” point out that Jesus’ blessing posture, His gift of peace, and the language of God’s face shining in the New Testament allude back to Numbers 6:24–26 and apply it Christologically*.

* Shout out to my cousin Brandon. 

22 REVEALS

When Hebrew uses letters as numbers (dates, chapters, verses, page numbers, etc.), 22 is written as: כב. Kaf Bet is commonly used as an abbreviation for the word for Honor/Honorable, Kavod. Kavod also means Glory. 

Kaf (20) + Bet (2)

Because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, in Jewish and biblical numerology, 22 is often associated with completion and the totality of God’s revealed Word. The Hebrew aleph-bet is seen as the building blocks of Scripture and of the holy tongue (lashon ha‑kodesh). 

The 22 letters construct every word in the Tenach. In the beginning was the word and the 22 letters revealed every word. Since every letter is a number, I believe 22 reveals clues and insights into God's word.  I believe Hashem revealed significant signs in His verses which are connected to 22. 

Here are bible verses based on 22 22:

Exodus 22:22—You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

Leviticus 22:22—Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar.

Numbers 22:22—But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary. Now he was riding on the donkey, and his two servants were with him.

Deuteronomy 22.22—“If a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman, and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

To shorten this blog post, I only selected a few other books in the Tenach:

Isaiah 22:22—And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

Psalm 22:22—"I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you". This verse marks a shift in the psalm from desperate suffering to a vow of praise, 

Ezekiel 22:22—As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have poured out my wrath upon you.”

Those are all great and revealing bible verses, and there is much to be said about each.  

I expected to find something of special significance in Genesis 22.22. After all, Genesis 22 is where we find the story of the "Binding of Issac." 

Genesis 22.2—He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 

The Hebrew name Isaac is יִצְחָק, transliterated Yitzchak. Spelling: י (yod) + צ (tsadi) + ח (chet) + ק (qof).Basic meaning: “he laughs / will laugh,” from the root צחקd “to laugh.” 

Perhaps that's a clue, but 22.2 is not 22.22.  In Genesis 22:22 we find only a list of five names. 5 was an immediate hint to me, since that is a number and letter that means "behold, reveal, breath."

Genesis 22:22—Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

I thought perhaps their is something in that list of names that points to the Messiah, so I broke it down. 

• Chesed – Kindness / mercy
• Hazo – Vision / seer
• Pildash – Meaning uncertain (no solid root).
• Jidlaph – Weeping / dripping.
• Bethuel – House of God.

I thought it interesting that one name, the name in the middle, didn't have a meaning. I knew it wasn't a coincidence, so I went another level deeper.

Pildash is spelled פִּלְדָּשׁ (pe–lamed–dalet–shin). The name’s overall meaning is debated, but you can still read basic letter-level ideas:

• פ (Pe) – “mouth,” speech, expression; numerically 80.
• ל (Lamed) – “staff,” goad; often linked with teaching, leading, urging forward; numerically 30.
• ד (Dalet) – “door,” access, entry/exit, humility or poverty (the one who needs); numerically 4.
• ש (Shin) – “tooth,” consuming, fire, sharpness, destruction or refining: numerically 300.

There is so much to be said about each of those letters, so I included links to the meaning of each letter which I have written about.  Then I digged to see what the numerical values (Gematria) would reveal. 

The standard Hebraic Gematria for פִּלְדָּשׁ (Pildash) is:

פ (pe) = 80

ל (lamed) = 30

ד (dalet) = 4

ש (shin) = 300

Total: 80 + 30 + 4 + 300 = 414 

In the context of Chabad-Lubavitch mysticism and Jewish thought, the number 414 holds specific symbolic meaning relating to joy, the Messianic Age, and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. 

Numerical Value (Gematria): 

414 is also linked to the Hebrew word for "house" (bayit - בית), which has a numerical value of 412. Through a deeper, twice-the-value calculation of "light" (or - 207 x 2 = 414), it represents the concept of a "house filled with light and laughter". Source

Messianic Era: Chabad teachings often cite that the future Messianic Age, when the Divine light is fully revealed, is connected to joy and laughter. 

Psalm 126:1-2—When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.”

Gematria (numerical conversion to find hidden meaning) can work in reverse. We can convert each number back to a Hebrew letter. When we do that with 414 we get the following Hebrew letters and their symbolic meaning. 

Using reverse mapping (4–1–4 → ד–א–ד), dalet–aleph–dalet. Read symbolically, ד–א–ד can suggest “door–One–door” or “a doorway on each side of the One.” 

Here are the core symbolic associations often given to these letters:

Dalet (ד) – for both 4’s:

Picture: Door, doorway, or gate. Openness to receive, movement from one state to another.

Aleph (א) – for 1:

Picture: The ancient pictograph of the letter Aleph was an "Ox" and it symbolizes "strength."  The meaning of the Aleph is unity, the Oneness, primacy. 

I think having a 4 (Door) on either side of the 1 (Aleph) is profoundly symbolic. From the center, it is 14 both ways.

22 has revealed much more. I could go on & on with 22 related signs. 

PEBBLES/STONES ON A GRAVE

While on our Trolley Tour of Savannah Georgia, we drove by this Jewish monument to the first Jewish settlers and the first Jewish cemetery in Savannah. 

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Savannah has the third oldest temple in the United States--Temple Mikveh Israel (1733). Mikveh Israel (מִקְוֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל) translates to "Hope of Israel" or "Gathering of Israel". 

It is Derived from Hebrew "mikvah" (Hebrew: מִקְוֶה or מִקְוָה) translates literally as a "gathering" or "collection" of waters and "hope" (tikvah). 

Jeremiah 14:8—O you hope of Israel 

(מִקְוֵה֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל), its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?

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As our trolley drove by the Cemetery monument, I snapped this picture. 

The trolley conductor pointed out the stones on top and the fact that Jews leave pebbles or small stones on graves of their loved ones. She encouraged the bus passengers to look up why. 

Why Do Jews Put Stones on Graves? 

One theory is this: During the times of the Temple in Jerusalem, Jewish priests (kohanim) became ritually impure if they came within four feet of a corpse. As a result, Jews began marking graves with piles of rocks in order to indicate to passing kohanim that they should stay back.

Another reason comes from the Talmud and the belief that after a person dies their soul con­tinues to dwell for a while in the grave where they are buried. The theory goes that putting stones on a grave keeps the soul down in this world. I don't buy that, but some people may find that comforting. Another related interpretation suggests that the stones keep demons and golems from getting into the graves. OY!

During the Exodus, the entire adult generation that left Egypt died while wandering in the desert. The scholarly argument is that there was no reason to mark the earliest Hebrew graves in the wilderness, since their goal was Canaan, not return visits to ancestor tombs. 

PEBBLE/STONE:

There is one more concept that goes like this. “The Hebrew word for ‘pebble’ is tz’ror – and it happens that this Hebrew word also means ‘bond.’  This relates to a Hebrew prayer for the departed that is recited. The prayer is called "El Maleh Rahamim." In this prayer is this verse:

"We beseech (אָנָּא-Ana) the Merciful One to shade them forever with divine wings, and to bind their soul up in the bonds (b’tzror-pebble) of life. The Lord is their heritage, and they shall rest peacefully on her bed. And let us say, Amen." 

MY Conclusion:

Tradition! We do it because we've been doing it so long that we keep doing it. That's a good enough reason. It's a healing action. It comforts the survivor. So, so be it. 

In some profound sense, to me the putting the rock on the grave is a way of "not leaving" or "staying with" the loved one. It is a way of saying "I was here" and "they were here." ❤️

There is no commandment to place a stone on a grave. So it is an opportunity for you to create your own ritual, or do things in the way that feels most meaningful to you. I like the reason that stones last longer than flowers. 💐 

Epilogue:

Jacob and Joseph are not buried together in the same location. While both were buried in the land of Canaan, Jacob was buried in the family plot at the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. Conversely, Joseph's bones, which were carried out of Egypt during the Exodus, were buried in a separate plot in Shechem. 

Exodus 13:19—Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.”

Joshua 24:32—The bones of Jacob, which the Israelites had brought out from Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in a piece of land that Jacob had bought from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred pieces of money; it became an inheritance for the descendants of Joseph.

Jacob is buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron alongside his wife Leah, his grandparents Abraham and Sarah, and his parents Isaac and Rebekah. He specifically requested this burial site in Canaan. Some traditions suggest the sons of Jacob were also buried in the same cave. 

A key rabbinic tradition (Sota 13a) teaches that Moses took Joseph’s bones, but each tribe also took the bones of its own tribal ancestors out of Egypt, not just Joseph alone. This midrash implies that the Exodus carried a larger “cargo of bones” representing the fathers of the tribes.

In the Cave of Machpelah, better known as The Tomb of the Patriarchs, are bones roughly 3,700–3,800 years old.  This tomb and the city of Hebron are central to Jewish ancestral memory,

Today, 80% of Hebron is controlled by the Palestinian authority.  It is ironic that Hebron is disputed territory in Israel.  While the bones of Jewish ancestors are 3700 years old and are documented in the Bible, there wouldn't be an actual Palestinian Authority or a Palestinian leader until 1994 A.D. 

Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem dates back to the 7th century A.D. when companions of the Prophet Muhammad were believed to be buried there. In addition, it needs to be noted, that Muslims in the 7th century did not call themselves "Palestinians" as a nationality or ethnic identifier. 

XI - XYLON -- ξ

Face on the Shroud of Turin

On the forehead of the face that is imprinted on the linen clothes that Yeshua was buried in is what looks like a three 3. It is actually a reverse image of the Greek letter Xi (Xylon). 

The letter Xlyon was sometimes branded or cut into a prisoner set for Roman crucifixion. It signified xylon (wood/gallows). This brand represented the cross. This is what the letter looks like ξ 

The image of the Shroud is a photo negative, so the letter we see is a reversal of the actual letter on the forehead of Yeshua.

Xylon (ξύλον) is a Greek noun meaning "wood," "timber," "tree," "staff," "club," "stocks," or "cross" in New Testament contexts.

Using standard Greek isopsephy (,the Greek version of Hebrew gematria) each letter of ξύλον carries a numeric value:

ξ (xi) = 60
υ (upsilon) = 400
λ (lambda) = 30
ο (omicron) = 70
ν (nu) = 50

Sum (standard value): 
60 + 400 + 30 + 70 + 50 = 610.  

In Hebrew, the number 610 corresponds to the Hebrew number word אָסוּךְ (āsûk), meaning a "flask" or "oil-flask" (a small pot for anointing oil), used in 2 Kings 4:2; it comes from the root word meaning "to anoint" and symbolizes dependence on God and divine provision, not oppression. 

2 Kings 4:2 (NIV): Elisha said to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?” “Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

We can use the ordinal and numerical values of Greek letters to draw some assumptions of the meaning of the symbol on Yeshua's forward from the equivalent Hebrew letters and numbers. 

Using both the numerical and ordinal values of Greek letters, then mapping them to Hebrew, can open a coherent symbolic line of interpretation for the xylon (ξύλον) on Yeshua’s forehead. 

Xylon is the 14th ordinal letter of the Greek alphabet. The symbol is commonly used in mathematics and physics to represent variables, unknown values. The 14th ordinal letter in Hebrew is the letter Nun.

Psalm 119:105 —"Your words are a lamp for my foot, and light for my path."

Psalm 119:105 corresponds with the Hebrew letter Nun (נ). It is the first verse in the fourteenth stanza of this acrostic psalm (verses 105–112), 

Xylon has a numerical value of 60. The Hebrew letter with a gematria value of 60 is the Samech.

I have written about both letters and they are incredibly fitting!!!  I am resisting the temptation to cherry pick from what I found when I explored both those letters, so I created links to both blog posts below. There is so much meaning in each letter.

Nun 

Samech 

Conclusion:

The Xylon on Yeshua's forehead stands out. Frankly, I'm surprised that it has taken me so long to write about it. It is one more reason to believe the Shroud is a supernatural gift. 

COME

Moses and Aaron with Pharaoh by Mark Chagal

The week's Torah portion is called Parshah "Bo" (בֹּ֖א).  It begins in Exodus 10:1.

“The Lord said to Moses: "Come (Bo) to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I may place these signs of Mine in his midst,"

[Note: I have seen Bo translated as "go," but I can assure you the Hebrew word is "come."]

I did another blog post on the same Torah verse just the a couple of days ago. Here is link to "Answering the Call."

The entire portion includes Exodus 10.1-13.6 and cover several key events in the history of the Hebrew Israelites: 

• The last three of the Ten Plagues are visited on Egypt: a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick, palpable darkness envelops the land; and all the firstborn of Egypt are killed at the stroke of midnight of the 15th of the month of Nissan.
• G‑d commands the first mitzvah to be given to the people of Israel: to establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. 
• The Israelites are also instructed to bring a “Passover offering” to G‑d: a lamb or kid goat is to be slaughtered, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that G‑d should pass over these homes when He comes to kill the Egyptian firstborn. The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night together with matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs.
• The death of the firstborn finally breaks Pharaoh’s resistance, and he literally drives the children of Israel from his land. They depart so hastily that there is no time for their dough to rise, and the only provisions they take along are unleavened. 
• Before they go, they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver and garments—fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth.
• The children of Israel are commanded to consecrate all firstborn, and to observe the anniversary of the Exodus each year by removing all leaven from their possession for seven days, eating matzah (unleavened bread), and telling the story of their redemption to their children. They are also commanded to wear tefillin on the arm and head as a reminder of the Exodus and their resultant commitment to G‑d."

I want to focus on the word Bo (Come) in the bible.

"Come" in the Bible is a powerful word of divine invitation, calling people to draw near to God for rest, salvation, repentance, and spiritual nourishment. It is seen that way in the Gospel's such as with Yeshua's invitations "Come to Me, all who are weary" (Matthew 11:28) and the final call in Revelation for all to "Come" and receive the water of life. "Come" signifies a spiritual movement, often requiring a change of heart or action, accepting God's promises. 

Key Meanings & Examples:

Invitation to Presence: God invites people to "Come now, let us reason together" for reconciliation (Isaiah 1:18).

Call to Follow Jesus: Jesus tells disciples, "Come, follow Me," leading to deeper understanding and life (John 1:39, Matthew 9:9).

Promise of Rest: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28-30).

Spiritual Thirst: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink" (John 7:37).

Final Invitation: The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come. And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17). 

In essence, "come" is a fundamental biblical theme representing God's persistent outreach and the human response needed to receive.

In our Exodus story, Moses is answering a call. "Come" is not a commandment to "Go" (לֵ֧ךְ) like Adonai gave Jonah. 

Jonah 1:2—Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it, for their evil has come before Me.

Gematria Clues:

When I am studying out words and letters, I like to see if Hebrew gematria offers any clues. 

"Come" in Hebrew "Bo" is spelled בֹּ֖א Bet Aleph 

בּ is 2

א is 1

So Bo's gematria value is 3. 

 

"Father" in Hebrew "Av" is spelled אב Aleph Bet 
א is 1
בּ is 2
So Father's gematria value is 3. 

So we have 2 3's. (2 3's is 6 or 6 is 2 3's)

The first 3 letters in the Hebrew aleph-bet equal 6.

א - 1
בּ - 2
ג - 3 

1+2+3=6

So both Bo and Av point to the third letter in the Hebrew Aleph-Bet, which is Gimel. Gimel has a value of 3.  

Gimel (3) in Hebrew is where we get the word for camel, "gamal" (גָמָל) which begins with the letter gimmel, is intimately related to the letter's symbolism of movement, elevation, and charity. Historically representing a camel, the gimmel signifies the "lifted up" nature of the animal and its ability to carry (nourish) others, as well as the concept of running to perform acts of kindness. 

Meditate on the letter Gimel (3).