Selah! “Suspended”...Part 2

Selah! “Suspended”

Selah at the Hinom Valley

As Christ looked down from Golgotha, He did so from a mechanism of wood and iron, fixed with pins. He was suspended on high from a fixture familiar to both farmers and sailors, to soldiers and civilians. While in this suspended state, He suffered in agony and slow asphyxiation as long thin stakes (or “nails”) were protruding through His anklebones and into the bend of His wrists. These were driven mercilessly through His body, and into the wood of the Cross. His agony was intensified in that the Romans nailed His arms with one elbow up and one elbow down. This position is mimicked in modern times as a type of anti-climax stage-freeze jazz-dance pose (often with a hat in one hand). Its hidden meaning is to mock Christ at the Cross. If we invert the Hebrew letter Alef by 90 degrees onto its point, depending on the writing style, we will usually see the intent of the letter as “Christ crucified”. This position, which Messiah found Himself in, with one elbow up and one elbow down, forced His bones out of joint over the course of His six hours of suffering upon that Cross.

From this location, at Golgotha, Jesus would have looked to the right up the Kidron Valley, where He was in; but also He would have looked just a little off to His left and straight into the Hinom Valley as well. As He looked into the Hinom, at about his 10 o’clock visual position, 12 o’clock being due west, there Christ saw Judas the traitor, dead by his own hand in suicide. This tract of land is known as Haceldama or “the field of blood” to this day. Judas died, hanging on a tree limb over a small precipice on the southeast Hinom, by means of a rope about the neck; in full view of millions who packed the Kidron and Hinom Valleys, and just left him there. What is important to note, is the silent affirmation of the historical witness to these facts. Notice that there is never an accusation against Christ, of how that Judas sold Him out, and then could not bear to look upon the face of his master or “Raboni”. There is also never a refusal by the priesthood, to say that they did not buy Judas off for 30 pieces of silver to betray Jesus. Had this occurred, we would have a Talmudic account, a reference in Josephus, or by the Roman historians: because the outcry would have been too great to not notice, and utilize to put the Christians down as fraudulent. Yet, no record exists, because Christians were called “Chrestians” by the Romans, which means “the gracious (and honest) ones”.

Now, at about Christ’s 2 o’clock field of view, He would have seen -- over the many hundreds of thousands of the multitudes who filled the Kidron Valley -- the irrigation conduit of the Pool of Siloam, which emptied out into the Kidron. As the masses moved, people ran to and from this conduit, collecting water for the thirsty in the Valleys below. From the Cross, Jesus was able to behold the processes of both death and life.



Selah in Gematriac context

In Gematria, Selah and Salah have a value of 95. This is the same value as Hinom
(הנמ). Hinom, of course, is one of the two valleys to which Christ was crucified, the valley of burnings. Here, every 8th feast Day of Tabernacles, the Jewish men of Israel burned their makeshift huts, and gave thanks to YHVeH, in recollection of Isaiah 66:24, which tells them that in the Kingdom, in the New Heavens and the New Earth,

"they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses
of the men that have transgressed against Me: [YHVeH]
for their worm shall not die,
neither shall their fire be quenched;
and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” KJV

After the value of 95, the value of Selah and of Hinom: what is being told to us about this valley and juncture south of the Temple Mount? It is a place for one who is held in "contempt" or PUT (פוט). Both Jesus who was cast out and crucified here, and on the other side of the same valley, Judas Iscariot, who hanged himself on the tree while viewing Christ crucified. The tree-limb, on which the body of Judas hung, snapped. Judas was then plunged at least 30 feet or more below into the Valley of Hinom, onto some sharp rocks, and was disemboweled. That Valley depth or even greater has been covered since at least A.D. 70, when the Romans filled it during the siege of Jerusalem.
Whether of a right heart, as a disciple; or through a sinister intent, as a zealot or anti-Christian: we all "chase or follow after" Tseda (צדא) YHVeH Messiah.
The wicked cannot help but to "bubble up and froth over" Pachez (פחז) against YHVeH's anointed, and YHVeH Himself.
They would rather offer up drink offerings to some mythical "queen" Milkah/Malkah (Mem-Lamed-Kaf-He) of Heaven. King David sung it of Messiah’s rejection by the people in exchange for idols in this way:
“Sons of men, until when is My Glory? For a reproach (concerning this) will you love vanity and seek out a lie (instead)? Selah.”
(Psalm 4:2)

At some of the modern Passover Seder Celebrations in America, songs are sung also in reverence of “the queen of Heaven” in preference to YHVeH Messiah. Those cakes eaten to the “queen of Heaven” also bore the sign of the cross upon them. The custom of “dessert” still carries this form of indulgence for the “theoi”, “the disposers”, whose god is the belly. Therefore, the idolatry of Baal and the pouring forth of drink offerings to demons are not far from our lips and acts of recognition in our own day. Sadly, this has been embraced as part of the "Jewish ness" of the culture, much like some of the ancient cults engaged in by their Fathers which led to the taking of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; and were rebuked by GOD, through His prophet, for it (re: Jeremiah 7:18; 44:15-30).

At the Hinom Valley, we have the choice between two sights: Jesus on the Cross, or Judas hung from a tree and then disemboweled upon the rocks below. We have, after the value of 95, the choice of being able "to watch and be observant" - Yiscah (יסכה);
or, to suffer "dishonor and shame", "to suffer disgrace and confusion" - Kelimmah (כלמה).

It is Ge-Hinom, which is called "gehenna" in the Greek: translated as "hell", the "place of burnings". Here, in the Plateia of the city, the outer darkness, is Naham (נהם): the "growls, snarls, and roars" which YHVeH Messiah says is the "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (cf. Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, and 25:30).

Hinom is set in prophecy for a place in which Selah (סלה) is Manah (םנה): "ordained, set, appointed" as a measure or weight weighed out, carefully analyzed and considered. The Manah refers directly to YHVeH Messiah. In the Hebrew, the Bread from Heaven is called "manna"; and even though its spelling lacks the "H" (ה), being spelled as "man" (מן); yet after the Greek transliteration, we see it pronounced as though the "H" were present as "manna" (μαννα). The word manna, is taken to mean "bread" in the Greek description of it: for example, John 6:32-33. Literally, this Hebrew word of "manna" spelled as "M-N" means: "What's this?"

In the New Testament, we read how that "manna" to the First Century Hebrew, and to us, is the bread of Heaven. Jesus clearly tells us in John chapter 6, that He is the True Bread, the true "manna" from Heaven. Unfortunately, when many people look at Jesus and the Cross, they cannot help but gaze in a lack of understanding and also say "What's this?", without the comprehension of what they are saying. In effect, "What's this?" is a correct answer, because translated back into the Hebrew, their question becomes an affirmation of identity: "manna", which translated means "What's this?"

After the value of 95, we see that this "manna" which is the Bread come from
Heaven, is like the Chelbenah (Chet-Lamed-Beth-Nun-He): an "odorous gum that is comparable to fat".
On the Cross, Adayahu (Alef-Dalet-Yod-He-Vav) "YH has adorned" Him, in order to Miklah (Mem-Kaf-Lamed-He): "to make complete or whole" Fallen Man. The word Miklah also speaks of the formation of a pen or fold for sheep; and YHVeH Messiah talked about the building of His Church, and the restoring of lost sheep back into the fold of those who have been obedient to Him.

The purpose of the Cross, as we also see in the value of 95 and the other things we have gone over, is the revelation of the knowledge of Christ; and a right relationship with GOD. We see this with passages such as "If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me.” (John 12:32). “Selah” Gematrically reveals the very identity of YHVeH Messiah, after the value of 95, as: HaMelek (He-Mem-Lamed-Kaf) - "the King", and Daniel (Dalet-Nun-Yod-Alef-Lamed): " the Judge of GOD."

When Luke wrote Paul's Gospel in ca. July of 57 A.D.,9 which over 100 years later was referred to as Hebrews, he wrote of how that we are called to enter into the rest that the LORD provides for His servants, saying,

"For we which have believed do enter into rest…
For he that is entered into rest, he has also ceased from his
own works, as GOD from His.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest…." (Hebrews 4:3a, 10-11a) KJV

That Sabbath rest is the Selah, it is a suspension of works and efforts directed at ourselves. This illustration can be seen in the very Hebrew words used for resting or ceasing on the Shabbat. In the Bible, the rabbis inform us how that GOD stops (Genesis 2:2), He rests (Exodus 20:11), and then the example is given us of what was on GOD’s mind at the making of the Sabbath. To which we are referred to I Samuel 25:9, where we see the example of King David’s “mouthpiece” / “logos” / “messenger” / “angel”, after having spoken what his king instructed him, he then has nothing more to say.

Therefore, the Sabbath rest of Selah is the activity of stopping, being refreshed, and no further need for words. It is as if words themselves, are become a form of "work". Thus, when we accept this, we can accept the Gematriac teaching in 2 Kings 14:7, that the word Selah is equated with Joktheel: which means "subdued by GOD". We are also admonished by this, that on the Sabbath, the activity of speaking more than what is necessary, is also a form of work. Therefore, if one is truly to keep the Sabbath as according to the Law of Moses, he had best keep his prayers short, true from the heart, and to the point. But according to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2), which is free from the Law of Moses (a Law dealing with sin and death), prayer ceases to be like a slave addressing his King in a form of humility. Rather, prayer becomes more of a friend to the Prince relationship (John 15:13-15), who are gladly welcomed and honored as if family by the King, for the sake of His dear Son.


Thought upon Selah, the Suspension, and the Sabbath rest

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live….” (Galatians 6:20)