The Month of Adar
The word Adar comes from the Hebrew word adir, meaning "strength."
According to tradition, Moses was born and died on the seventh day of Adar. He reached one of the highest levels of holiness/ Set apartness that a human can reach. He attained one of the highest levels of prophecy one could hope to understand.
Similarly, Adar is the last of the months on the calendar, and in this way represents completion.
The Zodiacal sign for the month of Adar is the fish known to the world as Pisces. Dagim are creatures of the "hidden world" (the depths of the sea). So are the souls of Israel "fish" that swim in the waters of the World. The true identity of Israel is mostly invisible to themselves and to the World.
As descendants of Abraham, the Tribes of Israel had the benefit of Covenant, access to priesthood authority and blessings, but eventually the people left Covenant and committed idolatry. They killed the prophets and were punished by Yahweh. Ten Tribes were carried captive into Assyria. From there they became lost to their identity and nationality. But Ten Tribes are not lost to Yahweh nor is Judah. Two remaining tribes, Judah and Benjamin, continued a short time and then, because of their rebellion, were taken captive into Babylon. When they returned, they were favoured of Yahweh, but again they honoured Him not. They rejected and vilified Him. A loving but grieving Father vowed, "I will scatter you among the heathen (Leviticus 26:3; see also Jeremiah 9:16)," and that He did—into all nations.
“Just as it pleased Yahweh to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you (when you leave covenant). You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then Yahweh will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There Yahweh will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. (Deuteronomy 28:63-65)”
This scattering is called the Diaspora or the dispersion. Where we have been dispersed is likened to a sea: “Daniel said: ‘In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.’ (Daniel 7:2)”
Something celestial happened shortly before Yahshua was born. "[Yahshua] was … symbolized as a lamb, because although the Age of Aries (Ram) had ended before his birth, the effects of the age were still continuing, and mingling with the incoming characteristics of the new age, whose symbol was a fish and is very much associated with the Nazarenes. He was thought of as a lamb who was slain, but in his resurrection was symbolized as the fish, and he promised his disciples that they should be fishers of men!" ("Temple of the Stars" by Brinsley le Poer Trench, page 184).
The reason Israel was driven into the Sea of Humanity was chiefly because of judgment but we also had an obligation as the entire Chosen People to spread throughout the earth like the fish in the sea taking with us the remnant of Torah.
In the first mention of the New Covenant, Yahweh tells Israel: “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever Yahweh your Elohim disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to Yahweh your Elohim and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then Yahweh your Elohim will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there Yahweh your Elohim will gather you and bring you back. (Deuteronomy 30:1-4)” This is the Law of Return – something the Sinai Covenant didn’t have.
There is an interesting story recounted in John 21:1-11. In Biblical symbolism the land represents Israel and the sea represents the Sea of Humanity where we’ve been dispersed. The land is above the sea, with mountains on it reaching up toward heaven. The land is a “priestly” territory between Yahweh’s heaven and the rest of the world.
(Exodus 19:5-6) (Revelation 5:9-10)
Corresponding to this, the priestly people are symbolized as sheep while lost Israel is symbolized by fish. For instance, there is the story of Jonah. He is swallowed by a big fish and then spat out again. This symbolized Israel’s going into Assyrian exile and then being returned to the land. Thus, the fish was the dispersion into Assyria, a place where Israel would be protected while dwelling in the Sea of Humanity outside the Land in exile.
None of the Priests, Prophets, and Kings of Israel were fishermen. They were all farmers, shepherds or herdsman. By way of contrast, none of Yahushua’s disciples was a farmer, shepherds or herdsman. The most prominent of the disciples were fishermen. Nobody is shown eating fish in the Tanach, but Yahshua feeds the 5000 with fish, not with steak. After His resurrection He eats a fish, not a piece of lamb. The disciples are never spoken of as herdsman; they are “fishers of men.” This shift in imagery indicates that King Messiah Yahshua was calling His followers to go to the whole world, to fish Israel out of the nations.
Interestingly enough, Yahshua combines shepherding and fishing right here in John 21:15-19:
Yahshua said that before the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel could happen they must preach the Full Messianic Message of the Kingdom to the Majority of the whole world. In other words, before the restoration of Israel and the New Covenant could be realized, Israel had to be fished out of the Sea of Humanity. “…this full Messianic message of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)” “…ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8)”
“…Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father, by authority of the Son through the inspiration of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit), teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. (Matthew 28:19)”
The Full Messianic Message of the reality of the Kingdom is a message only the Commonwealth of Israel can declare! It is commanded that we fulfill our roles as a Kingdom of Priests (Exodus 19:6 & 1 Peter 2:9) by preaching this truth to the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel. “
We must fish out the lost Israel from out of the Sea of Humanity to save them, for this is the severity of our message, you cannot be saved unless you’re are part of the Commonwealth of Israel. Without your place in the Commonwealth “…you [are] without Messiah, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without Yahweh in the world. (But if you will accept the Kingdom and its King you will receive salvation through the shed blood of our Messiah) But now in Messiah YahShua you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. (Ephesians 2:1-13)” It’s your choice – Whom will you serve – Joshua 24:15.
Purim, the holiday of Adar, commemorates the "metamorphosis" of the Jews' apparent bad fortune (as it appeared to Haman) to good.
“…we know that all things work together for good to those who love Yahweh, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)”
The festival of Purim marks the high point in the joy of the entire year.
The Scriptural year begins with the joy of the redemption of Pesach and concludes with the joy of the redemption of Purim. "Joy breaks through all barriers."
Adar, should inspire us to conquer our enemies -- whether they come from without, or from deep within ourselves. That is the great opportunity of this month.
· Adar 1 - Plague of Darkness; Ezekiel told to lamentate for Pharaoh (Ezekiel 32:1,2)
· Adar 3 - Construction of the Second Holy Temple was completed " by the third day of the month of Adar" (Ezra 6:15).
· Adar 6 Moses told: "Behold your day of death approaches" (Deuteronomy 31:14)
· Adar 7 - Commemorates the death of Moses.
· Adar 12 - Dedication of the renovated Holy Temple by Herod.
· Adar 13 – Fast of Esther, commemorating Queen Esther's fast.
· Adar 13 is also called Nicanor Day, commemorating the death of Nicanor, the Syrian general in the Maccabean Revolt who insulted the Jews and the Holy Sanctuary, which caused the Jews to rebel.
· Adar 14 – Celebrate Purim
Rabbi Menachem Nachum suggests that we can see the meaning of Adar through its three letters, aleph, dalet, and raysh. Aleph, the first letter in the alphabet, has the numerical value of one, which reminds us of the “echad” of Yahweh. The dalet and raysh together form the word dar, which means “to dwell amongst us.” If you take the word dar and spell it backwards, you get the word reid, which means “come down.” Thus, when Yahweh says to Moshe "Leich reid"(Exodus 32:7) “ go down,” this is the way in which Yahweh comes down to us. Putting all the letters back together, we can see that Adar means that “Yahweh Echad will come down to dwell amongst us.”
Used with Kind permission from Rabbi Rob Miller
