Seven Shepherds

"Peter, do you love me?"This question and Yeshua's response to Peter are a key to unlocking the mystery of the Gentiles and Chanukkah, a holiday that most non-Jews believe is unique to Judaism. The prophesied Messiah was to restore the kingdom to Israel; that is, he was to regather the lost sheep of Israel who disappeared in various deportations by conquering empires. Yeshua, however, had earlier hinted that there were other sheep to gather, sheep that were not of the fold of First Century Judaisms. Although the Jews of the First Century anticipated the return of all Israel, they did not strongly associate Messiah's work with a gathering of sheep from among the nations who were not "native-born," but born strangers to the Covenant. The many conquests of Israel and Judah by idolatrous Assyria, Babylon, Greece, and Rome had not left many Jews concerned with the spiritual plight of the Gentiles. Yeshua, however, declined to deal only with Rome to demonstrate that he was indeed the Messiah and King of the Jews. The prophecy and plan was much bigger.Messiah must also be the King of Kings of all nations, the great Shepherd sent of the Father from Heaven to restore flocks of men to the one fold of Israel as foretold in the Prophets. Had Yeshua acted at that time, the "leaven" of the Holy Spirit could not work among the dough of the nations. Yeshua tells his disciples that they are a vital part of Messiah's extended work, a work intended to result in the "fullness of the Gentiles" who would hear his voice. These sheep would be found in the remotest parts of the Earth, and they would be reconciled to the Holy One of Israel through a shepherd-king.The Bible has been surrounded by witnesses as it traveled through time. Unless we go back to the witnesses, the people that it was written about, the history, and the culture in which it was written, readers come away with a less accurate picture of what the Bible is communicating. The Bible requires readers to appreciate those inside stories, to understand the authors and their audience as though we were there. Without that context, parts of Bible become one of those 'family things' that only those who are part of the family will understand. The Seven Shepherds relates the family stories so that many centuries later, readers can comprehend hidden meanings that were never really hidden. This book opens up nuances that family would have known and connected, but an outsider would have missed, such as the special dates, the family traditions, the stories of uncles and aunts in times past, or the bad neighbors. The Seven Shepherds of Hanukkah invite readers of Scripture into The Family of Israel and its dynamics.The Seven Shepherds takes the reader on a prophetic journey from the beginning pages of Genesis all the way to Revelation and the eventual release of the Adversary at the conclusion of the Seventh Millennium.