In Acts 20, after leaving Miletus, Paul sets sail for Jerusalem, in hopes to “reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost (Shavuot)” (Acts 20:16). Paul reaches Jerusalem (we assume) by Pentecost (first week of the month of Sivan), but has evidently been in contact with a corpse and thus must undergo the seven day purification ritual as prescribed by the Torah (see my Footnote), and in the process underwrites the concluding offerings for the Nazarite vows of four men in order to prove his faithfulness to Torah (and not for purposes of deception as some would have us think). This puts him in Jerusalem for at least a week or two at the minimum, bringing us up to the second or third week of Sivan.
During his time at the Temple, he is accused of bringing his “Gentile inclusion” theology too close to home when they assumed he had brought a non-Jew beyond the soreg of the Temple. This accusation causes him to be hauled off to the magistrates who hold him in custody until the next day when he appears before the Sanhedrin to plead his case. Paul didn’t fare well with the Sanhedrin and is taken back to the barracks to spare his life. He is held at least for a day, possibly two (depending on how you read the text) and from there is taken, during the night, towards Caesarea. They get as far as Antipatris, which is beyond the half-way point. When they have rested and daylight has come, Paul is taken by the cavalry the remainder of the distance to Caesarea.

Paul is kept under guard in Herod’s palace (23:35) until he is brought before Felix five days later (24:1). This brings us up to the last week of Sivan, possibly the first week of Tamuz. After hearing Paul, Felix adjourns him, wanting to wait for Lysias (presumably the Roman commander who had Paul sent to Felix initially) to come and give his report of the events which have brought Paul to this point.

Here is where it gets vague. “Several days later” Felix sends for Paul to hear him speak about faith in Messiah Yeshua (24:24). This is a very ambiguous chronological reference. Depending on what all was happening politically, Paul stayed in his confines anywhere from a week to months, while he waited on Lysias to shed his more pressing matters in Jerusalem and make the trek to Caesarea in order to testify about this “Jewish trouble-maker,” whom I am sure he was in no great hurry to redeem. So… I’m guessing that Paul’s appearance before Felix for this event could have happened anywhere from the middle of Tamuz to some time in Elul.

This is where I am making a small leap. Based on the themes of Paul’s sermon while speaking to Felix (besides it obviously being a message he could use to hear at any point), I am thinking it was closer to (if not actually within) the month of Elul, and Paul’s three-point sermon of righteousness, self-control and the impending judgment would have been a perfect lead in to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, calling Felix to re-assess his ways and do t’shuva before the books of Life were once more closed. Felix, starts sweating bullets and dismisses Paul and his convicting message. May we see his mistake and take heed ourselves, lest we enter the Court of the King of Kings unprepared in this season.

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A friend of mine and fellow Messianic brother, Brian Reed, brought this to my attention a few months ago and I’ve been wanting to write on it since. However, I wanted to have the actual hard-copy of the text in my hands, before posting something I could not empirically document. This weekend, Mr. Reed graciously gave me a copy of the machzor he had purchased online. It’s all there in black and white from 1931. I think you’ll find it as fascinating as I did. This text is contained within the Musaf Amidah:

אָז מִלִּפְנֵי בְרֵאשִׁית. נָוֶה וְיִנּוֹן הֵשִׁית׃ תַּלְפִּיּוֹת מָרוֹם מֵרִאשׁוֹן. תִּכֵּן טֶרֶם כָּל עַם וְלָשׁוֹן׃ שִׁכְנוֹ עָץ שָׁם לְהַשְׁרוֹת. שׁוֹגִים לְהַדְרִיךְ בְּדַרְכֵי יְשָׁרוֹת׃ רֶשַׁע אִם הֶאְדִים. רַחֲצוּ וְהִזַכּוּ הִקְדִּים׃ קֶצֶף אִם קָצַף בַּאֲיוּמָתוֹ. קָדוֹשׁ לֹא יָעִיר כָּל חֲמָתוֹ׃ צֻמַּתְנוּ בְּבִצְעֵנוּ עַד עַתָּה. צוּרֵנוּ עָלֵינוּ לֹא גַעְתָּה׃ פִּנָּה מֶנּוּ מְשִׁיחַ צִדְקֵנוּ. פֻּלַּצְנוּ וְאֵין מִי לְצַדְּקֵנוּ׃ עֲוֹנוֹתֵינוּ וְעוֹל פְּשָׁעֵינוּ. עוֹמֵם וְהוּא מְחוֹלָל מִפְּשָׁעֵינוּ׃ סוֹבֵל עַל שֶׁכֶם חַטֹּאתֵינוּ. סְלִיחָה מְצֹאלַעֲוֹנוֹתֵינוּ׃ נִרְפָּא לָנוּ בְּחַבּוּרָתוֹ. נֶצַחבְּרִיָּה חֲדָשָׁה עֵת לִבְרֹאתוֹ׃ מֵחוּג הַעֲלֵהוּ. מִשֵּׂעִיר הַדְלֵהוּ׃ לְהַשְׁמִיעֵנוּ בְּהַר הַלְּבָנוֹן. שֵׁנִית בְּיַד יִנּוֹן׃

Before he created anything, he established his dwelling (the temple). The lofty armoury he established from the beginning, before any people or language. He counselled to suffer his divine presence to rest there, that those who err may be guided into the path of rectitude. Though their wickedness be flagrant, yet hath he caused repentance to precede it, when he said, “Wash ye, cleanse yourselves.” Though he should be exceedingly angry with his people, yet will the holy One not awaken all his wrath. We have hitherto been cut off through our evil deeds, yet hast thou, O our Rock, not brought consummation on us. Our righteous anointed is departed from us: horror hath seized us, and we have none to justify us. He hath borne the yoke of our iniquities, and our transgression, and is wounded because of our transgression. He beareth our sins on his shoulder, that he may find pardon for our iniquities. We shall be healed by his wound, at the time that the Eternal will create him (the Messiah) as a new creature. O bring him up from the circle of the earth. Raise him up from Seir, to assemble us the second time on Mount Lebanon, by the hand of ינון.

Taken from
מחזור ליום כפּור Prayer Book for the Day of Atonement.
English translation by Rev. Dr. A. Th. Philips. Hebrew Publishing Co.,
New York. 1931, p. 239.

Please note, all emphasis words (italics) and parenthetical comments are in the actual text, and have not been added by myself. Although there are some obvious theological issues (namely that the Messiah who was cut off is seen as remaining cut off), we can see a definitive concept of the Suffering Servant, Mashiach ben Yoseph, within conventional Judaism as an accepted norm.

The real “meat” of this discovery is as follows.

The last word is left untranslated from the Hebrew. It is the word “Yinom”, and is one of the names attributed to Messiah, taken from Psalm 72:17, which states, “May his name endure forever; may it continue [yinom] as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.” Chaza”l (the sages) read this passage to say something to the effect of, “May his name continue forever as the sun. Yinon is his name! All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed.”

Translators have a difficult time with this passage, particularly due to the use of this one word. The word yinon appears to be a rare verb meaning to propagate, increase, or produce shoots (which immediately brings to mind the connection of Messiah with the term “netzer“). It is also essentially the word נון, which is the letter nun. Nun “happens” to be the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet, representing David HaMelech (4 + 6 + 4 = דוד). Nun is also the name of the father of Yehoshua, predecessor to Moshe.

Thank you, Mr. Reed for bringing this to my attention.

ps – I have posted a scan of the original text for anyone interested.Similar Posts:

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