In Psalm 90, Moshe HaNavi (Moses the Prophet) sings a psalm unto Yahweh, his Creator.
Tehillim (Psalms) 90:10-12
10 The days of our lives are seventy years; but if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Moshe’s prayer was that Yahweh would teach us to number our days, so we might gain a heart of wisdom.
But what did Moshe mean by this? How will numbering our days lead us to gain a heart of wisdom?
Let us go ahead and number our days, so we can find out what Moshe meant. Perhaps as a result of numbering our days, we too shall gain this heart of wisdom. But how should we number our days?
Let us begin by counting how many we have.
Thirty Thousand Days
Moshe’s song tells us that the average Israelite will live to be approximately seventy years old. However, if we are strong, we may live to be eighty.
10 The days of our lives are seventy years; but if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
While there are 365 days in the western Roman (Gregorian) calendar, there are only 360 days in the Hebrew calendar year. However, in order to adjust itself to the start of the agricultural growing season in Israel, the Hebrew calendar adds leap months every so often. That being the case, over millennia, the average year works out to about 365.25 days; let us use that number here.
If we should live for 70 years (verse 10), then at 365.25 days per year, most of us will live approximately 25,568 days.
70 x 365.25 = 25,568
Let us round this number up to 26,000.
If we should live to be 80 years old (by reason of strength), then we will live approximately 29,200 days.
80 x 365.25 = 29,200
Let us round this number up to 30,000.
According to Scripture, then, most of us will live a lifespan of not more than about thirty thousand days. Our personal (individual) life span may average a little more or less than this, but the point is that our days are finite and limited.
But how does the knowledge that our days are finite and limited help us to gain a heart of wisdom? The answer has to do with our eternal reward.
Earning Our Reward
There can be no doubt that salvation is a free gift. Scripture is clear that salvation comes by grace through faith, and even the faith that we have been given is not of our own doing. Even that is a gift of Elohim (of which we are not worthy).
Ephesim (Ephesians) 2:8-9
8 For by favor (or grace) you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of Elohim,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
No man should ever boast; our salvation is not something that we have earned.
And yet, at the exact same time, Scripture is also very clear that although our salvation is a free gift, the reward we will receive will be determined according to our works.
Hitgalut (Revelation) 22:12
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
Parable of the Minas
What is more, Yeshua tells us that if we do not use our post-salvational lives to serve Him, then we may not have a reward at all.
In the parable of the minas, Yeshua tells us that if we do not value our free gift of salvation enough to commit our post-salvational lives to serving Him (and to building His kingdom), then we can only look forward to everlasting punishment.
As you read the following passage, try thinking of the ten minas that the master gives to his ten servants as their post-salvational lives.
Luqa (Luke) 19:11-27
11 Now as they heard these things, He spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and because they thought the kingdom of Elohim would appear immediately.
12 Therefore He said:
“A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’
15 “And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’
17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’
Because this first servant used his post-salvational life to win more souls for Yeshua, he will be rewarded with much in the new earth.
18 And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’
19 Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’
Though not as successful as the first servant, the second servant also dedicated himself, and will also be placed over much in the new earth (according to his work).
20 “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.
21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’
22 And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.
23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’
What does Yeshua mean, “…put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?” Is it possible that Yeshua could mean, “Why did you not help those who are doing the work, so that your mina could have been used to help build My kingdom?”
24 “And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas!’
25 (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’)
26 ‘For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him!
Ephraim has been listening to the church mantra of “love without rules” for so long that he has forgotten who his Messiah really is. He has forgotten that Yeshua is a King who, like any king, demands loyalty and service: He promises to slay all those who do not dedicate their lives to serving Him.
27 ‘But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me!'”
Just as Judah has a hard time accepting that Yeshua is the Messiah, Ephraim sometimes has a hard time with the idea that the Messiah is actually an imperialist dictator that promises to slay all who say they believe on Him, but who do not use their salvation to serve Him.
The Messiah: Son of King David
It may be a tough thing to digest, but most Ephraimites idea of who they want the Messiah to be, is not who the Messiah actually said He is.
It was prophesied that the Messiah would be the Son of King David (e.g., 2 Samuel 7:12-15); King David was a military conqueror for Yahweh. He was a man with a “take no prisoners” attitude.
Shemuel Bet (2 Samuel) 8:1-2
1 After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. And David took Metheg Ammah from the hand of the Philistines.
2 Then he defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive [i.e., as slaves].
Genesis 1 tells us that living beings reproduce after their kinds (e.g. Genesis 1:24), and Judah typically understands that this implies the Messiah would also be an imperialist military dictator, just like his forefather King David.
An Ephraimite might not like it, and they might think it sounds cruel, but King David was an imperialist conqueror who had no qualms about either killing or enslaving anyone who refused to serve the true Creator of heaven and earth, Yahweh Elohim; and that, by extension, his Seed (Yeshua) would very likely behave the same way.
Notice, then, that Yeshua also speaks just as King David would have spoken. Yeshua promises to kill all those who refuse to dedicate their lives to serving Yahweh and advancing His kingdom here on earth.
Luqa (Luke) 19:27
27 ‘But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me!'”
This understanding accords with Yeshua’s other parables which tell us that those who do not take it to heart to serve their Husband will not be taken to the wedding banquet, but rather will be discarded, burned, or thrown out.
Mattityahu (Matthew) 13:47-50
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind,
48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away.
49 So it will be at the end of the world. The messengers will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just,
50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Notice what a far cry this is from the cherished Christian ideal of “inexpensive grace.” Rather than promising to embrace slackers in their vanity, Yeshua promises to abandon the slackers because of their laxity. Perhaps this comes as a shock to many people, but why should the words of Scripture come as a shock?
Children Learn by Example
Just as actions speak louder than words, children learn by watching and imitating their parents. The example a parent gives his children has a direct impact on their behavior.
So, what kind of an example are we giving our children with our thirty thousand days? Are we giving our children an example of how to earn an eternal reward for themselves? That is to say, have we done all we can with the mina called “today,” so that our children will learn to obtain the reward of the righteous? And what will we do with the mina called “tomorrow,” to help them truly succeed? Is there something more we can do?
Still Wanting to be Entertained?
Brother and sister, have you given your life to Messiah? And if so, do you still watch television? Do you still spend your time watching Hollywood movies and television sitcoms? How are you spending your Master’s minas?
Minas are a lot like real money: if you do not make a conscious decision to invest them wisely, they are soon gone, and they fly away. The days of our lives are also like that. If we do not stay on task, soon the “minas of our lives” are gone, and we have nothing to show for them.
Tehillim (Psalms) 90:10
10 The days of our lives are seventy years; but if by reason of strength they are eighty years,
Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Brother and sister, let me ask you: If you are expecting an eternal reward, then have you turned your life over to Messiah? And if you have turned your life over to the Messiah, then how much time do you spend building your Master’s kingdom?
Hearers or Doers?
Brother and sister, let us be honest with ourselves. Are we hearers or doers of the word? More importantly, to what extent are we doers of His word?
Ya’akov (James) 1:22-24
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.
Perhaps you rest on the Sabbath and feast days, and perhaps you wear tzitzit. But do you truly live your life on faith? Are you honestly doing all that you can to help build Yeshua’s kingdom here on earth?
How much time do you spend doing the things of this fleshly, material world? How important to you is your car, your bank card, your appearance, and your home? And if I may be so bold, how much money do you spend on things that do nothing much to further your Husband’s kingdom or work?
How many of your thirty thousand minas do you spend not seeking to build His kingdom? And what kind of reward do you expect to get, for not seeking to help Him?
New Heavens, New Earth
As we explain in Revelation and the End Times, Isaiah tells us that by the time we get to the new heaven and the new earth (after the Day of Judgment which follows the end of the millennium), we won’t even remember what happened in this life. Think about that for a moment.
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 65:17
17 “For behold! I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, or come to mind.”
After the Day of Judgment, we won’t even remember the time we spent watching television or Hollywood movies. We won’t even remember our hunting and fishing trips. We also won’t remember the fun we had wasting the minas that would have better been spent furthering our Husband’s kingdom.
When all is said and done, the only thing we will remember is the reward we received for every single mina that we used in helping sow seed for our Master.
Luqa (Luke) 19:16-19
16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’
17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities!’
18 And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’
19 Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities!’
So how many days (or how many minas) do we have left to spend for Him? And how will we spend what we have left of that dwindling supply of minas, in order to benefit Him, ourselves, and our children?
In each and every moment that we are mindful of this question, this is a heart of wisdom.
Heart of Wisdom
Moshe HaNavi asked Elohim to teach us to number our days, so that we might gain a heart of wisdom.
Tehillim (Psalms) 90:10-12
10 The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow;
For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of Your anger?For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.
12 So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
The wisdom that comes from numbering our days is to realize that we only have a limited amount of time to build a reward for ourselves. And, just like earthly money, if we do not spend our thirty thousand minas wisely (but party with them, and pleasure ourselves), soon all of our minas will be gone, and we will be left with nothing.
Realizing that our days are limited, and that we must earn our eternal reward, how are we spending our minas? Are we spending our days to help the Son of David build His empire, thus earning an eternal reward (and a place and an eternal name) for ourselves? What are we doing for our Husband today? And what do we plan to do for His kingdom tomorrow?
