Hebrew Nation Online

News and commentary for Tuesday, 18 August, 2026.

News and commentary for Monday, 17 August, 2026.

Love and Torah – what’s love got to do with it? This study series is based on the “Two Great Commands” – love Yahweh and love your neighbor. Continuing in the book of 1 John, Rabbi Steve Berkson begins this teaching in chapter 5, where John tells us that belief in Messiah Yeshua and all that comes with it does not come from us, but that belief, knowledge, and relationship have been birthed in us from above. In verses 2 and 3, Rabbi Berkson points out that, again, love is connected to Torah Observance and that the commandments of Yahweh are not heavy or burdensome. In verse 4, John calls us who believe overcomers. Born of Elohim and given the ability to have a relationship with Messiah Yeshua, we overcome the world through that belief. Rabbi Berkson clarifies what overcoming the world looks like – we see things and respond to challenges in our lives differently than the world does. Moving on, Rabbi Berkson takes us to the Gospel of John, the same writer, a different book, to link what we learned from 1 John with what is conveyed in the gospel writing. Yeshua speaks metaphorically of our relationship with Him and the Father, using vines, branches, and a gardener who cares for the whole thing. Rabbi Berkson once again dissects these passages so that you will have a deeper understanding of what Yah expects of you, so that you can do it and receive the blessings. mtoi.org The MTOI App https://mtoi.org/download-the-mtoi-app youtube.com/@mtoi facebook.com/mtoiworldwide instagram.com/mtoi_worldwide admin@mtoi.org (423) 250-3020 Join us LIVE (all times Eastern): • Torah Study, Fridays 7:30 pm • Shabbat Service, Saturdays 1:15 pm Streaming available on YouTube, Rumble, MTOI App, and mtoi.org

  The Time Traveler’s Quick Guide to Armageddon Part Three     Hello, again, time travelers. It’s Part Three of our Quick Guide ot Armageddon. Next week we’ll finish up with a look at the horses of Armageddon, but this week, we’re back with Deborah and Barak. We’re rolling the scrolls back in time to Sinai and the time of Avraham. We’re putting together just how Deborah knew to assemble exactly 10,000 soldiers on Mt. Tabor.   Of course, she was a prophetess, and she heard from the Father, but typically He builds on our preparation to be His messengers. As with the disciples who were prepared and waiting in Acts Two, so Deborah, whose name comes from the Hebrew word for “bee” and dvar, “word,” was prepared to be a vessel of the Ruach HaKodesh. Her husband is named Lappidot, which means “torches,” but it is thought that perhaps it was another name for Barak, whose name means “lightning.” Many people in Scripture went by more than one name. Ol’ Jethro had a lot of them!   How do we know Deborah is hearing from the Spirit of Adonai? As they discuss the details of the battle, Barak says to her:   “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.” (Judges 4:8-9)   I don’t think Deborah is just warning Barak he better not have a problem with being a macho man. He is acknowledging her spiritual gifts and anointing, and she is affirming his request. It is a request for the Word and Ruach HaKodesh, of which Deborah is a minister, to accompany him in battle. Barak knows that mere military might will not be enough against such a formidable enemy, and he is more than willing to give the credit for the victory to the “woman,” which sometimes is a symbol for the Ruach HaKodesh in Scripture (see CG Workbook Four):   Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. (Zec 4:6)   So Deborah and Barak in their time machines had hovered over Mt. Sinai, then listened in as Moses spoke and sang his last song to the Israelite tribes about forty years later (that’s not long if you’re in a time machine):   He said, “The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; at His right hand there was flashing lightning [lit. “fiery law”] for them. (Dt 33:2)   What follows in Moses’ exhortation is a summary of each tribe’s courage and blessings. What does Deborah do in her victory song after the battle? Summarizes the tribes’ courage or lack of in the fight at Har Megiddo!   The Torah time machine works great, doesn’t it?   The fiery Word of God was in His right hand when He dawned on them with a myriad, ten thousand holy ones, an angelic host. As they hover over the scroll, Deborah and Barak know they are not going to need 10,000 soldiers to win the fight. This number tells them that the Holy One will come marching with His myriads of angels to fight for Israel, which is exactly how the Song of Deborah begins. Oustanding study in the Word! Truly a holy time machine of prophecy. Those 10,000 soldiers will merely be the mop-up crew and decoys to lure in the enemy.   In Moses’ blessings, the lightnings in the Torah fire hint again to this coming victory over Sisera’s iron chariots. Barak says, I am not going to go without you, Deborah, you’ve got to go, too. Her husband’s name is Lapiddot, which means torches.   Deborah is not just coming in the power of the Holy Spirit and prophecy, it mentions her husband’s name, so she also is a type of a torch, one flesh with him. Lappidot is “torches, flashes,” plural, yet they are one in this battle. As a judge of Torah, Deborah knows Israel’s past and its fiery law of covenant, which was lit by lightning torches at the right hand of Adonai:     “All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.” (Ex 20:18)   The light of a torch is a lamp that walks. Want to see an example? Spool up your time machine to the 25th of Tevet, around 331 BCE, and watch the 8 elders and high priest who marched to meet Alexander’s army in the “first” Chanukkah about 150 years before the ”lamp” miracle one we celebrate. Because Adonai had gone before them, they averted a war; Alexander had already seen the high priest in the dream. He spared Jerusalem and instead killed those who planted lies and slanders against the Jews.   In those times, a righteous person was known as a lamp; in fact, even before! In the time of the Judges (Eli the High Priest) and the time of King David, anointed leaders were known as “lamps.” This is our calling, to be the walking lamps, torches of the the fiery law. A mosaic uncovered by archaeologist even depicts the high priest and eight elders with lamps over their heads! When it is time to “go out” (yatza) to war or on a Divine mission, lamps sitting on a table or lampstand won’t do; we have to become torches.   Let’s take another trip back in our time machine to the time of Avraham now. Got your tissues, something to drink, and some snacks? We’re about to see another torch, and it will be a sight to remember. Don’t let your time machine get too close. It might get singed. Power up to the past so you can see what Deborah saw as she made her battle plans!   The Covenant with Avraham: It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.’” (Ge 15:17-19)   Deborah’s opponents, Yavin and Sisera, are Canaanites.   The covenant with Avraham also promises the land of the Kadmoni, which means “Easterners, past, ancients.”   Since no one knows who the Kadmoni actually were or where they lived, it may be a way guaranteeing eventual victory over the kings of the east without having to identify a specific person or nation. In the end, it will fit.   The way of victory is through the power of the Holy One’s Presence, which will go before Israel when she is righteous and holy. She is a lamp, a torch of myriads as well.   Deborah is fiery; she is not afraid to be visible. She is a righteous lamp preparing the way for Messiah’s march from a broken mountain. That is what tabor means, broken off, split. Just as Messiah Yeshua’s feet will split the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, so Deborah, wife of Lappidot, torches, sends Barak “Lightning” with 10,000 holy lamps to Mt. Tabor to lure in the kings of the east with their chariots to their death at Megiddo.   “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation [Yeshua] like a torch that is burning.” (Is 62:1) The “going out” (yatza) is the verb that describes the rising of the sun and the going forth of an army. When we hear and know the Father’s will, first we work. First we take steps. We prepare. We do what we can do, study the scrolls, stock up on oil, then we wait for the miracle of His Presence marching.   The kings of the east try to possess the east, kedem, the ancient origins, yet they cannot reign there forever, for with this language was tribal territory assigned to Zevulun in the deed. If Jeremiah was told to buy property before the fall of Jerusalem because it would be a sign that Judah would return after the exile and once again possess their inheritance, then Deborah in her generation seized the title deed given to the tribes and did not lose faith.   “’Thus let all Your enemies perish, O LORD; but let those who love Him be like the rising (yatza, going forth) of the sun in its might.’ And the land was undisturbed for forty years.” (Ju 5:31)   You probably won’t need your time machines next week, but it never hurts to leave it parked in the garage. You never know. Between now and the resurrection though, keep those lamps burning and the torches lit. Next week, we’ll take a peek at the horses of Revelation and those fiery torches riding them.   If the blood is up to the horse’s bridles when the nations surround Jerusalem, one question might be: “Which horses?”   The horses of the human armies, or the horses of the holy myriads?     Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

The annual Torah portion reading this week is parsha “Shoftim” (Deuteronomy 16:18 through 21:9) and it begins with exactly what the Hebrew word means: appointment of “judges.” Unlike what we’ve gotten used to now that “lawlessness abounds,” however, they are to judge “righteously.” Thus, in accord with His Instruction, which is what “torah” means. And as the Erev Shabbat reading says shortly thereafter, “justice, JUSTICE you shall pursue.” What a concept. “Quaint,” even — by woke standards (or lack thereof.) https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/SSM-8-14-26-Shoftim-teaching-podcast-xxx.mp3 But there’s much more – as you no doubt expect. And as Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa points out (again) – the fact that so much of what He says is now not only unrighteously “politically-correct,” but is even said to be, by much of “xtianity,” somehow now ‘done away with’ speaks volumes. “Shoftim: Judges – Justice, Justice – and FAKES; One True Messiah – podcast xxxx” https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/WT-CooH-8-15-26-Shoftim-Judges-Justice-Justice-BLPoS-fake-kings-fake-prophets-and-ONE-True-Messiah-podcast-xxxx.mp3 Service information: Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship worship services and teachings are broadcast live every Sabbath, via Paltalk. (www.paltalk.com has both the link, and the app.) The “room name” is “Walking Torah with Shabbat Shalom Mesa,” and can be found via the paltalk search, then bookmarked. Erev Shabbat services begin at 7:00 PM Mountain Time Friday evenings (9 PM Eastern, 8 PM Central) Live Sabbath teachings begin shortly after 11 AM Mountain time on Sabbath day (Saturday). email: mark@markniwot.com The combined two-part reading and Sabbath midrash: https://hebrewnationonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/WT-CooH-8-15-26-Shoftim-Judges-Justice-Justice-BLPoS-fake-kings-fake-prophets-and-ONE-True-Messiah-podcast-xxxx.mp3

Mark Call takes a look back at some of the major news stories, and scams, of the week ending 15 August, 2026. After being lied to about SO much for SO long, it’s amazing to see what is finally seeping out. But it’s only just begun.

Mark Call and David Justice discuss some of the major news of the week, and the promise in Scripture that things “hidden” will eventually be revealed. That was certainly true this week – for good, AND for Evil. Because the Evil being revealed is doubling-down.

Mark welcomes author and Torah teacher Pete Rambo back to the show, for a look at everything from AI and other forms of paganism, to proper authority in the family. “Why Torah? Why Now? From AI to Idolatry, to Biblical Headship” Pete Rambo’s YouTube channel: @PeterGRambo email: natsab2013@gmail.com website: natsab.com Video of Pete’s “Kingdom Restoration Conference,” held a few weeks back in Nashville, Tennessee, is available via: KingdomRestorationConf.com and his books, “Ten Parts in the King,” and “Authority, Headship, and Family Structure (According to Moses)” are available through Amazon.

News and commentary for Thursday, 13 August, 2026.

News and commentary for Wednesday, 12 August, 2026.

News and commentary for Tuesday, 11 August, 2026.

News and commentary for Monday, 10 August, 2026.

Love and Torah – what’s love got to do with it? This study series is based on the “Two Great Commands” – love Yahweh and love your neighbor. In reviewing the last episode, Rabbi Berkson cautions against deceptive teachers, as John also cautioned in 1 John 4:1. This deception is at work today in some faiths that are actually a “World System mixed with Truth.” As Rabbi Berkson points out, some people have a tough time hearing the message from the Word of Elohim because it’s not delivered in a way that matches their predetermined ideas of how it should be dispensed. The teachers in this system are also guarded in what they say and how they say it because they are more concerned with offending people than with pleasing Elohim. In 1 John 4:7, Rabbi Berkson begins this teaching by explaining that we are to love one another who are of the same mind in Messiah. He explains that if we can’t love each other, how can we extend any love outside of ourselves to those whom Elohim would want to have in covenant with Him? In verse 9, the word ‘manifest’ is used, and Rabbi Berkson wants to ensure the definition of that word does not get lost in any prior understanding we may have. The word ‘manifest’ means to be revealed to the seeing eye. Messiah is manifested through us as we live through Him, not the other way around, loving others as He would love them. Rabbi Berkson once again dissects these passages so that you will have a deeper understanding of what Yah expects of you, so that you can do it and receive the blessings. mtoi.org The MTOI App https://mtoi.org/download-the-mtoi-app youtube.com/@mtoi facebook.com/mtoiworldwide instagram.com/mtoi_worldwide admin@mtoi.org (423) 250-3020 Join us LIVE (all times Eastern): • Torah Study, Fridays 7:30 pm • Shabbat Service, Saturdays 1:15 pm Streaming available on YouTube, Rumble, MTOI App, and mtoi.org

  The Time Traveler’s Quick Guide to Armageddon Part Two   Hello, again, time travelers. It is, was, and will be good that you’re back with us for our journey through time with Abraham, Moses, Deborah, and…well…Yeshua. We don’t have the names of the major players at the final Armageddon, but all we need to know is that Yeshua will be there.   Last week we looked at the prophetic cycling of particular place names that threaded into Deborah’s dilemma with the kings of the east, Jabin and Sisera. By rolling through the Torah scrolls, she read the prophecies, and with a Divine directive, she used the Torah lessons to guide the Israelite army to victory alongside Barak. This week we’ll gather some more clues in our quest for understanding Armageddon. I guess we better make that Har Megiddo, my brave Israelite warriors and scholars!   Let’s take a look at a couple more of the geographical locations of our heroes against the kings of the east. Alongside her Torah scrolls, Deborah holds the land title descriptions handed down from Joshua. Just for a quick trip, time travelers, set your time machine to the time of Joshua’s (Yehoshua’s) conquest west of the Jordan River. You’ll need those maps you taped to your steering wheel last week. Locate the one from the time of Joshua’s conquest and/or the time of the Judges, just don’t study your maps while you’re flying through time. I’m not sure what you might hit.   Okay, here we are. Take a good look at the tribal boundaries from Joshua’s conquest. Each tribe’s territory is described in detail, just like a land deed today. Locate the area of Zevulun, Ephraim, and Issachar, which takes up the area between the Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea.   Deborah’s battle with Sisera took place at the junction of Zevulun and Issachar’s territory along with the Levitical clan of Gershon’s. Look over the following verses closely and find the places on your map. Now here are the clues. What looks like a strange extra phrase “toward the sunrise [mizrach]” in the land title is a hint to the future battle with kings of the east:   [The allotment of the tribe of Zevulun] “Then it turned from Sarid to the east toward the sunrise as far as the border of Chisloth-tabor, and it proceeded to Daberath and up to Japhia.” (Jos 19:12)    ?????? ?????????? ??????? ??????? ?????????? ??????????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ?????????????? ??????? ???????   [To the Levitical clan of Gershon…] From the tribe of Issachar, they gave Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands…(Jos 21:28) “…and from the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands” (1Ch 6:72)   More place-names stand out: Tabor, Kishon, Daberath, Kedesh.   Back to the future, young warriors. Let’s go back to Deborah’s palm tree. Can you see her? She’s scroll-rolling again. She’s totally ignoring that plate of pita, hummus, and olive relish. It looks delicious.   Last week we connected Deborah’s Kedesh with Kadesh, a place in the wilderness the four kings conquered before they turned back east and engaged the five kings and kidnapped Lot and his family.   There is also a Kadesh that was a key encampment for the Israelites in the wilderness. Deborah links Kedesh to Kadesh. Holy to holy. In fact, this is the encampment in the wilderness of Tzin where Miriam died and was buried in the month of Passover, the same month Pharaoh and his chariots were defeated:   “Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.” (Nu 20:1-2)   For Deborah, life as a judge of Israel couldn’t have been all peace, love, and casseroles. If women in ministry are rejected today, imagine how difficult it would have been a few thousand years ago! Miriam’s ministry in Israel must have been a special inspiration to Deborah, a judge and prophetess:   “For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and ransomed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses to lead you, Aaron the high priest, and Miriam the prophetess.” (Micah 6:4 AMP)   Here is the outside-of-time hand of the Father on Israel’s behalf. Whereas the Kadesh in the wilderness was a place where there was no water because Miriam died[1], it would be an over-abundance of unexpected water, a literal flood, at the Kishon River that snared the kings of the east! Are you watching? Here comes General Barak, and he sits down beside Deborah under the palm tree.   Then Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.” She said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh, and ten thousand men went up with him; Deborah also went up with him.” (Judges 4:8-10)   What a wonderful precedent Miriam and Moses set for Deborah and Barak. Even in the tiny insight we have to Miriam’s life, which consists of her heroic saving of Moses’ life as well as her punishment for speaking about Moses’ Cushite wife, we have more clues, my fellow time travelers. The Israelite camp DID NOT MOVE WITHOUT MIRIAM. Not one inch!   And what about the Song of Moses after the defeat of Pharaoh and his bogged-down chariots in the Reed Sea? The Song was echoed by Miriam, who led the women. So what does Deborah do? After they defeat Sisera’s chariots in the bog of the Kishon, she sings The Song of Deborah. I think they were both probably altos.   What had Deborah seen in the scrolls?   She saw Kadesh, so she saw Kedesh. She saw Chisloth-tabor, so she saw Mount Tabor. She saw Daberath, so she saw Deborah. She saw the green pastures of Daberath linked to the pastures of the Kishion, so she saw The Shepherd of Israel providing peace through her guidance to the troops: “Go from Tabor to the Kishon.”   If they obeyed the Great Shepherd’s instructions, then no one would need to strike a rock; instead, a flood of water would bog down and confuse the chariots and Sisera’s army.   Speak to the Rock. Speak.   Deborah looks at Barak. “Muster your 10,000 soldiers from Kedesh, holiness, and wait on Mount Tabor for Sisera’s troops to notice you.” The 10,000 holy soldiers will only appear to run away, which will lure in the kings of the east to Har Megiddo like Pharaoh was lured in.   Somehow Deborah knows that those 10,000 holy soldiers will be only a small portion of the full army that will show up for battle.   Deborah tells Barak that specific number of warriors: 10,000. They have a context for 10,000 because sometimes the word is translated as “myriads.” It suggests the myriads of holy ones (angels) who accompanied the Holy One at Mount Sinai when He gave the Israelites the Torah.   Fire up your travel machines, brave Israelites. Program in “Mt. Sinai” as your destination. Be careful. The weatherman reports rain, hail, lightning, and heavy clouds. Now we are watching what Deborah saw in the scroll. It is recorded in Deuteronomy 33:2. It says,   “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir,”   which is the territory of Esau of Edom, The Red One, who lived in Seir. In fact, it was from Kadesh that Moses requested, and was refused safe passage by Edom. He also requested to buy food and water, and he was refused by Edom: “Thus Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.” (Nu 20:21)   “He shone forth from Mount Paran,” which is a big red mountain the four kings defeated before Sodom: “…and the Horites in their Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is by the wilderness.”   “And He came from the midst of 10,000 holy ones.”   So He came noticeably with myriads of angels. This is how King Solomon will see the Savior of Israel: “My beloved is dazzling white and ruddy, preeminent among the myriad.” (So 5:10 Artscroll)   “At His right hand, there was flashing lightning for them.”   Some translations are more literal, and they’ll translate it as a fiery law. So is it lightning, or is it a fiery law in His right hand?   Yes.   Barak’s name means “lightning.”   Perhaps not so coincidentally, Yael used her “right hand” (Ju 5:26) to drive the tent peg into Sisera’s skull, breaking/dividing it (???????), which is part of the compound name of Hazazon-Tamar, the place the kings of the east conquered just before the battle with the five kings. Deborah and Barak are going to battle with the fiery Word of God. Barak is not going to need 10,000 soldiers. This number tells the Israelites that the Holy One will come marching with His myriads of angels to fight for Israel, which is exactly how the Song of Deborah begins.   Now you are seeing what Deborah saw in those scrolls.   So hold your position at Sinai, troops. Hover right here near Mount Sinai and idle until next Shabbat. Next week, we will and did and are traveling a little farther, to the camp of another brave couple: Avraham and Sarah. We’ll gather more clues to this smokin’ Israelite army of 10,000.   “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; when he was but one I called him, then I blessed him and multiplied him.” (Is 51:2)   [1] The traditional reading of this passage is that the water dried up because Miriam died. The miracle of the cloud was associated with Aaron’s service, the manna was associated with Moses’ service, and the water from the Rock was associated with Miriam’s service. Indeed, Yeshua the Rock first met Miriam (Mary) after his resurrection.     Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Host Mark Call takes a look back at some of the major news stories of the week ending 8 August, 2026. Again, there is certainly no shortage of evidence that the Rule of Law has been ALMOST dead and buried. But it’s the OTHER evidence that some folks are finally getting sick and tired of – and are even willing to do something — about what has been going on for so long that should be the center of attention.

Mark Call and David Justice discuss some of the major news of the week, and why a ‘dumbed-down,’ and ultimately ignorant population will get more of it. So don’t ‘consent’ – don’t even let the Evil into your house.

Host Mark Call introduces the theme this week with a bit of musing: Have you noticed that there is a tendency for the propagandists – the politicians – ‘the world’ – to ‘pooh-pooh’ the things that might sound “supernatural,” or even “Biblical,” and reduce them, by stages, to something that doesn’t even admit to a real Creator? Even things that Scripture warns against, that might even be called “UN-natural” are being ‘paganized down’ to the point at which propagandists, and politicians, and pitiable preachers, claim that they’re OK, if you ignore a Biblical worldview. While what was clearly described in prophecy, and might otherwise be thought “supernatural,” is also explained away, to the point where any input from a Creator can be discounted. Meanwhile – men work hard to build a Better God, that they can’t even seem to keep in their box. Does there come a time when some can’t help but recognize a line has been crossed? “When the Jig Is UP…”

News and commentary for Thursday, 6 August, 2026.

News and commentary for Wednesday, 5 August, 2026.

News and commentary for Tuesday, 4 August, 2026.