Qumran Zadokites and their Allies (4 of 7): Analysis and History Relating to the Most Holy of Daniel 9:24 and Yeshua/Melchizedek of Genesis 14:18

Yeshua (Jesus) was known by three titles: 

1. The Word made Flesh (John 1:14)
2. Melchizedek, King of the Celestial Kingdom of Shalem (John 18:36)
3. Melchizedek, Priest of the Kingdom of Shalem (Genesis 14:18)

From Genesis 14:18 to Daniel 9:24 to Revelation 21:2-3, the message remains the same because Yeshua is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

With today's podcast, Episode 139, and Part 26 in this series about Yeshua and the House of Tzadok, we will learn more about the Qumran community of priests and what they understood concerning the coming New Covenant as it relates to Daniel 9:24 and Exodus 19:6. It is not just about maintaining an inheritance of integrity among the Sons of Tzadok. This is also about the Sons of Light who came to be called by other terms such as "Members of the Covenant," A Community of the Faithful," and "Associates of an Everlasting Society." 

Today, we will learn more about the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 4:17, meaning the Kingdom of Shalem), the priesthood "Crown" of Exodus 28:36-38, and the credit that we have as Sons of Tzadok through Melchizedek (Romans 4:5-6, 21-22; Hebrews 13:9-11). 

This 50-minute episode is jam-packed with lots of biblical references that will keep you busy in your biblical study of the History of the House of Tzadok. 

Join us for Real Israel Talk Radio, Episode 139, and Part 26 in my closing series of studies on the last Passover Week Chronology and Timeline of Yeshua. 

Transcript

This is podcast episode 139 – a continued historical summary concerning the biblical priestly line of Aaron as it was passed down to the House of the Sons of Tzadok. This episode is PART 26.

With the previous program, PART 25, I focused our attention on the priestly line of Aaron and how his authority came to be established through his firstborn son Elazar. Later, Elazar passed on his elected authority to Phinchas, who then passed his Aaronic inheritance downline to Tzadok, who served in a priestly function for King David based on 1 Chronicles 24:3 and Nehemiah 12:4. 

This Tzadok hereditary priestly line from the time of King David produced several well-known personalities, including Jeremiah Prophet, Ezekiel the Priest, and Ezra the Scribe. During the Zadokite Priest Ezra, when the divine invitation was sent out to return back to the Land of Judah, NOT ALL the priestly courses joined in their return back to Jerusalem. Many of the families of the priests put down their roots in Babylon. Among them, only FOUR (4) priestly courses are known to have returned, at least according to Ezra 2:36-39, numbering exactly 5,289 priests. 

Generations later, Yochanan or John the Baptist was conceived. He was the priestly Zadokite son of Zecharias (as this is transmitted to us based on naming conventions in Greek culture). Zecharias is in the Zadokite bloodline family of Aviyah as written in 1 Chronicles 24:3-10. His wife Elisheva is from the priestly bloodline of Aaron, based on Luke 1:5. Now, it must be noted that many details are a bit sketchy as to how the priestly family of Aviyah fits into the return to Jerusalem under Ezra when four families of priests came with Ezra from Babylon to Jerusalem; priests who were legitimate according to 1 Chronicles 24:7-18. According to this written record, there were 24 priestly families established for Temple service in the days of King David. Among the four families of priests who returned, it is plausible to think that some (not all) from the family of Aviyah might have returned with Ezra. It is difficult to say with any precision. 

Another thing to understand. Historical information from Josephus and all later Rabbinic writings appear to make it unmistakable that by the first century of what is referred to as the common era (“CE”), Hebrew scripture was already considered a “closed canon.” This means that in the days of Yeshua, the religious leaders of Judah endorsed only a certain series of books that could be called Scripture. Any other books or works not approved as part of the Canon of Scripture were simply NOT validated, meaning the words and teachings could not be called Scripture nor Prophetic. But this was NOT THE CASE among the Zadokites and their supporters. For them, Scripture was NOT CONSIDERED a closed canon in Yeshua’s day, and this is quite evident from some of the recorded statements in the books of the New Covenant as we read from it today: 

• Yehudah (Jude) v.14. Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, Yehovah comes with ten thousands of His Holy Ones.

• Matthew 23:34. Therefore, indeed, I send you Prophets, wise men, and scribes.

• 1 Corinthians 12:28-29. And God has appointed these in the congregation (church): first apostles, second prophets, third teachers…

• 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise Prophecies. Test all things; hold fast to what is good. 

As I understand it, the early Pharisaic reason for voting to seal off the Canon of Hebrew Scripture was in order to firmly establish Pharisaic authority on Earth, and therefore, the teaching and influence of the Prophetic Zadokites was SHUT DOWN and SHUT OFF a channel of learning for the common people. This is the likely basis for one of Yeshua’s critical statements against the religious authorities of His time. 

• Matthew 23:13.   But woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you neither go in nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

Yeshua was presented as the Word made flesh, but yet He was also received as one and the same with Melchizedek, who appeared to Avram in Genesis 14:18 and was, therefore, not only King of the Celestial City of Shalem (which is called the Kingdom of God) but also Priest to El Elyon. Without a priestly relationship to the House of Tzadok established in the time of King David, I seriously doubt that Zecharias would have been called up in a priestly lottery to offer incense on behalf of the nation to Yehovah in the Holy Place of the House of Yehovah. Once more, according to the Aaronic tradition that governs the functions of a legitimate priesthood, only those of a provable Zadokite heritage would be allowed to perform an incense offering to Yehovah, at least, based on 1 Chronicles 23:13 and Numbers 4:16. From the information that we have based on Luke 1:5-6, Zecharias was a legitimate priest in the bloodline of Tzadok and therefore, was a legitimate and qualified priest along with his wife to represent the interests of Yehovah’s Will through the priestly line of the ancient House of Tzadok. 

• Luke 1:6. And they were both Tzadok (righteous) in the face of God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of Yehovah blameless.

As for the story of Zechariah and Elisheva and the naming of their yet-to-be-conceived son of his Zadokite Priestly heritage, we learn the following: 

• Luke 1:11-13. Then, an Angel of Yehovah appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zachariah saw, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the Angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisheva will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 

In my previous program, Episode 138 and Part 25 in this series, I advanced the question, why did the Angel of Yehovah tell Zecharias to name the child Yochanan or John? A possible answer to the question is with a bloodline link that survived between the legitimate Zadokite Priest Zecharias and the last legitimate Zadokite high priest among the Judeans prior to the emergence of the Hasmoneans and that dynasty of forces that sought to eradicate the Zadokites about 150 years before Yeshua. 

The name of the last known and Legitimate Zadokite Priest was Onias the Third, who was also called יוֹחָנָן הַכֹּהֵן, abbreviated to Honi, the Cohen. When Zecharias was told by the Angel Gabriel to name his yet-to-be-conceived son Yochanan, later known as the Immerser or “The Baptist,” it appears to be linked back to Onias III. By naming the child, “Yochanan,” Zecharias connected him to the legitimate priestly line of Aaron through Elezar, which then traces back even further to Genesis 14:18 when Melchizedek, Priest to El Elyon, appeared to Avram from the Celestial Kingdom of Shalem. This tells me that the Zadokite priest Yochanan the Immerser (“The Baptist”) was more than a Prophet because he was chosen to announce the soon arrival of Melchizedek, also called the Logos or the Word of Yehovah, who sits as King and Priest of Shalem according to Psalm 110:4-5. 

• Psalm 110:4-5. Yehovah has sworn and will not be comforted (with any other plan saying), “You are a Priest forever (The Word of Yehovah) according to the Order (Course) of Melchizedek. The Master is at Your Right.

The Master could be no other than Adonai (later called by the name Yeshua,) the promised coming Messianic Son of David, who must also be titled by His Eternal Kingly and Priestly Name – Melchizedek, which I understand the meaning to be “I - King Tzadok.” He fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel 9:24. 

• Daniel 9:24. Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in Eternal Tzadok (righteousness), to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy (Yeshua).

• Luke 19:41-44. Now, as He (Yeshua) drew near, He saw the city and wept over her, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things for your Shalom (“peace,” a play on the term Shalem from Genesis 14:18). But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (meaning the visitation of King Tzadok arriving from the Celestial City of Shalem hence, fulfilling the meaning of the word “Jerusalem”; translated to English as “He will see Shalem”).

Yeshua came to be physically anointed as Heaven’s King of Shalem according to The Royal Order of the family of Judah. This is what I believe Yeshua meant when he said to the Roman Prefect Pontius Pilate: 

• John 18:36. “My Kingdom is not of this world. If My Kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Judeans; but now my Kingdom is not from here.”

But first, at the beginning of his public ministry, he received a spiritual anointing according to The Order of the Priest Melchizedek from Genesis 14:18. This took place at the Jordan River, in the waters of immersion, anointed by the chosen Zadokite Priest Yochanan the Immerser, son of the Zadokite Priest Zecharias. 

• Matthew 3:11. I indeed immerse you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I (implying Melchizedek), whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will Immerse you with the Holy Spirit and Fire.

This bestows Yeshua with two titles: Eternal King through Judah and Eternal Priest through Levi, fulfilling the eternal decree of Psalm 110:1-4. This links Melchizedek as Heaven’s Priestly Head to Aaron, Elazar, Phinehas, Zadok, Onias III (also called Yochanan), Zecharias in Luke 1:5, Yochanan the Immerser in Luke 7:26, and finally to Yeshua when he requested from Yochanan the Zadokite to be immersed in the water. And, so it was that Yeshua said to Yochanan, who was there to anoint Yeshua to the Spiritual component of his calling. 

• Matthew 3:15. “…for thus it is fitting (kosher) for us to fulfill all of Zadok.”

This statement merges all the material earthly components of Kingship and spiritual heavenly components of Priesthood to all who will enter the New Covenant as believers in the King and Priest who is called Melchizedek – “I am King Tzadok." This establishes the prophecy of Jeremiah 33:15-18.

• Jeremiah 33:15-18. In those days and at that time, I will cause to grow up to David, A Branch of Tzadok (righteousness); He shall execute judgment and Tzadok (righteousness) in the earth. In those days, Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this by which she will be called: Yehovah is our Tzadok (Our Righteousness). For thus says Yehovah: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the House of Israel; nor shall the Priests (of) the Levites, lack a man to offer elevation offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.

Consider this a transfer that changes one’s status from Earth’s Kingdom of Darkness to Heaven’s Kingdom of Light. This One is King and Priest – the Anointed One Yeshua, who rules with absolute power in the Celestial City above; called Shalem, because of who Yeshua is; that is, the Prince of Shalom, which means completeness and wholeness. This notion is precisely what Avram experienced when he received a visitation from three (3) Men (“Angels”) in Genesis 18: 2, one of whom appears to be Melchizedek.

• Hebrews 1:1. HaElohim, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets….

All who come to this Anointed One – Yeshua, that is Melchizedek, who is Heaven’s Eternal King and Eternal Priest, a New Name is given along with a unique priestly occupation granted to the Elect Ones, meaning the Chosen because, to them, it is a spiritual inheritance among the Sons of Tzadok according to the Order Melchizedek. It was the same for Avram, who also came to believe in the Word of Yehovah, whose Name is also King Tzadok; that is, Melchizedek.

• Genesis 15:5-6. …Look now toward Heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them. And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in Adonai (the Master), and He was accounted towards him as Tzadok (righteousness). 

This elevated status given to Avram refers to his position under the One that he came to know as his Exalted Father, who then transformed his name to Avraham, meaning The People’s Exalted Father, to reflect the role of the Prophetic Eternal Priest Melchizedek, whose work came to bring salvation to all people, nations, tribes, and tongues. This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6 (Hebrew: 9:5). 

• Isaiah 9:6 (Hebrew: 9:5). For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty El, Eternal Father, Prince of Shalom.

This is now the same blessing of a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation freely given to each of us when we enter the New Covenant established through Yeshua, who is an Eternal King and Eternal Priest. Therefore, it was written: 

• Hebrews 13:8. Yeshua the Anointed One: the same yesterday, today, and forever. 

Said differently, we enter the Kingdom of Heaven as Yehovah’s Sons of Tzadok in the same way that Avraham entered the Kingdom of Shalem; that is, through trust in the Word made flesh, in the One who called us to receive redemption and atonement through the work of Heaven’s Priest whose work is toward El Elyon; that is, Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18. So, did Sha’ul or Paul write: 

• Romans 4:5-6, 21-22. But to him who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted towards Tzadok (righteousness), just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes Tzadok(righteousness) apart from works (seeking to earn the status). And being fully convinced that what He had promised, He was also able to perform. And therefore, “it was accounted to him (Avram) toward Tzadok (righteousness).”

With this, we have been given a new name; that is, “Bene HaTzadok” = Sons of Tzadok and “Bene Ha’Or” = Sons of the Light, which is the basis as to why all believers in Yeshua should seek to guard the Torah and to faithfully walk according to the teaching authority of the One who is called the Teacher of Righteousness meaning of the Teacher Tzadok who is our King and Priest in the Kingdom of Melchizedek. 

• Matthew 23:9-10. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in Heaven. And do not be called Teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Anointed One (Messiah, the King and Priest).

Of course, this blessing also comes to us with an uncompromising warning:

• Hebrews 13:9-11. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For Good is the heart established by Grace (Yochanan), not with foods (doctrines) which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. We have an altar from which those who serve the Tabernacle have no right to eat (referring to the illegitimate priests who pretend to be the House of Zadok). For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 

And…

• Exodus 33:7. Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of Meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought Yehovah went out to the tabernacle of meeting, which was outside the camp.

And…

• Hebrews 13:12-15. Therefore, Yeshua also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here, we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.

So it was that Yeshua said: 

• Matthew 4:17. From that time (after his water immersion and anointing by the Zadokite Priest Yochanan), Yeshua began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven (“Shalem”) is near (at hand).”

The Celestial City that is to come to Earth is that of Shalem from above. So, did Yeshua confirm: 

• Luke 11:2. So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as in Heaven.

Accordingly, Sons of Tzadok (you and I by faith) are Priests unto El Elyon, which is explained in the Book of Exodus and the Book of Revelation:

• Exodus 19:6. And you shall be to Me a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.

• Revelation 3:12. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

The “crown” that is referred to is the gold crown with the words "Holiness to Yehovah" based on Exodus 28:36-38. 

• Exodus 28:36:38. You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on him, the engraving of a signet: Set Apart to Yehovah. And you shall put him on a blue cord, that it may be on the headband; it shall be on the front of the headband. So, it shall be for Aaron’s shining brightness (on his brow), that Aaron may lift up the iniquity (ahvon) of the Holy One which the Children of Israel hallow in all their set-apart gifts; and shall always be according to his shining brightness (his brow), that they (a priestly bride) may be desired before Yehovah.

So then, the Revelation of Yochanan continues: 

• Revelation 21:2-3. Then I, Yochanan (Yochanan, a Son of Tzadok), saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the Tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them, their God. 

This New Jerusalem, as previously mentioned, is from Hebrew, a compound of two words with a dual plural suffix, giving us “Y’ireh Shalem, meaning “He (the One who believes by faith) will see Shalem.” To get access into that Kingdom, one must be wearing the engraved golden crown that says, “Holiness to Yehovah," which is a term unique to the Sons of Tzadok according to the Order of HaTzadok; that is, Melchizedek. This would explain why Yeshua spoke about coming into an identification with the priestly Sons of Tzadok, saying:

• Matthew 5:20. For I say to you, that unless your (legitimate “tzadokness”) exceeds the (illegitimate tzadokness of the)Scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven (The Celestial City of Shalem). 

The Qumran Priests of the Sons of the House of Tzadok described the same matter among the Faithful Ones of their own time, those walking in Yehovah’s Covenant as His Friends; that is, Friends of the King and Friends of Elohim.  They wrote saying: 

• DSS 4Q269, Column 3, Lines 2-4. Abraham did not walk in (the families of Noach) and was counted as a friend for keeping God’s precepts and not following the desire of his spirit. And he passed (them) on to Isaac and to Jacob, and they kept (them) and were written up as Friends of Elohim (God) and as Members of the Covenant forever.

The Priests of the House of Tzadok went on to speak about walking faithfully according to Yehovah’s plan, that these are called “Sons of Tzadok,” “Members of the Covenant,” “a Community of the Eternal,” and “Associates of an Everlasting Society.”

• DSS 4Q256, Column 2, Lines 23-26. No one shall move down from his rank nor move up from the place of his lot. For all shall be in a Community of truth, of proper meekness, of compassionate love and upright purpose, towards each other, in a holy council, associates of an everlasting society. And anyone who declines to enter [the covenant of Go]d in order to walk in the stubbornness of his heart shall not [enter the Com]munity of His Truth.

There is no better place to give a witness to this instruction from the King of Tzadok than to read it from a statement that Yeshua said to his followers:

• John 15:15. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Here, the term “friend” is from the Hebrew word Chet Vet Resh = “Chaver,” which has deep, multiple meanings, including one who is an INTIMATE ASSOCIATE of Yehovah and, therefore, A LOVED ONE. Subsequently, it should be of no surprise that Yeshua employed some interesting wordplay to drive his point home: 

• John 14:15. If you love Me, keep My commandments.

And…

• John 15:12-13. This is My commandment, that you love one each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 

And…

• John 14:23. “If anyone loves Me, he will safeguard My Word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

The same decree had previously been declared by the Prophet Isaiah. 

• Isaiah 53:5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our completeness (wholeness) was upon Him, and by His FRIENDSHIP, ASSOCIATION (LOVED ONE), we are healed.