Daily Tidbits 2/14 – Shadow of Messiah – Valentine’s Day

Shadow of Messiah – Valentine’s Day FULL VERSION

Valentine’s day is used to represent love and courtship. This holiday traces back to the heathen festival of Lupercaliaclick here which was an ancient fertility rite, a perversion of love. The fertility rites were done for ‘purification’ and for fertility of the land and people. This is a corruption of the Biblical principle of being kings and priests who are purified from the corruption of this world, called to spread the Word (the Seed – Luke 8:11) to all nations (Psalm 125:5-6).

Lupercalia occurred during the ides of February, a month which literally means purificationclick here.

February comes from the Latin ‘februarius mensis’ which means ‘month of purification.’ ‘Februa’ means ‘purification.’ Purity and purification are associated with the Word (Proverbs 30:5; Psalm 12:6; 19:8-9; 119:140).

The English words ‘pure’ and ‘February’ trace back to the Hebrew word בר ‘bar’ which means pure.
Psa 19:8 The precepts of YHWH are right, rejoicing the heart. The commands of YHWH are pure, giving light to the eyes.

בר is refers to the Son
Psa 2:12 Kiss the Son (בר), lest He be angry, and you perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Oh the blessings of all those who flee to Him for refuge!
Pro 30:4 Who has gone up to Heaven, and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in His garments? Who has made all the ends of the earth to rise? What is His name, and what is His Son’s (בר) name? Surely you know.
Pro 30:5 Every Word of God is refined (צרף ‘tsaraph’ pure), He is a shield to those who seek refuge in Him.
בר also refers to corn/grain/wheat (Genesis 41:35, 49; 42:3, 25; Psalm 65:13; 72:16)

Joh 12:23 But Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, If the grain of wheat that falls into the earth does not die, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Joh 12:25 The one who loves his life loses it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it to everlasting life.

In the heathen custom, the land was purified by youths who traversed the land carrying skins of the goats and dogs that were sacrificed, dipped in blood and milk. The youths would strike the people of the land which was supposed to give them fertility. This is a corruption of the milk of the Word (Psalm 34:8; 1 Peter 2:2-3) and blood of Messiah (Revelation 1:5-6) which purifies His people (Ephesians 5:26).

Purification of the bride.

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly and gave Himself up on its behalf,
Eph 5:26 that He might sanctify it, cleansing it by the washing of the water in the Word,
Eph 5:27 that He might present it to Himself as the glorious assembly, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such things, but that it be holy and without blemish.
Eph 5:28 So, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies, (he loving his wife loves himself),
Eph 5:29 for then no one hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, even as also the Lord the assembly.
Eph 5:30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.
Eph 5:31 “For this, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh.” Gen. 2:24
Eph 5:32 The mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ and as to the assembly.
Eph 5:33 However, you also, everyone, let each one love his wife as himself, and the wife, that she give deference to the husband.
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.

History.com
“In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.”

“To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification.”

In Roman lore, Romulus and Remus were raised up by the wolf and given sustenance from its breast.

As seen in the previous tidbit, the puppyclick here (the ‘tamed wolf’) represents the love of Yah, in particular the first love man experiences after coming to know the love of the Father in sending His Son to die for His sins. The word puppy comes from the Hebrew word בבה which is intimately linked to a baby sucking milk from the breasts of its mother.

In Hebrew, loveclick here is associated with the father and mother and being held in their bosom. אם (mother) is the source of the Latin ‘amare,’ the French ‘amitie’ and the English ‘amity’ which mean love. One of the Hebrew words for love is דד ‘dud/dad’ which means both love and breasts/bosom and is the source of the English word ‘dad.’ Interestingly, the English word ‘baby’ comes from the Hebrew בבה ‘baba’ which is related to the word אבוב ‘aboob’ the root of which is אב which means father but also means a pipe, as in the breast of the mother whose milk flows to give sustenance to the baby. בבה in Hebrew means the pupil, the apple of one’s eyes. As any parent has held their baby in their arms against their bosom they recognize that this is the epitome of love and intimate relationship (apple of the eye/little guy in the eye).

Lupercus was the ‘god of shepherds’ and Romulus and Remus were known as the ‘kings of shepherds.’ This further is also a corruption of the dog/wolf Shepherd connection seen in a previous tidbit on the dogclick here.

In Biblical times, the dog was the companion of the shepherd who clung to him in love, whose job was to help guard the sheep (Job 30:1). Who is the Shepherd? Messiah (Psalm 23:1; 80:1; Ezekiel 34:11; 37:24; John 10:11-14) . The name of the Messiah יהושוע ‘Yehoshua’ comes from the root meaning to keep watch over the flock. The root of יהושוע is שע.