Discovering Insights in Extra-Biblical Books
Q&A with EBL Reader: Sherry Sanders
In today’s post, I’m privileged to introduce an EBL reader: Sherry Sanders.
Sherry is the co-author of The Gospel Worth Dying For and a member of two ministries related to Yah’s (God’s) calendar: gospelworthdyingfor.com and prophecyvine.com.
Sherry started her truth walk in 2004 by reading the Bible all the way through at the age of 52. She learned about the Torah, the importance of keeping Yah’s feasts and sabbaths, eating biblically clean, and using the Hebrew alphabet as a study tool.
Twelve years later, Sherry discovered a group of Levitical priestly families in 1 Chronicles 24. Yah assigned these families through king David to minister in Solomon’s Temple. He promised them that they would minister in the future eternal temple spoken of in Ezekiel chapters 40-48. These families lived, studied, and worshiped at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
This information intrigued Sherry, and she began studying the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Knowing that extra-biblical books are central to Sherry’s ministry, I have invited her to share about them and her discoveries.
Q&A with Sherry
Sarah: What extra-biblical books do you recommend?
Sherry: I believe the Books of Jubilees, 1 Enoch, Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Dead Sea Scrolls are important for anyone wanting to learn more about our heritage as children of our heavenly Father.
Sarah: What is something in the Book of Jubilees that surprised you?
Sherry: Jubilees answers a lot of questions. Chapter 2 gives us a beautiful picture of Yah’s creation week starting with our angel brothers being born on Day 1 and given their eternal duties immediately.
Chapter 2 also shares that the Sabbath day is more holy and blessed than any jubilee day and that the Sabbath day of rest was kept in the heavens before it was made known to any flesh here on earth.
Jubilees chapter 4 explains that Enoch was the first man who learned writing, knowledge and wisdom to share with mankind, then was led by angels to the Garden of Eden (not heaven) in majesty and honor where he wrote the condemnation and judgment of the world before the flood occurred.
Sarah: Why do you believe 1 Enoch is important to study?
Sherry: The first sentence of 1 Enoch states that his words are a blessing for the elect and righteous living in tribulation when the wicked and godless will be removed. Enoch tells his son, Methuselah, in chapter 82,
1 Enoch 82:1 “Now my son Methuselah, all these things I am recounting to thee and writing down to thee, and I have revealed to thee everything, and given these books concerning all these: so preserve, my son Methuselah, the books from thy father’s hand, and (see) that thou deliver them to the generations of the world.” (R. H. Charles translation)
Sarah: What can we learn from the Testament of the 12 Patriarchs?
Sherry: The Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs (T12) was one book found at Qumran. Levi’s testament gives an account of Levi being chosen by Yah to receive the priesthood at nineteen years of age. According to the Testament of Judah, Judah was also given the kingship at the same time.
Another bit of information in Levi’s testament is a prophecy that Levi’s second son Kohath (whose family was given charge of the sanctuary ark, the table, the candlestick, the altars, the vessels wherewith they minister Numbers 3:27), would father his first-born son Amram. Amram later married Levi’s daughter, Yochebed (Amram and Yochebed were born on the same day). Together they became the parents of Aaron, Moses and Miriam. So it makes perfect sense that Aaron, the oldest of the two brothers, would become the Levitical High Priest in the wilderness of Mt. Sinai.
The Bible shares another nugget of truth to ponder because Elisheba, Aaron’s wife, was from the tribe of Judah. This confirms that Yeshua was from both the priesthood and kingship lines.
Exodus 6:23 “Aaron took Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bore him Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. (KJV)
Numbers 1:7 “Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.” (KJV)
Nahshon, the brother of Elisheba, was the prince of the tribe of Judah at the first numbering in the wilderness of Sinai. He was also the 5th descent from Judah in the genealogy of Yeshua our Messiah in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.
WOW, see the wonderful things we glean when we study all the wonderful books given to us about our eternal heritage as believers.
Sarah: What is something you have learned from the Dead Sea Scrolls that has changed your walk with Elohim?
Sherry: The Dead Sea Scrolls give us an account of the Zadok priesthood who lived Yah’s Torah of instructions every day. The calendar they used matches up with 1 Enoch, Jubilees, T12 and the Bible. When I first started studying to be approved, I was taught to find two or three witnesses to every subject, and these books plus others provide many.
Sarah: What are some resources you recommend for someone who wants to learn more about these extra-biblical books?
Sherry: The biggest obstacle of studying the extra biblical books is we do not have interlinear resources like we have in Bibles. When I want to research the meaning of a word, I use Blue Letter Bible or another app to locate the word’s first mention in the Bible. Then I locate the root word, hopefully in Hebrew.
I recently bought a book titled The Most Complete 150-Book Apocrypha, that I look forward to reading. However, remember to look for witnesses in your studies as some books are not in line with the Bible, which is the standard measure to use.
My favorite Dead Sea Scrolls book is The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English by Geza Vermes. I also use The Dead Sea Scrolls a New Translation by Wise, Abegg and Cook.
Studying extra biblical books has been a game changer to my faith walk. I thank Sarah for inviting me to share this passion with her readers.
Sarah: Thank you to Sherry for sharing these amazing insights. I hope this post encourages you in your journey with extra-biblical books.
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Here's to another enjoyable interview-transcript-styled article. I very much look forward to acquiring a copy of this book authoree by Sherry, especially with how many years she has been in The Way.
These are some great highlights for the books listed off as standing out. I too resonated with a lot of the points.
For instance, how the Elder Race (our celestial Siblings) were born on Day 1, and how that actually refutes their being created in ages past like the Gap Theory maintains.
I'm glad it was brought up how the weekly Sabbath is described as the most important day--not just of the day of the week but of all the set-apart days. These verses [Jub 2:26, 30, 32] together loudly proclaim the primacy and exaltation of the 7th Day Sabbath above any and all other Sabbaths and high days--setting the record straight about the most Yom Qodesh (Set-Apart Day) debate within Judaism (a religion their founding Pharisee-turned-Rabbis rejected and consequently banned).
Apologies for getting carried away with this last point below, but I hope this research I've been sitting on helps stimulate Sherry in particular (& perhaps others) to delve deeper into that new 150-book collection.
I find a couple of pedigree details interesting as they relate to Torah. Firstly, how in Exodus 6:20, Amram the father of Moses & Aaron married either his aunt (Heb. MT) or cousin (Gk. LXX) Jochebed. This is to be considered along with the article-mentioned union of the priestly line with the royal line seen in Exodus 6:23.
The T12P are in agreement with Jubilees 31 that both Levi & Judah were intended to be kept distinct in their offices and bloodlines by tribe {the latter is called endogamy and became a case law obligation to all tribes for inheritance purposes {[Numbers 36] cf. [Tobit 1:9, 4:12, 6:12; Judith 8:2,7]}. Add to this that there is a distinct reading of a Torah ruling for Levites in the Greek, where along with being prohibited from marrying non-virgins as per the Hebrew Masoretic, we have the Greek clarifying what "from his own people" of Leviticus 21:14-15 means:
"He shall take for a wife a virgin of his own tribe"
-Leviticus 21:13 (Brenton's Septuagint {LXX})
With these Scriptural details considered, what stands out is certain pedigree laws of the codified Torah actually began to only be applied/enforced from Moses forward once it was officially formalized [Leviticus 18], though the Dinah incident was described as one of its precedents in hindsight [Jubilees 30]. If it was not so, then both of Israel's leaders in the wilderness (Moses & Aaron) would have such charges raised against them.
Yet still, Yochanan/John the Immerser (a Levite) and Yahusha/Jesus (a Judahite) ended up being cousins anyway. While the Savior was not a direct Levite by bloodline [Hebrews 7:11-14], His eartly & heavenly ministries managed to combine both priesthood and royalty, together with His being the greatest prophet of that office too.
I'll end with my conclusion that these offices were indeed meant to be separated until the Anointed One would arrive between His 1st & 2nd comings.
Thank you to Sarah and Sherry for this post.
While I am familiar with texts such as 1 Enoch and Jubilees, I do not know much about the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, and Sherry's story modivates me to learn more about it.