Helena, Queen of Adiabene

[Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] welcome to treasured inheritance ministry with myself aaliyah and it's going to be such a great time that we're going to have today together because this teaching is really really a very deep one with a very very deep look into a historical figure who needs to be quite important to us who has found herself in the pages of history specifically in the pages of engineer eastern history as a very important figure whose life may well have been overlooked if she had not had such a profound influence on the jewish people during the second temple period and we're going to be looking at someone who actually wasn't born jewish but someone who really really crossed over and became a jew all out of her own and her story is quite significant and quite inspirational and so welcome to today's teaching we're going to be talking about helena queen helena of adiabean now you know what in the sands of northern mesopotamia there was a small empire and that empire really enjoyed a deep and holy relationship with the god of israel due to the conversion of its royal family and the situation was that this small empire was actually situated on the crossroads of very very important channels and adiabean was really a small kingdom but it would feature very deeply in the history of yahweh's people more than anything else it was remembered for its royal family who converted to judaism and it had a very very deep impact and adi beans queen is actually a very prominent brave figure in jewish history and you know what this is something so special to us because the ancient near eastern world the world of you know the bible days that time period is a time period that has to be explored through archaeology it has to be explored through the lay of the land and the things that have been discovered and those things are still being discovered and you know what we've got a piece together history that is so so ancient and we have to piece it together from the few historians that wrote during that time through sometimes the very scant archaeological discoveries and adiabean is you know really a kingdom that was a very small kingdom like i said but also it was a kingdom that we haven't found a lot about and it is sad but we do know a lot about this royal family we also know quite a bit about helena and so it is so so special today's teaching is really a special time period and i really want to welcome you into this teaching just to be with me to learn about her life to be inspired because there are so many brave beautiful bold women of faith that really have stood on the margins of biblical history that we need to kind of bring them into our conscience and we need to not only just find them in the pages of the scriptures which is incredibly important but also we need to look at the lives of the woman who will lived on really the periphery or on the margins and so welcome to this teaching today that's really going to be focusing on a righteous woman whose life really impacted the small nation of judea so what do we know about her well firstly we need to talk about the kingdom the kingdom that she came from because you know what without knowing about the kingdom and what was happening during that time period we don't know you know how profoundly significant her conversion really really was and so adi been was a small country it was located between two rivers and those rivers were called the upper and the lower zap it was this capital city that's name was arbella and this is now the city of urban in modern day kurdistan iraq this city is actually one of the most populated cities and the modern city today of herbal and there is some uh you know a lot of development that's happening there today and there's also a lot of mapping that is going on archaeological mapping archaeologists as well as people from different kind of spheres of influence are really trying to understand the history and many different kinds of history not just the people but about the land how was water channeled for example about the ancient cities they wanted to know and this is really where the nearest syrians lived as well and so there's a lot of work going on there but it is a very very populated city and it's just growing and expanding and with that expansion comes the loss of archaeological findings so at the time that it was established idea being formed part of as i say the neo-assyrian empire which was the largest empire at the time now the biblical narratives associate the assyrians with warfare and with cruelty they eventually conquered the ten tribes of israel and carried them off into their heartland and they were never seen from again we know that the ten tribes really became assimilated and not only just with the assyrian people but with many different nations and so josephus actually wrote quite substantially about the small country of adebine and he noted that there was a large jewish community there and that jewish community was very very prominent which makes it highly likely that many of the israelites who were settled in adiabean were actually settled there during a syria's conquest when they carried those ten tribes off and brought them into their neighboring cities you know there was a lot of them who became assimilated but then there were those who didn't and so once the assyrian kingdom fell to then the persian kings because it was a syria and then persia came along adiabean became a vassal state which meant any vassal state paid tribute to the kingdom the nation the empire who ruled over it and that empire was persia and alibi then became a place of refuge during times of war so there were many different soldiers that would be stationed there during times of warfare and so it really was a small little kingdom that was just basically on its own but it was at the stage ruled by persia eventually though you know adam over time it became an independent state and it was ruled by very strong and influential kings now i need to say this that though it became a independent state and the kings were strong and influential and you'll see just how much as we go on in this teaching i need to say that it wasn't you know like the persian empire or the roman empire it wasn't an empire it was a kingdom and the kingdom would become very very significant their borders eventually expanded so this started as just a very very small place and it became independent and it started expanding and although we don't know exactly the approximate size of this country it did gain a number of territories and it really really reached its political and geographical height during the first and second century a.d and this is the time period of queen helena and her family and they were very very prominent figures in the history of success that was enjoyed by adiabeen and part of its success lay in the fact as i said before that it was really strategically situated at crossing points on the royal road the royal road was built by the persians very very important in connecting places to one another and adi bean was at a crossing point on the royal road now this is so important because the royal road was a key line of communication of trade and of cultural exchange and it would bring trade right into the borders of adiabean so this was a great location to be in the ancient world location was key in the ancient times and so adi been was located perfectly to hear the latest news and to get in on the tray that happened between independent states goods that were moving from place to place whether it be spices whether it be cloth whether it be whatever it was trading past there so we also know that with this trade they also came religious men and religious travelers who would pass through the city and who would pass through the capital of adeben and they would influence the lives of the people there and they were very very specific religious people who would influence the lives of the royal family for a very very long time to come because the rulers of adiabean they had supplanted armenia and they had ruled over its provinces and we know that on the coins that have been found there were only a very few coins that have been found about adiabean and coins are very very significant as well when they are discovered archaeologically because once coins are discovered they we can tell you know the look of the king if there's a king on it we can tell the king we can tell the queen we can tell the name we can tell the date we know so much about that and so queen helena's husband whose name was monobazzus he is shown actually on a coin that has been found of him which is so significant he is shown wearing this armenian-inspired crown and that was a symbol of this propaganda of this power that eventually helena's family had and they had conquered the armenians who were there at the time and they had taken on their territory and had brought it into adiabeans territory expanding its borders and becoming quite wealthy and becoming significant and very very powerful and influential and known by many many others and many different rulers and so you know what it was amazing that helena's husband monovazus has been found with this armenian-inspired crown on and then showing himself as the new regional power not regional as in the whole place but regional over a specific territory again we don't know how approximate the size is needless to say that this family was actually quite powerful and they would have had quite a bit of wealth and that's really important so who is this royal family and can we actually trace them well the royal family tracing them is quite complicated but archaeology has been a great blessing so like i say discovery of coins interpreting their unique designs depictions of adi being rulers we know the names and time periods for most of the kings there were only kings that ruled this this place and so there were no queens not like ancient egypt or even ancient israel who had shalom zian we know that they are the following kings so the first was abdisar who was the first king and then there was an anonymous king and then arta who was in the second half of about the first century is artist the first who was also in the second half of the first century then we have monobazis the first and then we have izati the second mona bazos ii and then it goes on what is important for us to know and to look at is who was directly there during the time of helena now the the time period of helena is so so important because we know that it's their time period that really is the time period of substantial wealth sub substantial you know increase in territories and also again this incredible influence that they would have on judaism so we know that our queen helena who is the center of our study today she was married to mona baza the first and together with her son izati's the second their legacies would really really impact the jewish people now helena was the queen of adiabean and she was married to her brother which is probably quite shocking and surprising too many but it was a common practice in the ancient world didn't make it right according to torah but it was a common practice and so she was married to her brother mona baza's the first and it seemed to be that through the historical records that they loved each other with very very deep devotion and helena was a concerned mother she was a concerned queen and especially in terms of politics and understanding when it came to matters of state helena was very astute she was very very smart and very very clever and she and her and her family they practice an ancient form of religious belief that is known as zoroastrianism which is a common religion among the middle ancient eastern iranian areas you know what this faith was really central to everyday life this was a very very deep faith it was a faith that was concerned around the worship of one god so it was a monotheistic faith which was very very different in ancient times you know the people worshipped a lot of different gods but zoroastrianism was very focused around one god one supreme being and so that was their their worship and it was very common among the iranian areas at that time the persian people had always believed this and so it was very very common for the royals of that time to also be involved in this kind of faith it was an ancient faith and so even today this faith is still actually practiced there are about 26 000 people who live in modern-day iran that still practice this faith although it is a minority faith there are many people that still practice this and so that is how enduring this this kind of faith has been and this faith was really central to everyday life and after her husband's death her son isaatis took the throne and he became a powerful king so monobazo's her husband helena's husband died in about 30 a.d which is the time period where we see yeshua and the disciples so they are living action all at the same time and her son is atis he came to the throne and he became a powerful king he further expanded the world further expanded the territories of the kingdom but even before izatis became king now this is before he became king and i'm going to slow it down a bit here because this is super important before izatis even became king a jewish merchant named ananias started sharing with izzatis about the jewish faith and about the worship of the one true god of israel about then about the torah and izatis was very very deeply moved by what ananias was sharing and very moved to consider torah as the most holy belief and there's a guidebook that he wanted to use for his own life and so you know what at the same time his mother helena without any knowledge of her son's conversion and embracing of torah and being exposed to the jewish religion helena was actually ministered to by another jewish man and her heart was moved to embrace judaism and it's beautiful to witness how yahweh was working in the hearts and lives of this family choosing them to be a part of his people and a part of his story now at the time i'm going to tell you this because this is so special think about it her son is going to become king he's not yet king and he's actually not even living in adiabe because what happened was izzatis was living outside of the kingdom because his father and mother feared for his life he was the younger son and so his father had heard in a dream that he needed to take izzatis who was not the oldest son not destined for the throne but he heard this voice saying that is artists would become the king and so he believed in all of his heart that you know his younger son was destined for the throne so father and mother feared that izatis might be killed as that was quite normal practice in those days as well by maybe some other people maybe some of the royal family maybe the older brother anybody could actually just kill him so they sent him outside of adiabe and he was actually living with the king of charissine now the king of charissine really really embraced izatis and took him in and his artist was living really well there and it was there during the time that he was staying there that ananias began to share about the jewish faith with these artists and izatis actually married the king of saracine's daughter whose name was simacho and she had also embraced judaism through the preaching of ananias so she became a convert to judaism izzatis becomes a convert to judaism and during this time period another jewish man is is preaching to helena who's back in adiabean and all of them are turning towards judaism they're turning towards yahweh they're embracing torah this is incredible to realize that this is what's happening and so what happens is once his father passed away queen helena was the one who sent for her son and his artist arrived home in 31 a.d and he discovered his mother's conversion to judaism and without any prior knowledge to their deep commitment to faith both son and mother had chosen to embrace yahweh's word and both would impact his people and this is so special think about it imagine the goodness of yahweh in this you know someone you love being far away and not you don't even know but they are hearing you know about yeshua they're hearing about the gospel i'm referring to this in our present day and time you know they are hearing the truth and you are sitting where you are saying you hear the truth and you come into this faith you know and you haven't even seen one another you don't even know this is happening that is the hand of yahweh that is the hand of god you cannot deny that yahweh was calling his family to himself and it's so so special when we consider that so who really was she because she's our study subject so what do we know about him well queen helena was alive during the time of yeshua and the apostles and so her life as a historical figure really ran congruently with this and after her husband's death helena committed herself deeply to learning the practices of judaism she summoned her son remember and he came and he became the king and during that time she really just wanted to learn more judaism she wanted to learn more torah and so she embraced it with a lot of passion and zeal and these artists actually grew in stature and respect and even when conspirators rose up against him and his family and this did happen you know several other of their family members converted to judaism so did izati's older brother who was also named mono basis the second after his father and he also embraced judaism so so many of their family members the royal family are turning away from a a faith that they've inherited a faith that is inherently part of the royal family and part of that time part of that region part of that empire kingdom everywhere there people are practicing zoroastrianism and they have turned their backs on that and they're becoming jews and so there were people that did rise up conspiracies did rise up against him but yahweh really blessed these artists and the family and they were protected they had peace and the talmud tells us that izatis had to go to war and helena was concerned for the life of her son so she offered a prayer to yahweh stating that if her son returned from war and he was unharmed that she would take a nazarite vow now izatis did return safely for more and helena was true to a word so she became a nazarite for seven years that's incredible but within her heart was this deep deep longing to visit jerusalem it was something that she had which is so incredible it was something she spoke about to others and it was something that she longed for so towards the end of the seven year period of living as a nazarite josephus writes the following about her he says this but as to helena the king's mother when she saw that the affairs of izati's kingdom were in peace and that her son was a happy man and admired among all men and even among foreigners by the means of yahweh's providence over him she had a mind to go to the city of jerusalem in order to worship at the temple of god which was so very famous among all men and to their offer her thank offerings she so desired her son to give her leave to go there upon which he gave his consent and said that what she desired he would give to her and they made great preparations for her journey and he gave her a great deal of money and she went down to the city of jerusalem her son even conducting her on her way a very very great way now her coming was of a very great advantage to the people of jerusalem because a famine did oppress them at that time and many people died for want of what was necessary to procure food but queen helena sent some of her servants to alexandria with money to buy a great quantity of corn and of others to go to cyprus to bring a great cargo of dried figs and as soon as they came back and had brought these provisions which was done very quickly she distributed the food to those who were in want and she left the most excellent memorial behind her because of this gift which she bestowed on her whole nation and when her son is atis was formed of this famine as well he sent great sums of money to the men in jerusalem what a legacy and a testimony not only was queen helena committed to the written word she was also compassionate and kind and her heart was not just moved for her own want or desires but it was moved for people especially the jewish people and upon arriving in the land she had always dreamed about she she didn't just arrive there and decide this is my lifelong dream and i'm so glad i'm here she really saw her why in coming and that why was she witnessed the suffering of the people her heart has been lunging for so many years to visit the holy temple of yahweh and also the holy city jerusalem and when she does arrive there at that specific moment that specific time that was chosen for her to be there i truly believe by yahweh she witnessed this incredible suffering of the people and it wasn't just about oh i'm here now this is my dream i'm just going to ignore what's happening she was so moved and she immediately sprang into action and that is what it's about about that serving and she sent servants to egypt for food she used to own money to supply the people's needs she appealed to her son for extra funds she distributed the food accordingly she wasted no time no effort she used what she had for the good of others and that was a rare characteristic in many leaders that's a rare characteristic in many leaders even of today using everything that's of themselves using everything that they have to give to others it's incredibly rare so we know that once the people were fed there was this ongoing system of provision that was actually put in place helena gathered with the leading rabbis and teachers of the time she like i said wanted to learn torah very very keen mind very very intelligent and she wanted to learn she was hungry to know about yahweh's laws and his guidelines but one of the shocking things that does happen is that we know that helena is there in jerusalem because her you know seven years is up for her nazarite violence she wants to you know present that offering but rabbi hillel who was very well known at that time and very influential he told her that her nazarite var had actually been invalid because she had kept it outside of jerusalem and she had to be in jerusalem and that's what he decided and so she was shocked what my nazarite vow that i've taken is invalid so she sprang back into action and she said well i commit to an extra seven years and the talmud actually tells us that the life of a nazirite is one of sitter partners and that she was set apart in every single way but unfortunately really towards the end of her second period of the vow so now we're getting to you know in her 14th year almost during the time period where it needs to end she became unclean something happened and she became unclean and she had to commit to another seven years so in total helena was actually a nazarite for 21 years of her life which is incredible she's the only person recorded to have ever been a nazirite for so long and she is one of the only women who are historically mentioned as being a nazarite imagine being a nazarite for 21 years there are so many specific guidelines that you have to follow so that you don't get that uncleanness there's so many specific guidelines of food and clothing and your hair and what can touch you it's absolutely incredible to consider her deep commitment that she had she didn't just stop the at personal observance and personal faith she brought gifts for the temple of yahweh and i think that this really speaks to her character she brought gifts for the people of yahweh in jerusalem which is absolutely extraordinary as she did not bring gifts for a local ruler or a governor she didn't bring gifts for a famed teacher or a leader but rather she bought gifts for yahweh's temple now in those days when you visited a city you know what you visited a place you bought gifts for the reasons it's so evident in what she did who her ruler really was and that was yahweh she brought gifts for the temple she presented a beautiful gold menorah for the temple and she had a golden plaque made which hung in the courtyard and this gift that she bought speaks volumes about her concern for woman you may say how so a golden block for women what does this have to do with the woman of the time well helena actually learned about the tory commandment for a suspected adulteress the one that declares a husband can bring his wife to the temple if he suspects her of messing around of having an affair so once the wife we know is brought to the temple there is this lengthy ritual that was observed and the officiating priest had to do the following so he had to present a male offering of jealousy and the woman's hair would be uncovered so she had a scarf on a head scarf you know head covering at that time her hair would be uncovered she would have to swear an oath the priest would read the torah words from numbers 5 verses 11 to 31 the wife would have to drink the water mixture and then we know if she was guilty of committing adultery the torah tells us that her belly would swell and this process took quite a lot of time it sounds simple as i'm reading it to you but it's absolutely not simple at all because the priest would have to get out the torah scroll he would have to enroll it he would have to find numbers chapter 5 and he would have to find the verses before he could even write these down and make the woman drink from it now i've stood in a synagogue and i've waited for the reader to find a specific torah verse that we were reading that week and the torah scroll does not have chapters and it does not have numbers and you wait a long time you know what if the person is well-versed in torah and they've you know practiced a bit in the week which is something that happens as well then they find it quite quickly but sometimes not so much so move by the plight of the wife who was standing there with her head uncovered which was a deep shame at that time she's waiting to be declared innocent you know what a lot of women were standing there who were innocent and this lengthy process must have proven incredibly distressing and shameful to the woman that was standing there because people would have been seen the priests would have been there it's a horrible situation ready to be in and so helena responded to the heart of woman because she had these words from numbers written onto the golden block and it was hung right there so that would mean that the officiating priest would waste no time in getting to these verses and writing them down he wouldn't have to have a torah scroll abroad he wouldn't have to you know roll it out find the place where it is written he wouldn't have to do that he could just simply turn around the golden block is there he could look at the words write them down and the process would move along a lot quicker and this for me this act that she did really really confirmed the heart of love and compassion and her interesting woman's worth that she had because elena donated a gift that would be a blessing only to the woman who came to the temple for this specific ritual for this specific test of jealousy that her husband had made her come there for and so there is however i must tell you this to soothe any ill feelings about this there is little evidence that suggests that this ritual was actually ever carried out and the rabbis have written extensively about this practice about the sota practice and they say that even though they've written so extensively about it and there's many many different guidelines and the extra add-on laws that were added on this practice was actually never carried out there is not one single example and one single historical knowledge saying that this practice was ever carried out so it's highly likely that it never ever happened but helena was moved and she didn't want any woman to go through this painful painful practice which is quite painful and so helena also spent a lot of time in jerusalem and she insisted on being there specifically during feast times which is so special it is also said that she built this elaborate sukkah in jerusalem and that it was over 20 cubits high and from within that sugar she hosted many many scholars and prominent rabbis many actually have remarked historically about the grandiosity of her sukkah that it was so big and beautiful and she had this keen intellectual mind because she was a scholar but she was also a disciple and she was someone who was learned someone who was wise and due to her status as royalty and the welfare that she bestowed on the people she was actually allowed access into the world of rabbis which was a very very exclusive reality she was not denied the right to learn as so many other women had been and she expanded her faith with this very deep action with his very deep curiosity and his decisiveness she just jumped into action when the time called for it and she made her mark on the stones of jerusalem really she did because she built a grand jerusalem palace just inside the city of david and 2007 in 2007 there were archaeological excavations carried out and it actually unearthed coins and a mikveh bath that dated to the time of helena's palace there's always been this debate of where her palace actually was and what it actually really looked like and it's important to note though that before helena a queen had never built a palace inside jerusalem and so she really stands as this example of a woman who made her mark both on the rabbis at the time because she was allowed into this world of rabbis aloud of course we know that you know there was benefits of them in allowing her into their circle and world i mean of course she was royalty she had money she had influence and so of course you know i truly believe that not many of them had great intentions or great motives but it did allow her this place of being able to learn and study and draw into yaoistora as she wanted to she really wanted that from her heart and then she built this palace inside of jerusalem which is so so important and so many people believe that these archaeological excavations unearthed her palace and an area that was dating back to her time period and so it's very very interesting to consider that we do know that her son died at the age of 55 and helena was really a grieving mother at that time she returned to adiaba and she was in mourning and so her eldest son monobazis ii he ascended the throne and he had also converted to judaism as i said earlier and he had undergone circumcision along with his brother isaates that had that done and sources claimed that helena died soon after her return to adirin she didn't live a long ago after that but she would have been quite old at this time anyway she probably was or she could have been in her late 70s or early 80s so she had a great life that is a tremendous age at that time you know that time people were not living you know very very old at all so she had a blessed life also obviously as we know people that had access at that time to you know um money and specifically the royalty they did end up living quite long if you had access to finances because it meant that you would get more better food food that had more nutrition in food that was fresher you wouldn't you know have the problems of not obtaining the food that you need but she really did die at quite a good age and so what happens is that obviously before her return to adeben she had actually prepared a very large tomb for her and her son's back in jerusalem it's the call today the tombs of the kings but really it's tombs that she had built for herself and for her sons and so what happened is mono basil's the sake and her her son he actually sends his mother's body as well as his brother zarti's body back to jerusalem and they were buried in the tomb that helena herself had prepared for her family and so mano bad says he ruled fiercely he was also a great leader and he gave a lot of finances as well as support to the jewish people during the jewish roman war and a number of his family members were actually taken to rome when jerusalem was destroyed in 70 a.d but you know what monabas he continued to support his jewish brethren the faith that he had adopted people that he had assimilated his heart into even though he was a ruler outside of jerusalem which is so special and you know what before the temple was destroyed we do know that mona basses had donated a large number of golden gifts to the temple just as his mother helena had done just as the example that she said and it was this depth of their commitment to this people you know and the land that they had really joined themselves to that was so incredibly rare and so incredibly spectacular we are talking about a time period that is so significantly different from ours it's not an easy thing what they were doing was not easy you know breaking from the religion of their ancestors was a bold and an eyebrow raising move zoroastrianism had been like i said the religion of the kings and the religion of the royal members of the persians and the surrounding kingdoms and yet yahweh chose his family to reveal himself to he revealed himself to this family it was a miracle he was touching on their lives in such a profound way and yet yahweh chose this family to reveal himself to you and in later decades actually adiabean would become a christian nation and the nation would become radical believers in yeshua and it would have a very very strong church and so there was no doubt that these seeds of faith were sown by helena and her sons and these seeds would germinate into a strong nation who would become a nation of faithful believers with strong and deep deep faith and this is so incredible to consider that when you look at the ancient near east you see that there are so many different people so many different kingdoms so many different wars so many different nations so many different realities happening at this time specifically at this time as a world such a significant time in history and we see this family just being reached out to a family that's not they're not jewish at all they're not living in judea they have no connection with jerusalem and yet yahweh is moving and he's drawing them to himself and they become the people who really really are very very impactful they are keen supporters of the jewish people they are there for the famine they are there for the struggle they're in the good times and bad times and they learn the torah and they commit themselves to holiness to support and to being all that they could be and it's so beautiful to consider how how deeply their nation becomes very very prominent in the history of you know believing in yeshua so really those seeds were planted and it's so special today i really want to bless you in the in the mighty name of yeshua i really want to pray that this teaching has been a blessing to you i really really want to pray today that helena this woman that we only know a little bit about when it comes to history you know it's just this faith that she had just this compassion that she had just the i love the way she just springs into action whenever she needs to and i really pray that her example will really reach to you today so that you'll see that there have been women in every generation who have been such faithful witnesses and but who have also been such powerful people in their time period their presence and their examples were so so impactful so it's the same with us you know hopefully one day people will look at what we are doing and say wow that woman she lived then and look at what she did and we remember helena today because of what she left behind and that was her bold example of faith and her bold example of being able to see that you know what yaoi is the only living god and she wasn't afraid of what that meant or what that cost to and so i want to say thank you so much for joining me today i really pray that this teaching has been a massive blessing to you do not forget to subscribe to the channel and click on the bell otherwise if you do not click the bell next to the subscribe you will not receive any notifications when the teachings come out also these notes for this teaching if you want to continue just to you know scribble along in some of your own notes you can go and grab mine over on our website treasured inheritance ministry.com sign up sign in and you can go and get the notes i love sharing these teachings with you i love telling you all about the bold woman of faith in the scriptures and on the margins of history and so until next time shalom shalom and thanks for joining [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Treasured Inheritance Ministry

Views: 1,161

Rating: 4.757576 out of 5

Keywords: Helena, Adiabene, Ancient Near East, Women the Bible, Women in History, Nazarite Woman

Id: OJwa3suPNao

Length: 42min 40sec (2560 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 27 2020