TCv3 on Beshalach and Singing in Praise to HaShem
February 6, 2010
Filed under Torah
Tags: Chinese New Year, Deborah and Barak, Exodus 15:2, Exodus 15:22, FFOZ, Haftarah Beshalach, Messianic Torah study, Psalms 106:7, Psalms 114:1-2, Shabbat Shirah, the Red Sea, the song of Deborah, The song of sea, Torah Club Vol 3, Tu B'Shevat, Yeshua
Deborah_praise_God
Oh Boy! Busy, busy and really busy this week especially Chinese New Year is coming. I have not got the time to buy all the New Year goodies yet to invite friends and relatives to my house for the celebration. Darn that pesky crowd in chinatown. Even the banks in Singapore are busy like heck, no more empty red packets available they said. Hey, c’mon man, even the Indians and Ang-mos or westerners are cranking in the festive season. This is ridiculous, man. By the way, my grade 1 red arowana is getting bigger and redder each day since 29 December 2009. Hallelu’Yah! Baruch HaShem, baruch Yeshua!
Ok, Parashah Beshalach is also known as Shabbat Shirah – The Sabbath of song. This ancient song, known as “the Song of the Sea,” is chanted today with special trope, marking the extraordinary nature of the biblical passage. The song’s main message is one of praise of God for saving the Jewish people as well as all who believe in Yeshua our Jewish Messiah from Egyptian bondage (Slavery of Sin). At the very outset of the song, we hear these words, “Ozi v’zimrat Yah, vay’hi li lishua” — “My strength and the song of the eternal will be my salvation” (Exodus 15:2). Through this verse, our Torah teaches that song itself is a route to God’s saving power.
Added to that, this year Shabbat Shirah falls on Tu B’Shevat (the 15th day of the month of Shevat). Tu B’Shevat is also known as Rosh Hashanah l’Ilanot (the new year of the trees). This minor holiday is mentioned in the mishnah and its original purpose was to determine tithes related to fruit-bearing trees in Israel. The Tu B’Shevat seders that many Jews will attend at this time of year were developed by the 17th century kabbalists of Tzfat. The Tu B’Shevat seder is actually based upon the Passover seder, and like its model, contains four glasses of wine. It also allows the Jews the opportunity to taste fruits that are native to Israel, giving them a sensory connection to the land. As many of them have gained awareness about the impact upon the environment, Tu B’Shevat seders have gained popularity in recent years. In Israel, it’s springtime, the almond trees are in bloom and school children plant trees.
To the Jews, Shabbat Shirah and Tu B’Shevat is simply where music and nature meet. Also, there is an Ashkenazic custom to feed the birds on Shabbat Shirah. What are the sources and reasons for this custom? We will leave that to the Jewish people to explain but this special day does bring the goodness of HaShem/Elohim into our being to enjoy His mighty creations.
In the Beshalach reading of the Torah portion, we come across this question umpteen times. Is Faith for Everyone, or Does it Require Courage?
“And rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea (Psalms 106:7)” – Why twice? Because they rebelled at the sea when they did not want to descend [into the water]. If it had not been for the tribe of Judah, which jumped in first and sanctified the Name of the Holy One blessed be He, for it is said: When Israel left Egypt… Judah was His holy one (Psalms 114:1-2) [they would not have entered the water all]. How is it known that they rebelled at the Red Sea? When they descended into the sea it was full of mud, which had been kept moist until then by the water, and formed a kind of mud, as it is said: You made your horses tread the sea, homer [stirring, or alternatively, clay] the mighty waters (Habakkuk 3:15). Then Reuben would say to Shimon: “In Egypt there was mud, and in the sea there is mud. In Egypt – in the bricks and mortar, in the sea homer [stirring, or alternatively, clay] the mighty waters” – and so we see that they rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea. [God said]: “After all those miracles you do me wrong! Would you do this to the Lord, foolish and unwise people…?” Another view: Would you do this to the Lord – He told them: “After He performed so many miracles for you, you rebel against Him?” as it is written: and rebelled at the sea, at the Red Sea; at the sea – on the sea shore; at the Red Sea – as literally understood. At that very hour the Prince of the Sea became full of anger at them and wanted to wash them away, but the Holy One blessed be He rebuked him and dried him up, as it is said: He rebuked the sea and dried it up (Nahum 1:4), and it says: He rebuked the Red Sea and it became dry (Psalms 106:9). When Moses saw that, he caused them to take leave of the sin of the sea, thus it is said, Moses caused Israel to set out from the Red Sea (Shemot 15:22). (Shemot Raba 24, 1)
Haftarat Beshalach tells the story of how Deborah, a judge and prophetess over Israel, and Barak, a Naphtalite leader and warrior, mustered an army of Israelites to challenge the Canaanite king, Jabin of Hazor. Deborah and Barak led their forces to Mount Tabor in the Jezreel Valley. Jabin’s general, Sisera, led a Canaanite chariot force to intercept them. Sisera positioned his forces between the Israelite force and the critical, strategic passes at Megiddo and Tanach. The LORD provided Israel with a miraculous victory by unleashing a torrential storm and flooding the Kishon waterway. The flood waters and muddy ground rendered the chariot force helpless. Sisera escaped the battle and took refuge in the tent of Jael, a Kenite descended from Moses’ father-in-law Jethro. While Sisera slept, Jael punctured his head with a tent stake. To celebrate the victory, Deborah uttered a song under prophetic inspiration which recapped the story. The Song of Deborah seems to have survived intact from the twelfth century BCE when Deborah flrst uttered it on the day of battle. The Hebrew poetry is archaic and diffrcult. The song concludes with a graphic description of Sisera’s death and an ironic depiction of his mother awaiting his return from battle.
Ashkenazim read the story of the battle and the Song of Deborah for Haftarat Beshalach. Sephardim read only the Song of Deborah. In the Torah portion for Parashah Beshalach, Moses and the children of Israel cross the Red Sea. When the Egyptian chariot force pursues them, the LORD throws their army into confusion and then drowns them in the sea. After the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the Torah portion records, “Not even one of them remained” (Exodus 14:28). Moses and the children of Israel celebrated the victory by singing a prophetic song. As for the Haftarah, in the battle with Sisera’s chariot force, the LORD confused the Canaanite army and then ovetwhelmed them in the waters of the River Kishon. Judges 4:16 says, “Not even one was left.” Like Moses and the children of Israel, Deborah and Barak celebrated the victory with a song.
Jewish scribes write out the Hebrew for both the Song at the Sea and the Song of Deborah in an unusual pattern of staggered formatting – visually connecting the two texts. The Song at the Sea concludes with a prophecy about Israel’s defeat of Canaan, a prophecy that finds fulfillment in the story of Deborah below:
“All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of Your arm they are motion-less as stone; until Your people pass over. (Exodus 15:15-16)”
For this Haftarah reading, we learnt that singing in praise is very pleasing to HaShem/Elohim. We can also see that whenever God had given us help or victory, we sing in praise to His mighty support and grace on us. Singing in praise can also be our heart-felt prayer incense to Him as taught by the early Jewish sages. In fact, we offer to Him everyday our daily prayer incense on various Psalms just like what the Levitical priests does in the biblical days.
Shabbat Shalom and simchah to all…..
TCv3 on Bo and Tu B’Shevat celebration
February 1, 2010
Filed under Torah
Tags: Babylonian invasion, Egypt falls, FFOZ, Haftarah Bo, Jeremiah 46:13, New Year of Trees and fruits, the oracles of Jeremiah, Torah Club Vol 3, Tu B'Shevat, Yeshua
Tu B'Shevat - The New Year of Trees
OK, another week of study, another week of summary blogging. I am as busy as usual because of the coming Lunar Chinese New Year. Singapore has a majority of Chinese citizens and that give it a very crowded and noisy celebration when it turns up especially on the eve of LCNY which is on the 13th this month. I am off that evening but I am working on the 1st day of LCNY which is a very reluctant working day for me. My colleague James Chua, a extremely selfish and wicked person had scheduled me to work on that day and make himself off that day. But I strongly believe HaShem/Elohim will look after me and protect me and all my family members from all evil and harm in this world. By the way, this year the celebration of the Tu B’Shvat falls on the Shabbat of Parashah Beshalach week. It is the festival of the New Year of the Trees – where the Jewish people celebrate the goodness of the Land (trees and fruits) – and all things planted – that the LORD has given to us. Albeit it isn’t a Biblical holiday, but this traditional Jewish holiday does have its roots (no pun intended) in the Torah from the book of Deuteronomy. If one would like to please God, this would be a very good time to please Him to celebrate it for He created all these for all His creations to enjoy and that including us.
“And it shall be to you when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and you possess it and dwell in it, that you shall take some of the first fruit of the produce of the ground which the Lord your God is giving you and put it in a basket and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His Name abide.” (Deuteronomy 26:1-2) According to the rabbis Tu B’Shvat is when the trees begin to draw nourishment from their sap, ushering in the new spring harvest season. That is why it is called the New Year of the Trees. Many Israelis celebrate Tu B’Shvat by eating dried fruits of trees that grow in Israel such as almonds, dates, figs, raisins and carob. Tu B’Shvat also reminds us in the Word of God how we are likened to trees (and remember we are dependent on trees for oxygen). Hence, in Deuteronomy 20:19, it says: “man is like a tree of the field.”
King David writes in the Psalms: And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, producing fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither. And he will prosper in all that he does. (Psalms 1:3) The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; grow mighty like a cedar in Lebanon. (Psalms 92:13) May this traditional Jewish holiday be a blessing to all of us as we remember the trees and fruits that God has given to us. When you pick up a piece of fruit today, remember to give Thanks to the LORD, for everything He has created is wonderous!
Alright, back to the study table now. This is supposedly Parashah Beshalach week like I said earlier but I will be writing about Parashah Bo Haftarah portion study summary in my blog here. Parashah Bo’s Haftarah portion consists of an oracle titled, “The message which the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt” (Jeremiah 46:13). The prophecy is bundled along with several of Jeremiah’s other prophecies against the nations. The first twelve verses of Jeremiah 46 describe the Egyptian retreat from the battle of Carchemish (605 BCE). That introduction has led many scholars to date the Haftarah portion to Jehoiakim’s reign. On the contrary, the remainder of Jeremiah 46 belongs to the period of Jeremiah’s sojourn in Egypt (circa 585 BCE). The final editor of the Jeremiah scroll placed the two prophecies together because they both describe a defeated Egyptian army retreating before a Babylonian advance. Nevertheless, they are two different prophecies from two different time periods namely (1) Retreat from Carchemish (605 BCE) in Jeremiah 46:1-12 and (2) The Coming of Nebuchadnezzar (circa 585 BCE) in Jeremiah 46:13-28.
Jeremiah predicts that Nebuchadnezzar will lead his armies through the land of Israel on his way to attack Egypt. The Babylonian forces will penetrate Egypt’s Nile Delta region where the Judean refugees are living. God will use the Babylonian invasion of Egypt to punish the Egyptian pantheon. The gods of Egypt (to whom those refugees have turned for protection) will prostrate themselves before the LORD. Egypt’s mercenary forces will retreat before the Babylonian army. The Judeans in Egypt will realize that Pharaoh Hophra is nothing but a “big noise.” Those who trusted in him will be disappointed. The Babylonian army will advance on Egypt as an unstoppable force, comparable to an army of woodcutters working through a forest or an army of locusts stripping the land. In the end, Egypt will suffer, but God will redeem His people, return them to their land, and punish the nations that afflicted them.
The sages picked this prophecy for Haftarat Bo because it complements the Torah portion on several points. Both the Torah portion and the Haftarah begin with one coming to challenge Pharaoh. In the Torah portion, the coming one is Moses. In the Haftarah, the coming one is Nebuchadnezzar. Parashat Bo tells the story of God’s judgment on Egypt, the conclusion of the ten plagues (including the locust plague), the humiliation of Egypt’s gods, and the redemption of Israel. The prophecy in Jeremiah 46 predicts judgment on Egypt and on the Egyptian gods. It compares the Babylonian invasion to an army of locusts. It concludes with a vision of the Redemption of Israel from the land of their oppressors.
For the past few weeks’ study, I have always fondle over how God put words in their servants’ mouths the ancient prophets to deliver important messages to His Chosen people. And because of this significant point I also fondle over the study of the prophets in the TANAKH with great delights. Well, this week study we learnt that it is always good to trust God in everything we do because He will eventually establish it for us if we trust Him with our hearts. We urge that we will not be like the Judean refugees in the Haftarah portion in trusting someone that is not powerful to save them and ultimately be condemned with regrets.
Shalom for now and happy, happy Chinese New Year! Hey, where is my red packet, huh? $$$$$
TCv3 on Va’era and all praise be to Yeshua alone
January 27, 2010
Filed under Torah
Tags: Egypt, Ezekiel's prophecies, Haftarah Va'era, Israel, Jeriemiah 9:23, King Nebuchadnezzar, Messianic Torah, Pharaoh Hophra, ruins of the first temple, the coming judgement, the Jewish exiles, Torah Ckub Vol 3, Yeshua our Saviour
The Glory of HaShem
The Parashah Va’era Haftarah portion is drawn primarily from two oracles against Egypt. Ezekiel spoke the first one (29:1-16) “in the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month” (587 BCE), that is after the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem had begun and less than a year before the fall of the city, precisely at the time when Judah’s hopes in Pharaoh Hophra were about to be dashed.
Ezekiel uttered the second oracle (29:17-21) sixteen years later, after the fall of Tyre. The second oracle has the latest date provided for a prophecy in the book of Ezekiel and was probably one of his last predictions. The two prophecies appear in Ezekiel as the first in a series of seven oracles against Egypt.
Ezekiel’s Seven Oracles Against Egypt :
1. Pharaoh the Nile Monster 29:1-16
2. Nebuchadnezzar’s Reward 29:17-21
3. Day of Judgment 30:1-19
4. Pharaoh’s Broken Arms 30:20-26
5. Egypt and the Fate of Assyria 31:1-18
6. Feast of the Birds 32:1-16
7. Egypt’s Descent to Sheol 32:17-32
This Haftarah portion consists of two prophecies against Egypt framed on either side by two pronouncements of hope for the people of Israel. The reading opens up with a statement about the coming ingathering of Israel’s exiles. God will demonstrate his holiness in the sight of all nations by bringing the Jewish people back to the land of Israel. After predicting the final redemption for Israel, Ezekiel turns his attention to current politics. He denounces Pharaoh Hophra and all of Egypt, warning them of a coming judgment. He compares Pharaoh to a Nile monster, perhaps a crocodile, and he predicts that the LORD will take Pharaoh and his followers down from power, slay them in battle, and leave them as food for the birds. The Egyptians have time and again proven themselves to be an unreliable “staff of reed” to the house of Judah – promising assistance but then failing to provide the promised help.
Because Pharaoh thinks of himself as the creator of the Nile, the creator of Egypt, and the creator of his own power, God will destroy him and all the men of war and nobility clinging to him. The sword will cut off both man and beast in Egypt, and the Egyptians will be scattered. After forty years, the Egyptians will return, but they will never again achieve the position of significance and power they previously enjoyed. Ezekiel addressed his second oracle against Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar, promising him plunder from Egypt as recompense for his long siege against the city of Tyre.
The reading concludes with a Promise about the final redemption. In that day God will “make a horn sprout for the house of Israel” (29:21); He will vindicate all the words of His prophets. In other words, our weekly blessing to HaShem/Elohim after reading the Haftarah portion meant a great deal to us who wait for that final Day.
The Haftarah portion actually has several points of contact with the Torah portion. The Torah portion describes God’s judgment on Egypt in the days of Moses; whereas the corresponding Haftarah portion predicts God’s judgment on Egypt in the future. Parashah Va’era tells the story of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh. The LORD told Moses, “Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, that it may become a serpent (tannin in Hebrew)” (Exodus 7:9). The prophet Ezekiel refers to Pharaoh Hophra as a “tannin” lying in the Nile. Moses challenges Pharaoh’s divine status, and Ezekiel challenges Pharaoh Hophra’s belief that he is the creator and sustainer of Egypt. In the Torah portion, the LORD unleashes devastating plagues against the land of Egypt. Ezekiel’s prophecies predict a complete desolation of Egypt. In the Torah portion, all the fish of the Nile die; in Ezekiel’s prophecies, the fish are dragged from the Nile and die. Finally, the Torah portion is punctuated with statements of intention. The LORD explains that He smites Egypt and rescues Israel to make His Name known. On the other hand, variations on the same expression also occur frequently through Ezekiel’s prophecies and four times in this Haftarah portion.
Needless to say, I’m sure what would comes in our mind after reading this Haftarah portion will be explicitly the same as though who trust in the LORD daily. For HaShem/Elohim said to Jeremiah, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;” in verse 9:23. The moral of this Haftarah teaching is telling us NOT to be arrogant towards each others but to treat each others like treating oneself as taught by our beloved Master Yeshua in the Besorah of His Talmidim.
Shalom for now and may HaShem bless us all a blessed week! The Chinese Lunar New Year is moving in pretty fast these few weeks. All seems to engrossed in preparing for the festive season ie buying New Year goodies for the family, New Year decorations for the house and red, red, red packets for the kids and so forth….
TCv3 on Shemot and looking forward to a blessed Chinese Lunar New Year
January 23, 2010
Filed under Torah
Tags: baby Moses, Chinese Lunar New Year, FFOZ, Haftarah Shemot, Isaiah 27:6, Jeremiah, King Hezekiah, Messianic Torah, Shemot, Torah Club Volume 3, Woe to Ephraim and Judah
Princess saw baby Moses in a basket
Lagging, lagging, lagging…. Boy, this month I am fully occupied. My Indian colleague going back to India and some of my other colleagues including me required to cover for his duties during his absence. Added to that we have Chinese Lunar New Year next month and that makes it even more busy for me to have the time to study the Torah properly. Nevertheless, no excuse for studying God’s Word. What I can do is trying to finish the study at my own pace and finish every week of it no matter how tiring I will be. It may not be in sync with the actual Torah’s week but I will do my best to finish every week of it. So I will blog the study of Parashah Shemot in the week of Parashah Va’era and so forth until I get them in sync later on.
The oracles in the week of Parashah Shemot’s Haftarah portion may derive from different periods of the prophet’s life, but they best fit the earliest years of King Hezekiah, prior to the fall of Samaria in 722 BCE. The Assyrians had already begun to molest the northern tribes. In this Haftarah portion, Isaiah predicts that the worst is yet to come. He foresees Samaria deserted like an abandoned homestead. He pronounces woe upon “the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim” (28:1). At the beginning of his tenure, Hezekiah found the priesthood in disarray. The Temple had been closed up by his father Ahaz. The priests were no longer conscientious about matters of ritual purity.
In this Haftarah portion, we can also see Isaiah brings harsh rebukes against the priests and prophets of Jerusalem. Hezekiah tried to reverse the mischief his father had created for Judah. He led a massive reform, reconstituted the Levitical worship system, and campaigned against apostasy. He also wanted to escape Assyrian control. He and the leadership of Judah looked to Egypt for political and military alliance. In the additional reading of this Haftarah, Isaiah also rebukes the Judean leadership for spiritual insobriety and political alliances with foreign powers.
The first verse of the Haftarah is actually the last verse of an oracle we can call “The Vinedresser’s Song.” The Haftarah concludes part way through a fourth oracle, a “Woe to Ephraim and Judah.” The Haftarah includes all or parts of these oracles:
. TheVinedresser’s Song in 27:2-6
. Measure for Measure in 27:7-ll
. In That Day in 27:12-13
. Woe to Ephraim and Judah in 28:1-29
Isaiah pronounces doom and woe upon Israel and Judah, but his fearful prophecies are punctuated with glimpses of the redemption. The LORD punishes Israel for their sin measure for measure, but He will also punish the nations that strike Israel. Isaiah predicts that Samaria and the cities of Israel will fall to invaders, but in the future, the LORD will sound a great shofar and bring the exiles back from Assyria and Egypt. He pronounces a woe upon Samaria and depicts the leadership of Israel as spiritually inebriated. He levels the same charge against the leaders of Judah. He warns them that because they will not listen to the word of the LORD from him, they will hear it in the form of invaders speaking a foreign language. In the additional reading, Isaiah rebukes the leadership of Judah for making alliances with foreign powers like Egypt. He refers to such as alliances as “a covenant with death.” He goes on to predict that God will one day place His Messianic King in Zion. He refers to the coming Messianic King as a precious cornerstone, a stone of testing.
Finally, the Haftarah turns to Isaiah 29:22-23 to conclude on a positive note regarding the future redemption. The sages chose this Haftarah for Shemot because they detected a parallel between the language of Isaiah 27:6 and the opening verses of the book of Exodus. Both contain the Hebrew word ” haba’im” (“the coming ones”), and both speak of Israel multiplying in the land.
The rabbis who chose this passage as the Haftarah portion for Shemot translated haba’im differently. The sages translated Isaiah 27:6 to read, “They that are coming are the children of Jacob … The word haba’im in Isaiah 27:6 triggered an association with Exodus 1:1. In their reading of the passage, the prophecy recapitulates the story of Jacob’s family going down into Egypt and flourishing there. Rashi agrees. According to Rashi, the opening of the haftarah retells the miraculous multiplication of Israel in the land of Egypt. Consider the paraphrase from Weissman’s The Midrash Says on the Weekly Haftaros:
When the Jews came to Egypt, [Jacob] caused them to take root there. [Israel] blossomed and flowered until it filled the entire world with produce. (Isaiah 27:6, paraphrase) Nevertheless, in the simpler, natural reading of Isaiah 27:6, Isaiah predicts the future resettlement of the land of Israel after the Assyrian deportation.
One special note from the FFOZ Torah Club Vol 3 study is that the Sephardim read Jeremiah 1:1-2:3 as the Haftarah to Shemot. The opening chapter of Jeremiah makes an appropriate Haftarah portion for Shemot. The LORD calls Jeremiah to become a prophet to the people of Judah. Jeremiah objects. He is reluctant. He says, “Alas, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth” (Jeremiah 1:6). The LORD replies, “All that I command you, you shall speak … I have put My Words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1:7-9). The story is reminiscent of the commissioning of Moses at the burning bush. Both stories contain God’s prophetic call, the reluctant prophet’s objection, and God’s assurance of success.
I will just leave it here as it is because there are far too many studies in the Torah Club Vol 3 study material that I have yet got the time to decipher to blog it all down. So what this study taught us today? All we can say is that God reigns and HaShem/Elohim will do what He promises to do ie the Promises of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will not fade away. No, NEVER. It will HOLD in the Name of YHVH and in His Son’s Name, it will eventuate indubitably. Shall I say, “Brothers and sisters, look up!” By the way, I forgot to mention that in this Haftarah, Isaiah also speaks about God’s love for Israel and His Chosen people. Though HaShem/Elohim punishes them for their wayward sin but He also will doubly punishes those Whom He use to punish His beloved people.
Shalom for now and until the next Parashah!
TCv3 on Vayechi and my gratitudes to HaShem for a blessed 2009
January 15, 2010
Filed under Torah
Tags: Apostle Paul, Haftarah Vayechi, King David choose Solomon to be his successor, stand firm in faith, Torah Club Volume 3, Vayechi, Wisdom of Solomon, Works of Solomon, Yeshua
Solomon Chosen to Succeed David
We are filled with praise at how HaShem/Elohim has so faithfully met our needs in the year of 2009. We know first hand what Jeremiah the ancient prophet testified when he wrote: “Adonai’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness” (Lam 3:22–23). Ok, this week supposed to be Parashah Shemot week but I am still doing the Parashah Vayechi weekly study. Alright! Enough the whining. Start the study now. Here goes.
In the Vayechi’s Haftarah study, we came across a number of significant people in the act like King David, Adonijah, Abiathar, Abishag the Shunnamite, Barzillai the Gileadite, Benaiah, Joab, Solomon, Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, and also Bathsheba. Each got their own story to tell according to the FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 study material. Very great study here indeed but too much to decipher here so I will give it a miss and will just concentrate on the corresponding Haftarah instead. When King David was bed-ridden, he charges his son Solomon to keep the Torah and take care of some unfinished matters. He tells him to put Joab to death for the murders of Abner and Amasa. David tells Solomon to reward Barzillai’s sons for the kindness their father showed him. He tells Solomon to put Shimei to death for cursing the LORD’s anointed. When David dies, he is buried in the City of David, and Solomon secures the kingdom.
The Parashah Vayechi’s Torah portion tells the story of the death of Jacob and his last charge to his sons. It begins the narrative with the words, “When the time for Israel to die drew near …” (Genesis 47:29). The phrase translates literally as “And when the days of Israel drew near to die.” An identical Hebrew construction begins in the Haftarah portion: “As David’s time to die drew near” (1 Kings 2:1). The symmetry explains why the sages chose 1 Kings 2:1-12 for the Haftarah to Vayechi. This is because in the Torah portion, Jacob gives his sons a final charge. He charges them to bury him in Canaan. Similarly in the Haftarah, David prepares for his death by delivering a final charge to his son Solomon. A deathbed charge appears in other places in the Bible besides those like Jacob and King David as above. Joseph charged his brothers to carry his bones out of Egypt. The entire book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ last charge to Israel. As Yeshua, the Son of David prepared to die, He issued a charge to His beloved disciple regarding the care of his mother Miriam.
Now there are many stories in the Haftarah portion for Vayechi and so I will just choose 2 out of it to present them here in this blog.
I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. (1 Kings 2:2)
David told Solomon to “be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.” Solomon was young, either in his late teens or early twenties. David told the assembly, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced” (1 Chronicles 22:5). David knew that Solomon had to mature quickly. What does it mean to “show yourself a man”? Targum Yonatan on 1 Kings 2:2 says, “become a man who fears sin.” Tz’enah Ur’enah says, “You must be a man, and conquer your desires.” The famous medieval commentator Rabbi David Kimchi (Radak) paraphrased it as a charge to develop self-control. “Strengthen yourself and be like a grown man to control your yetzer hara [evil inclination].” In the Bible, manliness is measured in terms of spiritual maturity. A man of strength is a man who can control his appetites and inclinations. The Apostle Paul tells us. “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13). He enjoins us to spiritually grow “to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Messiah” (Ephesians 4:13).
Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Torah of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn. (1 Kings 2:3)
David’s dying wish was that Solomon would live in obedience to the Torah. Every father wants what is best for his son. David knew that obeying God is what is best. For the house of David, Torah observance had an additional incentive. The LORD told David that if his sons did not stray from the Torah, the house of David would never “lack a man on the throne of Israel” (2:4). David explained to Solomon that so long as he kept the Torah, the prophecy would be fulfilled. He told Solomon to walk in God’s ways, keeping the commandments according to what is written in the Torah. David expressed his own affection for the Torah in Psalm 119, and at some points, the language of the psalm is reminiscent of a father’s charge to a son:
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You. (Psalm 119:9-11)
David’s charge to Solomon echoes in the proverbs
of Solomon:
My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments;
For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you. (Proverbs 3:1-2)
and also
He who keeps the Torah is a discerning son,
But he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates
his father. (Proverbs 28:7)
Ok, from the 2 points above. We can learn that HaShem/Elohim has at all times want us to be matured like a man and stand firm in our faith in Him. And the Torah that he had given us is good for our living in this evil world.
Until then…..Shalom to all.
TCv3 on Vayigash and my new Premium Grade 1 Red Arowana from OTF Aquarium
January 1, 2010
Filed under Torah
Tags: Yeshua, Torah Club Volume 3, Vayigash, House of Ephraim, House of Joseph, House of Israel, Ezekiel prophecy, OTF Premium Grade 1 Red Arowana, the 2 sticks, dry-bones prophecy, exiles of Israel
rachel weeps for her children
A blessed happy new year to all! Hey, guess what? I just bagged a new Premium Grade 1 Red Arowana from OTF Aquarium back home after the lost of my previous Yuda Chilli Red Arowana. Well, this fella is a bit expensive but it’s really worth the price as it is a real beauty in my 5-feet tank. I will upload video to YouTube website when I got the time to do so. Right now let’s dig into our weekly Haftarah study from the FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 study materials. This week we are supposed to talk about the Haftarah portion of Parashah Vayigash.
This Parashah tells the story of the faceoff between Judah and Joseph. Judah challenges the viceroy of Egypt and begs for clemency. At that moment, Joseph reveals his true identity to Judah and all the brothers are reunited. The Haftarah portion for Vayigash foretells the reunification of the tribes of Israel. Ezekiel predicts a coming day when God will gather together all the scattered children of Israel and return them to their land. He will settle them together in the land of Israel and the ten tribes (Ephraim, the house of Joseph) will be reunited with the two tribes (Judah and Benjamin, the house of Judah). The story say Ezekiel depicts this future reunification with a prophetic sign. He writes the name of Judah on one stick and the name of Ephraim on another stick and joins the sticks into one in his hand. The prophecy goes on to deliver a succinct description of the final redemption. The children of Israel are gathered by God and brought to the land of Israel where they are reunited as one nation; the Davidic Messiah king rules and is shepherd over the unified nation; the people of Israel keep the Torah, and the Temple is rebuilt.
The sages chose this reading as the corresponding Haftarah portion for Vayigash because the reunification of the twelve tribes in the Messianic Era echoes the Torah portion’s reunification of twelve sons of Jacob. Believers will also find a messianic link between the Torah portion and the Haftarah portion in that Joseph’s revelation to his brothers prophetically foreshadows the revelation of Messiah to all Israel. That revelation is destined to occur at the beginning of the Messianic Era, and it will be followed by the events described in this week’s Haftarah portion.
In the Ezekiel passages that immediately precede this week’s Haftarah portion, Ezekiel received a series of prophecies about the messianic redemption. He predicted the ingathering of the children of Israel from among the nations. He predicted Israel’s return to the holy land. He predicted miraculous fertility, population explosion, and agricultural prosperity in the land. According to Ezekiel, the redemption will be more than just a physical return to the land of Israel. Ezekiel foresaw a spiritual component to the redemption as well. He predicted that God will spiritually cleanse the children of Israel, transform their sinful nature, pour out His Spirit upon them, and enter into a new covenant relationship with them. In addition to these thrilling promises, the LORD gave Ezekiel a vision of the resurrection of the dead. The LORD placed Ezekiel in the midst of a valley of dry bones -the bones of the people of Israel – and told Ezekiel to prophesy to the four winds: “Come from the four winds, O [wind], and breathe on these slain, that they may come to life” (Ezekiel 37:9). In the vision, Ezekiel saw the bones reassemble themselves and rise up to life as a great host of Israel. Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of the dry bones is a glimpse of the Messianic Era’s resurrection of the dead. I am always fascinated about this story of dry bones coming back to fresh and live again as if I am watching a Sci-fi drama or movie momentarily. This is simply breathless to me. So I can see how Ezekiel feel at that very moment. If I am him I would certainly be awe-struck and jaw-stucked.
The story continues with the LORD also instructing Ezekiel to perform a symbolic, prophetic act. He was to take two pieces of wood and write upon one of them “For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions,” and on the other he was to write “For Joseph, the [wood] of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.” Then he was to join the two pieces of wood together, a symbol of Israel’s future reunification. At the time that Ezekiel gave the prophecy of the two sticks, the exiles had little real hope for a return of any of the tribes to their land, much less all the tribes coming together united under one king as they had been in the days of King David. The Judean exiles could hardly believe Ezekiel’s idealistic prophecies. Some of the children, who gathered around the prophet Ezekiel on the day he did the stick trick, lived to see the prophecy fulfilled. At least part of it. They lived long enough to see their Babylonian captors toppled by the Persians. They were still alive in 537 BCE when Cyrus, the King of Persia, declared the exiles free to return to their land. They returned to Judah and to Jerusalem. They hoped that Zerubbabel, a descendent of David, would be the king that Ezekiel predicted. They set to work rebuilding the city and the Temple of the LORD. It seemed that God had fulfilled Ezekiel’s promise, “I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land” (37:21). They were a part of prophecy in motion, living in exciting times. Some elements of the prophecy however, remained unfulfilled.
Zerubbabel was the heir to the Davidic throne, but the political situation under the Persian Empire made a sovereign king in Jerusalem impossible. The ten tribes of the north were probably part of the general migration back to the land under Cyrus, but the returnees from the Babylonian captivity were mostly from Judah, Benjamin, and the priestly tribe of Levi. It wasn’t really as if Judah and Ephraim were living together united in the land. More Jews actually lived in the Diaspora than in the land. Hence, the prophecy of the two sticks awaits a future, messianic fulfillment.
Boy, this week’s Haftarah portion is long and I don’t have the time to blog all of it here but all in all it gives me great satisfaction to muse upon God’s word with fervent delight especially on His unfulfilled prophecies. And so what did I learn from this study? The imagery of the dry-bones that Ezekiel prophesied truly give us a glimpse of what our Master had taught us the true resurrection of life eternal. And also that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GOD! Israel will again be the Israel of old and that all the 12 tribes of Israel will reunite again before HaShem/Elohim in the Messianic Age.
Shalom and again a blessed new year to all brothers and sisters in Messiah.
TCv3 on Miketz and Simon Peter’s Yahrzeit
December 27, 2009
Filed under Torah
Tags: 9th of Tevet, Christmas, FFOZ, Haftarah Miketz, KIng Solomon's dream, Miketz, Simon Peter's death, Torah Club Volume 3, Torah is Wisdom, Wisdom of God, Yeshua
- Simon Peter – Yeshua’s faithful disciple
So how was Christmas this year? Well, the same as last year. Went for church service and listened to the same old sermon year after year. This year theme is “Immanuel – God with us!” and it teaches that Jesus (Yeshua) came to this world to take away our sins and give us eternal life. The speaker also emphasized that we do not need to work for salvation as it is a gift from God. Yeshua comes to take away our curse of the Torah but not the blessings of the Torah, hence we still need to know about the Torah and not abolish it. Salvation is through the grace of HaShem/Elohim but faith without work is totally useless before Him for He demands our truthful worship and in spirit. That is to say we cannot believe Yeshua truthfully without the acceptance of every words of the Old Testament – the Tanakh. We cannot say such and such has been made obsolete as we are now living in the modern era. How big is the difference or how far apart from Old Testament to New Testament that give Christians’ authorities to say that the value of Old Testament does not apply to us Christians anymore. Did God Himself say otherwise, did any of Yeshua’ Jewish disciples say otherwise. I would say NONE! Probably maybe the disciples of the Apostles who feel that Torah is mostly only for the Jews, who knows. Anyway, there will be tons of debates to decipher concerning the above arguments. It will be a waste of time doing so, I would rather serve HaShem/Elohim the way He wants me to and take the full value of both the Old Testament and New Testament together as ONE into my hands and live.
By the way, do you know that this year Christmas (the 25th of December) is also a special day for us believing Gentiles (supposedly Christians) to observe and that is the Ninth of the month of Tevet which is also Simon Peter’s Yahrzeit or Commemoration of a Death? FFOZ blogger Tobi had written a wonderful piece to help us to understand the meaning of this special day and do go to this link to read about it http://ffoz.org/blogs/2009/12/the_ninth_of_tevet_simon_peter.html.
I have actually finished doing the standing reading for Parashah Miketz on Thursday just before Christmas but I always do the writing after the reading and so here it is. Let’s start. The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon and promised to give him a wise and discerning heart. So the Haftarah portion opens as Solomon awakens from his dream. The firstwords of the portion are, “Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream” (1 Kings 3:15). An almost identical phrase from the Torah portion made this story a good candidate for the choice as the corresponding Haftarah. In the Torah portion, the LORD grants Pharaoh two prophetic dreams, after which it says, “Then Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream” (Genesis 41:7).
After his dream at Gibeon, Solomon returned to Jerusalem and celebrated the LORD’s answer to his request. Not long after that, a law case was brought before the king. Two harlots appeared before him with a baby, both claiming to be the rightful mother of the child. Solomon proposed a novel solution and that is to divide the baby equally between both mothers (with a sword). When he observed that one woman protested the plan and the other accepted it, he determined that the woman with compassion for the child must be the real mother. “When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice” (3:28). In this week’s Torah portion, the Pharaoh of Egypt makes a similar statement regarding Joseph. After Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream and advises him to prepare for famine, the Pharaoh says, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit? . . . Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are” (Genesis 41:38-39) . Joseph and Solomon are tied together by their spiritual gift of divine wisdom. Joseph’s wisdom earned him a position of command over all of Egypt. Likewise, the Haftarah portion concludes with the words, “King Solomon was king over all Israel” (4:1).
Now let FFOZ Torah Club volume 3 elaborates more on Haftarah Miketz and see what we get out of it. Solomon was sleeping at the high place of Gibeon, the most important high place in Israel. The people regarded Gibeon as the most important high place of the time because the priesthood there employed the altar from the original tabernacle. Solomon came to Gibeon to make a request of the LORD. He offered a thousand burnt offerings. The LORD appeared to him in a dream to grant him a request. Solomon asked for “an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9), a request for wisdom. In the Bible, wisdom is more than head-knowledge or a generous portion of common sense. Wisdom includes the ability to distinguish between right and wrong and to act rightly. The Bible regards real wisdom as a gift of God and contrasts it against wisdom which is “earthly, natural, [and] demonic” (James 3:15). “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Corinthians 3:19). “The world through its wisdom did not come to know God” (1 Corinthians 1:21). “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:l0), “but the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hipocrisy” (James 3:17). It is better “to get wisdom than gold” (Proverbs 16:16), because wisdom “is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her” (Proverbs 3:15). Wisdom is found in keeping God’s commandments. The Torah is God’s wisdom, “for the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Proverbs 2:6).
The LORD was pleased with Solomon’s request for wisdom, and He rewarded him generously with wisdom and more:
Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart,
so that there has been no one like you before you, nor
shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you
what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so
that there will not be any among the kings like you all
your days. If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes
and commandments, as your father David walked, then
I will prolong your days. (1 Kings 3:12-14)
This teaching could also illustrate our Master’s saying, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). When Solomon awoke, he knew that his dream was not just a dream. He knew that the LORD had spoken to him and granted Him the wisdom that comes from above. According to Rabbi Isaac, when Solomon awoke, he knew that the dream had already been fulfilled because he could suddenly understand the language of the animals: “If a donkey brayed, he understood what it meant; if a bird chirped, he understood what it meant.” The tradition that Solomon could understand the languages of the animals derives from the verse, “He spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish” (1 Kings 4:33). In Torah portion Miketz, the LORD grants Pharaoh a dream of seven cows and seven stalks of grain. “Then Pharaoh awoke. and behold, it was a dream” (Genesis 41:7), the Torah says. The Haftarah portion opens with a similar statement: “Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream.” The verbal analogy between the two verses occasioned the choice of 1 Kings 3:15-4:1 as the Haftarah portion for Miketz is mutually related and well put.
So what did we learn from here? From how I see it is that we need to be obedient to God and to seek first His kingdom and all other things will be granted to us without our asking. Our beloved Master Yeshua had never a single moment to deviate us from the Father but to bring us closer to God so that we can always enjoy His abundantness in us.
Until the next study, Shalom and a happy new year to all.
TCv3 on Vayeshev and the death of my Yuda Chilli Red Arowana
December 20, 2009
Filed under Torah
Tags: Yeshua, Torah, living Torah, Torah Club Volume 3, chanukkah, Yuda Chilli Red arowana, Vayeshev, Menorah, Mishlei, Mishnah, Red Arowana, Amos
The Precious Names of Yeshua
17th December 2009 being the saddest day in my own life because I lost a precious Yuda chilli red arowana which have been with me for the past 1 year and 2 months. I was too greedy and impatient to have caused the death of this beautiful creature that HaShem/Elohim had given me. I pour in too much mineral-bacteria water-conditioner to the tank during the water-change cycle. He has grown wonderfully beautiful each day since 6 inches when I bought him back from a local fish shop. Recently a month back I have taken a video of him and had uploaded it to the You-tube website and here is the link to see him – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5M9gPZ05TE.
I have been mourning for my arowana (have not been naming him which I should) these past few days but yesterday was Shabbat and I should be joyous and not sad. May HaShem/Elohim take him back to the Kingdom where he belongs. RIP Reddy. OK, have been reading up on the FFOZ Torah Club Volume 3 study material on Parashah Vayeshev and I am going to blog the study summary of the Haftarah portion of it today. The Haftarah portion for this Parashah opens just as the prophet Amos is concluding a series of short denouncements in which he censured Israel’s neighbours. As the Haftarah begins, Amos has turned his rebuke and prophetic word against the nation of Israel. He lists seven sins of the nation for which God is obligated to punish them.
The farmer-prophet Amos reminds the people of Israel that the Amorites who possessed the land before them were expelled for the same sins, which Israel now commits. Therefore God’s judgment will roll over them like an overloaded, runaway wagon. Amos foresaw the coming disaster of Assyrian aggression. He predicts a military invasion of such sweeping measure that neither fight nor flight will avail. Amos says that the LORD’s chastisement of Israel stems from the fact that they alone are His chosen people. He goes on to argue for the legitimacy of his prophecies by posing a series of seven rhetorical questions, each one asking, “If there is an effect, is there not a cause?” From this argument, Amos concludes that God does not do something without first revealing it through prophetic revelation. Therefore, if God’s prophets are speaking, God has already spoken, and their predictions will certainly come to pass. If the LORD has spoken, a prophet cannot help but prophesy.
This passage was selected as a Haftarah portion for Parashah Vayeshev mainly because the connection is based primarily upon a traditional association between Amos 2:6 and the story of Joseph and his brothers. Amos 2:6 says, “they sell the righteous for money.” The Midrash explains that this refers to the ten brothers selling their righteous brother Joseph into slavery. On a larger scale, the prophecies of Amos actually predict the exile of the ten northern tribes. And the ten northern tribes were collectively referred to as “the house of Joseph.” Amos’ prophecies about the house of Joseph going into exile complement the Torah’s story about Joseph’s exile and descent into Egypt.
Amos’s 7 denouncements of “For Three Transgressions and for Four” to the nations also include Israel herself and that makes many Israelites downtrodden and despair. For each nation, the prophet only lists one transgression or at the most two, but when he comes to Israel, Amos lists seven transgressions, each one an explicit violation of Torah:
1. They sell the righteous for silver.
(Exodus 21:16)
2. They sell the needy for a pair of sandals.
(Leviticus 25:25-37)
3. They trample on the heads of the poor.
(Deuteronomy 15:7-8)
4. They deny justice to the oppressed.
(Deuteronomy 24:17; 27:19)
5. Father and son use the same girl.
(Leviticus 18:8, 15; Deuteronomy 22:23)
6. They lie down on garments taken in pledge.
(Exodus 22:26-27; Deuteronomy 24:12-13, 17)
7. In the house of God they drink wine taken as fines.
(Leviticus 10:9)
Now HaShem/Elohim is harsh to those Whom He love because He wants His beloveds to be precious to Him and want them to be a special flock to Him among the pagan ones especially those who don’t accept Him or hate Him. We have read in the daily offering of prayer incense on Psalms every Thursday that it says, “Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever.” (Psalm 81:15) Now, what this Haftarah teaches us is that been the Chosen one is no easy load and cannot be taken lightly as many replacement Christians thought they can. If anyone wants to be God beloved, he or she must be righteous before Him and not one own self-righteousness. Then what is God righteousness? Well, that is the Torah or the Law but actually it is His Instructions. Go read the first five books of the Holy Bible yourself.
By the way, yesterday was the final day of the Chanukkah celebration and do you know that Parashah Vayeshev and Chanukkah are closely related in Judaism study according to the early Sages. Below are just some reading material that I gathered from my daily religious study in the Internet.
“Everyone who has zeal for Torah and maintains the covenant, let him follow me!” (Maccabees I 2:27)
The uprising of the Chashmonaim, (Macabees), a long drawn out and bloody fight which eventually culminated in the liberation, purification and rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, (although the military conflict would linger on for five more years). Why did Matitiyahu choose the incident of the pig to rally the spirits of his fellow Jews toward open rebellion, when so many other decrees were surely every bit as repugnant? Why did he single out the one particular abomination that was a direct and uncompromising blow aimed at the heart of the Divine service of the Holy Temple – the offerings of pure animals, and pure animals only, upon the stone altar, and only upon the stone altar, that stood before the Kodesh sanctuary of the Holy Temple?
Matitiyahu knew that that there is no other matter so dear to the hearts of the Jewish nation as the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and that defiling the Holy Temple and the Divine service that took place within its confines would ultimately prove a death-blow to the nation of Israel. He knew that with the fate of the Holy Temple hanging in the balance the entire nation of G-d fearing Jews would unite in rebellion, and not rest until the Temple was redeemed and the Divine service restored.
Ironically, Chanuka is not a holiday whose observance is centered around the Holy Temple. Chanuka is intended to be celebrated in the home. The chanukiot lamps that we kindle on each of the eight days of Chanuka are meant to shine forth from our homes, to announce loudly and clearly that our homes and the House of G-d – the Holy Temple – are inextricably bound together, that if one is being laid waste then the other cannot rest. (from The Temple Institute Newsletter)
Chazal teach us that the Menorah is a symbol for the Torah itself (Shemos Rabbah 37:3). The aforementioned “miraculous principle” – that when a firm basis is provided, there can be a great expansion of blessing – applies to Torah, as well. This idea is manifest in the Mishnah at the end of Uktzin (3:12). “R’ Yehoshua ben Levi said: In the future, The Holy One Blessed is He will grant (as reward) 310 worlds to each righteous individual, as it says (Mishlei 8:21), ‘to bequeath substantial (reward) to my beloved ones, and I shall fill their storehouses’.” The Mishnah here understands the above-quoted verse from Mishlei as referring to the incredible bounty awaiting the tzaddikim in the World to Come. R’ Shneur Kotler (Noam Siach 88) explains that there really is no inherent contradiction. The verse in Mishlei actually reflects the very principle laid down by the Taz, on a grand scale. The sefarim relate (see, e.g., introduction to Toras Habayis from the Chofetz Chaim) that a main function of the Torah study in which we engage in this world is really only a preparation for the World to Come. As a creation of Hakadosh Boruch Hu, Who is limitless, Torah contains infinite depth. The learning one accrues in this world serves as the building blocks for one to achieve the dazzling, boundless Torah Wisdom contained in every facet of the Torah, secrets that will only be revealed in the World to Come.
In other words, by studying Torah in this world, one creates within himself the foundations of “treasurehouses,” which will only be completely filled in the World to Come. At that point, the Torah he accumulated in this world will serve as the basis for an overwhelming outpouring of intense revelation from the Creator. From the comparatively limited amount he was able to achieve in this world, Hashem will multiply his store of Torah knowledge, to the extent that it will expand to the capacity of entire worlds. (from Weekly Mishnah on the Parshah – Vayeishev)
The miracle of the Menorah was of a different sort altogether; this was an “isarusa d’lsata,” a miracle effected from “below.” That is, it came about through the people’s own efforts. The Chanukah miracle was unique in that the Jews themselves brought it about.
The Bach (Orach Chaim 670) mentions this idea. He explains that it was through the mesiras nefesh – the intense and life-risking effort invested by the Jewish people at that time to restore the Temple service to its pristine state – that they merited and actually caused the miracle of the Menorah to occur. By pushing themselves to the limit for the sake of Hashem’s service, they effected the miraculous restoration of this very service through the kindling of the Menorah.
The singling out of the Menorah miracle by Chazal points to the fact that the underlying principle of this miracle is actually fundamental to a Jew’s very service and existence. As noted by the Bach, this miracle encapsulates the inherent strength and obligation of the Jewish people: mesirus nefesh. Through it, the Jewish people can even cause miracles; indeed, as R’ Ya’akov Emden states (introduction to Siddur of Rabbi Ya’akov Emden), the very fact that the Jewish people continue to exist is the greatest miracle of all. (from Weekly Mishnah on the Parshah – Mekeitz)
Last but certainly not least is our very own Words of the beloved Master Yeshua.
At that time the Feast of Dedication (Chanukkah) took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Yeshua was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Yeshua answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:22-39)
Master Yeshua is our very own Living Torah. Hallelu, Yah! Shalom.
TCv3 on Vayishlach and the joy of Feast of Dedication – Chanukkah
December 15, 2009
Filed under Torah
Tags: 8 miraculous nights, chanukkah, Feast of Dedication, Israel, Maccabean Revolt, Maccabees, Makabim, menora, Temple rededication, Vayishlach
- A Chanukkah menora with 8+1 candles lighted up
Right, this week Parashah is Vayishlach and we are studying the corresponding Haftarah portion of it. God foreshadowed the rivalry between the two nations in his prophecy to the matriarch Rebekah as written in Genesis 25:23. Not only was Esau older than Jacob, but the kingdom of Edom was older than that of Israel. Genesis 36 of this week’s Torah portion (Vayishlach) provides a genealogy and brief historical sketch of the kingdom of Edom: “Now these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel” (Genesis 36:31). Their sibling rivalry seems to have come to a head during the Babylonian siege of Judah when Edom participated in the assault, loot and devastation of Jerusalem.
Obadiah’s oracle against Edom was issued in response to those events. In the book of Obadiah, the LORD announces His judgment on the kingdom of Edom for their collusion with the Babylonians in sacking Jerusalem. The message is not complex. It hearkens back to the covenant in which God promised to curse those who curse His people. Just as Judah has faced a Day of the LORD, a similar day lies in store for Edom and for all nations as well. Obadiah chastises the Edomites for their mistreatment of Judah and their exultation in Judah’s day of disaster. Judah, on the other hand, will be restored, execute judgment over Edom, and become the LORD’s kingdom on earth. Obadiah is a natural Haftarah selection for this week’s Torah portion. Vayishlach tells the story of the reunion between Jacob and Esau and then provides a whole chapter outlining the genealogy and a summary history of the kingdom of Edom.
Obadiah saw a vision concerning an angelic “envoy” dispatched from heaven that went to the nations, calling them to rise up against the little kingdom of Edom. This brief glimpse into the supernatural says something about the prophetic view of theodicy. “Theodicy” is a word that refers to a theological explanation of God’s goodness and omnipotence despite the existence of evil. In Obadiah l:1, the LORD dispatches an angel to incite the nations to take up violence against Edom. He intends on using an invading force as an instrument of His judgment against the Edomites, but He does not control the invader as if it was merely His chess piece to be moved around on chess board. Instead, He encourages the nations to act. He calls upon them to act, but He does not dictate their actions. This in a way helps to explain why God sometimes use a nation to punish His people, yet at a later time, He punish that same nation for its violence against Israel. When God called the Assyrians against Israel or the Babylonians against Judah, He supplied the impetus, but He did not force their hand. The nations are accountable for their own decisions. Their humanly decisions may have inadvertently served God’s intentions, but that did not absolve them from responsibility for their actions towards His chosen ones.
But for this Haftarah portion about Obadiah prophecy, the LORD was not calling the nations to punish His people Israel. Instead, He called the nations to punish Israel’s and Judah’s neighbor, the Edomites – the descendents of Jacob’s brother Esau. Jacob and Esau struggled with each other while still in the womb. When the Babylonians conquered Judah and destroyed Jerusalem, the Edomites rejoiced and even participated. According to Obadiah, their rejoicing was premature. The LORD derides Edom for their arrogance. The kingdom of Edom is despised as inconsequential. Though they consider themselves great, but the LORD made them small among the nations as prophesied in Obadiah 1:2. OK, I will stop here for now as there are too many to cover in this week Haftarah study on Parashah Vayishlach and also there is a Shabbat Chanukkah study that I have yet to unveiled from the FFOZ Volume 3 study material. So what did I learnt from this Haftarah study? Well, HaShem is mighty, He is mightier than the thundering sea water as we always praise Him on every Friday with Psalm 93 and that everything is under His sole control no matter what. I believe He has the Power to foil every of our plan if we do not treat our fellow being righteously or according to the Torah knowledge. Especially when you bless Israel you will be blessed and if you curse Israel you will be cursed.
Talking about Chanukkah, we have already started to celebrate it lighting the first candle on the 11th December’s eve which is also a Shabbat eve. What a joy to us from HaShem/Elohim. Baruch HaShem, baruch Yeshua and todah rabbah Ruach HaKodesh! At the time of this writing, it is already the 4th day of Chanukkah celebration in the presence of HaShem/Elohim in the Name of His beloved Son Yeshua’s glory.
Until then, Shalom shalom and Hag Sameach Chanukkah.
TCv3 on Toldot and Vayetze
December 7, 2009
Filed under Torah
Tags: believing Gentiles, Church Fathers, early Christian writers, Edom, FFOZ, Hosea, Hosea prophecy, Isaac bless Jacob, Jacob wrestle the angel, Malachi prophecy, Messianic Judaism, Messianic Torah, Prayers, sacrifices, Toldot, Torah Club Volume 3, Vayetze
Isaac bless Jacob
Shalom Aleichem, we are now into the study of the Haftarah portion for Parashah Toldot and that is Malachi l:l-2:7. Now the first five verses of the prophecy state God’s love for Jacob and hatred for Esau, referring to the children of Jacob (Israel) and the children of Esau (Edom) respectively. Those five verses of Jacob and Esau material provide the connection to this week’s Torah portion which tells the story of the birth of Jacob and Esau and their subsequent competition for the covenant blessings. The rest of the Haftarah portion addresses the priesthood. By reminding Israel of God’s love for them and His covenant choice of their nation, the prophet hopes to remind a lax and seemingly despondent priesthood of their covenant obligations and responsibilities. From here, we can see that HaShem would not tolerate laxity in worship and demands sincere praise offerings from His people. As it is written in John 4:23, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
Ending on a positive note, the traditional Haftarah reading concludes with an exhortation to emulate Aaron the priest who practiced peace and taught Torah. A true priest of God is a messenger of the LORD: For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. (Malachi 2:7) The prophecies of Malachi are further explored in the Haftarah portion for Shabbat HaGadol. I will not share this study at my blog here because again there are too many significant points to cover to give it a proper summary. Hence, all I can say is that FFOZ Torah Club editors had certainly done a wonderful awesome solid job here for HaShem/Elohim in proclaiming Torah to His people in the glorious Name of His beloved Son Yeshua.
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert” (Malachi 1:2-3). God loved Jacob but hated Esau. That sentiment made the first chapter of Malachi a natural selection from the prophets for the Haftarah portion to accompany the Torah’s Jacob and Esau incident above.
Church Fathers and early Christian writers frequently quoted Malachi 1:10 and similar passages throughout the prophets to support their premise that God never desired literal sacrifices or a literal Temple. The Church Fathers misappropriated God’s rebukes about the mishandling of Temple ritual to justify their theology of contempt for the Temple and sacrificial system. Christian theology placed the sacrificial system of the Temple in antithesis to the sacrifice of Jesus. In their disputations with the Jewish community, Christian apologists pointed to the historic destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and a litany of proof texts that they had plucked out of context to demonstrate that God had been against Torah and the Temple all along. Theologically, the Church joined the Edomite battle cry against God’s Temple in Jerusalem: “Raze it, raze it to its very foundation” (Psalm 137:7).
So what did we learnt from this Haftarah study? Well, first I would say that God’s promises are always steadfast and will not waver for anything. Second, worship Him in truth and do jovial charity as much as one can through the Help of Ruach HaKodesh so that our prayers may be answered as He see fits. Third, study Torah and meditate on the divine Scripture daily to seek Him in all our needs.
Alright, let’s move on to the next Parashah study and that is Vayetze. The Haftarah portion for this Parashah is on Hosea’s prophecy. In the book of Hosea, we can see many poetic structure of the biblical prophecies that many find it difficult to understand. Hosea’s poetry makes heavy use of metaphors and similes. At times, the prophet’s Hebrew poetry is hard to decipher. The prophet Hosea makes two references to the story of Jacob. He briefly retells a few highlights from the Jacob narratives, including the story of Jacob’s flight to Aram, struggle with the angel, and encounter with God at Bethel as written in Hosea 12:3-4 and 12: In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel and there He spoke with us. (Hosea 12:3-4) This serves as the point of connection to Torah portion Vayetze, which describes Jacob’s vision at Bethel. In Hosesa 12:12 we read, “Now Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and Israel worked for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep.” This also reference to the Jacob story in the Torah portion and offers a concise summary of it.
In Hosea 12:4, we find that though judgment hung over the house of Israel, the nation still had time to repent. The prophet Hosea encouraged the children of Israel to think back to their father Jacob the wrestler. While still in the womb, Jacob wrestled with his brother Esau in a contest to be the first-born and to inherit the blessings of Abraham. As an adult, he wrestled with God in the form of the Angel of the LORD, refusing to let go until the LORD blessed him. Eventually Jacob prevailed over the angel. The people of Israel should be like their father Jacob. They should not give up or accept a fatalistic resignation to judgment. Instead, the prophet encourages them to cling to God and to struggle for the blessing. How did Jacob prevail over the angel? “He wept and sought His favor” {12:4). Hosea hence invited the people to wrestle with God in prayer, contrition, and true repentance, weeping before God and seeking His favor. The prophet says, “Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually” (12:6). In Hebrew, the word “return” is the same as “repent.” Jacob saw the vision of the ladder and the angels ascending and descending at Bethel. Hosea also encouraged the people of Ephraim to seek the LORD out at Bethel where God first appeared to Jacob.
The prophet Hosea did not tell the people to bring sacrifices to Bethel, instead, he told them to seek the LORD with genuine repentance, weeping, and prayer. Instead of sacrifices, he told them, “Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips”‘ (14:2). Thus Hosea’s brief recounting of Jacob’s encounter at Bethel is the reason that Sephardic synagogues use this passage as the Haftarah selection. OK, what this teaches us is that HaShem/Elohim desire our prayers and praise offerings (worship) and not animal ritual sacrifices as we read in Psalm 51:16-17.
You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one.
You do not want a burnt offering.
The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.
You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.
In Psalm 51, David confesses his sin without holding back. He implores the Lord to forgive him and create within him a clean heart. Then David adds that HaShem does not “desire a sacrifice” or a “burnt offering.” Yet there is a sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord. “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (51:17).
When we sin, HaShem is not impressed by the things we try to do to atone for ourselves. We cannot offer anything to motivate Him to forgive us. After all, HaShem can produce all the things He needs. But we can offer that which we alone can give to the LORD: our open hearts, our sorrow over our sin, our fervent intention to repent. This is the “sacrifice” HaShem desires from us.
Next week Friday we will be looking forward to Chanukah celebration with family, relatives and friends as well as believing brothers and sisters in Messiah. Get ready for a big miracle to occur in our life…..
