Contrary to the vain philosophy of this fallen world, the essence of love hates what is evil; just as it is hateful to be “tolerant” of what is wicked… Followers of Yeshua must love the truth and abhor the lie. Tolerating (or indulging) sin in a world ripe for judgment is a tacit form of “collaboration” with the enemy… Indeed, the only thing regarded as intolerable in the devil’s world is the objection that people have a supposed “liberty” to sin. But the LORD is clear on this point: those who call evil good and good evil are subject to divine wrath and judgment.
Month: October 2020
Vanity of the Wicked…
Regarding the pagan holiday of “Halloween,” remember that there is no “spell” or evil incantation (i.e., nachash: נַחַשׁ) effective against Jacob, there is no sorcery (i.e., kesem: קֶסֶם) against Israel. At this time it must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Look at what God has done (מַה־פָּעַל אֵל)’ [Num. 23:23]. No weapon formed against God’s people shall prosper (Isa. 54:17), and the curse of the wicked is powerless against the tzaddikim (Prov. 26:2). Ein od milvado (אֵין עוֹד מִלְבַדּו) – God is the only true Power (Deut. 4:35; 1 Chron. 29:11; Rev. 4:11). Satan is an impostor and a foiled usurper. As Yeshua told his followers, “Behold I give to you authority (ἐξουσία) to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy (καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ), and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19). Like Balaam and Haman, all who curse God’s people or attempt to foil His plans will be upended… Hallelujah and Amen.
Escape from Egypt…
Some time after entering the promised land, Abram’s faith was tested: “Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there…” (Gen. 12:10). The sages say that Abram stumbled by leaving the land, and that he should have trusted that the LORD would provide for him despite the lack of food. Indeed during his time in Egypt Abram lost sight of God, lied about Sarai, compromised his values, and was passive as his wife was abducted into Pharaoh’s harem. The situation got so bad that God finally intervened by sending “great plagues” upon Pharaoh and his household to rescue the family from their captivity (Gen. 12:17). Because of these plagues, Pharaoh urged Abram to to make an “exodus” from the land, and Abram left with wealth acquired there (including Hagar, a daughter of Pharaoh). Humbled by his lapse of faith, Abram then returned to the altar he built near Bethel and called upon the LORD (Gen. 12:10-13:4).
Words of Death and Life…
Just as the body can become sick with illness, so can the soul: “I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me; heal my soul (רְפָאָה נַפְשִׁי), for I have sinned against you'” (Psalm 41:4). The targum Onkelos states that God breathed into Adam the ability to think and to speak. In other words, thought and speech are two primary characteristics of the image (tzelem) and likeness (demut) of God. Since our use of words is directly linked to the “breath of God” within us, lashon hara (לָשׁוֹן הָרָה), or evil speech, defaces God’s image within us…. Using words to inflict pain therefore perverts the image of God, since God created man to use language to “build up” others in love. This is part of the reason the metzora (i.e., one afflicted with tzara’at, or skin disease) was regarded as a “leper” in need of rebirth…
…
…
The Original Priesthood…
The Torah reveals that the very first “priest” (i.e., kohen: כּהֵן) was neither a Jew nor a Levite nor a descendant of Aaron, but rather Someone who is said to have “neither beginning of days nor end of life” but is made like (ἀφωμοιωμένος) the Son of God, a priest continually (Heb. 7:3). This priest, of course, was Malki-Tzedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק), the King of Salem (מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם) to whom Abraham offered tithes after his victory over the kings (Gen. 14:18). The author of the Book of Hebrews makes the point that the priesthood of Malki-Tzedek is greater than the Levitical priesthood and is therefore superior to the rites and services of the Tabernacle (Heb. 7:9-11). It was to Malki-Tzedek that Abram (and by extension, the Levitical system instituted by his descendant Moses) gave tithes and homage — and rightly so, since Yeshua is the great High Priest of the ultimate covenant based on God’s eternal life (Heb. 8:6).
The Meaning of “Hebrew”…
In our Torah reading for this week (i.e., parashat Lekh Lekha) Abram is called ha-ivri (הָעִבְרִי) – “the Hebrew,” a term that means “one who has crossed over” (עָבַר) from another place (Gen. 14:3). Rashi identifies this “other place” as Ur of the Chaldees (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים), located east of the Euphrates River, though the midrash (Genesis Rabbah) symbolically identifies it as the realm of idolatry: “The whole world stood on one side, but Abram crossed over to the other.” Abram separated himself from a world steeped in idolatry and polytheism by worshiping the One LORD God who is the sole Creator of all things…. Understood in this way, being “Hebrew” means being regarded as an “other,” a “stranger,” or an “outsider” to idolatrous world culture. Similarly, all those who “cross over” from the realm of death to life because of Yeshua our Savior are rightly called “Hebrews” (John 5:24).
The Name El Shaddai…
When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El Shaddai (אֲנִי־אֵל שַׁדַּי); walk before me, and be made whole” (Gen. 17:1). Since the compound name “El Shaddai” depicts the image of a nursing mother (i.e., the word shadayim (שדיים) means “breasts,” symbolizing sufficiency and nourishment, e.g., Gen. 49:25), perhaps this revelation was meant to remind Abram and Sarai that the LORD would be the Womb, the Sustenance, and the Substance of the coming promised Seed. Only God can bring life out of death – even life from the deadness of Sarai’s womb (see Rom. 4:19). For this reason, both Sarai and Abram were renamed by adding the letter Hey (ה) to their original names, symbolizing the Holy Spirit of God. The promised Seed was to be born miraculously, not unlike the virgin birth of the Messiah reported in the Gospels (i.e., just as Sarai was “without a womb” yet enabled to bear the promised seed (of Isaac), so was Mary, a virgin who was enabled to bear God’s promised Seed – the Messiah).
Crossing Over to Life…
Our Torah portion this week (Lekh-Lekha) begins: “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go (לֶךְ־לְךָ) from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land I will show you” (Gen. 12:1). The Book of Hebrews comments, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, καὶ ἐξῆλθεν μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ποῦ ἔρχεται – “not knowing where he was going” … for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God” (Heb. 11:8,10).
Heart of Righteousness…
From our Torah reading for this week (Lekh-Lekha) we learn about the resolute faith of Abram who, despite his old age, trusted that God would make him a father with descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky: “And the LORD brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then the LORD said to him, “So shall your offspring be. And he trusted in the LORD, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).
Abram “staggered not” at the promise of God, and therefore God imputed to him righteousness (צְדָקָה), a term understood here to be divine esteem and grace. After all, what could Abram do in the face of seeming impossibility? There was nothing he could do to bring about the miracle. The New Testament comments: “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb” (Rom. 4:19). It was in a state of utter powerlessness and complete helplessness that Abram retained hope and thereby received the promise by faith. “For he was beyond hope, yet in hope he trusted that he would indeed become a father to many nations, in keeping with what he had been promised, ‘so shall your offspring be’” (Rom. 4:18).
Broken and Remade…
“See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is immoral or profane like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it (the blessing) with tears” (Heb. 12:15-17; Gen. 27:38).
“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters (מְקוֹר מַיִם חַיִּים), and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).
Spiritually speaking, there are two basic sorts of breaking. One is to be broken by the inevitable sin and ruin of this world, and the other is to be made lev-nishbar (לֵב־נִשְׁבָּר), a broken heart, before the LORD. The former breaking comes from the vain attempt to find life in the broken vessels of this world, and “repentance” is expressed as remorse over perceived temporal loss. This sorrow eventually leads the soul to death (2 Cor. 7:10). To be inwardly broken, on the other hand, requires mourning over your life and returning to God for deliverance (Matt. 5:4).