Zion's Voice

Torah Portion for 24th January - 30rd January

Torah portion           Exodus 18 : 1  to  20 : 23

Haftarah portion     Isaiah  6 : 1 – 7 : 6 and 9 : 5,6

“Jethro”

Implicit trust

Jethro (also called Reuel in Exodus 2:18), was of the Kenite clan of Midianites, and is described as “the priest of Midian”.  He had seven daughters, one of whom, Zippora, became the wife of Moses, and the mother of Moses children, Gershom and Eliezer.

(Midian was the son of Abraham and Keturah. Midian, with his other brothers was given gifts of money and livestock and sent east by Abraham when he settled his main inheritance on Isaac. Later, it seems that the Midianites became somewhat nomadic, and they certainly caused the Israelites significant problems so that before the Israelites went into the Land under Joshua’s leadership, they sent in an advance party from the twelve tries to “clear” the land of the Midianites. (Numbers 31))

The detail in the parashah today is fascinating. It shows Jethro to be a wise and honourable man. To put it bluntly, he could see that Moses was wearing himself out in his aim to help sort out the problems and issues of this enormous band of Israelites, who, having left everything they knew in Egypt, were coming to grips with a new lifestyle in the desert places of the Sinai peninsular.

Look at Jethro’s words of wisdom in Exodus 18:18 – 20.

“The thing that you do is not good.Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.” 

So we have a lesson to learn right here. How many times do we try to work things out ourselves, get fretful, irritable, frustrated, discouraged and almost ready to ‘burst’.

Jethro’s advice, recorded for our benefit in this parashah, is “bring the difficulties to God.”  The Apostle Peter, picked up on this in his letter to the diaspora Jews, and Peter knew they had plenty of woes.  He said:-

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”1 Peter 5: 6,7

The words are easier to understand than the action is to perform isn’t it? We all have difficulty handing things over, (which is really a lack of trust in God’s ability) and yet it is the best advice we will ever receive.

Moses, however, DID heed the advice of Jethro, and in so doing, released himself to attend to the next phase of his relationship with God. Moses heard the call of God from the mountain (Exodus 19:3-7)   and immediately, in verse 8, we have the ready agreement of the people to accept their calling and God appointed role, as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (verse 5). That agreement is pivotal to everything that follows in the Hebrew Scriptures, which for the next 1,500 years, details the account of God’s dealings with these covenant agreeing Israelites.

The events described in Exodus 19, took place “in the third month after they left Egypt”. Scholars have identified this time, when the Torah of God was given to the people, to be coincident, in timing, with the later described “mo’ed” of the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot in Hebrew), and Pentecost.

That timing element, in itself, speaks of the wonder and perfection of God’s order. We see how His perfect plan for mankind is shaped and foretold in the “times and seasons (appointed times)” of Genesis 1:14. Later, in Leviticus 23 those times are clearly defined, and, for the Jews at least, were commanded to be observed in perpetuity. Gentile inclusion is by our miraculous ’grafting in’ which the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 11. We are so glad that Moses trusted God implicitly.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 17th January - 23rd January

Torah portion            Exodus 13 : 17  to  17 : 16

Haftarah portion     Judges  4 : 4 – 5 : 31

“After he had let go”

Nothing has changed

I never cease to be amazed at the way God leads His people. With an awesome illustration of might and power, the Lord brought His people out of Egypt. Included in that deliverance was the certainty that the army of Pharaoh who would, a short time later, follow after them, would never bother them again!!!  Nothing is impossible to God, and yet He deigns to take account of, and give consideration to, the feelings and choices of those who are His.

Our parashah opens (verse 17) with such a circumstance. The short route to the Land of Promise involved an encounter with the Philistines. A warlike and contentious people with whom God did not want His “His special treasure” confronted at this early stage of their journey. God needed time with them so that He could show them more of Himself, give them much encouragement and teaching, so that they would become equipped to deal with controversy and conflict with a degree of confidence.

Nothing has changed. In His infinite love, mercy, and grace to those who are His, God cares for those who belong to Him. He provides the means by which we can become equipped to deal with those snares and pitfalls which strew the path we walk with Him.

There are some very interesting Scriptures in the Psalms, which will surprise some. Look at Psalm 138 v 2. King David wrote these words.

“I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your loving kindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” 

And in Psalm 119:- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

Too often, Christians today neglect the considerable armament which God has provided for our safety in our spiritual walk, in a world where the enemy is up to ‘every trick in the book’ to bring us down. More than 90% of people who attend churches regularly do not open their Bibles from one Sunday to the next … and less that 2% of Christians ACTUALLY spend time in the study of that word. Dare I suggest that many Christians today may be taking the long route, a route which is more arduous and difficult than it should be, to get to their destination, at God’s direction, because of neglect to take heed to the instructions He has already, for us, clearly laid out in His Word?

But the Israelites, probably more than 2 million of them, and their livestock, as yet did not have that word, so they commenced that journey under the sure direction of a loving God. He provided the ancient equivalent of an accurate GPS device. A bold pillar of cloud to guide them during daylight hours, and a warm pillar of fire to see them through the night hours.

Even in this circumstance there is a modern day lesson for us. In order to survive, they had to steadfastly stay close and follow that cloud and fire (which represented the presence of God) when it moved. Individuals, families, or groups who did not move when the cloud and fire moved, would surely become lost.

Nothing has changed. When we take our eyes off the Lord, by neglect, indifference, or sheer disobedience, then we too put ourselves in a situation where we become lost.

The account of the crossing of the sea is an exciting story, probably the best known story in the Hebrew Scriptures. Read it again, and marvel at the awesome might and power of our God. Then bask in the knowledge that with God nothing has changed. He cares for you just as much as He cared for those Israelites as they began their journey to the Land of Promise.

Then read Exodus 15. Dare I suggest that we follow the example set by Moses and the children of Israel as they came to see the wonder of their God. They sang a song of praise to YHWH Elohim.

"I will sing to the LORD, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!

The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

Then exalt His name and praise Him, because with Him nothing has changed.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 10th January - 16th January

Torah portion                 Exodus 10: 1 to 13:16

Haftarah portion         Jeremiah 46:13-28

“Go”

God’s salvation plan for man

The outstanding message from this week’s Torah reading is the prescription for keeping the “mo’ed” of Passover as a memorial and an EVERLASTING ordinance. It is the celebration of the most momentous event in the life of both Jews and Gentiles. For Jews, the events which took place about 3,500 years ago, and for ALL of us another event which took place about 2,000 years ago.

Our parashah prescribes the preparation of the Lamb to be slain in great detail. The Passover Seder, in observant Jewish homes is full of meaning and emotion. Children especially are reminded of the events we have been looking at last week and this, in our “reflections”.

A careful reading of John 12, taking particular note of the times specified there, will reveal how closely Yeshua’s experience followed that of the Pascal Lamb of Exodus 12. You will see how He was ‘selected’ on the tenth day of Nissan, the day He rode on the colt into Jerusalem to the adulation of the crowds. He was closely 'examined' by the Jewish and Roman authorities for the next four days. The culmination being the record of the gospel writers Luke (twice) and John (three times), that the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate could “find NO fault in this Man”. Just as the lamb was to be "without blemish". Then He was put to death. An EXACT re-enactment of the procedure specified by God for the substitutionary sacrifice in Egypt 1,500 years earlier.

Sadly, the teaching in MOST church congregations is quite neglectful of the richness which comes from a knowledge and understanding of these "appointed times", which are full of prophetic significance, and are commanded by a Holy God. In their place, the “church” has substituted Christian versions of former pagan festivals.

The burning question is, however, What is the Gentile responsibility to remember and observe these “mo’edim”? Dr. John Garr, Founding Director of the Centre for Hebraic Studies, has written some thoughts on this topic, and I conclude my ‘reflection’ this week by quoting Dr. Garr’s insight.

“Should Christians celebrate Passover? This is a legitimate question to which much of the Church and most of Judaism have said “no”. But the answer for believers must be what is given in Holy Scripture.

Should Christians celebrate Passover? When we remain faithful to the Bible, the answer is clear and unequivocal: “Because Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; therefore, let us observe the festival [Passover and Unleavened Bread]…with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8). This directive is from the Apostle Paul, who even then was still a Jewish Rabbi, and it was given to Gentiles. What could possibly be more apparent?

The next question is, How should Christians observe the Passover? Again, the Bible gives a clear answer. What better example could we have than that of our Lord Jesus Himself? According to the Gospels, He celebrated the Passover with His Disciples in the traditional Seder that the sages had prescribed for His time. The core of the modern Seder predates the time of Yeshua and was the order which He employed in the Last Supper. Christians are free to imitate Jesus’ way of life at any time; however, they are bound to no specific ritual for their salvation. Freedom in the Messiah permits great flexibility of practice.

Should any remain confused, Paul gives the liturgical order for recognizing Yeshua’s sacrificial death in the Passover celebration: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is given to; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes." (1 Cor. 11:23-26)

Dr. Garr, on the clear authority of the Scriptures, has shown that at the annual celebration of Passover, believers in Messiah Yeshua are to remember His sacrificial death by partaking of symbols of His sinless life (unleavened bread) and shed blood (the cup of redemption).

It is my personal conviction that this was intended to be an ANNUAL remembrance for believers, just as Passover, with its specific recollections of redemption from Egyptian slavery, is an ANNUAL remembrance for Jews. The church however, has adopted a variety of ‘communion’ frequencies for this remembrance based on a misunderstanding of the words “as often as” in the text, which I believe, because of context, to be a clear reference to the annual festival.

After all, it celebrates God’s salvation plan for man. Doesn’t it?

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 3rd January - 9th January

Torah portion                     Exodus 6:2 to 9:35

Haftarah portion              Ezekiel 37:15 - 28

“I appeared”

Yahweh Elohim, mighty to save

What an interesting start to our Torah parashah this week.

“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty*, but by My name LORD** I was not known to them”. (NKJV)

(*God Almighty ... El Shaddai .. God All Sufficient                           )

(**LORD ... Yahweh Elohim .. God, Creator, Strong, Deliverer)

It comes as a revelation to understand that our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob may be viewed in such different ways. He is given a number of different characteristic descriptive titles in the Scriptures.

As El Shaddai, He had shown the patriarchs how He was able to care for them, prosper them and protect them. But the covenants that had been made, relating to the Land and the Father of a great Nation were as yet unfulfilled. These promises were about to be fulfilled in this diverse group of slaves working at the behest of their Egyptian taskmasters. And it was as Yahweh Elohim that He would make that happen.

Look closely at Exodus 6:9. It shows just how despondent these people were. They saw their plight as hopeless. Furthermore, they were blaming Moses for making things worse for them (see Exodus 5:23). The time had come for God to act in deliverance of these people. That deliverance would demonstrate the awesome mighty power of Yahweh Elohim, and the world would know that He is the LORD. And we do.

The task He had given to Moses was to go before the Pharaoh of Egypt and proclaim the unique nature of Yahweh Elohim in word and deed. It is interesting that in order to achieve this task, God Himself hardened the Pharaoh’s heart that he would resist, until the full measure of the awesome might of Yahweh Elohim was fully demonstrated.  Significantly, that demonstration was as much for the Israelites benefit as it was for the Pharaoh’s. It confirmed in the minds of Israelites the relationship between Yahweh Elohim and Moses. A relationship which would become more and more obvious as they eventually journeyed to their Promised Land.

There are lessons in the order and scope of the ten plagues which were visited upon the Egyptian people. Not the least of which was the fact that for most of them the Israelites who resided in the Goshen area of the land were exempt from the fury of the plagues. Except the last one.

The last plague which the Lord brought upon Egypt, was the death of the firstborn. After Pharaoh lost his own child, he finally relented and let the Israelites go (Exodus 12:29-31) When this plague came upon the land, the firstborn among Israel were spared only because of the blood of the sacrificial lamb which was placed on the doorposts and lintels of their homes (Exodus 12:21-23). This event, in which death “passed over” Israel, would be memorialized yearly as one of the most important holy days of the Jewish Calendar – Pesach (Passover).

Israelites were treated the same as Egyptians in this plague. Any family that chose NOT to sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and the lintels of their homes experienced death of the firstborn in their homes. It became a clear expression of their faith and trust in Yahweh Elohim. We note that the “firstborn” of both humans and animals thereafter, for all time, became possessions of Yahweh Elohim. (see Exodus 13:2). In Judaism to this very day they practise the “redemption of the firstborn”.

The lesson for us is enlightening. Yahweh Elohim demonstrated His willingness to accept a substitute for the firstborn .. a lamb to be slain. In Judaism today it is represented by an amount of money equivalent to five silver shekels. (see Numbers 3:47, 48). But there is a greater significance. When God spared the firstborn at the first Passover in Egypt, He indicated His favour to those who had a covering of blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes by sparing the lives of the firstborn in those homes. Yeshua, was slain, shed His blood, at the “mo’ed” of Passover. An appointed time when God would meet with those willingly attending each year. It is Yeshua Ha’Maschiach who was chosen by Yahweh Elohim, to be the substitute, acceptable to Him, by which we too can receive life .. new life.

As always, there is so much more upon which to ‘reflect’ in this parashah. Be blessed as you study God’s living word. Yahweh Elohim, mighty to save.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 27th December - 2nd January

Torah portion                     Exodus 1:1 to 6:1

Haftarah portion              Isaiah 27:6 to 28:13 and 29:22,23

“Names”

God’s ways are not our ways

We ended last week’s ‘parashah’ with the death of Joseph. This week we start with the names of Joseph’s 11 brothers who took their families into Egypt to escape the debilitating drought in Canaan, 66 people plus Joseph’s own family. (Some have noted an apparent discrepancy in these numbers by quoting Stephen’s speech in Acts 7, wherein he quotes the number as 75. This is accounted for by reference to the Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures which gives the number as 75. However, the actual number has no bearing on the thrust of the teaching we receive from the study of these Scriptures).

Verse 8 is a key verse in the Scriptures. “There arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” How could anyone in Egypt not know Joseph? He was the Chief of State. Here we have an indication of the value of “studying” the Bible, as well as reading it. It is not immediately obvious, but there is a period of some 200 years between verses 7 and 8 in our text!! In addition to that, Egypt was invaded by a people known as the HYSKOS during this time frame and they ruled for approximately 150 years. It is most likely that this “new king” was in fact a foreigner to Egypt, which explains why he did not know anything about Joseph.

Although all Joseph’s brothers had died in Egypt, their descendants were numerous. And whilst they had started life in Egypt being favoured by Pharaoh (for Joseph’s sake), during the following 200 years they were increasingly relegated to a position of bondage, servitude, and even slavery. Probably under the reign of the Hyskos invaders.

Now here is the significance. We are told in Isaiah 55 that God’s ways are not our ways. The young Joseph was sold into slavery. Joseph ascended to high office in Egypt. A debilitating drought in Canaan. All of Jacob’s family move to Egypt, where they are favoured by Joseph’s high office. So far everything in the garden seems lovely. BUT, God had a plan of making this people “His special treasure”, and to establish them in their own land. If these Israelites had assimilated into the community, if they had enjoyed a comfortable way of life etc. etc., then it is unlikely that they would ever be persuaded to leave.

They had become almost like a blank page on which God could write His agenda. They had descended from being a nomadic people in Canaan with no links to that culture. Then spent over 400 years in Egypt, a culture into which they did not assimilate, and whose customs they did not embrace. A country which provided them survival from drought, but which later turned into a place with extremely harsh living conditions. Then Almighty God, in His immaculate timing, when things seemed all black and gloomy, arranged the events which made it, not only possible, but highly desirable for them to leave Egypt. God’s ways are not our ways.

Today, God is calling those who are “His special treasure” back to the Land of Promise. Many of them are reluctant to move away from their comfortable, assimilated, lifestyles in the various countries to which they have been scattered. But God is working out His purposes in ways we may not understand, and in ways we would never plan ourselves. God’s ways are not our ways.

Please take special not of Ezekiel 34 and 36. It is not for their sakes that God is calling His people back to their land in our time, “but for My Holy Name’s sake, that the world may know that I am the LORD”.

Can you see, as I can, some parallels between the way God prepared His people at that time to leave Egypt so as to become established in their own land, as in our parashah this week, and the way events are unfolding before our eyes today as God is restoring His people to that land.

In our story this week, about 75 years after “this new king arose in Egypt” Moses was born. Now that is a story in itself, and time does not permit a full ‘reflection’ on those events.  Please read this parashah for yourself. As God reveals truths from His Word to you, share those insights with people you love and care for. You will be blessed.

The outstanding lesson for me this week has been to ponder the amazing way God works. The human mind is surely incapable of preparing such a plan. And of course, that is all because God’s ways are not our ways.

What a blessing that is!

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 20th December - 26th December

Torah portion                     Genesis 47: 28 to 50:26

Haftarah portion              1Kings 2:1-12

“He lived”

The Spoken Blessings

We often refer to the God we worship as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The reason for this is that God confirmed (and reconfirmed) the Land Covenant He initially made with Abraham, to both Isaac and Jacob too. Also for that reason they are referred to as the “Patriarchs”.

Our parashah today starts with the news that, having lived in Egypt for 17 years, Jacob, now 147 years old, is sick. But he has some very important things to attend to before he dies.

Firstly, he wanted to extract a solemn oath from Joseph that after his death, his body would be taken back to the Land of God’s Promise, and be buried in the Cave of Machpelah, near Hebron. (today called ‘the Tomb of Patriarchs’) That’s the same place where his grandparents Abraham and Sarah, his parents Isaac and Rebekah, and his first wife Leah were buried.

Secondly he wanted to bless his children. That is, he wanted to speak blessing over them.

(In our society today, we seem to have little understanding of the importance of the spoken blessing. Neither do we appreciate the damage caused by a spoken curse!!)

In observant Jewish homes it has been part of the celebration of Shabbat every Friday evening, not only to share a family meal, but to speak blessing. A husband honours his wife, and his children, by speaking blessing to them. A wife speaks blessing to her husband. It is an important and precious ritual. (It is a personal regret of mine that I was ignorant of both significance of Sabbath observance and the richness of the Friday evening family meal in celebration of the Sabbath until well after my children had married and left home).

Now here is an exercise for Bible Students. You will be blessed if you decide to participate. Read carefully the blessings spoken by Jacob to each of his sons. Those blessings are all contained in Genesis Chapter 49.

Then go to a map of Israel (which most Bibles have at the end of the text) which shows the land division amongst these sons of Jacob. Keep this information in mind as you continue to read the travelogue and incidents which the Bible records as you proceed through the historical account of God’s dealings with these folk and their descendants. You will be amazed at the way in which the words spoken over these boys, by Jacob, work out in their lives and circumstances. The whole travelogue is contained in just 11 Books of the Hebrew Scriptures. (Look at “reflections” of May 23 “Bamidbar” for the historical reference).

The remainder of our parashah (chapter 50) tells us that Joseph kept his promise to his Dad, by personally attending to the burial of Jacob’s remains in the Cave of Machpelah near Hebron. After which he returned to Egypt to continue his service there as Chief of State. Much later, he too extracted promise from his brothers to ensure that his remains would be carried back to his homeland for burial. Today there are remains of the “Tomb of Joseph” just outside the modern Palestinian City of Nablus (Biblical Shechem) which was vandalised and largely destroyed a few years ago by the Palestinians during Yasar Arafat’s reign of terror there.

Joseph died at 110 years old, having been taken there As slave boy at 17 years of age. It has been calculated that he lived about 69 years after Jacob’s death.

Perhaps the main lesson to come from our “reflections” so far, is that God has been working out His purposes in the lives of those who put their trust in Him. Since we are assured that we worship a Mighty God, Who does not change, He continues to work out His purposes in our lives when WE trust Him. Psalm 91 has an amazing promise for those who are committed to serve the Lord and “dwell” with Him.

“Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Psalm 91:9-12 (emphasis mine)

Just ANOTHER occasion where we can recognise Almighty God “speaking blessing” to us, through the words of the Psalmist, just as He caused Jacob to “speak blessing” to his sons.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 12th December - 19th December

Torah portion                    Genesis 44: 18 to 47:27

Haftarah portion              Ezekiel 37: 15 – 28

"He approached"

Hallelujah, what a Saviour !

Joseph’s plan to keep Benjamin in Egypt and leave his brothers go back without him was a bit too clever. On the face of it, there was no harm in it for Benjamin or his brothers. But a revelation quite unexpected was to unfold before Joseph’s eyes.

Judah stepped forward and spoke privately to Joseph. It was Judah who had persuaded his brothers to spare Joseph’s life. It was Judah who offered himself as surety for the young Benjamin to his father. And it was Judah who spoke so lovingly of his father that tore into the very fabric of Joseph’s heart.

We move on to Genesis 45 in the moment that he revealed himself to all his brothers. He cleared the room of his courtiers, advisers, servants. Everyone who was not ‘family’, and when he was alone with them, he showed himself for who he was. And he wept aloud. Nothing held back. An outpouring of love, and sincerity and joy, at this moment of real re-union with his brothers.

Dear friends, this is the future Zechariah 12:10 moment.  This foretells the time when Yeshua Ha’Mashiach will open the eyes of His brothers, the Jews. There will not be a Torah denying Gentile in sight. They will all be invited to ‘leave the room’. Can you imagine the feelings these brothers of Joseph had on being re-united with him? The brother they had mocked, reviled, taunted, plotted to kill, sold to an enemy. And now they see him as their saviour. Try to imagine it if you can.  And then see Joseph...weeping with joy and compassion and love.

The day Yeshua reveals himself to His brothers ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED. That is why they will mourn, Not for Him, but for their centuries of blindness and unbelief. Hallelujah, what a Saviour! He will welcome them with open arms, NEVER will they be sent away again. They will be given a New Covenant, just as Jeremiah prophesied.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah – not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts: and I will be their God, and they shall by My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD, ‘for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

We have seen how Joseph is a “type” of Messiah. But as we continue in the story of God’s amazing provision for these people, we can see even more of God’s plan for those who are “His special treasure”.

Read Genesis chapter 47, and marvel.

Just as God made such bountiful provision for the family of Jacob in the land of Goshen, He has promised to make the Israelites prosper in the Land of Promise. The sceptics will look at the situation today and see a people who have little or no respect for their God. But what did God say to Ezekiel in chapter 36? PLEASE read it for yourself. God’s amazing plan for Israel is unfolding before our eyes today. But there is more! Again in Ezekiel chapter 34 He speaks of the time when He will establish “One Shepherd” over them. That speaks of the time when Messiah has been revealed to them.

Just as Joseph was able to lead his family into a land of plenty in the midst of drought, so Yeshua Ha’Mashiach will reign as King over a people who will live as sons of the King in the Land of Israel when He reveals Himself to them.

This passage of Scripture is full of meaning to those willing to learn.

Hallelujah, what a Saviour !

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 6th December - 12th December

Torah portion              Genesis 41 : 1  to  44 : 17

Haftarah portion        Isaiah  66 : 1 - 24

“At the end”

A day of great re-union

No-one knows exactly how long Joseph spent in the Pharoah’s prison in Egypt. We know it was long enough to be put in charge of all the other prisoners, and it was a full two years after the Pharoah’s butler was released. He was about 17 when he was sold into slavery, and he was 30 when he was released.  It has been calculated by some that he might have spent as much as eleven of those years in prison. However, what we do know for certain is “the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper”  Genesis 39 : 23.

We also know that whilst in prison, God extended his gift in the interpretation of dreams. It was this God given gift that gained his release.

We should be cognisant of the fact that with this amazing gift, at no time did Joseph seek gain or glory for himself. He was VERY quick to give Almighty God the glory and the praise for his gifting. So much so, that the Pharoah immediately recognised ‘the Spirit of God’ in Joseph. Pharoah counted it as wisdom and discernment in Joseph  .. and so it was.

Read Proverbs 26 : 12.  The lesson we can learn from Joseph is to give God the glory for any gifting we might possess  and utilize. Much too often glory is given to the person exercising the gift, rather than to the Giver.

God blessed Joseph with more power and authority than he could ever have dreamed about!  … but wait a minute .. he DID dream about it didn’t he?  And he was just a lad when he had that dream. I wonder if Joseph, busy as he became with the affairs of State and managing the economy, ever pondered the detail of the dream he had more than 13 years earlier. Did he ever imagine a future meeting with his family. What would he say? How would he react? How would they react? At that stage many more questions than answers I suspect.

Well, the text of the story is so well known to anyone who had a modicum of Christian up-bringing that we need not go through it here. But there are elements within the story that we should ‘reflect’ upon.

Judah, the fourth son of Leah, who had taken such a decisive role in preserving Joseph’s life, now puts his own life on the line as he volunteers to be surety for the life of Benjamin, Joseph’s full brother. Simeon had remained behind in Egypt and Jacob (with Joseph’s disappearance still in his mind) was reluctant to risk the life of yet another son, Benjamin. But with starvation a realistic option, Jacob consented to Benjamin going to satisfy the demands of the “saviour’ in Egypt.

We now look at Joseph as the “type” of messiah. We note that he was not recognized by his brothers. His dress, his language, his situation, his authority, all conspired to hide him from their eyes. For the remainder of this reflection we discover the things about Joseph which are prophetic of the coming of Messiah Yeshua to His own brothers in Israel. Today, we have similarly camouflaged the Jesus we worship as Christians in a way that makes Him unrecognizable to His own Jewish brothers. (please read Deuteronomy 13 to understand why).  How can they worship a Messiah who, we tell them, abandoned the Torah of Moses?

When Joseph met his own full brother Benjamin, Genesis 43:30 tells us that he “yearned for his brother”. His heart was  full … and he wept. But he was not yet ready for a full disclosure of himself. He ordered his servants to serve a meal. The brothers were astonished. He’s not with us, he’s not with them, what is happening here?  Perhaps it was then that Joseph worked out the plan to keep his brother Benjamin with him. He was not going to risk losing him again. But there was still some drama ahead of those brothers before they came to know the truth.

Almighty God has already declared His plan for His people. He is already taking them back to their own land. In the fullness of His perfect timing, Yeshua will be revealed. But it seems that there are still some more events to take place in this world before that “great and terrible day of the Lord”. But it will also be a day of great enlightenment for Israel. A day of great re-union .. but not yet.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 29th Novermber - 5th December

Torah portion             Genesis 37 : 1  to  40 : 23

Haftarah portion      Amos 2 : 6 to 3 : 8

“He continued living”

Almighty God has a perfect plan

Jacob and his extensive family had returned to live in the land of Canaan.

Young Joseph, now 17 years old, was out in the fields with four of his older step-brothers, who obviously did something amiss, because Joseph “dobbed” them in!!  Joseph had become a favoured son, he was evidently very close to his Dad, and for that reason Jacob made him an especially attractive coat, which became the envy of the other brothers. The result was that Joseph did not enjoy a good relationship with his brothers.

Because we have the advantage of knowing the rest of the story of Joseph’s life, it has been universally accepted that Joseph is a “type” of the Messiah (Yeshua). I see this brotherly relationship as an early indication of that typology. The envy, the jealousy, the malice, and eventually the intended demise of Joseph, are all characteristics of the way in which Joseph became, in “type”, a forerunner of Messiah Yeshua. Even the coat, the mantle, which he wore was typical of the reason for the division that separated him from his brothers. It spoke of his special relationship with his father.

But it was not only the coat was it? Joseph had a dream, two dreams in fact, which he shared with his family. These dreams were prophetic of both the real life future events in Joseph’s life, but also were prophetic of Yeshua Ha’Maschiach. They were prophetic too of an event still in the future, when “every knee shall bow” in the presence of Messiah. And then, as indeed now, his family had great difficulty in accepting the idea that their future “Messiah” was there living amongst them.

(We know from the Scriptures, that the present day “blindness” to Yeshua, which is characteristic of Jews in general, is a “blindness” which has been put there by God Himself. That “blindness” being for the eternal benefit of Gentiles who have come to faith. (Read Isaiah 29 and Romans 11). I strongly recommend the CD’s of the combined Derek Prince / Operation Exodus conference in Sydney August 15 2015  for an excellent exposition on this topic).

Our ‘reflection’ continues as we see the young Joseph, sent by his father to his brothers, who were tending the family flocks in a distant part of the land. Genesis 37 : 13,14, (my paraphrase), records the conversation between father and son. “I want you to go and see how your brothers are getting along looking after the herds” says Jacob. “OK Dad, glad to go” replies Joseph. “Bring back word to me soon, I want to know how they are coping and where they’ve got to” Jacob concludes.

Can you sense, as I can, how this conversation typifies a father’s concern for his family? His children have been given a task, he senses they could be in danger and now he has temporarily lost touch with them. Can you imagine how this conversation is so typical of how Almighty God might have agonised over sending His beloved Son to go and seek out His brothers, whom He could see were getting lost?

In NO way do I intend levity, or irreverence here. I just sense the Father’s heart as He knows what is in store for the Son, whom He is sending on a dangerous, necessary mission.

As the story unfolds, it gets worse. The brothers decide to get rid of Joseph once and for all time. They plot to kill him. Then Judah comes to his rescue and persuades the others that there is some profit to be made by selling him (30 pieces of silver!!) into slavery. They are well aware of the enmity between their grandfather Isaac and his older brother Ishmael. So they determine to sell him to Ishmaelites. (“We’ll never hear of him again!” they thought). In the event, he was sold to a band of Midianite traders. These are descendants of another group of people with a dislike for the Israelites. Midian was the fourth son of Abraham’s wife Keturah. Midian was one of those who the scriptures tell us was given a “gift” by Abraham, whereas the substance of Abraham’s inheritance went to Isaac. Hence the enmity there. Then begins Josephs sojourn in Egypt.

As is the case every week, there is so much more to be learned by study of the weekly Torah portion. The Lord will show you things I haven’t even mentioned. But for me, the outstanding message is the way we see Joseph’s life increasingly typify the role God gave him, as a lesson and example, in type, of the coming Messiah.  Revelations that will surely strike a chord in minds of Jewish friends we may seek to introduce to their Messiah.  Almighty God has a perfect plan.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Torah Portion for 22nd Novermber - 28th November 

Torah portion               Genesis 32 : 3  to  36 : 43

Haftarah portion        Hosea 11 : 7 to 12 : 12

“He sent”

God’s mighty hand on a life

Just when Jacob thinks all in the garden is rosy, he gets the worst news he could ever imagine. Esau is on his way to greet him!! And he has four hundred men with him !  Jacob did the only sensible thing he could. Remembering his dream, wherein God made promises to protect him, to prosper him, and to take him safely back to his own country, he turned to God in prayer, talking to God about those promises. In Genesis 32 : 11 he confessed his fear of his brother before the Lord.

So here is a lesson for us. Like Jacob, we should make our confessions honestly before God, remembering His promise never to leave us nor forsake us. Then as we turn to Him in prayer, recall the Scriptures which God has Himself provided for our instruction and benefit. It is an undeniable fact that God will not act in any way that is counter to His own Word. We cannot pray outside of the will of God when we are praying the Scriptures, as Jacob did, but if we wax lyrical in our own thoughts and demands, we can soon find ourselves on shaky ground, even wondering why God seems slow to answer our prayer !!

Having said that, it did not stop Jacob being his “tricky” self. The story is told in the balance of Genesis 33, in which we see the ‘tricky’ Jacob put as much distance as he possibly can between himself and his brother Esau, who resided in Biblical Edom. (a place eventually destined to become a perpetual wasteland).

Jacob went northwards, away from Esau, and came to a place called “Succoth”, before eventually settling his family in the city of Shechem (modern day Nablus). There he bought the piece of land where Joseph was eventually buried. (Joshua 24:32)  We remind ourselves again that this is the second of three parcels of land which were actually BOUGHT for a full price by the descendants of Abraham.

Genesis chapter 34 contains a story of great infamy. It has truth and error mingled together which culminates in the death of Hamor’s family. Read it for yourself. The lesson which comes from it is that there is no place in society for revenge outside of the law, because that merely exacerbates an issue to a point where compromise is impossible. In our day, we have seen the spectacle of countless deaths arising from such a situation in Ireland. We see an endless round of ‘honour’ killing in some communities. On a broader level we have the whole situation in the Middle East.

Simeon and Levi, the principal culprits in our story, were dealt with in a very different way to their brothers when it came to the time of Jacob’s blessings for his sons.  (Jacob enjoined Simeon and Levi together in his blessing to the boys in Genesis 49. Jacob proclaimed that they would be divided and scattered in Israel. The Levites, of course, had no Land possession, and the Simeonites, being the smallest and weakest of the tribes, was apportioned land, near Beersheva, within the boundaries of the larger territory allotted to Judah. There is also evidence (2 Chron. 15:9) that they wandered about, as Jacob had prophesied, and at least some of them moved up to the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of Asa and Josiah).

 In addition, when Moses declared a series of blessings on ELEVEN of the tribes which were about to go in to possess the Land in Deuteronomy 33, Moses did not mention the tribe of SIMEON in his blessings.

I am not sure how appropriate it is but I am reminded of something my mother taught me many years ago .“be sure your sins will find you out !”

My final reflection on this passage is from Chapter 35. We find Jacob taking firm leadership within his family. It is how God expects men to behave in families.  (And sometimes it is very difficult for strong women in families to honour that). Jacob recognised the hand of God on his life and he led from the front. Out with idolatry. “As for me and my house, we will worship the Lord”.

God was pleased with Jacob. So pleased that He did TWO very important things. Firstly, He changed Jacob’s name to ISRAEL. No more “supplanter” but now “triumphant with God” or “prince with God” (or similar). Secondly, in Genesis 35:12, God tells “Israel” that the land promise made to Abraham and Isaac before him He also now affirms to him. Then Israel named the place of his encounter “Bethel” … House of God.  It is amazing what happens with God’s mighty hand on a life.

Shabbat Shalom

RS