Zion's Voice

Haftarah Reflections   36

Torah portion             Numbers  8 : 1 – 12 : 16 

Haftarah portion     Zechariah 2 : 10 – 4 : 7

Listen to the Prophets

When studying the Scriptures, it is important to know the context of what one is reading. All the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures were called by God to proclaim a timely message. Amazingly, the truth is that those very proclamations, made thousands of years ago, for a particular circumstance at that time, have application and relevance for us today.

Zechariah lived at the time of the Babylonian captivity. He was a contemporary of the prophet Haggai. He had witnessed the return from Babylon of Zerubbabel and 49,696 other people. He had seen the work of rebuilding the ruined Temple commence, and he saw that the building work was being hampered by opposition and other difficulties. His message was one of urgency and encouragement. And the good news is that a mere five years later, the work was completed. You may read the details in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

BUT, there is another dimension to this prophetic ministry of Zechariah. His words speak clearly of a future event, part of which we see happening today, and part of which is still future to us.

Our parashah opens with the rousing rallying call “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst”. A prophetic statement actually fulfilled when Yeshua was born. But as that prophetic statement continues, we see that there is more to follow, which is additional to the first part, which will be completely fulfilled at the return of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach to rule and reign as King of Kings in Jerusalem.

Before that mighty event occurs, there will have to be a Temple standing in Jerusalem once more. Ezekiel describes that Temple in great detail in chapters 40 to 48 of his prophecy. Our parashah contrasts the imperfect priesthood of the first Temple period, with the priesthood which will serve in the Temple when Yeshua reigns as King. Chapter 3 : 4 tells us “See I have removed your iniquity from you,  and I will clothe you in rich robes”.

This is consistent with Jeremiah’s announcement about the New Covenant isn’t it? He says in Jeremiah 31 ; 34  “… For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more”. Their iniquity was in breaking their covenant vows. They did not live according to the instructions of God, which they had promised to do.

Here is a lesson for us today. Before we get all self-righteous and judgmental about these Israelites, we would do well to contemplate the vows and promises we have made before a Holy God. If you are up for a shock read Matthew 7 : 23 again. The word translated “lawlessness” (greek. ‘anomia’, iniquity, unrighteousness, against the law) in our Bibles, is a clear reference to “Torah-less-ness” (against God’s instruction for righteous living).

The last 4 verses of our parashah are so clearly a prophecy about the Messianic Kingdom. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah all speak about Yeshua as ‘the Branch’. There is also some figurative language used, (which commentators more knowledgeable than I have difficulty explaining), and finally the promise that the iniquity of that land to be removed in one day. I believe the Apostle Paul made reference to this in Romans 11 : 26.

So Zechariah seems to have been entrusted, by God, with a message of encouragement to the Temple builders who had returned from Babylon. At the same time, God chose this man to be the bearer of both good news, and a warning to the citizens of the world alive today.

The KING is coming. Make yourselves ready. As He said to Joshua the High Priest:-

 “If you walk in My ways, and if you keep My command, then you shall also judge My house, and likewise have charge of My courts:..”

And how is this to be accomplished?

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts”

What a mighty God we serve. And what a day that will be.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Haftarah Reflections   35

Torah portion             Numbers  4 : 21 – 7 : 89 

Haftarah portion     Judges 13 : 2 - 25

Listen to the Prophets

In the Torah parashah (Numbers 6 see verse 2) we are given details of the instruction God gave regarding those who would take a “Nazarite vow”. It is a voluntary vow of (Heb. ‘nazir’) separation or consecration. An outward sign of that person’s vow was that during the period of the vow, he/she would not cut his/her hair. At the end of the vow period, a sacrificial offering was made to the Lord.

Our Haftarah parashah introduces us to a man from the tribe of Dan, named Manoa. His wife (name unknown) is one of at least SIX women initially described in our Bible as ‘barren’, childless, but who eventually bore children to their husbands. Not only that, but all those first born children were greatly used of God in fulfilling His purposes.

We must not minimize the anguish of the state of ‘barrenness’ for a woman. There were two attributes important to both men and women in the Bible. Firstly, premarital chastity, secondly marital productiveness. Well might we ponder how times have changed today, both in terms of expectation and general morality.

After the Israelites entered the Land of Promise, they were led by a series of Judges for approximately 400 years. Some were ‘good’ Judges and some were ‘evil’ Judges. It is an interesting fact that when the ‘good’ Judges were in power the Lord prospered the Israelites. When the ‘evil’ Judges ruled, God prospered the Philistines. This seemed to play out in area of the Sorek Valley where the land is most fertile and therefor prized as a possession by both Israel and the Philistines.

At the time of our story this week, the Israelites had been ‘delivered to’ the Philistines for the last 40 years. (This was about 320 years after the Israelites entered the Land, and about 50 years before the appointment of Saul as the first King of Israel). BUT, God had a plan of rescue for the Israelites.

Manoah’s wife was visited in the field, where she was either working or waiting for her husband, by a “man’, whom she immediately recognized as someone special. She instinctively knew that he was “a Man of God”. In her description of him to Manoah she used the Hebrew word ‘yare’. He looked ‘fearful’, ‘awful’, ‘terrible’, ‘awesome’, depending on which translation you use. It is the same word used in Proverbs 9:10. As in ‘the fear (‘yare’) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. That is why she did not have the presence of mind to ask Him any questions. She was totally awestruck.

Manoah’s response to her is exemplary. Look at it in verse 8. “Let’s pray about it” (my paraphrase). What a lesson that is for us. In truth, the finger is pointing directly at me in that statement, when I think of the many instances in my life when I did not consult with the Lord when I should have. (Just two weeks ago, in “Reflection” BEHAR, we saw Jeremiah receiving a word from the Lord, but waiting for a further word of confirmation before proceeding to act).

Almighty God in response to Manoah’s prayer sent His Angel a second time to confirm that this childless couple would have a son. A son who would live a “Nazarite vow” from his birth. That means he would be ‘separate’, ‘consecrated’ to God for the special task (which Manoah and his wife were not to know at that time) of rescuing the Nation from the grip of the Philistines.

Finally, in gratitude for the news they had received, Manoah and his wife first sought to offer hospitality to their visitor before asking the Angel of the Lord his name. In paraphrase again, he told them that whilst he would not eat their food, it would be appropriate to make an offering to the Lord. As for his name, well that is a secret (Heb, ‘pil’iy’).

They made an offering to the Lord. We can only wonder at what they felt as their visitor dramatically ascended into the heavens in the flame of the altar fire. They were frightened. They thought they would die because of what they had seen (they thought he was God Himself).

The last two verses of our parashah cover several years. Samson was born. As he grew up the Lord blessed him. We must assume that his parents trained him in the Nazarite way, because when he was an adult the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him. The rest, as they say, is history. The end of the story is deliverance from the Philistines.

What a mighty God we serve.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

 Haftarah Reflections   34

Torah portion             Numbers  1 : 1 – 4 : 20 

Haftarah portion     Hosea 2 : 1 - 20

Listen to the Prophets

What a confronting passage of Scripture this week.

We might recall that the Torah parashah for this week is about the start of the wilderness journey of the Israelites. A journey distance which COULD have been completed in about a fortnight, but which, for reasons we know, took about 40 years whilst God dealt with the issues which the people had brought about due to their mistrust and fear.

In the Haftarah portion, Hosea, like Amos before him, was called by God to address issues of immorality and corruption (in spite of, or perhaps because of, their prosperity and growth) which pervaded the society of the tribes of the Northern Kingdom, Israel. (sometimes also referred to as Ephraim, from the name of their largest tribe). Although Hosea did not know this, a mere 30 years after his warnings to this people, they were actually taken into exile by the Assyrians.

Here is our first salutary lesson today. Because we know the history, we clearly see Hosea as a faithful servant of Almighty God, taking an unappealing, but timely, message of warning of the need for repentance to a people about to face the wrath and judgement of a Holy God. Most Christian believers are aware that Yeshua will return to rule and reign in the Messianic age to come. BUT, no-one knows the actual date and time when that event will take place. It may this year, or in a hundred years from now. What we do know is that when He does return, it will then be too late for those not already part of the Kingdom of God. For the Israelites in our parashah it was a mere 30 years. How long is it for our family, our friends, our workmates, our neighbours? How many “Hosea’s” are reading this reflection today?

And there is a lot more. In order to emphasise to Hosea the fractured relationship between those Israelites of the Northern Kingdom and God, Hosea was told to take Gomer, a prostitute, as his wife. Wow!!!  In this marriage he would experience at first hand the kind of issues God Himself faced in dealing with the unfaithful Nation of Israel.

The text of our parashah, consists entirely of the words the Lord spoke to Hosea, which he was to convey to the people. Although the words are framed as those of one person to another, it is quickly evident that these are the innermost feelings of God towards His covenant partner, Israel. The words are framed as a husband to a wife. A marriage is a covenant between two people in love. It is supposed to be ‘until death us do part’ in today’s terminology. The husband is faithful, but in this case He is desperately pained at the unfaithful behaviour of his wife.

Now there is an extremely important difference here between the covenant that God has with Israel, and the familiar covenant of marriage we know today. In our age we are much too familiar with divorce. Occasionally people have what is called an amicable ‘settlement’. In most cases however, there are bitter conflicts which cause long lasting enmity. Certainly much enduring hurt for both the husband and the wife, which is then also extended to any children of that marriage union.

In our parashah today, we certainly see the hurt, the disgust, the pained outbursts of the husband. We also see the expression of the ills that will inevitably befall the unfaithful wife, HOWEVER, from verse 14 of this text we also see the expressions of intent, on the part of the faithful husband, to restore the marriage.

There are words of continuing love from the ‘husband’. Not only a willingness to forgive the wayward behaviour, but again to cherish and nurture the unfaithful wife back into the matrimonial home. As we read the last couple of verses of our text, we see the promise of a renewed and better relationship. Can you see, as I can, the promise here of a New Covenant? The same New Covenant which Jeremiah introduced in more specific terms about 150 years later. The Covenant which would be sealed in the blood of God’s only Son, Yeshua. The Covenant, which the Scriptures tell us CANNOT be broken. No more unfaithfulness.

We might find it difficult to conceive of a life without sin. That is because we live in a sinful world today. A ‘lawless’ (Torahless, see Matthew 7:23) world. But then, in the Messianic age to come, we are promised a world where the Torah of God will be in our minds (because He will put it there), and it will be written on our hearts.

Come quickly Yeshua Ha’Mashiach.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

 Haftarah Reflections   33  

Torah portion            Leviticus  26 : 3 – 27 : 34 

Haftarah portion     Jeremiah 16 : 19 – 17 : 14

Listen to the Prophets

The word “haftarah”, means something like ‘completion, ending or conclusion’. To that extent then, it is supplementary to the Torah reading, adds something, and then finishes.

The Leviticus Torah passage has a focus on idolatry. Unsurprising then, the sages decided to couple that reading with this section from the prophecy of Jeremiah.

A major distinguishing feature between Israel and other nations (gentile nations) around them, was the ‘gods’ they worshipped. YHWH Elohim, the God of Israel had commanded that the Israelites should have ‘no other gods before Me’. So, our parashah today begins with Jeremiah seeing a day when the gentiles would recognize Israel’s God and say “we have been misled, our fathers taught us to worship futile, worthless, unprofitable things”. God then speaks to Jeremiah , quoting from the prophet Amos, that He would cause the gentiles to ‘know My hand and MY might and they shall know that My Name is YHWH Elohim’.

It is not the first time in Scripture that we see that God had the intention that gentiles would know Him ... BUT always in the context of those gentiles recognizing Him as the God of Israel. Perhaps this is best illustrated in the writings of the Apostle Paul to the Romans. There Paul likens gentile inclusion to a “grafting” onto the natural olive tree of Israel. In our church setting today we have somehow managed to completely change that to require Israel to be “grafted” onto the ‘wild olive’ tree of the gentiles!!

However, Jeremiah’s burden is for Judea. He had witnessed the wanton disobedience the tribes of the Northern Kingdom, and seen the consequence. We saw in last week’s parashah, although later in time than this week’s reading, that God did eventually cause Judah also to be taken captive.

Jeremiah’s prophetic vision is a long recitation of warning. In Chapter 17 v 5 we find him quoting Isaiah, a prophet with a similar task of warning these two tribes in the Southern Kingdom against their calamitous path of following the ways of the Northern tribes.

What a lesson this provides for us. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord”.  Can anyone else recognize man’s state today in that statement? The resulting consequence is catastrophic. Yet every day we see and hear evidence of man’s utter arrogance towards our Creator.

In absolute contrast, verses 7,8 of the same chapter, quoting the psalmist we read the promise God has made to those whose heart is firmly on  Him    “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”  It is a great description of safety, fruitfulness and productive life.  And it is for those who trust in the Lord.

Why would anyone choose anything else?

Well, Jeremiah had a ‘direct’ line to God. And God revealed truth to Jeremiah when He told him what to say next.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; who can know it?  I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

Friends, there can be NO clearer statement from YHWH Elohim anywhere in the Scriptures. That verse of Scripture should be emblazoned on our mind ... every day. Jeremiah had been given the onerous task of warning the people to mend their ways. How easy it is to find fault in others. To see the wrong course being charted by friends and relatives, even spouses!

Is anyone else like me? I can see so clearly how these Israelites of old went wrong, time and again. Why did they keep repeating mistakes over and over again and again?

Then the bombshell! They were just like I am​. That’s the bad news. Let us rather focus on the really good news here in verses 7,8. Read a very slightly different version in Psalm 1. Be blessed as you take care to heed the warnings, not only of Jeremiah, but that of YHWH Elohim. “I, the LORD, search the heart.”

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Haftarah Reflections   32

Torah portion             Leviticus  25 : 1 – 26 :2 

Haftarah portion     Jeremiah 32 : 6 - 27

Listen to the Prophets

The sages, seemingly, chose this Haftarah passage because it tells a story of land redemption. Leviticus 25 has much to say about land rights, buying, selling and redeeming land, as well as the laws of ‘Shemitah’ and ‘Jubilee’.

Jeremiah was from a priestly family who lived in Anathoth, a township about five Km. north of Jerusalem. The Lord had called Jeremiah to prophesy against the Judeans because of their total disregard of their covenant obligations. It was a ‘calling’ which caused Jeremiah much grief. He was sometime known as the ‘weeping prophet’ because of the heartache he endured in seeing the indifferent neglect of the people to their covenant agreement with God, through many of his 40 years of prophetic ministry. (I suspect that he would still be ‘weeping’ today at the indifference of the ‘church’ to that covenant.)

The Lord told Jeremiah that his uncle would come and ask him to fulfil his right of inheritance in buying a field in his hometown, Anathoth. Now here is a very important lesson for us.

The Lord had also told Jeremiah, (see verse 3), that the king of Babylon was about to take possession of the city and take Zedekiah, king of Judah captive. Jeremiah gave this bad news to Zedekiah and for his trouble he was now languishing in jail! Obviously, with the land about to be taken by a foreign invader, it could be seen as the very worst time to make a land purchase. Look closely at verse eight, the last sentence says “Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord”.

The lesson is this. Jeremiah, having been assured that he had indeed received the “word from the Lord”, even though common sense and instinct would say it was a bad time to buy a field, went ahead in obedience to the word he had received and bought the field. Of course, Jeremiah had the great advantage of having the ‘word of the Lord’ so clearly confirmed to him. Too often, I think, we can be so eager to hear ‘a word from the Lord’ (and we should all expect the Lord to speak to us) that we do not seek, and wait for, the confirmation of that word from the Lord before we act.

The parashah continues with the details of the transaction, including the very important step of preserving the deeds of the property in jars of clay. Sometime during this transaction, the Lord had assured Jeremiah that a day would come when the Israelites would return from the Babylonian captivity and once again possess houses and vineyards and fields in the land again.

Then Jeremiah prayed.

“ 'Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.” 

An amazing prayer of faith and trust. Then almost in the same breath, Jeremiah, vented his concern as he continued in prayer.

“What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! nd You have said to me, O Lord GOD, "Buy the field for money, and take witnesses"!—yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.' "

It seems as though Jeremiah, having obediently bought the field, couldn’t believe that God would actually do what He said He would do How human is that !! Then God puts His seal on matters as He responds to Jeremiah’s prayer. Asking Jeremiah to stand firm in his faith, quoting back to Jeremiah his own words of faith.

“Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard  for Me?”

Jeremiah showed himself to be a man of great faith and obedience, but just like us, he went through times of questioning. The hallmark of his relationship with God was that he engaged in ‘conversation with God’. We have the benefit of seeing the whole outcome. For Jeremiah, he lived his faith in expectation and trust. Our parashah today is there for our encouragement, so that our faith might be strengthened too.

What a might God we serve.

Shabbat Shalom

RS