October 2023
TORAH REFLECTION
Torah Reflection 03
Lekh - L’kha (get yourself out of here)
Just as Noah was a man of great faith, we are now introduced to the person God anointed to be the head of the one family to whom the rest of the Scriptures relate. Dr. Marvin R. Wilson, in seeking to expound the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, wrote much about him in his outstanding volume “Our Father Abraham”. A good read for those interested in the roots of our faith.
He was Abram, son of Terah, citizen of Ur of the Chaldeans. Terah took Abram and his wife Sarai (who had no children) and Abram’s nephew, Lot, intending to travel to Canaan. But they got no further than Haran in what is today, Syria. It was there that Terah died. (Legend has it that Terah made and sold idols for a living. It is speculated that this is how Abram abandoned the family idolatry and sought a new faith. He certainly was a man who heard from God and understood what he heard.)
It is a little known fact that Noah was still alive for almost the first 60 years of Abram’s life, and the lives of Abram and Shem (Noah’s son) overlapped for over 150 years. And that provides a possible answer to the question as to how Abram knew about YHWH Elohim doesn’t it? Neither Noah nor Shem would have remained silent about their experience of God. Turn back to Genesis 9: 25-27 and understand the way the Canaanites bore the curse (Hebrew “A’rar”) which Noah placed on them. In the event, we do know that God spoke directly to Abram, and Abram not only heard God’s voice, but he was obedient to it. His destination? The cursed nation of Canaan!
Read the promises God made to Abram in Genesis 12:1-3. They are staggering in scope and content, and I can only imagine that Abram was overwhelmed at the thought. But in verse 3, the English language uses the same word, “curse”, in translation of two different Hebrew words. “A’rar” which is a ‘bitter curse’ for the first, and “Qalal”, for the second, meaning ‘treating one lightly’ or ‘treating with contempt, or disregard’.
So now we get a glimpse of things to come. Abram is sent by God to the nation which was ‘bitterly cursed’ by Noah. There he is to establish a family,(nation), blessed by God, but with the added promise of ‘bitter curse’ on anyone (nation) who treats that family of Abram lightly, or with contempt. And if there is doubt in anyone’s mind, we read in Genesis 12:6 that Abram came to the place (known today as Nablus) called Shechem, which is built in a valley. High above Shechem is the township today called. Elon Moreh. It was there, with a commanding view of the surrounding area, that God appeared to Abram, and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” (I have had the personal experience of standing on the heights of Elon Moreh. To the North, Mount Hermon. East is the Jordan and beyond. South is the Negev. And west is the Mediterranean. It is a LOT of land, substantially more than that which is called Israel today.)
So Abram travelled through the land. He eventually, due to severe drought in the land, ended up in Egypt where he had that amazing encounter with the Egyptian Pharaoh over the identity of Sarai as his wife. (Rabbinic literature also identifies Sarai as a half sister to Abram) A consequence of this encounter with the Pharaoh seems to be that Abram acquired significant wealth in terms of silver and gold besides sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and servants. Thus it was that Abram and his entourage returned to Canaan, specifically to the area near Bethel where he had earlier set up an altar of worship to God.
Some time later, Abram and his nephew Lot went their separate ways and that’s a whole new story. Read it in Genesis 13 and 14. Abram moved further south and dwelt near Hebron. Lot got into trouble with four local kings and lost his possessions, which Abram recovered and in the process met with the mysterious ‘Melchi Tzedek”, of whom much is written. (but not here!)
The remainder of our reading is pivotal to our faith as believers. It is here that we come to terms with God’s salvation plan for mankind. It is where Almighty God puts His credibility at stake, so to speak, by making that unconditional covenant promise to Abram, by which an elderly, barren woman, Abram’s wife Sarai, would give natural birth to her only son. It is a staggeringly challenging proposition. How easy it is today to take it all for granted because we know the end of the story .. BUT before it happened!! That’s a different matter. Genesis 15:6 says “And he (Abram) believed in the LORD, and He (the LORD) accounted it to him for righteousness.” Faith is counted as righteousness by Almighty God. And today, it is faith that God actually did what He promised to do which is counted as righteousness to those who believe and trust His word.
It is a measure of the enormity of what God requires of us in faith to read the account of how Sarai (and Abram) sought to give God a ‘helping hand’ in this, resulting in the birth of Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old at this time. And it was another 14 years before the child of God’s promise, Isaac, was born.
Genesis 17 gives us the account of the conversation God had with Abram as He was about to fulfil His promise of providing a naturally born child to him. God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, and Sarai to Sarah. At the same time God promised to establish His covenant with the as yet unborn Isaac, and his offspring, in perpetuity. LORD, give us faith to trust you, as did Abraham, that it may be counted as righteousness to us.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
TORAH REFLECTION
Torah Reflection 02
Noach (Noah)
Such was the state of mankind, with its contempt for God, violence, anarchy, evil thinking, disharmony, corruption, ‘thoughts of the heart continually bad’. Verse 12 informs us that “God looked upon the earth and behold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.” And that is what forms the catalyst for the events which follow.
We ended our ‘reflection’ last week with a quotation. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth”. And the very last verse of last week’s reading said “But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.”
Perhaps the most valuable comment of Noah in all the Scriptures is found in the very first verse of this week’s reading. “Noah walked with God.” It’s a most challenging lesson for any who read this passage. I ask myself, do I “find favour” in the eyes of the LORD? Would the people I relate to day by day know whether or not I “walk” with God? Am I “swimming against the current” (as Noah obviously was) or am I “going with the flow”? God, and ONLY God, knows.
So God told Noah to make a BIG box of gopher wood, three stories high, with compartments inside it. Now there wouldn’t be a child anywhere, who ever attended a Sunday School, who couldn’t recite to you the basics of the events which follow. But there are a few details which are worthwhile commenting upon because they have significant relationship to the future.
For example, in Chapter 7:2, we find a distinction about the numbers of animals between “clean” and “unclean”. It is the first reference to this distinction in the Scriptures. Much may be made of this, but to many people the distinction passes without comment. But in Genesis 8:20 we find that it is only the clean animals which are offered as burnt offerings to the LORD in thanksgiving for their preservation from the flood. Much later of course, when the people had ceased being ‘vegetarian’, God declared that ONLY the ‘clean’ animals were prescribed as ‘food’ for His people. (That list is documented in Deuteronomy 14 for those interested.)
Rev William Morford, in his enlightening translation of the Scriptures, “One New Man Bible”, draws attention to the Hebrew word “kopher”, translated as “pitch” in Genesis 6:14. It is a perfectly good and logical translation of that word. However, it also has a meaning ‘ransom’, even ‘atonement’ (covering). So Morford draws attention to the function of that box made of gopher wood as the means of salvation (atonement) for those who were privileged to be included as passengers in that box during those terrible days of judgement.
Then in Genesis 7:16 there is a simple phrase full of meaning. “And the LORD shut him in.” In His instruction to Noah, God specified that there should be a “pethach” in the side of the gopher wood box. That is literally an ‘opening’, a place of entry. Now I need to be careful here. Because in my mind’s eye I see an opening which is unrestricted. I presume that there were no guards preventing entry. But the only ones who actually passed through that entry opening were those who, by faith, trusted that God would perform what He had been warning that He would do for many, many years. Again, in my mind’s eye, I envisage scornful watchers, ridiculing those who did enter through that opening in the gopher wood box. And suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak, the opening was no more there! “The LORD had shut them in.” Then it began to rain!!! And in addition, “the fountains of the great deep were broken open”.
Does that present a picture to you, as it does to me, of a day still future which ONLY God knows, when the door to salvation will be closed? And then it will again (metaphorically) begin to rain!
The end of our reading contains a genealogy of the period from ‘the flood’ judgement right up to Abram. In addition to the covenant to never again ‘flood’ the earth, and its accompanying sign of the rainbow. (hasn’t that been hijacked in recent times by a quite rebellious group of people) God declared His control over the elements in saying “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.” It also contains some detail about God’s dealings and covenants with the faithful Noah, which has been ‘codified’ into what has become know as “The Noahide Laws”. Much of which now forms part and parcel of our present day legal code.
The seven ‘laws’ are:-
- Not to worship idols.
- Not to curse God.
- To establish courts of justice.
- Not to commit murder.
- Not to commit adultery, bestiality, or sexual immorality.
- Not to steal.
- Not to eat flesh torn from a living animal.
God was totally in control of this earth then, and He is totally in control of the earth now .. in spite of what the climate alarmists tell us!!
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Torah Reflection
Torah Reflection 01
“B’reshite” (In the beginning)
“In the beginning”. O what disputes people have about this! Does it really matter when that ‘beginning’ was? What is infinitely more important is that God, our God, YHWH Elohim, was there “creating the heavens and the earth”. And the ONE sent to this earth to redeem sinful man, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, the Apostle John tells us, was there too. (John 1:1).
For those who choose to keep the Sabbath on the day appointed by God for so doing, it is carefully noted that our Creator Himself set the standard, after completing His perfect work of creation in six days, then rested of all His work on the seventh day. So here we find, very early in the Scriptures, the example of Sabbath keeping.
The account of that creative event is very well known and recorded for our information and understanding in the first two chapters of our reading. Then chapter 3 provides the account of what we know as ‘the fall of man’. In that account we become first introduced to the person of satan. Beautiful, cunning, deceitful, persuasive, attractive, friendly, tempting, invoking doubt. Since God created all animals, and there was no ‘fear’ present in that lovely garden, we can accept that the serpent was chosen by satan to convey his deceitful message. For his part in that deceit, that creature’s squirming in the dust, is the result of God’s judgement on him. The abhorrence which most people feel when confronted by a snake is also probably indicative of the untrustworthy and potentially deadly character ascribed to snakes in general.
The narrative provides enough information to show us that God had been quite clear and unambiguous in His instruction to the people He had created. “There is a garden full of food for you to eat”. They were vegetarians! “But there is one tree, the fruit of which is forbidden, because eating that fruit will cause you to die!!” Well, because we know the story, we know that they did eat that fruit, and we also know that they did not actually “die” as we know death today. So what was this death that they experienced? My thought on this is that ‘death’ caused them to be separated from their Creator. They were, in effect, cut off from all the contact they had, up until that moment experienced at the hand of their Creator, without any real understanding of what it involved and how important it was to their existence. (on a most personal level, I can attest to the devastating effect of death which caused separation from my wife of 64 years. But her death also hugely affects my ongoing life)
I have often commented on the fact that there are lessons for each one of us to learn from every encounter with the Scriptures. This may be one of them. Jealously guard and appreciate every moment you have with your spouse! Take care not be distracted by “that serpent” who may appear in all sorts of guises offering seeming attractions which God has clearly forbidden to us in His word. His instructions are not mere ‘suggestions’ !! There are consequences for disregarding those instructions.
At the commencement of this new reading cycle, which for many people is an annual series of reminders of God’s instruction for living righteously with Him and with their fellow citizens, we should briefly survey what is covered in this Torah. In essence, it is the story of one family. A family called by God for His own reasons and purposes to be a light to the nations.
Today’s reading takes us from antiquity to a point where God seemingly despaired of the disobedient and unrighteous ways of mankind. And in our reading next week we discover the tragedy which befell mankind as a result. Over the course of the next twelve months we will ‘reflect’ on the way God led and nurtured a people to have fellowship with Him and to be an example to other nations of how He expects those who know Him to order their lives. And finally, just as God provided a warning to these people of His first creation that in their disobedience in eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, they would die (to Him), so a warning is provided to those with whom He had made a covenant, of the blessings which accrue from obedience and the curses which accompany disobedience.
The results of disobedience to the commands of God, for the believer, are not threats. They represent an honest appraisal, by God, to any who would take heed, of what the future will look like. On the one hand blessings, and on the other hand curses. Read the passage carefully today. Take note of what happened to the one aiding the deceit of satan. Take note of the assignment of childbearing and subservience to the man given to the disobedient woman. Take note of the life of toil and hardship in providing food assigned to the man. Take note of the change from the garden with plentiful food readily available. These are a direct result of disobedience to God’s command. These provide a timely lesson for everyone who reads the account in today’s reading.
Chapter 5 contains a genealogy of the descendants from Adam. They lived long lives and beget many children. Read the list. They all died after several hundred years. But in chapter 6, at the end of the week’s reading we find God saying “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was continually only bad … and God was grieved in His heart.” What a sad state of affairs.
Do you ever wonder what God thinks of our present generation?
Shabbat Shalom
RS
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 52
The “Silent Years” 1
Conclusion to ‘living in the Promised Land’
There is academic debate about the timing of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. This series of ‘reflections’ is not about date accuracy, even though there are precise dates included for some of the events. It is more about the experience of the Jews when they entered the land of God’s promise to them. Of necessity, it goes more to the relationship of the Israelites with their God when they got there. If we accept the commonly accepted date of 1446 BCE for the Exodus, we arrive at an approximate date of 1400 BCE for the entry of the Israelites into the land. If we also accept that Malachi prophesied about 430 BCE, towards the end of Nehemiah’s time, then the events ‘reflected’ on in this series covers a time frame of approximately 1,000 years.
Our Hebrew Scriptures are silent about events after Nehemiah. The Apostolic Scriptures take up events some 400 years later.
So what have we learned ?
Joshua led the people over the Jordan River about 1400 BCE and it was roughly another 25 years before the first Judge, Othniel, was appointed to rule the people. A succession of judges followed with very little success. No-one led the people to follow the LORD according to the covenant promises they had made. This situation prevailed for a further 300 years before Samuel was appointed judge over Israel, and it was a further 20 years or so before Saul became Israel’s first king. Samuel attempted to keep Saul under some check, but it was a very difficult and divisive period for the Israelites.
Forty years after Saul, David became king and for the first time in the history of the nation there was unity among the tribes and the LORD was honoured and worshipped as He expected. Solomon followed his dad and ‘kept the faith’ for a long while, but then he too faltered and after about 40 more years the nation was much distressed as division plagued them once again. The ten tribes occupying the north became “Israel”, and the two tribes in the south took the name “Judah”.
It is interesting to note, that under the leadership of Moses, when the people left Egypt as a fledgeling new nation, God provided them with a blueprint for living righteously before Him. It’s known as the “TORAH” (instructions). The whole nation assented to accept these instructions as good, and made a covenant with God concerning those instructions. Simply put, “Then Moses took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said ‘All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient’.” It was their continuing failure to honour that commitment which caused God, who gave them multiple warnings and chances to reform, to eventually say “ENOUGH”. It is a matter of regret for them that God expelled them from the land as a result. But in his boundless mercy and grace, some 850 years after their first entry to the land, God allowed them back again. However, the point of interest is this. The covenant, which the united Israel made with God, and broke when they became a divided nation, is not ended. God remains faithful to that covenant. However, through the prophet Jeremiah, (Jer 31:31) He told us that He will make “A NEW COVENANT” with the same people … the house of Israel and the house of Judah. BUT, that new covenant will be unbreakable because it will be put in the mind and written of the hearts of those people. In the DNA as it were.
In spite of all the failures and disappointments which we have seen in this series of ‘reflections’, God is determined to remain faithful to His covenant promises which He unilaterally made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And there is more. Because in His conversation with Abraham He said “I will bless those who bless you, and curse (Heb. ‘Orar’ ‘bitterly curse’) those who curse (Heb, ‘qalal’ ‘treat contemptuously’) you.” The Apostle Paul, asked the rhetorical question speaking of the Jews “Have they stumbled that they should fall?” Then he answered with a resounding “Certainly not ! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the gentiles.” (Romans 11:11)
So the conclusion is this. The story of the exploits of these people in the land God promised them is a rather sad and depressing one. It is very easy to point an accusing finger at them and wonder at their insensitivity and continuing failure. It is easy to say “they got exactly what they deserved”. And they did. But the whole point of the Scriptures is to provide understanding and example. It is an honest story. It tells it like it is. It is a story about God as much as it is a story about Israel. And therein lies an extremely important lesson. To quote the Apostle Paul again, also from Romans 11, talking about the Jews being branches broken off from the natural Olive tree. “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either”.
We have viewed this group as a whole nation, but they were dealt with by God as individuals too. Some very good servants of the LORD, like Daniel, Ezra, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, were exiled from the land. But we saw how strategically God was able to use those men to fulfil His purposes. May God bless you as you ponder His marvellous, gracious, merciful, ways. We should always check ourselves to determine if we are walking the path God intended.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
REFLECTIONS ON LIFE IN THE PROMISED LAND
The Promised Land “reflections” 51
N E H E M I A H 1
Ezra had faithfully taught the people the historical detail of the journey of the forefathers of those now living in the land. He had successfully re-introduced the observance of the ‘mo’edim’ (appointed times of the LORD) specified Leviticus 23, and was delighted when the people made a covenant to observe and to do the commandments of the LORD. It heralded a new chapter in their relationship with God. Free of the influence of the kings of the divided kingdom (about which we have ‘reflected’ for some weeks), it was time to begin a new system of government, albeit concentrated on the tribal territory of Judah and Benjamin.
Nehemiah, had led the last wave of returnees. He ensured that Jerusalem’s walls were completely rebuilt and secure, and was recognised as Governor. However, he had committed himself (Nehemiah 2:6) to one day returning to his post as cup-bearer to king Artaxerses king of Babylon. He spent 12 years in Jerusalem before returning to serve the king again. Then, having dutifully returned to Artaxerxes, he again sought, and was given, permission to go back to Jerusalem (but it is not clear how long he was absent from Judah). He had put many administrative details in place. First was to ensure that Jerusalem was populated with more people than just those in leadership and those who had responsibilities in the temple. But ‘ordinary’ people too. They drew ‘lots’ to decide the ones who would be the extras (10% of the populace) who would augment the numbers of those who volunteered to be resident in Jerusalem. The other 90% were settled in the remaining cities of Judah. The Nethinim, (non Jewish temple assistants) lived in Ophel, a small compound just south of the temple, inside the city walls. Nehemiah brought orderliness and structure to Judah, which was largely centred on the worship of God and the proper use of the temple. (reference to the illustrative sketch in “reflections 49” might assist in understanding the layout of the city at this time).
A ceremony of dedication of the newly constructed walls of Jerusalem was arranged, and for that, all the Levites, wherever they lived, were sought out “to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps”. The “singers’”who had accompanied Nehemiah from Babylon, had settled in villages all around Jerusalem. They too were sought out to participate in the celebration. The Levites purified themselves, the people, the gates, and the wall. It must have been quite a spectacle. Ezra led the leaders up onto the wall, and the singers formed two large choirs, one to the right, the other to the left. They went in opposite directions around the wall until they met up in the temple area. (In some ways, it appears that Nehemiah attempted to replicate the celebration which occurred when David arranged the divisions of the priests for temple service in a similar ceremony described in 1 Chronicles 25).
However, it seems that whilst Nehemiah was out of the country certain things had been allowed which were inconsistent with the covenant the people had made. It evidently was a time of great trial and learning for them. The reading of the scroll on the day that included Deuteronomy 23, taught them that God had pronounced a judgment on the Ammonites and Moabites because of their refusal to assist the Israelites when they attempted to pass through their territory on their journey to the land of God’s promise. Also they hired Balaam to put a curse on the Israelites. For that reason the Judeans had separated themselves from ‘the foreigners’. But during Hezekiah’s absence Eliashib, the High priest, had allowed Tobiah, one of the three conspirators who tried to frustrate Nehemiah’s wall construction project, to have a room in the temple court. Nehemiah threw out Tobiah’s possessions and had the room cleansed. Then he discovered that the Levites and the singers hadn’t been looked after properly and had returned to their fields. He put that right. Then he found that the nobles were causing their workers to work on the Sabbath. So he commanded that the gates of the city remained closed on the Sabbath. He discovered that some of the people had married the women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Foreign women. And the last straw was that Eliashib had married the daughter on Sanballat the Horonite. Nehemiah got rid of him.
So Nehemiah prayed. “Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. I also assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service, and to bringing the wood offering and the first fruits at the appointed times. Remember me O my God, for good !”. Nehemiah had done all he physically could to restore right behaviour and practice to the people of the land.
During this time of trial and challenge for Nehemiah, God caused Malachi to prophecy in Judah (and possibly Joel too, but that is disputed by some). We will address that issue next week. Following this account, the Scriptures are silent for the next 400 years or so. But secular historians have much to say about this time. It is obvious to me that the people who returned to the land from Babylon needed strong leadership. Ezra and Nehemiah provided that while they lived, and we can only speculate about what happened after they died. The lessons which are to be learned for this whole episode of ‘life in the promised land’ is that it isn’t easy. Many temptations and pitfalls appear in order to distract all but the truly committed. God grant that we learn these lessons, and remain faithful in our times of trial.
Shabbat Shalom
RS