Again, thanks dear brother for sharing your thoughts- Brad
Parashat HaShavua VaEra / And I Appeared
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 6:2-9:35
Yeshayahu / Isaiah 66:1-24
Romim / Romans 9:14-25
Shemot {6:2} G-D spoke to Moshe (Moses), and said to him, "I am HaShem; {6:3} and I appeared to Avraham (Abraham), to Yitzchak (Isaac), and to Ya'akov (Jacob), as G-D Almighty; but by My Name HaShem I was not known to them. {6:4} I have also established My brit (covenant) with them, to give them the land of Cana'an, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens. {6:5} Moreover I have heard the groaning of bnei Yisrael (children of Israel), whom the Mitzrim (Egyptians) keep in bondage, and I have remembered My brit.
Why did HaShem wait hundreds of years, while bnei Yisrael were suffering miserably in Mitzrayim, to remember them? It confuses me that a loving and caring G-d would allow people, His people, to suffer in slavery, under servitude to hard taskmasters, before He finally decides to redeem them. I am often asked a similar question about the holocaust, “If there is a G-d then why did He allow such a thing to happen?”
It is sad that people are so quick to accuse G-d of being brutal without recognizing their own brutality, manifested in anger, hatred and prejudice. I am not going to address the question of the holocaust in this drash (commentary), other than to say that the cures recorded for us in Torah (Devarim [Duteronomy] 28), answer this question. G-d is a loving, kind and compassionate G-d, but we also must remember that He is a just G-d and will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. Sadly His justice, as He warned us, extends beyond one generation.
Devrim {5:9} you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I, HaShem, your G-D, am a jealous G-D, visiting the iniquity of the avot (fathers) on the children, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate Me;
Now back to our original question of why HaShem waited hundreds of years before remembering bnei Yisrael.
HaShem had bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim so that their numbers would increase to the point where they could be a viable nation. A nation needs people, and not just a few. HaShem knew that His new nation would have to fight for and conquer the land He had promised Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'acov so there needed to be sufficient people to foster an army that could accomplish that task. HaShem also needed a people who would want to leave Mitzrayim, when the time came to do so, as one. Bnei Yisrael, having been used, abused and in salved for hundreds of years in Mitzrayim, accomplished that purpose. Therefore, when the opportunity arose for bnei Yisrael to leave Mitzrayim they jumped at it.
Today you would be hard pressed to get the Jewish population of the United States and Canada to leave as a whole and take up residence in Yisrael. Why, because they are rich and prosperous so there is no incentive for them to leave. We see an example of this from the Babylonian exile. Only fifty thousand Jews left Babylon when King Cyrus issued the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). That was because they were prosperous and flourished within the Babylonian society. The same is now true for the Jews of the United States and Canada. However, if suddenly they were to be thrust into hard times and faced with the prospect of being persecuted, perhaps even imprisoned, they would leave. The time bnei Yisrael spent suffering in Mitzrayim was the time HaShem used to prepare them for their departure. It took hundreds of years to get them to the point of wanting out of Mitzrayim, but when the fullness of HaShem's time came they were ripe to leave.
We need to take note of how HaShem works with Yisrael, because this is how He works with us. Perhaps you have been going through years of trials, tribulation and hard times. Your life has been a disaster and you are working like a slave, but getting deeper into debt and depression. You have a boss the rivals any Egyptian taskmaster and there are footprints on your back from all the people that have been walking over you. From this you have been questioning and doubting your relationship with G-d, thinking that He has left you and no longer cares for you. Well take heart because, if you are a child of G-d, a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach, then HaShem is preparing you for a change. He has a plan and a purpose for you, and when the fullness of His timing is right He will call you out and you will be so ready!
Galitim (Galatians) {4:4} but in the fullness of time, G-d sent forth His Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Visit our Webpage @ www.cmy.on.ca / cmy@ca.inter.net
272 Ranee Ave Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A-1N6, Tel: 416-785-7612
An ever changing Messianic Jewish website
till King Mashiach Yeshua comes back!!!
Shalom Shalom
Friday, January 15, 2010
Personal post
Just so you know, within circles I run I bumped into a pastor that I had known through friends. we chatted and my wife mentioned a writing I was doing about a new model for church. Any rate he gave me his web site to look at and asked me if I could submit an article or two. When I looked at the site, I found an article that his son did about how he'd found out the "truth" about messianics. I looked up the evidence. The material was absolutely crazy. If you want to read the article, you will find it here.
I took the liberty of e-mailing Pastor Reckart, and will just show how I answered some of these major concerns. Just thought you might find it interesting. If you like, e-mail this pastor and set him straight. It would nice to bury him under emails. God's grace to you and yours, Bradley Avi
Dear Pastor Reckart:
I ran across an article you had written some time ago, although since there is no date on the article, I am uncertain when it was written. The article was entitled:
Dangers Of The False Messianic Movement
I ran across this article while reading a local family’s web site (at the invitation of a pastor friend). His son, as it turned out wrote an article for the web site about his confusion of family members who began to study the Gospels and the Torah (Law) on Saturday mornings. He says, he was confused until he read you article (and provided a link) and now his confusion has moved to sadness at the loss of his family members. He cites you as setting him straight about how evil and dangerous this was. I read you article a few times and then other articles that you had written about other people you have concerns about. At first, I thought I would simply ignore this. As you know…any fool can get a web site and say anything he wants. But, I felt that as a pastor, you would very likely accept with grace anyone who tried to help you understand something that you have communicated with a lack of knowledge. So, I have taken that challenge upon myself.
I did not want to critique the whole article. Much of the history as worthy. If you forgive me, I think the most difficult part is your 29 contentions, and I thought I would address those.
Again, if you have printed a retraction from your earlier article, then please ignore this. I know when I first ran across this movement (about 10 years ago) I had some concerns. Time has helped me see that my concerns were not insurmountable. (thus the interest in whether you wrote a retraction “due to new information”, or if you have toned down your original contention.
Also, context is difficult to understand. If you were striving against Messianic groups who do and practice these things, then I would like to throw my support in there with you. It would be terrible to have people tarnishing the good name of believers, by using similar designations.
God’s grace to you and yours,
What do the false messianic movements do that are deceiving, cultic, and a great danger?
1.) They engage in ritual prayers (holding hands in a circle), chants, and circle dancing;
Wow, they encourage prayer. Good for them. As a pastor, we used all sorts of positions to pray. I agree with Paul…pray without ceasing.
2.) They reject the name of Jesus as the name of a pig god and begin using Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua;
I am sure I can’t comment for all Messianics, but this is news to me. I do say Yeshua, and did even before I attended a Messianic congregation. Also, my Spanish brothers have a different name as does my French brothers. I see no ill will in using what would have been Jesus’ birth name. Perhaps you don’t remember the wonderful Scott Wesley Brown Song “Yeshua Ha Messiakh” Here’s a link if you need.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/scott-wesley-brown/tracks/yeshua-ha-mashiach--1009257
3.) They begin sabbath keeping and damn all who worship on sunday;
We keep Sabbath because He (Jesus) kept Sabbath. The followers of Jesus must walk as he did. I understand and have full respect for those who worship on other days. In fact, as a missionary to Muslims, we typically worshipped on Friday (it was their day of worship) so we never had a conflict with them.
4.) They begin to observe all the Old Testament feast days;
You mean like Jesus and the apostles. Oh My! What shall we do? FYI, I attended my first Passover at a Mennonite Brethern church. There are many churches which believe that God may have a message in His chosen holidays. I have noticed a trend in Canada among Charismatic churches, they do a sustained teaching about the feasts in Fall (in the time between the start of new church programs and before Christmas), it’s only been going on for the last couple years, so tough to know if it’s a trend that will stay.
5.) They start trying to dress like they are Jewish wearing the tallit and kipah;
Dress as you please, if they dress in such a way that they feel closer to the God of Israel by dressing like Jews, what is that to you?
6.) They deny salvation is in Jesus alone, that a person must also keep the law to be saved;
Again, news to me. Remember the Jews hate Messianics because they are just really Christians who dress and talk like them. All the Messianics I know say we are saved by grace through faith…the Law teaches a saved people how to live. In Theological circles we call this sanctification.
7.) They reject Paul and call him a false apostle;
Again, I think you made this up. If there is any Messianic who hates Paul and calls him a false prophet, I would be surprised. Paul is a regular character of study. He is the classic educated Messianic Jew. We have much to learn from Paul who wrote about ½ of the NT. We may disagree about interpretation of specific passages of Paul, but that is common in the Christian church. I kinda thought you would know that.
8.) They reject Paul's books: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
I wonder if you are falling into the “person who” logic fallacy. You looked the world over for someone who calls themselves Messianic and find the weirdest teaching and say this is what ALL of them believe. Perhaps a bit more research would help.
9.) They preach another Gospel that Paul did not preach;
Most of my brothers say they teach specifically, exactly what Paul preached and would change if they were ever pointed out the error of there way. I hope you would as well.
10.) They preach another Jesus that Paul did not preach;
Sorry, you are repeating yourself. Repetition doesn’t make it more true.
11.) They teach the Talmud and the Kabbalah (witchcraft mysticism);
Paul quotes Talmid, and in fact at least at one point so did Jesus. I can show you examples of this if you wish. This doesn’t mean those extra-biblical sources are correct, just comments in interpretation of Scripture. In Bible study (non-messianic) we encourage people to know context. This can and does include understanding what scholars of the day understood about a specific passage. Again, I figured you knew that. Kabbalah is witchcraft. Again, I think almost all Messianic congregations would affirm this. Perhaps you found someplace that endorses it, not unlike some “so called” churches which endorse varying degrees of false teachings and mysticism.
12.) They place Kabbalah emblems throughout their meeting places;
News to me, perhaps you want to expound.
13.) They become very cruel and hateful to those who refuse to accept their concision doctrines;
I am sometimes surprised by the reaction I have gotten by coming to different conclusions on a specific passage of scripture. Sometimes that helps sharpen me. I don’t know that we would be anymore “hateful” then I was as a Baptist…or perhaps as hateful as yourself. Check your motives, pastor.
14.) They teach for doctrine the commandments of men;
Tough to comment on without a bit more detail. Do you mean they encourage people to celebrate Christmas? …Oh, yeah, sorry, that was just the first doctrine of men that popped into me head.
15.) They place women over members of the church and give them authority men alone should have;
Not my experience. I think the church has not done well with respect to women, and have encouraged women to share their spiritual gifts. I see that you have a different perspective. Mostly, I think the Messianic communities I have known tend to be too paternalistic…sorry. I think you might like them.
16.) They replace baptism in Jesus name (Acts 2:38), and insert the name Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua or some other guess name;
Cute Linguistic flaw. Jesus is a derivative of the Greek translation of the name of the Messiah translated from the Greek New Testament. In English it has become the accepted name of that historical figure. If someone wishes to be baptised in the name which closer matches his historical birth name, I doubt people will go to hell for that.
17.) They practice both male and female circumcision (female depending on the cult);
I have to call schmotzy on you here. Circumcision is widely practiced around the world. I was circumcised and my parents were both non-believers at the time. Female circumcision is practiced in some cults, and not in Jewish…or Jewish-like practices. I think you know you are lying with this, thus the parenthesis. I would urge you not to choose false statements. The is limited sin in communicating what you did not know any better, but a chosen lie is unbecoming for someone who claims to follow God.
18.) They offer up animal sacrifices (some do not but fellowship with those who do);
Again, the parenthesis makes me think that you know you are lying. If it is true, I would like you to come forward with the evidence. I am eager to extend an apology, but this looks like something you made up.
19.) They celebrate Communion with old Passover emblems and not with unleavened bread and wine (also footwashing);
“Old Passover Emblems”? I have never seen a Passover with leaven among Messianics. Many Christians do this in Communion often, a personal bone of contention for me, but not for Passover. It is forbidden. As for “foot washing”, my uncle, also a pastor, told me about foot washing ceremony and how it had healed years of old wounds in his church. That was years before I ever heard anyone talk about Messianics.
20.) They believe in polygamy and or fellowship those who do (allowing legalized adultery and fornication);
Again, I think you made this one up. If I am wrong, please prove this contention. Could there be someone crazy person who actually did this somewhere in the world? Perhaps, but that is a long way from saying this is part of their belief…please, it is unbecoming to bare false witness.
21.) They allow young girls under the age of 13 to be secretly married to religious leaders;
Repeat of what I just said above. Secretly is kinda funny. If it is a secret how would I (or you know about it). Please cite your sources.
22.) Men will wear tallit prayer shawls with knotts that represent all the laws in the Old Testament;
As do a number of Mennonite and Pentacostal brothers I know. In fact, Christian book distributors sells these item in multiple colours.
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=prayer+schawl&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=14&Go.y=12
23.) They teach a whole new vocabulary of Jewish words to embellish law-keeping that makes many who are fascinated by Jewishness believe they are doing things the first Christians did. This is a great deception and a danger. These rituals of prayers and words are not used by Jesus, the Apostles, or the first disciples. They are as false as a Catholic mass with all its Latin words and ritual.
More of a personal bias then an actual concern. Yes, the Messianics, do get used to communicating in Hebrew words. Some new Christians have commented about the “new vocabulary” in this worldview. New vocabulary is not wrong. I think these are the words of the Bible. To an “outsider” or person new to this understanding this can be a bit difficult to follow. Some of these would have been very likely used by Jesus and the disciples, like the Shema (but difficult to argue either way with certainty from silence). The “danger” is your contention, but I noticed you haven’t defended why it is dangerous. “As false as the Catholic mass in Latin.” Have to tell you there are believers in this world who don’t speak English. Get used to that. English doesn’t make us more holy.
24.) Women and young girls are forced to wear head coverings. These become more a symbol of submission to the false messianic movement then it does humility to God. It is a great danger to women and girls to be told if they do not wear these head coverings they are cursed and God will not hear their prayers or receive their worship;
I wouldn’t know. My wife and daughters don’t wear head covers, so I am at a bit of a loss. I can’t argue what this terrible thing must mean, since it is not a local practice. You might want to look for someone who feels “forced” and ask them what this means. Again, I think you made this up. Please provide your evidence. Just for your information there are several Mennonite divisions locally as well as Hutterites who do wear head coverings. I never asked them if they are “forced”.
25.) They make use of all sorts of cow, ram, goat, and fake horns to blow and act like they are being real Biblical:
Horns would be Biblical, wouldn’t they? Is it the blowing of these horns that cause you concern? I again have found this in Charismatic churches around the country.
26.) They worship the tetragrammaton YHVH or YHWH above the name of Jesus;
I admire your dedication to the locally accepted English derivative of the name of the Messiah, but our Bible (2/3s of it) when it says LORD is using the tetragram. I must confess, I have never seen someone worship 4 letters. I don’t know what that would look like. Perhaps a bit more information would be helpful.
27.) Many men wear garments with all sorts of knots in fringes around their shirts;
And this causes you problems because you are a fashion consultant? So what. I see in your photos you are wearing a tie…is anyone worried about what you wear?
28.) They make use of the Menorah, but do so in a false way. This is wrong use of a right emblem. They do not use it to represent Jesus;
I actually wasn’t sure where you were going with this until I realized that you use the Menorah symbol extensively, so you can’t get completely upset about using “Old Covenant imagery” I think you would find that Jesus is the Menorah may be a typology, and may be the backdrop to a good sermon, but I don’t know that every representation of the Menorah is actually Jesus. I think the Menorah was a real part of the temple, and a standing symbol of the lights of the church in the book of Revelation. Perhaps, it is something we can discuss at length later.
29.) For the most part, these law-keepers are not holiness people. They are a mixture of all kinds of religion. Next week they may transmute into something completely different than what they are today. They are not people with stable and consistent doctrine, faith, practice, conduct, and order.
Knowing that you could not adequately state your concern, you throw one last blanket (shotgun) try at mudslinging. I will try to respond. “Not holiness people”, I think the people I know feel we have been far too lax with respect to understanding God’s holiness. Mixture of all kinds of religions. I must have missed that in you other 28 contentions. Their spiritual understanding is that Jesus is not a US 21st century product, but a real man who live in Israel, spoke Hebrew and was the King of the Jews. They are eager to know this “Jesus”, not to try to create a modern, English “cosmic Jesus”.
“Next week they may transmute into something completely different”, I find this cute. Next week, you may be hit by a bus…I can’t tell the future. Under the silliness of this phrase is a truism, and that is that within the Messianic community, they often have limited respect for the History of Christianity from the Early church fathers (post-apostles) to present, as such they don’t benefit from the struggles of faith throughout the centuries. With the possible exception of Martin Luther, and the Puritans. “they are not a people with consistent doctrine, faith, practice, and order.” To some extent, this is a fair concern. Their faith as alive and dynamic (from the fellowships I have been a part of) it lacks some of the ancient historical weights and burdens of the traditional church (a subject, I am working on in an upcoming book). Their faith is not yet codified. Most have simply adopted the historical professions of faith until they come up with something that they feel needs to be written to represent them. I have yet to see a desire to “codify” this, but it may happen someday. What I do see, is very well educated, passionate people who love God and find they could not stand to be spoon feed a teaching that has been designed for the lowest common denominator. They are people who pray with intensity. They sing, (and even dance) with zeal. They read and discuss God’s word for hours on in. When I first attended a Sabbath gathering, I felt it reminded me of an intense seminary classroom.
A concluding comment:
I think sincerely that you are doing what you can to raise a concern about something you are obviously not connected to. I know as a pastor, I sometimes sounded the alarm bells on some things that I was sure were terrible and turned out not to be nearly as bad as I thought. I do wish you would have done some better research. I ran into your article form a teenage posting a note that told “the truth” about those Messianics. Now, unfortunately, I have an obligation to explain to him that the information provided was put together from someone who has a “ministry” for pointing out the wrongs he thinks everyone does. I used to work at a Bible college while I was in grad school and as a part of the Theology department I realized that I was really only called upon to tell what everyone did wrong. If I said someone was doing “something right” then it was implied that I didn’t look deep enough. Supporting good was not encouraged. Pointing out evil that others might not have seen was held as valuable. I began to hate the character I was becoming. It was for that reason I withdrew from Seminary for a while to see if I would begin to see a world not quite as jaded.
If you are trying to understand Messianics, then I would encourage you to go to regular sources, not some obscure sources which state silliness. I would recommend…
The Messianic Israel Alliance http://www.messianicisrael.com/
The Messianic Jewish Alliance http://users.eastlink.ca/~nertamid/MJAC.HTM
And First Fruits of Zion http://ffoz.org/
Don’t worry, if you think you will find these people to be just run of the mill people who love their Messiah. I am sure if you dig deep enough you will find lots of flaws. Believers are not perfect, just forgiven. We also live in a world where we see through a glass dimly, when the perfect comes we will know fully as we are fully known.
Thanks for your time. -Bradley
I took the liberty of e-mailing Pastor Reckart, and will just show how I answered some of these major concerns. Just thought you might find it interesting. If you like, e-mail this pastor and set him straight. It would nice to bury him under emails. God's grace to you and yours, Bradley Avi
Dear Pastor Reckart:
I ran across an article you had written some time ago, although since there is no date on the article, I am uncertain when it was written. The article was entitled:
Dangers Of The False Messianic Movement
I ran across this article while reading a local family’s web site (at the invitation of a pastor friend). His son, as it turned out wrote an article for the web site about his confusion of family members who began to study the Gospels and the Torah (Law) on Saturday mornings. He says, he was confused until he read you article (and provided a link) and now his confusion has moved to sadness at the loss of his family members. He cites you as setting him straight about how evil and dangerous this was. I read you article a few times and then other articles that you had written about other people you have concerns about. At first, I thought I would simply ignore this. As you know…any fool can get a web site and say anything he wants. But, I felt that as a pastor, you would very likely accept with grace anyone who tried to help you understand something that you have communicated with a lack of knowledge. So, I have taken that challenge upon myself.
I did not want to critique the whole article. Much of the history as worthy. If you forgive me, I think the most difficult part is your 29 contentions, and I thought I would address those.
Again, if you have printed a retraction from your earlier article, then please ignore this. I know when I first ran across this movement (about 10 years ago) I had some concerns. Time has helped me see that my concerns were not insurmountable. (thus the interest in whether you wrote a retraction “due to new information”, or if you have toned down your original contention.
Also, context is difficult to understand. If you were striving against Messianic groups who do and practice these things, then I would like to throw my support in there with you. It would be terrible to have people tarnishing the good name of believers, by using similar designations.
God’s grace to you and yours,
What do the false messianic movements do that are deceiving, cultic, and a great danger?
1.) They engage in ritual prayers (holding hands in a circle), chants, and circle dancing;
Wow, they encourage prayer. Good for them. As a pastor, we used all sorts of positions to pray. I agree with Paul…pray without ceasing.
2.) They reject the name of Jesus as the name of a pig god and begin using Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua;
I am sure I can’t comment for all Messianics, but this is news to me. I do say Yeshua, and did even before I attended a Messianic congregation. Also, my Spanish brothers have a different name as does my French brothers. I see no ill will in using what would have been Jesus’ birth name. Perhaps you don’t remember the wonderful Scott Wesley Brown Song “Yeshua Ha Messiakh” Here’s a link if you need.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/scott-wesley-brown/tracks/yeshua-ha-mashiach--1009257
3.) They begin sabbath keeping and damn all who worship on sunday;
We keep Sabbath because He (Jesus) kept Sabbath. The followers of Jesus must walk as he did. I understand and have full respect for those who worship on other days. In fact, as a missionary to Muslims, we typically worshipped on Friday (it was their day of worship) so we never had a conflict with them.
4.) They begin to observe all the Old Testament feast days;
You mean like Jesus and the apostles. Oh My! What shall we do? FYI, I attended my first Passover at a Mennonite Brethern church. There are many churches which believe that God may have a message in His chosen holidays. I have noticed a trend in Canada among Charismatic churches, they do a sustained teaching about the feasts in Fall (in the time between the start of new church programs and before Christmas), it’s only been going on for the last couple years, so tough to know if it’s a trend that will stay.
5.) They start trying to dress like they are Jewish wearing the tallit and kipah;
Dress as you please, if they dress in such a way that they feel closer to the God of Israel by dressing like Jews, what is that to you?
6.) They deny salvation is in Jesus alone, that a person must also keep the law to be saved;
Again, news to me. Remember the Jews hate Messianics because they are just really Christians who dress and talk like them. All the Messianics I know say we are saved by grace through faith…the Law teaches a saved people how to live. In Theological circles we call this sanctification.
7.) They reject Paul and call him a false apostle;
Again, I think you made this up. If there is any Messianic who hates Paul and calls him a false prophet, I would be surprised. Paul is a regular character of study. He is the classic educated Messianic Jew. We have much to learn from Paul who wrote about ½ of the NT. We may disagree about interpretation of specific passages of Paul, but that is common in the Christian church. I kinda thought you would know that.
8.) They reject Paul's books: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians; 1 & 2 Timothy; Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
I wonder if you are falling into the “person who” logic fallacy. You looked the world over for someone who calls themselves Messianic and find the weirdest teaching and say this is what ALL of them believe. Perhaps a bit more research would help.
9.) They preach another Gospel that Paul did not preach;
Most of my brothers say they teach specifically, exactly what Paul preached and would change if they were ever pointed out the error of there way. I hope you would as well.
10.) They preach another Jesus that Paul did not preach;
Sorry, you are repeating yourself. Repetition doesn’t make it more true.
11.) They teach the Talmud and the Kabbalah (witchcraft mysticism);
Paul quotes Talmid, and in fact at least at one point so did Jesus. I can show you examples of this if you wish. This doesn’t mean those extra-biblical sources are correct, just comments in interpretation of Scripture. In Bible study (non-messianic) we encourage people to know context. This can and does include understanding what scholars of the day understood about a specific passage. Again, I figured you knew that. Kabbalah is witchcraft. Again, I think almost all Messianic congregations would affirm this. Perhaps you found someplace that endorses it, not unlike some “so called” churches which endorse varying degrees of false teachings and mysticism.
12.) They place Kabbalah emblems throughout their meeting places;
News to me, perhaps you want to expound.
13.) They become very cruel and hateful to those who refuse to accept their concision doctrines;
I am sometimes surprised by the reaction I have gotten by coming to different conclusions on a specific passage of scripture. Sometimes that helps sharpen me. I don’t know that we would be anymore “hateful” then I was as a Baptist…or perhaps as hateful as yourself. Check your motives, pastor.
14.) They teach for doctrine the commandments of men;
Tough to comment on without a bit more detail. Do you mean they encourage people to celebrate Christmas? …Oh, yeah, sorry, that was just the first doctrine of men that popped into me head.
15.) They place women over members of the church and give them authority men alone should have;
Not my experience. I think the church has not done well with respect to women, and have encouraged women to share their spiritual gifts. I see that you have a different perspective. Mostly, I think the Messianic communities I have known tend to be too paternalistic…sorry. I think you might like them.
16.) They replace baptism in Jesus name (Acts 2:38), and insert the name Yahweh, Yahshua, or Yeshua or some other guess name;
Cute Linguistic flaw. Jesus is a derivative of the Greek translation of the name of the Messiah translated from the Greek New Testament. In English it has become the accepted name of that historical figure. If someone wishes to be baptised in the name which closer matches his historical birth name, I doubt people will go to hell for that.
17.) They practice both male and female circumcision (female depending on the cult);
I have to call schmotzy on you here. Circumcision is widely practiced around the world. I was circumcised and my parents were both non-believers at the time. Female circumcision is practiced in some cults, and not in Jewish…or Jewish-like practices. I think you know you are lying with this, thus the parenthesis. I would urge you not to choose false statements. The is limited sin in communicating what you did not know any better, but a chosen lie is unbecoming for someone who claims to follow God.
18.) They offer up animal sacrifices (some do not but fellowship with those who do);
Again, the parenthesis makes me think that you know you are lying. If it is true, I would like you to come forward with the evidence. I am eager to extend an apology, but this looks like something you made up.
19.) They celebrate Communion with old Passover emblems and not with unleavened bread and wine (also footwashing);
“Old Passover Emblems”? I have never seen a Passover with leaven among Messianics. Many Christians do this in Communion often, a personal bone of contention for me, but not for Passover. It is forbidden. As for “foot washing”, my uncle, also a pastor, told me about foot washing ceremony and how it had healed years of old wounds in his church. That was years before I ever heard anyone talk about Messianics.
20.) They believe in polygamy and or fellowship those who do (allowing legalized adultery and fornication);
Again, I think you made this one up. If I am wrong, please prove this contention. Could there be someone crazy person who actually did this somewhere in the world? Perhaps, but that is a long way from saying this is part of their belief…please, it is unbecoming to bare false witness.
21.) They allow young girls under the age of 13 to be secretly married to religious leaders;
Repeat of what I just said above. Secretly is kinda funny. If it is a secret how would I (or you know about it). Please cite your sources.
22.) Men will wear tallit prayer shawls with knotts that represent all the laws in the Old Testament;
As do a number of Mennonite and Pentacostal brothers I know. In fact, Christian book distributors sells these item in multiple colours.
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=prayer+schawl&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=14&Go.y=12
23.) They teach a whole new vocabulary of Jewish words to embellish law-keeping that makes many who are fascinated by Jewishness believe they are doing things the first Christians did. This is a great deception and a danger. These rituals of prayers and words are not used by Jesus, the Apostles, or the first disciples. They are as false as a Catholic mass with all its Latin words and ritual.
More of a personal bias then an actual concern. Yes, the Messianics, do get used to communicating in Hebrew words. Some new Christians have commented about the “new vocabulary” in this worldview. New vocabulary is not wrong. I think these are the words of the Bible. To an “outsider” or person new to this understanding this can be a bit difficult to follow. Some of these would have been very likely used by Jesus and the disciples, like the Shema (but difficult to argue either way with certainty from silence). The “danger” is your contention, but I noticed you haven’t defended why it is dangerous. “As false as the Catholic mass in Latin.” Have to tell you there are believers in this world who don’t speak English. Get used to that. English doesn’t make us more holy.
24.) Women and young girls are forced to wear head coverings. These become more a symbol of submission to the false messianic movement then it does humility to God. It is a great danger to women and girls to be told if they do not wear these head coverings they are cursed and God will not hear their prayers or receive their worship;
I wouldn’t know. My wife and daughters don’t wear head covers, so I am at a bit of a loss. I can’t argue what this terrible thing must mean, since it is not a local practice. You might want to look for someone who feels “forced” and ask them what this means. Again, I think you made this up. Please provide your evidence. Just for your information there are several Mennonite divisions locally as well as Hutterites who do wear head coverings. I never asked them if they are “forced”.
25.) They make use of all sorts of cow, ram, goat, and fake horns to blow and act like they are being real Biblical:
Horns would be Biblical, wouldn’t they? Is it the blowing of these horns that cause you concern? I again have found this in Charismatic churches around the country.
26.) They worship the tetragrammaton YHVH or YHWH above the name of Jesus;
I admire your dedication to the locally accepted English derivative of the name of the Messiah, but our Bible (2/3s of it) when it says LORD is using the tetragram. I must confess, I have never seen someone worship 4 letters. I don’t know what that would look like. Perhaps a bit more information would be helpful.
27.) Many men wear garments with all sorts of knots in fringes around their shirts;
And this causes you problems because you are a fashion consultant? So what. I see in your photos you are wearing a tie…is anyone worried about what you wear?
28.) They make use of the Menorah, but do so in a false way. This is wrong use of a right emblem. They do not use it to represent Jesus;
I actually wasn’t sure where you were going with this until I realized that you use the Menorah symbol extensively, so you can’t get completely upset about using “Old Covenant imagery” I think you would find that Jesus is the Menorah may be a typology, and may be the backdrop to a good sermon, but I don’t know that every representation of the Menorah is actually Jesus. I think the Menorah was a real part of the temple, and a standing symbol of the lights of the church in the book of Revelation. Perhaps, it is something we can discuss at length later.
29.) For the most part, these law-keepers are not holiness people. They are a mixture of all kinds of religion. Next week they may transmute into something completely different than what they are today. They are not people with stable and consistent doctrine, faith, practice, conduct, and order.
Knowing that you could not adequately state your concern, you throw one last blanket (shotgun) try at mudslinging. I will try to respond. “Not holiness people”, I think the people I know feel we have been far too lax with respect to understanding God’s holiness. Mixture of all kinds of religions. I must have missed that in you other 28 contentions. Their spiritual understanding is that Jesus is not a US 21st century product, but a real man who live in Israel, spoke Hebrew and was the King of the Jews. They are eager to know this “Jesus”, not to try to create a modern, English “cosmic Jesus”.
“Next week they may transmute into something completely different”, I find this cute. Next week, you may be hit by a bus…I can’t tell the future. Under the silliness of this phrase is a truism, and that is that within the Messianic community, they often have limited respect for the History of Christianity from the Early church fathers (post-apostles) to present, as such they don’t benefit from the struggles of faith throughout the centuries. With the possible exception of Martin Luther, and the Puritans. “they are not a people with consistent doctrine, faith, practice, and order.” To some extent, this is a fair concern. Their faith as alive and dynamic (from the fellowships I have been a part of) it lacks some of the ancient historical weights and burdens of the traditional church (a subject, I am working on in an upcoming book). Their faith is not yet codified. Most have simply adopted the historical professions of faith until they come up with something that they feel needs to be written to represent them. I have yet to see a desire to “codify” this, but it may happen someday. What I do see, is very well educated, passionate people who love God and find they could not stand to be spoon feed a teaching that has been designed for the lowest common denominator. They are people who pray with intensity. They sing, (and even dance) with zeal. They read and discuss God’s word for hours on in. When I first attended a Sabbath gathering, I felt it reminded me of an intense seminary classroom.
A concluding comment:
I think sincerely that you are doing what you can to raise a concern about something you are obviously not connected to. I know as a pastor, I sometimes sounded the alarm bells on some things that I was sure were terrible and turned out not to be nearly as bad as I thought. I do wish you would have done some better research. I ran into your article form a teenage posting a note that told “the truth” about those Messianics. Now, unfortunately, I have an obligation to explain to him that the information provided was put together from someone who has a “ministry” for pointing out the wrongs he thinks everyone does. I used to work at a Bible college while I was in grad school and as a part of the Theology department I realized that I was really only called upon to tell what everyone did wrong. If I said someone was doing “something right” then it was implied that I didn’t look deep enough. Supporting good was not encouraged. Pointing out evil that others might not have seen was held as valuable. I began to hate the character I was becoming. It was for that reason I withdrew from Seminary for a while to see if I would begin to see a world not quite as jaded.
If you are trying to understand Messianics, then I would encourage you to go to regular sources, not some obscure sources which state silliness. I would recommend…
The Messianic Israel Alliance http://www.messianicisrael.com/
The Messianic Jewish Alliance http://users.eastlink.ca/~nertamid/MJAC.HTM
And First Fruits of Zion http://ffoz.org/
Don’t worry, if you think you will find these people to be just run of the mill people who love their Messiah. I am sure if you dig deep enough you will find lots of flaws. Believers are not perfect, just forgiven. We also live in a world where we see through a glass dimly, when the perfect comes we will know fully as we are fully known.
Thanks for your time. -Bradley
Friday, January 8, 2010
Shemot- Names
Shemot- Names
Exodus 1:1 to 6:1
I was listening to the CBC show Tapestry today and really enjoyed the story of a man (the editor of Slate magazine) who by sitting through a long boring Bat Mitzvah picked up a copy of the Bible and found it … interesting. In fact, he was so surprised by what he found he wrote a blog and eventually a book called “Good Book” I have borrowed from his ite the summary of the Torah passage. I thought you might like it from a guy who calls himself stupid about the Bible, and this was his raw impression about the passage.
The Complete Book of Exodus
blogging the bible:
Moses and God, the Sitcom
By David Plotz
Posted Wednesday, June 7, 2006, at 1:09 PM ET
Browse the complete Blogging the Bible series. To learn more about the Blogging the Bible project, click here.
Exodus, Chapter 1
Exodus begins with a population crisis. Jacob's descendants have multiplied and prospered in Egypt, "and the land was filled with them." The new Pharaoh is alarmed and "oppressed them with forced labor." But "the more they were oppressed, the more [the Israelites] increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites." This is the classic demographic anxiety: too many of them, not enough of us. Even Israel has its own version of it today.
Here's something curious: The Bible, or at least the translation I'm reading, never describes the Israelites as "slaves." The Israelites perform forced labor for Pharaoh, and they have Egyptian taskmasters who "ruthlessly imposed" on them. But they don't seem to be slaves in the way Joseph was a slave to Potiphar. The Israelites aren't owned by Egyptians. There appear to be limits on their maltreatment: They are compelled to supply labor, but there's no mention of them being deprived of property or banned from other work. None of this minimizes their suffering. I'm just struck by the absence of that word "slave," which is thrown about so casually everywhere else in the Bible (and which we repeat endlessly at the Passover Seder: "We were slaves in Egypt …") Can anyone explain this? Or is it just a gremlin in my translation?
You can't keep an Israelite down! They keep multiplying, so Pharaoh then orders Hebrew midwives to kill all boys born to Hebrew women. When that doesn't work—the midwives seem to duck the order—a panicky Pharaoh demands that all newborn Hebrew boys get thrown into the Nile. The Bible is extremely keen on tit for tats: Very often, when you do a wrong, the very same wrong is visited on you later. Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt, but then their descendants end up in bondage (or whatever) to Pharaoh. Jacob uses mistaken identity to trick Isaac out of a blessing. Laban, in turn, uses mistaken identity to trick Jacob out of his chosen wife. (And yet another turnabout, as Jacob changes the identity of Laban's goats and sheep to trick him out of his best animals.) And here Pharaoh tries to kill the Hebrew firstborn sons, but in a few chapters, it will be the firstborn Egyptian sons who die. It's divine retribution, or as we Jews prefer to call it, using that term from biblical Aramaic, "karma."
Chapter 2
Moses' mother saves him from drowning in the Nile: Why? Because he's "beautiful."
I don't know where the Disneyfied ideas about Moses, prince of Egypt, come from, but it's certainly not the Torah. Exodus has just sketchy details: Baby Moses floats in wicker basket and is rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who then pays his own mother to raise him. That's it. The story jumps immediately from here to Moses as an adult. There's nothing—not a word—about Moses as a prince. Pharaoh's daughter is not mentioned again, much less described as his mother. Moses never carouses with Pharaoh's sons, or chariot races with them, or competes with them for the big guy's attention. Is Prince Moses just a modern confection, manufactured to lend some courtly glamour and the frisson of fraternal rivalry to the Exodus story?
Unlike greedy young Abraham, boring young Isaac, deceitful young Jacob, and proud young Joseph, young Moses doesn't require any seasoning. He emerges fully formed, righteous and ruthless, standing up for justice and the little guy. His very first recorded act (not counting being plucked from the river) is his murder of an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew worker. Moses flees Egypt to escape Pharaoh's retribution.
His civil rights activism continues in exile. As soon as he arrives in Midian, he rousts the obnoxious shepherds who are preventing a young woman from watering her flocks. And then, reader, he marries her! (Her name is Zipporah, which clears up a family mystery. My Israeli father-in-law, who has a terrible memory for names, calls all men "Moishe" [Moses] and all women "Zipporah." I always thought they were just two common Israeli names. Now I get the Biblical joke.)
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Israelites' "cry for help from the bondage rose up to God. God heard their moaning, and God remembered His covenant. … God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them."
Well, my Lord, what took you so long? What were you doing during all those years of hard labor? At the beginning of Genesis, God was a hands-on Sovereign of the Universe—fashioning man from dirt, wandering through Eden in search of Adam, sniffing thoughtfully at Noah's burnt offering, dropping by Abraham's tent to discuss Sodom and Gomorrah. But as Genesis passed, God was increasingly an absent father. He never appeared to Joseph and then left the Hebrews hanging in Cairo for hundreds of years. What was He busy with that He didn't have time to check up on His chosen people for generations? Was God just testing the Israelites? If so, why? Or is it just that God is mysterious and capricious and it's none of our business why the Hebrews had to suffer for so long?
Incidentally, Exodus is now referring to the Israelites as the "Hebrews," which is why I am using the term, too. But how did they become the Hebrews?
Chapter 3 and Chapter 4
No more absent father. When God comes back, He really comes back. He throws up the burning bush to stop Moses in his tracks, then calls out to him, "Moses, Moses." Moses answers, "Here I am." (This exchange—the double name-call, followed by "here I am"—exactly repeats the one between Abraham and God when the Lord stops the sacrifice of Isaac.)
The scene that follows between Moses and God is both high drama and low comedy. It is the most profound encounter between a man and his maker, and it previews all the themes of Exodus (particularly the tension between God's impatience and human willfulness, etc.) At the same time, it feels like nothing so much as a discussion between an enthusiastic, overeager father and his extremely sullen teenage son. God tries so hard with Moses. The Lord begins with a straightforward attempt to persuade Moses to help Him. He outlines the whole big story for Moses—My people are suffering, I have heard them, I am going to rescue them and bring them to a land "flowing with milk and honey." Then He says, rather gently, that He wants to send Moses to Pharaoh to negotiate the Israelites' release. But—the gall of this young prophet—Moses resists, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?"
So, God gets a little more insistent: "I will be with you." This isn't good enough for the lawyerly Moses, who now wonders what he should tell the Israelites about who sent him. "They ask me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God, moving into thunder-and-lightning-bolts mode, declares, "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh," which is usually translated "I am that I am." Clearly getting peeved at Moses' hesitation, God repeats the whole exhortation He made already, even more emphatically, "I have declared: I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to … a land flowing with milk and honey," etc.
But does this satisfy Moses? Of course not. He complains: "What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me?" So, God tries the David Blaine route, turning Moses' rod into a snake. He causes white scales to appear and disappear on Moses' hand. Moses now moans that he can't go because he's a poor speaker, "slow of speech and slow of tongue." God would have smitten any other human who tried Him so, but He merely rebukes Moses: "Who gives a man speech? … Is it not I, the Lord?" This doesn't deter the vexatious prophet. If he lived in the 21st century, this is the point when Moses would be showing God two doctors' notes diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome. Instead he counters, "Please, O Lord, make someone else Your agent." After all this whining and rebuffing, the Lord has had enough: He finally "became angry with Moses."
But here's the key point: Moses gets what he wants. God appoints Moses' brother Aaron to speak for him. As with Abraham at Sodom, God shows that He loves a challenge. He has no use for lumpish yes men. His truest favorites so far—Abraham and Moses, as well as Jacob and Joseph—don't back down from Him. In this meeting with God, Moses is incredibly, maddeningly frustrating. But he also asks all the right questions about his mission; he plans for every contingency; and he negotiates a better deal for himself. That's the kind of prophet I want on my team.
Chapter 5 and Chapter 6
Does Moses even intend to free the Israelites? When he first approaches Pharaoh, he doesn't ask for their freedom: He just asks for a respite so they can have a camp meeting in the wilderness. He doesn't say anything about leaving Egypt. Is this a Mosaic negotiating trick—asking for less upfront, then springing the demand for freedom later?
Thoughts on Blogging the Bible? Please e-mail David Plotz at plotzd@slate.com.
David Plotz did the full Tanakh in his unique “fresh” style.
I have inserted the link if you wish to hear his interview. It is kinda fun.
Back to the Torah passage:
I wanted to first comment on a couple items in Chapter 1. First, this problem starts with a new king who did not know about Joseph and his people. I imagine this who story. Without the knowledge of Joseph, the heor who save both the Children of Israel and Egypt, a new king arrives and says “hey, who on Earth are these guys?” History brings context. History helps us to make sense out of our world. A knowledge of history would have save this king from what his own people will call the destruction of Egypt.
Of course, in no way do I want to neglect the God of history and his divine choice to hold up Pharaoh as an example, but I sincerely think there is at least one more example of how a king can respond to the Children of Israel returning to the promised land. That example is King Cyrus.
One teacher, of mine (Dr. Walter Kiaser) described it this way. God says “let my people go!” and Pharaoh says “over my dead body.” God say, “hmmmm, sounds like a good idea to me.”
Now let’s look at Cyrus, “God says, time to let my people go” Cyrus, says “sounds good to me, in fact, let me make a contribution to your rebuilding project.” No great wrath on Cyrus. In fact, he’s held up as a good guy. Perhaps, he’s learned a bit from history.
Pharaoh and King Cyrus
Second item from Chapter 1: The heroes/liars
There are two midwives. Who are ordered by the king to kill the Hebrew male babies. They would simply be following orders of the king of the land.
Just for the record, I had forgotten that the midwives were Hebrew. Somehow I had gotten into my head that they were Egyptian. In part, it may be because of the English translation. It says they were “Hebrew midwives”. I had read this as they were midwives for the Hebrews, but if you look at the text the Hebrew is an adjective describing the midwives themselves, not the work (whom) they work for.
Now here is a bit of a problem. Aren’t these women blessed by God for telling a lie and disobeying the king? The answer is “yes”. Again, this sort of goes against common sense. God doesn’t reward liars…or does he? Again, “yes”. God builds houses (families) for them. Aparently they did not have families of their own, and God fixed that for them. You may argue that the King of Egypt was an evil man, so they had no responsibility to obey him, until you stop and think. He hasn’t had all the episodes of resisting God, yet. He is trying to exercise “population control” on those other people living within his borders, but compared to many of the evils done by many ancient kings, I doubt you would find this the most offensive.
God rewards (blesses) liars. It’s almost tough to think, but we begin to see that the Bible doesn’t say what we think is should say. God is the absolute sovereign. If this lower King decided to run counter to God, then these woman had to choose. The chose which King to fear, and it made all the difference.
Sometimes in Christian circles we do run into difficulties when a leader or a government stands in opposition to God. We sometimes feel and urge to be “polite and Christian”, and do little. “well, we’ll pray, or maybe write a letter.“ Not that I think there anything wrong with these things, but the truest faith heroes are ones who do more. They stand with God and even risk their lives for doing what is right. Those polite, passive Christians have no place in God’s word. These women are rewarded for what it one of the earliest acts of civil disobedience. I think in the days to come we will have to face more and more of these types of choices. I hope that from know what God says, we will be people who will be active, not passive.
Much of the rest of the Torah portion follows as all of us remember. Moses commits murder, and then flees into exile. Of course, if you saw the “Prince of Egypt” movie, you would think it an unfortunate accident. The Bible doesn’t suggest that. This piece is often glossed over among Christians, but it really has been the subject of much Jewish discussion. There is an ancient text called the Assumptions of Moses which includes this discussion between Michael and Satan about the body of Moses. Even though Moses was a hero. He was also a murder. Satan (the accusing angel) believed that all murders belong to him. Michael knew Moses belong in the place of rest. So they dispute. In case, you think this even is just a fantasy remember Jude (Yeshua’s ½ brother) treats it as true and uses part of this as a warning to people who apparently have a “deliverance ministry” of that time Jude 1:9.
In case you are wondering where Moses went…who appears at the mountain of transfiguration? Oh yeah, I remember.
Also, it is worthy to note the ages we are dealing with of Moses. Moses’ first attack on the Egyptian is when he is 40 years old (Act 7:23). We also know that Moses died at age 120 (Deut 34:7). We also know that the Children of Israel will spend 40 years (actually 38 years) wandering in the desert because of their lack of belief in God’s ability. This means that Moses was roughly 80 when God chooses his for this task. Think about that for a moment. Moses is too wet behind the ears at 40, so God gives him a long term “internship” dealing with dumb sheep. What better way to handle a couple million pseudo-slaves? After, his 40 year “internship” he’s finally ready. 2/3 of his life is over, and now he is finally a fit vessel for God’s use. Sometimes I am amazed at God’s choices. He seems to prepare people for years for what will amount to a small time of triumph.
A few weeks ago, I watched the Hiding Place again with my children. It had been a while since I saw it, but I remembered. Corrie Ten Boom spent a few terrible months in those concentration camps as a middle-aged woman, and then her whole life was built around sharing God’s grace in terrible circumstances. I hope that if and when God calls on us for that moment of action that we don’t shy a way. May we have the insight to realize that “for this reason we were put in this place”. Shabbot Tov
Exodus 1:1 to 6:1
I was listening to the CBC show Tapestry today and really enjoyed the story of a man (the editor of Slate magazine) who by sitting through a long boring Bat Mitzvah picked up a copy of the Bible and found it … interesting. In fact, he was so surprised by what he found he wrote a blog and eventually a book called “Good Book” I have borrowed from his ite the summary of the Torah passage. I thought you might like it from a guy who calls himself stupid about the Bible, and this was his raw impression about the passage.
The Complete Book of Exodus
blogging the bible:
Moses and God, the Sitcom
By David Plotz
Posted Wednesday, June 7, 2006, at 1:09 PM ET
Browse the complete Blogging the Bible series. To learn more about the Blogging the Bible project, click here.
Exodus, Chapter 1
Exodus begins with a population crisis. Jacob's descendants have multiplied and prospered in Egypt, "and the land was filled with them." The new Pharaoh is alarmed and "oppressed them with forced labor." But "the more they were oppressed, the more [the Israelites] increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites." This is the classic demographic anxiety: too many of them, not enough of us. Even Israel has its own version of it today.
Here's something curious: The Bible, or at least the translation I'm reading, never describes the Israelites as "slaves." The Israelites perform forced labor for Pharaoh, and they have Egyptian taskmasters who "ruthlessly imposed" on them. But they don't seem to be slaves in the way Joseph was a slave to Potiphar. The Israelites aren't owned by Egyptians. There appear to be limits on their maltreatment: They are compelled to supply labor, but there's no mention of them being deprived of property or banned from other work. None of this minimizes their suffering. I'm just struck by the absence of that word "slave," which is thrown about so casually everywhere else in the Bible (and which we repeat endlessly at the Passover Seder: "We were slaves in Egypt …") Can anyone explain this? Or is it just a gremlin in my translation?
You can't keep an Israelite down! They keep multiplying, so Pharaoh then orders Hebrew midwives to kill all boys born to Hebrew women. When that doesn't work—the midwives seem to duck the order—a panicky Pharaoh demands that all newborn Hebrew boys get thrown into the Nile. The Bible is extremely keen on tit for tats: Very often, when you do a wrong, the very same wrong is visited on you later. Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt, but then their descendants end up in bondage (or whatever) to Pharaoh. Jacob uses mistaken identity to trick Isaac out of a blessing. Laban, in turn, uses mistaken identity to trick Jacob out of his chosen wife. (And yet another turnabout, as Jacob changes the identity of Laban's goats and sheep to trick him out of his best animals.) And here Pharaoh tries to kill the Hebrew firstborn sons, but in a few chapters, it will be the firstborn Egyptian sons who die. It's divine retribution, or as we Jews prefer to call it, using that term from biblical Aramaic, "karma."
Chapter 2
Moses' mother saves him from drowning in the Nile: Why? Because he's "beautiful."
I don't know where the Disneyfied ideas about Moses, prince of Egypt, come from, but it's certainly not the Torah. Exodus has just sketchy details: Baby Moses floats in wicker basket and is rescued by Pharaoh's daughter, who then pays his own mother to raise him. That's it. The story jumps immediately from here to Moses as an adult. There's nothing—not a word—about Moses as a prince. Pharaoh's daughter is not mentioned again, much less described as his mother. Moses never carouses with Pharaoh's sons, or chariot races with them, or competes with them for the big guy's attention. Is Prince Moses just a modern confection, manufactured to lend some courtly glamour and the frisson of fraternal rivalry to the Exodus story?
Unlike greedy young Abraham, boring young Isaac, deceitful young Jacob, and proud young Joseph, young Moses doesn't require any seasoning. He emerges fully formed, righteous and ruthless, standing up for justice and the little guy. His very first recorded act (not counting being plucked from the river) is his murder of an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew worker. Moses flees Egypt to escape Pharaoh's retribution.
His civil rights activism continues in exile. As soon as he arrives in Midian, he rousts the obnoxious shepherds who are preventing a young woman from watering her flocks. And then, reader, he marries her! (Her name is Zipporah, which clears up a family mystery. My Israeli father-in-law, who has a terrible memory for names, calls all men "Moishe" [Moses] and all women "Zipporah." I always thought they were just two common Israeli names. Now I get the Biblical joke.)
Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Israelites' "cry for help from the bondage rose up to God. God heard their moaning, and God remembered His covenant. … God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them."
Well, my Lord, what took you so long? What were you doing during all those years of hard labor? At the beginning of Genesis, God was a hands-on Sovereign of the Universe—fashioning man from dirt, wandering through Eden in search of Adam, sniffing thoughtfully at Noah's burnt offering, dropping by Abraham's tent to discuss Sodom and Gomorrah. But as Genesis passed, God was increasingly an absent father. He never appeared to Joseph and then left the Hebrews hanging in Cairo for hundreds of years. What was He busy with that He didn't have time to check up on His chosen people for generations? Was God just testing the Israelites? If so, why? Or is it just that God is mysterious and capricious and it's none of our business why the Hebrews had to suffer for so long?
Incidentally, Exodus is now referring to the Israelites as the "Hebrews," which is why I am using the term, too. But how did they become the Hebrews?
Chapter 3 and Chapter 4
No more absent father. When God comes back, He really comes back. He throws up the burning bush to stop Moses in his tracks, then calls out to him, "Moses, Moses." Moses answers, "Here I am." (This exchange—the double name-call, followed by "here I am"—exactly repeats the one between Abraham and God when the Lord stops the sacrifice of Isaac.)
The scene that follows between Moses and God is both high drama and low comedy. It is the most profound encounter between a man and his maker, and it previews all the themes of Exodus (particularly the tension between God's impatience and human willfulness, etc.) At the same time, it feels like nothing so much as a discussion between an enthusiastic, overeager father and his extremely sullen teenage son. God tries so hard with Moses. The Lord begins with a straightforward attempt to persuade Moses to help Him. He outlines the whole big story for Moses—My people are suffering, I have heard them, I am going to rescue them and bring them to a land "flowing with milk and honey." Then He says, rather gently, that He wants to send Moses to Pharaoh to negotiate the Israelites' release. But—the gall of this young prophet—Moses resists, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?"
So, God gets a little more insistent: "I will be with you." This isn't good enough for the lawyerly Moses, who now wonders what he should tell the Israelites about who sent him. "They ask me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God, moving into thunder-and-lightning-bolts mode, declares, "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh," which is usually translated "I am that I am." Clearly getting peeved at Moses' hesitation, God repeats the whole exhortation He made already, even more emphatically, "I have declared: I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to … a land flowing with milk and honey," etc.
But does this satisfy Moses? Of course not. He complains: "What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me?" So, God tries the David Blaine route, turning Moses' rod into a snake. He causes white scales to appear and disappear on Moses' hand. Moses now moans that he can't go because he's a poor speaker, "slow of speech and slow of tongue." God would have smitten any other human who tried Him so, but He merely rebukes Moses: "Who gives a man speech? … Is it not I, the Lord?" This doesn't deter the vexatious prophet. If he lived in the 21st century, this is the point when Moses would be showing God two doctors' notes diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome. Instead he counters, "Please, O Lord, make someone else Your agent." After all this whining and rebuffing, the Lord has had enough: He finally "became angry with Moses."
But here's the key point: Moses gets what he wants. God appoints Moses' brother Aaron to speak for him. As with Abraham at Sodom, God shows that He loves a challenge. He has no use for lumpish yes men. His truest favorites so far—Abraham and Moses, as well as Jacob and Joseph—don't back down from Him. In this meeting with God, Moses is incredibly, maddeningly frustrating. But he also asks all the right questions about his mission; he plans for every contingency; and he negotiates a better deal for himself. That's the kind of prophet I want on my team.
Chapter 5 and Chapter 6
Does Moses even intend to free the Israelites? When he first approaches Pharaoh, he doesn't ask for their freedom: He just asks for a respite so they can have a camp meeting in the wilderness. He doesn't say anything about leaving Egypt. Is this a Mosaic negotiating trick—asking for less upfront, then springing the demand for freedom later?
Thoughts on Blogging the Bible? Please e-mail David Plotz at plotzd@slate.com.
David Plotz did the full Tanakh in his unique “fresh” style.
I have inserted the link if you wish to hear his interview. It is kinda fun.
Back to the Torah passage:
I wanted to first comment on a couple items in Chapter 1. First, this problem starts with a new king who did not know about Joseph and his people. I imagine this who story. Without the knowledge of Joseph, the heor who save both the Children of Israel and Egypt, a new king arrives and says “hey, who on Earth are these guys?” History brings context. History helps us to make sense out of our world. A knowledge of history would have save this king from what his own people will call the destruction of Egypt.
Of course, in no way do I want to neglect the God of history and his divine choice to hold up Pharaoh as an example, but I sincerely think there is at least one more example of how a king can respond to the Children of Israel returning to the promised land. That example is King Cyrus.
One teacher, of mine (Dr. Walter Kiaser) described it this way. God says “let my people go!” and Pharaoh says “over my dead body.” God say, “hmmmm, sounds like a good idea to me.”
Now let’s look at Cyrus, “God says, time to let my people go” Cyrus, says “sounds good to me, in fact, let me make a contribution to your rebuilding project.” No great wrath on Cyrus. In fact, he’s held up as a good guy. Perhaps, he’s learned a bit from history.
Pharaoh and King Cyrus
Second item from Chapter 1: The heroes/liars
There are two midwives. Who are ordered by the king to kill the Hebrew male babies. They would simply be following orders of the king of the land.
Just for the record, I had forgotten that the midwives were Hebrew. Somehow I had gotten into my head that they were Egyptian. In part, it may be because of the English translation. It says they were “Hebrew midwives”. I had read this as they were midwives for the Hebrews, but if you look at the text the Hebrew is an adjective describing the midwives themselves, not the work (whom) they work for.
Now here is a bit of a problem. Aren’t these women blessed by God for telling a lie and disobeying the king? The answer is “yes”. Again, this sort of goes against common sense. God doesn’t reward liars…or does he? Again, “yes”. God builds houses (families) for them. Aparently they did not have families of their own, and God fixed that for them. You may argue that the King of Egypt was an evil man, so they had no responsibility to obey him, until you stop and think. He hasn’t had all the episodes of resisting God, yet. He is trying to exercise “population control” on those other people living within his borders, but compared to many of the evils done by many ancient kings, I doubt you would find this the most offensive.
God rewards (blesses) liars. It’s almost tough to think, but we begin to see that the Bible doesn’t say what we think is should say. God is the absolute sovereign. If this lower King decided to run counter to God, then these woman had to choose. The chose which King to fear, and it made all the difference.
Sometimes in Christian circles we do run into difficulties when a leader or a government stands in opposition to God. We sometimes feel and urge to be “polite and Christian”, and do little. “well, we’ll pray, or maybe write a letter.“ Not that I think there anything wrong with these things, but the truest faith heroes are ones who do more. They stand with God and even risk their lives for doing what is right. Those polite, passive Christians have no place in God’s word. These women are rewarded for what it one of the earliest acts of civil disobedience. I think in the days to come we will have to face more and more of these types of choices. I hope that from know what God says, we will be people who will be active, not passive.
Much of the rest of the Torah portion follows as all of us remember. Moses commits murder, and then flees into exile. Of course, if you saw the “Prince of Egypt” movie, you would think it an unfortunate accident. The Bible doesn’t suggest that. This piece is often glossed over among Christians, but it really has been the subject of much Jewish discussion. There is an ancient text called the Assumptions of Moses which includes this discussion between Michael and Satan about the body of Moses. Even though Moses was a hero. He was also a murder. Satan (the accusing angel) believed that all murders belong to him. Michael knew Moses belong in the place of rest. So they dispute. In case, you think this even is just a fantasy remember Jude (Yeshua’s ½ brother) treats it as true and uses part of this as a warning to people who apparently have a “deliverance ministry” of that time Jude 1:9.
In case you are wondering where Moses went…who appears at the mountain of transfiguration? Oh yeah, I remember.
Also, it is worthy to note the ages we are dealing with of Moses. Moses’ first attack on the Egyptian is when he is 40 years old (Act 7:23). We also know that Moses died at age 120 (Deut 34:7). We also know that the Children of Israel will spend 40 years (actually 38 years) wandering in the desert because of their lack of belief in God’s ability. This means that Moses was roughly 80 when God chooses his for this task. Think about that for a moment. Moses is too wet behind the ears at 40, so God gives him a long term “internship” dealing with dumb sheep. What better way to handle a couple million pseudo-slaves? After, his 40 year “internship” he’s finally ready. 2/3 of his life is over, and now he is finally a fit vessel for God’s use. Sometimes I am amazed at God’s choices. He seems to prepare people for years for what will amount to a small time of triumph.
A few weeks ago, I watched the Hiding Place again with my children. It had been a while since I saw it, but I remembered. Corrie Ten Boom spent a few terrible months in those concentration camps as a middle-aged woman, and then her whole life was built around sharing God’s grace in terrible circumstances. I hope that if and when God calls on us for that moment of action that we don’t shy a way. May we have the insight to realize that “for this reason we were put in this place”. Shabbot Tov
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Shemot- Names
Another contribution from Rabbi Jack Farber. Thanks again, dear brother.
Parashat HaShavua Shemot / Names
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 1:1-6:1
Yeshayahu / Isaiah 27:6-28:13
Ma'asei Talmidim / Acts 7:17-29
Shemot {1:8} Now there arose a new king over Mitrayim (Egypt) who did not know Yoseph (Joseph). {1:9} He said to his people, "Behold, the people of bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) are more and mightier than we. {1:10} Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land." {1:11} Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. {1:12} But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of bnei Yisrael.
I believe the reason HaShem transported bnei Yisrael to Mitzrayim, in the first place, for the purpose of protecting them from intermarrying with the Canaanites. Bnei Yisrael during this period of time in history was nomadic and, therefore, the main source of their livelihood was herding livestock, primarily sheep. The Canaanites had no problem with this occupation, but not the Mitzrim (Egyptians). They saw shepherding as a lowly occupation and besides that they had, among their pantheon of gods, a sheep god. Slaughtering and eating sheep was an abomination to them. Therefore, bnei Yisrael being in Mitzrayim was ideal for HaShem's purposes. First, the Mitzrim would not intermingle with them because of their occupation and second, also because of their occupation, they would be segregated in an extreme province of Mitzrayim, Goshen, which is thought to have been located near the Canaanite boarder. Obviously HaShem's will was done and bnei Yisrael multiplied exceedingly, so much so that it worried the Mitzrim.
You may not be aware of it, but my wife and I are very involved in pro-life. It has been one of our ministries ever since we were born again. For this reason we try to keep up-to-date on what is happening concerning abortion and pro-life in Yisrael.
Yisrael, much to our disgust, has legalised abortion. The latest figures available to me indicate that approximately 40, 000 legal abortions are performed in Yisrael each year. Fifty percent of these pregnancies are terminated because they are of out-of-wedlock conception, incest or conception under illegal circumstances, such as rape, statutory rape. Eighteen percent of pregnancies are terminated because of a health risks to the mother and or supposed defects of the fetus. The balance, thirty two percent, is purely elective. My position is that the only justifiable reason for an abortion is if the mother's life is in danger. I base this position on the Biblical principle of doing everything possible to save a life.
Yochanan (John) {15:13} Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
The total Israeli population today, according to the most recent demographics, is 7, 465, 500. Approximately seventy five percent or 5, 636, 400 are Jewish. Approximately twenty three percent or 1, 739, 500 are Arab Moslem. The balance is described as others. In the year 2000 Arab Moslems made up approximately seventeen percent of Israel's population. In 2009 that number increased to approximately twenty three percent, an increase of six and a half percent, while the Jewish population over the same period of time increased by approximately nine percent. If abortions in Israel continue at there present rate and Jewish immigration remains low, as it is at present, then there is a potential problem. The Moslem religion does not allow abortion and with their policy of having large families (6-20 children), compared to the average Israeli family that has two to three children, then it is feared that in one hundred years the Arab Moslem population in Israel will become a powerful political force in the country. This force could alter decision making within the government.
My how times have changed! What Pharaoh was concerned about thousands of years ago concerning the expanding population of bnei Yisrael, bnei Yisrael is now concerned about concerning expanding population of the Moslem Arabs.
Why is this thing happening to Israel now that they are in the land HaShem has promised them? It is because they have created a secular country whose principles do not follow Torah. When they were sent by HaShem into Mitzrayim it was for the purpose of building a nation that would follow Torah. Now HaShem is reducing their number as He has warned them that He would do if they did not follow Torah.
Devarim {28:58} If you will not observe to do all the words of this Torah that are written in this sefer (book), that you may fear this glorious and fearful Name, HaShem your G-D; {28:62} You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn't listen to the voice of HaShem your G-D.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Parashat HaShavua Shemot / Names
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 1:1-6:1
Yeshayahu / Isaiah 27:6-28:13
Ma'asei Talmidim / Acts 7:17-29
Shemot {1:8} Now there arose a new king over Mitrayim (Egypt) who did not know Yoseph (Joseph). {1:9} He said to his people, "Behold, the people of bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) are more and mightier than we. {1:10} Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land." {1:11} Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. {1:12} But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of bnei Yisrael.
I believe the reason HaShem transported bnei Yisrael to Mitzrayim, in the first place, for the purpose of protecting them from intermarrying with the Canaanites. Bnei Yisrael during this period of time in history was nomadic and, therefore, the main source of their livelihood was herding livestock, primarily sheep. The Canaanites had no problem with this occupation, but not the Mitzrim (Egyptians). They saw shepherding as a lowly occupation and besides that they had, among their pantheon of gods, a sheep god. Slaughtering and eating sheep was an abomination to them. Therefore, bnei Yisrael being in Mitzrayim was ideal for HaShem's purposes. First, the Mitzrim would not intermingle with them because of their occupation and second, also because of their occupation, they would be segregated in an extreme province of Mitzrayim, Goshen, which is thought to have been located near the Canaanite boarder. Obviously HaShem's will was done and bnei Yisrael multiplied exceedingly, so much so that it worried the Mitzrim.
You may not be aware of it, but my wife and I are very involved in pro-life. It has been one of our ministries ever since we were born again. For this reason we try to keep up-to-date on what is happening concerning abortion and pro-life in Yisrael.
Yisrael, much to our disgust, has legalised abortion. The latest figures available to me indicate that approximately 40, 000 legal abortions are performed in Yisrael each year. Fifty percent of these pregnancies are terminated because they are of out-of-wedlock conception, incest or conception under illegal circumstances, such as rape, statutory rape. Eighteen percent of pregnancies are terminated because of a health risks to the mother and or supposed defects of the fetus. The balance, thirty two percent, is purely elective. My position is that the only justifiable reason for an abortion is if the mother's life is in danger. I base this position on the Biblical principle of doing everything possible to save a life.
Yochanan (John) {15:13} Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
The total Israeli population today, according to the most recent demographics, is 7, 465, 500. Approximately seventy five percent or 5, 636, 400 are Jewish. Approximately twenty three percent or 1, 739, 500 are Arab Moslem. The balance is described as others. In the year 2000 Arab Moslems made up approximately seventeen percent of Israel's population. In 2009 that number increased to approximately twenty three percent, an increase of six and a half percent, while the Jewish population over the same period of time increased by approximately nine percent. If abortions in Israel continue at there present rate and Jewish immigration remains low, as it is at present, then there is a potential problem. The Moslem religion does not allow abortion and with their policy of having large families (6-20 children), compared to the average Israeli family that has two to three children, then it is feared that in one hundred years the Arab Moslem population in Israel will become a powerful political force in the country. This force could alter decision making within the government.
My how times have changed! What Pharaoh was concerned about thousands of years ago concerning the expanding population of bnei Yisrael, bnei Yisrael is now concerned about concerning expanding population of the Moslem Arabs.
Why is this thing happening to Israel now that they are in the land HaShem has promised them? It is because they have created a secular country whose principles do not follow Torah. When they were sent by HaShem into Mitzrayim it was for the purpose of building a nation that would follow Torah. Now HaShem is reducing their number as He has warned them that He would do if they did not follow Torah.
Devarim {28:58} If you will not observe to do all the words of this Torah that are written in this sefer (book), that you may fear this glorious and fearful Name, HaShem your G-D; {28:62} You shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of the sky for multitude; because you didn't listen to the voice of HaShem your G-D.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Another bonus from Rabbi Farber
I was inspired by this story. Years ago, this type of story in Kazakhstan inspired my wife and I to pursue missions on our ill fated missions adventure. Enjoy.
"The Time Of The Gentiles?"
There is a Christian revival going on in the world, but it is not one that you would expect nor is it taking place anywhere you would normally imagine. Since the tragedy of 9 / 11 in 2001 hundreds of thousands, even millions of Moslems have and are still coming to faith in Jesus; they are becoming Christians! The amazing thing is that it is happening in countries that you would least expect it to be happening in; countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco and most of the other Middle-Eastern Moslem countries. Now remember in all Moslem countries conversion out of Islam into another religion, any other religion could mean and in most cases does mean certain death. The minimum punishment would be imprisonment and torture.
The astonishing thing about what is happening among Moslems is that this revival is happening in the Middle East while we are seeing many Christian denominations here in the West falling away from the faith. Churches like the United Church, Methodist Church and bastion of Christianity, the Anglican Church have in one form or another fallen into apostasy and who know who will be next.
What is truly incredible is that in reading the testimonies of these Moslem conversions many of them were the result of actual personal appearances to the person by Jesus. Yes, He appeared and introduced Himself to them as Jesus not Yeshua. Many more Moslems came to faith in Jesus through having visions and dreams. In these visions and dreams they received confirming messages that Christianity is the true faith and that they needed to believe in Jesus as the true Messiah and that they needed to follow Him and His teachings. Even though these dreams and visions are widespread among Moslems the vast majority of Moslems are coming to faith because of their disenchantment with a religion that fosters Jihad, hate and the killing and maiming of fellow Moslems. They have witnessed what has been happening in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan where Moslems are killing Moslems and they have been seeing their Moslems brothers using women and the handicapped as suicide bombers and children as shields in war. They are disenchanted with radicalism and yes, even Al Qaeda. So, all these things have been doing much for the Christian revival among Moslems. Add to this the fact that many Moslem converts have become evangelists, preacher and teachers (underground, of course) and the fact that there are now radio, and satellite television evangelists beaming their broadcasts about the G-d that died for you as apposed to the Moslem god who wants you to die for him, in every Arab dialect and in the languages of Ethiopia's and Iran's and you can understand why the revival.
The religion of Islam does not have an assured way of salvation which guarantees entrance into heaven like Christianity. It is a works oriented religion, which means that a Moslem never knows if his works have merited him heaven until he actually gets there, or does not! The religion of Islam is also very aggressively taught from the time children enter school so this theology of working and doing in order to be worthy to go to heaven is engrained in Moslems from a very early age. Sadly, they are falsely taught that the only sure and fool proof way a Moslem has of salvation, the only guaranteed way he can get into heaven is if he were to be martyred defending Islam against infidels, which happens to be anyone who is not a Moslem but especially Americans and Jews. Is it any wonder than that radical Moslems do not have any trouble recruiting terrorists for they demented suicide causes!
How does one defend against a religion that teaches such a philosophy, whether overtly, as by the radicals or in inference as by the Koran? There is no way because there has to come a time when a devout Moslem comes to a crossroad in their religious life where a decision of becoming or not becoming a radical becomes a real choice and I believe that is what is also fuelling the present revival.
This Moslem revival has had another effect; it has thrown a kind-of monkey wrench into Messianic Jewish theology, including mine. What do I mean? Well, Messianic Judaism has always thought that with the recapture of East Jerusalem and the re-unification of the city during the Six Day War of 1967 it marked the end of the Times of the Gentiles and the beginning of a Messianic Jewish revival.
Uri (Luke) {21:24} and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Yerushalayim will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
We have believed that with the reunification of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) this Scripture was fulfilled and yes Messianic Judaism has seen an unprecedented renewal since 1967. In fact, Jewish people have been coming to salvation in numbers not seen since the first century. If the times of the Gentiles is over, however, how then do you explain the millions of Moslems (Gentiles) coming to faith in Jesus since 2001. Did the 67 war really mark the end of the times of the Gentiles? The only way I can explain it is that it did not! The time of the Gentiles therefore, is not over and that will also mean that the tramping down by them of Yerushalayim is also not over. This, I believe, is confirmed by the following Scripture:
Zekharyah (Zechariah) {14:2} For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
The skyline of Yerushalayim is still dominated by the abomination of the Dome of the Rock and if Zekharyah's prophecy is yet unfulfilled Yerushalayim will yet again be divided and trampled down by the Gentiles. So that, I believe, would mean that the times of the Gentiles will only be over upon Yeshua HaMashiach's (the Messiah's) return to the earth to set up His throne. For that is when all surviving Jews, those that made it through the tribulation period (Jacob's Troubles) will be saved and all the nations of the earth will turn to Yeshua. At that time there will no longer be any Gentiles because everyone will be saved, remembering that the biblical interpretation of a Gentile is a pagan. It is then that Yerushalayim, Yisrael and the Jewish people will take up their biblical, G-d ordained position and role in the world.
"The Time Of The Gentiles?"
There is a Christian revival going on in the world, but it is not one that you would expect nor is it taking place anywhere you would normally imagine. Since the tragedy of 9 / 11 in 2001 hundreds of thousands, even millions of Moslems have and are still coming to faith in Jesus; they are becoming Christians! The amazing thing is that it is happening in countries that you would least expect it to be happening in; countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Morocco and most of the other Middle-Eastern Moslem countries. Now remember in all Moslem countries conversion out of Islam into another religion, any other religion could mean and in most cases does mean certain death. The minimum punishment would be imprisonment and torture.
The astonishing thing about what is happening among Moslems is that this revival is happening in the Middle East while we are seeing many Christian denominations here in the West falling away from the faith. Churches like the United Church, Methodist Church and bastion of Christianity, the Anglican Church have in one form or another fallen into apostasy and who know who will be next.
What is truly incredible is that in reading the testimonies of these Moslem conversions many of them were the result of actual personal appearances to the person by Jesus. Yes, He appeared and introduced Himself to them as Jesus not Yeshua. Many more Moslems came to faith in Jesus through having visions and dreams. In these visions and dreams they received confirming messages that Christianity is the true faith and that they needed to believe in Jesus as the true Messiah and that they needed to follow Him and His teachings. Even though these dreams and visions are widespread among Moslems the vast majority of Moslems are coming to faith because of their disenchantment with a religion that fosters Jihad, hate and the killing and maiming of fellow Moslems. They have witnessed what has been happening in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan where Moslems are killing Moslems and they have been seeing their Moslems brothers using women and the handicapped as suicide bombers and children as shields in war. They are disenchanted with radicalism and yes, even Al Qaeda. So, all these things have been doing much for the Christian revival among Moslems. Add to this the fact that many Moslem converts have become evangelists, preacher and teachers (underground, of course) and the fact that there are now radio, and satellite television evangelists beaming their broadcasts about the G-d that died for you as apposed to the Moslem god who wants you to die for him, in every Arab dialect and in the languages of Ethiopia's and Iran's and you can understand why the revival.
The religion of Islam does not have an assured way of salvation which guarantees entrance into heaven like Christianity. It is a works oriented religion, which means that a Moslem never knows if his works have merited him heaven until he actually gets there, or does not! The religion of Islam is also very aggressively taught from the time children enter school so this theology of working and doing in order to be worthy to go to heaven is engrained in Moslems from a very early age. Sadly, they are falsely taught that the only sure and fool proof way a Moslem has of salvation, the only guaranteed way he can get into heaven is if he were to be martyred defending Islam against infidels, which happens to be anyone who is not a Moslem but especially Americans and Jews. Is it any wonder than that radical Moslems do not have any trouble recruiting terrorists for they demented suicide causes!
How does one defend against a religion that teaches such a philosophy, whether overtly, as by the radicals or in inference as by the Koran? There is no way because there has to come a time when a devout Moslem comes to a crossroad in their religious life where a decision of becoming or not becoming a radical becomes a real choice and I believe that is what is also fuelling the present revival.
This Moslem revival has had another effect; it has thrown a kind-of monkey wrench into Messianic Jewish theology, including mine. What do I mean? Well, Messianic Judaism has always thought that with the recapture of East Jerusalem and the re-unification of the city during the Six Day War of 1967 it marked the end of the Times of the Gentiles and the beginning of a Messianic Jewish revival.
Uri (Luke) {21:24} and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Yerushalayim will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
We have believed that with the reunification of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) this Scripture was fulfilled and yes Messianic Judaism has seen an unprecedented renewal since 1967. In fact, Jewish people have been coming to salvation in numbers not seen since the first century. If the times of the Gentiles is over, however, how then do you explain the millions of Moslems (Gentiles) coming to faith in Jesus since 2001. Did the 67 war really mark the end of the times of the Gentiles? The only way I can explain it is that it did not! The time of the Gentiles therefore, is not over and that will also mean that the tramping down by them of Yerushalayim is also not over. This, I believe, is confirmed by the following Scripture:
Zekharyah (Zechariah) {14:2} For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.
The skyline of Yerushalayim is still dominated by the abomination of the Dome of the Rock and if Zekharyah's prophecy is yet unfulfilled Yerushalayim will yet again be divided and trampled down by the Gentiles. So that, I believe, would mean that the times of the Gentiles will only be over upon Yeshua HaMashiach's (the Messiah's) return to the earth to set up His throne. For that is when all surviving Jews, those that made it through the tribulation period (Jacob's Troubles) will be saved and all the nations of the earth will turn to Yeshua. At that time there will no longer be any Gentiles because everyone will be saved, remembering that the biblical interpretation of a Gentile is a pagan. It is then that Yerushalayim, Yisrael and the Jewish people will take up their biblical, G-d ordained position and role in the world.
Va Yigash- He drew near
Sorry, I have been slow on my updates, we moved and had a baby, but this was from Rabbi Farber. Hope you enjoy
Parashat HaShavua VaYigash / And He Drew Near
This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 44:18-47:27
Yechezekiel / Ezekiel 37:15-28
Uri / Luke 6:9-16
Bereshit {45:4} Yoseph (Joseph) said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Yoseph, your brother, whom you sold into Mitzrayim (Egypt). {45:5} Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for G-D sent me before you to preserve life. {45:6} For these two years has the famine been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. {45:7} G-D sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. {45:8} So now it was not you who sent me here, but G-D, and he has made me a 'ab (father) to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Mitzrayim.
Why does HaShem have to put us through so much difficulty, anguish and hardship in order to have us accomplish His will? Yoseph went through much more than the average believer goes through just so that HaShem could fulfill Yoseph's dream and get his brothers to the point of repentance.
However, it does not end there. HaShem then used the restoration of the family relationship to bring bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) to Mitzrayim so that the subsequent generations could become slaves, be oppressed, beaten and used as chattel for hundreds of years. All of this was done just so that HaShem could take them out from under Pharaoh and make them into His segulah (special treasure). After that He was going to give them the land of Canaan. Let us face it. G-d is all powerful. He could have saved everyone involved a whole lot of trouble and heartaches if He would have just spoken the end result into being as He did with creation. However, it seems like that is not the way G-d works. This is not because He is G-d, but because we are humans. He does, after all, call us a stiff-necked people:
Shemot (Exodus) 32:9 And HaShem said unto Moshe, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:
I have encountered and experienced how stiff-necked we are, many times. Not everyone I teach wants to take the Word of G-d at face value. Many demand a reasonable explanation before they will even consider that what Torah says is the way they are supposed to live. It amazes me how most believers have no problem with the fact that Yeshua is G-d, but when it comes to the commandments of Torah they have a problem accepting them let alone adhering to them. If Yeshua is G-d and G-d wrote the Torah, then when Yeshua said, “if you love Me keep My commandments,” (Yochanan [John] 14:15) His commandments must be Torah.
How do people explain Torah away? Often they explain it by saying Torah is for the Jews, but grace is for believers in Yeshua HaMashiach (the Messiah). What this tells me about them is that they believe G-d has one set of commandment for saved people and another set for un-saved people – an unreasonable and false assumption. G-d's Word is universal. It spans time, space and people groups.
I could have saved myself countless of sleepless nights, gallons of tears and a whole lot of money, if I had only followed the advice of my parents, but no I had to learn everything the hard way. I had to do it all myself, my way, and re-invent the wheel. This relates to how stiff-necked we are. We tend to not appreciate anything we have not learned by our own experience.
Have you ever stood over someone who was pressing the Control-Alt-Delete keys of their computer because the screen was frozen and not accepted the fact that it was not working? Even though you watched them perform the action over and over again without success you have to try pushing the same Control-Alt-Delete keys before you accept that it is not working and the screen is frozen? If you have, then you have proven to yourself why HaShem has to do things the way He does, why He has to teach us the hard way and take us via the long route. It is because we are experiential people and unless we experience something ourselves, sadly the hard way, we do not learn the lesson HaShem is trying to teach us. We do not value what we have not experienced.
Mishlei (Proverbs) {13:11} Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
It is a fact that we value things we had to work hard for more than things that are just given to us without us exerting any effort or experiencing any pain. No one values being healthy more than when they are sick or have just recovered from being sick.
HaShem knows us -- He created us! Appreciate the difficult times of your life because the impressions they will make upon your life will be invaluable. Plus HaShem is the one doing it, for your ultimate good.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Visit our Webpage @ www.cmy.on.ca / cmy@ca.inter.net
272 Ranee Ave Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A-1N6, Tel: 416-785-7612
Parashat HaShavua VaYigash / And He Drew Near
This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 44:18-47:27
Yechezekiel / Ezekiel 37:15-28
Uri / Luke 6:9-16
Bereshit {45:4} Yoseph (Joseph) said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Yoseph, your brother, whom you sold into Mitzrayim (Egypt). {45:5} Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for G-D sent me before you to preserve life. {45:6} For these two years has the famine been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. {45:7} G-D sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. {45:8} So now it was not you who sent me here, but G-D, and he has made me a 'ab (father) to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Mitzrayim.
Why does HaShem have to put us through so much difficulty, anguish and hardship in order to have us accomplish His will? Yoseph went through much more than the average believer goes through just so that HaShem could fulfill Yoseph's dream and get his brothers to the point of repentance.
However, it does not end there. HaShem then used the restoration of the family relationship to bring bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) to Mitzrayim so that the subsequent generations could become slaves, be oppressed, beaten and used as chattel for hundreds of years. All of this was done just so that HaShem could take them out from under Pharaoh and make them into His segulah (special treasure). After that He was going to give them the land of Canaan. Let us face it. G-d is all powerful. He could have saved everyone involved a whole lot of trouble and heartaches if He would have just spoken the end result into being as He did with creation. However, it seems like that is not the way G-d works. This is not because He is G-d, but because we are humans. He does, after all, call us a stiff-necked people:
Shemot (Exodus) 32:9 And HaShem said unto Moshe, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:
I have encountered and experienced how stiff-necked we are, many times. Not everyone I teach wants to take the Word of G-d at face value. Many demand a reasonable explanation before they will even consider that what Torah says is the way they are supposed to live. It amazes me how most believers have no problem with the fact that Yeshua is G-d, but when it comes to the commandments of Torah they have a problem accepting them let alone adhering to them. If Yeshua is G-d and G-d wrote the Torah, then when Yeshua said, “if you love Me keep My commandments,” (Yochanan [John] 14:15) His commandments must be Torah.
How do people explain Torah away? Often they explain it by saying Torah is for the Jews, but grace is for believers in Yeshua HaMashiach (the Messiah). What this tells me about them is that they believe G-d has one set of commandment for saved people and another set for un-saved people – an unreasonable and false assumption. G-d's Word is universal. It spans time, space and people groups.
I could have saved myself countless of sleepless nights, gallons of tears and a whole lot of money, if I had only followed the advice of my parents, but no I had to learn everything the hard way. I had to do it all myself, my way, and re-invent the wheel. This relates to how stiff-necked we are. We tend to not appreciate anything we have not learned by our own experience.
Have you ever stood over someone who was pressing the Control-Alt-Delete keys of their computer because the screen was frozen and not accepted the fact that it was not working? Even though you watched them perform the action over and over again without success you have to try pushing the same Control-Alt-Delete keys before you accept that it is not working and the screen is frozen? If you have, then you have proven to yourself why HaShem has to do things the way He does, why He has to teach us the hard way and take us via the long route. It is because we are experiential people and unless we experience something ourselves, sadly the hard way, we do not learn the lesson HaShem is trying to teach us. We do not value what we have not experienced.
Mishlei (Proverbs) {13:11} Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
It is a fact that we value things we had to work hard for more than things that are just given to us without us exerting any effort or experiencing any pain. No one values being healthy more than when they are sick or have just recovered from being sick.
HaShem knows us -- He created us! Appreciate the difficult times of your life because the impressions they will make upon your life will be invaluable. Plus HaShem is the one doing it, for your ultimate good.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Visit our Webpage @ www.cmy.on.ca / cmy@ca.inter.net
272 Ranee Ave Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A-1N6, Tel: 416-785-7612
Sunday, December 27, 2009
VaYechi- And He lived
From Rabbi Farber
"Accept Forgiveness"
Parashat HaShavua VaYechi / And He Lived
This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 47:28-50:26
Melachim Aleph / 1 Kings 2:1-12
Kefa Aleph / 1 Peter 1:3-9
Bereshit {50:15} When Yoseph's (Joseph's) brothers saw that their 'ab (father) was dead, they said, "It may be that Yoseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him. {50:16} They sent a message to Yoseph, saying, "your 'ab commanded before he died, saying, {50:17} "So will you tell Yoseph, 'Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you. ' Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the G-D of your 'ab." Yoseph wept when they spoke to him. {50:18} His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, "Behold, we are your servants." {50:19} Yoseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of G-D? {50:20} As for you, you meant evil against me, but G-D meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. {50:21} Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
I found this passage so typical of believers today. Allow me to explain. We all should know that Yoseph is a type of Yeshua. Yoseph was rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, abused and mistreated, sent to prison, resurrected from prison and became great among the Gentiles, the Mitzrim (Egyptians). Yeshua was rejected by his brothers, His own people. He was sold, by one of is own, for thirty pieces of silver. He went down into the pit (hell), was resurrected and became great among the Gentiles (Nations). The similarities between Joseph and Yeshua are not at all coincidental, nor do the similarities end with what I have just told you here, this is only the beginning.
You will remember that in last week's parasha, parasha VaYigash, Y'huda (Judah) and the other brothers poured out their hearts to Yoseph, they confessed their sin before him. At this point Yoseph had not yet revealed himself as Yoseph to his brothers. Subsequently he does reveal his identity and forgives his brothers of their sin and absolves them for what they had done to him.
Bereshit {45:4} Yoseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Yoseph, your brother, whom you sold into Mizrayim (Egypt). {45:5} Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for G-D sent me before you to preserve life. {45:6} For these two years has the famine been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. {45:7} G-D sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
Yoseph's brothers were forgiven. All that transpired in the past was forgotten. Yoseph had moved on in his life, but obviously his brother's had not. Even thought Yoseph clearly forgave them, they had not forgiven themselves and therefore were still carrying around their guilt.
Well, if we continue with the comparison of Yoseph being a type of Yeshua, is not this scenario frightfully similar to the lives of many believers today? Everything that happened to Yoseph was, as he admitted, ordained by HaShem for the purpose of benefiting his brothers and future generations of bnei Yisrael. The brothers' confession to Yoseph would now allow them all the benefits of living under the protection of Yoseph who had been elevated to the powerful position of viceroy in Mitzrayim. Similarly, everything that happened to Yeshua was ordained by the Father for the express purpose of benefiting bnei Yisrael and in turn the entire world. When we confess our sin to Yeshua, the sin we committed against Him by breaking the commandments of Torah, He forgives us. In fact we are told:
Michah (Micah) {7:19} He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
However, do we forgive ourselves? Many of us do not! Despite the fact that we have been forgiven we still carry around our guilt. Allow this week's Parasha and specifically the portions of Scripture that I have quoted from it to minister to you so that you will not be like Yoseph's brothers and that you will accept the forgiveness that Yeshua has given you and move on in your life.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
"Accept Forgiveness"
Parashat HaShavua VaYechi / And He Lived
This Week's Reading List:
BeReshit / Genesis 47:28-50:26
Melachim Aleph / 1 Kings 2:1-12
Kefa Aleph / 1 Peter 1:3-9
Bereshit {50:15} When Yoseph's (Joseph's) brothers saw that their 'ab (father) was dead, they said, "It may be that Yoseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him. {50:16} They sent a message to Yoseph, saying, "your 'ab commanded before he died, saying, {50:17} "So will you tell Yoseph, 'Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you. ' Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the G-D of your 'ab." Yoseph wept when they spoke to him. {50:18} His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, "Behold, we are your servants." {50:19} Yoseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of G-D? {50:20} As for you, you meant evil against me, but G-D meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive. {50:21} Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
I found this passage so typical of believers today. Allow me to explain. We all should know that Yoseph is a type of Yeshua. Yoseph was rejected by his brothers, sold into slavery, abused and mistreated, sent to prison, resurrected from prison and became great among the Gentiles, the Mitzrim (Egyptians). Yeshua was rejected by his brothers, His own people. He was sold, by one of is own, for thirty pieces of silver. He went down into the pit (hell), was resurrected and became great among the Gentiles (Nations). The similarities between Joseph and Yeshua are not at all coincidental, nor do the similarities end with what I have just told you here, this is only the beginning.
You will remember that in last week's parasha, parasha VaYigash, Y'huda (Judah) and the other brothers poured out their hearts to Yoseph, they confessed their sin before him. At this point Yoseph had not yet revealed himself as Yoseph to his brothers. Subsequently he does reveal his identity and forgives his brothers of their sin and absolves them for what they had done to him.
Bereshit {45:4} Yoseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Yoseph, your brother, whom you sold into Mizrayim (Egypt). {45:5} Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for G-D sent me before you to preserve life. {45:6} For these two years has the famine been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. {45:7} G-D sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
Yoseph's brothers were forgiven. All that transpired in the past was forgotten. Yoseph had moved on in his life, but obviously his brother's had not. Even thought Yoseph clearly forgave them, they had not forgiven themselves and therefore were still carrying around their guilt.
Well, if we continue with the comparison of Yoseph being a type of Yeshua, is not this scenario frightfully similar to the lives of many believers today? Everything that happened to Yoseph was, as he admitted, ordained by HaShem for the purpose of benefiting his brothers and future generations of bnei Yisrael. The brothers' confession to Yoseph would now allow them all the benefits of living under the protection of Yoseph who had been elevated to the powerful position of viceroy in Mitzrayim. Similarly, everything that happened to Yeshua was ordained by the Father for the express purpose of benefiting bnei Yisrael and in turn the entire world. When we confess our sin to Yeshua, the sin we committed against Him by breaking the commandments of Torah, He forgives us. In fact we are told:
Michah (Micah) {7:19} He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
However, do we forgive ourselves? Many of us do not! Despite the fact that we have been forgiven we still carry around our guilt. Allow this week's Parasha and specifically the portions of Scripture that I have quoted from it to minister to you so that you will not be like Yoseph's brothers and that you will accept the forgiveness that Yeshua has given you and move on in your life.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Hallelujah for our Lord, our Teacher,our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
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