Another contribution from Rabbi Farber, thanks again, brother
"Welcome To My World Yaacov"
Parashat HaShavua Yitro / Jethro
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 18:1-20:23
Yeshayahu / Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6
Mattityahu / Matthew 5:17-32
Ivrim / Hebrews 12:18-24
Shemot {18:1} Now Yitro, the priest of Midian, Moshe's ab-in-law (father-in-law), heard of all that G-D had done for Moshe, and for Yisrael His people, how that HaShem had brought Yisrael out of Mitzrayim (Egypt). {18:2} Yitro, Moshe's ab-in-law, received Zipporah, Moshe's wife, after he had sent her away, {18:3} and her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom, for Moshe said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land". {18:4} The name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, "My ab-'s G-D was my help and delivered me from Pharaoh's sword." {18:5} Yitro, Moshe's ab-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moshe into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of G-D. {18:6} He said to Moshe, I, your ab-in-law Yitro, have come to you with your wife, and her two sons with her. {18:7} Moshe went out to meet his ab-in-law, and bowed and kissed him. They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.
I find this portion of Scripture, which is taken from this weeks Torah reading, very comforting. In fact, I think that all married couples should as well. The reason I find it comforting is because it tells me that the marital problems that couples are experiencing today, including the marital problems that my wife and I have from time to time, are not something new. Couples have been having marriage problems since the institution of marriage. Adam and Chava (Eve) had their problems and now were getting a glimpse into Moshes rocky road relationship with his wife. I do not know about you, but I find it comforting to know that the great men and woman of the Bible were not superhuman, like some people make them out to be, but rather they were just plain frail, messed-up human beings just like the rest of us! In fact, in reading this passage from Scripture I can almost hear Moshe saying to me Welcome to my world Yaacov. Yes us, like most every other married couple that ever lived, have had marital problems. Now, our problems never deteriorated to the point of separation, but I am sure the thought crossed both of our minds at some time or other in our marriage. Were it not for Yeshua HaMashiach in our lives, who knows what might have happened.
I have counselled many couples in the years I have been a rabbi and I know how difficult it is for two people who originally came from different family backgrounds, grew up having different ideals, were taught different ways of thinking and were shown different ways of viewing problems to come together as one and find instant compatibility. Sure couples may boast of how alike they are and how well they get along during the courting period and even through the engagement period, but the fact remains that, as alike as they may think they are, they are not! They are, in fact, two very different and distinct people with two very different and distinct personalities.
Things change after the wedding. Living together as a married couple is not the same as courting or being engaged. It is easy to maintain a façade and a certain personal mystique when you are not living together as a married couple, but once a married couple is living in the same house together the masks come down and that is when marriage begins. I have found that most new couples, especially those who have not been counselled prior to their marriage, vie for supremacy in the relationship. Properly counselled couples should have dealt with that aspect of their relationship beforehand. Sadly not all couples that I have met were counselled and many, who were counselled, did not receive counsel on the biblical rolls of men and woman in a marriage. From the following narrative it appears that this was the case with Moshe and Zipporah:
Shemot {4:24} It happened on the way at a lodging place, that HaShem met him and wanted to kill him. {4:25} Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me." {4:26} So he let him alone. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because of the Brit-Milah (Circumcision).
The way I interpret this portion of Scripture is that Moshe was trying to please his Gentile wife, who was obviously against circumcision, by not circumcising his son. This was obviously an affront to G-d. G-d took it so seriously that Scripture says that HaShem wanted to kill Moshe, maybe by striking him with some sort of illness. This was obviously an illness that could have led to death. When Zipporah learned or was told by Moshe that his affliction was from G-d and a direct result of his failure to circumcise their son, she grabbed a flint knife, performed the circumcision herself and in disgust threw the bloody foreskin at Moshes feet. We then hear nothing more of Zipporah until her father reunites her with her husband in this weeks Parasha. We do not know how long the couple were separated, but I venture to say that after that experience Zipporah was probably a kinder, gentler more submissive wife.
Let us not think that our marriages are going to be without conflicts, but rather let us put Yeshua HaMashiach at the centre of our marriages and ask Him to help us fulfill what was spoken of by the Shaliach Shaul (Apostle Paul) :
Kolosim (Colossians) {3:18} Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. {3:19} Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Monday, February 1, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Be Shalach- When Let Go
Again, another contribution from Rabbi Jack, Thanks
"Stop Being Comfortable With Your Demons"
Parashat HaShavua Beshalach / When Let Go
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 13:17-17:16
Shoftim / Judges 4:4-5:31
Yochanan / John 6:22-40
Shemot {14:12} Is not this the word that we spoke to you in Mitzrayim (Egypt), saying, 'Leave us alone, that we may serve the Mitzryim (Egyptians)?' For it were better for us to serve the Mitzryim, than that we should die in the wilderness."
It is hard to believe what is being said here because bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) were in serious bondage while they were in Mitzrayim. Scripture in fact tells us that they were mistreated and placed in hard labour. There was even a point where Pharaoh required them to make bricks with straw they had to collect themselves. Previously they were provided straw, but now they had to collect it without diminishing the expected daily quota of bricks they needed to make. This does not sound like the pleasant life anyone would want to return to, at least it does not sound like it to me! Therefore, why in the world were they complaining against Moshe (Moses)? Why were they saying that they were better off in their deprived state of bondage in Mitzrayim?
Many times I have experienced situations like this in our congregation. No, no one here wants to return to Mitzrayim because no one in our congregation is from Mitzrayim, at least not yet. However, there are people among us that are definitely in bondage.
The other week I was approached by someone who was being mentally and emotionally tormented day and night. They were hearing voices. As a result of this they were very distressed and troubled. After speaking to them for a while it was disclosed that they had been dabbling in the occult. Prior to this occult experience they had not experienced these symptoms, but all that had changed since then. Having been involved in the occult prior to salvation I immediately discerned that this person had picked-up a demon or two and was being demonically oppressed by them.
Yes we can pick-up demons if we dabble in the realms that Satan is involved in, like the occult. This includes, but is not limited to, tarot cards, palm reading, psychometry, astrology and even something that seems as harmless as reading horoscopes. They all carry with them the potential of demonic oppression for those who get involved with them. I prayed for this person and had them renounce their involvement in the occult, a method of deliverance that I have done in the past -- even upon myself. After praying I comforted the person by telling them that by my prayer of faith the demons had left and that they were now free of the oppression, all then needed to do now was to accept and receive that fact. Sadly, only minutes after my prayers, after the person left, I overheard them recounting their story to someone else and asking them to pray for them for deliverance.
The point of my story and the point of this portion of Scripture that I quoted from our Parasha this week is that some people are comfortable with their demons and they really do not what to get rid of them. This person I helped did not want to accept that they were delivered, but had to have someone pray for them once again. Sadly this is a cycle that they have probably repeated over and over. Perhaps this will be their lot until either the demons cause them to go insane, requiring them to be hospitalization and receive psychiatric care, or until they finally accept their deliverance and once and for all send those demons back to where they belong.
Bnei Yisrael was happy with their demons. They did not want to start a new life of freedom in the Promised Land. They were happy with the way things were back in Mitzrayim. To them the thought of being liberated, although it sounded good when Moshe first suggested it, did not sound so good any longer. Deliverance was too difficult for them; it was too much for them to mentally accept. They wanted to go back to their old life, a life of bondage and oppression, because that is what they knew and that is what they were comfortable with.
Many people are demonically oppressed. Yes even believers in Yeshua HaMashiach! Unless they stop being comfortable with their demons, they will never be delivered from them.
Ya'acov (James) {4:7} Submit yourselves therefore to G-d. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. {4:8} Draw near to G-d, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded. {4:9} Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. {4:10} Humble yourselves in the sight of the L-rd, and He shall lift you up.
Do you want to be healed from demonic oppression? Then stop being comfortable with your demons!
*********************
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
"Stop Being Comfortable With Your Demons"
Parashat HaShavua Beshalach / When Let Go
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 13:17-17:16
Shoftim / Judges 4:4-5:31
Yochanan / John 6:22-40
Shemot {14:12} Is not this the word that we spoke to you in Mitzrayim (Egypt), saying, 'Leave us alone, that we may serve the Mitzryim (Egyptians)?' For it were better for us to serve the Mitzryim, than that we should die in the wilderness."
It is hard to believe what is being said here because bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel) were in serious bondage while they were in Mitzrayim. Scripture in fact tells us that they were mistreated and placed in hard labour. There was even a point where Pharaoh required them to make bricks with straw they had to collect themselves. Previously they were provided straw, but now they had to collect it without diminishing the expected daily quota of bricks they needed to make. This does not sound like the pleasant life anyone would want to return to, at least it does not sound like it to me! Therefore, why in the world were they complaining against Moshe (Moses)? Why were they saying that they were better off in their deprived state of bondage in Mitzrayim?
Many times I have experienced situations like this in our congregation. No, no one here wants to return to Mitzrayim because no one in our congregation is from Mitzrayim, at least not yet. However, there are people among us that are definitely in bondage.
The other week I was approached by someone who was being mentally and emotionally tormented day and night. They were hearing voices. As a result of this they were very distressed and troubled. After speaking to them for a while it was disclosed that they had been dabbling in the occult. Prior to this occult experience they had not experienced these symptoms, but all that had changed since then. Having been involved in the occult prior to salvation I immediately discerned that this person had picked-up a demon or two and was being demonically oppressed by them.
Yes we can pick-up demons if we dabble in the realms that Satan is involved in, like the occult. This includes, but is not limited to, tarot cards, palm reading, psychometry, astrology and even something that seems as harmless as reading horoscopes. They all carry with them the potential of demonic oppression for those who get involved with them. I prayed for this person and had them renounce their involvement in the occult, a method of deliverance that I have done in the past -- even upon myself. After praying I comforted the person by telling them that by my prayer of faith the demons had left and that they were now free of the oppression, all then needed to do now was to accept and receive that fact. Sadly, only minutes after my prayers, after the person left, I overheard them recounting their story to someone else and asking them to pray for them for deliverance.
The point of my story and the point of this portion of Scripture that I quoted from our Parasha this week is that some people are comfortable with their demons and they really do not what to get rid of them. This person I helped did not want to accept that they were delivered, but had to have someone pray for them once again. Sadly this is a cycle that they have probably repeated over and over. Perhaps this will be their lot until either the demons cause them to go insane, requiring them to be hospitalization and receive psychiatric care, or until they finally accept their deliverance and once and for all send those demons back to where they belong.
Bnei Yisrael was happy with their demons. They did not want to start a new life of freedom in the Promised Land. They were happy with the way things were back in Mitzrayim. To them the thought of being liberated, although it sounded good when Moshe first suggested it, did not sound so good any longer. Deliverance was too difficult for them; it was too much for them to mentally accept. They wanted to go back to their old life, a life of bondage and oppression, because that is what they knew and that is what they were comfortable with.
Many people are demonically oppressed. Yes even believers in Yeshua HaMashiach! Unless they stop being comfortable with their demons, they will never be delivered from them.
Ya'acov (James) {4:7} Submit yourselves therefore to G-d. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. {4:8} Draw near to G-d, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded. {4:9} Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. {4:10} Humble yourselves in the sight of the L-rd, and He shall lift you up.
Do you want to be healed from demonic oppression? Then stop being comfortable with your demons!
*********************
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
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Bo- meaning "Go"
Again, thanks Rabbi Jack for your contribution to helping us understand these passages
"It's Easy To Do"
Parashat HaShavua Bo / Go
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 10:1-13:16
Yirmeyahu / Jeremiah 46:13-28
Korintim Aleph / 1 Corinthians 11:20-34
Shemot {10:1} HaShem said to Moshe (Moses), "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, {10:2} and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son's son, what things I have done to Mitzrayim (Egypt), and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am HaShem."
Why does HaShem harden a person's heart? I believe that He hardens a person's hearts for two reasons. First, so that His will can be accomplished through them and second, so that the person many know that He is G-d and there is no other. Both of these purposes are demonstrated through the Pharaoh of Mitzrayim as HaShem hardens his heart in preparation for the exodus of bnei Yisrael.
When most people read this week's Parasha they seem to always be concerned about HaShem saying that He hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Some people take it to mean that G-d hardens hearts indiscriminately. After drawing this conclusion, of course, they think that perhaps G-d is capricious and that He might, without reason, harden their heart one day as well. However, this is not the case. God does not just, without cause, harden a person's heart.
So how does HaShem choose whose heart He will harden? Our Torah portion this week answers that question for us:
Shemot {10:3} Moshe and Aharon (Aaron) went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, "This is what HaShem, the G-D of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
HaShem hardens the hearts of those who refuse to humble themselves before Him. Pharaoh had ample opportunity to humble himself before G-d, but did not. Pharaoh refused to humble himself because He considered himself a god. Therefore, God hardened his heart so that He could use him for his purposes, all be it to Pharaoh's demise.
Pharaoh is not unique in making himself out to be a god. Many people, even today, make themselves out to be gods. They do it by failing to acknowledge the one true God, the God of Israel, the God of heaven and earth. “I would never do something like that,” you say. Well, it is easier to make yourself out to be a god then you may think. Every time you say you are going to do something, accomplish something or go somewhere without acknowledging the sovereignty of G-d whose will you are under, and by whom you exist, then you make ourselves out to be a god.
Ya'acov (James) {4:13} Go to now, you that say, Today or tomorrow We will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: {4:14} Whereas you know not what shall be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. {4:15} For that you ought to say, If the L-rd will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Without acknowledging G-d in everything we do it is like us saying that we are the ones who are in control; however, G-d is in full control of everything that takes place in our lives. We need to humble ourselves and stop thinking that our destiny is in our own hands. The only way to do that, the above Scripture tells us, is by always acknowledging G-d by parenthesizing everything we say with “G-d willing” . Think about it now. Think about how many times you have made yourself out to be a god, just like Pharaoh, and then repent. From this day forward acknowledge G-d in every thing you say and everything you plan to do. As an added incentive remember this parable that Yeshua shared with us.
Uri (Luke) {12:18} And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. {12:19} And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. {12:20} But God said unto him, you fool, this night thy soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which thou have provided?
Pharaoh's heart was hardened because he refused to honour G-d by humbling himself before Him. Do not let the same thing happen to you.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
"It's Easy To Do"
Parashat HaShavua Bo / Go
This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 10:1-13:16
Yirmeyahu / Jeremiah 46:13-28
Korintim Aleph / 1 Corinthians 11:20-34
Shemot {10:1} HaShem said to Moshe (Moses), "Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, {10:2} and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son's son, what things I have done to Mitzrayim (Egypt), and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am HaShem."
Why does HaShem harden a person's heart? I believe that He hardens a person's hearts for two reasons. First, so that His will can be accomplished through them and second, so that the person many know that He is G-d and there is no other. Both of these purposes are demonstrated through the Pharaoh of Mitzrayim as HaShem hardens his heart in preparation for the exodus of bnei Yisrael.
When most people read this week's Parasha they seem to always be concerned about HaShem saying that He hardened the heart of Pharaoh. Some people take it to mean that G-d hardens hearts indiscriminately. After drawing this conclusion, of course, they think that perhaps G-d is capricious and that He might, without reason, harden their heart one day as well. However, this is not the case. God does not just, without cause, harden a person's heart.
So how does HaShem choose whose heart He will harden? Our Torah portion this week answers that question for us:
Shemot {10:3} Moshe and Aharon (Aaron) went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, "This is what HaShem, the G-D of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
HaShem hardens the hearts of those who refuse to humble themselves before Him. Pharaoh had ample opportunity to humble himself before G-d, but did not. Pharaoh refused to humble himself because He considered himself a god. Therefore, God hardened his heart so that He could use him for his purposes, all be it to Pharaoh's demise.
Pharaoh is not unique in making himself out to be a god. Many people, even today, make themselves out to be gods. They do it by failing to acknowledge the one true God, the God of Israel, the God of heaven and earth. “I would never do something like that,” you say. Well, it is easier to make yourself out to be a god then you may think. Every time you say you are going to do something, accomplish something or go somewhere without acknowledging the sovereignty of G-d whose will you are under, and by whom you exist, then you make ourselves out to be a god.
Ya'acov (James) {4:13} Go to now, you that say, Today or tomorrow We will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: {4:14} Whereas you know not what shall be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. {4:15} For that you ought to say, If the L-rd will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
Without acknowledging G-d in everything we do it is like us saying that we are the ones who are in control; however, G-d is in full control of everything that takes place in our lives. We need to humble ourselves and stop thinking that our destiny is in our own hands. The only way to do that, the above Scripture tells us, is by always acknowledging G-d by parenthesizing everything we say with “G-d willing” . Think about it now. Think about how many times you have made yourself out to be a god, just like Pharaoh, and then repent. From this day forward acknowledge G-d in every thing you say and everything you plan to do. As an added incentive remember this parable that Yeshua shared with us.
Uri (Luke) {12:18} And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. {12:19} And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. {12:20} But God said unto him, you fool, this night thy soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which thou have provided?
Pharaoh's heart was hardened because he refused to honour G-d by humbling himself before Him. Do not let the same thing happen to you.
*********************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber
Friday, January 15, 2010
Va Era- and I appeared
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
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
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!!!
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