Va’etchanan (I Pleaded) Deut. Devarim 3-7
Torah Portion: Va’etchanan (I Pleaded) Devarim (Deuteronomy) 3:23-7:11
HafTorah: Isaiah 40:1-26
Since we did not meet last week, I would like to say a few words about the last book of Torah. Deuteronomy comes from the Greek word meaning repetition of the Law. Remember, all the people to whom Moses was speaking had been children or were born during the 40 years in the desert. Here they hear the story again. They hear the commandments for themselves. Moses knows his death is close at hand so he sets about to give his last sermon to these who will be the ones to inherit the land He wants them to be well prepared to take their inheritance. They had grown up as free men and women, not as their parents, slaves to Pharaoh.
Va’etchanan (I Pleaded) Deut 3-7
Torah Portion: Va’etchanan (I Pleaded) Devarim Deut. 3:23-7:11
HafTorah: Isaiah 40:1-26
This Torah portion is filled with things that would take a life time to study. We will look at several in the minutes ahead. This Shabbat is known as the Sabbath of Comfort based on the prophet reading of Isaiah 40:1-26. It begins with, “Comfort, Comfort My people.” Tell me how we can comfort Israel, how we can comfort the Jewish people? There is no doubt this is required of us. Yeshua alluded to this in the New Testament where He tells us in Matt. 25:31-36 to comfort His people by feeding, clothing and visiting them in prison. In fact this is one of the reasons for the founding of Road to Zion Ministries. This is vitally important to us as believers. Is it enough to talk about how much we love Israel and the Jewish people or does it require us to do something, to take some action? Evangelism is not the only thing we should be doing. Yeshua says here He judges us by our actions toward His people. His people are the Jewish people. They are his brothers and sisters. For far too long we Christians have been the main source of pain and persecution rather than comfort. The time is drawing close at hand when our response to our Jewish neighbors will be called for. We are required to comfort. How will we respond?
Do You Trust G-d? – Behar (On the Mountain)Leviticus 25
Torah Portion: Behar (On the Mountain) Leviticus 25:1-26:2
HafTorah: Jeremiah 32:6-27
Let us start with a question. What do the concepts of Shabbat, Shmitah and Jubilee have in common? What do they teach us spiritually? Two of the three have the same root in Hebrew. Shabbat and Sabbatical or Shmitah come from the word to rest. The Shabbat comes once each week and the other once every seventh year. Even Jubilee teaches us the same principle. G-d is our provider. All things belong to Him. He expects us to live in a way that reflects Him in society. We tend to compartmentalize life and in doing that relegate G-d to certain places and time. We may only relate to Him in this meeting or one like it. Some of us may allow Him into our personal lives. We don’t hurt people, we try to live upright lives but fewer are those who let Him into our business or pocketbooks. We may say, “I’ll pray, I’ll study scripture but really business is business. I can’t take off a day or a week much less a year. I can’t tithe. That’s a lot of money. What would I do without it? Everybody cheats a little especially with Uncle Sam. I need it more than they do.”
Ki Tisa (When You Take)
Weekly Torah Section: Ki Tisa (When You Take) Exodus 30:11-34:35, Haftorah: I Kings 18:1-39
We begin with the Haftorah reading in I Kings 18. To orient ourselves these events happened in the 9th century BCE during the reign of King Ahab. Ahab married a princess of Tyre named Jezebel. She introduced the worship of her god, Baal to Israel. Baal was supposed to be the god of rain and storms. She also sought to kill all the prophets of the L-rd. Many of the people in Israel followed both Baal and the true G-d of Israel. Deut. 11:16-17 says that if the people turn to other gods, G-d will shut the heavens and there will be no rain and crops will fail. So here G-d sends Elijah with this message, a direct challenge to this so called god of rain.