Aug 7, 2022 | Torah Portion
The Torah tells us to honor our parents. Jewish tradition teaches that, at the very least, this means making sure that our parents are provided for in their old age. The spirit of the law, however, asks us to treat our parents with profound respect:
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the LORD your God gives you. (Deuteronomy 5:16)
In the modern world, youth counter-cultures have learned to find their own identity by defining themselves in antithesis to the previous generation. Whole generations of human beings are raised to believe that disrespect for parents and disdain for their expectations is the normal and healthy path to individuality and adulthood.
It is not uncommon to hear young people today speak back to their parents, argue with them publicly or reply to them with sarcasm or open exasperation. For believers, this is not acceptable. Our young people need to realize that even contradicting their parents is taboo. Public impertinence toward parents is a grievous sin.
Popular culture portrays it as cool for children and teens to appear autonomous and on a peer level with their parents. Secular teens hate being seen in public with their parents, and accepting parental authority hampers the perception of their coolness. The Bible would call “coolness” pride and haughtiness.
Parents also have a responsibility around this commandment. They need to be careful not to raise disrespectful children who will find it difficult to keep the commandment of honoring them. A parent should not grant any allowance for disrespect.
However, a father cannot teach his child to honor him by demanding honor. Neither can a mother teach her child to honor her by demanding to be honored. Instead, we teach our children to honor us by honoring our own parents and by honoring our spouses.
A parent must never take sides with a child against the other parent. If you feel that your spouse is wrong, take your spouse's side anyway. Do not contradict your spouse in front of the children. Disagreements with a spouse should never be spoken in the hearing of the children.
When your child treats your spouse with disrespect, it is your job to rebuke the child on behalf of your spouse: “Do not speak to your father that way.” “Never speak to your mother like that.”
When a child observes his mother honor his father and vice versa, the child learns the art of honoring father and mother. Only the mother can properly teach a child to honor the father. Only the father can properly teach a child to honor the mother.
Va'etchanan – ו××ª×—× ×Ÿ : “And I besought” Torah : Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11 Haftarah : Isaiah 40:1-26 Gospel : Luke 22:13-38
Jul 31, 2022 | Torah Portion
Moses observed that the children of Israel were an innumerable host, like the stars of heaven. This was the fulfillment of a promise God had made to Abraham.
One night Abraham was in his tent when God appeared to him in a vision and said, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great” (Genesis 15:1). Abraham objected that a reward was of little use to him since he had no heir to give it to. Then the LORD took Abraham outside the tent and showed him the myriad stars splayed across the nighttime sky. The LORD said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them. … So shall your descendants be” (Genesis 15:5). It was this promise that Abraham believed and God credited to him as righteousness.
In Deuteronomy 1 the promises God made to Abraham in the Negev were about to be fulfilled. The children of Israel had multiplied into a host that Moses likened to “the stars of heaven in number” (Deuteronomy 1:10).
Though the hosts of Israel might seem innumerable as the stars, God knows each person individually. The Psalms say, “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them” (Psalm 147:4). With God, no person is inconsequential. He knows each of us by name.
When the people of Israel struggled under the bondage of the Assyrian and Babylonian exile, they felt that God not longer saw them. The people said, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God” (Isaiah 40:27). The prophet Isaiah responded by telling the Israelites to look up into the nighttime sky and see the stars:
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)
If God marshals the starry host, shepherding them so that not even one of them escapes His notice, He also watches over and cares for the people who are like the stars of heaven. Not one of them is missing before Him.
Devarim – ×“×‘×¨×™× : “Words” Torah : Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22 Haftarah : Isaiah 1:1-27 Gospel : Acts 1-2
Jul 24, 2022 | Torah Portion
Numbers 34 sketches out the borders for the land of Israel, which Joshua was to distribute among the nine and a half tribes that remained to be settled. The tribes of Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh had already made claim to territories east of the Jordan. The Levites were not to receive tribal territory. Joshua and Eleazar were to cast lots to parcel out the land among the remaining tribes. Numbers 34:19-29 gives a list of the tribal leaders responsible for dividing the parcel among the clans and families of the tribe.
It is easy for believers in Messiah to read about geographical Israel with little interest. Descriptions of the land seem inconsequential to us. After all, Christianity provides a spiritual inheritance in heaven, not an earthly inheritance. Why should believers care about the land of Israel?
One reason we should take an interest in the land of Israel is that God does. The Bible is filled with details about this particular piece of real estate. The land of Israel is the stage on which the majority of the Bible is played out. In God's Book, the land of Israel is a central concern. If it matters to God, it should matter to His children.
When Christian believers first visit the land of Israel, they typically say things like, “The Bible has become so real to me now,” or, “I never realized how much I was missing,” or “I feel like I've come home.” All believers have a special relationship to the land of Israel. It is the cradle of our faith. Our Master's feet tread upon its soil and stones. It is God's holy land in which He placed His city (Jerusalem) and His Temple and caused His presence to dwell.
For a Jewish believer the connection is even more relevant. Not only is the land of Israel the place of his spiritual origin, it is his literal inheritance in this world.
Christians have been making pilgrimages to the Holy Land since the first century. At FFOZ, we encourage all believers in Messiah to make at least one visit to Israel. In a spiritual sense, the land of Israel is the homeland of all believers. The presence of God permeates the land. It is “a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year” (Deuteronomy 11:12). The prophets say that when the Messiah comes, He will gather all the people of Israel back to the land of Israel.
Massei – מסעי : “Journeys” Torah : Numbers 33:1-36:13 Haftarah : Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3:4; 4:1-2 Gospel : John 20-21
Jul 17, 2022 | Torah Portion
Why did Moses pray, “God of all Spirits of all flesh” when requesting a new leader for Israel? Rashi explains that Moses said to the LORD, “Master of the Universe! The personality of every human is revealed before you, and you know that no two are exactly alike. Appoint a leader over them that will bear with each one according to his personality.”
The LORD answered Moses' prayer for a successor by appointing Joshua, the servant of Moses, as the next leader of Israel. Joshua was a man in whom the Spirit of God resided.
How did Joshua become such a great and worthy leader? He learned the art of leadership by being a careful disciple and faithful servant of Moses. If a person desires to develop in wisdom, he should spend time with the wise. If a person desires to develop in righteousness, he should spend time with righteous people. If a person desires to become a good leader, he should stay close to good leaders. Likewise, as we become better disciples of our teacher Yeshua of Nazareth, we will become more and more like Him. The Gospel of Luke says, “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40).
The LORD told Moses to lay his hands on Joshua, symbolizing a transfer of authority and spiritual prowess. The laying-on-of-hands ritual signifies an investment of identity. For example, when a person bringing a sacrifice laid his hands on the animal's head, he was investing the animal with his own identity so the animal could represent him before God:
He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. (Leviticus 1:4)
Moses laid his hands on Joshua in front of all Israel so there would not be any question about who was designated to succeed him. He endowed Joshua with his authority so the Israelites would obey him. Rashi says that, just as Moses' face shone like the sun because of his encounters with the presence of God, Joshua's face glowed like the moon after Moses laid hands upon him. The Midrash Rabbah, an ancient collection of rabbinic commentary on the Torah, likens Moses' laying his hands on Joshua to one candle lighting another:
Like one who lights one candle with another, [the leaders of Israel] were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were filled with the Holy Spirit taken from the spirit of Moses, but the Spirit of Moses was not diminished. This is like the case of a man who lights one candle with another. The one candle ignites but the flame on the other candle is not diminished. (Numbers Rabbah 21:15; 13:20)
The transfer of the Holy Spirit from Moses to his disciple Joshua enables us to better understand why the disciples of Yeshua were invested with the Holy Spirit after His ascension. In the same way that Joshua was to take on the mantle of Moses after his departure, the disciples of Yeshua are responsible for carrying on His work.
Pinchas – ×¤×™× ×—×¡ : “Phinehas” Torah : Numbers 25:10-30:1 Haftarah : 1 Kings 18:46-19:21 Gospel : Mark 11:27-12:37
Jul 10, 2022 | Torah Portion
As Balaam set out for Moab, “God was angry because he was going” (Numbers 22:22). Why? Had not God Himself granted Balaam permission to go? Why did He become angry? The Almighty knew what was in Balaam’s heart. He knew that, despite all his exterior piety, Balaam intended to curse Israel and get the reward from Balak.
The Angel of the LORD blocked Balaam’s path three times. Each time, Balaam did not see the angel, but the donkey did. This is more than just good storytelling. The three incidents correspond to Balaam’s three attempts to curse Israel in Numbers 23-24. Balaam attempted to utter a curse over the people of Israel three times, but each time the LORD stood in his way, so to speak, and changed his curse into a blessing.
Ironically, Balaam referred to himself as “the man whose eye is opened” (Numbers 24:4) and as the man “who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty … having his eyes uncovered” (Numbers 24:15-16). His donkey disagreed with his self-assessment. The man who “sees clearly the vision of the Almighty with eyes open,” did not see as clearly as his donkey. The donkey had a better vision of God than Balaam did. The donkey had deeper spiritual insight than Balaam did.
The Angel of the LORD blocked Balaam’s path three times. An unseen angel with a sword in his hand stood only a few paces ahead of him. On the third occasion, Balaam assaulted his donkey with a stick. When the donkey rebuked him, Balaam said, “If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now” (Numbers 22:29). The sages noticed the irony of such a statement from a man who allegedly could defeat an entire nation simply by the power of his words. He intended on smiting all Israel with the power of his speech, but he needed to beat his donkey with a stick and wished for a sword to kill her:
This villain was going to curse an entire nation which had not sinned against him [merely by the power of his words], yet he has to smite his donkey [with his hand] to prevent it from going into a field! … the donkey spoke to Balaam saying, “You need a sword in your hand to kill me? How then do you intend to uproot an entire nation with only your words?” Balaam could not think of an answer, so he kept silent. (Numbers Rabbah 20:14)
The Midrash Rabbah goes on to explain that one should never argue with donkeys or any other animals because they will always outwit a person. For that reason, God, in His mercy and wisdom, has closed the mouths of animals. If not, they would continually make us feel stupid:
The Holy One, blessed be He, has consideration for the dignity of mankind and, knowing their weakness, He shut the mouth of beasts. For had they been able to speak, it would have been impossible to put them to the service of man or to stand one’s ground against them. For here was this donkey, the most stupid of all beasts, and there was the wisest of all wise men, yet as soon as she opened her mouth he could not stand his ground against her! (Numbers Rabbah 20:14)
Balak – בלק Torah : Numbers 22:2-25:9 Haftarah : Micah 5:6-6:8 Gospel : Mark 11:12-26
Jul 4, 2022 | Torah Portion
In Numbers 19, the Torah gives the laws for preparing the ashes of the red heifer. The red heifer is an unusual sacrifice which was slaughtered and burned outside of the Tabernacle. Its ashes were then collected and mixed with water. The water was sprinkled in a purification ceremony which removed ritual uncleanness engendered by contact with death.
Paradoxically, the preparation of the red heifer renders each person involved unclean. The priest who oversees the slaughter and the burning becomes unclean and incurs first degree impurity. The man who ignites the fire becomes unclean. The man who gathers the ashes together is rendered unclean. Moreover, the one who sprinkles the water of cleansing to remove the impurity of corpse contamination incurs first degree impurity. The sages speak of the paradox as an inexplicable decree of the Almighty:
Who decreed this? Was it not … God? We have learned that all the people engaged in preparing the water of the ashes of the red heifer, from beginning to end, defile garments, while the heifer itself makes garments ritually clean. The Holy One, blessed is He, says, “I have laid down a statute; I have issued a decree! You cannot transgress My decree.” (Numbers Rabbah 19:1)
The same paradox is also present in the rituals of Yom Kippur. After completing the purification ceremony of Yom Kippur, the high priest needed to immerse again. Similarly, the man who released the goat into the wilderness needed to immerse before returning to the camp, and the priest who oversaw the burning of the carcasses of the sin offerings needed to immerse himself before returning to the camp.
The purification paradox hints toward Messiah who became unclean in order to cleanse. To save others from death He died. Yeshua took on mortal uncleanness by virtue of His human birth. He took on human uncleanness by virtue of His healing ministry in our midst. He took on the uncleanness, the iniquity, the transgression, and sin of Israel. He took on the contaminating impurity of death itself, in order to cleanse us from sin and death. He did not remain long in a state of ritual impurity. Human uncleanness and iniquity did not cling to Him. He stepped out from the tomb in perfect purity. He shed the mortal form, and with it He shed ritual impurity. The unclean grave clothes, tainted with the contamination of death, He left behind.
The writer of the book of Hebrews specifically mentions in Hebrews 9:13-14 the ashes of the red heifer. What is more, he attributes efficacy to them as regards cleansing the flesh. The passage compares the blood of Messiah to the ashes of the red heifer. If the ashes of the red heifer work on the outside (the flesh), how much more so does the blood of Messiah work on the inside (the conscience) from sin:
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14)
Chukat – חוקת : “Statute” Torah : Numbers 19:1-22:1 Haftarah : Judges 11:1-33 Gospel : Matthew 21:1-17
Jun 12, 2022 | Torah Portion
Moses was depressed. Depression is the enemy of faith. Depression and self-pity create a spiritual blindness. When Moses allowed himself to be overcome by the pressures and stresses of his responsibilities, he slipped into despondency and temporarily went spiritually blind. He seems to have momentarily forgotten who God is and what God had done in the past.
The LORD told Moses that He would provide Israel with a month's supply of meat. Moses protested against the plan, pointing out to God that it would be impossible to procure sufficient meat to feed 600,000 men for a month. Moses rhetorically asked, “Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, [would it be] sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, [would it be] sufficient for them?” (Numbers 11:22).
Moses' reply seems shocking. Had Moses forgotten that God was already miraculously feeding the people on a daily basis? If God chose to feed them meat instead of manna every morning, what difference did that make? Moses' despondency had blinded him to God's power. His depression had flattened his faith.
God responded with a rhetorical question of His own. He asked Moses, “Is the LORD'S power limited?” (Numbers 11:23). A literal translation of the Hebrew is more poetic. He asked Moses, “Has the hand of the LORD become shorter?” In other words, “Are you suggesting that the God who wrought the ten plagues, split the sea, fed you with manna and brought water from the rock has lost His power?”
The next time you find yourself doubting God, ask yourself, “Has the hand of the LORD become shorter?” The next time you find yourself despondent and depressed, remind yourself of the great things God has done in the past.
Then I said, “It is my grief, that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds. (Psalm 77:10-12)
Beha'alotcha – בהעלתך : “When you set up” Torah : Numbers 8:1-12:16 Haftarah : Zechariah 2:10-4:7 Gospel : Luke 17:11-18:14
Jun 6, 2022 | Torah Portion
The Torah commands us to confess our sins and repent from them. Sin is transgression of the Torah’s commandments. When we sin, we are not to remain in the sin, nor are we to passively accept the fact that we are sinners. The LORD commands us to strive against sin. We must humble ourselves to confess the sin and then turn away from it.
Even the smallest sin should be confessed. Confession should be made privately, but audibly, directly to God. King David says, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD; and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah’” (Psalm 32:5). John the beloved disciple says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
The Chofetz Chaim explains the obligation of confession and repentance as follows:
A sinner should turn back from his sin, and should confess his misdeed before God as Scripture says, “When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess his sins which he has committed” (Numbers 5:6-7). This means an avowal in words before the blessed God. He is to say from the depths of his heart, “I beseech You HaShem: I have sinned, done wrong, and acted criminally before You. This-and-this I did (and he is to describe the sin in detail); and here I have regretted my deed and become ashamed of it. Never will I go back and do this thing again.” The main element is remorse in the heart, in truth, over the past; and one must take it upon himself not to do such a thing ever again. Confession is the essential part of repentance; and the more one confesses, the more praiseworthy he is. (Chofetz Chaim)
The Torah links confession and repentance together: “He shall confess his sins which he has committed and repent.” Confession is the first step toward repentance. When John the Immerser called Israel to immerse as a sign of repentance, they came to be “baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:5). Yeshua’s gospel message of the kingdom came with an imperative to repent. Most of Yeshua’s teachings illustrate repentance. The first step of obedience to Yeshua requires a confession and renunciation of sin. The life of discipleship requires daily confession and repentance.
Confession should be made audibly in prayer to God, but it need not be made in front of others or to another person. It does not require an intermediary. In Judaism, penitents need not confess their sins to priests or rabbis. Nevertheless, when possible, one should seek out a trusted brother or sister in whom one can confide, as James the brother of the Master says, “Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Confessing transgression to a trusted friend and expressing deep remorse over the sin to another person introduces a level of accountability.
Disciples of Yeshua can confidently carry out the commandment, confessing sins before God. We know that, thanks to the efficacious sacrifice of our righteous Messiah, our prayers of confession and repentance will always be received: “He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions” (Colossians 2:13).
Nasso – × ×©× : “Make an accounting” Torah : Numbers 4:21-7:89 Haftarah : Judges 13:2-25 Gospel : John 11:1-54
May 29, 2022 | Torah Portion
A census report makes for difficult reading. Working through the details of tribal and family tallies can be an exercise in monotony, but Rashi found a sweet message about God's love underlying the dry census data. He explained that God enjoyed counting the Israelites because of his special affection for each person. According to his interpretation, the census is a reminder that the children of Israel are not just a collective whole. Israel is a nation composed of individuals.
All the people of God are real people. Moses and Aaron counted them according to their “genealogical registration by their families, by their fathers' households, according to the number of names, head by head” (Numbers 1:20). This method gave every Israelite the opportunity to tell his name and be counted as an individual of worth. Each person is valuable and unique, a special treasure to God.
In the Talmud, there is a discussion about Adam, the first man and father of all humanity. Why does all of humanity descend from a single human being? “To teach you that whoever destroys a single person is regarded as if he had destroyed an entire world [of people] and whoever saves a single person is regarded as through he had saved an entire world” (b.Sanhedrin 37a). The meaning of this teaching is that each person is as valuable as Adam, the first man. Though Adam was only a single human being, he held within him the potential of all humanity. So, too, each person shares that same potential. No person should be dismissed as simply a number or a cog in the wheel. Every human being is a whole world.
Moreover, the same Talmudic discussion points out that every person, regardless of race, is part of the same human family. The Talmud says, “Adam was created for the sake of peace among men so that no one can say to his fellow, ‘My father was greater than yours.'” We all have Adam as our common father. The same discussion points out that while we all come from the same prototype, we are all unique individuals:
[Adam was created] to demonstrate the greatness of the Holy One, blessed be He. If a smith strikes many coins from one mold, they all look identical, but the most high King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned every man in the image of the first man, yet not one of them is identical to his fellow. Therefore every person is obliged to say, “The world was created for my sake.” (b.Sanhedrin 37a)
Yeshua told a parable about a shepherd who noticed that one of his hundred sheep was missing. A one percent loss is not terribly serious, but this particular shepherd had special affection and concern for every sheep in the flock. He left the ninety-nine and went out seeking the lost sheep, rejoiced when he found it and carried it on his shoulders back to the flock (Luke 15:1-7). From God's perspective, we are not a nameless, faceless crowd of people. Each person is unique, special and beloved. God cares for you personally. He is concerned with your concerns and seeks your well-being.
May 22, 2022 | Torah Portion
The Torah portion begins by saying, “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out … ” (Leviticus 26:3). Isn't that a bit redundant? What is the difference between (1) walking in the statutes, (2) keeping the commandments and (3) carrying them out?
In his classic commentaries on the Torah, Rashi wondered about this too and proposed a solution. He suggested that “walking in the statutes” refers to intensive study of the Torah. “Keeping the commandments” refers to learning how the commandments of Torah are properly kept. “Carrying them out” refers to actually doing what the commandments say to do. In other words, we should study Torah for the purpose of learning it, and we should learn it for the purpose of doing it.
This approach to Torah may seem obvious. It isn't. Sometimes we study the Bible simply for the sake of learning the Scriptures, but we never get around to doing what the Bible tells us to do. We often hear the Word of God and learn its message but fail to put it into practice. This is especially true in regard to the laws of Torah.
In some Christian schools of thought, the laws of Torah are believed to have spiritual meanings instead of literal meanings. That suggests that the laws of Torah were never meant to be kept; they were only meant to be understood as spiritual lessons. Early church writings spoke about the spiritual meanings of the Torah's commandments while discouraging people from actually practicing the Torah. That kind of thinking resulted from the influence of philosophical thought in the early church. In the philosophical worldview, the acquisition of knowledge is a worthy goal in and of itself.
In Jewish thought, the purpose for studying is more than simply the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge and learning are regarded only as means for better serving God. Therefore, in Jewish thought, we study to learn and we learn to do.
Behar/Bechukotai | בהר/בחקותי | “On the mountain/In my statutes ” Torah : Leviticus 25:1-27:34 Haftarah : Jeremiah 16:19-17:14 Gospel : Luke 13:1-33/John 10:22-42/Luke 14:1-15:32
May 8, 2022 | Torah Portion
The Torah commanded the Israelites to bring the “sheaf of the first fruits” of the grain harvest to the Temple on the day after the Sabbath of Unleavened Bread. The first grain to ripen in the land of Israel is the barley crop. The harvest ritual of offering the first fruits of the barley harvest in the Temple is called the Day of the Omer. An omer (עוֹמֶר) is a biblical unit of measure that indicates about one sheaf's worth of grain.
Coming immediately after the first day of the week of Unleavened Bread, the Day of the Omer is the anniversary of the Master's resurrection. According to the gospel of John, the Master suffered on the day of Passover. He remained in the tomb on the first day of Unleavened Bread and rose after the Sabbath: the day of the Omer.
Year after year, the day of the first fruits of the barley reminds us of the resurrection of Messiah, the “first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
The day of the first fruits of the barley offering is day one of a forty-nine day count-off to the festival of Pentecost. Pentecost is the fiftieth day. The name Pentecost is derived from the Greek word for “fifty.”
The Torah commands us to count each of the intervening days. The forty-nine-day count-off is called the “counting of the omer.” During the forty-nine days of the omer count, the wheat crop in Israel ripened. By the end of the omer count, the crop was ready for harvest, and the first fruits of the wheat crop were offered as a bread offering in the Temple at Pentecost.
The days of the counting of the omer are an important part of the cycle of sanctification for believers. In Judaism, the forty-nine days of the counting of the omer are traditionally regarded as a time of spiritually shining up the soul in anticipation of Pentecost. In Messianic Judaism, the forty-nine days are extra special because they include the anniversary of the forty days that the risen Messiah was among His disciples; they include the anniversary of His ascension, and they culminate with the anniversary of the day the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the believers. As we count our way through the forty-nine days, we are advancing along the cycle of sanctification.
Fifty days later comes the festival of Pentecost. It is called Pentecost because that is the Greek word for “fifty.” Its Hebrew name is the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot, שָׁבוּעוֹת) because there are seven weeks of days between the beginning of Unleavened Bread and the festival of Pentecost.
According to Judaism, the day of Pentecost is the anniversary of the day God spoke the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. According to the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the Master's resurrection.
We are all on a journey with our Creator. Our journeys are full of purpose and design. And, like all travelers, we make constant choices to move ahead, stand still, drift, or fall backwards. The seed of redemption planted in us at Passover has forty-nine days to grow and mature until the harvest of Pentecost. These days of counting provide a natural and timely opportunity to consider our path and make goals about our destinations.
Emor – ×מור : “Say” Torah : Leviticus 21:1-24:23 Haftarah : Ezekiel 44:15-31 Gospel : Luke 18-20
Apr 11, 2022 | Torah Portion
Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. (Exodus 12:7)
Moses commanded the children of Israel to mark their homes with the blood of the Passover lambs. They were to dip hyssop into the blood and smear it on their doorposts. Although Passover was thereafter celebrated annually, the Israelite homes were never again smeared with blood from the Passover lambs. The smearing with blood was a one-time ritual. Every Passover thereafter, the blood of the Passover lambs was splashed on the altar in the Tabernacle/Temple as a remembrance of the plague of the firstborn and the blood on the doorposts of Israelite homes in Egypt.
Try to imagine the Passover in the Temple on the day the Master died. While His precious body hung dying on the cross, a short distance outside the city walls pilgrims were flooding the Temple courts, leading their lambs to slaughter. While His blood stained the stones beneath the cross, the priesthood of Israel was splashing basin after basin of Passover blood against the stones of the Temple altar. While the women wept at the foot of the cross, the Levites in the Temple courts were chanting the songs of the Hallel: Psalms 113-119. Once slaughtered, the lambs in the Temple were hung from iron hooks in crucifixion poses for skinning, and once skinned, they were bound by the hooves, hand and foot as it were, to wooden poles, to be carried from the Temple on the backs of the worshippers. Meanwhile, the Master hung in crucifixion pose from iron nails, bound hand and foot to a wooden pole.
Believers have traditionally interpreted the Passover blood on the doorway as a symbol of Messiah's blood. Consider a few of the parallels. Messiah is called our Passover Lamb. He died at Passover time. Just as the death came upon Egypt to claim the firstborns, so too all mankind is given over to death. Just as those under the protection of the Passover lamb's blood markings were protected from death, so too those who take refuge under the blood of Messiah are protected from condemnation. They are given eternal life and will overcome death in the resurrection.
What is more, Messiah's blood marked the soil of Jerusalem, the city in which the Holy Temple is located. According to Jewish tradition, Jerusalem and the Temple therein are called the “gateway to heaven.” It is as if Messiah's blood was smeared upon the doorposts of heaven.
Shabbat Chol HaMoed of Passover Torah : Exodus 33:12-34:26 Haftarah : Ezekiel 37:1-14 Gospel : John 20
