DECEMBER 23, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:19 Take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. It would seem that mankind has always […]
DECEMBER 22, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:15-16 Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure. For all of their lives, the Hebrews that had been enslaved to the Pharaohs had […]
DECEMBER 21, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:9-10 Take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb. As Moses continues his discourse, […]
DECEMBER 20, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:5-6 Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments … Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” As he had already done so many times before, […]
DECEMBER 19, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:3-4 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. In previous verses God, through Moses, admonished the people to carefully consider what was […]
DECEMBER 18, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Imagine a crystal clear stream that flows down from the mountaintop into the valley and meanders along until it makes it way […]
The life of Joseph demonstrates God’s sovereign hand in human lives. Though the world seems to follow a completely random course around us, God is actually working out His purposes in the midst of it. From Joseph’s point of view, there was no reason to suspect that God had his best interests in mind.
Joseph had been kidnapped and betrayed by his own brothers, sold into Egypt as a slave, falsely accused of attempted adultery and imprisoned in a dungeon. His life seemed to be following Murphy’s Law of “if anything can go wrong, it will.” So far, everything had gone wrong.
Joseph stubbornly clung to an unshakable confidence in the God of his fathers. Even though everything had tumbled down around him, He kept looking to God and believing that God was working through the chaos. He never fell into depression or despondency because he always believed that he was right where God had placed him.
The late first-century compendium of instructions to Gentile believers entitled the Didache says, “Accept the things that happen to you as good, knowing that apart from God nothing comes to pass” (Didache 3:10). Similarly, Paul says, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
This can be compared to the story of a rabbi from the days of the Apostles named Nacham. Everyone called him “Nacham This-Too” because, no matter what happened, he would always say, “This too is for the good.” Amazingly, God honored his faith by continually providing miracles for Nacham.
Once it happened that Nacham This-Too was serving as an ambassador to Rome. He was presenting the Roman Emperor with a gift from the people of Judea in an attempt to bribe him into reversing some anti-Jewish legislation. While en route to Rome he stopped at an inn. While he slept, the inn-keeper stole the precious treasures meant for the emperor from Nacham’s chest and replaced them with sand! Nacham went to Rome, unaware that he was carrying a box of sand. When the emperor opened the chest and saw the sand, he ordered Nacham to be put to death. Nacham simply replied, “This too is for the good.” Just then Elijah the prophet appeared in the guise of a Roman officer and suggested that perhaps the sand was “magic sand.” The emperor agreed to test the theory, and indeed, when his troops hurled the sand at their enemies, they prevailed in battle. The emperor immediately released Nacham, reversed his decree against the Jews and rewarded Nacham with great wealth.
The story of Nacham This-Too is a good illustration of Joseph’s story. Like Nacham This-Too, Joseph refused to be pushed around by life’s circumstances. Instead he looked to God for strength and encouragement, and he kept on believing.
In this week’s Torah reading, we will see how Joseph’s this-too-is-for-the-good type of faith was rewarded and how his fortunes changed.
Miketz – מקץ : “At the end” Torah : Genesis 41:1-44:17 Haftarah : I Kings 3:15-4:1 Gospel : Luke 4:16-31
DECEMBER 17, 2022 Deuteronomy 4:1 Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. There are many occasions where Messiah is quoted as saying, “Let him who has an ear, hear.” […]
DECEMBER 16, 2022 Deuteronomy 3:26 But the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: “Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter.” This verse fascinates me — the LORD got angry with the man He had chosen to speak with, face to face. […]
DECEMBER 15, 2022 Deuteronomy 3:24-25 O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon. After recounting the battles that […]