DECEMBER 13, 2021 Exodus 32:31-32 Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” Once again, we get a glimpse into the man Moses […]
DECEMBER 12, 2021 Exodus 32:27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’” As we discussed in […]
Jacob gave each blessing prophetically through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The blessings granted him glimpses into the prophetic future of each tribe. He searched those prophetic insights for hints about the Messiah. As he turned to bless his son Dan, he foresaw Samson, Dan’s most famous descendant. He supposed that Samson, the strongest man in the world, must be King Messiah.
Jacob uttered the words, “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.” Then Jacob foresaw the waywardness of Samson, his failure, and his demise. He declared, “Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward” (Genesis 49:17). After the utterance over Dan, the patriarch interrupted himself. His prophetic song stopped, and he exclaimed, “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.” (Genesis 49:18).
Jacob exclaimed, “For your salvation (yeshu’ah) I wait, O LORD” (Genesis 49:18). Yeshua’s name means “salvation.” The sages understood Jacob’s exclamation to reflect his longing for Messiah, the true judge of Israel and ultimate salvation. The daily prayer for the coming of Messiah borrows language from Jacob’s expression. Observant Jews pray the blessing three times a day. Notice how the name of Messiah finds its way into the blessing:
Cause the branch of your servant David to blossom forth speedily, and lift up his horn through your salvation (yeshu’ah), for we await your salvation (yeshu’ah) every day. Blessed are you LORD, who causes the horn of salvation (yeshu’ah) to blossom forth. (Shemoneh Esrei 15)
The Hebrew word translated as “wait” (kavah) can also means “hope.” In that sense, Jacob says, “I hope for your Yeshu’ah.” Messiah is the “hope of Israel.” We wait for Yeshua, and hope in Yeshua. He is our hope of salvation.
We should not consider our wait for Messiah as a passive waiting, as if we were simply passing time at the bus stop while waiting for the bus to arrive. We ache for His coming and His appearing. Our hearts break with the anticipation. We pine away for Him like a romantic young girl longs for the return of her fiance from a foreign land, continually scanning the horizon for some sign of his appearing, starting at the sound of every footfall, sighing by day, and shedding tears by night. Hope of being united with Him infuses each passing day. Maimonides says that a person who does not believe in Messiah and await His coming denies the Torah.
Rabbi Yitzchak said, “Everything is bound up with waiting. Suffering is bound up with waiting, martyrdom with waiting, the merit of the fathers with waiting, and the desire of the World to Come with waiting. Thus it is written [in Isaiah 26:8], “Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, we have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.” (Genesis Rabbah 98:14)
Believers wait and hope for the one called Salvation. In Him we place our hope in suffering, in persecution, in the covenants of the forefathers, and in the World to Come. We hope in Him for grace and forgiveness. We agree with our forefather Jacob, and we say with him, “For Your salvation I wait, O LORD.” May the hope of Israel come speedily, soon, and in our lifetimes.
Vayechi – ויחי: “And he lived” Torah : Genesis 47:28-50:26 Haftarah : 1 Kings 2:1-12 Gospel : Luke 4:31-5:11
DECEMBER 10, 2021 Exodus 32:26 Then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. In the previous devotion, we addressed the need for boundaries and the role of God’s people in regard to those boundaries that the Almighty […]
DECEMBER 9, 2021 Exodus 32:21, 25 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?” … Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies). Notice the Bible is clear that it was Aaron who had not restrained the people […]
DECEMBER 8, 2021 Exodus 32:20 Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder; and he scattered it on the water and made the children of Israel drink it. As we said in yesterday’s devotion, there are always consequences when someone decides to break the terms of a covenant. In Bible speak, […]
DECEMBER 7, 2021 Exodus 32:19 So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Within just a few verses we that Moses, quick to stand […]
DECEMBER 6, 2021 Exodus 32:15-16 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written. Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets. There is something revealed here […]
DECEMBER 5, 2021 Exodus 32:9-11 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord. Apparently, all Moses had to do was stand aside and his cares […]
When we are wronged by someone, it is natural to tell others about it. We want to tell others about how it happened to garner their sympathy and support. Somehow it makes us feel better to know that others are aware of the injustice committed against us. We seek out sympathy and commit a small act of retaliation.
“Now when the news was heard in Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants.” (Genesis 45:16)
Pharaoh was delighted when he heard that Joseph's brothers had come to Egypt. He immediately made provision to bring the entire family to Egypt so they could survive the famine in safety and comfort. He provided wagons for the move. He promised them the best of the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh's warm welcome of Joseph's brothers reveals an important detail about Joseph's time in Egypt. Apparently, the entire time he had been in Egypt, he had never told anyone the story of what his brothers did to him. Pharaoh, at least, had never heard the tale of how Joseph's brother abducted him and sold him. Had he known the story of the villainous deed, he would not have extended the warm welcome.
Joseph loved his brothers and his family so much that he could not bear the thought of having them defamed. He did not want Egyptians saying to one another, “Did you hear about the nasty thing that Joseph's lowlife brothers did to him?” Joseph kept the entire episode to himself. The only thing he ever said about his past was the vague explanation, “I was in fact kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews” (Genesis 40:15). His love for his brothers compelled him to protect their reputation.
Instead of emulating Joseph, who was concerned about protecting the dignity of his loved ones, it seems we do just the opposite. A husband and wife are eating out at a restaurant when the husband drops his cup, spilling his beverage on the table. Embarrassed, the wife rolls her eyes and says to the stranger sitting at the next table, “He is such a klutz.” A man is out with his friends when they begin discussing the foils of marriage. All in good fun, the man complains to the guys about his wife's bad habits. Everyone laughs. Why would we sell out the people we love like this? The wife shows more concern for the opinion of a stranger in a restaurant than she does for the dignity of her husband. The husband has higher regard for a few laughs from his buddies than he does for the reputation of his wife.
A woman was having a hard time at the Messianic synagogue she attended in the southern United States. She was involved in a heated conflict with some other members. This went on for some time. Frustrated with her congregation, she told her unbelieving friend about the problems she was having. Eventually the leadership arbitrated the situation. She made peace with the people. Some time later, she invited her unbelieving friend to attend a service. Her friend said, “Are you crazy? After the way you talked about those people and that place, I wouldn't set foot in there.”
Joseph never told the Egyptians about the incident with his brothers because it was none of their business. By maintaining discretion, he was protecting the name and reputation of God in Egypt. Had he told his sad story to everyone, the Egyptians would have had cause to say, “If that's how the followers of your God behave, I want nothing to do with Him or your religion.”
Vayigash – ויגש : “And came near” Torah : Genesis 44:18-47:27 Haftarah : Ezekiel 37:15-28 Gospel : Matthew 23-25
