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Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”. The rulings contained in Exodus 21-24 provide us with a big window into the heart of the Father. How more sensible our world would be if it acknowledged Hashem’s wisdom in His approach to government. This is the problem today with the Bible: so few ever tried it! Maybe they will one day, probably out of desperation when the best of man’s efforts will have only led to catastrophe, as they seem to presently do. For millennia the world has not been able to care for its poor. Even today, with all our sophistication, at its best, all the world has to offer is a ‘slave-master’ economy based on cruel usury (Proverbs 22:7) which is forbidden in God’s eyes (Exodus 22:25-27). In the Torah, lending to the poor in need is not an option, it is a commandment witch Yeshua reiterated in, Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you (Matthew 5:42). An idea for the Messianic communities would be to emulate Jewish communities and create interest-free lending funds. As times worsen, we certainly need to pool our resources. Hashem is the Generous One; He cares for the downtrodden; He has compassion on the poor and gives freely. As disciples, we should emulate Him and be the same. Another ruling that we should be careful to observe is "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people (Exodus 22:28). Miriam was afflicted with Biblical leprosy as a result of disobeying this commandment (Numbers 12). If the English wording in this verse seems strange, it is because the original Hebrew in the text of this whole chapter merges the identities of God and of ‘Judges of the people’ into one. In essence, in cursing or blessing the spiritual authority Hashem sets upon us, we curse or bless Him. This commandment is still relevant and here is an important precedent for it. After Paul publicly reviled a corrupt Sadducee High-Priest who was trying to unjustly condemn him and had even smitten his face, the apostle apologized saying, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest”. Paul then justified his apology quoting from Exodus, “for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people (Acts 23:5).'" This is a condition-less commandment. Even if the ruler seems to you curse-worthy, you are not to curse him with gossip, criticism, or open challenge. Let’s say you don’t like the way things are in your congregation, after humbly presenting your point to the persons involved, if things don’t change, just leave and go where you can feel happy. It is certainly a sin to openly challenge leaders and create a mutiny. If you do it, it will surely happen to you in return, either in your congregation or in your family. Hashem will see to it. May we learn to live by His rulings; Yeshua did!
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Luke 24:31-33
And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. … "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" … that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. On the third day after the crucifixion, on the first day of the week, women came to Yeshua’s tomb with spices they had prepared to embalm the body. To their great surprise the Master’s body had ‘disappeared’. Though incredulous, upon hearing the women’s accounts Peter and John ran to the tomb only to be faced with the same conclusions. Yeshua soon comforted the disciple’s worries appearing to them on several occasions. . While all this transpired in Jerusalem, two disciples who had come to Judea for the pilgrimage festival of Passover started on their way back to Galilee, deciding to make a stopover at the village of Emmaus (Luke 24). As Cleopas and his travelling companion still grieved at the execution of their Master, a ‘stranger’ joined them on their journey. As their new co-journeyer wondered at the disciples’ conversation, they asked, ‘Don’t you know what happened three days ago in Jerusalem? We thought that the famous Galilean prophet, Yeshua of Nazareth, was the Messiah. We thought He would be the one gathering back the Children of Israel from the four corners of the earth and re-establish us as a sovereign country but alas, the religious authorities did not approve of Him; they turned Him in to the Romans to be crucified as traitor and a criminal. To top it all, some our friends went to the tomb this morning and found it empty. We are still shocked at the whole thing, and also confused.” Upon hearing this account, starting with Moses and the prophets, the ‘stranger’ demonstrated to the disciples that all had happened according to Scripture and that they should not worry. Hearing the Scriptures in their Messianic perspective filled the discouraged disciples with hope again. As they arrived in Emmaus, they invited the ‘stranger to dine with them. As they sat at the table, the ‘stranger’ opened the meal with a blessing and it is at that time that He opened their eyes. They then realized that their travelling companion was the resurrected Master. Right away they decided to return to Jerusalem. This story is everyone’s story. In confusion and discouragement, we often leave ‘Jerusalem’ to return to the same old ways. As with the other disciples, no empty tomb or amount of convincing preaching could have changed these Jewish disciples mind. They needed to see the resurrected Master and He needed to open their eyes. It will be the way that Israel as a nation will eventually see and recognize it’s Messiah: when He comes in the cloud in the end of time (Zechariah12:10; Acts 1:11). When they recognized their beloved Master, they repented and returned to Jerusalem. That’s what meeting the Master should create in us, a spirit of repentance that brings us back to the origins of our faith, to the place where we belong, to Jerusalem. After three days of being absent, the disciples were already straying from the faith, but Yeshua made sure to run after them; He met them at the tomb, in their house where He spoke with Thomas (John 20:27), even all the way on the road to Emmaus, just in order to bring them back to ‘Jerusalem’ where they were to remain until the next pilgrimage festival: Shavuot/Pentecost (Acts 1:4). They would have surely missed something being in the wrong place at the wrong time (Acts 2)! In these days of preparation for the awesome day of Yom Kippur, may our meditations grant us the presence of the Master in a way that causes us to repent and return, repent from our straying and back to the ‘Jerusalem’ where we belong. May we be found doing His will on the Day of His coming. Matthew 5:45
So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. A great ‘mixed multitude’ accompanied Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38). These were non-Israelite people from different countries who saw the power of the mighty God El-Shaddai in Egypt and cast their lot with Israel. They were the ‘stranger’ in the midst of Israel. From the beginning of times God formulated a redemption plan for humanity. This plan implied for Israel to be chosen as a messenger and birth cradle for its own Redeemer who would also invite the ‘multitude ‘of the nations to come to ‘Mount Horeb’ and eventually to follow Him to ‘Mount Zion’. Israel had been an abused stranger in the land of Egypt and forever the Father wanted that experience to motivate His firstborn (Exodus 4:22) to never abuse the stranger living within its borders. It is actually a commandment for Israel to be loving to the stranger in its midst (Deuteronomy 10:19), and therefore a contingence to its acceptance in the Land of the Almighty. One who is kind to strangers, one who is hospitable imitates God and imitation is the core process of discipleship. On the other hand, the stranger who took refuge under the wings of the God of Israel was required to abide by the ‘Torah’ of the Land. He was not to bring other gods in the Land or to desecrate the Shabbat, the Temple or the holy days. He was also to be careful not to in any ways be a spiritual stumbling block to Israel. In the apostolic Scriptures a non-Jew, whether He is in Messiah or not, is called a Gentile. Today this word has obtained a negative connotation to some but it is because of the way people use it as it is not so in the Bible. The Gentile is simply someone who is not of biological Israelite descent. These come under the blessing of Abraham of whom it was said, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3). That is why gentiles who became Jewish were called ‘Sons of the family of Abraham’ (Acts 13:26). There is actually a mighty blessing for the gentile/stranger who of his own volition adopts to live under the Torah covenant. Isaiah pronounces it in these beautiful words, “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered” (Isaiah 56:3-8). 1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Though all Israel is liable to the whole Torah, not all of the Torah is incumbent upon each individual of Israel. Some rulings are solely incumbent on High-Priests, others on priests, some on Levites, Nazarites or firstborns. Some statutes solely concern men, others women or children; some also pertain singly to the stranger in the Land. The children of Moses’ brother Aaron are called Levites. They are called so because they are the descendant of the tribe of Levi, the son of Jacob. When God divided the tribes of the new born Jewish nation into the land of Canaan, God said that the Levites that they will have no land inheritance in Canaan, but that He was their inheritance (Leviticus 18:20-24). In this manner the tribe of Levi obtained the spiritual oversight and responsibility of Israel. Not all Levites automatically became priests, but all priests were to be Levites. Studying the lifestyle incumbent upon the Levite priests, it is easy to see that they were to live in a standard of purity and dedication higher than that of the rest of Israel. This standard was surpassed only by that of the High-Priest himself. Some of the particularities of the Levite priest are that he was to not own land nor busy himself with the affairs of the world. His primary job was that of a Torah teacher to the people. Wealthy folks often had their own Levite living among them teaching them and mostly their children. Most of the time though, the Levite taught in a village and people supported him with tithes and/or offerings in exchange for his services. He was the travelling living Word to the people. In His definition of the higher calling of discipleship, the Master drew from the Levitical priestly standards. He told the twelve with him that their dedication to Him was to be greater than that to their own families (Matthew 10:37), that they were in the world but not of the world (John 15:19), that they were to let go of material pursuits (Luke 12:16-35; Matthew 8:19-20) and spend their lives in the studying teaching of the Word and in prayer (Matthew 28:19-20). Yeshua did not ask for all to do that, but He left it there as an option. It seems that Peter understood the connection between a disciple of Yeshua and the Levitical priesthood when he referred to the people of the Roman congregation as a ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Peter 2:9). Many of us want to define ourselves as disciples of the Master. May we realize that this is not a title to be taken lightly. It is incumbent on whoever takes it to live like the Master did and obey His Words. A higher standard of purity is also required of us, and if we don’t fall under it, we better not call ourselves disciples at all unless a greater condemnation falls upon us (James 3:1). |
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