|
Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. The itinerant prophet Elisha often traveled through the Jezreel Valley also called the Plain of Megiddo in the Northern Kingdom. A prominent childless woman from the village of Shunem noticed the that this oftentimes wonderer was a prophet of God, so her and her husband who were part of a small remnant who had not gone the way of Jeroboam decided to offer him hospitality whenever he passed through. They added an extra bedroom on the roof of their house which they equipped with a bed, a chair, a table, and an oil lamp. (The first Hebrew letters of each of these elements in the room spell the word: Mishkan which is the term used for the area where the Ark of the Covenant used to rest. This teaches us the very important principle that he who practices hospitably transforms his house into a Sanctuary for the Divine Presence to dwell in.) Our Master relates to this Shunamite woman when He said, The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward (Matthew10:41) . Against the woman’s protests, knowing how God rewards those who care for His saints without personal motives but just because they are God’s people, Elisha desired to reward the woman for her kindness. When Elisha’s servant pointed out to him that she was barren, the prophet proceeded to tell her that by next year, at the time of life (same Hebraic expression used by the angel who spoke to Abraham about Sarah in Genesis 18:10) she will embrace a son, a son which Elisha later raises form the dead. These carry an uncanny resemblance with those told in the Book of Genesis about Sarah after Abraham practiced hospitality to strangers (Genesis 18), but they also follow closely those that Elijah, Elisha’s master performed in that very same area. These local stories were still recounted in those towns of Israel when the Master arrived on the scene. They were still fresh and people encouraged each other with them as they waited for the final Messiah who would deliver them. They knew that He would do the same miracles and even more. What a surprised then it must have been for the people of Nain when this new prophet who was born not too far from them in Nazareth crashed one of their funeral procession and being moved with compassion brought a young man back to life (Luke 7:11-15). If you want Hashem’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; if you desire to make a Sanctuary of your heart and of your house for the Presence of God to dwell in; if you want to see the life-giving blessings of the Almighty fill your life: practice hospitality, especially on the Sabbath!
0 Comments
Luke 21:19
By your endurance you will gain your lives. The episode of the golden calf finds a parallel in the days of the Kings of Israel. In the ninth century B.C.E. Ahab marries the Tyrian princess Jezebel who reintroduces devotion to Baal worship. Before long Israel is deep in apostasy and God sends Elijah the prophet to minister to the wayward Northern Kingdom. Elijah’s efforts culminate to the test on Mt Carmel where again we have as in the golden calf incident, Israel worshipping a false god in a wild dancing party (Exodus 32; 1 Kings 18). The events on Mt. Carmel ended a three year drought. Rabbinic historians say that the drought only lasted fourteen months; why then did both Yeshua and James mention that it lasted three and half year (Luke 4:25; James 5:17)? Joseph Fitzmyer explains that the drought lasted fourteen months straddling over a three and half years period, and that this duration of the drought paralleled the length of the period of distress in apocalyptic literature (Daniel 7:25; Revelations 12:6). In both the golden calf and the Mt Carmel episode we have an impatient people turning to a wild idolatrous party. In the one they wait for Moses to return with the Torah, in the other they wait for the rain (the Hebrew words for ‘rain’ and ‘Torah’ are of the same etymological family). Will it be the same at the end of time? Hear these Words of warning from the Master, For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:37-39). Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 24:46-51). These last 2,000 years of waiting for the return of the Master may seem long, but not as long as to those from whom the Gospel has been withheld. We have the assurance that, After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him (Hosea 6:2) (a day is as thousand years to the Lord (Psalms 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8)). May we patiently wait for Him, each day doing our best to follow in His footsteps and shining the light of His Torah to all around us. May he find us and ours doing so at his return. May it be soon, even in our days! |
Thanks for thinking of us... even a tiny donation is a blessing to us...
Order our new CD at: http://www.thelumbrosos.com/shop.html
Also available on itune. 
Our 'UNDER THE FIG TREE' atL:
http://www.thelumbrosos.com/shop.html 
Check our original judaica and other jewelery at:
http://www.thelumbrosos.com/shop.html Archives
May 2013
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed