|
Mark 11:26 (DHE)
But as for you, if you do not pardon, neither will your Father who is in Heaven forgive your transgressions. When two brothers do not recognize each other, it is like each is exiled from the family unity. The sages taught us that God's Shekinah cannot dwell where there is no unity; in disunity, all are exiled. Joseph was exiled in Egypt, but it is also said that God's Shekinah does not abide on a mourning soul, so through Jacob's continual mourning for Joseph, his whole family was exiled from Hashem's Presence. Only joy, zest for life, and unity between brothers can bring it back down. King David so beautifully expresses these thoughts in, Oh, how good, how pleasant it is for brothers to live together in harmony. It is like fragrant oil on the head that runs down over the beard, over the beard of Aharon, and flows down on the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon that settles on the mountains of Tziyon. For it was there that Adonai ordained the blessing of everlasting life (Psalms 133:1-3). Aaron was known for being a peacemaking force who often worked reconciliation between people within the tribes of Israel. David knew that so he used the anointed High-Priest as a metaphor to tell us that unity between brethren is fluid. It flows everywhere positively affecting everything in its path. From the head, it descends to every part enveloping all with its shine, smoothness, and healthy properties. It is like two mountains on two opposite ends of a country, one sharing its proverbial abundant dew (material blessings) with the other who shares its divinely appointed blessing (spiritual wealth); everything working in perfect harmony. This is the picture that we see in Joseph and his brothers kissing and reuniting with each other (Genesis 45:15). The son of Rachel acted as a true godly leader. Joseph revealed himself thus putting an end to the four generation old game of concealed identities. He also forgave his brothers stopping the never-ending returning measure of evil for evil. Unity is restored; Hashem is now able to bless Israel and send it to its destiny of growing into the powerful nation that will eventually teach the whole world about Him. May we learn from this. As disciples of Yeshua, we have a job to do of sharing the Spirit of His mission to everyone. We therefore do not have the right to indulge in grudges; it is actually forbidden by the Torah (Leviticus 19:18). The sages mentioned that even entertaining grudges in our hearts was sinful, thus agreeing with the Master (Matthew 5:21) who even implied that holding grudges against our brothers nullifies our offerings and prayers (Matthew 5:23-24). It is funny how in English we use the term 'holding' a grudge; all we have to do is let go of it!
0 Comments
Acts 1:6
Adon, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Through an undesired twist of fate, the patriarch Jacob found himself married to two sisters, Leah and Rachel, thus creating two main factions within Israel. Jacob favored Rachel and gave her firstborn Joseph the mantle of leadership over his whole household. The other brothers, the children of Leah, rejected Joseph’s authority and position. Reuben was in fact the firstborn of Jacob through Leah, but his actions cause him to lose the right of first-born. The same happened to the next ones in line: Simeon and Levy. Leadership of Israel then fell on Judah, Jacob’s fourth born. Israel’s History is punctuated by the rivalry between the House of Joseph and the House of Judah. Prophets have expressed the World to Come as the time when the two Houses born from Israel are finally united in peace. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When Moses died, leadership of the newborn nation of Israel was given to the House of Joseph through Joshua the Ephraimite. Until the reign of Saul the Benjamite, leadership in Israel fell on Judges who were mostly from either the tribes of Ephraim or Manasseh, the House of Joseph. It is King David from Judah who united the tribes under one rule and started the Davidic dynasty that was to fulfill Jacob’s prophecy and usher in the Messiah (Genesis 49:8-12). At the end of the Solomonic reign, the country was again divided into two camps: the Ephraim and the Judah camps. Most of the tribes from the House of Leah joined with Ephraim and Judah was left alone with Benjamin. Ephraim became the Northern Kingdom, and Judah the Southern Kingdom, with Benjamin stuck in between the two. Eventually the Assyrian conquered and deported the Northern Kingdom and Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judeans to Babylon. At the end of the Babylonian exile, King Cyrus issued the order for all the captives of Israel from either North or South to be allowed to return to the Land. In his prophecies of the ‘two sticks’, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to us of the Messianic Age, the time when the two houses of Israel are again united under the Judean Davidic leadership (Ezekiel 34-37). This comes in fulfillment of the Psalms which tell us: He (Hashem) rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves (Psalms 78:67-68). Ezekiel’s prophecy of the two sticks united (Ezekiel 37) is actually an echo of the reunification of the two houses foreshadowed by Joseph when he embraces his brothers lead by Judah as he reveals himself to them (Genesis 45). The reunification of the two houses is and has always been one of the main signs of the Messianic Age and of the coming of Messiah. Before Yeshua ascended to the Father, His disciples asked Him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6)?" Which meant, “Will You at this time restore the twelve tribes as a sovereign nation? To which He answered, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 1:7-8)." May it happen soon Abba, even in our days! Matthew 3:8
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance What is repentance? What does a true change of heart look like? John the Immerser told some who came to him, Bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8), meaning that even before a confession to repentance is accepted, it must be proven with works documenting the statement. In order to save their skin and inheritance, Joseph’s brothers did not hesitate to sell him breaking his and their father’s heart. As a foreshadow of Messiah, Joseph was sold to the gentiles upon whom he eventually became ruler. Many years later during a famine that threatened to extinguish their family, Joseph’s brothers sought help from Egypt. Unbeknownst to them, they had to deal with the Egyptian Viceroy who by a twist of ‘fate’ (so-called!) was actually Joseph, who chose the opportune moment to test his brother’s hearts. Through a well orchestrated ruse, Benjamin, Joseph’s full biological brother, was accused of stealing the Viceroy’s special cup. The Egyptian wanted to keep Benjamin as a slave, but Judah won’t stand for it and pleads for his brother. Judah takes the lead and pleads for the uncomforted heart of his father who still mourns Joseph’s loss. He pleads and offers his own self as a substitute for Benjamin’s, the brother who did not sell Joseph. To his father Judah had said, I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever (Genesis 43:9), and to the Viceroy he now says, how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father (Genesis 44:33-34)." It is at this moment that Joseph finally decides to reveal himself to his brothers (Genesis 45:1-3). Even so today, while gentiles have acknowledged Him as Messiah, Yeshua’s true identity is hidden from his brethren, the Sons of Israel. Even today messianic believers in Israel suffer intense harassment and persecution from a small but very vocal minority of their brother Judah called the Haredim. The question we must ask ourselves is, will there be a test? Will there be a test where the ‘Judah’ community of those who refused Joseph/Messiah’s leadership and therefore sold him for silver in the end will at great cost come to the rescue of the ‘Benjamin’ community, of the messianic believers sons of Israel who believed in Joseph/Messiah and did not sell him away? The Israeli government is facing difficult choices about this issue. Will there be a time in the future when ‘Judah’ is fully put to the test? Judging from the story of Joseph it seems to be a plausible course of events. May at that time ‘Judah’, make the right choice showing his true repentance by making right choices concerning ‘Benjamin’, his messianic believer younger brother rather than break his Father’s heart again! May it be soon Abba, even in our days! 1Timothy 3:6
Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil (KJV). It is easy to see Joseph the son of Jacob as a foreshadow of Messiah. Even classic Judaism presents Joseph as prefiguring the Messiah. Because of the messianic allusions to both Joseph and Judah, Judaism even believes in two Messiahs; first a suffering one: Joseph, and second a ruling one: Judah. We know now that the two ideas are resolved in Yeshua’s first and second coming. Joseph and Judah were the recognized heads over the families conceived by their respective mothers: Leah and Rachel. Tensions were high between the two brothers, which resulted in the dividing of the country. From the onstart, Joseph seemed rather unwise. He flaunted his father Jacob’s preferential love strutting around in his princely coat. He also probably didn’t have to pull in as much of a work load as his brothers. He was treated like a first-born. To add insult to injury, Joseph volunteered his seemingly narcistic dreams at which even Jacob was astounded. His brothers even surnamed him, ‘The Master of Dreams’, which proved in fact true, as the story confirms later (Genesis 37). Joseph was truly the ‘Master’ of dreams’, and he was to be established over his family and the known world of his day for that matter. But in order to fulfill his destiny he still needed the humiliations that only slavery and unjust incarceration could offer. It doesn’t seem to be good enough for Hashem that we fulfill our destiny for Him. This is true of all of us. If we are to represent Him through our life or even verbal messages, we are to represent Him properly by exerting a life of humility and virtue He can be proud of. Before being finally given his God-given destiny, like Joseph, every man needs to go through rejection, slavery and the cruel injustice of man. Only the distress and humiliation of wrong and unjust treatment provides the qualities needed for Godly leadership. Without it, any would-be leader of God’s people is prone to the pitfalls of novices. Come to think of it, the same was told of Messiah (Hebrews 5:8). Yeshua was not to be given the crown without the cross. As a nation, it is also true of God’s people. For centuries, like Joseph and Messiah, the nation of Israel as a whole was afflicted by the world without as cause, just for being Jews. We are told though that it is God who put ‘blindness’ on Israel for awhile so that the nations could have their time (Romans 11:25). This time of humiliation of Israel serves therefore to prepare him for its priestly destiny in the World to Come (Exodus 19:6). As we approach the time of the fulfillment of the Messianic era, the true followers of Messiah will all be unjustly treated, just because they are God’s people (Revelations 12:17). May this coming tribulation, as it did with Joseph, heal us from our arrogance, pride, and immaturity that we may be worthy to rule and reign with Him in the World to Come (Revelations 20:4). 1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. Measure for measure is so real. So much of what happens to us is the returning of our own actions. The dish life serves us often proceeds from the kitchen of our own cooking. The harvest we reap is surely the result our own sowing. By this standard a man’s life is easily assessed and his character revealed. If someone has many friends, he must have been friendly. If others are generous with him, he must have been sharing. By the same token, if someone finds the heart of others like desert sand or a sky of brass, closed to his needs and pleas, maybe he lived his life as selfishly as a closed book. We are all too often to blame for the hell we create with our own two hands. Jacob deceived his father Isaac by concealing his identity, several years later Jacob becomes victim of the same as Laban conceals Leah’s identity in the nuptial chamber. This would result in a family’s sibling rivalry that would cause Leah’s children to later try to kill Joseph. Joseph would later trick them by concealing his identity, appearing to them as an Egyptian viceroy (Genesis 40-45). When Leah’s children headed by Judah returned from pasture with the news about Joseph, Judah showed Jacob the ‘hard evidence’ of Joseph’s bloody coat to prove their case. Judah used the Hebrew words, ‘haker-nah’, meaning ‘Please, recognize these’. Many years later, Judah would be tricked and exposed by his own daughter-in-law using the very same words, ‘Haker-nah’. These must have pieced his heart as he remembered the treachery of lying to his own father (Genesis 37:32; 38:25)! The concealing identity theme is a common one throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Kings, queens and prophets used it, sometimes even under God’s own purpose. It could even be said that today Messiah hides His Jewish identity from both Israel/Jacob, and the Gentiles. To the Western world He conceals His Jewish identity appears and appears to them as a Westerner, thinking and dressing, eating and living as they do. This in turn makes Him unrecognizable to His people. But as with Joseph with His brethren, the day will come when Yeshua will throw off His ‘Egyptian garb’ and say to them, “I am Yeshua, your brother” (Genesis 45:3). At that time Yeshua will show the whole world who He really is: the King of the Jews. He will also reap the harvest of His own labor and doing. At that time He will reunite Rachel and Leah’s family (the whole twelve tribes) under one banner (Ezekiel 37), and rule over the whole world from His throne in Jerusalem (Revelations 19 and 20). In this day and in the World to Come we will each reap the harvest of the actions of our lives. What will it be for you? Matthew 1:20
But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. When instructing Moses about the future Mediator that will stand between Him and Israel, Hashem spoke of a prophet 'like' Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Looking therefore at the life and ministry of Moses, we should be able to define our mysterious prophesied Mediator. Let us look at Moses’ conception. Feeling threatened by the proliferation of the Hebrews in his country, Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites to his building ambitions. One of Pharaoh’s wise men came to him one day with a star-omen that a boy is to be born to the Israelites that would deliver them from his hand. Our angry Pharaoh then decided to kill all male new-born throwing them into the Nile River. At that time, Amram who already had a son, Aaron and a daughter, Miriam, divorced his wife because he didn’t want to be faced with the possible tragedy ordered by Pharaoh. Because of his clout as a Levite, many of Israel followed Amram’s sample which caused Miriam, a child, to be an angelic voice of rebuke chastising him with the following words: "What you have done is worse that Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s decree was only against males, yours is against males and females alike. His decree may not come to pass, but yours certainly will!" Upon these words, Amram returned to his wife only to find that she was three months pregnant. The Talmud alludes to a miraculous conception. I cannot ascertain that this Talmudic story is the report of true events, but it certainly offers a very uncanny parallel with the Master’s conception. Actually, Jewish sages refer to Moses as the first redeemer, and Messiah as the second. In the conception accounts of the Master we also have wise men, Chaldean astronomers, who come to Herod, a Pharaoh-like king, with an indication from the stars that the Savior of Israel is born in Bethlehem, Judea. This in turn provokes Herod to want to kill all two years and under babies in that city. A little while before, Joseph, thinking that Miriam his fiancé committed adultery found himself with no other option but to divorce her, but like Amram did, he returns to her after the intervention of an angelic messenger. Isaac, with his birth prophecied through the stars and his untimely death prevented by an angelic intervention truly is our foreshadow. PRAISE “O, for the wonders of the Torah! Why do so many seek wisdom and wonder north and south, east and west, high and low? All the secrets of heaven and earth, as well as past present and future are imbedded right there in the Words of theTorah." Acts 1:6
Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? Through an undesired twist of fate, the patriarch Jacob found himself married to two sisters, Leah and Rachel, thus creating two main factions within Israel. Jacob favored Rachel and gave Joseph her firstborn the mantle of leadership over his whole household. The other brothers, the children of Leah, rejected Joseph’s authority. Reuben was the firstborn of Jacob and of Leah, but because of his actions and that of Simeon and Levy, the leadership of the house of Leah fell on Judah, Jacob’s fourth born. Israel’s History is punctuated by the rivalry between the House of Joseph and the House of Judah. Prophets have expressed the World to Come as the time when the two Houses are finally united in peace. Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When Moses died, leadership of the newborn nation of Israel was given to the House of Joseph through the Ephraimite Joshua. Until the reign of Saul the Benjamite, leadership in Israel fell on Judges who were mostly from either the tribes of Ephraim or Manasseh, the House of Joseph. It is King David who united the tribes under one rule and started the Davidic dynasty that was to fulfill Jacob’s prophecy and usher in the Messiah (Genesis 49:8-12). At the end of the Solomonic reign, the country was again divided into two camps: the Ephraim and the Judah camps. Most of the tribes from the House of Leah joined with Ephraim and Judah was left alone with Benjamin. Ephraim became the Northern Kingdom, and Judah the Southern Kingdom, with Benjamin stuck in between the two. Eventually the Assyrian conquered and deported the Northern Kingdom and Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judeans to Babylon. At the end of the Babylonian exile, King Cyrus issued the order for all the captives of Israel from either North or South to be allowed to return to their land. In his prophecies of the ‘two sticks’, the prophet Ezekiel speaks to us of the Messianic Age as the time when the two houses of Israel are again united under the Judean Davidic leadership (Ezekiel 34-37). This comes in fulfillment of the Psalms which tell us: He (God) rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves (Psalms 78:67-68). Ezekiel’s prophecy of the two sticks united (Ezekiel 37) is actually an echo of the reunification of the two houses foreshadowed by Joseph when he embraces his brothers lead by Judah as he reveals himself to them (Genesis 45). The reunification of the two houses is and has always been one of the main signs of the Messianic Age and of the coming of Messiah. Before Yeshua ascended to the Father, His disciples asked Him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6)?" Which meant, “Will You at this time restore the twelve tribes as a sovereign nation? To which He answered, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 1:7-8)." May it happen soon Abba, even in our days! Matthew 3:8
Bearfruit in keeping with repentance What is repentance? What does a true change of heart look like? John the Immerser told some who came to him, Bear fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8), meaning that even before a confession to repentance is accepted, it must be proven with works documenting the statement. In order to save their skin and inheritance, Joseph’s brothers did not hesitate to sell him breaking his and their father’s heart. As a foreshadow of Messiah, Joseph was sold to the gentiles upon whom he eventually became ruler. Many years later during a famine that threatened to extinguish their family, Joseph’s brothers sought help from Egypt. Unbeknownst to them, they had to deal with the Egyptian Viceroy who by a twist of ‘fate’ (so-called!) was actually Joseph, who chose the opportune moment to test his brother’s hearts. Through a well orchestrated ruse, Benjamin, Joseph’s full biological brother, was accused of stealing the Viceroy’s special cup. The Egyptian wanted to keep Benjamin as a slave, but Judah won’t stand for it and pleads for his brother. Judah takes the lead and pleads for the uncomforted heart of his father who still mourns Joseph’s loss. He pleads and offers his own self as a substitute for Benjamin’s, the brother who in fact did not sell Joseph. To his father Judah had said, I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever (Genesis 43:9), and to the Viceroy he now says, how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father (Genesis 44:33-34)." It is at this moment that Joseph finally decides to reveal himself to his brothers (Genesis 45:1-3). Even so today, while gentiles have acknowledged Him as Messiah, Yeshua’s true identity is hidden from his brethren, the Sons of Israel. Even today messianic believers in Israel suffer intense harassment and persecution from a small but very vocal minority of their brother Judah called the Haredim. The question we must ask ourselves is, will there be a test? Will there be a test where the ‘Judah’ community of those who refused Joseph/Messiah’s leadership and therefore sold him for silver in the end will at great cost come to the rescue of the ‘Benjamin’ community, of the messianic believers sons of Israel who believed in Joseph/Messiah and did not sell him away? The Israeli government is facing difficult choices about this issue. Will there be a time in the future when ‘Judah’ is fully put to the test? Judging from the story of Joseph it seems to be a plausible course of events. May at that time ‘Judah’, the repentant formerly unbelieving brother, make the right choice showing his true repentance by making right choices concerning ‘Benjamin’, his messianic believer younger brother rather than break his Father’s heart again! May it be soon Abba, even in our days! John 10:10-11, 22
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, Tonight is the first night of Chanukah. This evening the majority of Jews around the world, believers and non-believers alike, will remember this joyous event by lighting the first candle of the nine branch candelabrum. Since this week we are also looking at the story of Joseph, let us find a connection. Just like there are many foreshadows of Messiah, there are also many foreshadows of the Anti-Messiah. Like many did before him and others continued after him, Antiochus Epiphanes established himself on the world of his day to bring darkness, fear, sorrow and perdition to God’s people. Joseph on the other hand was also established on the world of his day, but he brought light, safety, joy and redemption to God’s people. We could therefore think of the story of Joseph as a ‘Chanukah’ in reverse. Our Master Yeshua taught us that Chanukah was a foreshadow of events yet to come (Matthew 24:15-31). When He went to Jerusalem to celebrate this glorious festival He used the opportunity to teach us about the evil one, about the false shepherd and the thief that will one day manifest himself and devour God’s flock (John 10:1-22). Yes, there will be another ‘Chanukah’. Its story echoes the ones of Passover with Moses and of Purim with Mordechai and Queen Ester. At that time, may we remember then that as there was a Pharaoh, a Haman and an Antiochus Epiphanes who all willed the annihilation of God’s people if they did not conform to the world around them, there will also be a Moses, a Mordechai and a Mathias Maccabee who will rescue us away from the hands of the Evil One. Yes, at that time The Good Shepherd Our Messiah, like David of old who killed a lion and bear to protect the flocks (1 Samuel 17:34-36), will come and rescue God’s children from the hands the Evil One. May we at that time be found on the right side of History! Luke 11:13
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” The story of Joseph seems to be the story of our lives. As Joseph’s brothers did not recognize, and as they even despised the Heavenly Father’s workings in theirs and Joseph’s life, so we often do not recognize all the bounties of the Creator in our life through its divinely planned unfolding of events that seem to us oh so random. Yeshua warned us of it. He said, “What father among you if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion (Luke 11:11-12)?" Our Father’s ‘fish’ may look like ‘serpents’ and His eggs like scorpions. But no matter what happens, in spite of the turnout of events and relationship dynamics in our lives, we must always believe that Hashem is ultimately in control. We only see life through the limited lens of time and personal concerns. Abba on the contrary is the great Planner who sees the past, present and future of the whole world from the angle of the great eternal now. It is through that wider perspective that He orchestrates everything that happens, and our seeming ‘flukes’, tragedies, and disappointments often contribute to a greater purpose unseen by us (John 9:1-3). As we process the events that daily affect and even afflict us, we must always remember what has been coined as the ‘God factor’. When we do, we automatically understand and liberate ourselves from the fear that falls upon us when we realize that we ultimately really have only very small control (if any) over anything that happens in our lives. When we do not live lives subjects to God, this realization usually dawns on us the hardest as we get ready to die. Joseph, who also for a long time could not understand why his life seemed to unravel, finally understood Hashem’s purposes and told his brothers, As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today (Genesis 50:20). This agrees with the faith of our Master, of He who endured from sinners such hostility against himself (Hebrews 12:3) when He proclaims “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:13” May we learn today to discern the ‘good gifts’ of Hashem in our lives even when they look like ‘snakes’ or ‘scorpions’. |
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