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Romans 11:15
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Israel could have gone from Goshen Egypt to Israel without having to cross the Red Sea. Had they walked straight North-East, they would have been back Home in a few days and the whole ordeal would have been over. But this wasn’t the plan. Not only Hashem needed to bait pharaoh’s army into the Red Sea, but Israel needed to go through a cultural renewal before entering their restored independent lives as the people of God. Part of the program was for Israel, and for the ‘mixed multitude’ of nations following them was to go through a rebirth process (Exodus 12:38). They needed to get ‘baptized’, die to their old Egyptian identity and reborn into new creatures. For the Israelites, it meant to be cleansed from ‘Egypt’, but for the strangers with them, it meant literal conversion. The process would be repeated forty years later when the second desert generation crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3). In Judaism the main staple of conversion is immersion in water. In keeping with Jewish ideas, Paul mentions the crossing of the Red Sea as a baptism (Rabbi Kaplan: The Waters of Eden; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2). This was the gist of the conversation between Yeshua and Nicodemus. Just as the Priests and Levites did with John the Immerser, Nicodemus boasted that being already Jewish he didn’t need the conversion rebirth of immersion, but just like John answered the Jerusalem visitors Yeshua told Nicodemus that he still needed to be reborn (Matthew 3:9-11; John 3:1-21). Judaism teaches that when the ‘mixed multitude’ crossed the Red Sea with Israel, they became Children of Abraham, they became Israelite. It is interesting because the whole time in the desert no circumcision (and important part of conversion to Judaism) was performed. They just had a mass circumcision as they entered the land (Joshua 5:2-8). Another important event is Amalek intercepting Israel (Deuteronomy 25:18). It seems that the descendants of Esau always intercept Israel returning home! It happened with Jacob (Genesis 32:6), during the Exodus, and it is happening again today. The first time peace was reached (Genesis 33), the second time God ordered the destruction of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19; 1 Samuel 15:1-3). What will it be this time? The Yeshua believing world needs to know that as believers in the Jewish Messiah, as true born again people, like the ‘mixed multitude’ of the Exodus, they share the fate of Israel. Even today, Esau's children are intercepting us trying to annihilate us as we return home to our Land. They have done so from the on start in 1948. Can Israel count on the ‘mixed multitude’ with them fight at their side? This is not just Israel’s fight; the future of all believers is at stake (Romans 11:15). “He that stands idle while the rights of others are being violated will very soon become victim to these same evil forces” (Personal narration of famous quote).
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Revelations 3:21
I will let him who wins the victory sit with me on my throne, just as I myself also won the victory and sat down with my Father on his throne. In the ancient Middle East, when a father bestowed his blessing on his children he laid his hands on them. In the case of Jacob blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, we are privy to the awkward picture of two grown young men sitting on the lap of a blind and frail man over one hundred and thirty years old (Genesis 48: 10-12). In the ancient middle-East sitting on man's lap was part of a ritual of adoption. In that passage of Text, Jacob/Israel does not only bless the children of Joseph born in exile from an Egyptian wife, but he adopts them as his own (Genesis 48:5-6). After this clever patriarchal maneuver, the two boys will technically become brothers to their father and to their uncles. They will inherit as brothers at the same level as the other children of Jacob. They also each will have a tribal allotment in the Promised Land and this indirectly allows Jacob to bestow upon Joseph the double-portion reserved to first-borns, thus circumventing Leah's children. Judah inherited the 'scepter' and the 'crown' of the kings of Israel, but Joseph remained the first-born. From Joshua, several judges, and even the Prophet Samuel, the tribe of Ephraim remained in leadership. Even the Ark remained in Shiloh, Ephraim. King Saul was the first one to call the loose federation of Israeli tribes together to fight against Amalek, and David is the one who united the country as one, thus foreshadowing the Messianic age when peace and unity will be finally accomplished between the House of Leah and the House of Rachel (Ezekiel 37: 15-22). But what about the adoption program? As Jacob prophesied, until this day, each Friday evening at the Welcoming of the Sabbath, Jews bless their boys with the words, "May God make you like Efrayim and M'nasheh (Genesis 48:20)". I know a family that even puts their boys on their lap as they do that. This father of course doesn't need to 'adopt' his boys but there is connection here that as Ephraim and Manasseh were adopted by their grand-father to become full members of the patriarchal leadership of Israel as he uttered Abraham's blessing upon them, so all of us are adopted by Hashem. Abraham was adopted and in him so are we all. The idea also is that Joseph is highly looked upon, considered as someone strong who did not compromise with Egypt. We want to be like his children who probably inherited their father's virtue and strength. To the Messianic community of Laodicea Yeshua says, I will let him who wins the victory sit with me on my throne, just as I myself also won the victory and sat down with my Father on his throne (Revelations 3:21). I always pictured this as a child on the lap of his father or grand-father sitting on his armchair. In this case we have a three generation adoption ritual. Yeshua the 'Begotten' being vested in all the powers of the Father (Psalm 2:7-12) endows these same powers to His victorious 'overcomers' whom He adopts and in whom He invests His powers to rule. May Hashem make you all like Ephraim and Manasseh! Romans 11:15
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Israel could have gone from Goshen Egypt to Israel without any Red Sea crossing. Had they walked straight North-East, they would have been back Home in a few days and the whole ordeal was over. But this wasn’t God’s plan. Not only God needed to bait pharaoh’s army into the Red Sea, but Israel needed to go through a cultural renewal before entering their restored independent lives as the people of God. Part of the program was for Israel, and for the ‘mixed multitude’ from the nations following them to go through a rebirth process (Exodus 12:38). They needed to get ‘baptized’ clean from their old Egyptian lives and ways into their new identity. For the Israelites it meant to be cleansed from ‘Egypt’, but it meant literal conversion for the strangers with them. The process would be repeated forty years later when the second desert generation crossed the Jordan (Joshua 3). In Judaism the main staple of conversion is immersion in water. In keeping with Jewish ideas, Paul mentions the crossing of the Red Sea as a baptism (Rabbi Kaplan: The Waters of Eden; 1 Corinthians 10:1-2). This was the gist of the conversation between Yeshua and Nicodemus. Just as the Priests and Levites did with John the Immerser, Nicodemus boasted that being already Jewish he didn’t need the conversion rebirth of immersion, but just like John answered the Jerusalem visitors Yeshua told Nicodemus that he still needed to be reborn (Matthew 3:9-11; John 3:1-21). Judaism teaches that when the ‘mixed multitude’ crossed the Red Sea with Israel, they became Children of Abraham, they became Israelite. It is interesting because the whole time in the desert no circumcision (and important part of conversion to Judaism) was performed. They just had a mass circumcision just before they entered the land (Joshua 5:2-8). Another important event is Amalek intercepting Israel (Deuteronomy 25:18). It seems that the descendants of Esau always intercept Israel returning home. It happened before with Jacob (Genesis 32:6), then during the Exodus, and it is happening again today. The first time peace was reached (Genesis 33), the second time God ordered the destruction of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:19; 1 Samuel 15:1-3). What will it be this time? The Yeshua believing world needs to know that as believers in the Jewish Messiah, as true born again people, they share the fate of Israel just like the ‘mixed multitude’ of the Exodus. The Children of Esau are intercepting trying to annihilate Israel. They have done so from the on start in 1948. Can Israel count on the ‘mixed multitude’ with them fight at their side? This is not just Israel’s fight; the future of all believers is at stake (Romans 11:15). “He that stands idle while the rights of others are being violated will very soon become victim to these same evil forces” (Personal narration of famous quote). |
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