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Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. There is a tradition of hospitality for the Feast of Tabernacles. The idea is to entertain a distinguished guest each night of the Festival. These guests include in order: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses Aaron, King David and Messiah. Of course, the patriarchs do not actually physically come in the sukkah, but their presence is invited through reading, talking and learning about them. Hospitality was a fundamental virtue to workings of M.E. society in the days of the patriarch Abraham. When a guest was in your house, he was under your wings and protection. If an enemy came to hurt him, you were to use all your resources to protect your visitor; no matter what the cost, your company could find total sanctuary in your house.. A very good example of that is found in the story of Lot even offering his daughters to the sodomites in order to protect his angelic guests. In traditional writings, Abraham is the gold standard for hospitality. To be invited to the table and tent of Abraham was a great honor. He would treat you to the best of his flock, as if you were a high dignitary. Tradition describes that the patriarch would send his servant Eliezer to the highways and byways (and we are talking great distances in the desert) to compel people to honor him by finding restoration and rest in his tent. Again, in M.E. tradition, guests didn’t just stay for a cup of coffee and cookies to quickly be on their way. They got their feet washed, maybe stayed several days at the host’s expense while they, their host and their animals were tended to. Aside from Melchizedek, Abraham seemed to have been one of the rare persons acquainted with the God who made Heaven and earth. This act of hospitality from Abraham was his outreach program in the midst of an idolatrous world. He would invite people and treat them like God would. Abraham wanted to show people God’s favor! Come to think of it, as we invite Abraham to our sukkah for this first day of tabernacles, we also have all been invited to his table. The tent of Abraham represents God’s favor and an invitation to come to the Messiah, his descendant. Abraham was God’s representative and prophet, and through him, all the families of the earth are blessed (Genesis 28:14). The whole world is blessed as they come to the table of Abraham to have a foretaste of the World to Come. That is why in the synagogues of Paul’s day, those of the gentiles who joined themselves to the God Israel were called ‘those of the family of Abraham’ (Acts 13:26). May those that meet us on our daily path, may those who get to know us as the Children and representatives of the Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth also find in us, and through us, the bounty, beauty, and restoration Messiah would give them. May all those who come in touch with us get a foretaste, however small, of the World to Come, of what God has prepared for them. Like with Abraham, may this be our witness, our sharing of His favor and Light in this sad and dark world.
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Matthew 24:31
And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Behold the Great Day has come We have fasted for it over the centuries and until this day afflict our souls in prayers of repentance. Now has Hashem heard our voices; the blood of His many martyrs reaches to His nostrils and now He inclines His ears to our cries. May He who brings Israel back to Him be blessed for truly, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock (Jeremiah 30:10).' On this day, see the reward of our work over the centuries. See Him who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? "I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption had come (Isaiah 63:1-4). The galloping of His white horse echoes Moses' song. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelations 19:11-6; Deuteronomy 32:34-43). As Moses and all the prophets sang of the deliverance of Israel, of its return to his land and his God, let us foresee and rejoice of His mighty works for truly Adonai has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of Hashem, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow (Jeremiah 31:11-13). The disciples of Yeshua of the fist century C.E. believed they would see the return of their Master in their lifetime or that of their children. In Emperor Nero and Domitian, they saw the Antichrists often spoken of by the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel, by Yeshua, Paul, and John. For that reason, much of Paul's writings are in the context of preparing the congregations of Messiah for evil days ahead.
Just like Messiah had His foreshadows in some of the patriarchs and prophets, the Antichrist has his foreshadows in the heads of world Empires and evil dictators of History. Whereas Nero and Domitian were not the 'Antichrist', they were foreshadows of him. Today, while we may not live under the 'Antichrist', maybe our children will, and if not them, maybe our grandchildren. Each year we celebrate the Fall Feasts which in Hebrew are called 'rehearsals'. The Fall Feasts speak of the time when the Messiah comes, when Yeshua will return. They are therefore rehearsals for that Blessed Day. In Judaism we do not try to figure out the date of the Messiah but are taught to be ready each year by preparing ourselves for it at the Fall Feasts, especially during the forty days preceding Yom Kippur, the most likely 'time' Yeshua will set His feet on the Mt of Olives. These forty days start with the first of Elul which was in this year's Gregorian calendar last 18th of September. If our grandchildren are to be ready, we better live lives that reflect that readiness in the sight of our children, so they will in turn teach their children, our grand-children. Paul gave to the Thessalonians congregation a readiness class in the form of a 'checklist' for that day. Oddly enough, unlike some to day who urge us to be ready, this 'checklist' did not have anything to do with self-preservation or survival such as changing money to gold, growing beans in their yard, or live outside the city in a self-contained environment. Paul's idea of preparation was first and foremost concerning inter-personal relationship, as well as their relationship with God. Here is what Paul said to prepare the congregations for that Day (my comments in italics): 1 Thessalonians 5 "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you (You know the 'season' of the coming of Messiah: the Fall Feasts). For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of Adonai will come like a thief in the night (a Talmudic expression referring to Rosh Hashana, 10 days before Yom Kippur). While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief (you are enlightened by the knowledge and teachings of the Word about the Fall Feasts, so you will not be surprised like the others). For you are all children of light (light = knowledge), children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness (darkness = ignorance). So then;
Now the checklist continues:
Here is more instruction: Therefore:
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Master Yeshua HaMashiach. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. This was Paul's checklist for the Congregations to be prepared for the Day of Messiah. Remember these exhortations were given within the context of preparing the congregations for the imminent Day of Adonai. I think that if it was good for them, it must be good for us to use as a list to check our hearts during the next 40 days to prepare for Yom Kippur! Paul then added:
James 5:7-8
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of Adonai. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of Adonai is at hand. Egypt received its water from below, from the regular flooding of the Nile leaving fertilizing sediments behind. Anyone could grow a crop in Egypt; it was almost guarantied (Deuteronomy 11:10). The Children of Israel were now going to a place where their increase and their success will require for them to be on good terms with 'Heaven' (Deuteronomy 11:11-14). I live in Western Oregon, a place that receives its fair share (and more) of rain from September to May, sometimes even June. I drink water from my own well tapping an underground spring of melted snows. Water is never an issue here but in the Middle East downpours and water rights are at the heart of economics, politics, and even religion. It used to even be the sources of wars. Grain, wine, and oil speak of abundance and form the imagery of Messiah and the Messianic age. In the Promised Land this abundance will be dependent on obedience, and the 'early' and 'late' rain from 'above'. As well as being a natural reality, it is a reminder of where our attention should be! These two seasonal downpours have particular names in Hebrew: 'yoreh', and 'malkosh'; they could respectively be translated as 'Spring', and 'Autumn' rain. They refer to the rains that come in the Spring around the season of Passover, and the Fall after the Feast of tabernacles. Messiah manifested Himself to the world at the time of the 'Yoreh', the Spring festivals rains around the time of Passover. It is significant that the word 'Yoreh' originates from the verbal root 'to teach, to instruct', and therefore is connected to the word 'Torah': 'Instruction'. The prophets often poetically play on those words alluding between rain, teaching, and Torah which come down from Heaven, as well as the Messiah (Deuteronomy 32:2;Joel 2:23; Hoseah 6:3; 10:12). After the Spring rains, comes the long hot summer of Messiah's absence, a time of harvesting wheat and barley, ending with the fruit harvest in the Fall and the Feast of Tabernacles also called 'Ingathering', because this is when the harvest is gathered into barns. As reliable servants, may we be faithful with the harvest of souls He has entrusted with at His first manifestation (Matthew 28:18-20), that when He returns in the Fall, He may receive His own with interest. |
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