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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!
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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? John 1:51
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." In the days of the Master, Galilee was a center for Torah learning where many rabbis taught their disciples in Yeshivas (Religious schools). It was the dream of every parent for their child, especially the oldest boy, to be given the favor of being accepted as the disciple of a rabbi. Yeshua broke with the traditional way of his contemporaries. Instead of waiting for potential disciples to pop the question, He Himself did the choosing and proposing with the words: “follow Me” (John 1:43). It seems that Yeshua did not look for disciples who were already learned in the current teachings. He wanted folks who came straight from the ‘streets’, people who had never really learned at the feet of other rabbis. This way, He could start them from scratch without having to undo a lot of teachings. Yeshua's disciples did not have the ways and the mannerism of the disciples of other local rabbis; that’s why some wondered at the religious ethics of some of them (Matthew 9:14-17). It is the problem with many of us today; we have so much to unlearn, so many ‘rocks’ of false teachings to rid the ground of before the truth can take root in our hearts! When in Judea, Andrew left John the Immerser to follow the Master. Andrew then ‘fished’ his brother, Peter. When the Master returned to Galilee to establish His itinerant Yeshivah of disciples, He found Philip who then Nathanael. These were all local boys who roamed the streets of Bethsaida as young boys. Yeshua chose all sorts. Hated tax collectors Roman collaborator; main stream working folks; zealot political activists; even religious fellows. When He saw Nathanael, Yeshua had a very particular comment for him, He said, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit (John 1:47)"! Whatever He was referring to, it was a great compliment to receive from He who is the Messiah! It seems that Nathanael was a religious man, a ‘just’ or ‘righteous’ man like Yeshua’s own earthly father (Matthew 1:19), which in Judaism referred to what would be called today an ‘Orthodox Jew’. When Yeshua saw Nathanael, He told Him what he was doing. Some suggest that perhaps Nathanael was studying the Torah, which people would often do in the shade of a fig tree. Some even said that he was reading the section about Jacob’s Ladder, and that it is why Yeshua referred to that prophecy about Himself in His comment to Nathanael (John 1:51). Whatever it was that Nathanael was doing by the fig tree, he received a very nice compliment from the Master. Whereas we may not all be given that sort of accolade of being found without deceit or guile, may we all be told at the end of this age, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:21)”. Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." As Jacob fled his brother's wrath, Hashem comes to our patriarch to reveal His overall plan. The Almighty Planner of the destiny of Israel said, "I am Adonai, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you (Genesis 28:13-15)." Anyone who believes in the Bible has to accept that by Divine Mandate, the Land which is now called 'Israel' (Jacob's future name (Genesis 32:28)), belongs to his descendant. Jacob fled Esau, but also he was following in his father and grand-father's footsteps in getting a wife from within the family clan. Tradition says that as he left Canaan, Hashem protected Jacob from Esau's son who pursued after him, and now Hashem declares to Jacob that He will accomplish through him all the words He previously spoke to Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 28:14). The spreading of the Children of Israel to the four winds is often referred to as the present-day great Exile. This exile may appear as a curse to the Children of Israel, but it is the instrument Hashem uses to bless the nations. The first post-second Temple Jews to go in exile were the Messianic believers who brought the teachings of our Master to all the nations of the Roman Empire. Later, as all Israel went in exile, it filled the rest of the pagan world with the knowledge of the One true God who created the universe. Thanks to the Great Exile, the majority of the world today is monotheistic, lives by a seven-day week, and derives its basic moral notions of right and wrong from the tenets of the Torah. Judaism has therefore become the most influential form of belief in the world. It is also fair to say that the whole world has heard of Messiah, so in that regards, one can also conclude that the whole world has been blessed in the descendants of Jacob, the grand-son f Abraham to whom this prophecy was first given. Jacob receives this Oracle as he himself goes to exile. His exile is a foreshadow of the future Great Exile of his descendants. Hashem assures the patriarch that the Divine Presence goes with him in this exile to also bring him back to the Land Promised to Abraham. In the same manner, Yeshua our Mashiach has been with us all throughout this exile and today brings us back to our Land. Though as in the case of Jacob, God's heavenly purposes do not find their earthly fulfillment without troubles and tribulations, we are thankful to be a part of His great plan of blessing the earth. Revelations 12:12
Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!" Jacob is in exile (he is not called Israel yet). His exile could seem as the result of simple feuding rivalries at home, but it is also part of a greater Divine plan to create the foundational family that is to become the gates of the Kingdom of God for the rest of the world (Revelations 21:12). The heavenly purposes of Hashem do not settle on earth without struggle. The deceit and rivalries that brought him to this 'Babylonian' exile would follow Jacob to Laban's house. There he would be deceived by a man who swapped his younger sister for the older one (like Jacob did with his father) creating a feud between Rachel and Leah as they tried to 'out-birth' each other to win Jacob's favor. But Jacob's heart was set on Rachel. Laban for his part saw the favor of God on Jacob during his exile. Whatever he did turned to gold, which made his Babylonian task-master jealous and want to keep Jacob no matter what the price. Whatever Laban did to out maneuver Jacob, God blessed his chosen-one. This infuriated Laban (Genesis 30). As Jacob went in exile for twenty years fleeing from Esau who was also called 'Edom', present-day Israel has been in exile for twenty-centuries. The Sages of the Talmud actually surnamed this exile the 'Edomite' exile. As Hashem prospered Jacob while in exile, God also always prospers the Jewish people while in exile. We see it in Jacob and Laban, the Children of Israel in Egypt, and now in the world. In every age, this has caused the 'Labans' and the 'Pharaohs' to despise the Children of Israel. As it was Jacob, the world often envies Jewish success. Esau's problem was that of a sibling rivalry, but Laban's attitude embodies the heart of Anti-Semitism throughout the ages. Till this day, the 'Jacob' shrewd and heartless Jewish businessman stereotypes as found in Shakespeare's work 'The Merchant of Venice' and even in the famed 'Christmas Carol' Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley lingers on. Today, as the divine Plan of universal restoration comes to its completion, the devil screams and shrieks in fear. Anti-Semitism rises its ugly timeless head again as both 'Esau' (the Arab world), and Laban (the world at large) seem to mount an endless propaganda war against Israel and Jews worldwide. Don't they know the story? Haven't they read it in the Book? No matter what anyone may do or say in of the great governmental institutions of man, time may demand its due, but as it was before, Jacob returns to its dear Promised Land under the name of Israel. There he lays the foundations of a kingdom that will eventually rule the entire world through one of his descendant: Yeshua. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Hebrews 11:14
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. The second of November marks the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration when in 1917 British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, influenced the Jewish communities of the world to believe that Great Britain would support the creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East. Though achieved within all legalities, Israel’s return from exile has not been an easy one. It is still in question today. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and later the whole nation of Israel coming from Egypt, none of them got a free pass into the Promised Land. All had to push and fight for their God-given inheritance. Genetics teach us that children possess within themselves the potential of their parents, so we can be assured that when ‘push’ comeS to ‘shove’, our people will again show enough stubbornness to claim what is ours. Alongside the modern-day Zionist movement we also have a new generation of messianic teenagers with a mission to reach out to their peers. They could also inherit being the messianic leaders of the World to Come, of the Kingdom of Messiah on earth. But as it was with our fathers it will not be an easy task. The promises are given to us for free, but LIKE Abraham, Rebecca, and Jacob, we have to show our will and worthiness to receive them by going to an all-out spiritual war for them. Again, genetics come to the rescue. Under the blessing of Abraham (Genesis 28:14), biological descendant of the patriarch as well as all who take refuge in his seed Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah, can find the strength, will, stamina, courage, if not plain sheer stubbornness (and by Hashem’s own definition we are a stubborn stiff-necked people) to accomplish the mission of the Master, Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is immersed will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover (Mark 16:15). Just like our youth seems to be engrossed in today’s distractions, the Zionist movement in Israel seems to be a passing fad. Can we blame them? Aren’t many of us adults so engrossed in our own lives, even in congregational activities and divisions that we have very little time left for our godly mission to reach out to our peers? We as adults need to show our teenagers the way to a godly life. It is our responsibility to blaze the trail for them by doing like Abraham, letting go of the baggage of the past in order to engage in the mission Messiah called us to (Genesis 12:1). Like Abraham, Moses and all our fathers, our eyes and hearts need to be so focused on our bright future that the present world and its concerns seem to us but husks. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city (Hebrews 11:15-16). Hebrews11:20
By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. Rebecca's ruse in concealing Jacob and taking advantage of Isaac's blindness to extort from him the blessing that would otherwise be wasted on spiritually void and unworthy Esau lends itself to much speculating: does God endorse lying and deception? Certainly not! This text though can provide for the unspiritual soul an acceptable excuse for such practices. Far be it from Hashem to endorse the darkness of devilish lies; in presenting us with such a story, the God of Light actually reveals to us an eternal messianic truth. The Jewish people had certain expectation for a Messiah, expectations that are right, and true. Many expected the Messianic Redeemer to be a great military hero like King David or the judges of old, one who would deliver them from the tyrannical hand of Rome. The Messiah truly is all that, but as Balaam prophesied, I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh (Numbers 24:17), the Messiah’s coming follows a pattern of concealment. In musing on the coming of the Messiah we are reminded of Nehemiah. Before revealing his kingly mandate to rebuild Jerusalem, Nehemiah spent time under the cover of night to scout out Jerusalem incognito (Nehemiah 2:11-16). We see the same pattern in Queen Esther, who concealed her identity before she was able to put her life on the line to save the nation (Esther in Hebrew means: concealed). We also remember how Joseph received the brothers he would later save under the concealed identity of an Egyptian Viceroy so he could test them (Genesis 42-45). Jacob shows us that the Messiah will initiate His mission in a concealed manner. We also learn from the patriarch that the Messiah will spend a long time in the exile of the nations until He finally returns in glory to the land of His birth. The Messiah did come to His people to fulfill their deepest yearning and expectation, but His coming was concealed. Until this day He appears to them under the identity of a stranger but oh, what a rejoicing it will be for the whole world the day He reveals Himself to His people. It will dwarf the rejoicing of Joseph’s brothers, even that of the Hebrew nation as they were saved from the clutch of Haman. Far from teaching us to lie and deceive, the story of Jacob and Isaac teaches an eternal truth, a truth concealed under a seeming lie. Rebecca received the promise that Jacob should inherit the blessing of Abraham, so instead of deception, their story teaches us love, devotion, and faith for the Commandment and the Promises of God. In our daily discoveries in the Words of Truth, may we do more than read and study; may Abba grant us also to understand the Truth that is concealed underneath the Words. Romans 9:13
"Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Jacob and Esau live in each of us. When in Rebecca’s womb, before they had even done anything right or wrong, Hashem already knew the difference between the two brothers. Their nature was within them from conception, a pattern left for us today to serve as a moral map. Esau, the wild man whose sword is against everyone especially his brother, is the resurrection of Cain. He lives and fights against all that is conformed to God. His very nature is to defy, reject, and challenge whatever is of God and to endorse the very antithesis of everything that is good, true, and pure. We call him the ‘old self’ (Ephesians 4:22), the ‘mind that is set on the flesh’ (Romans 8:7), a small representation of the anti-Messiah that is within each of us (1 John 4:3). Rebecca’s complaint “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" (Genesis 25:22) expresses the cry of every man and woman who fervently desires to follow God’s ways of righteousness yet as the Master’s apostle says, through trouble and persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Jacob on the contrary allowed Hashem to search his heart. He allowed the Spirit, the Flame of the Almighty God to search him through and through, to clean him from deceit, corruption, disobedience, rebellion, and all other forms of unrighteousness. He lived for twenty-one years in exile in the house of idolatrous Laban and returned home purer than before. The narration tells us of a camp of angels welcoming him as he returned to the Land of Cana'an with his family, which he snatched from Babylon (Genesis 32:1). Though God had already accepted him (Genesis 27:26-29; 28:11-21), Jacob worked out his salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), and when ‘graduation’ time came, Jacob took hold of the kingdom's blessing with passionate love and violence (Genesis 32:24-32; Matthew 11:12). None of us is a helpless victim of our generation and godless environment. Each one of us is given the choice to emulate 'Jacob' or 'Esau', to obey the 'Jacob' or the "Esau' within us, to yield to the ‘old self’ and the ‘flesh’ within us, or to combat our innate human nature in order to live in 'Jacob', the resurrected new man who holds on to the Angel until the blessing is bestowed, even at a price. The choice is ours to make! Galatians 5:6
… Only faith working through love …. I recently read a story about the mother of an Israeli soldier in the I.D.F. Like all good Jewish mothers, she had for her boy ambitions that defied the rules of the possible (Matthew 20:20-23). When approaching the Chief Officer of her son’s battalion to make her motherly impossible request, the officer replied: ‘Jewish mothers are one step above army chief officers, so we’ll see what we can do’. When she saw that God was ‘lingering’ in fulfilling His own Word, Sarah decided to help Him out (sarcasm intended) using the stratagem with Hagar. Rebecca who took over the role of matriarch after Sara’s death proved herself to be cut of the same cloth. She had received a personal prophecy that Jacob should receive Isaac’s blessing and not Esau, and she was going to make sure God did not ‘mess up’ (again, sarcasm intended!) about it. First we can wonder about God; ‘What takes Him so long anyways?’ (Don’t our wives always get on case for procrastinating on ‘important’ projects, especially theirs?) It is easy also to wonder about these two women’s ways. Did they not trust God? Other questions beg to be asked though: ‘Did these women by their actions show unreserved dedication and faith in the prophetic destiny of their lineage, even at the cost of a seeming lack of integrity? Could they maybe have been more interested in the Word of God being fulfilled than in themselves and their own reputation?’ It takes a mother, a Jewish one at that, to fight with the devil himself on these kinds of terms. We tend to judge people through the screening of personal virtue, but it seems that Hashem judges us more by virtue of the force of our dedication and love for him. About the kingdom of God, Yeshua did mention that we break into it through forceful determination. This is not to say that the ‘end justifies the means’. It is only to reiterate the words of dear Apostle Paul in which he explains that the most important element of our spiritual walk is a faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). Our love for the Master (oh, could it ever match Hashem’s love for us (John 3:16)) needs to go beyond the concerns of our personal posture. Our love for Him needs to expand; it needs to live in utter abandonment, above and beyond the restricted borders of the acceptable, breaking through the narrow confines of the possible. Does it in your life? Yeshua made Himself of no reputation for us. Can we, should we do the same for Him and what he asks us to do? |
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