THE FORGIVEN DEBT

John 5:24                                                                                             Iyar 21/באייר  כא

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.

He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

The Torah is a contract. It is a contract that defines our affiliation with our Heavenly Father. It tells us how we belong to him and his Kingdom (Leviticus 26:10–12). A contract usually tells of benefits for those faithful to its terms, but it is useless unless it is also fitted with teeth for those who break them. Within the Torah contract are imbedded two major texts of curses designed to come upon those who dishonor it (Leviticus 26:3–13; Deuteronomy 28). These texts have often been misinterpreted as the curse of the Torah (Galatians 3:13), and therefore being nailed to the cross (Colossians 2:14) have no more value (God forbid).

How could it be that the instructions which Moses proclaimed are our life ((Deuteronomy 32:47), that the statutes in which David found great rewards (Psalms 19:11), what the writer of the Book of Hebrews even called the Good News (Hebrews 4:2), are all of a sudden   nailed to a tree (God forbid)? The Torah is an everlasting covenant, and even when covenantal addendums are made, they do not replace the former but are built upon them (Galatians 3:17). 

Upon closer examination we realize that this so-called curse of the Torah ‘nailed to the tree' spoken of by Paul is not the Torah contract itself. The salary of sin (breaking the Torah) is death (1 John 3:4; Romans 6:23). The word ‘mavet:death’ in Hebrew actually refers to separation from God. The curse spoken of here is the condemnation to separation from the Father by the eternal courts of judgment; a form of banishment from the kingdom for breaking the rules. Paul also speaks of a written code (NIV)’, of a handwriting of ordinances (KJV) nailed to the cross which is often erroneously interpreted as being the Torah Itself. The truth is that it only refers to a legal document used in courts which is also called a certificate of debt (ESV). It is the document containing the list of legal charges against us. The Master often used analogies of debts and courts when he spoke of sin (Matthew 6:12). This list, this certificate of debt is the evidence against us that we broke the Torah. It is this list that is nailed to the cross with Messiah. Basically what it means is that Messiah pays our fine to the Judge and gets rid of the evidence that stands against us. We are given a clean slate, a chance to start again. 

In Messiah, we are given a new chance to learn to live by God’s standards. The idea is that like the Children of Israel were rescued from the angel of death in Egypt in order to go and learn to live by Hashem’s standards instead of by those of Egypt, we also, are saved from HaSatan, that we may go and learn to live for Hashem in his way. We don’t obey the Torah in order to get redeemed; we do it because we are redeemed by the Lamb of God: Yeshua HaMashiach!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

MORE ON THE JUBLIEES

Mark 11:25                                                                                     
Forgive, if you have anything against anyone, 

so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

"You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am Adonai your God" Leviticus 25:17). This command comes to us from within the context of shemitah שמיטה (remittance year) and jubilee regulations, a time when debts are to be forgiven and lands returned to their previous owner.

The rulings concerning debt release caused much heart searching. The temptation for one to ask for a loan near the year of release knowing that that the debt will soon be forgiven was as great as the one for lenders to either refuse the loan, or regulate price and interest in view of the coming year of release. Due to our evil nature, much instruction is given concerning these things (Leviticus 25). The fact that Hashem has to specify all these parameters is in itself a testament to our wicked hearts and evil inclination.

The whole prohibition regarding shady business deals in view of remittance years is summed up in "You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God". This is repeated several times. The systems of debts and usury are a form of oppression and slavery. The Israelites were a people that Hashem freed by a great price. They shouldn't let themselves be enslaved anymore, especially not by their brothers who were also freed slaves. In remembrance of their former slavery, Israelites were also to be kind to their employees from the nations, to the foreigner in the land. The freedom of the Israelites came at great cost of life. Jubilee laws served as a reminder that freedom is not free. The Israelite’s stay in the land was contingent on their just and merciful interaction with each other, not oppressing each other. Even now many Rabbis comepare this present exilic stage with the internal oppression and conflict within Israel in the first and second century C.E.

The laws of jubilee also served as a preservation of the family farm against the monopoly of big corporations who would otherwise ruthlessly swallow small businesses and take over the land. We need to remember that these laws are only relevant as per the Land of Israel. The jubilee also gave second chance to those who had lost everything, as well as time for people to reconnect with their relatives, make things right with friends, and study the Torah.

The application of the laws of jubilee definitely creates financial loss. This teaches us that financial success is not at the top of God’s priorities. What matters most to him is the welfare of his people, of all his people. We must not complain for loss because of the jubilee, but instead remind ourselves of the great debt we owe the God of the universe. At the Father’s request, our debt of sin was paid in full in Mashiach who now stands as the redeemer of our soul against the unforgiving creditor who would otherwise enslave us. Yeshua said, "forgive … so that your Father … may forgive you your trespasses". This comes with an addendum,    "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father … forgive your trespasses" (Mar 11:25-–6). In the Biblical sense, forgiveness is the renouncement of restitution for debt incurred.  King David reminds us of the Father’s mercy when he penned, "He does not deal with us according to our sins (debts), nor repay us according to our iniquities" (Psalms 103:10).  

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

THE JUBILEE OF MESSIAH

Luke 4:18–19                                                                               
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to … preach deliverance to the captives, … to set at liberty them that are bruised,to preach the acceptable year of Adonai.

The Sacred Texts teach us about Hashem’s special times (Leviticus 23; 25). Starting with Spring we have the Sabbatical years every septet, a time where for the most part the land is to be given a rest and people can only eat from what they saved and of what grows of its own accord. It has been calculated that 1967, the year when Jerusalem was freed from occupation and returned to its rightful Jewish heirs was also a Sabbatical year. Another of these times is called the Jubilee year and it comes the year after seven septets.

Due to many interruptions, exiles, occupations, wars, calendar modifications, and lack of information, it is difficult to restore the exact dates of Sabbatical years and Jubilees today. Many have tried by collecting data from history book such as the Book of Josephus as well as taking into consideration hints from biblical texts, and while many of these calculations have somewhat different outcome, there is a body of them that come near to each other in their calculations. A common trend I noticed is that many put the year 28 A.D. (or around) as a jubilee year. I am not a calendar expert so I cannot say, but there are a few factors that can agree to that.

The Jubilee year was to be announced in synagogues at Yom Kippur (Leviticus 25:8-9). During the days of the Master Jubilees were not officially kept but the years of the Master’s ministering on earth correspond to the possibilities of jubilee time. In any case, Yeshua did not miss his cue and could have announced it when he quoted Isaiah sixty-one in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke: 4:18).  If that proclamation at the synagogue was indeed done on a Yom Kippur, then Yeshua was not coming in from a one day fast as the rest of the country did, but from a forty day fast in which his virtue was tested by the enemy of his and our souls. These forty days are comparable to the forty ‘Days of Awe”, a Jewish tradition of spending the forty days before Yom Kippur in soul-searching in order to acknowledge sin in our lives and change our ways.

If there was a jubilee during the Master’s ministry, that would also explain why people had the time to leave home, travel, and listen to him. This was the point of the Jubilee, to stop the daily grind of our day-to-day existence, dedicate time to God in prayer and study of the Torah, as well as to family and friends; sort of an extended Shabbat. God knows that we need help in establishing our priorities, and time to sort out problems with the people who are part of our lives.

In any case, it is evident that both Sabbatical and Jubilee years are important times in God’s calendar and we better keep track of them.

Let us also remember that Yeshua is our Sabbatical Jubilee. He is the one who brings us spiritual and physical restoration, and soon his Sabbatical Kingdom will be established on earth as the greatest of all Jubilees.

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

Financial Peace With God's Financial System

Matthew 6:12        
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

From the Beginning, the creator organized his calendar of events according to septets. The Sabbath crowns a seven-day week (Genesis 2:2–3). Creation and the coronation of Messiah is celebrated on the foirst day of the seventh month of the year (Leviticus 23:24). Every seven years fields enjoy a time of rest, and a jubilee deliverance of slaves and forgiveness of debts is celebrated after seven septets (Leviticus 25). In addition, festivals in both Spring and Fall last seven days, and Pentecost is celebrated counting seven weeks from the Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23). These timings are our compass in time, but the present-day Western Gregorian/Roman calendar has gotten us out of sync’ with Hashem's clock.

According to the Torah, after seven septets, the whole economic system has to reboot so to speak (Leviticus 25:11–17). All debts have to be forgiven as well as possessions retained as collateral. These possessions included individuals enslaved to their creditors due to financial hardship. The jubilee provided some sort of salvation and deliverance from eternal financial servitude. Hashem said that he established this as a safeguard for the evil heart of man. He said, "Thus you are not to take advantage of each other, but you are to fear your God; for I am Adonai your God" (Leviticus 25:17). Our sins are like our debt towards God (Matthew 6:12), and the Messiah comes on the Jubilee to restore our financial/moral balance.

Having rejected Hashem's wise instructions, we today have a world in which the economy is based on oppressing others through eternal usury. As we see the world more and more engrossed in an economy were the rich become fewer and richer and the poor more numerous and poorer, we see its financial base failing, held together loosely with a paper currency that is not even worth what it is printed upon. 

Endorsing the jubilee schedule doesn’t seem to make good business sense but for Hashem it seems very important. In the days of King David, it is said that, "Again the anger of Adonai was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah" (2 Samuel 24:1). We are not told why God’s anger was kindled against Israel, but when we look at the chronology of this, we find that in the 38th year of David, the people had failed to observe seventy rest years and Jubilees. God then brought judgment upon them, causing 70,000 people to die (2 Sam. 24:15). One thousand people died for every rest year that was owed in their debt to the Torah. This judgment paid the penalty and wiped the slate clean.

Then the people failed to keep their rest years and Jubilees again. After they owed another seventy rest years (Sabbath years) and Jubilees, God brought Judah into Babylonian captivity for seventy years to pay the debt. What is the reason God gave for the captivity?

To fulfill the word of Adonai by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths; for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill threescore and ten [70] years (2 Chronicles: 36:21). 

P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

THE JUBILEE OF JUBILEES

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. 

We are still in the season of the counting of the Omer, between Pesach and Shavuot, between Passover and Pentecost. The command to count seven Sabbaths of weeks plus one day (50 days) is incumbent upon every Israelite, as in the text of Leviticus 23 it is expressed in the second person of the plural (Leviticus 23:15–16). The commandment to count the days of the Omer to Shavuot/Pentecost sounds very similar to the commandments of counting the years to the jubilee. The high priest (this command is given to Moses in the second person singular form) is to count seven weeks of years or forty-nine years, then to declare the fiftieth year jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–10). This declaration is made in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. The counting of the jubilee has been all but lost. Many people are trying to piece it together and we have now some ideas of where we’re at, but even so, the command is not practicable at this time.

It is the duty of the high priest to count off the jubilee. At this point in time we do not have a physical high priest simply because we do not have a physical temple. The commandment also requires that on the jubilee all lands be returned to their previous owners, all debts be forgiven and slaves liberated. Today’s slavery has to do with being owned by someone to whom we ought money (Proverbs 22:7). I don’t think that the financial systems of today are very well geared to these practices. Can you imagine all debts being forgiven, lands returned, etc …? Israel already had a hard time with it when it was under Rome; it would impossible today!

Another issue with jubilees is that the Torah forbids for land in Israel to be sold in perpetuity (Leviticus 25:23). One element of the laws of jubilee is for and is to be returned to its original tribal owners. It could be used as collateral for awhile, but it eventually it needed to be returned. It is not our land to do as we please with; it is his (Leviticus 25:23)! Because of this, the sages declared that all Israel needed to be present for the great jubilee to be practiced. Today because of the long exile, we no longer follow from which tribe people are descended from. Learning about D.N.A. has started the process, but we are far from finding all Israel. Messiah is the one supposed to gather all the tribes (Acts 1:6), so it was ruled that the great jubilee will happen at the coming of Messiah. We know that before he returns (Revelations 19:11–16), 144 thousand believers from all the tribes will have been sealed in his name (Revelations 7; 14:1–5). They are the firstfruits from all the elligible tribes; therefore they are the redeemed representatives for the redemption of all the tribes of Israel. They render the jubilee of the Land possible.

Yeshua will surely return to gather his people and return the Land to its rightful owners: Israel. He is the kinsman redeemer. As Boaz redeemed Ruth and thereby returned the land to Naomi, Yeshua also redeems us (The Book of Ruth). On that Day there will also be a wedding and the Land will be returned to Israel (Revelations 19:9). It will truly be the jubilee of all jubilees.

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here

.

TO REBUKE OR NOT TO REBUKE

Matthew 7:12

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets”. 

Leviticus 19:17 tells us, " thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor (KJV)”. To rebuke our neighbor is actually a commandment. If we don’t do it we “suffer sin." I would dare say that this commandment has no problem being observed. There is certainly no shortage of people always trying to rebuke other. Our personal inferiority complex and sickly craving for recognition constantly pushes us in wanting to be found to be the one bringing everybody else on the right path. Let’s look a little deeper at this commandment.

Whereas we do owe the truth to people around us (Ezekiel 3:17–19), I don’t think this commandment applies to people who faithfully follow their understanding, however erroneous, of obedience to God. This commandment applies more to those who knowing the truth, deliberately and willfully disobey it. Yeshua gave a good example on how to apply this commandment. He did not use it with the Sadducees and the Samaritans who were taught to reject pharisaic understanding of the Torah, as much as with the Pharisees themselves who were more enlightened. Being a Pharisee himself, Yeshua knew that they knew better. Another point to remind ourselves is that the Torah also forbids shaming others publicly. Our Master Yeshua reminds us of this. He even equates it with murder (Matthew 5:21-22).

Rashi the medieval Jewish sage had a particular take on the Torah command to rebuke others. In Hebrew the verse says, ‘oke’ach, itokyach’ which could roughly literally be translated as: ‘rebuke yourself, rebuke others’. What Rashi taught was that you must take a good look at yourself before you go on rebuking others  as this will give you the dynamics of compassion that will help your brother to listen to you. Yeshua taught the same understanding of the commandment, He said, "First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye (Matthew 7:5)”. Judges from the Sanhedrin believed that they were unfit to judge a case if they could not find within themselves the sin of the accused. They felt unfit because in such a case they would not be equipped with the compassion necessary to judge the case in a Godly fashion.

Moses then ends the command to rebuke others with, “… you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am Adonai (Leviticus 19:18)”, a command which Yeshua commented on saying that it was the second most important in the whole Torah (Matthew 22:36–40). Also, another Jewish sage, R. Akiva who lived after Yeshua, called the command to love others as ourselves "the fundamental rule of Torah" and paraphrased it in: “What is hateful to you, do not do to others” (Shabbos 31 a). I wonder where he got these words from.

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

HONOR YOUR MA' AND PA'

1 Peter 1:14   

As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

One of the laws of holiness, of the laws that set us apart from the world is, Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father (Leviticus 19:3). Reverence towards our parents sets us aside from the world so we should be seen honoring and revering our parents. This was the first commandment given with a conditional promise, that your days may be long in the land that Adonai your God is giving you (Exodus 20:12). There are two commandments with a longevity conditional clause, and they are both related to parenthood (Deuteronomy 22:7-8). Yes, to honor and reverence our parents is an integral law of the Kingdom of God; it will also be the rule of law in the World to Come under the iron rule of Messiah when he reigns on earth.

It is easy to direct such a commandment towards our Western generation of teenagers. The society we have created around them seem to teach them very little respect for their parents. Could it be though that we need to direct this command towards ourselves? How much honor and reverence do we have for our parents? To honor our parents in the terms of the Torah means to support them. Exodus 20:12 basically says, (my suggested interpretation) "you shall support your parents in their old age, not send them to a government institution to be taken care of by strangers whose sole interest is to get paid for the job". If caring for them and changing their diaper cramps our style, we must remember that they allowed their style to be cramped in order to care for us and change our diapers. Will we want strangers to change ours in our old age?

Revering parents speaks of respect. It is understandable that some of us may have had abusive parents who seem unworthy of respect or even of the title but these are different situations that are outside of this commandment. Whereas our parents may not be respectable, our children should not hear negative feelings towards them out of our mouths. If they do, these same words will most certainly come back to us in their mouth because we ourselves are not perfect parents either. Forgiveness is not an option; it’s a commandment from the Master who himself followed Hashem’s commands to forgive by forgiving the abuse of his persecutors (Luke 19:18; Mark 11:25-26; Luke 23:24). Sad to say, in too many homes children hear their parents speak negatively, disparagingly, disrespectfully, or even mockingly about their older parents.

We often think of teaching as speaking, and of learning as listening, and as a result many of us try to teach others by telling them how to live. This was not the way of the Master. Like the Rabbis of the day, the Master taught by exemplifying the Torah, by living it and encouraging his disciples to follow his example. Paul was cradled in the same pedagogy and taught it (1 Corinthians 11:1). Teaching is by doing, and learning is by emulating.

The way we react towards our parents is closely tied to the way we react to God. If we know how to trust our wiser parents, we will know how to trust the wiser leadership of the Master. 

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

LIVING BY GOD'S RULE; WHAT A CONCEPT!

John 17:17 

 “Your word (Torah) is truth.”

Due to the present inexistence of the Temple, Biblical texts on offerings or about the Yom HaKippurim rituals in Leviticus 16 may today seem irrelevant. They may feel to us like texts pertaining to a distant people and past, and as having very little to offer us today. As we wonder in this train of thought, we must remember the words of King David, "The Torah of God is perfect, pure and eternal" (Psalms 19. If these things are part of the divine oracle, they certainly have perpetual pertinence.

There are some who teach that Yeshua initiated a new Temple-less era. This is strange when apostolic texts as well as historical books pertaining to fist-century life in Israel tell us that for forty years after the resurrection of the Master, that is until the roman invasion of Jerusalem, the Jewish disciples of Messiah continued Temple and synagogue attendance as a sect of Judaism. They continued in the Passover traditions, as well as in those pertaining to the atonement rituals of Yom Kippur. If they found relevancy in doing so, shouldn't we? Is there then something that we are missing and should learn from these long descriptions in Leviticus? Stepping aside a little from the realm of the ritual and entering that of the social, much indeed should be learned from Temple and offering protocols.

Here are some examples. The Torah acknowledges that appointed judges can sometimes err in judgment and therefore cause the people to sin. In such a case, a public admission of error is required through an offering (Leviticus 4:13). I am thinking right now of the court which wrongfully condemned our Master. There is a provision for them to eventually confess and publicly acknowledge their error thus atoning for the sin of the people of their day. We also learn that Hashem understands our financial pressures and makes provisions for cheaper offerings to be made (Leviticus 5:1–11). Also, though Hashem understands involuntary mistakes, they still require acknowledgment and retribution. In our system, the punishment for a thief is incarceration. The Torah is concerned with retribution and as such a thief is required to restore that which he had gotten deceitfully, plus a fifth to the person he stole it from. He is also supposed to make amends with God for breaking his commands.  

The offering process is also quite interesting. The person comes to the altar and with his hand on the forehead of the animal to be offered confesses his sins to Hashem, (not to the priest). Doing so, he in fact transfers his sinful identity on the poor animal. Then, except in the case of a bird offering, the offerer is the one who has to kill the animal, hear it die, get splattered with its fluids, and feel its life’s warm blood run through his hands. Along with having to pay for a good quality animal, one of the best of the flock, this becomes to him a very good illustration of the horribleness and cost of disobedience and sin, which should provoke in him a healthy fear of Hashem.

This makes me wonder: Christianity at large claims a theology that affirms they are no more sinners and as a result they invalidate the Torah. When the their sinful reality dawns on them they realize that they need rules, a social structure, moral guidance, and a penal system. This leas them to institute their own sense of law and righteousness. The question is: Why didn’t they keep God’s system in the first place?

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

FROM HOREB TO TODAY

Matthew 5:19   

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

People invariably feel uncomfortable when I suggest to them that we ough some due diligence to Hashem's commandments. In order to soften the blow, they usually quickly protect  theMselves with the statement, “Oh yes, but he forgives me”, or "We are not under the Law!". These people usually understand very little about the Bible but they know how to use that statement like a theological security blanket. They allow themselves to be proud, to lie, to be selfish with their time or finances, while forgetting that these are the real offenses that are an abomination to Hashem (Proverbs 6:16-19),

There is a theology out there claiming that 2,000 years ago Yeshua came and abolished the need to obey the commandments of the Torah. Think about what this means. This means that 2, 000 years ago, Yeshua came and abolished the moral code that helps us discern right from wrong, good from bad, holy from profane, and sanctified from common. That same theology also claims that the Torah has become obsolete to whoever recognizes Yeshua as his Messiah because he is the Torah written in their hearts. If it were all true, the facts on the ground show me a different reality as those who claim to have Hashem's Torah written in their heart certainly don’t act like it. If it were, our Yeshua believing Western world should be a paradise certainly not facing the sort of social issues it presently faces. Actually, the people who adhere to that theology are doubly guilty for their ungodly actions because they live in opposition to the Torah written in their conscience.

This notion that the Torah is obsolete not only takes away the understanding of right and wrong, but also the fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is therefore the utter foolishness and lawlessness, which is the exact etymological root of the word iniquity. If 2,000 years ago, as people claim, Yeshua abolished to need to live by the Torah commandments, what need is there then today of a Savior to cover our sins?

My friend, the role of Messiah is and has always been to teach us the proper application of obedience to Torah. He came teaching, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17), which means, “turn your ways towards God for the days of his kingdom are near;  start living by his Torah and by his instruction.”

In Yeshua, nothing of the sort becomes obsolete, not even the sentence of death that is written against us because of our sins. What happens is that he takes it all upon himself. We therefore owe him our lives. From the Yom Kippur on Mt Horeb when the Moses brought down the Torah for the second time to today, he is our atonement; he is our covering.

PRAYER:

Abba Father: may we understand that your Kingdom is ruled by the commandments that you have outlined in your word. May we realize that we are responsible to your Torah; that repentance means to turn back and start living by your teachings and principles. Forgive us for following erroneous teachings that negate the importance of obedience while we forget the teachings of the Messiah You sent to tell us that, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19); Amen אמן.

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

THE LEPER IN EACH OF US

John 3:3                               

Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Looking for meaning in the concept of a formerly ostracized now-declared-clean leper, let's follow the path of his rehabilitation in the presence of the Almighty and amidst the community of Israel. One of the last stages is a tevilah טבילה, or an immersion, commonly called in Greek: baptismo. Our sages have always understood ritual immersion as an illustration of being born-again. They say that people "immerse in order to emerge a born-again new creature in God" (Yevamot 47b and 48b). The whole idea illustrates returning into the maternal waters in order to be reborn. In a sense, this pronounced clean leper now shaved from head to toe looked like a new-born baby and was going to immerse in baptismal waters of rebirth (Leviticus 14:9). He was one who was alive, who went though some form of death, was healed of this death, and was now going to be reborn as a new/renewed creature.

In ancient Israel, the idea of the born-again ritual immersion was used as a mode of proselityzation, for people desiring to become Jewish. The idea is that as they totally immersed, it was as though they died. They went in the water as pagan Gentiles, they died and were reborn as new "members of the commonwealth of Israel" (Ephesians 2:12).In a sense again, he who was alive died and was reborn a new/renewed creature.

When Yeshua therefore tells Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3), the Master actually tells the great teacher of Israel that unless he goes through a procedure of conversion to Judaism, he cannot be a part of the Kingdom of God. That explains the shocked teacher’s answer, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? (John 3:4)" By this he meant, "How can I convert to Judaism if I am already Jewish?" To which Rabbi Yeshua wisely answers, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (John 3:5-6), or in other words, “It is not enough to be well bred; you must also have an immersion of repentance from sin!” This was the reoccurring theme in both John the Immerser and Yeshua’s teaching (Matthew 3:9–11).

Saved and redeemed Israel went through rebirth through a national /immersion. Both the converted pagan proselyte and the leper enter the community of Israel through rebirth/immersion. What does this teach us? All of us share the fate of the leper. We are all lepers in his sight and we all need healing and rebirth through immersion. That's what Yeshua told Nicodemus.

The master sent us into all the world to make disciples of all nations by immersing them (Matthew 28:19:20). Reborn that we are, may we remember each day to also immerse in his renewing words that we may continue in the new life he died to give us.

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

A TALE OF TWO BIRDS, A PRIEST, AND A LEPER.

Mark 1:41

Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean."

Rabbi Yeshua touched the leper, declared him healed and therefore cleaned, then told him to go through the purification process as instructed by Moses (Mark 1:41–44). Doing so, Yeshua purposely made himself ritually unclean thus fulfilled the Messianic hope, "Adonai has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6).

The ritual to declare a healed leper ritually pure is very mystical and the Torah does not give us any explanation to help us understand it. We are therefore left to define it by association. The ritual required that a bird should be killed over a vessel of water thus creating a blood and water mixture. Another live bird was tied up with a scarlet yarn and bound with hyssop to a cedar wood board. The entire package was then dipped into the clay pot of blood and water. The priest then sprinkled the leper seven times with the blood and water mixture, then released the live bird who did not need any more encouragement to quickly flee the scene.

It was not finished. The priest then had to shave the healed/cleansed leper from head to toe and anoint him with the same markings as those of a priest. It is only after our now shaved and anointed man went to offer the required offering at the Temple that he was restored to full fellowship in the community (Leviticus 14).

Looking at this whole ritual, it is hardly possible to miss the messianic symbolism. The live bird tied to a piece of wood with a tie of red (blood) yarn then dipped in a vessel of blood and water of a dead bird (Messiah shed blood and water from his side after is death), and then released to fly to the heavens, speaks so clearly of the death and resurrection of Messiah. This event creates in us a rebirth represented by the totally shaved man, and an anointing into the priesthood call promised through of Moses seen in the particulars of the oil application. Biblical leprosy representing death, corruption and sin, the issue of the leper is therefore a good illustration of how we are to God in our unredeemed state.

Yeshua, as he touched the lepers took upon himself our sins and iniquity. The Messiah became a leper as the Talmud points out. He then subjected himself to stripes and his bloody body was tied to a wood from where he died shedding blood and water to finally rise and ascend to the heavenlies where he sits, interceding for us at the right hand of his and our Father (Luke 24:26).

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

FOUR LEPERS PROCLAIMING GOOD TIDINGS

 Ephesians 2:12-13 (C.J.B.).

… You were estranged from the national life of Isra'el. You were foreigners to the covenants embodying God's promise. You were in this world without hope and without God.  (13)  But now, you who were once far off have been brought near through the shedding of the Messiah's blood.

We are in the ninth century BCE. Joram the son of Ahab rules in a Samaria besieged by Ben-Hadad the Aramean king. This is the same Ben-Hadad who sent Naaman to Israel to be healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5). During a siege people living in villages and encampments around the city took refuge within the walls inside. Not all the people though as according to the Torah, lepers had to live in special quarters outside the city (Leviticus 13:46), and even in a case of siege, they were not allowed inside. Once all the people were in, all the invading armies had to do was to cut off food and water supplies. Famine and starvation followed and the city fell like a ripe fruit.

The siege induced famine in Samaria was desperate 2 Kings 7). Prices sky-rocketed and as was prophesied, people cannibalized their young trying to survive (Deuteronomy 28:53). Outside the gate were four lepers literally caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one side a city that rejected them, on the other side the Syrian armies. Some people have suggested that those four lepers were Gehazi, Elishah’s servant who contracted leprosy by lusting after Naaman’s rewards (2 Kings 5:27) and his four sons.

One day these lepers said to themselves, "Why are we sitting here until we die? If we say, 'Let us enter the city,' the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die" (2 Kings 7:3-4). So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. …  And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them. Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news (same word used in Hebrew for Gospel: Besora). If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household" (2Kings 7:5-9).

Lepers are the disfranchised of society and this story reminds of the Master’s special concern for lepers. Crossing Samaria on His way to Jerusalem ten lepers cried out to the Master saying, "Yeshua, Adon, have mercy on us." We are all lepers in the sight of God and as the four lepers in our story, we have cried to the Son of David for help and found the good news of God’s victory over the enemy of our soul. We are now responsible to share it with all, even with those who showed no mercy to us.

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

NAAMAN, THE PROUD LEPER

James 4:6

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. 

At a time when Elishah was prophet in Israel Naaman, a proud general of the Assyrian Empire, was afflicted with leprosy. A young Israelite girl in the service of his wife told him about the prophet in Israel that could heal him. This must have been hard to hear for this proud general for the Assyrians looked down at Israel and what seemed to them their backward religion, so. If that was not enough, Naaman also had to ask permission from his enemy, the King of Israel, before approaching Elishah. 

Naaman desperately sought healing so he decided to give it a try. He took with him monies and rewards and set himself to visit the prophet in Israel. To the general's great humiliation, Elisha did not even come and see him but sent Gehazi his servant to talk to him. Here is the transcript of the story, 

Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean' (2 Kings 5: 10–12)? 

Somehow it seems that Naaman's leprosy was related to his pride. What leprosy does to the flesh, pride certainly does to virtue.  The story continues and says,

So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean (2 Kings 5:12–14).' 

What a miracle! But the greatest miracle of all is that Naaman 'returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, "Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel (2 (Kings 5:15)."

God always seems to get good mileage out of things, and these are just a few 'miles' He got associated with that event. Hashem did heal the general of his sickness, He addressed the pride issue that created the disease, and he got the Naaman to recognize the God of Israel. 

That, my friend, is complete healing!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

THE LEPER MESSIAH

Mark 1:40

  And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean."

The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called leprosy. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18–59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4–8).

On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Ritual contamination and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting.

Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called lashon harah which literally means the evil tongue. The term refers to gossip and slander because after slandering Moses, her brother and divinely appointed leader of Israel, Miriam was afflicted by this leprosy (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity are irrelevant today because they technically only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time.

At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would ignore the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fear of defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where he met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7).

The Talmud tells of one called, The Leper Messiah. It presents a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come and by what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because he might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is:  ‘The Leper Scholar’.

Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of his days who stayed away, Yeshua came to us and voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He even contaminated himself by touching our leprosy. While were still in our mortal decaying condition, he entered our house to fellowship with us. But the story doesn't end here; the most wonderful part of it is that as he goes back to his Father and our God, he takes us with him to partake of his pure resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.

MARY DIDN'T HAVE A LITTLE LAMB ...

Luke 2:22

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Leviticus we are told"

'If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean.  And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed’ (Leviticus 12:2-4).

Luke ties this verse to the birth of Messiah when he says, "And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to Adonai" (Luke 2:22). 

Miriam therefore came to make an offering at the end of the days of her purification as was prescribed by Moses and that is when she meets Simeon (Luke 2:25). Luke actually makes sure to tell us how Miriam and Joseph did everything according to the Levitical process.

It is important here to note that even though most English Biblical texts relate to Miriam’s post-natal state as unclean and therefore having to present an offering at the Temple; her condition has nothing to do with moral deficiency or spiritual unworthiness. A woman giving birth actually performs one of the highest of Hashem's commandments. She fulfills what she was created for. What the Torah refers to as the ritual unclean state is solely the reality of being human and therefore impure before. Ceremonial contamination is solely Temple related.

We are told in the Gospel of Luke that,

When the time came for their (Miriam and Joseph) purification according to the Law of Moses, they  brought him (Yeshua)  up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:22-24).

We see in Luke’s rendering of the story that Miriam and Joseph brought "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’, and that is because they could not afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:6-8).

Little did young Miriam know, oh how little did she know that whereas she could not afford to bring Lamb to the Temple for her purification, she actually brought with her the ultimate Lamb, he  who would end up purifying not only her, but the whole world with her!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.http://www.amazon.com/Under-Fig-Tree-Messianic-ebook/product-reviews/B00ANS40FK/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending