THE DOUBLE INHERITANCE OF THE FIRST-BORN AND THE REBELLIOUS SON

I was laying awake last night when my thoughts returned to my reading in Par'shat Ki Tetseh about the inheritance of the first-born and the rebellious fist-born.

You see, I am a first-born and should receive double inheritance, but my decision as a teenager to become a disciple of Yeshua the Rabbi from Nazareth caused my family to reject me. Not only I did not receive a double share, but I didn't receive anything at all.

There is no problem though, because my riches are not of this world. If I stay faithful to Him, I will rule and reign with him in the World to Come and receive my double-inheritance in my Mashiach, who owns the cattle on a 1000 hills.

Mashiach Himself is a firstborn son. He is a king who was denied His throne: the throne of Israel. Like the rebellious son, He was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton and like the rebellious son was rejected by his brothers and made subject to the death penalty.  The irony is that whereas He was not rebellious but obedient in all things even unto death, we are more like the rebellious son who deserves to die. He took upon Himself the just reward of our waywardness.

But Mashiach did not regard this present world. He had His eyes on the world to Come in which He will also receive His just inheritance: the throne of Israel, and with it: the world!

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

PAR'SHAT SHOFTIM: ESTABLISHING RELIGIOUS LEADERS: A TORAH COMMAND!

The Torah commands us to establish religious leaders upon ourselves (Par'shat Shoftim).

 

The western civilization seems to more and more reject the notion of religious leadership. Due to the history of religious leaders of all religions abusing their authority, we can understand people's position. Gamaliel the 3rd, of the Yavneh Academy in 2nd century Israel, is notorious for setting in stone the edicts that would until today push the nascent Nazarene movement away from its Jewish brothers. Later, the Gentile Nazarenes, egged by religious leaders such as John Chrysostom and later Constantine took over the baton persecuting the Jewish Yeshua disciples, practice continued by reformer martin Luther who stood against any Jewish practice within his idea of discipleship to Yeshua.

 

It is important to realize that the problem was not the command to establish religious leaders upon ourselves, but rather the evil inclination of man towards independence from leadership, especially the leadership of the Torah.

 

Looking at the landscape of the religious world today, we can safely say that in all monotheistic religions (and monotheism is a Torah teaching which stems from Hashem's proclamation in a polytheistic world, "Hear ye Israel, the Lord your God is one God"), both the idea of individual autonomy and of leadership have failed to unite their religious bodies. An over emphasis of leadership leads to separatism and sectarianism, while the principles of autonomy lead to spiritual anarchy and heresies.

 

As usual, the wise balance of truth lies between two extremes, a wise balance elusive to us due to our human weakness and prideful tendencies to want to individualize ourselves.

 

Soon, the true king Messiah will return and teach us all the wise precept of leadership. In those, we will not fear to establish leaders upon ourselves because righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

 

May it be soon Abba; even in our days!  

 

 

PAR'SHAT SHOFTIM AND MESSIAH

I thoroughly enjoyed looking at the parasha this morning. It defines the parameters for prophets and kings, which then defines the parameters of Messiah so we should not be fooled by a false Messiah.

As a king of Israel, the Messiah is to be Torah observant, as the king is not above the Torah. Any Messiah therefore who is not Torah observant is a false messiah and should not be heeded.

The same goes for prophets. Hashem puts His Word in their mouth, in essence then, they are to profess Torah, and as we were told in Par'shat Re'eh, any prophet who teaches disobedience or rebellion against the Torah is a false presumptuous prophet who should not be heeded.

Today, we have been fed a Messiah called Jesus who teaches against obedience to Torah. People even misuse Romans 14 to teach that he who follows Torah is weaker brother. When Jews therefore today refuse such a Messiah, they actually stand for the Torah and for Yeshua, the real Jewish Messiah who said,

Mat 5:17 "Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete.

Mat 5:18 Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud ( י ) or a stroke will pass from the Torah — not until everything that must happen has happened.

Mat 5:19 So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mat 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P'rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

 

The problem with the Torah-teachers of the days of the Master was not their teachings, but the fact that they were not a good sample of their own sermons. That is why Yeshua also said,

 

Mat 23:3 So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don't do what they do, because they talk but don't act!

May we learn to recognize and disciple ourselves after the real Messiah, who is Torah observant, and teaches Hashem's commandments!

 

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED!

Matthew 10:31                                                                                  
Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 

In the first chapter of the Book of Numbers we read about a census taken of the Children of Israel. It is not the first census in the Torah and neither will it be the last. Censuses are conducted with different parameters and for different purposes. This census in the Book of Numbers was a military census (Numbers 1:3).

One could be left to wonder "what is it with God and censuses?" To what can it be compared? It can be compared to a man collecting precious pearls. Each day he dives to the bottom of the abyss to gather oysters. After opening the shell, he puts all the pearl into a box. He then rubs each one against his teeth to verify its purity, and sorts them by sizes. One can go through a ton of pearls to get three or four very valuable ones. These are precious to him. They come at the price of very intense and dangerous labor. In the evening he sets them before him and counts them. He admires and loves his pearls; they are his pride. It is the same with Hashem: censuses are a sign of his affection for his people.

Here is what Rashi, a famous sage of Israel, said about God’s censuses:

Because of Israel’s dearness before Him, he counts them all the time. When they departed from Egypt he counted them (Exodus 12:37). After some fell from the sin of the golden calf, he counted them to determine how many remained (Exodus 38:25–26). And when his Shekinah came to rest upon them, he counted them again.

There is an ancient teaching that on ten occasions Israel was numbered. First when they went down to Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:22), second when they came out of Egypt (Exodus 12:37), and a third time after the incident of the golden calf (Exodus 30:12). They were counted twice in the Book of Numbers, once in connection  with the standards, once in connection with the division of the Land, and twice in the days of Saul (1 Samuel 11:8; 15:4). The eight time was in the days of David (2 Samuel 24:9) and the ninth in the days of Ezra after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 2:64).

Prophet Jeremiah tells us that there will be a tenth census the   in the future,

Thus says Adonai of hosts: In this place that is waste, without man or beast, and in all of its cities, there shall again be habitations of shepherds resting their flocks. In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks shall again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says Adonai. "Behold, the days are coming, declares Adonai, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah (Jeremiah 33:12–14).

In those days, the whole of the Israel of God, the last harvest of the souls of the world will be counted. See you there!

 P. Gabriel Lumbroso
www.thelumbrosos.com

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

THE MICROCOSM OF THE TABERNACLE

John 1:14

And the word … dwelt among us

What does the Tabernacle teach us? Let me now take you on a journey to the feet of Jewish sages who have pondered the question for hundreds of Years.

Many have suggested that as he built the Tabernacle, Bezalel saw it as a microcosm of the creation of the universe. Here is how it works. King David describes the first day of creation when God created the Heavens and the Earth using the following words, "stretching out the heavens like a tent" (Ps. 104:2). So we find that a curtain (similar to that of a tent) was stretched out above the Tabernacle. The colors of the material used also corresponded to the colors of sky and earth. On the second day of creation, God made the firmament as a separation between the waters above and the waters below. Similarly, in the Tabernacle there was a curtain separating one part from another. Just like on the third day of creation God gathered the waters into one area, in the Tabernacle there was also a designated place to gather water in a basin. Corresponding to the luminaries created on the fourth day, we find the menorah with its lights in the Tabernacle. On the fifth day of creation, God created the birds. Similarly, there were birds brought as offerings on the altar of the Tabernacle. And corresponding to the creation of man on the sixth day, the service in the Tabernacle was led by the High Priest. The Torah describes how the work was completed on the seventh day of creation and how that day was blessed and sanctified by God. The idea of the Tabernacle was to make a place for Hashem to live on earth. It represents therefore the restoration of all things to the day when the voice of ADONAI could be heard in the Garden of Eden.

Some have also viewed the Tabernacle as a microcosm of the human body with the Ark as the heart of a person and the cherubs with their wings over the Ark as the lungs that spread out around the heart. They saw the table with the showbread as a person's stomach and the menorah with its oil lamps as a person's mind. The frankincense reminded them of the sense of smell and the water basin of the fluids in the human body. Finally, the curtains were to them a person's skin and the beams represented the ribs. Jewish sages taught that every person is a microcosm of the entire universe just like the Tabernacle.

Jjust like it is the light of the world and of the body, the goal of the making of the Tabernacle was for the light of the Shekinah to come dwell within it, and thus within Israel (Exod. 25:22). ;. As farfetched as these musings may seem, we can’t help but realize that our Jewish sages were on the right track in their understanding of the Tabernacle. After all, did not Paul say that to their advantage, the Jewish people had been entrusted the oracles of God (Romans 3:1-2)? As the spirit of God came to fill the earthly Tabernacle, so it filled the earthly ‘tabernacle’ of the human body of the person of Yeshua who is the representation of the presence of God among us, in God’s created universe (Heb. 1:3; John 1:4; 8:12).

As we study these things, may we look forward to the time when Messiah will once again walk the earth among us.

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

THE OIL OF THE SHEKINAH

From the time of its introduction to Israel, the world has been rich in speculations concerning the seven-branch candelabrum of the Tabernacle. Since He hasn't told us what its seven mysterious lights are about, studies abound with Menorah enthusiasts desirous to fill this knowledge void. They may all be right, they may all be wrong. Hashem certainly has a way of teasing our curiosity.

From their position in the tabernacle, the menorah lights shined on the twelve loaves of the bread of presence representing the tribes of Israel. Agreeing with Jewish sages of the past, Yeshua not only informed us that He was the light of the world, but that His disciples were also the light of the world (John 8:12; Matthew 5:14). In the words of Jewish sages, the Hebrew word 'or' which stands for 'light', not only refers to physical illumination, but also to mental understanding and mostly, spiritual enlightenment.

The menorah was fueled by scented oil specially prepared for that purpose (Exodus 25:6). In the mouth of the Torah sages, this oil represents our earthly works of obedience to Hashem's commandments. In telling us 'let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5;16), the Master encourages our obedience to Torah in a way that it becomes a light bearing witness to God in the world. In that 'light', the Master's parable of the ten virgins waiting for the bridegroom becomes 'clear'. They all had the 'light', but without the oil of obedience the five foolish virgins' lamps quit burning exposing the shame of their dark spiritual state in which they could not face the bridegroom.  

Scholars taught that Hashem's shekinah (indwelling presence) rests on His children like the wick of an oil lamp. To burn bright and strong this wick not only needs to be trimmed, but also deeply immersed in oil. May our lives provide this oil that the presence of God in us through the agency of His Mashiach may be seen and felt by all, providing light and warmth to the very dark and cold world around us.

THE SECOND EXODUS

Luke 1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. Through Moses, Hashem instituted that His people should remember the Passover, the great Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. In those days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people in the form of a burning, but non-consuming bush; this was His He chose to show His people His great love, care, and power to redeem. At that time Hashem wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today, miracles which are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentiles cast their lot with Moses and Israel, following them to find refuge from tyrannical, doomed, and destroyed Egypt, and in the God of Israel. During His last Seder, the Master enjoined His disciples to also remember Him at the time of the Passover. For in His days the 'Consuming Fire' (Deuteronomy 4:24), also revealed Himself to His people in a 'non-consuming' manner in order to show them His great love, care, and power to redeem them not only from Rome, but from the ‘world’, from the ungodliness that is in them since the Fall. At that time Hashem wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God renewed His covenant with His people, a great multitude of Gentiles cast their lot with Yeshua and the disciples, following them to find refuge from tyrannical, doomed, and destroyed Rome, and in the God of Israel. Since the time when Rome expulsed Israel from the country God had given them, Israel sought refuge in those nations that came to know the Messiah of Israel. These nations, for the most important part oppressed them. But even before the days of the Master the prophet Jeremiah uttered the following words, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares Adonai, when it shall no longer be said, 'As Adonai lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As Adonai lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers (Jeremiah 16:14-15). This will be the second great Exodus, one Yeshua initiated 2,000 years ago. In those days the Creator of the universe will reveal Himself to His people through His Mashiach in order to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from the nations that will surround them in an attempt to annihilate them. In those days, Hashem will valiantly perform again great miracles, miracles that will be documented and spoken about forever and ever over land and sea. One of those great miracles will be that as God redeems His people, a great multitude of Gentiles will also be redeemed joining Israel in finding refuge in the great Kingdom of God to come. May it be soon Abba, even in our days!