This
portion of the Torah teaches us about the blessing and responsibility of YHVH’s
appointed leadership. YHVH has blessed the world with many special leaders over
the centuries, the greatest leader being the very Son of man – Yahshua Ha
Mashiach.
Sadly
most men and woman have neglected to follow and support YHVH’s appointed
leaders and YHVH’s appointed leaders have sadly not always followed the example
of the greatest leader that ever lived – Yahshua.
Today
this has created perhaps the greatest spiritual crisis that has ever faced
mankind and the reason that society and governments are facing many unprecedented
challenges.
Just last week there was a news article that
said South African was facing a management and leadership crisis.
There
have however always been a faithful remnant of leaders – not perfect – but
faithful who have labored in YHVH’s Vineyard.
Heb 6:10 For Elohim is not unrighteous to forget your
work and labour of love which you have shown toward His Name, in that you have
attended to the set-apart ones, and still attend.
Heb 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the
same eagerness, to the entire confirmation of expectation until the end,
Heb 6:12 in order that you do not become sluggish, but
imitate those who through belief and patience inherit the promises.
Let us read and examine
this week’s portion of the Torah to learn about YHVH’s leadership principles.
Let us read the whole portion before midrash.
Deu 31:1 And Mosheh went and spoke these words to all
Yisra’ĕl,
Deu 31:2 and he said to them, “I am one hundred and
twenty years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. And יהוה has said to
me, ‘You do not pass over this Yardĕn.’
We know that Moshe died on his 120 th birthday, so this
is Moshe’s last speech to Yisrael. Moshe did not retire, he stopped leading
when he died.
Deu 34:7 And Mosheh was one hundred and twenty years
old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his freshness gone.
Moshe did not have a
medical aid or wear spectacles.
Num 12:3 And the man Mosheh was very humble, more than
all men who were on the face of the earth.
Joshua lived until he was 110 years old and secured an
inheritance for each Yisraelite.
Jos 24:28 Then Yehoshua sent the people away, each to
his own inheritance.
Jos 24:29 And after these events it came to be that
Yehoshua son of Nun, the servant of יהוה, died, one
hundred and ten years old.
The mark of a good leader is not what you get from people
but what you give them.
Great leaders leave their followers a material
inheritance and teach them from the Torah how to protect and increase that
inheritance.
Deu 31:3 “יהוה your Elohim Himself is passing over before
you. He shall destroy these nations from before you and you possess them.
Yehoshua himself is passing over before you, as יהוה has spoken.
Deu 31:4 “And יהוה shall do to them as He did to Siḥon and
to Oḡ, the sovereigns of the Amorites and their land, when He
destroyed them.
Deu 31:5 “And יהוה shall give them over to you, and you shall
do to them according to all the command which I have commanded you.
Torah based leadership in Yahshua is the only kind of
leadership that will lead you in victory over your physical and spiritual
enemies.
Deu 31:6 “Be
strong and courageous, do not fear nor be afraid of them. For it is יהוה your Elohim who is going with you. He does
not fail you nor forsake you.”
Deu 31:7 And
Mosheh called Yehoshua and said to him before the eyes of all Yisra’ĕl, “Be
strong and courageous, for you are going with this people to the land which יהוה has sworn to their fathers to give them,
and you are to let them inherit it.
Deu 31:8 “And it
is יהוה who is going before you, He Himself is
with you. He does not fail you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be
discouraged.”
Anointed leadership makes you more aware of YHVH’s
presence than theirs.
Deu 31:9 And
Mosheh wrote this Torah and gave it to the priests, the sons of Lĕwi, who bore
the ark of the covenant of יהוה, and to all
the elders of Yisra’ĕl.
Deu 31:10 And
Mosheh commanded them, saying, “At the end of seven years, at the appointed
time, the year of release, at the Festival of Booths,
Deu 31:11 when all
Yisra’ĕl comes to appear before יהוה your Elohim in
the place which He chooses, read this Torah before all Yisra’ĕl in their
hearing.
Deu 31:12
“Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and
your sojourner who is within your gates, so that they hear, and so that they
learn to fear יהוה your Elohim
and guard to do all the Words of this Torah.
Deu 31:13 “And
their children, who have not known it, should hear and learn to fear יהוה your Elohim as long as you live in the
land you are passing over the Yardĕn to possess.”
Let us now examine the leadership style of one who was
greater than Moshe – Deut 18:15
Act 3:22 “For Mosheh truly said to the fathers, ‘יהוה your Elohim
shall raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear
according to all matters, whatever He says to you.
Act 3:23 ‘And it
shall be that every being who does not hear that Prophet1 shall be
utterly destroyed from among the people.’ Footnote: 1Deut. 18:18-20.
Act 3:24 “And
likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Shemu’ĕl and those following,
have also announced these days.
Heb
3:1 Therefore,
set-apart brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, closely consider the
Emissary and High Priest of our confession, Messiah יהושע,
Heb 3:2 who was
trustworthy to Him who appointed Him, as also Mosheh in all His house.
Heb 3:3 For this
One has been deemed worthy of more esteem than Mosheh, as much as He who built
the house enjoys more respect than the house.
Heb 3:4 For every
house is built by someone, but He who built all is Elohim.
Heb 3:5 And Mosheh
indeed was trustworthy in all His house as a servant, for a witness of what
would be spoken later,
Heb 3:6 but
Messiah as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the
boldness and the boasting of the expectation firm to the end.
Heb 3:7 Therefore,
as the Set-apart Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His voice,
Heb 3:8 do not
harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness,
Heb 3:9 where your
fathers tried Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years.
Heb 3:10
“Therefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘They always go
astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’
Heb 3:11 “As I
swore in My wrath, ‘If they shall enter into My rest...’ ”1
Footnote: 1Ps. 95:7-11.
IF …. The
commentaries seem to suggest that It’s possible to make it to the promised land
but it’s also possible to disqualify yourself as our forefathers did. If we
have problems to submit to those whom YHVH has appointed to teach His Torah now
what will happen to us then?
Successful leaders
(not perfect leaders) are those who have learned to be faithful to other
leaders. We see this in the case of Yehoshua and Moshe. Sadly the scriptures
are full of examples of how YHVH’s appointed leaders led the people away from
the Torah.
Let us examine a leadership parable of Yahshua.
Luk
16:1 And He also
said to His taught ones, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager and he
was accused to him as wasting his possessions.
Luk 16:2 “So having called him he said to him, ‘What
is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, for you are no
longer able to be manager.’
“The
importance of honor and shame in the Mediterranean culture of Yahshua's day is
important for us to understand the parable – in those days, a master's standing
in the eyes of his peers was partly determined by his ability to control those
under him. A master whose assets were wisely managed by a loyal steward would
have been viewed highly by others. On the other hand, the misdeeds of an
employee would have resulted in a loss of honor for the master.”
Luk 16:3 “And the manager said within himself, ‘What
shall I do? For my master is taking the managership away from me. I am unable
to dig, I am ashamed to beg.
Luk 16:4 ‘I know what I shall do, that, when I am
removed from the managership, they might receive me into their houses.’
Luk 16:5 “And calling every one of his master’s
debtors to him, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
Luk 16:6 “And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’
And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
Luk 16:7 “Then to another he said, ‘And how much do
you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take
your bill, and write eighty.’
Luk 16:8 “And the master praised the unrighteous
manager because he had acted shrewdly, because the sons of this age are more shrewd in their generation than the
sons of light.
Shrewd - fron'-ee-mos
From G5424; thoughtful, that is, sagacious(having or based on a profound
knowledge and understanding of the world combined with intelligence and good
judgment) or discreet (implying a cautious character; while G4680 denotes
practical skill or acumen; and G4908 indicates rather intelligence or mental
acquirement); in a bad sense conceited (also in the comparative): - wise (-r).
end quote.
Why? Maybe children of the light take things for granted because of a
sense of entitlement.
In the case of the parable of the unjust
steward, the comparison is between the steward and the disciples of Yahshua.
The steward is commended for being ``shrewd''
or ``wise'' in Luke 16:8. If the
steward, one of the ``people of this world,'' can exercise this quality, how
much more should Yashua's disciples, the ``people of the light,'' be able to do
so!
Luk 16:9 “And would I say to you, make friends for yourselves
by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they shall receive you into
everlasting dwellings?
Vs 9 ends with a
question mark. This is possibly the way the Hebrew thought expresses the “kol
ve chomer” argument. In other words if the unrighteous steward thinks he can
buy his way into the world to come in a unrighteous manner, how much more shall
those who have used money in a righteous
way, be secured of a place of honour in the world to come.
Luk 16:10 “He who is trustworthy in what is least, is
trustworthy also in much. And he who is unrighteous in what is least is
unrighteous also in much.
Luk 16:11 “If, therefore, you have not been trustworthy
in the unrighteous mammon, who shall entrust to you the true?
Although
our worldly resources will not last beyond this life, Yahshua emphasizes that
YHVH has given us these resources in order to prepare us for greater
responsibilities in the world to come (Luke 16:10-12). Let us then be wise
stewards, managing what YHVH has given us in a way that will honor our Master
and prepare us for an eternal future in his Kingdom.
One
of the greatest assets YHVH has given us are righteous leaders. What we receive
one day from YHVH may very well depend on how we treated those whom YHVH had
called – even those leaders who we don’t have much regard for. If YHVH
appointed them and we dishonoured them we will be judged and suffer loss.
My testimony – one of the biggest
spiritual breakthroughs that came into my life was when I became willing to
submit to spiritual leadership.
The sages say that the rabbi’s are more
important than your fathers – because you father brings you into this world but
the rabbi will lead you into the world to come.
Luk 16:12 “And if you have not been trustworthy in what
is another man’s, who shall give you what is your own?
Luk 16:13 “No servant is able to serve two masters, for
either he shall hate the one and love the other, or else he shall cling to the
one and despise the other. You are not able to serve Elohim and mammon.”
If you use your money to serve only your own interests, you are not able
to truly worship Elohim.
Luk 16:14 And the Pharisees, who loved silver, also
heard all this, and were sneering at Him,
Luk 16:15 so He said to them, “You are those who
declare yourselves righteous before men, but Elohim knows your hearts, because
what is highly thought of among men is an abomination in the sight of Elohim.
Luk 16:16 “The Torah and the prophets are until Yoḥanan. Since then the
reign of Elohim is being announced, and everyone is doing violence upon it.
Now Yahshua has come
to bring the essence of Torah as it is meant to be taught and manifest in his
kingdom.
It seems insane that
Messianics pay too much attention to the sages and the rabbi’s – but the words
of Messiah and his “talmadim” (disciples) receive far less attention.
Luk 16:17
“And it is easier for the heaven and the earth to pass away than for one
tittle of the Torah to fall.
Finally in the last days difficult times will come for
believers because of a lack of leadership.
Isa 3:1 For look, the Master, יהוה of hosts, is
turning aside from Yerushalayim and from Yehuḏah the
stock and the store, all the supply of bread and all the supply of water;
Isa 3:2 the mighty
man and the man of battle, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the
elder;
Isa 3:3 the
commander of fifty and the highly respected man, and the counsellor and the
skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter.
Isa 3:4 “And I
shall make youths their heads, and children shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5 And the
people shall exert pressure, man on man, man on his neighbour; the young rise
up against the older, and the lightly esteemed against the highly esteemed.”
Isa 3:6 When a man
takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, by the garment, and
say, “Come, be a chief over us, and let this ruin be under your hand,”
Isa 3:7 he shall
swear in that day, saying, “I am not a healer, for in my house is neither bread
nor garment; do not make me a chief of the people.”
Isa 3:8 For
Yerushalayim has stumbled, and Yehuḏah has
fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against יהוה, to provoke the eyes of His esteem.
Isa 3:9 The look
on their faces witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Seḏom;
they do not hide it. Woe to their being! For they have brought evil upon
themselves.
Isa 3:10 “Say to
the righteous it is well, for they eat the fruit of their doings.
Isa 3:11 “Woe to
the wrong – evil! For the reward of his hand is done to him.
Isa 3:12 “My
people! Youths exert pressure on them, and women rule over them. O My people!
Your leaders lead you astray1, and swallow the way of your
paths.” Footnote: 1See also 9:16.
2Ti 3:12
And indeed, all those wishing to live reverently in Messiah יהושע, shall be persecuted.1
Footnote: 1Mt. 5:10.
2Ti
3:13 But evil men and impostors shall go
on to the worse,1 leading astray and being led astray. Footnote: 1Mt.
24:12, Rev. 22:11.
2Ti
3:14 But you, stay in what you have
learned and trusted, having known from whom you have learned,
2Ti
3:15 and that from a babe you have known
the Set-apart Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for deliverance
through belief in Messiah יהושע.
2Ti
3:16 All Scripture is breathed by Elohim
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for setting straight, for instruction
in righteousness,
2Ti
3:17 that the man of Elohim might be
fitted, equipped for every good work.
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject