Blessing for the Torah:
Baruch
atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan
lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you, YHVH,
our Elohim , King of the Universe,
you have selected us from
among all the peoples,
and have given us your
Torah.
Blessed are you, YHVH,
giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
Once again we are given a breathtaking view of
the redemptive foundations of our Hebraic faith. Sadly years of religious
tradition and manmade doctrines have obscured the beauty of our faith.
Beresheet/Gen 8:15 And Elohim spoke to Noaḥ, saying,
Gen 8:16
“Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons
and your sons’ wives with you.
This could very well be the prophetic
pattern of a new beginning after another severe judgment and destruction of life
on earth. Could this could be the same kind of scenario at the beginning of the
millennial reign of Messiah?
Could a remnant come out of His protective hiding
and start all over again?
Gen 8:17
“Bring out with you every living creature of all flesh that is with you:
of birds, of cattle and all creeping creatures that creep on the earth. And let them teem on the earth, and bear
and increase on the earth.”
For the first time in the Torah (8:17) we
find the use of a textual device that deviates from the original Hebrew text
(see the note in the margin of the Stones Chumash). This deviation is brought
to our attention in the Masoretic text by the use of the words “ Qere or “Q”
and ketiv or “K”.” These are Aramaic words that mean that which was originally
written “K” and that which is the preferred way of the scribes for expressing
the meaning of the original text “Q.”
In verse 17 the Hebrew word for “bring” is
“yatza” in this verse the verb appears in its “hiphil” form. The “hiphil” verb
is a causative verb and expresses an investigation into a hidden meaning of a
verb. In the use of the word “yatza” its root form means to “go out”; in the
“hiphil” state it implies that something has happened to cause something to go
out and therefore can mean to “bring forth.” What is the “cause” of the coming
forth? That is what needs to be investigated. These hiphil verbs can often be
complex in their meaning and they challenge us to search and think of their
intended application.
In the Hebrew text (vs 17) the Hiphil verb
appears as a command, yet the pronunciation of the verb has been changed by the
Masorites. Why?
Rashi (Sage)suggests that the Masoretic
pronunciation means to “order out” the animals and the original text means to
force them out if they don’t obey.
This may seem irrelevant, however there is
possibly a far greater significance to this, in that the clean animals that
were offered as offerings instinctively surrendered themselves towards a higher
purpose by leaving the ark. They did not need to be forced out. They willingly
left the ark. Maybe they were somehow instinctively programed by YHVH to
respond in a manner which required them to surrender themselves to death for a
higher cause. This is speculation on my part but something we can consider.
Maybe this is not so far- fetched; I
remember as a child owning a dog who would frantically try and rescue me when I
pretended that I was drowning in our swimming pool.
I have also personally experienced the
difference between slaughtering a pig and a lamb. The difference is amazing.
Pigs scream and perform while lambs are silent as they are being slaughtered.
The prophet speaking of Messiah said the
following:
Yeshayahu/Isa 53:7 He was
oppressed and He was afflicted, but He did not open His mouth. He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, but He did
not open His mouth.
Like the nature of the Hiphil verb there is
a deeper underlining CAUSE that demands from us some kind of response. This response
defines us as human beings and leads us to discover the depths of the mystery
of our redemption.
I believe this “hiphil” verb “hotze” or to
“bring out” reveals the essence of our redemption:
THAT UNLESS YHVH CAUSES US TO COME OUT OF
OUR LOST STATE WE WILL REMAIN LOST.
We were and still are helpless to save ourselves.
This truth is not really accepted in its essence by most if not all the
major religions of the world, including Christianity and Judaism. There is
always this deep underlying conviction that we are not really that bad and that
we can do something to bring about our redemption.
It is not the “sinner’s prayer” that saves us. We can only begin to
understand our redemption when we realize that we are not able to keep a
covenant with YHVH and that Yahshua was our substitute and the only one who was
able to enter into a covenant with YHVH and not break that covenant.
When Messiah returns he will bring a chosen people to perfection that
will eventually keep covenant and enter into the presence of YHVH.
We are now “saved” by this act of YHVH’s favour AND OUR FAITH IN HIS
ABILITY TO COMPLETE THE REDEMPTIVE WORK HE HAS BEGUN IN US.
Eph 2:8 For by favour you have been saved, through
belief, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim,
Eph 2:9 it is not by works, so
that no one should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are His
workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע
unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
In this week’s teaching we have the introduction of animal offerings as
well as the appearance of the covenant promise – the rainbow.
The rainbow reminds us that He knows we are not able to keep covenant
with HIM BUT HE PROMISES TO KEEP COVENANT WITH US AND FOR US.
As Eugene Peterson in his paraphrasing of the scriptures so eloquently
states, that the best thing we can do for YHVH is embrace what He has done and
continues to do for us:
Romans 12:1-3
1 So here's what I
want you to do, YHVH helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your
sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before
YHVH as an offering. Embracing what YHVH does for you is the best thing you can
do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it
without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on YHVH. You'll be changed
from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly
respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its
level of immaturity, YHVH brings the best out of you, develops well-formed
maturity in you. 3 I'm speaking to you out of deep
gratitude for all that YHVH has given me, and especially as I have
responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in
pure grace, it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who
are bringing this goodness to YHVH. No, YHVH brings it all to you. The only accurate
way to understand ourselves is by what YHVH is and by what he does for us, not
by what we are and what we do for him
Gen 8:18
So Noaḥ went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’
wives with him,
Gen 8:19
every beast, every creeping creature, and every
bird, whatever creeps on the earth, according to their kinds, went out of the
ark.
Gen 8:20
And Noaḥ built an altar to יהוה, and took of every clean beast and of every
clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
These are the foundational
instructions concerning the offering system developed later in the book of Vayikra/Leviticus.
Gen 8:21 And יהוה smelled a soothing fragrance, and יהוה
said in His heart, “Never again shall I curse the ground because of man, although the inclination of man’s heart is
evil from his youth, and never again smite all living creatures, as I
have done,
Let us
examine from scripture the condition (yetzer ha ra) of mankind’s heart.
Tehillim/Psa 51:5 See, I was brought forth in crookedness, And
in sin my mother conceived me.
Psa 51:6 See, You have desired
truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You make me know wisdom.
Psa 51:7 Cleanse me with hyssop,
and I am clean; Wash me, and I am whiter than snow.
Ecc 9:3 This is an evil in all
that is done under the sun: there is one event to all. Truly the hearts of the
sons of men are filled with evil, and madness is in their hearts while they
live, and then – to the dead!
Yirmeyahu/Jer 17:9 “The heart is crooked1 above all,
and desperately sick – who shall know it? Footnote: 1See 7:24,
16:12, 18:12, 23:17.
Jer 17:10 “I, יהוה, search the heart, I try the kidneys, and give every
man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.
Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? And one
born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Job 15:15 Look, He puts no trust
in His set-apart ones, and the heavens are not clean in His eyes,
Job 15:16 how much less one who
is loathsome and corrupt, drinking unrighteousness like water!
Psa 143:2 And do not enter into
right-ruling with Your servant, For before You no one living is in the right.
Rom 3:10 As it has been written, “There is none righteous,
no, not one!
Rom 3:11 “There is no one who is
understanding, there is none who is seeking Elohim.
Rom 3:12 “They all have turned
aside, they have together become worthless. There is none who does good, no,
not one.”
Rom 3:13 “Their throat is an open
tomb, with their tongues they have deceived,” “The poison of adders is under
their lips,”
Rom 3:14 “Whose mouth is filled
with cursing and bitterness.”
Rom 3:15 “Their feet are swift to
shed blood,
Rom 3:16 ruin and wretchedness
are in their ways,
Rom 3:17 and the way of peace
they have not known.”
Rom 3:18 “There is no fear of
Elohim before their eyes.”
Yeshayahu/Isa 64:6 And all of us have become as one unclean, and
all our righteousnesses are as soiled rags. And all of us fade like a leaf, and
our crookednesses, like the wind, have taken us away. (Rags refers to a woman’s
menstrous cloth)
Isa 64:7 And there is no one who
calls on Your Name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have
hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our crookednesses.
What
is the solution?
Rom 5:6 For when we were still (Gk adverb-“eti”
indicating an ongoing condition) weak, Messiah in due time died for the wicked.
Rom 5:7 For one shall hardly die
for a righteous one, though possibly for a good one someone would even have the
courage to die.
Rom 5:8 But Elohim proves His own
love for us, in that while we were still(Gk – eti) sinners, Messiah died for
us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, having
now been declared right by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Rom 5:10 For if, being enemies,
we were restored to favour with Elohim through the death of His Son, much more,
having been restored to favour, we shall be saved by His life.
Ultimately the solution is that YHVH renews
His covenant with us and writes the Torah in our hearts – a blessing we are
beginning to experience in our day – Yir/Jer 31:33
Ber/Gen 8:22 as long as the earth remains, seedtime and
harvest, and cold and heat, and winter and summer, and day and night shall not
cease.”
Note
we are not going to heaven after the “rapture”/lifting up in the air to meet
Messiah at His coming; we will come down to earth and remain on this present
earth for at least another 1000 years with Messiah in our midst and then the
renewed heaven, renewed earth and renewed Yerushalayim that will ‘come down out
of the heaven from Elohim’ (Rev 21).
Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the
Torah or the Prophets.1 I did not come to destroy but to complete. Footnote:
1The Law and the Prophets is a term used for the pre-Messianic
Scriptures.
Mat 5:18 “For truly, I say to
you, till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no
means pass from the Torah till all be done.1 Footnote: 1Lk.
16:17.
Mat 5:19 “Whoever, then, breaks
one of the least of these commands, and teaches men so, shall be called least
in the reign of the heavens; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be
called great in the reign of the heavens.
Gen 9:1 And Elohim blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and said to them, “Bear
fruit and increase, and fill the earth.
Three times in this teaching we find this phrase to bear fruit and
increase.
Yochanan/Joh 15:4 “Stay in Me,
and I stay in you. As the branch is unable to bear fruit of itself,
unless it stays in the vine, so neither you, unless you stay in Me.
Joh 15:5 “I am the vine, you are
the branches. He who stays in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. Because
without Me you are able to do naught!
Joh 15:6 “If anyone does not stay
in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and
throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 “If you stay in Me, and
My Words stay in you, you shall ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for
you.
Joh 15:8 “In this My Father is
esteemed, that you bear much fruit, and you shall be My taught ones.
Joh 15:9 “As the Father has loved
Me, I have also loved you. Stay in My love.
Joh 15:10 “If you guard My
commands, you shall stay in My love,1 even as I have guarded My Father’s
commands and stay in His love. Footnote: 1See 14:15.
Joh 15:11 “These words I
have spoken to you, so that My joy might be in you, and that your joy might be
complete.
We now have a section in Torah that has given rise to the establishing
of the so called Noachide laws.
The ancient sages reasoned that Noach was a kind of father for a new
humanity and these following verses indicate certain laws that are common to
all humanity.
- Prohibition of Idolatry
- Prohibition of Murder
- Prohibition of Theft
- Prohibition of Sexual immorality
- Prohibition of Blasphemy
- Prohibition of eating flesh taken from an animal while it is still
alive
- Establishment of courts of law
The ancient sages believed that righteous people
from all nations could have a place in the world to come. They recognized that
YHVH had made a difference between Israel and the nations and that YHVH had
entered into a special covenant with Israel giving them His Torah. Those who
were not part of or were willing to be grafted into the nation of Israel would
be obligated to keep these seven Noachide laws.
Perhaps we need to consider that there still exist two kinds of people
today; those who trust YHVH to write His Torah on their hearts so that they can
live and enter into His covenant and those who seek to live as righteous
gentiles.
Ber/Gen 9:2 “And the fear of you and the
dread of you is on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the heavens, on
all that creeps on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea – into your hand
they have been given.
Gen 9:3
“Every moving creature that lives is food for you. I have given you all,
as I gave the green plants.
Gen 9:4
“But do not eat flesh with its life, its blood.
Gen 9:5
“But only your blood for your lives I require, from the hand of every
beast I require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s
brother I require the life of man.
Gen 9:6
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is shed, for in the image
of Elohim has He made man.
Gen 9:7 “As
for you, bear fruit and increase,
bring forth teemingly in the earth and increase in it.”
Gen 9:8 And
Elohim spoke to Noaḥ and to his sons with him, saying,
Gen 9:9
“And I, see, I establish My covenant with you and with your seed after
you,
Gen 9:10 and
with every living creature that is with you: of the birds, of the cattle, and
of every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every
beast of the earth.
Gen 9:11
“And I shall establish My covenant with you, and never again is all
flesh cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again is there a flood to
destroy the earth.”
Gen 9:12 And
Elohim said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you,
and every living creature that is with you, for all generations to come:
Gen 9:13 “I shall set My rainbow in the cloud, and
it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Gen 9:14 “And
it shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be
seen in the cloud,
Gen 9:15 and
I shall remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living
creature of all flesh, and never again let the waters become a flood to destroy
all flesh.
Gen 9:16
“And the rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I shall see it, to remember
the everlasting covenant between Elohim and every living creature of all flesh
that is on the earth.”
Gen 9:17 And
Elohim said to Noaḥ, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me
and all flesh that is on the earth.”
Baruch atah YHVH,
Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam,
asher natan lanu
Toraht-emet,
v’chay-yeh o’lam
nata-b’tochenu.
Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn
ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you YHVH,
our Elohim, King of the Universe,
you have given us your
Torah of truth,
and have planted
everlasting life within our midst.
Blessed are you, YHVH
giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
Please note
these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are in no
way a final authority on any subject.