Blessing of Torah.
Hebrew:
Baruch atah YHVH eloheinu melech
ha-olam, asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav, v'tzivanu la'asok b'divrei Torah.
V'ha'arev na YHVH eloheinu et divrei toratecha befinu uvfi amecha beit Yisrael.
V'niyeh anachnu v'tze'etze'einu v'tze'etza'ei amecha beit Yisrael kullanu yodei
sh'mecha v'lomdei toratecha lishmah. Baruch atah YHVH hamelamed Torah le'amo
Yisrael. Baruch atah YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher bachar banu mikol
ha'amim venatan lanu et torato. Baruch atah YHVH, notein haTorah.
English
translation: Blessed are You, YHVH
our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through His
commandments and commanded us to actively study Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim,
sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your
people Israel. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, the
House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for
the sake of fulfilling Your desire. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to
His people Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, ,
Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH,
Giver of the Torah.
According
to the Torah slavery has never been abolished. In fact while heaven and earth
are still here slavery may still be practiced. The kind of slavery that has
been practiced in the world today and in the past is for the most part
forbidden by Torah because it violates the Torah instructions for slavery.
Today
slavery manifests itself in human trafficking – here follows a description of
slavery from Wikipedia.
“Human
trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual
slavery, forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or
others; or for the extraction of organs or tissues,] including surrogacy and
ova removal; or for providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage; or
for commercial exploitation. Human trafficking can occur within a country or
trans-nationally. Human trafficking is a crime against the person because of
the violation of the victim's rights of movement through coercion and because
of their commercial exploitation. Human trafficking is the trade in people, and
does not necessarily involve the movement of the person from one place to
another. Human trafficking represents an estimated $31.6 billion of
international trade per annum in 2010. Human trafficking is thought to be one
of the fastest-growing activities of transnational criminal organizations.” End
quote.
Today forbidden slavery is also seen
in the practice of cheap child labour.
“Child labour refers to the employment of
children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with
their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically,
socially or morally dangerous and harmful.”
Because slavery
is practiced in a manner that is forbidden by Torah it has reached levels of
cruelty and abuse that defy human imagination and most people today choose to
ignore it - perhaps one of the biggest human injustices of our times.
Of all people
Yisraelites were meant to understand and practice slavery in the world in such
a way that slaves would be some of the most well treated people on the planet.
There is a
saying amongst the sages that he who purchases a slave purchases a master.
It is because of
this cruelty and violation of YHVH’s Torah that a complete destruction will
come upon mankind – (also haftarah of our Torah portion)
Isa 24:1 See, יהוה is making the
earth empty and making it waste, and shall overturn its surface, and shall
scatter abroad its inhabitants.
Isa 24:2 And it
shall be – as with the people so with the priest, as with the servant so with
his master, as with the female servant so with her mistress, as with the buyer
so with the seller, as with the lender so with the borrower, as with the
creditor so with the debtor;
Isa 24:3 the earth
is completely emptied and utterly plundered, for יהוה has spoken
this word.
Isa 24:4 The earth
shall mourn and wither, the world shall languish and wither, the haughty people
of the earth shall languish.
Isa 24:5 For the
earth has been defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed
the Torot1, changed2 the law, broken the everlasting
covenant3. Footnotes: 1Torot - plural of Torah, teaching.
2Jer. 23:36. 3This is the only reason, according to all
Scriptures, why the earth shall be burned in the day of judgment – see also
13:9, 13:11, 26:21, 66:24, Mic. 5:15, Zeph. 1:2-18.
Isa 24:6 Therefore
a curse shall consume the earth, and those who dwell in it be punished.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men shall be
left.
As we look carefully
into the instructions of slavery in the Torah we discover the essence and
framework of our redemption.
Gal 5:1 In the freedom with which Messiah has made us
free, stand firm, then, and do not again be held with a yoke of slavery.
Many believers like to claim they are free. But are they really free?
Joh 8:31 So יהושע said to those
Yehuḏim who believed Him, “If you stay in My Word,(Torah) you
are truly My taught ones,
Joh 8:32 and you
shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Joh 8:33 They
answered Him, “We are the seed of Aḇraham,
and have been servants to no one at any time. How do you say, ‘You shall become
free’?”
Joh 8:34 יהושע answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, everyone doing sin is a servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 “And the
servant does not stay in the house forever – a son stays forever.
Joh 8:36 “If,
then, the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 “I know
that you are the seed of Aḇraham, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no
place in you.
Shaul goes on to describe that true freedom from sin and bondage is only
found in Messiah.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were immersed into
Messiah have put on Messiah.
Gal 3:28 There is not Yehuḏite nor Greek, there
is not slave nor free, there is not male and female, for you are all one in
Messiah יהושע.
Gal 3:29 And if
you are of Messiah, then you are seed of Aḇraham,
and heirs according to promise.
So we know Yahshua
came to set the captives free, but we also know when a people do not walk in
perfect law of liberty – Torah – they will soon become slaves again.
Genuine lasting
freedom can only exist when we are covenanted to YHVH through His Messiah
according to the Torah.
We see in the opening
verses of this Torah portion that there are some who are called to freedom – vs
39-43 and there are others in the nations that always will be slaves – vs 44 -
46
Lev 25:39 ‘And when your brother who dwells by you
(Hebrew “imach”) becomes poor, and sells himself to you,(Heb ‘lach”) do not
make him serve as a slave.
Lev 25:40 ‘But as a hired servant, as a settler he is
with you,(“imach”) and serves you(“imach”) until the Year of Jubilee.
Lev 25:41 ‘And then he shall leave you,(“imach”) he and
his children with him, and shall return to his own clan, even return to the
possession of his fathers.
Lev 25:42 ‘For they are My servants, whom I brought out
of the land of Mitsrayim, they are not sold as slaves.
Lev 25:43 ‘Do not rule over him with harshness, but you
shall fear your Elohim.
Yahveh’s will is that His people should prosper, because only then would
they be able to be in a position to help struggling brothers and sisters.
Why don’t His people prosper?
Why do so many of His children suffer poverty and lack?
Lev 25:44 ‘And your male and female slaves whom you
have from the nations that are around you, from them you buy male and female
slaves,
Lev 25:45 and also from the sons of the strangers
sojourning among you, from them you buy, and from their clans who are with you,
which they shall bring forth in your land, and they shall be your property.
Lev 25:46 ‘And you shall take them as an inheritance
for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession, they are your slaves for all time. But
over your brothers, the children of Yisra’ĕl, you do not rule with harshness,
one over another.
From vs 44 – 46 all second person pronouns have masculine endings,
whereas in verses 39 -43 all second person pronouns have feminine endings. Why?
Midrash:
It would appear that
the pronouns with feminine endings are not referring to the master but could be
referring to a group of people. In this case the “Kehelah” which is a feminine
Hebrew noun meaning the assembly of Yisraelites. This can be compared to the
Bride of Messiah.
We gather then that
there are those who are called to be part of the Kehelah of Yisrael and those
who are not.
Those who are called
to be part of the Kehelah DO NOT ACT WITH AN INDEPENDENT CONSCIENCE BUT WITH THE
MIND OF HIM WHO IS THE HEAD OF THE KEHELAH.
When Yahshua says “seek first the Kingdom of YHVH …. He is not addressing
an individual but a group of people.
Mat 6:33 “But seek first the reign of Elohim, and His
righteousness, and all these matters shall be added to you.
1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should
proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous
light,
All the second person
personal pronouns in the above verse are also all plural.
Yahshua came to reveal
the highest calling given to YHVH’s creation – TO HEAR YHVH AND TO AGREE WITH
HIM AND TO OBEY HIM.
This was the life that
Yahshua came to show us.
Joh 6:38 “Because I have come down out of the heaven,
not to do My own desire, but the desire of Him who sent Me.
Joh 6:39 “This is the desire of the Father who sent
Me, that all He has given Me I should not lose of it, but should raise it in
the last day.
Joh 4:34 יהושע said to them,
“My food is to do the desire of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.
The issue of Shmittah
and Yovel reveal the very core of YHVH’s Being – that of redeeming and setting
free in such a manner that the person never get themselves back into bondage.
By the end of the
Messianic age the whole Kehelah (Called out ones/assembly)of YHVH will be free.
The corporate ministry and mind of His people will be such that a fellow
Yisraelite will be assisted as many times as they need to be until they no
longer make decisions that will get them back into bondage again; where they
need to be sold into some form of servanthood.
This only applies to
the Kehelah of YHVH – those in the nations will serve the Kehelah for ever.
Our ultimate judgment will not be based on how much we knew, but by how
much we cared.
Mat 25:31 “And when the Son of Aḏam comes in His
esteem, and all the set-apart messengers with Him, then He shall sit on the
throne of His esteem.
Mat 25:32
“And all the nations shall be gathered before Him, and He shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33
“And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the
left.
Mat 25:34
“Then the Sovereign shall say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you
blessed of My Father, inherit the reign prepared for you from the foundation of
the world –
Mat 25:35
for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me
drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in,
Mat 25:36 was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and
you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’
Mat 25:37
“Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, ‘Master, when did we see
You hungry and we fed You, or thirsty and gave You to drink?
Mat 25:38 ‘And
when did we see You a stranger and took You in, or naked and clothed You?
Mat 25:39
‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and we came to You?’
Mat 25:40
“And the Sovereign shall answer and say to them, ‘Truly, I say to you,
in so far as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to
Me.’
Lev 25:47
‘Now when a sojourner or a settler with you becomes rich, and your
brother with him becomes poor, and sells himself to the settler or sojourner
with you, or to a member of the sojourner’s clan,
Lev 25:48 after he has been sold, there is a right of
redemption to him – one of his brothers does redeem him,
Lev 25:49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son does redeem
him, or anyone who is a close relative to him in his clan does redeem him, or
if he is able, then he shall redeem himself.
Lev 25:50 ‘And he shall reckon with him who bought him:
The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the
year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; as the days of a hired
servant it is with him.
Lev 25:51 ‘If there are yet many years, according to
them he repays the price of his redemption, from the silver of his purchase.
Lev 25:52 ‘And if few years are left until the Year of
Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he repays
him the price of his redemption.
Lev 25:53 ‘He is with him as a yearly hired servant,
and he does not rule with harshness over him before your eyes.
Lev 25:54 ‘And if he is not redeemed in these years,
then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.
of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev 26:1 ‘Do not make idols for yourselves, and do not
set up a carved image or a pillar for yourselves, and do not place a stone
image in your land, to bow down to it. For I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev
26:2 ‘Guard My Sabbaths and reverence My
set-apart place. I am יהוה.
These last two verses address the main reason why we fail
to obey YHVH’s instructions.
- Vs 1 speaks of all those issues that we have
valued more than the desire of the Father – idolatry.
- Vs 2 speaks of not embracing the heart of
Sabbath.
Yahshua
did most of his miracles on sabbaths.
Isa 58:13 “If you do turn back your foot from the
Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My set-apart day, and shall call
the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ the set-apart day of יהוה ‘esteemed,’
and shall esteem it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure,
nor speaking your own words,
Isa 58:14 then you
shall delight yourself in יהוה. And I shall
cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and feed you with the
inheritance of Yaʽaqoḇ your father. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken!”
The previous verses explain what our true spiritual duty
is and what it means not to seek your own pleasure and own ways.
Isa 58:5 “Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a
man to afflict his being? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to
spread out sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, and an acceptable day
to יהוה?
Isa 58:6 “Is this
not the fast that I have chosen: to loosen the tight cords of wrongness, to
undo the bands of the yoke, to exempt the oppressed, and to break off every
yoke?
Isa 58:7 “Is it
not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the
poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, and cover him, and not hide
yourself from your own flesh?
Isa 58:8 “Then
your light would break forth like the morning, your healing spring forth
speedily. And your righteousness shall go before you, the esteem of יהוה would be your rear guard.
Isa 58:9 “Then,
when you call, יהוה would answer;
when you cry, He would say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your
midst, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking of unrighteousness,
Isa 58:10 if you
extend your being to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted being, then your
light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness be as noon.
Isa 58:11 “Then יהוה would guide you continually, and satisfy
your being in drought, and strengthen your bones. And you shall be like a
watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Isa 58:12 “And
those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the
foundations of many generations. And you would be called the Repairer of the
Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
The Sabbath (shmittah) is about taking stock of your life
and asking yourself if your life is significantly connected in bringing genuine
freedom to people’s lives. This will secure your own liberty.
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.
Joh 13:12 So when He had washed their feet and taken
His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have
done to you?
Joh 13:13 “You call me Teacher and Master, and you say
well, for I am.
Joh 13:14 “Then if I, Master and Teacher, have washed
your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Joh 13:15 “For I gave you an example, that you should
do as I have done to you.
Joh 13:16 “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not
greater than his master, nor is an emissary greater than he who sent him.
Joh 13:17 “If you know these teachings, blessed
are you if you do them.
Joh 13:18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know
whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture might be filled, ‘He who eats bread
with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’
Joh 13:19 “Now I say to you, before it takes place,
that when it does take place, you shall believe that I am.
Joh 13:20
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send, receives
Me. And he who receives Me, receives Him who sent Me.