12/25/2015

Parashat 3 Portion 12 Ber/Gen 15:1-21 Zeph 3:8-20 Rom 4:1-9.


This week’s Torah portion once again raises some critically important issues. If one of these issues is neglected or ignored through ignorance or neglect, the consequences can be extremely serious and have eternal implications.
ו  נִדְמוּ עַמִּי, מִבְּלִי הַדָּעַת:  כִּי-אַתָּה הַדַּעַת מָאַסְתָּ, ואמאסאך (וְאֶמְאָסְךָ) מִכַּהֵן לִי, וַתִּשְׁכַּח תּוֹרַת אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֶשְׁכַּח בָּנֶיךָ גַּם-אָנִי.
6 My people are destroyed(Heb -damah) for lack of knowledge; because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me; seeing thou hast forgotten(ignored) the law (Torah) of Elohim, I also will forget(cease to care for) thy children.
     BDB Definition: dâmâh
    1) to cease, cause to cease, cut off, destroy, perish
    1a) (Qal)
    1a1) to cease
    1a2) to cause to cease, destroy
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be cut off
1b2) to be undone, be cut off at sight of the theophany

Same Hebrew word used in Yesh 6:5 – Woe is me I am “nidmati” – undone….

Isa 6:5  And I said, “Woe to me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips – for my eyes have seen the Sovereign, יהוה of hosts.”
Isa 6:6  And one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar.
Isa 6:7  And he touched my mouth with it, and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your crookedness is taken away, and your sin is covered.”
Isa 6:8  And I heard the voice of יהוה, saying, “Whom do I send, and who would go for Us?” And I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
Isa 6:9  And He said, “Go, and you shall say to this people, ‘Hearing, you hear, but do not understand; and seeing, you see, but do not know.’
Isa 6:10  “Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and shall turn and be healed.”
Isa 6:11  Then I said, “יהוה, until when?” And He answered, “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, and the houses are without a man, and the land is laid waste, a ruin,
Isa 6:12  and יהוה has removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land.
Isa 6:13  “But still, there is a tenth part in it, and it shall again be for a burning, like a terebinth tree and like an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. The set-apart seed is its stump!”

The price tag of ignorance is way, way too high to even consider let alone have to pay.

Gen 15:1  After these events the word of יהוה came to Aḇram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Aḇram. I am your shield, your reward is exceedingly great.”
Gen 15:2  And Aḇram said, “Master יהוה, what would You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliʽezer of Damascus?”
Gen 15:3  And Aḇram said, “See, You have given me no seed, and see, one born in my house is my heir!”
Gen 15:4  And see, the word of יהוה came to him, saying, “This one is not your heir, but he who comes from your own body is your heir.”
Gen 15:5  And He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward the heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So are your seed.”
Gen 15:6  And he believed in יהוה, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness.

This is the cornerstone of Pauls teaching.

Rom 4:4  And to him who is working, the reward is not reckoned as a favour but as a debt.
Rom 4:5  And to him who is not working but believes on Him who is declaring right the wicked, his belief is reckoned for righteousness,