Posts in Category: First Fruits of Zion

Woe to (Some of) the Pharisees

This is from First Fruits of Zion. Everything written is their view and may or may not be the belief of Odon Obadyah Ministries.

 

Yeshua’s criticism of the Pharisees must be understood in concert with the Pharisees’ own self-critique; they were not really a gang of hypocrites.

While teaching in the Temple courts in the last days before He suffered, our Master warned His disciples about the pride, pretense, and hypocrisy of the scribes, Torah teachers, Pharisees, and religious leaders:

In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.” (Mark 12:38-40)

He criticized their love of honor and desire for prestige. They flaunted their religious apparel and loved to be greeted with respect in the markets. They took the seats of honor in the synagogues and at meals. They made long prayers to demonstrate their piety while neglecting the Torah’s weighty obligations, such as charity for the care of orphans and widows. Because they taught the Torah and presented themselves as holy men, they “will receive greater condemnation.” James, the brother of the Master, alluded to Yeshua’s warning when he wrote, “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).

In Matthew 23:13-37, Yeshua pronounced seven “woes” upon the Pharisees. A parallel passage appears in Luke 11:39-54. The denouncements will convince most gospel readers unfamiliar with first-century Judaism that all Pharisees and rabbis were fairly awful human beings.

Increasing numbers of historians and Bible scholars have recently conceded that our Master did not condemn the Pharisees as a whole. Yeshua and His early disciples followed a form of Pharisaism. His theology, hermeneutic, parables, argumentation, conclusions, and even His dinner invitations were, for the most part, Pharisaic in origin.

How then do we understand the rancor with which Yeshua attacked the Pharisees in the Gospels? Yeshua’s scathing rebukes represent an internal criticism. Notice that He never offered similar rebukes to the Sadducees or the Herodians (even though they were far more wicked than the Pharisees). Neither did He condemn the Essenes, even though He did not endorse their theology or their withdrawal from the rest of the Jewish people. Because Yeshua’s own theology and practice ran so close to the Pharisees, the Pharisees fell under His immediate concern. In religious dialogue, we experience the fiercest conflict with those most similar to ourselves.

The writings of the Pharisees freely admit to the presence of rank hypocrisy and pretentiousness among some members of their sect. David Stern compiled and translated a fusion of passages from both Talmuds to illustrate this point. This internal criticism was written by disciples of the Pharisees themselves:

There are seven kinds of Pharisees: the “shoulder” Pharisee, who ostentatiously carried his good deeds on his shoulder so all can see them; the “wait-a-moment” Pharisee, who wants you to wait while he performs a mitzvah; the bruised Pharisee, who runs into a wall while looking at the ground to avoid seeing a woman; the “reckoning” Pharisee, who commits a sin, then does a good deed and balances the one against the other; the “pestle” Pharisee, whose head is bowed in false humility, like a pestle in a mortar; the Pharisee who asks, “What is my duty, so that I may do it?” as if he thought he had fulfilled every obligation already; the Pharisee from fear of the consequences if he doesn’t perform the commandments; and the Pharisee from love.

According to the Pharisees’ own evaluation, seven out of eight types of Pharisees were of an ignoble character. The Master’s criticism of the Pharisees should be understood in concert with the Pharisees’ own self-critique:

One should expose hypocrites to prevent the profanation of the Name. (Talmud)

Hypocrites will not stand before God. (Talmud)

 

Abraham’s Prayer

This is from First Fruits of Zion. Everything written is their view and may or may not be the belief of Odon Obadyah Ministries.

 

Sometimes, when you are praying about something for yourself, the best thing you can do is to forget about it and concentrate your prayers on the needs of others.

Abraham and Sarah in the Palace of Pharaoh, oil on canvas, by Peter Paul Rubens – Louvre MI 963 (Wikimedia Commons)

PORTION SUMMARY & SCRIPTURE READING
VAYERA

Abraham was one hundred years old. For all of his married life he had hoped for and prayed for the birth of a son, but Sarah, his wife, was barren. Her womb was closed.

Ironically, when Abraham’s enemy Abimelech abducted Abraham’s wife Sarah, God sealed the wombs of all Abimelech’s wives. Even those women who were about to give birth found that they could not bear their children. The Talmud says, “It was stated at the academy of Rabbi Yannai that even the hens belonging to Abimelech could not lay their eggs” (b.Bava Kama 92a quoting Genesis 20:18).

After Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, he asked Abraham to pray for him. Abraham prayed for the healing of Abimelech’s household. Rabbinic literature uses this episode from Abraham’s life as a model of forgiveness:

From where do we learn that an injured person who refuses to forgive his injurer (when he apologizes) is called a cruel person? From the words, “Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech…” (b.Bava Kama 92a)

Whoever is merciful to his fellow is certainly a son of our father Abraham, and whosoever is not merciful to his fellow is certainly not a son of our father Abraham. (b.Beitzah 32b)

Ironically, Abraham’s prayer availed children for Abimelech and his wives immediately. Furthermore, immediately after the Torah tells us that Abraham prayed for Abimelech’s wives—that their wombs would be opened—we read, “Then the LORD took note of Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age…” (Genesis 21:1).

Not until Abraham prayed for others was his prayer for himself and his wife answered. Rashi says that the Torah put the passage regarding Abimelech’s wives just before the conception of and birth of Isaac intentionally. It is to teach us that whoever seeks mercy for another by praying for his need when he himself is needful of the same will have his own need met. At the very least, we learn here the principal of praying for others before ourselves.

 

The Door in the Ark

This is from First Fruits of Zion. Everything written is their view and may or may not be the belief of Odon Obadyah Ministries.

God commanded Noah to place a door on the side of the ark. In Chasidic teaching, the door in the ark symbolizes repentance.

Noah’s Ark, oil on canvas painting by Edward Hicks, 1846 Philadelphia Museum of Art (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

The LORD gave Noah instructions for building the ark: “Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch” (Genesis 6:14). The word “ark” translates the Hebrew word “tevah ().”

The Torah uses the same word for the basket in the story about baby Moses: “When she could no longer hide him, she got him a wicker tevah and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile” (Exodus 2:3). Both arks, coated with tar and pitch, float on the waters and preserve the lives of their passengers.

Chasidic teachings note that, in Rabbinic Hebrew, tevah also means “word.” Based on this equation, Noah’s ark might symbolize a person’s prayers which he offers with words:

In the face of the flood of concerns over one’s livelihood, one should get into one’s tevah, the words of prayer, which have the ability to keep one afloat, and even more—to raise one up above the waters. (Torah Or, Noach)

God commanded Noah to place a door on the side of the ark. In Chasidic teaching, the door in the ark symbolizes repentance. Along the same lines, our Master compared repentance to a door. He taught His disciples to escape the coming judgment by repenting and passing through the narrow door to enter God’s salvation.

During the decades that Noah built the ark and preached repentance, anyone could have entered the ark. Even after the rains first began to fall, the people still had time to enter through the door and find salvation in the ark. They did not heed Noah’s warnings. They did not seek first to enter the ark because they were busy with the concerns of life, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear for clothing?” (Matthew 6:31). They were busy “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark” (Matthew 24:38-39).

God closed the door of the ark behind Noah and his family. This teaches that God appoints a deadline for repentance. He does not leave the door of repentance open indefinitely. A day comes when the time for repentance expires and it will no longer be possible to find entrance into the kingdom. Then the judgment begins.

Our Master also warned us that the door of repentance will close:

Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, “Lord, open up to us!” then He will answer and say to you, “I do not know where you are from.” (Luke 13:24-25)

Ha’azinu

This is from First Fruits of Zion. Everything written is their view and may or may not be the belief of Odon Obadyah Ministries.

Watering our Souls

Many believers behave like the foolish gardener. They espouse faith in Messiah and find relationship with God, but they do not nurture that faith and relationship by regularly watering it with the study of the Word.

New growth from fertile soil. (Image: Bigstock)

Regular Shabbat Readings

  • Ha’azinu (הַאֲזִינוּ | Listen)
  • Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1-32:52
  • Haftarah: 2 Samuel 22:1-51
  • Gospel: John 6:26-35

Portion Summary

The word Ha’azinu (הַאֲזִינוּ‎) literally means “give ear,” an expression meaning “Listen to this.” It is also the name of the fifty-third and second-to-last reading from the Torah. It is the first word of the Song of Moses, which begins with the words “Give ear (Ha’azinu), O heavens, and let me speak” (Deuteronomy 32:1). This Torah portion is only a single chapter long, and the majority of it consists of the Song of Moses. The Song of Moses is a prophetic oracle warning Israel about apostasy to come and the resulting wrath of God. The song looks far into the future, even envisioning the Messianic advent amid rich and frightening apocalyptic imagery. After the conclusion of the song, Moses is told to ascend Mount Nebo and overlook the Promised Land before dying.

Mattot-Masei

TORAH PORTION for Shabbat: July 10, 2021
  • Mattot-Massei (מטות-מסעי | Tribes-Journeys)
  • Torah: Numbers 30:2-36:13
  • Haftarah: Jeremiah 2:4-28, 3:4
  • Gospel: Luke 13:1-9; Mark 11:12-23
An irregular Haftarah is read this week because of Rosh Chodesh: Isaiah 66:1 – 66:24.
First Glimmer of Redemption
Jews, largely Holocaust survivors, in 1947, in search of a homeland, aboard the SS Exodus. Most of the emigrants were Holocaust survivors who had no legal immigration certificates for Palestine. Following wide media coverage, the British Royal Navy seized the ship and deported all its passengers back to Europe. (Image: Wikimedia, Public domain)
First Glimmer of Redemption
As Israel prepared to cross the Jordan to take the promised land, the tribes of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh petitioned Moses for the Transjordan territory of the Amorites, the lands taken by Israel in the war with Sihon and Og as described in Numbers 21. Though the Transjordan lay outside the borders of the promised land proper, the three tribes were well-pleased with the rich grazing land of Bashan and Gilead, and they wanted to settle their flocks and families there.

Moses feared that the three tribes would refuse to further assist the conquest of the promised land. He scolded them and reminded them of how their fathers had also refused to enter Canaan and thereby forfeited their opportunity to take possession of the land that God had sworn to give to them. He said, “The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed” (Numbers 32:13).

Moses was afraid that the decision of the three tribes might dissuade the rest of the people from entering Canaan. He said, “If you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people” (Numbers 32:15). The tribes assured Moses that they would cross the Jordan and fight with their brothers before returning and permanently settling in the Transjordan.

In this way, the three tribes reversed the tragedy of the previous generation. Not only did they agree to enter Canaan and fight to take possession of the promised land, they also expanded the borders of the holy land and took hold of that promised possession prior to crossing the Jordan. The situation with the three tribes settling in the Transjordan can be compared to the idea of entering the kingdom prior to the final redemption. The New Testament teaches that entering the land of Israel symbolizes entering the kingdom.

Disciples of Yeshua endeavor to live kingdom-lives now in this current age, and they seek to attain the exalted spiritual status of the Messianic Era by clinging to King Messiah now. In this way, the disciples of Yeshua extend the borders of the Messianic Era into this current age. Figuratively speaking, they take territory on the east side of the Jordan. At the same time, they keep the final redemption in clear view, and they acknowledge that despite their best efforts to bring the kingdom now, the world has not yet entered the Messianic Era. That will happen only when King Messiah comes to lead His people into the promised land. The disciple of Yeshua, however, is not content to wait until the final redemption; he seeks to enter the kingdom now by laying claim to the promises of the new covenant through faith in the Messiah.

Along the same lines of interpretation, one might say something similar about Zionism and the formation of the modern State of Israel. The return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and the formation of the modern state certainly seem to fulfill some of the ancient prophecies about the end of exile and the return to the land. However, the ultimate ingathering of Israel and redemption of the land has not yet occurred. Messiah has not yet come; neither has all Israel yet returned. Despite that, the Jewish people are taking hold of the redemption as much as possible in this current era. Just as the three tribes laid hold of their inheritance before Joshua had led them into the land and apportioned it out, so too, the modern state has laid hold of the land before the final redemption. The return of the Jewish people to the land and the modern State of Israel represents the first fruits of the final ingathering, the first glimmering of the dawn of redemption.


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