Isaiah 49 : 14 - 51 : 03

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

Here is the haftarah portion of the Torah Reading Schedule for this week:

"Ekev - Because"

Haftarah : Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 49:14-51:3

May the following be our prayer...

"Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy ." - Psalms 119:18

Also, please share with us what our Heavenly Father has shown you, or ask any questions that you may have.

Shalom chaverim (peace friends),

Reuel

[R' Y'hoshua Moshe]

Has the L-rd forsaken His chosen people?...

"But Zion said, YHVH has forsaken me, and, My L-rd has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her suckling child, from pitying the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will surely not forget you. Behold, I have carved you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me."
- Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 49:14-16

From the above passage...I don't think so.

"So says the Lord YHVH, Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and will set up My banner to peoples. And they shall bring your sons in the bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on the shoulder."
- Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 49:22

And, this is exactly what is happening. Many of the nations are making it possible for the Jewish people to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael (Land Of Israel). And soon the next prophecy shall also come to pass...

"And kings shall be supporting you, and their princesses your nurses. They shall bow to you, faces down to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am YHVH, by whom they who wait for Me shall not be ashamed. Shall the plunder be taken from the mighty, or the righteous captive escape? But so says YHVH, Even the captives of the warrior shall be taken, and the plunder of the terrifying ones shall be delivered. For I will strive with him who contends with you; and I will save your sons.
And those who oppress you, I will feed with their own flesh: and they shall be drunk by their own blood, as with fresh wine. And all flesh shall know that I YHVH am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Ya'akov (Jacob)."
- Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 49:23:26

Israel shall rule the nations with the mighty one of Ya'akov (Jacob). Whom is the "mighty One of Ya'akov"?...

"His bow abides in strength, and the hands of his arms are made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
- B'reisheet (Genesis) 49:24

And, whom is the Rock Of Israel?...

"And I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the Sea. And all were baptized to Moses in the cloud, and in the Sea, and all ate the same spiritual food. And all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual rock following, and that Rock was Messiah.
- 1Corinthians 10:1-4

Shalom chaverim b'Yeshua HaMashiach,

Reuel

[alon]

Isaiah 49:14-51:3, Haftara for Par’shah Ekev

This haftarah is mostly assurances for the Hebrew nation as they are being called to go back and rebuild Tzion. However most are reluctant to leave what they’ve grown familiar with in their captivity. Like Christians today who are called to leave the church, most will not go. Whether it is leaving a faith or leaving the relative comfort and certainty of captivity, people are hesitant to step out in trust. The Israelites must have looked at the privations they’d suffer on their way back to Tzion. They had to wonder if the Assyrians would actually allow them to rebuild their city. So El Racham- The Compassionate God speaks persuasively to His people.

Tzion, or Yerushalayim is used here as a metaphor for all the exiles. The sense of futility and defeat Tzion feels is that of the entire nation. But through Tzion Elah Yerushalayim- the God of Jerusalem speaks words of comfort and hope to His people. Or Yisro’el- the Light of Israel has not forgotten them.


Isaiah 49:14-15 (JPS) But Zion said: 'The LORD hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.' Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.

Tzion is afraid she has been put away and forgotten. But Elohim Karob- [their] God is [always] Near.

Isaiah 49:16 (JPS) Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.

“I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands;” Miqweh Yisro’el- the Hope of Israel is saying Tzion and the nation are as close to Him as if they were engraved on his palms. Every time He opens His hands, He would see them there. It is an expression of His deep love for His people. “Thy walls are continually before Me” again alludes to the fact they are always on His mind.


Isaiah 49:19-21 (JPS) For thy waste and thy desolate places and thy land that hath been destroyed - surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears: 'The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell.' Then shalt thou say in thy heart: 'Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?'

These verses recall and reverse the earlier prophecies of destruction on Yisro’el:

Isaiah 6:10-11 (KJV) Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,


Isaiah 49:22-23 (JPS) Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up Mine ensign to the peoples, and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy foster-fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their face to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.

This is a huge turnaround in the fortunes of the Hebrew people. The text here repeats the messianic promises of Yeshayahu 11:10-12:3, which is interesting because we’ll soon see another messianic prophecy in our reading.


Isaiah 49:24-26 (JPS) Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the victorious be delivered? But thus saith the LORD: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; and I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine; and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

YHVH Izuz v’Gibbor- The Lord Strong and Mighty is taking back what is His. And the redemption of Yisro’el will be known by all mankind as to who is YHVH Adon Kol Ha’aretz- The Lord, the Lord of All the Earth.


In the rest of the haftarah God speaks to the nation about their plight and feelings of despair.


Isaiah 50:1 (JPS) Thus saith the LORD: Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

Yisro’el married Adonai YHVH at Sinai when she accepted His covenant. However they later spiritually commited adultery when they turned to other gods and worshiped idols. This was a problem for the exiles, because they saw themselves at least metaphorically as both wife and children to Elah Yerushalayim- the God of Jerusalem. As wife, they were worried that if divorced, El Tsaddik- a Righteous God could not take them back:

Jeremiah 3:1 (KJV) They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.

As children they thought they might have been sold and sent away:

2 Kings 4:1 (KJV) Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.

It is not possible for El Emunah- The Faithful God to put away His own as long as there is a remnant with a repentant heart who holds to Him in trusting devotion. I truly believe that while by all appearances EL Ba’al- God the Husband (not the bad Ba’al/ little god thingy) should have put her away with a writ of divorce, no such thing is found on earth or in heaven. The wicked always benefit from the presence of the righteous in their midst.


Isaiah 50:2-3 (JPS) Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish become foul, because there is no water, and die for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.

Aparently HaShem can be frustrated, as He seems to be here. The exiles should have welcomed this message of hope and the chance to return to Ha’Aretz. But relatively few were listening. So El Nekamoth- God That Avengeth reminds then justwho He is. “Dry up the sea” alludes to both the parting of the Red Sea and stories divine combat at creation:

Isaiah 51:9-11 (KJV) Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.


Isaiah 50:4-9 is a messianic prophecy.


Isaiah 50:4-5 (JPS) The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary; He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.

The prophet here speaks in first person, making the dialog more personal. On the one hand he makes of himself a model for the nation to emulate as they fulfill their prophetic role of being a light to the nations. However these next verses prophesy of Immanuel- God With Us as it clearly speaks of Yeshua haMoshiach. This teachability and willingness were hallmarks of Yeshua’s personality as He freely gave of Himself. And He listened to the teachings of Adonai as the Ruach whispered to His heart:

John 8:28 (KJV) Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

He is the Obedient Servant and Savior here foretold. He would come as taught one, meek and obedient to suffering, rejection, and even unto death:

Philippians 2:6-8 (NASB) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied [laid aside His privileges] Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.


Isaiah 50:6-9 (JPS) I gave my back to the smiters, and my checks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore have I not been confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand up together; who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? Behold, they all shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

Yeshua would suffer for our sins. But that is not to say sin doesn’t have consequences for us either, Yeshayahu and all the exiles suffered for the sins of the nation. However the prophet knows the punishment of El Shaphat- God the Judge is just. Like Yeshua would one day do he accepts it and awaits the vindication which is sure to come. Some who listened to his message would also accept both their punishment and the call to go up and rebuild Yerushalayim. Others, to their own loss would reject the call.


Isaiah 50:10 (JPS) Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of His servant? though he walketh in darkness, and hath no light, let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

Trust and obedience are the paving stones on the road to salvation.


Isaiah 50:11 (JPS) Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that gird yourselves with firebrands, begone in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of My hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

Unbelief and disobedience are, not too surprisingly, the material of choice for building the road to destruction.


Even those of us who fear God can become perplexed, bewildered and confused; our way shrouded in darkness. At those times it is tempting to make a torch and light our own fire so we can find our way out of whatever is vexing us. What we should do is wait on the Lord to give us the light we need when we need it. Otherwise we too may “lie down in sorrow.”


Chapter 51 is encouragement for the faithful not to despair. Our haftarah ends with the first of four declarations giving Yisro’el reasons their plight is not without hope:

Isaiah 51:1-3 (JPS) Hearken to Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD; look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many. For the LORD hath comforted Zion; He hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

They are told to look to the example of Avraham and Sarai. They were fewer in number than the remnant who would return, and yet Shub Nephesh- the Renewer of Life multiplied their descendants so that they could no more be numbered than the stars in the sky.

As the people were preparing to leave Babylon and commence the long journey home they needed to strengthen their trust and faith in YHVH Mephalti- The Lord My Deliverer. So HaShem told them first to look back and recall what He had done for them. Look at the call of Avraham, how difficult it was for him to leave Ur and all he knew to follow Or Goyim- the Light of the Nations.

They, and we are a covenant people. Our God cannot break His promises to us. They and we are a redeemed people; and Elohim cares for His own. We, like the exiles need to take the time to review and recall who and what we are. Look back at whence we came and remember what God has done for us. Get back in touch with our spiritual roots. Gelah Raz- the Revealer of Mysteries will then be able to guide and encourage us.

Dan C

Resources: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, FB Meyer, MF Unger, Pastor Ed Cole, My father, Rav S and others.

[alon]

This weeks haftara