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Post by alon on Oct 24, 2015 23:00:48 GMT -8
Psalm 119:28 (ESV) My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
The psalmist writing “according to your word,” was referring to the words in this week’s haftarah from Isaiah 40:27-41:16.
Isaiah 40:28-29 & 31(ESV) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. … but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
The JPS says “those who trust in the LORD” and in the notes it does say this implies patiently waiting, and hope.
Many times Christian churches present this as an end times prophecy. I am sure tis is true, however it is for us today just as for all His people in all times. The Judean exiles are discouraged, lamenting that God doesn’t pay them any attention any more. The prophets reply is that God does hear; He never grows tired.
He then moves on to a long speech reasoning that God can and will redeem His people. In 41:1-4, God challenges the nations, asking if any of them, or their gods, has done what He has. Having no response, the nations are terrified. Vs. 2 talks about a “victor from the east,” which is Cyrus of Persia. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) had prophesied that Babylonia would fall after its victory over Judah (Is 10:5-27, 13:1-14:27, 21:1-10 … see also Jer 29:10, 30:11; Zeph 2:15). The God of Yisroel predicted with complete accuracy the fall of Babylonia, and He used a pagan king to effect His purposes. No other gods could do this, and they were helpless to stop it.
The prophet may also have spoken words of comfort in memories of the past. Avraham also came from the east to conquer nations and kings. Genesis 14 teaches that Avraham had 318 men, with who he battled the armies of five kings. Avraham did not fight with human strength alone. As this week’s Haftorah reading tells us:
Isaiah 41:4 (YLT) Who hath wrought and done, Calling the generations from the first? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last I [am] He.
Isaiah encourages Judea, and us, to be inspired by the story of Avraham at war. Just as He helped Avraham miraculously achieve victory, God will help His people in all times and circumstances. God called out to the “descendants of Abraham” (Isaiah 41:8) and told them:
Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
That is why the psalmist could ask God to strengthen him according to His Word: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Is 40:29) It’s a promise to you and to me and to anyone else who calls out sincerely to God.
This all should (and did) have a profound effect on the nations. They could not depend on their gods, and must know of the superiority of the God of Yisroel. You might expect their response to be to acknowledge and worship YHVH. But men don’t change:
Isaiah 41:7 (ESV) The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
They just make another idol, thinking this will save them. Men innately understand their need for salvation, both temporally and spiritually. Why then do we look to other idols when the God of Avraham is demonstrably superior? Today we look to science, believing in all manner of theories put to us as fact; each more idiotic than the last. As soon as one theory is debunked, another grows out of it to beguile the foolish, until it too is debunked. Science may make our lives easier, but it will not save us.
The rest of this haftarah is dedicated to telling us what God will save us- Elohim Tzeva’ot, YHVH, the God of Yisroel; and none other. We can take great comfort in this passage.
Isaiah 41:9 (CJB) I have taken you from the ends of the earth, summoned you from its most distant parts and said to you, ‘You are my servant’ — I have chosen you, not rejected you. This can give us hope when the forces of evil seem to ban together against us.
Psalm 94:21-22 (CJB) They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But Adonai has become my stronghold, my God is my rock of refuge.
When situations appear hopeless, and there seems no way out, the psalmist encourages us to trust God. When things are good, trust is easy. It’s quite another thing when livelihoods and even lives are put at risk. This Psalm reminds us to trust, even in the most hopeless of situations. In this patient trust we see the worst situations reversed and God’s great power revealed. “We don’t need to know how God will take care of us; we only need to believe that He can” (Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein).
Today across the Mideast we see God's power revealed in other ways. People are beheaded and worse for their faith on a daily basis. Others are in imprisoned for years in the most deplorable conditions, under threat of death and continual torture. Yet they do not renounce their trust in Yeshua. In these things too God is revealed. Only as God renews their strength can people face these things and not reject Him. It is said so often it is trite, but very true. Sometimes He saves us from the fire; but as in Daniel 3, He sometimes walks with us through the fire. So take heart, and know Who you serve, and Who it is that will deliver you.
Dan C
Sources: JPS Study Tnk, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, my father and other studies.
The psalmist writing “according to your word,” was referring to the words in this week’s haftarah from Isaiah 40:27-41:16.
Isaiah 40:28-29 & 31(ESV) Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. … but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
The JPS says “those who trust in the LORD” and in the notes it does say this implies patiently waiting, and hope.
Many times Christian churches present this as an end times prophecy. I am sure tis is true, however it is for us today just as for all His people in all times. The Judean exiles are discouraged, lamenting that God doesn’t pay them any attention any more. The prophets reply is that God does hear; He never grows tired.
He then moves on to a long speech reasoning that God can and will redeem His people. In 41:1-4, God challenges the nations, asking if any of them, or their gods, has done what He has. Having no response, the nations are terrified. Vs. 2 talks about a “victor from the east,” which is Cyrus of Persia. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) had prophesied that Babylonia would fall after its victory over Judah (Is 10:5-27, 13:1-14:27, 21:1-10 … see also Jer 29:10, 30:11; Zeph 2:15). The God of Yisroel predicted with complete accuracy the fall of Babylonia, and He used a pagan king to effect His purposes. No other gods could do this, and they were helpless to stop it.
The prophet may also have spoken words of comfort in memories of the past. Avraham also came from the east to conquer nations and kings. Genesis 14 teaches that Avraham had 318 men, with who he battled the armies of five kings. Avraham did not fight with human strength alone. As this week’s Haftorah reading tells us:
Isaiah 41:4 (YLT) Who hath wrought and done, Calling the generations from the first? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last I [am] He.
Isaiah encourages Judea, and us, to be inspired by the story of Avraham at war. Just as He helped Avraham miraculously achieve victory, God will help His people in all times and circumstances. God called out to the “descendants of Abraham” (Isaiah 41:8) and told them:
Isaiah 41:10 (ESV) fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
That is why the psalmist could ask God to strengthen him according to His Word: “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” (Is 40:29) It’s a promise to you and to me and to anyone else who calls out sincerely to God.
This all should (and did) have a profound effect on the nations. They could not depend on their gods, and must know of the superiority of the God of Yisroel. You might expect their response to be to acknowledge and worship YHVH. But men don’t change:
Isaiah 41:7 (ESV) The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
They just make another idol, thinking this will save them. Men innately understand their need for salvation, both temporally and spiritually. Why then do we look to other idols when the God of Avraham is demonstrably superior? Today we look to science, believing in all manner of theories put to us as fact; each more idiotic than the last. As soon as one theory is debunked, another grows out of it to beguile the foolish, until it too is debunked. Science may make our lives easier, but it will not save us.
The rest of this haftarah is dedicated to telling us what God will save us- Elohim Tzeva’ot, YHVH, the God of Yisroel; and none other. We can take great comfort in this passage.
Isaiah 41:9 (CJB) I have taken you from the ends of the earth, summoned you from its most distant parts and said to you, ‘You are my servant’ — I have chosen you, not rejected you. This can give us hope when the forces of evil seem to ban together against us.
Psalm 94:21-22 (CJB) They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But Adonai has become my stronghold, my God is my rock of refuge.
When situations appear hopeless, and there seems no way out, the psalmist encourages us to trust God. When things are good, trust is easy. It’s quite another thing when livelihoods and even lives are put at risk. This Psalm reminds us to trust, even in the most hopeless of situations. In this patient trust we see the worst situations reversed and God’s great power revealed. “We don’t need to know how God will take care of us; we only need to believe that He can” (Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein).
Today across the Mideast we see God's power revealed in other ways. People are beheaded and worse for their faith on a daily basis. Others are in imprisoned for years in the most deplorable conditions, under threat of death and continual torture. Yet they do not renounce their trust in Yeshua. In these things too God is revealed. Only as God renews their strength can people face these things and not reject Him. It is said so often it is trite, but very true. Sometimes He saves us from the fire; but as in Daniel 3, He sometimes walks with us through the fire. So take heart, and know Who you serve, and Who it is that will deliver you.
Dan C
Sources: JPS Study Tnk, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, my father and other studies.
