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Micah 7:18-20, part of haftara for par'shah Vayelech
Oct 6, 2016 1:26:03 GMT -8
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Post by alon on Oct 6, 2016 1:26:03 GMT -8
Micah 7:18-20 (JPS) Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth the iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in mercy. He will again have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, as Thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
This gives us a great degree of hope, as we see here that Elohim delights in mercy. He is faithful. When we come to Him and confess our sins, He will pardon us.
Psalm 103:12 (ESV) as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Jeremiah 31:34 (ESV) And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Acts 3:19 (ESV) Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
This passage is reminiscent of the voice of the remnant of Yisro’el in the end-times, as portrayed by the prophet who most identified with her:
Daniel 9:3-5,19 (ESV) Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. … O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Like Daniel, those who kept faith, trusting in the Lord’s faithfulness to restore the nation in time; those people had a thirst that could only be quenched one way:
John 7:37-38 (ESV) On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Daniel and those of Yisro’el who were faithful looked forward to a Messiah from and to their nation. We today look back in faith to Yeshua as that Messiah. But we must look back with the same difficult trust of those in exhile in Daniel’s day. I say difficult, because to me at least, trust doesn’t come easy. And then it must have been very difficult to trust as they were taken into captivity and removed from their land by a pagan nation.
Another thing that is often difficult for me to trust the Almighty with is forgiveness. How can He forgive some of the things I’ve done? I can’t forgive myself; how can a righteous God forgive me? Yet when a stone is thrown into the ocean and sinks to the bottom, it cannot be recovered. And when sin is forgiven, like that stone which is lost to us and should be forgotten, our Elohim never recalls it either. Looking back on my life this past year, I am truly astonished at how much time I’ve spent trying to dive the ocean’s depths to recapture my sins for which I’ve already repented and been forgiven. Not that I want them or consciously try to regain them. But the enemy knows just where to thrust the knife, and in frustration and anger the self-recriminations come flooding back. Something I intend to prayerfully work on in the coming year; and quite honestly, probably in the next year as well. It’s a process, and I’m not nearly as bad as I was the year before, baruch Hashem. But I am by nature as stiff necked as any Jew, and it will take time. … Probably a lot of time. However as I read this passage, I am filled with a sensation of peace and hope.
Dan C
Refrences: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, MF Unger, my father, Rav S and others
The haftara: theloveofgod.proboards.com/thread/4059/hoseah-micah-haftara-shah-vayel#ixzz4MILiXJIt
This gives us a great degree of hope, as we see here that Elohim delights in mercy. He is faithful. When we come to Him and confess our sins, He will pardon us.
Psalm 103:12 (ESV) as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Jeremiah 31:34 (ESV) And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Acts 3:19 (ESV) Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,
This passage is reminiscent of the voice of the remnant of Yisro’el in the end-times, as portrayed by the prophet who most identified with her:
Daniel 9:3-5,19 (ESV) Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. … O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
Like Daniel, those who kept faith, trusting in the Lord’s faithfulness to restore the nation in time; those people had a thirst that could only be quenched one way:
John 7:37-38 (ESV) On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Daniel and those of Yisro’el who were faithful looked forward to a Messiah from and to their nation. We today look back in faith to Yeshua as that Messiah. But we must look back with the same difficult trust of those in exhile in Daniel’s day. I say difficult, because to me at least, trust doesn’t come easy. And then it must have been very difficult to trust as they were taken into captivity and removed from their land by a pagan nation.
Another thing that is often difficult for me to trust the Almighty with is forgiveness. How can He forgive some of the things I’ve done? I can’t forgive myself; how can a righteous God forgive me? Yet when a stone is thrown into the ocean and sinks to the bottom, it cannot be recovered. And when sin is forgiven, like that stone which is lost to us and should be forgotten, our Elohim never recalls it either. Looking back on my life this past year, I am truly astonished at how much time I’ve spent trying to dive the ocean’s depths to recapture my sins for which I’ve already repented and been forgiven. Not that I want them or consciously try to regain them. But the enemy knows just where to thrust the knife, and in frustration and anger the self-recriminations come flooding back. Something I intend to prayerfully work on in the coming year; and quite honestly, probably in the next year as well. It’s a process, and I’m not nearly as bad as I was the year before, baruch Hashem. But I am by nature as stiff necked as any Jew, and it will take time. … Probably a lot of time. However as I read this passage, I am filled with a sensation of peace and hope.
Dan C
Refrences: JPS Study TNK, W Wiersbe, MF Unger, my father, Rav S and others
The haftara: theloveofgod.proboards.com/thread/4059/hoseah-micah-haftara-shah-vayel#ixzz4MILiXJIt
