Post by alon on Jun 19, 2018 10:59:55 GMT -8
This week’s readings:
Date of reading- June 23, 2018/10 Tammuz/4-10-5778
Name of Par’shah- 39. Chukat- Statute
Par’shah- Numbers 19:1 – 22:1
Haftara- Judges 11:1-33
Brit Chadashah- John 2:1-22, 4:3-30, 12:27-50
D’rash: Water is the obvious connection between our
reading and probably the most important of our readings from the בְּשׂוֹרָה besoraot.
Numbers 20:8,10-13 (NASB) “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” … and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” Those were the waters of Meribah [contention], where the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
The reading from Yochanon is about the “Woman at the Well;” a Samaritan who Yeshua broke all convention to talk to:
John 4:27 (NASB) At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?”
I think His talmidim were getting used to Yeshua’s breaking with some cultural norms by now. However to understand what we are reading, we must first reflect that Rabbinic Judaism as we know it today did not yet exist. Christianity was some 200-300 yrs from its’ birth, and Yeshua was still establishing His following. We need to divest ourselves of contemporary ideas or we’ll miss the rich texture and the nuances of this encounter.
Yochanan 4:5-6 (OJB) Therefore, he comes into a city of Shomron being called Sh’khem near the field which Ya’akov Avinu had given to Yosef Ben Ya’akov. [Gn 33:19; 48:22; Josh 24:32] Now a be’er (well) of Ya’akov was there. Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, having become weary from his journey was sitting there at the be’er. The sha’ah (hour, time) was about hashishit (the sixth, noon).
Shomron is Hebrew for Sumaria. It is a mountainous region of Israel which today is more commonly known as “The West Bank.” The Samaritans thought themselves Jews. In fact, they thought they were the true Jews. However the Jews almost universally disliked the Samaritans and called them “Half-Jews,” a derogatory term indicating that they were not Jews at all, their bloodlines having been polluted in the Assyrian captivity.
Samaritans and Jews, and indeed even different sects of Judaism saw each other as heretics who did not teach God’s truth correctly. This is important to understand interactions between these disparate communities. All are competing to be seen as the ones with the truth of HaShem, because the ones with the truth would inherit the kingdom.
This was a time of political maneuvering and separation from even other Jews. Many were looking for the Messiah, some wanting him to lead revolt. Hellenistic influence was very strong with some sects and not so much with others. Of course Yeshua’s Judaism was the authoritative Judaism of HaShem. Matthew especially, but all the gospels carry on this theme that they were the ones who properly held to the Jewish traditions. However the entire fabric of Jewish society shaped what was preserved as gospel, and it shapes our understanding today.
Now there is nothing about water in the theme of our haftara. But consider it in light of what we’ve just noted in the Par’shah:
Judges 11:1-33 (NASB) Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead begat Jephthah. Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob [good]; and worthless fellows gathered themselves to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
Yet Jeptha became the 9th judge of Yisro’el. I am not saying that the Samaritans were the “true Israelites.” However this conversation took place at a time when Yeshua had said He was sent to the Jews:
Matthew 15:24 (NASB) But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The Samaritans, like some Jews of the time and many Meshiachim today thought the only “canon” was. They eschewed other religious writings; this unlike other Jews and Meshiachim. However their had been rewritten with errors, the most egregious of which was it listed Mt. Gerazim as the true location of HaShem’s holy mount and the Temple. To this day Samaritans sacrifice on Mt. Gerazim.
Today of course Jewish bloodlines have been almost universally polluted. Jewish DNA of the Ultra Orthodox is negligible if even present at all, they being later converts from eastern-European Gentiles. Yet the Samaritans are still thought of as outside Judaism, another, different Judaism, if you will. Probably not much better than we Messianic’s are thought of.
Joshua 24:32 (ESV) As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
Jewish readers would be clued in to the fact this conversation occurs next to Joseph’s burial place. This connects the Samaritan woman’s story with that of Joseph. So she is not a complete outsider, but an Israelite, if not a “true” Israelite. She is most likely a descendant of Manassah.
John 4:7-9 (NASB) There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Jews did not interact with Samaritans. They considered each other tamei, unclean. Sharing drinking utensils would have rendered them both defiled.
John 4:10-12 (NASB) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”
Note she now identifies with her ancestor Ya’akov, confirming she is, or at least thinks of herself as an Israelite. Many use this text as evidence the gospel is expanding to Gentiles. However the implications of her being a descendant of Ya’akov are that this is simply false. The Samaritans, “half-Jews” as they were, were still of the “lost sheep of Israel.”
The TNK often uses the term “living water,” which can be understood two ways; fresh, not stagnant, clean, moving water. It is also the water required of a mikvah, giving it spiritual significance as well.
Date of reading- June 23, 2018/10 Tammuz/4-10-5778
Name of Par’shah- 39. Chukat- Statute
Par’shah- Numbers 19:1 – 22:1
Haftara- Judges 11:1-33
Brit Chadashah- John 2:1-22, 4:3-30, 12:27-50
D’rash: Water is the obvious connection between our
reading and probably the most important of our readings from the בְּשׂוֹרָה besoraot. Numbers 20:8,10-13 (NASB) “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” … and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” Those were the waters of Meribah [contention], where the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.
The reading from Yochanon is about the “Woman at the Well;” a Samaritan who Yeshua broke all convention to talk to:
John 4:27 (NASB) At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?”
I think His talmidim were getting used to Yeshua’s breaking with some cultural norms by now. However to understand what we are reading, we must first reflect that Rabbinic Judaism as we know it today did not yet exist. Christianity was some 200-300 yrs from its’ birth, and Yeshua was still establishing His following. We need to divest ourselves of contemporary ideas or we’ll miss the rich texture and the nuances of this encounter.
Yochanan 4:5-6 (OJB) Therefore, he comes into a city of Shomron being called Sh’khem near the field which Ya’akov Avinu had given to Yosef Ben Ya’akov. [Gn 33:19; 48:22; Josh 24:32] Now a be’er (well) of Ya’akov was there. Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, having become weary from his journey was sitting there at the be’er. The sha’ah (hour, time) was about hashishit (the sixth, noon).
Shomron is Hebrew for Sumaria. It is a mountainous region of Israel which today is more commonly known as “The West Bank.” The Samaritans thought themselves Jews. In fact, they thought they were the true Jews. However the Jews almost universally disliked the Samaritans and called them “Half-Jews,” a derogatory term indicating that they were not Jews at all, their bloodlines having been polluted in the Assyrian captivity.
Samaritans and Jews, and indeed even different sects of Judaism saw each other as heretics who did not teach God’s truth correctly. This is important to understand interactions between these disparate communities. All are competing to be seen as the ones with the truth of HaShem, because the ones with the truth would inherit the kingdom.
This was a time of political maneuvering and separation from even other Jews. Many were looking for the Messiah, some wanting him to lead revolt. Hellenistic influence was very strong with some sects and not so much with others. Of course Yeshua’s Judaism was the authoritative Judaism of HaShem. Matthew especially, but all the gospels carry on this theme that they were the ones who properly held to the Jewish traditions. However the entire fabric of Jewish society shaped what was preserved as gospel, and it shapes our understanding today.
Now there is nothing about water in the theme of our haftara. But consider it in light of what we’ve just noted in the Par’shah:
Judges 11:1-33 (NASB) Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot. And Gilead begat Jephthah. Gilead’s wife bore him sons; and when his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.” So Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob [good]; and worthless fellows gathered themselves to Jephthah, and they went out with him.
Yet Jeptha became the 9th judge of Yisro’el. I am not saying that the Samaritans were the “true Israelites.” However this conversation took place at a time when Yeshua had said He was sent to the Jews:
Matthew 15:24 (NASB) But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
The Samaritans, like some Jews of the time and many Meshiachim today thought the only “canon” was
. They eschewed other religious writings; this unlike other Jews and Meshiachim. However their had been rewritten with errors, the most egregious of which was it listed Mt. Gerazim as the true location of HaShem’s holy mount and the Temple. To this day Samaritans sacrifice on Mt. Gerazim.Today of course Jewish bloodlines have been almost universally polluted. Jewish DNA of the Ultra Orthodox is negligible if even present at all, they being later converts from eastern-European Gentiles. Yet the Samaritans are still thought of as outside Judaism, another, different Judaism, if you will. Probably not much better than we Messianic’s are thought of.
Joshua 24:32 (ESV) As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.
Jewish readers would be clued in to the fact this conversation occurs next to Joseph’s burial place. This connects the Samaritan woman’s story with that of Joseph. So she is not a complete outsider, but an Israelite, if not a “true” Israelite. She is most likely a descendant of Manassah.
John 4:7-9 (NASB) There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
Jews did not interact with Samaritans. They considered each other tamei, unclean. Sharing drinking utensils would have rendered them both defiled.
John 4:10-12 (NASB) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”
Note she now identifies with her ancestor Ya’akov, confirming she is, or at least thinks of herself as an Israelite. Many use this text as evidence the gospel is expanding to Gentiles. However the implications of her being a descendant of Ya’akov are that this is simply false. The Samaritans, “half-Jews” as they were, were still of the “lost sheep of Israel.”
The TNK often uses the term “living water,” which can be understood two ways; fresh, not stagnant, clean, moving water. It is also the water required of a mikvah, giving it spiritual significance as well.
, resolved to divorce her quietly.
