- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Jul 14, 2018 5:59:43 GMT -8
This week is a double par'shah reading on non leap years. Here is the second:
This week’s readings:
Date of reading- July 14, 2018/2 Av/5-2-5778
Name of Par’shah- Massei- Journies
Par’shah- Num 33:1 – 36:13
Haftara- Jeremiah 2:4-28, 3:4, 4:1-2
Brit Chadashah- Mark 11:12-23
D’rash: Our par’shah starts out with an overview of the Hebrews journey from Mitzrayim to the Yardan. We read:
Numbers 33:4 (NASB) while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had struck down among them. The Lord had also executed judgments on their gods.
Where do we see this? Well, for a start many of the things they were cursed with- such as the Nile, frogs, bugs and locusts, were things they worshiped. They also worshiped their own wealth and might, so their livestock was diseased and they suffered boils. Hail and darkness showed them who the true God of the heavens was. And the firstborn child represents their continuation, their progeny and sufficiency as a nation.
Later, when they went to posses the land, they would be called upon to execute judgements on the gods of the land they were to inherit:
Numbers 33:51-53 (NASB) “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
They were then given the instructions for possessing and apportioning the land. This land was a wedding gift for God’s bride, Israel. However Israel behaved wantonly. She went after other gods, and so we see in our haftara God is giving Israel a sefer of divorce. I want to note here that Judah was never given a sefer of divorce, so those commentators, priests and pastors who say He divorced the Jewish people are dead wrong.
Jeremiah 2:4 (NASB) Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.
The call to attention format used here opens a formal public address. The rest reads like a list of reasons for a husband seeking divorce in a courtroom. It includes a verse however that is difficult to understand. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone tackle this, nor can I find any commentary that doesn’t just skip over it:
Jeremiah 2:11 (NASB) “Has a nation changed gods
When they were not gods?
But My people have changed their glory
For that which does not profit.
The first part of this actually reads:
הַהֵימִיר גּוֹי אֱלֹהִים וְהֵמָּה לֹא אֱלֹהִים
has changed a nation its gods and they were not gods (literal translation from my Interlinear)
As we’ve covered before, ancient near-eastern people worshiped the gods of the land in which they lived. So when a people were displaced, as by the Assyrians, they actually did change gods. They worshiped the gods of their new land. I believe this verse to be referring to this practice. It is not a question, but rather a statement. Biblical Hebrew does not use punctuation, so that this is a question is inferred by the translator and, I believe, inaccurate.
Understand this is just my view and not that of any scholar. It’s just always intrigued me that I can’t find a teaching on this; or even a brief interpretation. So there’s my effort to amend the deficit.
The Hebrews were supposed to be different. One of the things that set them apart was regardless where they were settled they worshiped El Elohe Yisroel. The final verse in our haftara also alludes to the practice of having gods of the land, I think:
Jeremiah 2:28 (NASB) “But where are your gods
Which you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you
In the time of your trouble;
For according to the number of your cities
Are your gods, O Judah.
Israel and Judah both had polluted their inheritance by worshiping the gods of the Canaanites, whose land they were given. Moreover they still worshiped the gods of Mitzrayim as well as the peoples on their borders.
God’s warning to us on this type of behavior is clear:
Jeremiah 2:12 (NASB) “Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the Lord.
1 Corinthians 10:20 (NASB) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
1 Corinthians 10:14 (ESV) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Mark 7:7 (ESV) in vain do they worship me
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
Romans 8:7 (ESV) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
Mekorot: JPS STUDY TNK; Green Interlinear Bible; El Shaddai Hebrew English Bible; Ben Volman, Director of the Toronto Messianic Centre; Rav S, my father and others
This week’s readings:
Date of reading- July 14, 2018/2 Av/5-2-5778
Name of Par’shah- Massei- Journies
Par’shah- Num 33:1 – 36:13
Haftara- Jeremiah 2:4-28, 3:4, 4:1-2
Brit Chadashah- Mark 11:12-23
D’rash: Our par’shah starts out with an overview of the Hebrews journey from Mitzrayim to the Yardan. We read:
Numbers 33:4 (NASB) while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom the Lord had struck down among them. The Lord had also executed judgments on their gods.
Where do we see this? Well, for a start many of the things they were cursed with- such as the Nile, frogs, bugs and locusts, were things they worshiped. They also worshiped their own wealth and might, so their livestock was diseased and they suffered boils. Hail and darkness showed them who the true God of the heavens was. And the firstborn child represents their continuation, their progeny and sufficiency as a nation.
Later, when they went to posses the land, they would be called upon to execute judgements on the gods of the land they were to inherit:
Numbers 33:51-53 (NASB) “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.
They were then given the instructions for possessing and apportioning the land. This land was a wedding gift for God’s bride, Israel. However Israel behaved wantonly. She went after other gods, and so we see in our haftara God is giving Israel a sefer of divorce. I want to note here that Judah was never given a sefer of divorce, so those commentators, priests and pastors who say He divorced the Jewish people are dead wrong.
Jeremiah 2:4 (NASB) Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.
The call to attention format used here opens a formal public address. The rest reads like a list of reasons for a husband seeking divorce in a courtroom. It includes a verse however that is difficult to understand. In fact, I’ve never heard anyone tackle this, nor can I find any commentary that doesn’t just skip over it:
Jeremiah 2:11 (NASB) “Has a nation changed gods
When they were not gods?
But My people have changed their glory
For that which does not profit.
The first part of this actually reads:
הַהֵימִיר גּוֹי אֱלֹהִים וְהֵמָּה לֹא אֱלֹהִים
has changed a nation its gods and they were not gods (literal translation from my Interlinear)
As we’ve covered before, ancient near-eastern people worshiped the gods of the land in which they lived. So when a people were displaced, as by the Assyrians, they actually did change gods. They worshiped the gods of their new land. I believe this verse to be referring to this practice. It is not a question, but rather a statement. Biblical Hebrew does not use punctuation, so that this is a question is inferred by the translator and, I believe, inaccurate.
Understand this is just my view and not that of any scholar. It’s just always intrigued me that I can’t find a teaching on this; or even a brief interpretation. So there’s my effort to amend the deficit.
The Hebrews were supposed to be different. One of the things that set them apart was regardless where they were settled they worshiped El Elohe Yisroel. The final verse in our haftara also alludes to the practice of having gods of the land, I think:
Jeremiah 2:28 (NASB) “But where are your gods
Which you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you
In the time of your trouble;
For according to the number of your cities
Are your gods, O Judah.
Israel and Judah both had polluted their inheritance by worshiping the gods of the Canaanites, whose land they were given. Moreover they still worshiped the gods of Mitzrayim as well as the peoples on their borders.
God’s warning to us on this type of behavior is clear:
Jeremiah 2:12 (NASB) “Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the Lord.
1 Corinthians 10:20 (NASB) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.
1 Corinthians 10:14 (ESV) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Mark 7:7 (ESV) in vain do they worship me
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
Romans 8:7 (ESV) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.
Mekorot: JPS STUDY TNK; Green Interlinear Bible; El Shaddai Hebrew English Bible; Ben Volman, Director of the Toronto Messianic Centre; Rav S, my father and others
