- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Sept 4, 2018 21:08:02 GMT -8
This week’s readings:
Date of reading- 8 September, 2018/ 28 Elul/ 6-28-5779
Name of Par’shah- 51. Nitzavim, Standing
Par’shah- Deu 29:9-30:20
Haftara- Isaiah 61:10- 63:9
Brit Chadashah- Romans 9:30-10:13; Hebrews 12:14-15
D’rash: The second part of our par’shah and the haftara both give words of encouragement. However the first half of the par’shah is a warning to all people who would sojourn with Israel, both Jews and non-Jews:
Deuteronomy 29:10-12 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today,
The Lord, having made a covenant with them now moves to what traditionally is the last phase of a covenant in near-eastern thought, the imprecations, or those things which will befall those who break the covenant:
Deuteronomy 29:18-23 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you … one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ … The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. And … your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath—
Let’s talk about salt in Hebrew culture for a moment. In Biblical Hebrew salt is מלח melach. Salt was thought to be an indestructible material, thus its use here to represent Elohim’s judgement and curses. We can no more avoid the consequences for our actions than we can destroy salt. Now in our techno-world we know anything can be destroyed, or broken down into its elements- here Na and Cl. But as always, we must read with the understanding of those to whom this originally was spoken- just salt:
Matthew 5:13 (YLT) `Ye are the “to halas teis geis” salt of the land, but if the salt may lose savour, in what shall it be salted? for nothing is it good henceforth, except to be cast without, and to be trodden down by men.
Note it says “salt of the land,” not of the world. HaEretz, Yisroel. Israel was to be a light unto the world, an example to the nations. Observe the similarity to the word malach, or messenger. To the Hebrews, salt losing its’ savour sounded ridiculous, but the people of the Living God losing their message is to HaShem just as ridiculous. And His people without their message, their example to the world is about as useless as denatured salt, a pile of Na and one of Cl.
Salt was an important element in many covenants due to its usefulness, and its indestructibility symbolizing permanence:
2 Chronicles 13:5 (NASB) Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a ברית מלח berit melach covenant of salt?
The mention of a b’rit melach here emphasizes God’s faithfulness. It is a tangible, tastable representation of the permanence of God’s promises and covenants. This is why whenever He pronounces curses and calamities for disobedience, God can always give us a message of encouragement:
Deuteronomy 30:1-12 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.
Isaiah 62:1-2 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
So when the nation is restored, so is their message; their example. But how would we or an ancient one destroy an indestructible element? What would make salt lose its saltiness in the first place?
We’ve seen in our reading that mixing our worship with that of other gods, or allowing those who worship other gods to live among us will dilute the message to the point it becomes meaningless. Today we hear this idea praised in politics and the media, and even in our churches and synagogues as “tolerance.” And before this the watchword was “compromise.” I have long had a saying, “Never compromise with evil.” I think I must now amend it to say “Never tolerate evil.” Because whether through compromise or tolerance, we allow evil to exist, to fester and grow until the message is diluted and it is difficult to detect. The only way to get back that saltiness, that witness to a lost world is through a process of refinement, usually involving being passed through the flames of exile and curses until we come to our senses.
Mekorot: Biblical quotes from the ESV unless otherwise noted, JPS Study TNK, Rav S, my father and others
Date of reading- 8 September, 2018/ 28 Elul/ 6-28-5779
Name of Par’shah- 51. Nitzavim, Standing
Par’shah- Deu 29:9-30:20
Haftara- Isaiah 61:10- 63:9
Brit Chadashah- Romans 9:30-10:13; Hebrews 12:14-15
D’rash: The second part of our par’shah and the haftara both give words of encouragement. However the first half of the par’shah is a warning to all people who would sojourn with Israel, both Jews and non-Jews:
Deuteronomy 29:10-12 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today,
The Lord, having made a covenant with them now moves to what traditionally is the last phase of a covenant in near-eastern thought, the imprecations, or those things which will befall those who break the covenant:
Deuteronomy 29:18-23 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you … one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ … The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. And … your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath—
Let’s talk about salt in Hebrew culture for a moment. In Biblical Hebrew salt is מלח melach. Salt was thought to be an indestructible material, thus its use here to represent Elohim’s judgement and curses. We can no more avoid the consequences for our actions than we can destroy salt. Now in our techno-world we know anything can be destroyed, or broken down into its elements- here Na and Cl. But as always, we must read with the understanding of those to whom this originally was spoken- just salt:
Matthew 5:13 (YLT) `Ye are the “to halas teis geis” salt of the land, but if the salt may lose savour, in what shall it be salted? for nothing is it good henceforth, except to be cast without, and to be trodden down by men.
Note it says “salt of the land,” not of the world. HaEretz, Yisroel. Israel was to be a light unto the world, an example to the nations. Observe the similarity to the word malach, or messenger. To the Hebrews, salt losing its’ savour sounded ridiculous, but the people of the Living God losing their message is to HaShem just as ridiculous. And His people without their message, their example to the world is about as useless as denatured salt, a pile of Na and one of Cl.
Salt was an important element in many covenants due to its usefulness, and its indestructibility symbolizing permanence:
2 Chronicles 13:5 (NASB) Do you not know that the Lord God of Israel gave the rule over Israel forever to David and his sons by a ברית מלח berit melach covenant of salt?
The mention of a b’rit melach here emphasizes God’s faithfulness. It is a tangible, tastable representation of the permanence of God’s promises and covenants. This is why whenever He pronounces curses and calamities for disobedience, God can always give us a message of encouragement:
Deuteronomy 30:1-12 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.
Isaiah 62:1-2 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
So when the nation is restored, so is their message; their example. But how would we or an ancient one destroy an indestructible element? What would make salt lose its saltiness in the first place?
We’ve seen in our reading that mixing our worship with that of other gods, or allowing those who worship other gods to live among us will dilute the message to the point it becomes meaningless. Today we hear this idea praised in politics and the media, and even in our churches and synagogues as “tolerance.” And before this the watchword was “compromise.” I have long had a saying, “Never compromise with evil.” I think I must now amend it to say “Never tolerate evil.” Because whether through compromise or tolerance, we allow evil to exist, to fester and grow until the message is diluted and it is difficult to detect. The only way to get back that saltiness, that witness to a lost world is through a process of refinement, usually involving being passed through the flames of exile and curses until we come to our senses.
Mekorot: Biblical quotes from the ESV unless otherwise noted, JPS Study TNK, Rav S, my father and others
