Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, November 8, 2019
(Early) Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Shalom Chaverim. (hello or goodbye friends) When I was growing up in the synagogue on 9th Avenue in Pensacola, FL we were dismissed from Sunday school with the following song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImAIzsLUq5g When we sang it, we only sang in Hebrew. The English words were added more recently. Also, we did not sing it in a round as on this recording.
Rabbi Trail: Last night I completed my 9 days of travel that started on Tuesday, October 29th. I’m so glad to be home and many thanks to those of you who were praying for me as I traveled. For the last 3 days I’ve been attending the semi-annual Tikkun American Apostolic Team meeting in Frederick, MD. There was great Kesher from beginning to end. At one point our discussions became heated because we are passionate, but we never crossed over into acrimony. The “Webster” in me pops out every so often. End RT.
Extra Rabbi Trail: Kesher is a Hebrew word without a great English equivalent, so it will take me many words to explain the meaning of one word. Kesher is a closeness of relationship that might be best described through a Greek word, “koinonia.” It is a close fellowship experienced as the power of the presence of God binds us together. End ERT.
I can’t believe the writer’s block I’ve been going through for the last week or so. Before writing this I read Thursday’s portion of The Daily Bible NIV this morning (I’m writing Friday’s RR on Thursday morning). There must be 100 ideas in it for future RRs. Here is the first thing that came to mind.
Who among us doesn’t know the Hebrew phrase “Baruch Haba B’shem Adonai?” And the meaning of the words “Blessed (is He Who comes) the coming in (the) name (of the) Lord.” We have to add the words in parentheses to get an effective English translation because they don’t really appear in the Hebrew.
And yet, we have just missed the fact that this is idiomatic. An idiom is the use of words that have a meaning other than the literal meaning of the words themselves. “Baruch Haba” is how we welcome one man. It doesn’t mean “blessed (is) the coming” literally, it means “welcome” figuratively.
How is it used in the Bible? Psalm 118:26 is quoted in Mathew 23:39, Mark 11:9 and Luke 19:38 and other places. I want to focus where Yeshua, Himself, is speaking this in Matthew 23:39 “For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Following these words, in Matthew 24, Yeshua teaches His disciples about the end times. These words of welcome are necessary and connected to the return of Yeshua. When Yeshua left this world (at the crucifixion), He was not welcomed. Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, One from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Why would we turn from despising and rejecting Yeshua to welcoming Him? I believe that the situation will become so unwinable (now I’m making up words) and desperate in Israel and throughout the world (possibly from a nuclear armed Iran) that all Israel will cry out to Yeshua, “Hoshiana,” that is, “Save us now!” In fact, in Psalm 118 they are connected. (And in other places too.)
Then He will appear in the clouds. Revelation 1:7 “Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of Him. Yes, amen!”
We will welcome Yeshua back into this earth. He will return in victory and take up His holy throne in Jerusalem. Hallelujah and amen.
Week 45
Memory Verse: Romans 12:1 I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice—holy, acceptable to God—which is your spiritual service. 2 Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
221 11/04 Monday: Romans 7-8
222 11/05 Tuesday: Romans 9-10
223 11/06 Wednesday: Romans 11-12
224 11/07 Thursday: Romans 13-14
* 225 11/08 Friday: Romans 15-16
Question of the day: What’s this Paul is writing? Romans 15:8 For I declare that Messiah has become a servant to the circumcised… 9 and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy.
Isn’t sibling rivalry undesirable and unbecoming the character of believers? Here we are at the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul has written much. Chapters 6,7, and 8 call God’s people to separate themselves from sin. Chapters 9,10, and 11 put believing and non-believing Israel into proper focus. In chapters 12, 13, and 14 Paul is writing to bring all of us (Jewish and non-Jewish into right holy order.
Now in Chapter 15 Paul is calling on all for the inclusion of the other. To both the circumcised (Jews) and to the non-Jews (Gentiles) he says… Romans 15:5 Now may the God of patience and encouragement grant you to be like-minded with one another in the manner of Messiah Yeshua, 6 so that together with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
Then he caps it off with this sentence (since it was canonized it has become chapter and verse)… Romans 15:7 Therefore accept one another just as Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God. This is what we do, accept one another. We are all in God’s family. It’s not “either/or” but “yes/both.”
Yes/both is the title of a message Glenn Blank brought to Shomair about a year and a half ago. 2 Corinthians 1:19 For Ben-Elohim—Yeshua the Messiah, who was proclaimed among you by us, by myself and Silvanus and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No.” Rather, in Him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For in Him all the promises of God are “Yes.” Therefore also through Him is the “Amen” by us, to the glory of God.
Here is a link to the song my Marc Chopinsky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egOe9o4eFqg