Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, January 10, 2025
Shalom,
Attention: There will be no service on Saturday, January 11, 2025 due to inclement weather. Stay safe and warm.
Attention: The Shomair worship service for Saturday, January 11, 2025 is hereby cancelled due to inclement weather. Stay safe and warm.
Psalms
Psalm 22:30 – Part 27
Psalm 22:30 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship. Everyone who goes down to the dust will kneel before Him—even the one who could not keep his own soul alive.
Eating (feasting) and worshipping are coupled together and applied to those who receive the increase. Yet the question is, Who gives the increase? 1Corinthians 3:7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. That’s right, it is God Who makes things grow.
This applies to everyone. In Hebrew it is simply “all who prosper, experience abundance, or are well nourished.” Our modern understanding is to view being fat negatively, however; in biblical terms, “to grow fat” is frequently considered a good thing. Our word, “Dashen” appears at the end of this… Psalm 92:13 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 14 Planted in the House of Adonai, they will flourish in the courts of our God. 15 They will still yield fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and freshness. Did you get that? “Full of sap” equals “fat.”
Here is another way to say “all,” “One who could not keep his own soul alive.” Since no one can keep his own soul alive, that is everybody. Is there anyone not “going down to the dust?” That’s three ways this verse identifies everyone, “All, everyone and even the one.” And, what happens to everyone? All will bow down before Him. This is a “far cry” from the cross, as this Psalm begins… Psalm 22:2a My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
While Psalm 22 is the Psalm of the first coming, the first coming didn’t end on the cross. It ends in victory. There is a resurrection. Likewise, Psalm 22 ends with several declarations of victory, and this verse (30) is one of them. 1Corinthians 15:55 “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?”… 57 But thanks be to God, who keeps giving us the victory through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah! Do I hear an amen? Isaiah 42:10a,b Sing to Adonai a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, 11c Let them shout for joy from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to Adonai and declare His praise in the islands. Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Fri 10-Jan-2025 10th of Tevet, 5785 Fast of Tevet
Ge 49:27-50:20 2 Sa 16 Ps 88 Lk 10 (2 Co 11)
Ex 32:11-14; 34:1-10; Isa 55:6-56:8