Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, November 12, 2021
Early) Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Today is the 1,600th day since I began writing the RR on June 27, 2017. (Sidelight: I was curious, so I looked it up yesterday and that just happened to be day 1599. I have checked this statistic twice in my life. Honestly, I have better things to do with my time. End Sidelight.) In the last 54 months, I have filled 18 electronic files of about 350 pages each (yes, that’s over 6,000 pages). How did it all start? I wrote what follows (about starting the RR) after about 6 months of writing, but have updated it here.
Don’t you love it when the Lord redeems something? God is a specialist in, well… everything. What I want to say (before I changed the preceding sentence) is, “God is a specialist in redeeming things that are troublesome and turning them into a blessing.”
Last June (2017), family commitments prevented me from co-leading a planned group trip to Israel. I don’t recall being bitter or upset about missing it. I began to pray about being “left behind” and how I could still bless those who were now going without me.
So I started writing a daily summary and devotional based on the itinerary they had planned for that day. When the trip ended, that daily writing discipline morphed into what we now have as Rabbi’s Reflections.
Now I typically start my day (and I still do) with prayer, the Word, and writing the RR. I look forward to it. All this to say, “Thank you Lord for blessing me in this way. Through this discipline You are building me up in You and have drawn me nearer to You and to my bothers and sisters (and a few sons and daughters) who subscribe (now more than 550 subscribers). Please send Your Spirit to continue to bless these Reflections. In Yeshua’s name. Amen.
That was then. This is now, today’s RR…
The third son born to Jacob (Leah #3) was named Levi. Genesis 29:34 Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will join himself to me because I’ve given birth to three sons for him.” For this reason he was named Levi.
Levi is written with 3 Hebrew letters, “Lamed-Vav-Yud.” The “Lamed-Vav” couplet (pronounced “Lo”) is very common in Hebrew. It means “to him” as in “belonging to him.” We also say, “His” in English. The “Yud” at the end of a word is frequently a contraction of “Li,” written “Lamed-Yud” meaning “to me” or “mine.” The “Lamed” is contracted off and only the ending “Yud” remains making what it’s attached to possessive. So “Levi” means “Me to him,” or “Mine to his.” It’s a challenge to put it into good English directly from Hebrew, but you should get the point.
But now we want to examine how this is part of the story of the life of every believer and how the narrative is unfolding in the names of the first 3 sons born to Jacob. With these 3 sons we are starting to see the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. God’s promise to multiply Abraham begins in Genesis 12:2a My heart’s desire is to make you into a great nation.
The promise of multiplication is repeated and enhanced. Then, after the binding of Isaac, God repeats His enhanced promise to Abraham. Genesis 22:17a I will richly bless you and bountifully multiply your seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand that is on the seashore. But Isaac was getting older and was quite single before God brought Rebekah into his life. Even then, Rebekah had no children. Finally, she had twin boys. Isaac was “tricked” into blessing the younger son, Jacob. At last we are seeing the fulfillment of the original promise.
But, (there’s always a “but”) the promise involves so much more than multiplication. Genesis 12:2b so that you may be a blessing. Remember, Yeshua is the reality of all things. Therefore; Yeshua is the reality of the promises made to Abraham. This is never more evident than in the message of the names of the first three sons of Jacob (whose names are on the stones of the top row of the breastplate). The message is simple. “Behold the Son, listen to Him, and be joined to Him.”
That’s a good start to the life of being a follower of the way. In the coming days we’ll uncover more of the story. Shabbat Shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Fri 12-Nov-2021 8th of Kislev, 5782
Ge 31:17-42 Jdg 19 Ps 40 Mk 1:1-20 (Ro 16)
Week 46
Memory Verse: 2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not from ourselves. 8 We are hard pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; 9 persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body.
226 11/8 Monday: Acts 20-21
227 11/9 Tuesday: Acts 22-23
228 11/10 Wednesday: Acts 24-25
229 11/11 Thursday: Acts 26-27
230 11/12 Friday: Acts 28