Rabbi’s Reflections – Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Shalom,
This year, December 25th is a Saturday. Messianic Jewish songwriter and violinist, Dan David, will be ministering at Shomair that day. Dan was born in Israel and now lives in Canada with his wife and children. He’s coming back to Knoxville to share his music and talent and to share what God is doing in him and through him. Here is a link for you to enjoy. It features 3 pieces of his music. As Rush Limbaugh used to say, “Talent on loan from God.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWeUXpxBes
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Tue 14-Dec-2021 10th of Tevet, 5782 Asara B’Tevet
Ge 48:17-22 1 Sa 28-29 Ps 67 Lk 1:26-56 (2 Co 8)
Ex 32:11-14; 34:1-10
Why is there an extra reading in the “Daily Bread” today from Exodus, Ex 32:11-14; 34:1-10? I found this on my favorite “go to” website for such things, hebcal.com . “Tenth of Tevet (Hebrew: עשרה בטבת, Asarah BeTevet), the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, is a minor fast day in Judaism. The fast commemorates the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia. Like other minor fasts, Asara B’Tevet begins at dawn (first light) and ends at nightfall (full dark).
But, why did the rabbis choose these two sections of Exodus. Read them and you’ll see what I see. (I’m full of the Christmas spirit today.) Exodus 32:11-14 is all about Moses imploring God for mercy after God saw the sin of the golden calf. Moses had not yet seen the people in sin. He couldn’t believe his ears. He had been very specific in leaving instructions on how they should wait for his return.
Yet the people had free will, just like Adam and Eve, who also got specific instructions on how to obey God. That was then, and this is now. We are the most blessed people of any generation in history. Even so, look at the society in which we live. We’re not even allowed to tell someone they are perverse, because according to the “woke” agenda, that’s hate speech.
God hears Moses’ pleading for mercy. Exodus 32:14 So Adonai relented from the destruction that He said He would do to His people. We are now 2,000 years past the time when God sent His Son. Today we have the fullness of the revelation. Today we are without excuse. Yeshua spoke these words at the beginning of His ministry and the message is still the same… Matthew 4:17 From then on, Yeshua began to proclaim, “Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
“Near?” How near? It’s been 2,000 years. To the God of eternity, that’s near. Also, “near” can also be translated as “(close) at hand” or “available to you.” 2 Peter 2:8 But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
Then, in the second portion of Exodus for Asara B’Tevet, (the 10th of Tevet), we again find Moses pleading with God for mercy toward His people. Exodus 34:9 He (Moses) said, “If now I have found grace in Your eyes, my Lord, let my Lord please go within our midst, even though this is a stiff-necked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own inheritance.”
And God answers Moses in the following verse… Exodus 34:10 Then He (God) said, “I am cutting a covenant. Before all your people I will do wonders, such as have not been done in all the earth, or in any nation. All the people you are among will see the work of Adonai—for what I am going to do with you will be awesome!
What was so “wonderful” and “awesome?” (You know where I’m going, don’t you?) God lead the Israelites through the desert for 40 years. He sustained them (about 3 million people) with food and water. He lead them in battle and defeated their enemies. He brought them into the promised land in which he made them victorious conquerors.
But from “all God’s miracles (large and small), the most miraculous one of all” (takes me back to some lyrics from “Fiddler On The Roof”) is that God sent His Son so that we can obey Him like no other people ever could.
Romans 8:3 For what was impossible for the Torah—since it was weakened on account of the flesh—God has done. Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering, He condemned sin in the flesh— 4 so that the requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Ruach.
And that, my friends, is the last word for today.
Week 51
Memory Verse: 1 John 4:10 This is love—not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atonement for our sins. 11 Loved ones, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
251 12/16 Monday: 1 Peter 3-4
252 12/17 Tuesday: 1 Peter 5; 1 John 1
253 12/18 Wednesday: 1 John 2-3
254 12/19 Thursday: 1 John 4-5
255 12/20 Friday: Revelation 1