Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, March 24, 2021
Shalom,
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Wed 24 Mar-2021 11th of Nisan, 5781
Le 8:1-13 Isa 34-35 Pr 25 Ac 24 (Rev 18)
My first thought was to write about Leviticus 8:1-13. The Aliyah (Torah reading) for today could be titled “Dressed for Success.” Aaron and his sons get their priestly garments and the anointing that goes with it. They are dressed and anointed by Moses, himself. But I decided against it, in favor of the reading from Isaiah.
Isaiah 35:8 A highway will be there—a roadway. It will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it. It is for the one who walks the way. Fools will not go astray.
What is this “highway?” It has another name, “The Way Of Holiness.” The first followers of Yeshua were called “followers of the way.” Traveling on God’s highway means the stumps and pot holes have been removed out of the way. They will not slow our progress nor do damage to our vehicles. The people of God must be distinctively different from everyone else. God commands obedience to His rules and His rules are quite different from the “rules” of this world.
Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” It is a declaration of Adonai. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Our destiny is achieved by following God ancient paths. Jeremiah 6:16a Thus says Adonai: “Stand in the roads and look. Ask for the ancient paths— where the good way is— and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls.
Week 13
Memory Verse: Judges 2:12 They abandoned Adonai, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples around them, and bowed down to them. So they provoked the anger of Adonai.
61 3/25 Monday: Joshua 5:10-15, 6
62 3/26 Tuesday: Joshua 7-8
* 63 3/27 Wednesday: Joshua 23,24
64. 3/28 Thursday: Judges 2-3
65 3/29 Friday: Judges 4
Question of the day: In these last 2 chapters of Joshua today, we are reading Joshua’s life summary. It is his last will and testament to the children of Israel. He is both prophesying calamity on Israel and at the same time, begging them to avoid it by being obedient to God. What is the essence of this message?
Answer: Joshua 24:14a “Now therefore, fear Adonai and worship Him in sincerity and in truth.” The word translated here as “worship” is the Hebrew word for servant. It means to serve Him. Then it tells us how. In Hebrew, “B’Tamim U’Ve’emet” meaning in “eternal cleanliness” and in “truth.”
The Shoresh “Tav-Mem-Mem” is so special. It means “completeness, wholeness, perfection, innocence, integrity, honesty, sincerity, and good intentions. It is actually the Shoresh of the second stone inside the breastplate. There is the Urim and then the Thummim. Do you see the “T-M-M” in there?
You’ve got to know that Joshua is making a death bed utterance here. The last thing he says to the children of Israel is going to be the most important thing. He has one breath left and he’s going to use it to share what is of the utmost benefit to the most people. And here’s what he says (in transliterated Hebrew), “V’Ev’doo Oto B’Tamim U’Ve’emet.” “Serve Him (the Lord) perfectly and truthfully.” This message still applies to us today. Blessings.