Rabbi’s Reflections – Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Shalom *|FNAME|*,
Psalm 91:2 I will say of Adonai, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.
Psalm 91 verse 1 is written in the present tense. Then suddenly, verse 2 flips into the future tense. Writing in the future tense is prophetic. We start with what is and speak (“Omar” means “I will speak”) what will be, that’s prophesy. And while the translations say we are speaking “of Adonai,” the Hebrew says we are speaking “to Adonai,” to the Lord.
Why do we need to speak to the Lord? That’s prayer. Now we are praying the inspired word of God back to Him. That’s called intercession. God loves it when we do that. We even end this verse by saying “Evtach Bo” meaning “I will count on (depend on or trust in) Him.”
Before we end the verse though we have two Hebrew words, “Machsi” (refuge) and “M’tzudati” (fortress). [Rabbi’s note: Masada (a form of the word “M’tzudati” is the fortress of Herod in the desert near the Dead Sea.]
The modern Israelis have borrowed a word from our English word “protection.” In Hebrew we say “proteksia,” but it means the same. In Hebrew it means we know something that will make someone else protect us. (This could be a form of blackmail in the worst sense.)
With God, however; it means we know His Son and count on Him for salvation. Therefore God offers His people “Proteksia” as we will see in the rest of Psalm 91.
Week 14
Memory Verse: Psalm 19:14 Also keep Your servant from willful sins. May they not have dominion over me. Then I will be blameless, free from great transgression.
66 3/30 Monday: Judges 6-7
* 67 3/31 Tuesday: Judges 13-14
68 4/1 Wednesday: Judges 15-16
69 4/2 Thursday: Ruth 1-2
70 4/3 Friday: Ruth 3-4
Question of the day: What is the pattern between our reading yesterday and our reading for today?
Answer: There is the appearance of a divine person with the same name in both readings. Asher Intrater points this out in his book, “Who Ate Lunch With Abraham?” There is no name given for this person. In fact, Jacob (who wrestled with Him) and Manoah ask the same question to the same person, “What is your name.”
Jacob gets no answer while Manoah gets the answer in Hebrew, “Pele” meaning “Wonderful.” This is one of the names of God that is given in Isaiah 9:8b His Name will be called Wonderful.
This person appears throughout the Hebrew Scriptures as Malach-Yehovah, or Messenger(Angel)-God(Adonai). Most translations have “Messenger of God” but the Hebrew never does that. Want more evidence that the Malach-Yehovah is divine? Check out the reaction of Manoah and his wife after the Messenger-Yehovah left them. Judges 13:22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God.”
His wife didn’t argue that they had seen God. She only said that if God were going to kill them, they would already be dead. This same Messenger-Yehovah appeared to Gideon in chapter 6. For Gideon it was after 7 years of rebellion. For Manoah and his wife it was after 40 years of rebellion.
I want to speak prophetically before bringing this RR to a close. God has a blessing for His people and He wants us to enjoy it today. How long will we resist His blessing by remaining in a state of rebellion? Let’s embrace Him and embrace His ways. Then we will own Exodus 14:13 (out of context). Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still, and see the salvation of Adonai, which He will perform for you today. You have seen the Egyptians today, but you will never see them again, ever! God will deliver your blessing as He destroys your enemies, and “you will never see them again, ever!”