Rabbi’s Reflections – Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Chag Same’ach (Happy Holiday) *|FNAME|*,
When we sing the Kiddush (blessing over the wine) to start the Passover Seder, we sing all of the various names for the holiday. But before we get there, we have to clean out the chametz, called “b’dikat chametz.” Find everything with leaven (yeast mostly) and bag it up and throw it out.
Rabbi Trail: Unless, of course, you’re orthodox Jewish. Many orthodox Jewish people bag up their leaven, but instead of throwing it away, they sell it to their gentile neighbors (usually for $1), with the understanding that they can buy it back at the end of the holiday (Another entire subject we will get to in time. When does the holiday end? It depends on where you live.) for same $1.
Leaven is the ingredient that puffs up. It is the symbol of pride (being puffed up) and sin (exalting ourselves against God). Do we really want to put that in our neighbor’s house? Even worse is to bring it back into our own house after the holiday celebration. In Hebrew we call this “afuch,” meaning upside down.
Just so you understand, here’s how it works. Get set free from sin by the end of the holiday and bring the sin back onto our homes immediately following the conclusion of the holiday. That’s the perfect proof of wearing blinders. Note to Jewish people everywhere, “Don’t do that!” That’s one tradition that should end. End RT.
Before that RT I was about to tell you the various names for Passover (called Pesach in Hebrew). “Chag HaMatzot Hazeh” (this matzah holiday), “Z’man Cherutenu” (season of our freedom), “Zaycher L’tziat Mitzrayim” (memorial of our exodus from Egypt). Are you getting in the mood? It’s time to celebrate this matzah holiday, the season of our freedom, the memorial (remembrance) of our exodus from Egypt. And we are commanded by God to do so.
1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old hametz, so you may be a new batch, just as you are unleavened—for Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast not with old hametz, the hametz of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread—the matzah of sincerity and truth.
Now let’s transition as we continue our study of Psalm 91.
Psalm 91:12 Upon their hands they will lift you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and cobra, trample the young lion and serpent.
“His (God’s) angels will guard you.” Here are more descriptions of ways God’s angels will guard you. God will command (as in the 10 commandments) His angels to be watchmen over you. Now, how should we suppose this works?
His angels must obey His commands. What happened to the last angels to disobey the commander? In fact, can the Lord really be called “commander” if those who follow Him do not obey His commands? Get the word picture here? Our safety is assured when we dwell with and trust in Him. God never runs out of resources to protect what is His. We belong to Him.
Romans 14:7 For none of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself. 8 For if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this reason Messiah died and lived again, so that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Week 15
Memory Verse: 1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel said: “Does Adonai delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Adonai? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay heed than the fat of rams.
71 4/6 Monday: 1 Samuel 1-2
72 4/7 Tuesday: 1 Samuel 3;8
* 73 4/8 Wednesday: 1 Samuel 9-10 Erev Pesach
74 4/9 Thursday: 1 Samuel 13-14
75 4/10 Friday: 1 Samuel 15-16
Question of the day: Who is God’s choice?
Answer: There is a pretty good chance it won’t be the best looking (most attractive), the strongest, or the most intelligent. That’s good news for all of us who are not contenders for all-American honors.
1 Samuel 9:2 and he had a son whose name was Saul—young and handsome—there was no one among Bnei-Yisrael better than him. From his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people.
Both King David and Yeshua were never described like this. Of David, he was so unlikely (because he was small) they didn’t even consider him as a valid choice when Jesse’s sons were told to appear before the prophet Samuel. Then, Goliath looked down on the lad.
1 Samuel 17:42 Now when the Philistine (Goliath) looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was just a ruddy boy with a handsome appearance.
Then the greatest of all kings (that’s why He is called the King of kings), Yeshua. Isaiah 53:2b He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, nor beauty that we should desire Him.
We should keep in mind that the Lord sees the heart of a man and not his outward appearance, and we should see as He sees.