Rabbi’s Reflections – Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Shalom,
Day 24 of counting the Omer
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָֽׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו, וְצִוָּֽנוּ עַל סְפִירַת הָעֹֽמֶר
Baruch Atah Adonai Elohenu Melech Ha-Olam, Asher Kid’shanu B’mitzvotav, Vitzivanu Al Sefirat Ha-Omer.
Blessed are You O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by his commandments and commanded us about the counting of the Omer. Today is three weeks and three days of the counting of the Omer.
Follow up that prayer by remembering a blessing from the Lord and give Him thanks. Psalm 136:1 Praise Adonai, for He is good, for His lovingkindness endures forever. 2 Praise the God of gods, for His lovingkindness endures forever. 3 Praise the Lord of lords, for His lovingkindness endures forever,
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The Psalms
Psalm 8:4,5(3,4) – Part 3
Psalm 8:4(3) When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You established— 5(4) what is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You care for him?
Marty Goetz famously put Psalm 8 into song… (enjoy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgcR80jm_QQ
Verse 5 mentions two distinctly different types of people. “Enosh” (which is a form of “Ish”) is mankind, after the fall from grace. The second type of man is “Ben Adam” (accent on the second syllable, “a-DAM”), the Son of another type of man. This is the Son of Adam, specifically called out here that God (fill in the blank) cared for him.
Our TLV translation says, “You care for him,” while other translations say, “That you visit him.” KJV or even, “Why would you bother with puny, mortal man or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?” (The Passion Translation) Rabbi’s note: I find this last translation a giant leap from the original Hebrew text.
Speaking of the Hebrew text, it uses a word derived from the Shoresh, “Pakad” (Peh-Quf-Dalet) meaning an official appointment. This is the same term as the word used for a “commissioned” officer in the IDF. In what way is the Son of Adam, Yeshua, given an official appointment? The Scriptures refer to His “chosen” appointment.
1Peter 1:20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
And, for those of us who follow Him, we also join in being chosen. Likewise, the Scriptures also speak of our own divine appointment.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship—created in Messiah Yeshua for good deeds, which God prepared beforehand so we might walk in them.
Yes, we have a commission in the army of God to do His work.
Rabbi Trail: I’ve been searching for about an hour for an effective way to bring this RR to a relevant conclusion. Finally I’ve settled on the verses below. It appears to have three parts. Two of the three parts involve waiting. Are you listening? End RT.
We wait for our help (which comes from the Lord), rejoice while trusting Him, and wait for His “Chesed” (God’s intervening love, as David Harwood put it last Saturday) to be upon us. We join Yeshua in our official appointment, and a big part of it is waiting on God.
Psalm 33:20 Our soul waits for Adonai—He is our help and our shield. 21 Our heart rejoices in Him, because we trusted in His holy Name. 22 Let Your lovingkindness, Adonai, be upon us, as we have waited for You.
Shalom shalom.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
13 Iyar Tuesday 21-May-24 24th day of the Omer
Leviticus 25:19-24 Jeremiah 1 Job 11 Matthew 25:1-23 Romans 9