Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, July 16, 2021
(Early) Shabbat Shalom,
So far this week I’ve been all over the place. Monday was business as usual. Tuesday I had a melt down with the subsequent call for change. Wednesday I wrote about the coming Tisha B’Av holiday (this coming Sunday), and Thursday I wrote on the beginning of Psalm 81. So much fun and so little time.
So today I need to continue either the Tisha B’Av series and write more about Psalm 81. Oh, and anything else I want to write. Something’s got to give. What will it be? After prayer, I’ve decided to focus on Psalm 81. The operative word here is “focus,” which, as you can tell, is getting harder and harder.
Picking up where we left off, the next command is found at the beginning of Psalm 81:3(2) Lift up a song…. The Hebrew word for “lift up” is “S’u.” Again, it is written in the plural imperative, as is the rest of the Psalm, so it is a command for us all. It is the same exact word that is used in Psalm 24:7 Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors: that the King of glory may come in.
But wait, how do we “lift up” a song? We sing it to the Lord. We lift it up as an offering before Him. This is consistent with the next command. It is translated “strike” or “sound” a “timbrel” or “tambourine,” but again, the Hebrew communicates differently. The Hebrew word “T’nu” (again the plural imperative) comes for “Noten” meaning simply “to give.” Again, the connotation is one of placing or giving an offering before the Lord, this time an offering of the sound of the tambourine.
Here’s my closing thought, our worship of God, according to Scripture, is not for us. We benefit by worshipping Him, but He is the recipient. Whoever said, “I didn’t like the worship today,” just said one of the silliest things. It was never intended for you. Our worship is offered for God’s approval and pleasure. Worship is a sacrifice to the Lord. We lift it up and lay it before Him. Hebrews 13:15 Through Yeshua then, let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips giving thanks to His name. 16 Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
I’m pretty sure that will take us fittingly to the RR for tomorrow which David Harwood has written on Hope (the 7th meditation). Shabbat Shalom my friends.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Fri 16 July 2021 7th of Av, 5781
De 2:31-3:14Ez 301 Ch 10(Jn 1:1-28)1 Th 2
Week 29
Memory Verse: Nehemiah 9:6 You alone are Adonai.You made the heavens, even the highest heaven with all its array, the earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them. You give life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship You.
141 7/12 Monday: Nehemiah 7-8
142 7/13 Tuesday: Nehemiah 9
143 7/14 Wednesday: Nehemiah 10
144 7/15 Thursday: Nehemiah 11
* 145 7/16 Friday: Nehemiah 12
The question of the day: Nehemiah 12:27a At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem… Have you seen that wall?
Answer: Possibly not, because archeologists just now rediscovered it. https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/archaeologists-find-part-of-jerusalems-wall-destroyed-on-the-9th-of-av-673794