Rabbi’s Reflections – Friday, August 21, 2020
(Early) Shabbat Shalom *|FNAME|*,
We have this verse in Song of Songs 1:4b The king has brought me into his chambers. The Shulamite is speaking. Yesterday we decided to identify with her. We’re not even 4 verses into the Song of Songs, and already this is a place of intimacy. Any place in the presence of the King is a private and personal honor, but His chambers (bedroom) is the most private of the private, and the most intimate of the intimate. I have some very good friends, but I’ve never been in their bedrooms, nor have they been invited into mine. But here the Shulamite (and by extension, we ourselves) have been brought into the inner room of the king.
This verse follows the beginning of verse 2 “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” Those kisses in Hebrew are “N’shiqah” from the shoresh (3 letter Hebrew root, most words have one) “Nun-Shin-Quf.” That same shoresh can be used to mean “to be armed with a weapon.” In some sense, a kiss is a weapon. It is used about 70 times in Scripture to refer to kisses and about 10 times to refer to weapons.
Rabbi Trail: I find it exceptionally interesting that God spoke the world into existence. His crowning achievement of creation was the creation of man, with whom God desires fellowship. There are 22 pairs of numbered chromosomes called autosomes (plus one pair of sex chromosomes) in the Human genome, and in the Hebrew alphabet there are exactly 22 letters.
God “spoke” human creation into existence by arranging 22 autosomes and there are 22 letters spoken in Hebrew. To be fair, some of the letters are more or less silent letters, (these consonants influence the vowels around them). But then again, God is so powerful, He can speak and make no sound at all and still move with creative power. Selah! End RT.
The “kisses of His mouth” are deeply intimate, they are the word that came out of His mouth. Yeshua is the word made flesh to dwell among us. John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Yeshua is not the creation itself, but He has the power of creation. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being.
This is not some peck on the cheek or kiss on the forehead. This is a passionate expression of acceptance and value. There is anticipation in these words that a deep longing is about to be fulfilled. We all long for His kiss of approval, acceptance and empowerment. The kiss of His mouth is the power of the Holy Spirit that opens the eyes of our understanding to new and wondrous revelations of Yeshua.
Psalm 2 is a very prophetic Psalm that prophesies of Yeshua. It speaks of Yeshua in plain speech. Psalm 2:7 I will declare the decree of Adonai. He said to me: “You are My Son— today I have become Your Father. These are the words of the voice from heaven as Yeshua came up out of the waters of baptism.
Then, at the end of the Psalm we are told specifically to kiss the Son…. Psalm 2:11 Serve Adonai with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish along your way— since His wrath may flare up suddenly. Happy is everyone taking refuge in Him!
Kiss the Son. Go deep (deeper) in your relationship with the One Who created you. Take refuge in Him and be happy. Sounds like a winning formula, also called “blessing” for those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
Week 34
Memory Verse: Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
166 8/17 Monday: John 6
167 8/18 Tuesday: Matthew 19:16-30
168 8/19 Wednesday: Luke 15-16
169 8/20 Thursday: Luke 17:11-37;18
* 170 8/21 Friday: Mark 10
Question of the day: Yeshua was answering Jacob and John (the sons of Zebedee) with these words. The last part of the verse forms the question of the day. Mark 10:38b “Are you able to drink the cup I drink, or endure the immersion I must endure?”
They answered, “Yes, we are,” and Yeshua agreed with them. But the question remains, are we able to drink and endure? What is the “cup?” It is called the cup of reeling or the bowl of wrath. Isaiah 51:22 Thus says your Lord, Adonai your God who defends His people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of reeling, the bowl of My wrath. You will never drink it again.
Yeshua paid the price for us all. But we have a calling to intercede. Our call is to have fellowship with His suffering. Philippians 3:10 My aim is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.
And what about His immersion? That’s part of the question too. Are we able to endure His immersion? Which one? There are 7 baptisms (but that’s for another time). I believe contextually, this is the baptism by fire. John the Baptist mentioned it here, when speaking of Yeshua.… Matthew 3:11 “As for me, I immerse you in water for repentance. But the One coming after me is mightier than I am; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will immerse you in the Ruach ha-Kodesh and fire.”
Fire comes down burns the “Korban” (offering), which is our flesh. Our offering before the Lord is accepted when God sends fire to consume it, and it becomes a sweet aroma (like a Bar-B-Que) to heaven. This was Elijah’s experience. 1 Kings 18:38 Then the fire of Adonai fell and consumed the burnt offering—and the wood, the stones and the dust—and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they said, “Adonai, He is God! Adonai, He is God!”
In spite of what I read from many commentators concerning the baptism by fire, I do not believe this is the fire of hell, but the fire of purification before God, when that which is not of Him is burned away. What remains has been refined in the refiners fire. Hebrews 12:26 His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” 27 Now this phrase, “Yet once more,” shows the removal of those things that are shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain…. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
What remains is the divine, the image and likeness of Him. That’s pure gold. We die to self and live for Him. Shabbat Shalom (again) my friends.