\n
This week\u2019s reading for Chol HaMo\u2019ed Sukkot (Shemot \/ Exodus 33:12-34:26<\/span><\/em>), is taken from the end of Parashat Ki Tisa.\u00a0 In this section of Scripture, Moshe has asked the Lord God to forgive the sins of the Children of Israel for their sin with the golden calf.\u00a0 While requesting for forgiveness, Moshe asks the Lord to reveal Himself and His glory.\u00a0 The Lord commands Moshe to make two stone tablets like the previous ones and He will write on them the words that were on the previous set of Tablets.\u00a0 Moshe demonstrates for us this week the importance of knowing God according to His ways in his statement saying, \u2018Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.\u2019 (NASB)<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 It appears that knowing the ways of God causes us to know our Father in heaven.\u00a0 There is knowing the way God moves (operates) that describes His character, or who He is.\u00a0 Based upon Moshe\u2019s statement, having found favor in the Lord\u2019s eyes, he desires to know the Lord in a more intimate way by knowing his ways.\u00a0 How does knowing God\u2019s ways bring us intimately closer to him?\u00a0 Could this be explained by reason that man\u2019s ways are sin, the Lord\u2019s ways are righteous, sin causes separation, righteousness causes closeness?\u00a0 If we walk in His ways He walks with us? (See the commentary on Tehillim \/ Psalms 49, Part 2<\/span><\/em>)\u00a0 The Scripture reading for this week reveals to us the order of obedience; we have found favor in God\u2019s eyes because He loves us, and because of the Messiah Yeshua.\u00a0 Now, we obey the Lord so that we can walk by faith, walk by the spirit in His favor, His love, and His blessing.\u00a0 According to the Scriptures, we remember Succot because the Lord God took care of our fathers in the wilderness, and in like manner, He will also take care of our needs today in this present age.<\/p>\n \u05e1\u05e4\u05e8 \u05e9\u05de\u05d5\u05ea \u05e4\u05e8\u05e7 \u05dc\u05d3<\/strong> Shemot \/ Exodus 34:10<\/span><\/em><\/strong> In this week\u2019s reading from Parashat Ki Tisa, we find Shemot \/ Exodus 34:10<\/span><\/em> where the Lord speaks to the children of Israel saying that He is making a covenant with the people, and that He will do great marvels, He will do such things that no one has seen before in all the earth.\u00a0 The Lord is not just making a promise of the covenant, He is also telling Israel they are unique, and that He is going to do an awesome thing in their lives.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that awesome if you consider that the Lord seeks to do the same in your life?\u00a0 These Scriptures from the books of Moshe are very important and definitely have an application for our lives today.<\/p>\n Studying the Torah, it is possible to find a lot of prophetic meaning that describes the work and plan of our Father in Heaven and what He is revealing to His people, how He directs our attention to His Messiah in the sacrificial system.\u00a0 For example, in Parashat Behukotai (Vayikra \/ Leviticus 26:3-27:34<\/span><\/em>) the Lord speaks about doing something unique by establishing His covenant in a way that only He can do to walk in our midst so that He will be our God and we will be His people.\u00a0 If we think about this, it is a very miraculous thing that is being described here, the Lord appears to be describing something about our relationship with Him that draws us back to the context of the Creation in Bereshit \/ Genesis 1-3<\/em><\/span>, when the Lord walked in the garden and communed with Adam and Eve.\u00a0 There is something about this miraculous change in our relationship with God that will reset our condition back to the initial state that was found in \u05d1\u05d2\u05df \u05e2\u05d3\u05df the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 This begs the question, \u201cWhat is the Lord planning on doing?\u201d<\/span><\/em> with a tone of an future expectation of the miraculous.<\/p>\n For many people though this is not the type of understanding that is taken while reading and studying the Torah.\u00a0 For example, some scholars have stated that \u201cvirtually all of the major books written on Old Testament theology say very little about a messianic hope and when such books do speak of the messianic hope they do so in a very round about way touching at points but not explicitly.\u201d<\/span><\/em> (Brueggemann, W., Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context By Brevard S. Childs Philadelphia, Fortress, 1985. 255 pp. Theology Today, 1986. 43[2], pp. 284-287<\/em>).\u00a0 Other authors suggest that \u201cthe Messiah is a later addition to the rabbinic literature as a result of the move away from the Temple service and focus more upon apocalyptic themes that are found following the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.\u201d<\/span><\/em> (Neusner, J., Mishnah and Messiah. Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 1984. 14[1], pp. 3-11<\/em>).\u00a0 This idea is taken from the presupposition that the texts of the Tanach say very little about a messianic hope.\u00a0 The important point is, there are factors that affect the issue of understanding the \u201cMessianic hope\u201d<\/span><\/em> that is revealed to us in the Torah and also in the Prophets and Writings sections of the Tanach.\u00a0 The methods that have been used by scholars to interpret the text of the Hebrew bible have a considerable impact upon one\u2019s understanding.\u00a0 For instance, the person who comes believing that Yeshua is the Messiah will find every other verse in the scriptures that support that presupposition.\u00a0 On the other hand, those who reject Yeshua as God\u2019s Messiah are able to find scriptures to back up their claims as well.\u00a0 The attitude to the subject of the Messianic expectation in the Tanach reflects strongly on the personal presupposition that has been established in the mind of the expositor.\u00a0 Every biblical scholar brings to their studies a defined theology that influences their perspective of Scripture.\u00a0 With this in mind, every person who reads the bible is a \u201cBible interpreter\u201d<\/span><\/em> to a greater or lesser extent.\u00a0 As Bible readers (interpreters) it is important to find the meaning and intent of the author (in the Hebrew texts) by studying the words, phrases, and sentences, of the original languages as well as within the larger context and the historical and cultural setting of when the Scriptures were written.\u00a0 Our goal should be to discover the truth of the Scriptures outside of our own self imposed traditions and presuppositions (i.e. Greco-Roman philosophy<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 What is it that the Lord God Almighty is trying to tell us in His Torah with the future expectation of doing the miraculous?<\/p>\n The key verses in the Torah that explain to us what the Lord God Almighty is seeking to do in our lives is found here in Parashat Ki Tisa and Vayikra \/ Leviticus 34:10<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 This might be the reason why this portion of Scripture is used for the read for Succot.\u00a0 The Lord has plans to do something miraculous that has never been seen before.\u00a0 The Lord singles us out as His beloved people through whom He is going to perform these miracles.\u00a0 The Lord says \u05d5\u05b7\u05d4\u05b2\u05e7\u05b4\u05d9\u05de\u05b9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea-\u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05b4\u05ea\u05bc\u05b0\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u201cI will establish\/raise up my covenant with you,\u201d<\/span><\/em> today\u2019s verse is a repetition of what He has promised before again and again (Bereshit \/ Genesis 6:18, 9:8-17, 17:7<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 Following this statement the Lord says that He will make his dwelling among His people and walk among them saying \u05d5\u05b0\u05d4\u05b8\u05d9\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b8\u05db\u05b6\u05dd \u05dc\u05b5\u05bd\u05d0\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05b6\u05dd \u05ea\u05bc\u05b4\u05d4\u05b0\u05d9\u05d5\u05bc\u05be\u05dc\u05b4\u05d9 \u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05bd\u05dd \u201cand I will be their God and they will be my people.\u201d<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 These scriptures are very significant for understanding all of the Torah, the Word of God, God\u2019s plan of redemption, and His Messiah.\u00a0 How will God establish His covenant in such a way that based on our verses (Vayikra \/ Leviticus 34:10<\/span><\/em>) will be the miraculous?\u00a0 What is He going to do to cause Himself to walk and dwell in our midst?<\/p>\n From these Scriptures, we also find over and over again the theme that God is drawing mankind to Himself by His mercy and grace.\u00a0 From the very beginning we learned in the Scriptures that God walked in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day following His creation according to Bereshit \/ Genesis 3:8<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 According to the account, Adam and Eve, 3:8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (NASB)<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 The Lord was revealing Himself to us using human characteristics or attributes (anthropomorphisms) by describing how Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden.\u00a0 The Masoretic text provides in straight forward terms a description of how God\u2019s Annointed one will come as a man and inflict a wound upon the enemy of God according Bereshit \/ Genesis 3:15<\/span><\/em>. (3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u2019 NASB<\/span><\/em>)\u00a0 Here we find another source text for something the Lord is going to do, a future expectation of the miraculous. Here we find the word \u05d6\u05e8\u05e2 is used to refer to \u201cseed,\u201d \u201coffspring,\u201d or \u201cdescendents.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em> It is interesting to note that throughout the Torah, the word \u05d6\u05e8\u05e2 is used in the singular form as a noun to refer to offspring with regard to the offspring in the promised line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob according to Bereshit \/ Genesis 12:7<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 In addition to this, the majority of the times the singular form of \u201coffspring\u201d<\/span><\/em> is written, it is followed by a singular verb (Compare Bereshit \/ Genesis 3:15, 13:16, 16:10, 48:19, Bamidbar \/ Numbers 14:24, Isaiah 53:6, 61:9, Tehilim \/ Psalms 22:13, 25:13, 37:28, 89:37, 112:2, Mishley \/ Proverbs 11:21<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 Studying the use of the word \u05d6\u05e8\u05e2 in the Aramaic Targums (Onkelos), for example in Bereshit \/ Genesis 4:10<\/span><\/em>, is also fascinating in and of itself, The Scriptures say, 4:10 He said, \u2018What have you done? The voice of your brother\u2019s blood is crying to Me from the ground. (NASB)<\/span><\/em> were the Aramaic translation from the Targum Onkelos uses the word \u05d6\u05b7\u05e8\u05b0\u05e2\u05b4\u05d9\u05df as a reference to Cain\u2019s brother, were \u201cseed\u201d is a designation for an individual as well as for a whole corporate body of people.\u00a0 The flexibility in its usage is well attested in the Torah.\u00a0 The point is that through the use of the word \u05d6\u05e8\u05e2 we again are being given a future expectation of the miraculous; Bereshit \/ Genesis 3:15<\/span><\/em> references the bruising of the heel to refer to a future \u201cseed\u201d or \u201cdescendent\u201d that will strike the enemy (the deceiver).\u00a0 This has classically been interpreted as the promised descendent that will come as God\u2019s Messiah.\u00a0 The Torah text provides us with an early reference to a messianic hope of deliverance from our enemies.\u00a0 Scholars who say there are very little references to a messianic hope are sadly mistaken.\u00a0 The point is that the Lord is revealing to us that those who do the will of the deceiver (Satan) will be the ones doing the bruising and the seed of the woman who bears her image (as a man) will crush the head of the serpent (deceiver).\u00a0 This victory will come in a miraculous way, by the hand of God in and through the seed (the man) against the enemy. This week\u2019s reading for Chol HaMo\u2019ed Sukkot (Shemot \/ Exodus 33:12-34:26), is taken from the end of Parashat Ki Tisa.\u00a0 In this section of Scripture, Moshe has asked the Lord God to forgive the sins of the Children of Israel for their sin with the golden calf.\u00a0 While requesting for forgiveness, Moshe asks the Lord […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bits-of-torah-truth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.matsati.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n\u05d9\u00a0\u00a0 \u05d5\u05b7\u05d9\u05bc\u05b9\u05d0\u05de\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d4\u05b4\u05e0\u05bc\u05b5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05b8\u05e0\u05b9\u05db\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05bc\u05b9\u05e8\u05b5\u05ea \u05d1\u05bc\u05b0\u05e8\u05b4\u05d9\u05ea \u05e0\u05b6\u05d2\u05b6\u05d3 \u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05dc-\u05e2\u05b7\u05de\u05bc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05e2\u05b1\u05e9\u05b6\u05b9\u05d4 \u05e0\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d0\u05b9\u05ea \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0-\u05e0\u05b4\u05d1\u05b0\u05e8\u05b0\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc \u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc-\u05d4\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05e8\u05b6\u05e5 \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05b0\u05db\u05b8\u05dc-\u05d4\u05b7\u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05d9\u05b4\u05dd \u05d5\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05b8\u05dc-\u05d4\u05b8\u05e2\u05b8\u05dd \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05e8-\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05bc\u05b8\u05d4 \u05d1\u05b0\u05e7\u05b4\u05e8\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea-\u05de\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e9\u05b5\u05b9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05b8\u05d4 \u05db\u05bc\u05b4\u05d9-\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05e8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b9\u05e9\u05b6\u05b9\u05d4 \u05e2\u05b4\u05de\u05bc\u05b8\u05da\u05b0:<\/p>\n
\n 34:10 And he said, \u201cBehold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. (NASB)<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThe Scriptures are clear that Yeshua is this seed, the man, who functions as the Passover Lamb of God, whose sacrificial death and shed blood causes the wrath of God to \u201cpass over\u201d<\/span> <\/em>those who are trusting in Him (see John 1:29, 3:36, Acts 8:32-36, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, 1 Peter 1:18-20<\/span><\/em>, etc).\u00a0 The Apostle John says that all of Heaven declares \u201cWorthy is the Lamb who was slain!\u201d<\/span><\/em> (Revelation 5:12<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 The miraculous thing the Lord was planning and revealing to His people is the sacrifice of Yeshua that provides atonement and the resurrection (the miracle) that stands as the justification of His work of salvation on behalf of the sinner making us righteous before the Lord God Almighty.\u00a0 The resurrection reveals that the Lord accepted the sin offering of Yeshua on our behalf (Isaiah 53, Hebrews 9:11-14, 1 Peter 1:18-20, 2:21-25, 2 Corinthians 5:21<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 The resurrection gives evidence of the Lord God Almighty approved of Yeshua being the Savior of the world and that He is the Son of god.\u00a0 In other words, Yeshua was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead.\u00a0 This is a response to God\u2019s righteousness because the Messiah willingly humbled himself to become our sin offering, the Lord raised Him from the dead and exalted His name forever (Philipians 2:9-11, Acts 4:12<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 In addition to this, the resurrection is evidence of eternal life.\u00a0 We know that the messiah being raised from the dead will never die again, death no longer has dominion over him.\u00a0 Romans 6:9-10<\/span><\/em> states that He died to sin once and for all, the life He lives, He lives to God.\u00a0 The resurrection demonstrates God\u2019s victory over death (Acts 2:24-32<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 In addition to this, the resurrection fulfills various prophetic expectations that are found in the Torah.\u00a0 For example, the Akedah of Isaac (Bereshit \/ Genesis 22<\/span><\/em>) we are given a picture of the father who was willing to sacrifice his son.\u00a0 Not only did Abraham offer his \u201conly begotten son\u201d<\/span><\/em> upon the altar at Moriah, he also believed in Isaac\u2019s resurrection according to Hebrews 11:17-19<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 The author of Hebrews provides us with an early rabbinic belief that Abraham believed in the resurrection through the comments in the Book of Hebrews.\u00a0 This is supported by various midrashim that claim Isaac actually was killed upon the altar and his blood became part of the altars coals and then Abraham received him back from the dead.\u00a0 The prophet Job believed in the resurrection of his Redeemer according to Job 19:25<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0 King David foresaw the Messiah\u2019s resurrection when he wrote \u201cFor you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption\u201d<\/span><\/em> (Tehillim \/ Psalms 16:10<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 This was in keeping with the prophecy that the line of David would continue forever (see 2 Samuel 7:12-16, Tehillim \/ Psalms 2:6, 89:27, 110:1, Isaiah 9:6-7, and Daniel 7:14<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 Isaiah stated that the Messiah would be a light to the nations and would have a worldwide effect (Isaiah 49:6<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 The prophet Jonah was regarded as a sign or illustration of the Messiah (Matthew 12:39-40, 16:4<\/span><\/em>) and the prophet Hosea similarly alluded to the resurrection (Hosea 6:1-2<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 Yeshua also foretold of His own death, burial, and resurrection (Matthew 16:21, 20:18-19, Mark 8:31, 9:31, John 2:19-22<\/span><\/em>) saying \u201cDestroy this temple (his body) and in three days I will raise it up.\u201d<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 The resurrection also reveals God\u2019s love and grace.\u00a0 Like the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 5:10, \u201cFor if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.\u201d<\/span><\/em>\u00a0 Because of the resurrection, the Lord has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heaven and adopted us as His children (Ephesians 1:3-5, 5:1<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0 The Lord God Himself is our advocate and Helper, something David speaks about in his psalms and even the rabbinic literature speaks of with regard to the fires of Gehenna.\u00a0 This is the message that the Lord has for us, a message of love, of power, of righteousness, and truth.\u00a0 With this in mind, we can say, based upon the Torah text from Shemot \/ Exodus 34:10<\/span><\/em>, that God\u2019s word is truth, the Lord says something and He is going to do it.\u00a0 The Lord spoke to the children of Israel saying that He is making a covenant and that He will do great marvels, He will do such things that no one has seen before in all the earth.\u00a0 The Lord is not just making a promise of the covenant, He is also telling Israel how great He is, and that He is going to do an awesome thing.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it awesome to see how the Lord as brought victory, life, and miracles in His Messiah Yeshua?\u00a0 Do you believe with expectation that God is going to work miracles in your life?\u00a0 Has the Lord been working in your life in this way?\u00a0 This victory is found in Yeshua the Messiah.\u00a0 If you have not take hold of that truth, it is time that you do.\u00a0 Let\u2019s Pray! BTT_Chol HaMo\u2019ed Sukkot-2014<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"