Jewish Feasts- Holidays Jesus Loves

Chapter 8 First Fruits/ Chap. 9 Weeks /Chap 10 Crumbs

2010-12-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

Chapter 8 Sfirat Haomer, First Fruits
Psalms 117
Praise the Lord, all nations;
Laud Him, all peoples,
For His loving kindness toward us,
And the truth/(faithfulness) of the Lord is everlasting,
Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

Did you get that? This short, expressive psalm calls for all nations or in Hebrew ‘kol ha goyim’ that is all of the gentiles to praise Yahweh.
The holiday of Sfirat Ha Omer echoes verse 2 of this psalms… His lovingkindness, truth and faithfulness are for all people, Jews, and believing gentiles.
Sfirat Ha Omer means ‘counting the sheaves’ and is an early first harvest or ‘First Fruits.’ It begins just after the Shabbat of Passover, as we count the days from the barley harvest to the wheat harvest. We praise God for these first fruits, he has provided and for the promise of what is to come. It is a harvest celebration in the spring!
The book of Ruth centers on this holiday and is traditionally read at this time. It is the story of seven people who had no idea that their lives would paint a picture of hope for all generations and all peoples.
Naomi, her husband Elimelch, and sons, ………….left Bethlehem for Moab because of a famine in the land. The sons marry Moabite women. The three men die in the land of Moab from illness. These Gentile women and their mother in law are widowed. Naomi tells her daughters in law to return to their families but Ruth refuses. She takes an oath claiming Naomi’s people to be her people and Naomi’s god to be her God. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Ruth has hope in Yahweh.
Ruth 1: 19-22
19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

Naomi has no faith for the future. She uses the name ‘Shaddai’ or as our bibles say, 'Almighty' for God. The literal translation is ‘breasts’ or ‘many breasted one.’ She has changed her own name from Happiness to Bitterness and yet she continues to call the Lord Shaddai- the one who nurtures, the one who supplies, the one who can provide.

She is entering Bethlehem, at the beginning of the barley harvest or First Fruits. A time of rejoicing, and thanking God for the First Harvest and trusting Him to bring the Latter Harvest. Yet she cannot see the sheave that the First Fruit, the Almighty has given to her. From death will come life, she sees only emptiness where in fact as we will see her coffers are full.

Ruth actually means satisfied. This pagan born and raised, young woman is satisfied. She trusts and is content with what God is doing in her life despite her apparent poverty. What a contrast to her mother-in-law, a born and raised believer in God.
Ruth goes out to the fields to gather what the harvesters leave behind. She comes under the wings of the owner of the field, Boaz, who we discover is one of Naomi’s deceased husband’s close relative.
Leviticus 23: 9-14 …
Verse 13 tells us that the roasted new grain was to be eaten at First Fruits and not before.
In Ruth 2: 14, we find Boaz ‘served Ruth roasted grain, and she ate and was satisfied.’ Boaz took notice of Ruth and provided for her, so (Ruth 2:23).
She stayed close by the maids of Boaz in order to glean until the end of the Barley harvest and the wheat harvest.
Now Naomi, (or should I say Mara), decides that it is time Ruth had a husband. At her mother in laws bidding, Ruth offers herself to Boaz, who proves himself a true goel or kinsman redeemer and redeems her. He marries her and soon Naomi has a grandson who is destined to be the Grandfather of Israel’s most beloved king, King David.
The lineage of David is restored by the faith and trust of a gentile born woman. Who else was to be in this line David on both his mother’s and his father’s side? Yeshua, Jesus of Nazareth, that carpenter, that prophet, that messiah, the Savior of the world.

Ruth 4:15
He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.”
Just before Jesus’ last Sfirat Haomer with his disciples, he speaks to them with a picture of what is to come. This story is not for his disciples alone but is given as an encouragement to some Gentiles who have come to see Jesus.
John 12:20-24 & 32
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Phillip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” 22 Phillip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Phillip in turn told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, …

At First Fruits, sheaves of grain are lifted up and waved as an offering to the Lord. Jesus would soon be lifted up from the earth drawing all those looking for salvation unto him, both Jew and Gentile.
There was in Jesus’ day an argument between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Not the usual one about the resurrection. This argument was about when Sfirat Haomer should be celebrated. One group thought it should be the day after the Shabbat of Passover. The other group believed it should be the day after the first Shabbat after Passover. Got that? Well, this year there was no discussion, they both occurred on the same day. This was an amazing day.
Even more amazing, this was the day that the women found an empty tomb. This was the day Peter and John found an abandoned grave. This was the day our messiah our first fruit rose from the dead.
Our friend, Paul understood the ultimate fulfillment of Shirat Haomer. He wrote:
I Corinthians 15:20
Christ (the messiah, the anointed One), had been raised from the dead the first fruits of those who are asleep.
I Corinthians 15: 23b
Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.

Jesus’ resurrection is our Early First Harvest. He is our Promise from God of what is to come. God has provided this first fruit, this first resurrection, this first harvest. We can have faith in our Goel in our Kinsman Redeemer, as Ruth did, that the latter harvest will come.
Paul says in I Corinthians 15: 22
For as in Adam all die so also in Christ all shall be made alive.
This promise, this holiday is for all the sons and daughters of Adam. All of those who are drawn to this First Fruit lifted up from the Earth.
On Sfirat Haomer, we pass through that Dead Sea again unto life, just as the Israelites did, just as our Messiah passed from death to life all on Sfirat Haomer.

Questions for Sfirat Haomer
1. The book of Ruth is a very short read. Go for it! Names seem to have a lot of meaning in this book. Naomi’s husband’s name, Elimelech, means ‘My God is King.’ Boaz, means ‘strength.’ Why? No idea. Ask God to give you an idea.
2. Are you, do you have, or will you be a mother-in-law someday? What about a mentor? Share some ways to be or to prepare to be the best mentor or mentee you can be.
3. Have you ever felt so discouraged that you were ready to change your name to ‘Bitterness?’ How can we be more like Ruth (‘Satisfied’) with whatever path God puts before us?
4. Share a time when what you had exactly what you needed but like Naomi, you just couldn’t see it.
5. Ever laid in bed at night, and felt a little afraid of that great unknown called ‘death.’
How has this holiday helped to waylay those fears and uncertainties?
6. Is there any doubt that these holidays are for gentiles as well as Jews? Share how you can celebrate it…

Chapter 9 Shavuoat
Now comes the ‘count up’ to the Feast of the Latter First Fruits, another spring time harvest celebration. In Hebrew, we call this holiday Shavuot or Weeks emphasizing the seven weeks that pass between the Early and Latter First Fruits. In Greek, we say Pentecost or 50, emphasizing that after the seven weeks of seven days, we have reached the second harvest.
This is one of the three holy days where the Bible commands that if possible we make a pilgrimage to the temple. We ‘go up’ or make aliah at Succoth when we are celebrating God’s presence with us. We sing the songs of assents while going up to Jerusalem at the Feast of Unleavened Bread praising Him for the Passover lamb provided for us. At Shavuot, we make aliah in our hearts, for the harvest now and the harvest to come and the giving of his Word.
On Passover, the angel of death passed over the households of the Israelites because of the blood of the lamb. On Sfirat Haomer, Israelites rose up to life through the Red Sea. Then on Shavuot, the Israelites have reached Mt. Sinai, and Moses receives the law, the Word of God.

Exodus 19: 1-8
In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt- on the very day- they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.
Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in You.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

Oh yes, our Spirit is willing but our flesh is so weak. The Israelites gladly accept these words of the Lord not realizing their true purpose. The law was given to point out our sin, our failings and shortcomings. In a few chapters, the people are begging for another god, maybe one made of gold like the Egyptian god’s had.
Exodus 32 1-6
1When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the Mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
2 Aaron answered them, “ Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

No wonder the sacrifice at Shavuot is bread made with leaven to point out our sin and a blood sacrifice to point out our need for atonement.

The traditional reading for Shavuot includes:
Ezekiel 1:4-5, 13 & 14.
4 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, 5 and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures.

13 The appearance of the living creatures was like burning coals of fire or like torches. Fire moved back and forth among the creatures; it was bright, and lightning flashed out of it. 14 The creatures sped back and forth like flashes of lightning.

Read Acts 2: 1-13 or read this story….
Imagine the year is 33AD. After seven weeks of anticipation, you have made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Shavuot. You’ve heard that prophet, that healer, the miracle-worker, was it Yeshua? Was crucified at Passover. Too bad, it would have been exciting to see him and his followers. Oh well, it was wonderful to hear the verses from Ezekiel being read in the temple….’storm wind, fire flashing, glowing living being,’ what could it all mean? You wonder as you make your way down the crowded narrow streets back to your lodging.
A loud noise disrupts your quiet revelry. Is that the sound of waves breaking? No, it’s the wind, a violent rushing wind, but on such a day, so calm and still. You find yourself running towards the noise along with many others. That room up there! What a light! Is it on fire? Those people coming down from that upper room, are they glowing? Could they be drunk? No it’s only the tenth hour…they are elated. They seem filled with power, and purpose. Wait, the sound has stopped and now you hear, yes it’s a voice speaking in your native tongue… you haven’t heard anyone speaking it since you immigrated many years ago. Looking about you see the astonishment that you feel on many other faces. Everyone is bewildered and amazed. Those luminous people are speaking in many different languages. They are speaking of the mighty deeds of God. Oh, this will be a Shavuot to remember!

Think of it, this man, this Jesus was slain. His blood shed like a lamb on Passover. He was raised from death to life on Sfirat Haomer as were the Israelites as they crossed the Rea Sea. Now on Shavuot, Jesus gave ‘the gift of His Holy Spirit” Acts 2:38b, just as God gave the gift of the Word to the Israelites on the first Shavuot so many years before.

‘The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.’
Paul made this claim in his letter to the Ephesians 6:17b. I find it so fascinating that Paul links the Spirit and the Word together in this way. Of course, the word ‘Spirit’ in Hebrew is ‘ruach’ which means wind or breathe. All was created by His Word, his breathe, his Spirit.
James reminds us of this creating power of God’s word in his first chapter verse 18:
James 1:18 He brought us forth by the word of truth so that we might be as it were the first fruits among his creatures.

Here we are on Later First Fruits, brought forth by the gift of His Holy Spirit in our lives. We are new creations, born of his Spirit.
Rejoicing in the promise of the harvest to come because of the Spirit’s presence in our lives.
Paul says in Romans 8:16;
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

We know, that we know, that we know! How do we know? Paul answers that one too. ‘We ourselves having the first fruit of the Holy Spirit.’ Romans 8:23
We have His Holy Spirit, our First Fruit, our early harvest celebration… our promise of the harvest to come.
What is that harvest to come? Well we have a long summer to get through but waiting at the end is Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, the Atonement Day and Tabernacles, Succoth, the Harvest to come! We are in the long summer of waiting for the Messiah’s return but be assured harvest will come, the trumpets of Rosh Hashanah will sound.
Maranatha, He will return.

Questions for Shavuot
1. Seven weeks of seven days, this holiday is a long one. Find some sevens in the Bible and discover their hidden meaning.
2. Three is also a very significant number in the Bible, How do three holidays that we are commanded to go up to Jerusalem reflect the Trinity.
3. The Israelites promised to follow God at Mt. Sinai, then a few days later, they were seeped in sin. How can you relate? Find and share verses to restore the joy of Shavuot!
4. Try writing your own Biblical narrative. Put yourself there on that day of Acts 2 and share your own encounter with the Holy Spirit.
5. Spend sometime with the Spirit of the Living God.

Crumbs

Oh Lord, give us the crumbs. We are unworthy servants not even worthy enough to untie your sandal (Matt. 3:11). He longed to fill himself with the scraps the pigs were eating (Luke 15:16). He was hoping to get scraps from the rich man’s table (Luke 16:21). Ruth gleaned from what the workers had left behind (Ruth 2:3). There were twelve full baskets of left over broken pieces (John 6:13). Left over manna had to be eaten or it spoiled (Ex. 16:19&20). All of the Passover Lamb must be eaten, none left over (Numbers 9:12).

Matthew 15: 21-28

And Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, “Send her away, for she is shouting after us.”
But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
And He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
But she said, “Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered and said to her, “Oh woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed at once.

What a feast we can sweep up from under the children’s table! This woman, a gentile, came to Jesus begging for help. He made it clear that He had come for the Jews and tested her faith. Then he immediately used her response as a means to make those listening wonder. And, He gave her those crumbs.

Let us come humbly to that table knowing that we are but dogs and beg for some of those crumbs! He will bless us with a feast and use us in the lives of the ‘children’ around us.

2010-12-28T11:35:00.000-08:00

Passover

2009-03-31T07:51:00.000-07:00

The thought of the approaching feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread can strike stress and joy into the hearts of Jewish (and some Gentile:) mothers. It is a time for the Marthas of the world to freak out! If you don’t know Martha’s story read Luke 10:38-42, right now!
We are expected to clean out every last speck of leaven from our homes. The bagels, the flour, the cereal must go. But there could be a bit hiding in a cabinet, or behind a dish, or a crumb under the bed. Everything must be clean. It's time for spring-cleaning gone wild.
Leaven or yeast, ‘hamatz’ in Hebrew is a symbol for sin.
Exodus 12:15b commands ‘you shall remove the leaven from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.’
Paul gives us a little Passover lesson in his letter to Corinth.
I Corinthians 5:6b-8
Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven of malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Get that sin out of your house!
During this busy time of cleaning, a visitor came to Bethany, the city of Martha and Mary. The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were just two days off. Jesus had come to Bethany and was reclining at the table when in comes Mary.
Perhaps she had been busy for days trying to get the last specks of leaven out of her home. But she stops her work realizing that there is an even more important task for her to carry out. I hope that Martha had learned her lesson from their previous encounter with Jesus and did not hinder Mary in her ‘better choice.’
Mary brings her most costly and cherished possession, a vial of perfume. Mary breaks open the pure nard and pours it over Jesus’ head.
Jesus has much to say about her act of worship but one of his comments brings great comfort to me.
Mark 14:8 “She has done what she could…”
Mary has been working to clear her home of leaven. She cleans, she tries, she worships, and she gives. She has done what she could.

We try to rid ourselves of leaven, to free ourselves from sins. We clean, we try, we worship, and we give. We have done what we could, but it falls far short.
Despite the struggle to clear our home and lives of leaven, despite doing what we can, the Passover Lamb must be sacrificed.
As Jesus says in the latter part of Mark 14:8, she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. He knows Passover is coming he knows all the human effort was not enough. The Passover Lamb must be sacrificed.

We don’t have an Easter egg hunt at our house but my kids love ‘Bedikat Khameytz’ or the ‘Search for the Leaven.’ In the evening, a candle is lit and the search begins. Traditionally, a feather is used to sweep up any crumb or bit of dust, which may contain leaven. The bits are swept into a wooden spoon on which they are carried into the fire. I intentionally leave some crumbs hidden about; of course I used to put them in little plastic bags. I didn’t want my nice clean house getting dirty again.
When some leaven is found, the candle shines upon it and then it is swept into the wooden spoon by the feather. I attach a little verse about some sin to each bag of leaven. Then we read all the verses and burn them up with the leaven in the fire.
Psalms 119:105
Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Psalms 139:23
Search me, O God and know my heart
Try me and know my anxious thoughts
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
We light the candle thinking of God’s word, our lamp, our light, searching for the leaven in our home and hearts.
We sweep away the leaven with the feather as the Holy Spirit, like a dove, (Luke 4:22) cleans out the sin in our lives.
We place that leaven upon the wooden spoon removing into fire where it cannot come back, just as a wooden cross carries away our sin as far as the east is from the west, (Psalms 103:12).
Oh, yeah, it’s a lot better than any old Easter egg hunt! My boys love the searching and reading the verses and burning the hamatz. It’s not just a wild hunt for candy and chocolate eggs. It means something and they know and feel it. One of my sons says that Passover is his second favorite holiday. (His first being Christmas for obvious, materialistic reasons!)

On the eve of the first Passover, God told Moses exactly how to prepare for and celebrate this holiday. The year was about 1445 B.C. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years, calling out to God for a savior. Moses was that man. Saved from certain death as an infant, raised in Pharaoh’s palace, he was now standing up for his people, read Exodus 2 thru chapter 11 for the whole story.
Moses had called down nine plagues from the Lord upon Egypt but still Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go. Now Moses announced the tenth plague. The angel of death would slay all of the first-born of Egypt, but the first-born in Israel would be passed over.
Each Israeli household was to take an unblemished lamb, kill it and apply some of blood to the doorposts and lintel of their houses with a branch of hyssop. This would be a sign to the destroyer not to enter. The lamb was to be eaten in haste, loins girded, sandals on feet and staff in hand, for they would be leaving in the morning.
Just after midnight, a cry was heard throughout Egypt, the first-born sons of the lowliest peasant to the King himself, were dead.

After 430 years of slavery the Egyptians begged the Israelites to leave and gave them silver, gold, and clothing, to take with them. Pharaoh would later make one last attempt to keep his slaves but that ended in a watery grave for him and his army. Read Exodus 14 thru 15 for the whole story.
The Israelites had removed the leaven, a symbol of sin from their homes.

Why was the lamb’s blood put on their doorposts and why use a hyssop branch to apply it?

The lamb’s blood was a symbol of the animal sacrifices. According to the Law, there is no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood, Hebrews 9:22. It was a foreshadowing for the Messiah’s sacrifice as Isaiah 53:7b states “he was led as a lamb to slaughter.’

Isaiah 53:10b states ‘He would render Himself as a guilt offering.’

Then Isaiah 53:11b, ‘He will bear their iniquities’ and12b ‘he poured out Himself to death…He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.’
As Zechariah’s son the prophet John said, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
Yes, the cleaning by the housewives wasn’t enough and again I say, our attempts to clean out our lives fall far short. We need that blood covering our doors, protecting our homes.

Why the hyssop branch? In Psalms 51:2, King David is calling out to God for forgiveness. His sin, which included adultery and murder were weighing heavily upon him. This shepherd, prophet, song-writing King asks God (Psalms 51:2) to ‘wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sins.’ In verse seven, he asks God, ‘Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.’
Perhaps David was thinking of the hyssop used to apply the Passover Lamb’s blood to the doorposts and lintel. Perhaps he was speaking prophetically.
John 19:29-30
A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

Did those at the foot of the cross that day think of the Passover lamb’s blood being lifted up on the hyssop branch? It would have been fresh in their minds for this was the day the lamb was to be selected and killed. The Pharisees and the Chief Priest’s officers had to be careful as they led Jesus to Pilate.

John 18:28
They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium in order that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.
John 19:32-37
32 The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him;
33 but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not bread His legs;
34 but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.
35 And he who has seen has borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.
36 For these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken,”
37 And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced,.”
The chosen Passover lamb was to be perfect, no blemish, or spot, no broken bones. Like the Passover Lambs selected that day Jesus did not have his bones broken, but as the prophet Isaiah foresaw “he was pierced for our transgressions,”
Isaiah 53:5
He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.
John recounts how Jesus was beaten, whipped, nailed to the cross, and finally run through with a sword on the Paschal Eve.
Knowing the scriptures well, our Messiah,Jesus asks for this final cup as he hung upon the cross. Jesus drank from the hyssop; this bitter herb so important is the first Passover. Jesus drank this sour wine.
Perhaps some of his blood fell upon the hyssop as it was lifted to His lips, our own and eternal Passover lamb covering protecting and saving us by his blood.

Today, no lambs are sacrificed on Passover. There is no temple in which to offer them. But as in Yeshua’s day, we celebrate with a dinner called the Seder or in English the Order. Order is an excellent name for this meal because all parts of it are very specifically ordered.

Once again the ‘Marthas’ of the family have to get busy. One of Jesus’ disciples, a former tax collector named Matthew, tells us in his book of the preparations made for the last Seder of Jesus’ human life.

Matthew 26: 17-19
17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
18 And He said, “Go in to the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’”
19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

Jesus gives his disciples, clue after clue of what is about to take place. He even tells them directly later in the evening. But they, like us so often, seem not to hear or at least not to understand.

How to Prepare the Seder Celebration!

As I am preparing our Passover table, I like to think back to that night. I think of the disciples and join with them in the joy of preparing this feast, remembering that my ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8-9) and He is totally to be trusted.

Table Setting for the Passover Seder
-a pair of candleholders and candles
-Haggadah
-washing bowl
-matzah and matzah holder (matzah tash)
-afikomen wrapper
-egg
-wine/grape juice
-maror (bitter herb)
-karpas (parsley)
-salted water
-zeroah (lamb shank bone)
-charoset
-Elisha’s place setting

All these preparations may seem a bit daunting but once the elements are in your heart, they are easy to remember and prepare.
The meal begins with the blessing over the candles by the wife or mother-figure, I wonder who blessed the candles in the upper room?

Shabbat Blessing (Messianic)
Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by your grace, and allowed us to kindle the Passover lights and given us Yeshua the Light of the World.

Now the husband or father-figure, takes over leading us through the Haggadah, which is a booklet created especially for the Passover Seder. Our family uses a Messianic haggadah. We have traditional ones. We have ones in Hebrew and we even have sort of a joke one that my husband downloaded from the Internet. Finding one you are comfortable with may take a few Passover Seders!

Once the candles are lit, the head of the household leads the Kiddush, the blessing over the first cup of wine, the cup of Sanctification.

‘Baruch Attah Ah-doh-nay
Elo-heynu Melech Ha –o-lam
Boray Pree Ha gaw-fen’
‘Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Our God, King of the Universe,
Creator of the Fruit of the Vine.’

This is the first of four cups, so maybe you should make it the small pour:).

Now we pass the bowl of water, for each person to ceremonially wash his or her hands in. We just dip our fingertips in, but Jesus took this part of the Seder much further.
John 13: 3-5
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and He had come forth from God, and was going back to God,
4 rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about.
5 Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded.

Peter would have no part of this. His master was trying to wash Peter’s feet like a servant would.
John 13:6
6 And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “ Lord, do You wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand hereafter.”
8 Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
So Peter is more than happy to allow Jesus to cleanse him.
Then Jesus explains.
John 13: 12-15
12 And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to You?
13 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.
14 “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 ‘For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you.
The followers of Jesus have strange and unusual goal, to be servants, to lay down their lives for others, to be meek and lowly. We do not try to achieve ‘nirvana’, or improve our ‘karma’, or become ‘gods’. ‘Success’ or ‘bettering ourselves’ is not our goal. We follow His example, we trust Him to do the work in us. We must decrease that He may increase, (John 3:30).
Isaiah 11:1
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
Isaiah 53: 2
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
Psalms 41:9
Even my close friend, in whom I trusted,
Who ate my bread,
Has lifted up his heel against me.
Each person now dips the sprig of green (tender young shoot) into the salt water (I usually have a sprig floating in it so the bowl won’t be confused with the hand washing bowl.) This symbolizes that hyssop branch and in Israel we actually used hyssop or as they call it zatar. (Zatar tastes wonderful sprinkled over pizza; they also like catsup on pizza in Israel. It took us awhile to figure out why our pizza always came with some chopped green herb and catsup packets.)
All four gospels describe how Jesus reveals Judas’ true heart during the dipping of the karpas. This tender shoot holding our Savior’s blood drenched in tears.

As at a Shabbat dinner, the leader blesses the bread. But there is no challah at this table. Unleavened bread or matza is held up with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.
Matza is that special cracker–like bread eaten by the Israelites as they left Egypt. Remember that their departure was so sudden that there was no time for the bread to rise. Matza is striped from cooking over the flames like a charbroiled burger. It is pierced full of holes like a saltine to be doubly sure no rising takes place. It reminds us of the sin we have tried to remove from our homes. The stripes, piercing, and unleaveness remind us once again of Isaiah’s prophecy.
Isaiah 53:5
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.

Like our Messiah striped, pierced, and sinless.
The matzah is held in a three pocketed jacket or sleeve called a matzah tash. You can make one out of four napkins stapled together.

Why three pockets? Some say Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Bet you can guess what I say, especially when I tell you that the middle matza is removed and broken. Half is then returned and half is wrapped up and hidden.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit representing the three in One. He was broken for our transgressions. He was shrouded and buried.
This wrapped up piece called the Afikomen translated ‘the one who is to come or the resurrected one,’ is hidden until the end of the meal.

Some make this into a game for the children to keep their interest during the long meal. They must close their eyes during the hiding and then the child, who finds the Afikomen after the meal, ransoms it for a reward from the leader.
Now come the four questions, the answers, the spilling of the drops wine (to decrease our joy because of the hardships of the Egyptians). Next the song, 'Dayenu', in which we tell of all the blessings God has done for us. We add a verse singing, ‘Had He only given us Yeshua, it would have been enough!’

Then the second cup, the Cup of Judgment, another hand washing, blessing of the matzah, bitter herbs, haroseth, explaining the egg and shank bone. These will be in your Haggadah.

At long last the festival meal…
Now the search for the Afikomen!
Matthew 26:26
26 And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;
28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 22: 15-17
15 Jesus said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”
17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

Here Jesus has taken the third cup, the cup of Redemption and given it, it’s true meaning. We joyfully do the same in remembrance of Him. Then as we share the Afikomen, this leavenless, striped, pierced, and now broken bread, which has been shrouded, buried, ransomed, and resurrected. We take it and eat it in thanksgiving and praise.

Now the outside doors are opened to see if perhaps Elijah has come to join us. No, he is not there for as Yeshua tells us in
Matthew 11:13-14.
13 For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
14 And if you care to accept it, he himself is Elijah, who was to come.

Yes, John, son of Zebedee did his job well, announcing the arrival of the King of Kings.

I forgot to tell you about the Charoset. Made with fruit, honey, nuts, and wine; it’s a mushy mixture. Charoset represents the mortar that the slaves used for building. You know that stuff that holds the bricks together. Some say it’s a reminder of the hard labor of slavery in Egypt. But I say it’s the gluon, or the string of String Theory. That innocuous substance theorized by the physicists which sort of ties Everything together. Paul says in
Acts 17:28
“In Him we live and move and have our being…”
And John in his first chapter says,
“All things were made through Him.”
He is our mortar. He is our gluon.
What better reason to lift the final cup, the Cup of Praise?

Questions for Passover
1. Mary was praised by Jesus for choosing the right course of action,no, not working hard but hardly working i.e. sitting quietly at his feet. Share a plan of action to partake in Mary’s choice.
2. Mary made a bold move when she anointed Jesus’ feet and was severely criticized for it. Read Mark 14. What do you think were her reasons and motives? Why?
3. Ever been searched by the Word or the Holy Spirit? If not, try it. Allow God to sweep away the leaven in your life.

Chapter 6 Purim

2009-01-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

We’ve all heard of Marti Gras in New Orleans, and Carnival in Rio. Welcome to the Purim in Persia.
Marti Gras and Carnival like Christmas and Halloween have Christian roots but let’s face it, they really aren’t biblical holidays and by that I mean biblically commanded holidays.
Purim, however, most definitely is! And what a wonderful command it is.
Esther 9:22
Because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was turned for them from sorrow in to gladness and from mourning in to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor,
Sorrow turned to gladness, mourning turned into a holiday. Purim is a time of feasting, rejoicing, and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

As Hanukkah, centers around the bravery of the Maccabees, Purim centers around the courage of a young woman named Esther. A few hundred years before the Maccabee's struggle, during the first dispersion of Israel in 450 B.C., God saved the Jews from the brink of destruction through the intervention of Esther.

The book of Esther begins (quite appropriately for Purim) with a party. King Ahasuerus, who reigned from India to Ethiopia, hosted two banquets in the citadel of Susa. The first banquet was for the noble people and lasted 180 days. But the second banquet was for everyone from the greatest to the least. It lasted seven days and the decorations and drinks were bountiful.
On the seventh day when his heart was ‘merry with wine’ (Esther 1:10), the king summoned his wife, Queen Vashti to come and display herself, for she was beautiful.
But the Queen refused to come. The King decided, with the help of his counselors, that she would never be allowed into his presence again. Her crown would be given to another.
So all the beautiful, young virgins in Susa were brought into the king’s harem and after a time of preparation would be brought into the king. He would choose the most delightful of all to be the new queen.
There was a Jew in Susa named Mordecai, who was bringing up his orphaned niece named Hadassah. Hadassah was known by her Persian name Esther. ‘She was beautiful of form and face,’ (Esther 2: 7). Naturally, she was one of the virgins taken into the king’s palace. Mordecai had warned her not to make known her heritage and she found favor with the eunuch in charge of the harem named Haggai.
Soon there was another party, for the King found Esther more pleasing than all the other women and placed the royal crown upon her head.
Yet Esther still obeyed the word of Mordecai and well she should, for he was quite loyal to the king. Mordecai even discovered a plot against the king’s life and told Esther of it, who told the king and, thus, Mordecai saved the King’s life.
Now a true villain enters our story. Haman (whose name means ‘the rager’ or ‘their tumult’) was promoted to great power in the kingdom. So high was his position that all the king’s servants at the king’s gate would bow down to him, all except Mordecai. Haman soon discovered this fact and his anger raged. He vowed to destroy not only Mordecai, but also all of the Jews.
The king gave Haman his royal signet ring, which Haman used to seal an edict to annihilate the Jews on the thirteenth day of Adar.
Esther heard that her beloved uncle was weeping, mourning, and wearing sack-clothe. She sent him garments but he refused them. Mordecai sent her word of the evil Haman’s plan and ordered her to go to the king and plead for her people.
‘Did Mordecai know what he was asking?’ wondered Esther, for she had not been summoned into the king’s presence in 30 days. Anyone approaching the king in his court unbidden could be put to death unless the king held out his golden scepter signifying that he or she could live.
Mordecai answered his niece’s message with these words:
Esther 4: 13-14
If you remain silent at his time, relief, and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?
Now Esther gave herself up for her people. All the Jews of Susa including Esther and her maidens fasted for three days and nights.
On the third day, Esther prepared herself and entered the inner court of the king. The king had mercy upon her extending his scepter towards her. He offered her up to half of his kingdom to which she only requested his presence at a banquet for the king and Haman.
At the end of the banquet, he again made an offer to grant her any request up to half of his kingdom. She once more asked him to attend a banquet the following day for him and Haman.
Well, if Haman was prideful before now his pride overflowed. He decided (after some persuasion from friends and family) to have an enormous gallows made on which to hang Mordecai.
But during the night, sleeplessness and late night reading caused the king to remember that he had never rewarded Mordecai for saving his life.
The king had Haman honor Mordecai by parading him through the streets, on one of the king’s own horses, and announcing the king’s favor upon him.
At Esther’s second banquet, the king learned that the people Haman planned to destroy were the queen’s own people.
Haman was hanged upon the very gallows he had built for Mordecai. But the threat to the Jews still remained. An edict sealed with the king’s signet ring could not be revoked. So a new edict was issued. The Jewish people could defend themselves and on the thirteenth day of Adar. The Jews conquered and destroyed those who hated them. So two days of celebration were established to remember this victory.

And the carnival-like, joyous atmosphere of this holiday continues today. Everyone dresses in a costume. I’ve seen many a lovely Esther and a few dastardly Hamans. When we lived in Tiberius, in the 1990’s most of the teenagers I saw dressed as Americans for Purim. They wore jeans and t-shirts with English words written all over them. I wonder if their parents realized that many of the words were...well, I'm glad my kids couldn't read yet:).

The book of Esther is read or acted out in a play. This is really fun because whenever Haman’s name is mentioned everyone boos or sounds the noisemakers called groggers. When the names Esther or Mordecai are read, cheers and clapping fill the assembly.
The light-hearted, joyousness is also reflected in the refreshments served at Purim. Cookies called hamantashen or Haman’s ears are a favorite. They do look a bit like an ear or some say a three-cornered hat that perhaps Haman wore.
As for the drinks, well let’s say drinking is encouraged. In fact, it’s supposed to be a mitzvah, “good work” to be so drunk that one cannot tell Mordecai from Haman. I remember watching some rabbi-types reading from Esther on TV while we lived in Tiberias. By the end of the reading their slurring told me that they were certainly full of “good works.”

On the kibbutz, it was little difficult to tell Esther from Haman during the play and not because of any mitzvah drinking. The parents put on a well-rehearsed and hilarious play for the children of the kibbutz. The father of the kids we babysat for, played the part of Esther. It was wonderful seeing the farmer/soldier/ dishwasher (everyone took a turn washing dishes on the kibbutz) prancing around in a lovely pink gown and tiara!

Why call this cheerful holiday ‘Purim’ or in English, 'Lots?' Why name this holiday after something Haman did?

Why?

Because, this day of destruction was turned into a day of rejoicing. This day of doom was turned into a day of triumph, days of fasting into days of feasting.

Haman may have cast the lot, ‘rolled the dice’ but as it says in Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast but its every decision is from the Lord.”
The first lot mentioned in the Bible (besides Abe’s nephew, Lot – who probably should have used a lot – but that’s another story,) is in Leviticus 16:8 and 9. Lots are used to identify the goat of the sacrifice or atonement i.e. the Scapegoat. This chosen One would symbolically carry off the sins of the people into the wilderness.

Israel’s first king was chosen by lot in I Samuel 14.

Jonah was selected by lots to be cast into the sea and thus spent three days in the belly of the great fish.

Zechariah was chosen by lot to enter the temple, Luke 1:9, where he received news of his son who would be ‘called the prophet of the Most High,’ the herald of the Messiah.

Lot’s were cast at Jesus’ feet as he hung upon the cross, Matthew 27:35. Jesus himself calls attention to this fact by crying out the first verse of Psalms 22, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ That is ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ Matthew 27:46.

Perhaps the crowds nearby began to recite this Psalms in their mind. The prophecy fulfilled before them must have left them open-mouthed with wonder especially as they pondered the verses Ps. 22 16b-18…
They pierced my hands and my feet.
I can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me;
They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
Why ‘Purim?’ The evil one had cast his lot but what Haman meant for evil, God used for good.

Like Esther, our chosen One, our Scapegoat, our Messiah willingly sacrificed Himself for the people.

For three days she fasted, crying out as Jonah did from the depths of the watery Sheol, Jonah 2:2.

After three days, Jesus arose from the grave to be our first eternal King.
Even her name is a picture of our Messiah.

Esther means ‘star’ and in Revelations 22:16, Jesus is called our 'bright and morning star.' Her Hebrew name, 'Hadassah' means myrtle. This reminds us of our righteous Branch of the Succoth, Jeremiah 23:5, the tabernacle of His Presence.
Amazingly enough the word ‘God’ is never mentioned in the book of Esther. But His Presence is felt throughout the pages. He is there, orchestrating His divine will over each situation.

What a cause for rejoicing to know that His will is being done!
What a motivation to rise to the challenge of Mordecai, not to remain silent; Esther 4:14.

Cheer for Esther, clack your grogger and boo when Haman is mentioned!
Celebrate this joyous holiday!
‘And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this,’ Esther 4:14.
What do I mean by royalty? As George MacDonald says, the child of the king!

Questions for Purim
1. Do you think Queen Vashti was treated fairly? Why or why not?

2. Esther’s decision to follow Mordecai’s leading and Haggi’s advice concerning the king may have shocked some people. She does not at first reveal her heritage and does her best to physically please this pagan king. Have you ever wrongly judged another’s actions?

3. Reread Esther 4:14. Have you ever let an opportunity to bring ‘relief and deliverance’ to someone slip by? When was it? Let's think of ways to be ready.

4. Some believe God is only marginally involved in the events of this life, others believe He ‘allows’ many events to take place; I personally believe He is orchestrating all that happens. Read Proverbs 16:1, 16:9, 16:33. What do you think???

5. You are royalty, a child of the King because God is your Father. How does knowing that you are a prince/princess bring light into your life?
Read ‘The Princess and the Goblin,’ by George MacDonald to explore this notion more intimately.

6. Read Psalms 22 or the book of Jonah. Like Isaac on his way to the sacrifice, Esther counted herself as perishing for her people. Discuss how these people’s situations reflected the Messiah’s sacrifice.

7. When Esther entered into the King's presence, she had nothing to offer him but herself. You know what that reminds me of me... how about you, when you enter into our King's Presence?

Chapter 5- Hannukah

2008-12-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

‘Hanukkah, oh Hanukkah, Come Light Menorah!
Let’s have a Party, We’ll all Dance the Horah!’

What is Hanukkah? Is it the Jewish answer to Christmas? Well, it’s probably so popular here in the states because of the competition with Christmas… Hanukkah cards, tons of gifts for the kids, I’ve even seen a Hanukkah ‘bush’!

Traditionally, cards are sent at Rosh Hashanah. Gifts for the children are traditionally only gelt that is money, coins, or chocolate coins. I don’t know what a pine tree really has to do with a Christmas let alone Hanukkah.

But I think of Hanukkah not as the Jewish Christmas, but as being more of a Fourth of July, an Israeli Independence Day. Without Independence Day, there would be no United States. Without Hanukkah, there would be no Israel, no Messiah, no Christmas.

About 200 years before our time, the patriots, lead by George Washington, beat the British army and ‘established these United States of America.’ About 200 years before Jesus was born, the Israelites lead by Judah Maccabee beat the Assyrian army and freed Israel. So when Jesus celebrated Hanukkah, he probably felt the same kinds of feelings for his country and it’s heroes as we feel for ours.
Over 2000 years later, Israelis are still celebrating this independence day of Hanukkah. I knew very little about the holiday that first year I spent in Israel. Actually, my knowledge didn’t go much farther than an attempt made by a fellow fourth grader to share his holiday with the class.

I remember being amazed by his presentation… this kid had no Christmas. No tree, no Santa, just some strange candles and weird square tops? How could someone who sits right next to me in class be so different and I not even know it?
So I approached Hanukkah with a sense of pity and alienation until the Hanukkah, which I spent, on the kibbutz. The decorations in the kibbutz-dining hall showed me that Hanukkah was not some substitute for Christmas.

It is the celebration of a great victory. Two armies adorned the picture windows, which lined the hall. One army was well clad with armor and swords. The other had farmers, yet these farmers were fierce and obviously triumphant. When I learned the inspiring story of Hanukkah, all pity left, replaced by admiration for the faith and strength remembered in this Holiday.

In 165 B.C.E., Israel was once again a defeated country. The Hellenistic Empire reigned supreme over all the Middle East. The early death of Alexander the Great had led to four of his generals fighting over the kingdoms. Finally Antiochus, King of Syria, overcame the rest and ruled with a heavy hand. This, the Israelis could stomach. Israel and Judah had been conquered many times in the past and would be in the future. But when Antiochus changed his name to Antiochus ‘Epiphanes’ or ‘God manifest,’ things grew intolerable.
Antiochus demanded to be worshipped as a God. He had the temple desecrated. The Perpetual Light, the great Menorah or lamp, was extinguished. This seven-branched candleholder was a symbol of God’s spiritual presence. The holy oil, used in the great Menorah, was poured out.

King Antiochus required all his subjects to give up their ways, worship only Greek gods and adopt the Greek way of life.
Then a hero arose. An old priest named Mattathias refused to cooperate. Soldiers had come to the small village of Modi’im, insisting that Mattathias lead the people in a pagan ceremony. He and his five sons killed the soldiers and began the revolt against Antiochus.

One of his sons, Judah became the leader and was nicknamed Maccabee or the ‘hammer’ for his persistence against the enemy. The freedom fighters soon became know as the Maccabees, a fitting name for an army of farmers and craftsmen. Their cause seemed hopeless. The Maccabees were fighting an army that was well trained, well supplied, and huge. How could these villagers defeat the soldiers of King Antiochus?
The answer is on the dreidel, the little square top, a symbol of Hanukkah. On the dreidel are four Hebrew letters Nun, Gimmel, Hay, and Shin. They stand for the saying, 'Nes Gagol Hiya Sham or Great Miracle Happened There.' Of course, in Israel the dreidels say 'Nes Gadol Hiya Poe' or 'Great Miracle Happened Here.'

Well, a Great Miracle did Happen There! This little ragtag army defeated the great army of Syria or to use Stars War’s terms the Rebels beat the Empire.

Great rejoicing began but as they entered the temple in Jerusalem, their hearts fell. It was a mess, defiled and desecrated. The Perpetual Light, the Great Menorah had gone out. Pigs had been sacrificed on the altar. Idols had been erected in the holy sanctuary.

So Hanukkah began. Hanukkah means dedication and is what took place. The temple was cleansed and all traces of idolatrous worship removed. The Perpetual Light was rekindled but only enough holy oil was found to burn for one day. It would take 8 days to replenish the supply. How sad it would be to see it burn out again!

But each day as they came into the temple ‘Nes Gadol Hiya Sham.’ The Menorah kept on burning. It continued to burn the full eight days, another miracle of Hanukkah.

Hanukkah or the Feast of Dedication centers on these two miracles, the dedication of the Maccabees in defeating the great army of Antiochus Epiphanes and the rededication of the temple in the miraculous glow of the Great Menorah. The Jews and Israel had been saved from annihilation.
Well, if that’s not enough to make you want to celebrate Hanukkah as much as the most Hassidic Rabbi, I’ll give you another reason.
Jesus did!

John tells us in his tenth chapter, verse 22.
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem:
23 it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

There Jesus was, walking through those same pillars that brought tears to Judah Maccabee’s eyes as he saw the desecration left by Antiochus. Jesus was stepping on those same stones that the priests had scrubbed and cleansed from blood of pigs sacrificed by Antiochus’ soldiers.

Did he look up at the Perpetual Light that day and think of the Hanukkah 165 years before when the oil continued to burn for 8 days?

Oh, I think Jesus did and I think he was enjoying the Feast of Hanukkah when, he was interrupted by some Jews that day.
John 10:24b
“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

Here it was, Hanukkah, a feast of miracles. Jesus answers his questioners in the spirit of Hanukkah. Humble as ever, Jesus refers to his miracles as good works or mitzvoth.

John 10:25 “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these bear witness of Me.”
He reminds them with these words, of all the amazing battles he has fought and won throughout Israel. The Maccabees defeated the enemy on the hillsides, roads, and valleys of Judah.

Jesus also defeated the enemy. The blind could now see, the deaf could hear, and the lame could walk. Demons had been cast out, the hungry had been fed, and even the dead had been raised back to life. Yes, like in the days of Judah Maccabee, a Great Miracle Happened There and the enemy had been defeated.

This Messiah, this Son of David, then speaks of another miracle. Like the eternal light shining in the Great Menorah, he speaks of another miracle that God has ordained. This miracle is the eternal light of life shining forth from the hearts of his followers. Their light cannot be snuffed out, no they cannot be snatched out of His Hand. (John 10: 29)

Thank you God, that you have lit the Holy Oil of your spirit in our hearts. Thank you Lord, that you keep us burning, burning, burning.

Paul has a little Hanukkah lesson for us as well. In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul quotes Isaiah 52: 11 saying that we are God’s temple. God dwells in us and walks among us.
Be clean. Be holy. We need to clean up our temples.
II Cor. 6: 16b For we are the temple of the living God…

Our temples have been desecrated. We have worshiped at the altar of our own pride, lusts, and selfishness. Just like the temple in the days of the Maccabees, a Great Miracle is needed to save us and make that light shine.

Yeshua Ha Mashecha, Jesus the Messiah is that miracle as He calls us to be the sheep, who hear his voice. (John 10: 27 -part of Jesus' Hanukkah sermon.) Or as the scriptures say in Isaiah, to be the sheep of His Hands.
Don’t miss out on the fun and the lessons of this Feast. Buy or make a Hannukiah, a nine pronged candle holder with one candle (the Shamash or servant candle) more elevated than the rest. The Shamash candle is used to light the other candles, one more each night until all eight are shining brightly.
Make some latkes, and sufganiyot, (potato pancakes and donuts) and talk about how they are cooked in oil. Oil reminds us of that holy oil that continued to burn. Pray that God will give us the oil of his Holy Spirit and that it will keep “burning" in our lives.

Thank you God, for the bravery and strength of Mattheus, Judah, his brothers, and the Maccabees. Thank you that faith beat out worldly might. Thank you God for putting your holy oil in that lamp and keeping it burning. Thank you for preserving the Jews once again so that we can now live in the everlasting light of Messiah, Son of David, King of the Jews.

Spin the dreidel and speak of the great Miracles that Happened There to the Maccabees,

without which, we wouldn’t have the greatest miracle of all, our Messiah.

Questions for Hanukkah
1. Read Philippians 2: 5-11. These verses speak of Jesus as being a bond servant but also as being highly exalted. What lessons can we learn from these verses and how does the Shamash candle represent Jesus? Can you think of some examples in your life when you have taken the job of a servant and been highly blessed for it?
2. Luke 11: 33-36 How can we keep our lamps clear?
3. Matthew 25: 1- 13 What is this oil? How can we keep our lamps trimmed?
4. “Give me oil in my lamp keep me burning, burning, burning.
Give me oil in my lamp I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp keep me burning, burning, burning.
Keep me burning till the break of day!’
How are the words from this old spiritual related to Hanukkah? What significance do they have for you in light of what you have learned about this Holiday?

Chap.4-The Feast of Tabernacles

2008-10-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

One thing about being a Gentile celebrating the Jewish holidays is that I can break the rules a little. One year our succah or booth definitely broke the rules.
Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles centers on the booth or tabernacle that each family builds together. It must be a temporary dwelling place with at least three walls and a roof. The walls and roof are usually made of fresh green branches and one must be able to see the stars through the roof.
Since we live in Southern California our booth is usually covered with palm branches. But one year, I made a change. We put our frame up in the spring and I carefully trained a morning glory vine to grow as our walls and roof. That year we had a living tabernacle.
Not exactly a ‘kosher’ booth but a feast for the eyes as well as for the passing bees and humming birds. It’s customary to begin building the booth at the end of Yom Kippur not in the spring as I did.
The solemn holiday of Yom Kippur comes to an end and we have five days to build our succah and prepare for the joyous celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. A very traditional family would really need those five days to prepare. Their booth would need to be big enough and sturdy enough for the whole family to live in for eight days. In Israel, I remember seeing families bring out carpets and beds as well as tables and food. One family even had their TV in their succah.
Leviticus 23: 39-44
39 ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.
40 ‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
41 ‘You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statue throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 ‘You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths,
43 so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’”
44 So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord.

Maybe the pilgrims had these verses in mind when they brought in their harvest and had their outdoor Thanksgiving feast. One theme of the Feast of Booths is the harvest celebration. The succah is decorated with fruit and vegetables thanking God for the harvest.
But why live in these little shacks? I’ve heard the theory that families all needed to be on hand in the fields during the harvest and that living in booths made this a bit easier. But I think the book of Leviticus has given us the reason right along with the command.

Lev. 23: 43 so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt.

We need to remember that journey out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Our children need to remember it and teach it to their children. Was living in the wilderness in booths a hardship? Perhaps. But it’s not the hardships of the journey that these booths we build signify. They signify the blessings!
These blessings are the blessings of God’s constant provision. That is; manna in a fruitless wilderness, water in a barren desert, escape from ruthless taskmasters. But the greatest provision, the main theme of Succoth is God’s presence, Emanuel or ‘God with us.’
After 300 years of slavery in Egypt, the wilderness was freedom. But even more importantly God was now physically with them. He dwelt or ‘tabernacled’ with them.

Exodus 40: 34-38
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
36 And throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out;
37 but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.
38 For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

As a pillar of fire by night providing light and warmth and as a cloud by day providing relief from the sun and heat, God dwelt with them. He even had his own booth!
Now, as we sit in the succah, a temporary structure, we remember that the wilderness experience was not permanent, that the Promised Land was ahead.
We can see the stars through the branches reminding us of God’s sovereignty.
The walls are heavy with fruit reminding us of His provision.
But most importantly the Booth itself, reminding us that God dwells, that is, tabernacles with us.

Leviticus 23:40
40 ‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

This is another fun part of Feast of Tabernacles, waving branches before the Lord. As we read in Leviticus not just any branches. Four species are wrapped together and waved in four directions, north, south, east, and west, while reciting the Hallel or praise psalms, Psalms 113-118. Palm, myrtle, willow, and an Israeli fruit called a citron (sort of a big lumpy lemon) are raised in praise. Of course, this is another area where I break the rules a little and use whatever branches, I can. But one year while we were living in Tiberias by the Sea of Galilee, I decided to get an official-kosher lulav and citron. With two babies in tow, I made my way to the market place and found the stand selling citrons and lulavs… I should say lulavim (plural for lulav). A lulav is the name for the wrap of branches. The very orthodox salesman looked quite surprised by my request and I was quite surprised by the price. I thought our congregation back home had to pay so much because they brought these in from Israel but I guess they are just plain expensive.
Well, my lulav was lovely. The palm branch was taken from the new shoot right from the center of the tree. It was so fresh that it still pointed straight up like an arrow. The children in our neighborhood were very impressed with my purchase. I suppose only the rabbi or leader of a synagogue get them in Israel just like back home.
I had them wave the branch and repeat the blessing with me:
“Ana Adoni Ho Shiana”
“Lord do save us!”
We waved them to the north, south, east and west.
Then on the last day of the feast, we shared the citron. Most of the children had never tasted one before. I hadn’t either. It was sour with a lovely perfume.

One of Jesus’ best friends while he walked in Israel, was a young man named John. Jesus had a nickname for him and his brother, ‘Sons of Thunder.’ Their father’s name was ‘Zebedee’ meaning thunder but the fact that they were quite outspoken and self-assured, probably also had something do with the nickname.
But I’d imagine Jesus usually called John by his Hebrew name Yochanan. Yochanan had been a follower of John the Baptister but quickly became a disciple of Jesus, when he was told, “this is the Lamb of God.”
Yochanan loved the Biblical Holidays and included them in the book he wrote about his time with Jesus.
In the first chapter, Yochanan speaks of Messiah, calling him the Word.

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God.

John goes on to describe how Messiah would come into the world but not be accepted by the world.

John 1:10-13
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Then in verse 14, John gives us the true reason why the Feast of Tabernacles is such a beautiful holiday.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt (or tabernacled) among us.

Jesus was Emanuel, which means in English, ‘God with us.’ He dwelt with us; living God made flesh, tabernacling with us.
In John 15: 1-11, Jesus speaks of his followers as branches. These branches must abide in the Vine, the Vine that he claims to be.

John 15: 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing.

Surrounded by our booth made of branches, which symbolize Jesus dwelling with us, we can truly feel the way John must have felt when he wrote these words of Jesus’. We can bear fruit if we abide in him as He abides in us.
Sit and feast in the Succah of the Lord. Rejoice in his provision of abundant fruit. Feel his presence, Emanuel, God dwells with us.

Yochanan writes of lulav waving in his book.

John 12: 12-13a On the next day the great multitude who had come to the Feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him,

This didn’t happen during the Feast of Tabernacles but the people seemed to be caught up in the Spirit of Succoth. They began to quote from the Hillel Ps. 118:25-26 directly.

John 12: 13b “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”

Like the kids in our succah in Tiberias they were shouting out, ‘Lord Save Us!’ while waving the palm branches.
If we read a few verses earlier from this Hillel Psalm we find a mirror of John’s words from the beginning of his book.

Ps. 118:22
The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.
John 1:11
He came to His own and those who were his own did not receive Him.

But did this Son of David, this Galilean claim to be the ‘chief cornerstone’? Yochanan shows us the answer at another Feast of Tabernacles celebration he spent with Jesus. They were in Jerusalem and it was the last day of the feast, the great day.
A joyous procession took place on this final day of Succoth. Water was drawn from the Pool of Siloam and carried by the Priest to the temple where he poured it out upon the altar. In the midst of these joyous festivities John tells us that a voice cries out.

John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 “He who believes in Me, as the scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’”

This man stands up and claims to be the answer to the prayers being offered up. As the people pray for rain and as the traditional song from Isaiah 12:3 says “ water from the wells of salvation,” is sung.
A man, whose name, Jesus or Yeshua, means salvation, calls out that he is that living water. He is the fountain of living water spoken of by Isaiah.
A man claims to be in no uncertain terms, the well of salvation, the foundation, the Chief Cornerstone.
Was Jesus thinking of Zechariah or was Zechariah thinking hundreds of years ahead when he wrote:

Zechariah 14:8a And it will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem…

One thing for sure Zechariah was looking forward to the days of Messiah. He had faith that those days would come. He ended his book with an amazing account that I’m sure Yochanan loved to read:

Zechariah 14:16-18 Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
17 And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.

I believe Zechariah was looking even beyond our time when he wrote these words. He was looking to the time of Messiah, to the time when Messiah will tabernacle with us without end, to the time when the Feast of Booths will never end.
So perhaps my unconventional succah holds a special message. A living tabernacle representing our living God who will dwell with us forever and forever, in Hebrew, 'Vaed!'

Questions for Succoth
1. Whenever I see a new palm shoot pointing straight up on the top of a palm tree, I think of the lesson of God’s presence with us. Are there certain examples in nature that make you mindful of God?
2. Read Nehemiah 8:18. The Israelites discovered a tradition which had been lost and immediately began celebrating and practicing it again. Do any of your discoveries of the Biblical Holidays cause you to want to begin celebrating?
3. Read Psalm 113. Can you find Jesus in this Hillel psalm? (verse 6a compare with Phil.2:8.)
4. Read John 15. How can you abide in him even when the Succah is taken down for the year?
5. John 7 takes place during the Feast of Tabernacles. Outline this chapter giving special attention to the days of the Feast.

Chap. 3-Yom Kippur

2008-10-05T21:28:00.001-07:00

At the end of Rosh Hashanah, at the ceremony of Tash Lich, we watch the breadcrumbs float away and our hearts rejoice to think of our sins cast away “into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:19). In ten days will be Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and these ten days are spent in preparation.
As volunteers on the kibbutz, my husband and I had very little. Our room had 2 beds, a wardrobe, and one desk. We had brought only what we could carry in our backpacks so sleeping bags became our blankets and jackets, our pillows.
We were surprised and delighted when during these ten days of preparation, we became the recipients of many mitzvahs or good deeds. Tables, blankets, even, an old black and white T.V., were given to us by kindly kibbutzniks. It’s no coincidence that a telethon is held in this season.
Those crumbs may have sunk to the depths of the sea but now a real attempt is made to start off on the right foot and try to do good works. Of course, we’ve all made these attempts. Unfortunately, our resolutions are usually built upon human resolve and like New Year's resolutions through the ages, doomed to fail.
Actually I’d say ten days is just about enough time to realize that once again I won’t make it. These days of repentance, ‘turning around,’ making tishuvi, are pointless without Yom Kippur. When Yom Kippur arrives we are heartily ready for it!

Now I shall have to talk about two different Yom Kippurs, most of which isn’t practiced today. Leviticus gives directions to the priests on the sacrifices to take place on this most holy of days. The priests or Levites chose a special lot-selected goat called the scapegoat. This was the one-day during the year that a priest entered the Holy of Holies, a special veiled place within the tabernacle. He offered the blood from the sacrifice within this holy place. Then the priest would lay his bloodied hands upon the scapegoat and send it off into the wilderness. This scapegoat was selected by lot to bear the iniquities of the people. As it says in Leviticus 16:22;
And the goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land, released into the wilderness.
Well, today there is no sacrifice, no temple, no tabernacle… there are Levites but they aren’t priests. As one of my kibbutznik girlfriends explained it, because her father’s family name was Levi, he sometimes did special things in the synagogue. But when I tried to ask her about the blood sacrifice of Yom Kippur and about the scapegoat, she had no idea what I was talking about. “Oh blood sacrifices, that’s a Christian thing,” she said.
Yom Kippur of today is still a solemn ‘Sabbath’ or day of rest so solemn that my girlfriend dreaded it. Fasting from sundown to sundown, no TV, or other entertainment, a long synagogue service, there’s no animal sacrifice, but instead a personal sacrifice of humbling oneself. Fasting, prayer, and gifts of charity have replaced the blood sacrifice and the scapegoat. Much time is spent in the synagogue listening to the Torah (Bible) reading for the day and praying. Yom Kippur ends with the ‘Neilah’ or the closing of the gates service. Some believe this is the last chance to make it into those gates of heaven for the coming year. Good time for a telethon? Oh yeah! Then the shofar (trumpet) blasts a long tekia gedolah (great blast) and the gates close, Yom Kippur has ended for another year.
But what about the Kippur, the Atonement? Atonement means reconciliation (forgiveness) for the guilty by divine sacrifice. Where is that scapegoat? An often-used symbol of Yom Kippur is the balancing scales. I know that if I were being judged, I would be like King Belshazzar in Daniel 5:27…
You have been weighed on the scales and been found wanting.
I have a suspicion that most people would agree with me about themselves and if they didn’t agree they would be even more ‘found wanting!’

So how can we hope to tip those scales with humbling ourselves, prayer, and charity? It’s not enough. That’s why there were the blood sacrifices and the scapegoat. The fasting just wasn’t enough to carry those iniquities into the wilderness. We need propitiation, a divine sacrifice, a scapegoat to bear our iniquities and remove them as far as the east is from the west.
Thankfully God has always known our need for atonement and has always provided a sacrifice. There were the animal skins covering Adam and Eve’s nakedness. The ram caught in the bushes given instead of Isaac for Abraham to offer on the altar. But as Abraham spoke prophetically to his son Isaac on the way to the mountain, “ God will provide himself a sacrifice.” That Atonement, that scapegoat, that propitiation was yet to come. My kibbutznik friend was quite wrong. Blood sacrifice was and is a very important part of Judaism and especially of Yom Kippur.
The scripture reading for Yom Kippur includes Isaiah 58. Isaiah was a prophet of amazing vision and insight. He spoke of things that would happen to his generation and of things that would come many generations later. His words in Chapter 58, verse 1., are perfect for Yom Kippur.
Cry loudly. Do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to my people their transgressions,
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
The mention of the shofar reminds us of the repentance of the Feast of Trumpets, of returning to God and turning from our sins.
Then in verse 3-10, Isaiah speaks of the right way to fast, the right motives to have in your heart. This is a wonderful message for Yom Kippur.
But this fasting and humbling isn’t enough. As we read on in Isaiah 59:2…
But your iniquities have made a
Separation between you and your God.
And your sins have hidden His face
From you, so that He does not hear.
There is a separation between God and us. A gap, a chasm, our sins keeps us from Him. No matter how hard we try this is not a river we can ford. God, himself must provide the solution, the Kippur, the atonement.
Then in Isaiah 59:16, God gives Isaiah a prophecy of that solution.
And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no
one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him;
And His righteous upheld Him.
His own arm would bring the solution. The one to intercede, the one to bring salvation, the one to be the scapegoat would be ‘God himself.’
As we continue to read Isaiah’s book, we come to chapter 61. In fact, Jesus was called up to read from Isaiah one Sabbath. He was home for the holiday as any good Jewish boy would be. Attending services in his hometown synagogue, waiting for the fast to end so he could have some of his mother's good cooking. He was becoming a famous prophet and rabbi so the community was delighted to have him read this Sabbath.
Luke 4:16-21 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach
The gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim re-
Lease to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are downtrodden,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
He stops half way through a verse and closes the book as it says in verses 20 and 21.
20 And He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him.
21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Which scripture is he referring to?
He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he sent me to proclaim release to the captives recovery of sight to the blind… to set free those who are downtrodden…
He was here to set them free. It is finished. I am here. Henay nee which translates from Hebrew… ‘Here I am.’ I am the atonement, the Kippur. He was claiming to be the atonement. There was no more vengeance. That was over and done with.
Jesus is our Kippur. Jesus is our atonement. These words that Jesus spoke about proclaiming liberty to captives, freeing prisoners and binding up the broken hearted. This mirrors the verse from Isaiah 58. These verses spoken on Yom Kippur from Isaiah 58:6
6 “is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free,
And break every yoke?
Today, this has been fulfilled by the messiah himself!
8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
Henay nee! It is finished. It is ended. God provided Himself a sacrifice. Jesus is our scapegoat.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear.
Isaiah 59:16 And he saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him;
And His righteousness upheld Him.
Thank God that His own arm, his own Messiah has brought salvation.

Group Study Questions for Yom Kippur
1. Read Micah 7:19 and celebrate your own Tash Lich daily. Those sins are gone. How can we keep from fishing for them again? Do you think God ever goes fishing for them?
2. Think of some times when your resolutions have been ‘found wanting.’ Ask God to give you goals instead of setting goals from your own ego or desires. Share!
3. What’s the fast, which God desires? Hints…. Isaiah 58, Psalms 51, Matthew 6:16
4. Study the ‘Here I am’ s of the Bible. Discuss their significance.

Chap. 2-Rosh Hashanah

2008-09-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Dip apples in the honey for a sweet new year!
“L’shana tova!” or “Good New Year!” I quickly learned this happy greeting during my first High Holiday season in Israel. The High Holidays begin with Rosh Hashanah or the 'head of the year', and continue till the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, a few weeks later.
This early fall holiday comes after a long summer interlude without any biblical holidays.

On the kibbutz, tables were spread for a glorious outdoor celebration and feast welcoming in the New Year. I should explain what a ‘kibbutz’ is for those who have forgotten from high school Sociology class. A kibbutz is a community of people in Israel who work and live together for the common good. It a commune that actually works! We volunteered on a kibbutz, which had a small factory as well as a farm and was quite prosperous. There were about 800 members and everyone ate together in a spacious dining hall but had separate living quarters. It was a small paradise.

That feast with all those tables set was a beautiful thing to behold. It took a lot of work, but everyone had a part in the preparations and cleanup. After a long, hot summer of toil, this feast was both a reward and a blessing.

Rosh Hashanah is considered the Jewish New Year. Once on the kibbutz, I was babysitting for an American kibbutznik, who had an Israeli husband. She wanted to go out on December 31st and celebrate New Years Eve. Her husband protested saying, “this is not our New Year. Ours is Rosh Hashanah!” Well, needless to say, they went out, but he was right!

Personally, I think it’s actually a much better time for New Year celebration. The new school year is beginning, and summer break has ended. What better time to start again, to reassess, to return to our hopes and dreams.

I know it’s not the beginning of our calendar but it’s not the beginning of the Jewish calendar either. Which, by the way, is different than ours. That is why all the holidays seem to come on a different day each year. Theirs is based on the cycles of the moon. You always get a lovely new moon for Rosh Hashanah. It was beautiful at the kibbutz feast.

It’s also not the beginning of the Torah reading for the year. This New Year celebration is a spiritual New Year.

Another name for this holiday, as seen in Lev. 23:23 is the Feast of Trumpets. Now, this trumpet isn’t like the common band instrument. The trumpet or ‘shofar’ in Hebrew is literally a horn, a ram’s horn. Some are short, some long but all are curved and all come from an animal which has died. Unlike antlers, which shed each year, there’s only one way to get a horn and that’s by the death of the animal.
The shofar’s blast is the key element of this holiday. There’s nothing like that clear call of the ram’s horn breaking through the dark, announcing the New Year. It sure beats banging on pots and pans.
Although the shofar has no keys like a modern trumpet, it can make a variety of sounds. The first is a kind of a blast. The Hebrew word for this blast is “tek’ and has the same root word as ‘shout.’ That blast from the shofar is a sort of a shout. The second sound is a series of broken notes, short and staccato. This in Hebrew is called ‘shevarim.’ Next, the ‘teruah’ or alarm starts on a lower octave and rises up. Finally, we have the great blast or ‘teki gedolah.’ This blast lasts as long as the shofar player can continue on one breath. It’s amazing to hear how long some players can hold this note. The voice of the shofar shouts its message into the heavens.

Just as the shofar has a variety of sounds, it has a variety of messages to proclaim. In Exodus 19:13, 16, and 19, the ram’s horn is sounded with a ‘long blast’ or ‘tekia gedolah’ on the third day proclaiming God’s presence and assembling the people to the Mountain of the Lord. The “blowing of trumpets” in Leviticus 23:24 is announcing the feast. The judge Ehud blows the shofar in Judges 3:27 to gather the nation for a great victory. Nehemiah uses the trumpet as an alert against the enemy in Nehemiah 4:8. In I Kings 1:34, King David has the shofar blown to herald the new King, his son Solomon. The voice of the shofar filled its hearers with fear, awe, and expectation.

Rosh Hashanah is a time of joy, hope, and return. It is a time to heed the shofar’s voice and return to God. The watchword or theme for this High Holiday is 'tshuvi.' 'Tshuvi' or to make ‘tshuvi’ means to return to God. It’s a time of reflection, repentance, and re-gathering. We reflect on the past year and our shortcomings and sins. We repent of our past actions and look hopefully towards the coming year. Called together by the shofar’s warning, we re-gather and return to Him.

Isaiah 27:12-13
And it will come about in that day, that the Lord will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Called together from the threshing floor, from Egypt, perishing and scattered, called by the great trumpet to come and worship the Lord, in his holy mountain.

There is much hope surrounding this holiday. We dip apples in honey with hopes of a sweet prosperous new year. We hope that our names are inscribed in the book of life. We make round challah, the sweet Sabbath bread. It’s circular shape symbolizing the continuation of life in this New Year. We throw crumbs from that challah into the sea in hopes that our sins will be far removed from us. This tradition is called Tashlich and is performed at the end of the holiday.
But for me the hope of Rosh Hashanah comes from the shofar. A sweet Jewish woman named Hannah tells of the hope.

Hannah was barren. The one desire of her heart was for a child. Her prayers were answered and she was blessed with Samuel, her first born. Once Samuel was weaned she gave him to the Lord to live and work in the temple.
Immediately after she gave up her heart’s desire, her son to the Lord, Hannah was given a prayer, a prophetic prayer.
I Samuel 2:1-10
Then Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Thy salvation.
There is no one holy like the Lord,
Indeed, there is no one besides Thee,
Nor is there any rock like our God.......

......The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed.”

In the first verse, Hannah speaks of a horn being exalted and lifted up in the Lord. Then in the last verse of her prophecy, she speaks again of this horn as an anointed King. The word, anointed one, in Hebrew is Messiah, in Aramaic, Christ.

Who is this horn that brings so much hope to the people?

Zacharias knew! He too had experienced childlessness. He too gave up his long hoped for child, his heart’s desire to the Lord. Instead of naming his child, Zacharias, after himself as was the established custom for a firstborn son, he gave the child the name the angel had given him, Yochanon or John. John means “Yahweh has been gracious.” The Lord gives gifts that are undeserved.
Then like Hannah, Zacharias was given a prayer, a prophetic prayer.
Luke 1:68-79
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished
Redemption for His people,
69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant-
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old-
71 Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;
72 To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,
73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,
75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
76“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;
77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us,
79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Verses 68 and 69 speak once again of this horn, this horn full of redemption and salvation. This horn will bring a ceasing of fear as it says in verse 74. It will bring forgiveness of sins in verse 77 and be a guide into the ways of peace, verse 79.
Zacharias knew that his son John was not this horn but would go before this horn and prepare his way, verse 76.
The desire of Zacharias was for a son but his heart’s desire was for Messiah to come.

Israel was living under Roman rule and many looked to the hope of Messiah to save Israel. Maybe Zacharias was expecting a conquering ruling king, a Messiah of political and military strength but remember our shofar....

This horn was curved and bending to the will of the Father. This horn came from a slain ram. This horn was ‘exalted’ or in other words ‘lifted up’ but it was not yet blown.

The shofar is a beautiful symbol of the Anointed One, Messiah Jesus Christ. He came to do God’s Will; he bent himself to the will of the Father. As it says in the Psalms, “I come to do thy will, oh God." The gospels share Jesus’ word, “I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30b) and “Not my will but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42b). Even when he taught us to pray he said, “Thy will be done.” (Matthew 6:10).
The curve in the shofar reflects this bending of Messiah. Having the voice, the word of total authority but choosing to be a humble servant.
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus was perfectly bent to the will of the Father.

When Abraham showed himself willing to give up his son, Isaac as a sacrifice to God, God provided himself as an offering.

Genesis 22:8-14
8 And Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
12 And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”

There in the bushes, caught by the horns, was a ram. Abraham sacrificed this ram on the altar instead of his son.

The shofar is a ram’s horn, a reminder of the sacrifice. The blood of goats and sheep is no longer shed for an offering. God has provided himself a sacrifice.

Yochanon, Zacharias’ son or as he was later called John the Baptist called Jesus “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus, our Messiah, gave himself as the perfect sacrifice to end all sacrifices. But more on that at Yom Kippur!

Zacharias speaks of this horn being exalted and perhaps he thought the Messiah would immediately be a ruling King.

But Messiah said, “if I be lifted up from the Earth, I will draw all men unto me.’ (John 12:32). He was lifted up, lifted up on a cross and all will be drawn unto him.

In Matthew 24:31, Jesus speaks of the Tekia ha Golah, the Great Trumpet blast and his elect being gathered together from one end of the sky to the other. Is. 27:12-13 also speaks of this gathering up at the great trumpet. All those perishing and scattered will be brought together to come and worship in Jerusalem.

I Cor.15: 52, our friend Paul writes of the last Trumpet, that long blast which seems to break open the heavens.
…in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
Again in I Thes. 4:16a, Paul tells of the Lord, Himself descending with a shout (tekia) with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God…
Study Isaiah 40:10, Revelation 22: 7 & 12, Hebrews 10:9, Psalms 40:7-8. All of these verses mirror the voice of the Messiah as he returns with a shout;
Behold I come, as it is written in the Word.
Behold I come to do Thy Will, oh God.

So what is this great shofar announcing? Why all the fuss? Remember the uses of the shofar…
Announcing of a feast, gathering the nation, heralding the new king, alerting against the enemy, proclaiming God’s presence…
This shofar encompasses all the uses in one long blast. It alerts us against our enemy, sin, which like the crumbs for Tachlich in Micah 7:19 have been cast ‘into the depths of the sea.’
The voice of the shofar shouts out of God’s presence in our lives, that the ruling master of sin’s chains, have been broken and God can be in communion with us.

“Wake up, get ready, the long wait is over, the king is come!” It calls us together to re-gather as a nation as one body. The shofar is a herald of the new King, the Anointed One, Messiah, Christ Jesus.
And finally as in Rev. 19:9, it announces the feast, the wedding supper of the lamb.
The long wait and toil are finished. The king has returned and the table has been set for a feast of reward and blessing. Maranatha! (Our Lord, come!)

Questions for Rosh Hashanah
1. Remember, that Rosh Hashanah comes after a long hot summer, the longest wait between holidays during the year. Some say that we are in a time of waiting now. Waiting for our king to return… What do you think Rosh Hashanah represents in light of this?
2. Habakkuk 3:2 says ‘Oh Lord revive Thy work in the midst of the years
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.’
Why would this be a good verse for Rosh Hashanah?
3. Lamentations 5:21 says, ‘Turn thou us unto thee O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.’
Jeremiah wrote this soon after the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed on August 15, 586B.C. Do you think he had Rosh Hashanah on his mind?

Chapter One - Wild Olives

2008-09-23T13:22:00.000-07:00

“Mommy, Michael’s Jewish like us!” My five year old commented as we walked by his friend’s house. That simple statement is what makes me feel qualified to write this book. But I’ll explain to you like I explained to my son, “No honey, we’re not Jewish, we love the holidays, and the people, and Israel but we’re not Jewish.”
“You mean we’re Gentiles!?” he asked a little disgustedly.

My son isn’t the first one to think our family is Jewish. When we lived in Israel many neighbors tried to convince us of our Jewishness.
“You celebrate the holidays, you light the Sabbath candles, you love God…you’re Jewish!”
“But remember we believe Yeshua, Jesus is the Messiah…”
“So, nobody’s perfect.”

Well, we are not Jewish and that’s because of our heritage not because of our belief in the Messiah. I have many Jewish friends who do believe Jesus is the Messiah, and yet, they are still very Jewish. The question is why aren’t we, Gentiles who believe in this Jewish Messiah, more Jewish? Why did the Christian Church give up the Jewishness of Christianity? Heck, we started as a small sect of Judaism. The church centers around this Jewish Messiah, Jesus, who celebrated the holidays, had a very Jewish mother, and even had the only Bar Mitzvah ever mentioned in the Bible.
This sect was continued by a band of Jews who, at first, required those that joined to convert. They had to have a conference to decide whether or not to allow gentiles into The Way. Thankfully, we were allowed and welcomed. Soon we even became the majority, but lost our Jewish roots.
The Jewish holidays are really the Biblical holidays and the beauty, there in, is something that should not be missed. Jesus celebrated these holidays and you shall see that he IS these holidays. His life, death, resurrection, and even his return are seen and foretold within them. They are pictures, reflections of Jesus, our Messiah or in Greek, Christ or in English, the Anointed One.

Let me introduce you to another nice Jewish boy, Paul the apostle, or St. Paul, or his Hebrew name Saul. Paul was “a Hebrew of Hebrews.” (Phil. 3:5) Zealous and righteous, well educated, he loved the Torah, the Law, and the Prophets. He was also a writer and wrote a wonderful letter to us, Gentiles called Romans.
In Romans 10:19, Paul gives us one of the reasons we, Gentiles (nations other than Israel and Judah) were brought to the light of Messiah, Jesus.
He quotes from Moses and Isaiah:
19. I will make you (Israel) jealous by that which is not a nation
By a nation without understanding will I anger you
20. And Isaiah is very bold and says
“I was found by those who sought Me not
I became manifest to those who did not ask for me.

So we are saved, in part, as a means to make Israel jealous. We found Messiah, because of God’s love for us, but also because of God’s love for Israel, in order to make them long for God once again. Just let me say, “It works.”
It works especially when a Jewish person sees a Gentile like me get totally into the Biblical holidays. I love the holidays because God gave them to me. But, it’s cool to see Him use this love of mine to make a Jew long for Him.

Another point Paul wanted us, Gentiles to get was where our roots are…

Romans 11:17 and 18
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.

We are but wild olive branches grafted into the rich root of a cultivated tree, that tree being Judaism, Israel, the Torah, our Father God, Elohim Himself. Drinking deeply from these roots, we will discover the beauty of the Biblical Holidays. Like Paul, we can see how these roots point to the Messiah. Unlike Paul, we can have a special thankfulness that we, Gentiles have been grafted into the Olive Tree.

Questions for Chapter One

1. Read Acts 22:3-21 to find out more about this man, Paul. Who was he?
2. Notice in verses 17 and 19 of Acts 22 that the temple and synagogues are mentioned. Who was worshipping in these places? Why?
3. Acts 15:1-21 is about the debate over whether or not Gentiles should convert to Judaism. How does the fact that this debate even took place make you feel?
4. Read Romans 11:11. Can you accept this statement that salvation has come to the Gentile in part to make the Jew jealous for God? Does this bring some new insight into your purpose in life?
5. Romans 11:25 and 26 speaks of the Olive tree. How can we stay grafted to this cultivated olive tree?