Shabbat Bible Study for 30Oct2021
©2021 Mark Pitrone & Fulfilling Torah Ministries
Year 3, Sabbath 34
Deuteronomy 15:7 – 16:17 – Isaiah 61:1-3 – Psalm 131 – Luke 4:14-30
Links:
Devarim 15.7-16.17 – 15.7-11 – Chumash’s prefatory paragraph for vv.7-11 and the one specific to v.7 (pg.101) are quite good.
Vv.7-11 – To be warm-hearted and openhanded to our brethren. Torah warns against the all-too-human fear that one cannot afford to give charity or make loans. An Israelite must never ask whether to offer help, only to whom and how much, because the Ultimate Helper of the poor and the rich is El Himself.
7 – A destitute person from any of your brethren of any of your cities, in your land From the beginning of the verse, the Sages derive the order of the priorities one should follow in dispensing charity. From the beginning of the verse, the Sages derive the order of prioritiesone should follow in dispencing charity. 1st comes the destitute person, one who is desparately poor; next is your brethren, the closer the relative, the greater the obligation; next is in any of your cities, the poor of your own city come before others; and finally in your Land, for the poor of Eretz Yisrael come before those of other lands [Rashi and Sifre].
V.8 opens with a double use of the verb פתח patach, Ki-fatocha tiftach, ‘For giving you shall give’. KJV says, “open thine hand wide”. It then goes on to use another double use of the verb עבט avat, v’haaveit tivatenu’ “and lending you shall lend.” When you see a brother in need, supply that need to the best of your ability. Ultimately, it isn’t you who is giving the gift, but Yah is providing the brother’s need through you. The more open you are to giving, the more open and openly he will bless you. That blessing MAY be in kind, but not necessarily. What goes around will surely come around; we reap what we sow. We aren’t to worry that the borrower is borrowing near the sabbatical year and may not be able to repay before all debts are cancelled. Yah will see to it that we are blessed if we will obey him in all things. There will always be poor people with us, as Yeshua taught on this passage
6 Now when Yeshua was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7 There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat to eat. 8 But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9 For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10 When Yeshua understood, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. 12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did for my burial. 13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her. (Matt.26.6-13)
There will be a time when poverty will be eradicated, as spoken of in v.4, but it will not likely come before the Kingdom, or perhaps even the New Creation.
Vv.12-15 – If our brother comes to us as a servant, we are to release him in the year of release. And when we release him, we are not to merely set him free, but ensure that he can live while he gets his feet on firm earth. In the same way, if a brother is declining towards bankruptcy, we are to help him regain a firm footing, because it is easier to keep one from falling into a pit than to try to pull him out of a pit. We are to remember where we were in Egypt and how Yahbrought us out of there to take us into the land that he promised to us through Avraham (or promised to Avraham through us).
Vv.16-18 – If a Hebrew servant wants to STAY in his master’s house, for whatever reason, when the sabbatical year arrives, he may. The master will accept him into his house as a bond-servant. The same is true of a female servant who wishes to remain with her master through the sabbatical year of release. This is the only time any body piercing is sanctioned in Torah, and the Chumash notes to Ex.21.5-6 (p.147) tell us why.
Torah disdains the Israeli slave who spurns his freedom and chooses to debase himself by remaining under the patronage of a master and living with his slave companion and children. The ceremony that extends his servitude emphasizes his ear and a door. The Sages explain this in light of the following: (a) Eloha says that the children of Israel are my servants (Lev.25.55), but his Israeli slave is so degraded that he has chosen to be a servant of a servant (Kiddushin 25:55); (b) Our passage refers to a thief who is sold by the court, as noted above; [c] The doorway symbolizes freedom, for it was against their door posts that Yisrael in Egypt placed some of the blood of the Pesach offering just before they were freed, and this caused the Angel of Death to pass over Israeli homes [Ex.12.22-23].
Against this background, the sages expound that the ear that heard at Sinai the Commandment to not steal [and, after having stolen and been sold into servitude, spurned the opportunity to go free after six years] should be bored with an awl. And the Israeli who chose to be subject to a human master rather than owe his allegiance entirely to the One Master, has rejected the lesson of the door post in Egypt. Therefore the boring is done ‘against the door’ [Kiddushin 22b].
When the master releases the servant in the sabbatical he is not to regret it, for he has received double his use as if he’d bought a heathen slave, both in production and in blessing from Yah.
Vv.19-23 deal with the firstfruits born to the flocks/herds. These were to be brought up to J’lem for offering to Yah. Ch.16 tells us WHEN they are to be brought up. The firstborn of the dam is NOT to be made profit from; the sheep are not to be shorn and the cattle are not to be used as beasts of burden – NO WORK is to be done or profit made with them, because they are set apart to Yah. They are to be offered and eaten at the aliyah [up-going] feasts. If there is a blemish in the 1st-born of the flock or herd, it is NOT to be offered, but may be eaten in the city in which we live. You are to treat it as a deer or other clean animal you take while hunting, as long as you bleed it properly. Please notice that you are NOT told that you can sheer or work the 1stborn animals. They are to be eaten, with only the perfect ones offered to Yahin J’lem. Q&C
Ch.16.1- – I think it is very important for us to see that everything after Devarim 12.1 is to be performed when we live baAretz, in the land into which Israel is about to cross Yarden and take possession.
These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which Yah Elohey avotechem giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth… But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yah Elohechem giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety; (Deuteronomy 12:1, 10)
When we do our Pesach, Shavuoth and Sukkoth celebrations, they are merely commemorations of the events, not actual observations according to Torah. Pesach, Shavuoth and Sukkoth can only be observed properly baAretz, in the land. The celebrations of these ‘presentation’ moedim are traditions that we observe, not mitzvot of Yah. There is no record of ANY Pesach after the first one we kept in the Wilderness at the specific command of Yah, as it is recorded in Numbers 9. But almost the first thing we did after crossing Yarden was to observe Pesach
And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. (Joshua 5:10-11)
That was barleycorn, BTW. Wheat wasn’t but short grass yet, as it had been in Egypt. ALL of the presentation Feasts are firstfruits offering and times to bring the tithes of the harvests into the storehouse from which the priests, widows and fatherless subsist.
The first command is to sh’mor Chodesh haAviv, “OBSERVE the month of Spring.” For this reason, I think we need to actually SEE the Aviv new moon’s first sliver. This would also be true of the Chodesh of the 7th month that actually needs to be observed as a moed of Yah, Yom T’ruah, and the rest of the fall Feasts. The observation of the Aviv Chodesh is so we can know the proper days to keep the spring Feasts Chag haMatzoh, Bikkurim, and Shavuoth.
The 2nd command is to offer the Pesach lamb (either a sheep or a goat) in the place where Yah will rest his Name there, baAretz, in the land. The first Pesach in the land would be at the national altar in the Mishkan at Gilgal. When they completed the conquest of the land, his Name would rest with the Mishkan in Shiloh, until the ark was taken by the Philistines and temporary national altars were built, first at Nob and then Giveon, until Shlomo built the Temple for the final resting place of Yah’s Name in Yerushalayim.
V.2 says that we should offer the Pesach offering “of the flock and the herd”, which means a sheep or goat AND an ox or bull. The ox/bull was not the Pesach, but the accompanying offerings that went with the Pesach lamb, whether sheep or goat. The lamb was the Pesach. The bulls/oxen were national freewill offerings, whether for peace, thanksgiving, etc.
Vv.3-4 – There was to be no leavened bread eaten from the 14th at even until the 21st at even; there was to be no leaven found in our homes during those same days for the purpose of helping us to remember the 7 days we fled Egypt; from Rameses until we crossed the Yam Suf into Midian and the destruction of the pursuers in the flood when Yah removed his restraining Word from the waters. Once Paraoh and the hosts of Mitzrayim were destroyed and there was no need to rush, the need to eat unleavened bread was gone and they could take the time to let the yeast raise the bread.
V.5-8 -The Pesach may NEVER be offered anywhere but at the national altar. If we lived afar off from the land we could slaughter a lamb to commemorate Pesach, but it was NOT the same as observing Pesach. What we do in the diaspora is a commemoration. When we do this, we must eat the lamb before sunrise and any leftovers are to be burned in the fire. We eat the unleavened bread for 6 more days, and in the 7th day of the moad we have a miqra kodesh, a day of no servile work set apart to Yah.
Vv.9-12 – These verses deal with Chag haShavuoth, the Feast of Weeks. On the day after the 7th day Shabbat during the Feast of Unleavened Bread is Chag haBikkurim, the day on which the High Priest offered the firstfruits of the barley harvest. In the year of Yeshua’s death, this day began with his resurrection along with a large number of saints who had died, of whom many living saints saw them in the city of Yerushalayim. These saints were the offering of the firstfruits of the dead that Yeshua offered in the Kodesh Kadashim in the heavens (Heb.9) and that the High Priest had been foreshadowing since the command went forth in
10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before Yah, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Lev.23.10-11)
This sabbath MUST be the 7th day, since NONE of the spring moedim are called Shabbat. So the 7 weeks are counted from sundown beginning the first day of the week during ULB, 7 full weeks, and ends at the end of the 7th day shabbat, exactly 49 days, 7 shavuahs, or Shavuoth. At sundown ending the 7th week begins the Feast of Shavuoth, the spring picture of the Jubilee (Yovel) year of complete release from bondage. The Feast of weeks also coincides with the end of the wheat harvest and is the time to bring the tithe of that wheat harvest to the storehouse.
We are to remember that we were in bondage in Egypt and that we should do all that is in our power to help others out of bondage – remember what we saw in ch.15 today.
Vv.13-17 – There is no mention of Yom Teruah or Yom Kippur here because they are NOT presentation Feasts, when all the males in Yisrael are to present themselves before Yah in Yerushalayim. Both Chag haMatzoh and Chag haShavuoth are presentation Feasts, as is Chag haSukkoth. That is what this chapter is about. ALL of these feasts are times to bring the tithes of the just finished harvests into the storehouse for use of the destitute, non-inherited and poor. THIS is the Yah appointed ‘welfare’ system. It was basically a voluntary offering for the needy. If we were doing this freely and voluntarily, there would be no need of the government to do it by coercion.
We are to carry up our tithes, but also what we would need to rejoice and celebrate before Yah for 8 days; us, our family, our servants, and the widows, orphans, the strangers and our Levites that are within our gates. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, we were to leave our lands and homes along with our whole house and leave it for Yah to guard for us. We will see this in full force in the millennial Messianic Kingdom AND in the New Creation, when everyone will go up to Yerushalayim from the 4 corners of the earth and noone going up shall suffer loss. Q&C
YeshaYahu 61.1-4 – Ps.61 is Mashiyach speaking. The word translated ‘anointed’ is H4886, mashach משח, to smear/anoint. If we add the right hand of Yah as a middle syllable (the letter yod), we spell Mashiyach. V.1 names 5 different ways Mashiyach delivers; preaches good tidings to the meek, binds up the broken-hearted, gives sight to the blind (LXX & Lk.4.18), proclaims liberty (Torah) to captives, opens the prison of the bound by proclaiming the acceptable year of Yah. All these are spiritual conditions and the remedies were done in spiritual metaphor by Mashiyach Yeshua when He visited us. When He performed his miracles, He was USUALLY fulfilling one of these prophecies of Mashiyach. I think the reason the 3rd condition He met was removed from the MT was to remove the thing that was unmistakably something that only Mashiyach could do – give sight to those who are born blind; In Jn.9, we see;
16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of Elohim, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. 17 They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet. [Prushim divided]
24 Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give Elohim the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.
(The Iudaioi, i.e.; the political leaders of the religion said,) 29 We know that Elohim spake unto Moshe: we know not from whence he [Yeshua] is. 30 The man answered and said unto them [Mark edit – and the uneducated blind man taught the Iudaioi], Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that Elohim heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of Elohim, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of Elohim, he could do nothing.
Talk about cut to the quick! Have you ever seen a ‘pro’ wrestling match and what they call a ‘pile-driver’? That’s what this guy just did to the Iudaioi – the political leaders of the Hebrew religion. That phrase in Is.61.1 – recovery of sight to the blind – had to go, or their political positions would wither up and die. This was an unmistakable work of Yah and his Anointed.
V.2 contains a gap of roughly 2000 years. Yeshua proclaimed the acceptable year of Yah, but not the day of the vengeance of Elohim. It is likely that had the leaders of the religion accepted him as Mashiyach ben Yoseph, the day of Elohim’s vengeance would have come immediately following his resurrection as Mashiyach ben David. What would the proclamation of the day of vengeance have done? We’re told in vv.2c-the end of the chapter what it will do, so I assume it would have been done had there been acceptance then. It will 1) comfort all who mourn and appoint unto us, 2) beauty for our dust and ashes; 3) the oil of Joy for our mourning, 4) a garment of Praise for our heavy spirits so that we might be called 5) Aylay haTzedek – elms of righteousness and 6) the planting in which Yah glories. I say we and us because we will go through a time of great heaviness and mourning before we overcome through to Yah’s Messianic Kingdom. Keep that in mind when the persecution comes (and it will be coming quite soon, if I don’t miss my somewhat educated guess). Endure it until the end of either your life or the time of Ya’acov’s Trouble, and you shall be an overcomer and a part of his Bride.
Those who overcome SHALL build the old wastes, raise up the old desolations, repair the waste cities and the desolations of MANY generations. Do you see why the people at the synagogue in Natzreth got angry when he quit in the middle of v.2? They wanted all the good stuff without any of the bad stuff, the delivery of the physical NOW, not the spiritual. They wanted what they could see with their eyes and touch with their hands, not just what they would merely know in their hearts and minds. They were no different from the typical believer, whether Jew, Xian or Messie. They want all the Kingdom will bring without having to endure the hardship of the days ahead. I REALLY and TRULY want the rapture to occur, but I know that it’s a lie, foisted on the evangelical church to destroy their faith when the fit hits the shan. Q&C
Tehellim 131 – We have an election this week and this psalm is exactly what we need to apply in its aftermath. I am relatively certain that noone in this audience will be truly ecstatic about the outcome, though I may be wrong about that. Look at David’s words. My heart is not haughty, nor do I look at things that are out of my league. I do not try to get involved in things that are too high for me. Too high for the KING?! This was a humble man who had a high position. That is what made him worthy of that position. It is that humility that marks the man of Yah; the one that Yah can use for great things. But he must have been worked up over something because in v.2 he tells us that he had to quiet himself, which I infer to mean that he reacted with his emotions and had to temper them and bring those emotions under control of his mind and spirit. He had to remember the fact that Yah is the one who is ultimately in charge. It is Yah’s plans that will be served by the circumstances that happen around us. We may never see it come to fruition in this life, but it SHALL work together for the good end that he has designed. David had quieted his emotional reaction and realized that Yah would do what was right. Like a suckling child trusts his mother to provide all his needs; love, nutrition, physical warmth and protection, so David trusts Yah. So WE must trust Yah, even though circumstances LOOK like they could not be worse and our emotional response is to RUN; to save ourselves! David ends this wonderfully deep and short psalm with the admonition to have hope and to trust Yah, even in the depths of despair. Q&C
Luka 4.14-30 – What follows is taken from my study on “The Life of Yeshua haMashiyach – an Hebraic Perspective”.
59). Yeshua withdraws to Galilee – Mat. 4.12, Mk. 1.14, Lk.4.14-15, Jn. 4.1-3, 43-45 – The way the chronology should go is: Yochanan haMatbe’el [the immerser] is put in prison, Yeshua departs the pattern in Judea for the familiar environs of Galilee, He comes upon the Samaritans in Sychar where he ministers for 2 days (are WE the Samaritans and the 2 days = 2000 years of Mashiyach outside the Yehudean environment?), from there to Cana of Galilee to heal the nobleman’s son and bring that whole family into the kingdom (with the servants) and ‘go public’, as it were. His reputation had preceded him from Jerusalem, where he’d done many miracles and spoken more truth than even Nicodemus could handle. That is probably why the nobleman had come to him. Luke and Yochanan give us more information, once again, than the others. Luke tells us that he taught in their synagogues, bringing glory to Elohim. Yochanan tells us that the Galileans received him gladly, having heard and seen what he’d done in Jerusalem at the feast. He also tells us that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country (Mat.13.57, Mk.6.4). The incident that brings this up doesn’t happen until a year or so later, in Nazareth. Do not confuse it with the next thing to happen.
60). Discourse at Nazareth – Lk.4.16-27 – We’ll discuss the rejection later. At this time we’ll limit ourselves to what Yeshua read and says.
It was Yeshua’s custom to stand up and read the scriptures in synagogue on Shabbat. This was the town in which he grew up, all the people there knew him and his family. It could be that his father was prominent in the synagogue since Yeshua normally read from the scriptures, or perhaps the leaders of this place enjoyed the manner in which he read the scriptures – like he meant what he read. So someone delivered the Isaiah scroll to him and he ‘found’ the place he was looking for. I would assume he took a few moments to open the scroll to 61.1-2a to read the haftarah passage he’d chosen for that day. And I’d imagine that the people were waiting somewhat expectantly for him to read. They’d heard, no doubt, of his recent days in Jerusalem and the miracles he’d performed. Some of these folks were probably there to witness his miracles. If I were there, I’d be listening carefully to what he read, and whatever he said to shed light on the passage.
The passage he chose was picked for a purpose, which he announced after he was finished reading. Look at it in Luke while I read from Isaiah 61:1-2a,
“The Spirit of Yah Elohim is upon me; because Yah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of Yah…”
He stopped quoting here, of course, because he was not going to fulfill the rest of the prophecy at this time. But see the reaction of the people. As he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the minister, every eye in the place was on him, waiting for his interpretation or comments. What he said must have surprised them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
At that, while he’s still talking, for there is no reason to think he waited for them to react, they started thinking, ‘Isn’t this Joe’s boy? What’s he talking about? Did he just say prophet? What was that about Physician? How is this scripture fulfilled today?’ They weren’t listening anymore. They were trying to make heads or tails of that first sentence. They could not or would not accept that this Yeshua, whom they knew, was the Mashiyach (anointed) or even a prophet (sent). Remember Nathanael when he was called? ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’
But Yeshua went on.
Luke 4:23, “And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.”
He was saying that they were going to demand proof of his claim by signs and wonders. They’d seen him grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with Elohim and men. They knew he was a special child and young man, but they refused to believe that a prophet, much less Mashiyach, had grown up in their midst and they knew nothing of it until now. What he said next must have knocked them down for the count.
He said, “No prophet is accepted in his own country,” And then he illustrates his point with 2 lessons from history. The 2 greatest prophets of the history of the Kingdom of Israel were rejected in Israel. EliYahu and Elisha did no great healing miracles on the people of Israel, but on gentiles. Na’aman was healed of leprosy (2Ki5) and the widow of Zarepheth (1Ki.17.8ff) not only had oil and meal for food throughout the 3½ year drought, but had her son raised from the dead by a miracle of Elohim. Yeshua was saying that, as EliYahu and Elisha were rejected by Israel, so his town would reject him. He didn’t have to wait very long to be proven right.
2). THE YEAR OF POPULARITY– It should come as no surprise that the first thing to happen in Yeshua’s year of popularity is his rejection at Nazareth.
61). Rejected at Nazareth – Is.53.3, Lk.4.28-30 – We’ve said before that despise doesn’t necessarily mean hate, which has become the only usage of the word in modern times. Webster’s 1828 has
DESPISE, .v.t. To contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have the lowest opinion of. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Prov. 1. Else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Matt. 6. {As an aside, the word contemn is not the same as condemn. Contemn means to hold in low regard or contempt (which is from the same root), while condemn means to adjudicate as guilty and to pronounce sentence upon.}
To abhor. In most scripture passages despise means to hold in low esteem or opinion, but in Is.53.3 it means to abhor. That is, according again to Webster,
ABHOR’, v.t. [L abhorreo, of ab and horreo, to set up bristles, shiver or shake; to look terrible.] 1. To hate extremely, or with contempt; to lothe, detest or abominate. 2. To despise or neglect. Ps.22.24, Amos 6.8. 3. To cast off or reject. Jer.14.21.
You will see how this applies momentarily.
The reaction of the people in the synagogue was one of utter abhorrence. They were filled with wrath. The greek word for filled is pletho whence comes the word plethora.
PLETH’ORA, n. [Gr. fullness.] Literally, fullness. In medicine, fullness of blood; excess of blood; repletion; the state of the vessels of the human body, when they are too full or overloaded with fluids.
Their anger, then was full to overflowing, and it manifested itself in the attempt to murder Yeshua. They ‘thrust’ him out. The greek word is ekballo. It’s a compound with a prefix ek meaning out and a root word ballo meaning, well, throw. I mean, what is the purpose of a ‘ball-o’?
Now consider for just a minute the lay of the land.
Luke 4:29b “and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.”
The city was near a cliff or an outcropping, a la the roadrunner and coyote. Every time you see that overhang of rock you know the coyote is going to somehow do a Peter Pan off that thing. That was the intention of the people in the Nazareth synagogue toward Yeshua that day. Gee, do you think he offended them somehow? So, what does he do? He either calmly walks through the crowd of people bent on his destruction, or he somehow miraculously makes himself invisible to them, either by blinding their eyes to him or just doing a ‘Philip’s transport’ on them (Jn.8.59). When we are in our new bodies, we will be able to move at the speed of thought. Could Yeshua do that even in his pre-resurrection body? If you think he couldn’t do it until he was in his resurrection body, how did Ruach ha Kodesh transport Philip (Acts 8.29-40)? Could he not do the same thing with Yeshua? I will leave you with that thought. Q&C
End of Bible Study
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