Parashat Re'eh / פרשת ראה
- Sun, 5 August 2018 = 24th of Av, 5778
- כ״ד בְּאָב תשע״ח
CLICK LINK ABOVE FOR THE PESUKIM
In pesuk 29b, we are introduced to a critically important spiritual reality. The existence of both the Blessing and the Curse.
29b "the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
Interestingly, Moshe commanding in the same pesuk both the Blessings to be recited on one mountain, and other Levites were to stand on another mountain exactly facing opposite, to recite the curses. Why, and what does this symbolize?
R' Eliyahu Munk says:
"Accordingly there are two kinds of people who might curse Abraham; the ones who dress up the curse to sound like a blessing, and the ones who curse outright." Or HaChaim on Genesis 12:3:4
Herein lies the spiritual reality. There is Good and opposite is Evil. Whatever God created and meant for a Blessing has been reciprocated by the satan with exact corresponding Curse. God gave us His Torah, and Shaliach Shaul speaks of the "Law of Sin and Death" in the Brit Chadasha. Here however both the Blessing and the Curse are represented physically by these two mountains. What does this teach us?
R' Munk's translation of DaatZkenim says:
נותן לפניכם היום. בעולם הזה הם ברכה וקללה אבל לימות המשיח כלם ברכה:
In the world we live in today, pre-Messiah's return and full restoration of Israel, there is always a mixture of Blessings and Curses. In this reality, we are forced with choices. Knowing this, we can better understand Shaliach Rav Shaul's Midrash on "2 Sons" in his Igret L'Galatim...
Galatians 4:22-31 - כִּי כָתוּב שְׁנֵי בָנִים הָיוּ לְאַבְרָהָם הָאֶחָד מִן־הָאָמָה וְהַשֵּׁנִי מִן־הַחָפְשִׁיָּה׃[23] וּבֶן־הָאָמָה נוֹלַד לְפִי הַבָּשָׂר וּבֶן־הַחָפְשִׁיָּה עַל־פִּי הַהַבְטָחָה׃[24] וְהַדְּבָרִים הֵם מָשָׁל כִּי אֵלֶּה הֵן שְׁתֵּי הַבְּרִיתוֹת הָאַחַת מִן־הַר סִינַי הַיּוֹלֶדֶת לְעַבְדוּת וְהִיא הָגָר׃[25] כִּי־סִינַי הוּא הַר בַּעֲרָב וְהוּא כְּנֶגֶד יְרוּשָׁלַיִם שֶׁל־עַתָּה כִּי־בְעַבְדוּת הִיא עִם־בָּנֶיהָ׃[26] אֲבָל יְרוּשָׁלַיִם לְמַעְלָה חָפְשִׁיָּה הִיא וְהִיא אֵם כֻּלָּנוּ׃[27] כִּי כָתוּב רָנִּי עֲקָרָה לֹא יָלָדָה פִּצְחִי רִנָּה וְצַהֲלִי לֹא־חָלָה כִּי רַבִּים בְּנֵי־שׁוֹמֵמָה מִבְּנֵי בְעוּלָה׃[28] וַאֲנַחְנוּ אֶחָי הִנְנוּ כְיִצְחָק בְּנֵי הַהַבְטָחָה׃[29] וְכַאֲשֶׁר רָדַף אָז הַנּוֹלָד לְפִי־הַבָּשָׂר אֶת־הַנּוֹלָד לְפִי הָרוּחַ כֵּן־גַּם־עָתָּה׃[30] וְהַכָּתוּב מַה־הוּא אֹמֵר גָּרֵשׁ הָאָמָה וְאֶת־בְּנָהּ כִּי לֹא יִירַשׁ בֶּן־הָאָמָה עִם בֶּן־הַחָפְשִׁיָּה׃[31] עַל־כֵּן אֶחָי לֹא־בְנֵי הָאָמָה אֲנַחְנוּ כִּי אִם־בְּנֵי הַחָפְשִׁיָּה׃
Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. 23 But one—the son by the slave woman—was born naturally; while the other—the son by the free woman—was through the promise. 24 Now these things are being treated allegorically, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, giving birth to slavery—this is Hagar. 25 But this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery along with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free—she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren woman
who bears no children.
Break forth and shout,
you who suffer no labor pains.
For more are the children of the desolate
than of the one who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brothers and sisters—like Isaac, you are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Ruach, so it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son” of the free woman. 31 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.
This Midrash is very difficult to comprehend, and one should never make the mistake that Shaul is throwing the Torah under the bus. The key word about "Jerusalem" is in pesuk 25: "PRESENT Jerusalem".
The Present Condition of Jerusalem AT THAT TIME of his writing Galatians was a condition of hard-heartedness towards Messiah Yeshua and the Good News. The "Jerusalem From Above" is the New Jerusalem after Salvation, representing all Believers both Jewish and non-Jewish...
Dr. David Stern explains: "See Genesis 16 and 21:1-21 for what the Torah says about Avraham and his two sons. One, Ishmael, was born by the slave woman Hagar. Avraham and Sarah's fear that God would not give them a child induced them to make use of their maidservant Hagar's childbearing capacity. Their way of forcing God's hand, of producing their own feeble pseudo-fulfillment of God's promise, was all too much according to the limited capabilities of human beings (literally, "according to flesh"; see Ro 7:5 N).
On the other hand, the other one, Isaac, was born by the free woman Sarah through the miracle-working power of God fulfilling his promise (literally, "through the promise"), which he made to her at Genesis 18:9-15.
24b-25The two women are two covenants. Sha'ul does not spell everything out but counts on his readers to get his point anyway. So the one covenant referred to is from Mount Sinai, the Torah of Moshe. It bears children for slavery, but not because it is bad (nowhere does the account in Genesis denigrate Hagar); hence there is no reason to demean the Mosaic Law on the basis of this passage. The Mosaic Law bears children for "slavery," to be enslaved to the "weak and miserable elemental spirits" (pesuk 21-23), Who does this? The present Yerushalayim, that is, the non-Messianic Jewish community of the first century, both its establishment and the people loyal to that establishment. The Judaizers, the would-be Messianic Jews who insist that Gentiles become legalists, do the same thing. She, Hagar, the present Jerusalem, serves as a slave, along with her children, the legalists.
But the Yerushalayim above, corresponding to Sarah, is free and she is our mother, the mother of all who have the trusting faithfulness that Abraham and Yeshua had whether Messianic Jews or Messianic Gentiles. Non-Messianic Jews and Judaizers who pretend to be "Messianic", but actually come from a false gospel (Gal. 1:6-9), may persecute genuine Messianic Jews and Messianic Gentiles (pesuk 29), but they themselves will by no means... inherit eternal life."
In other words, the phrase "FREE" does NOT imply "freedom from God's Torah", rather FREEDOM FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH!
Just as there is a Mt. Gerizim and a Mt. Ebal. So too is there a Torah and a Law from the satan. Just as there is Good and Evil, Blessings and Curses in this World, so too is there a Mt. Sinai, and a New Jerusalem.
Our Salvation makes us FREE from satan's Law of Sin and Death. Amen.
Shavuah Tov!
No comments:
Post a Comment