Nitzavim "You are standing"

 

Three temptations came to Yeshua before he began his public ministry.  The Messiah had to demonstrate to the Father the mastery of his soul before he could meet the needs of mankind without a shred of chametz in his heart.  Only if his own soul was mastered, and therefore, "saved," could Yeshua save others.  In its simplest explanation, a human is comprised of a body, soul, and spirit.  The body is derived from the earth itself, the soul is "formed" in the lower parts of the earth, and the spirit comes from Elohim above. 

 

Soul = appetite, emotion, desire, intellect

 

The spirit is the least tangible, yet most authoritative member of the human.  In bodily metaphor, it is likened to a tongue, which James says works like a bit in a horse's mouth.  It is small, yet it turns the whole body in purpose.  No coincidence, perhaps, that the Torah was delivered "in tongues" (according to the Jewish sages) at Sinai, and again in Acts Two.  What is delivered to a human in the power of the Holy Spirit is to be delivered by the human to other humans in the power of the spirit. 

 

The message of the Messiah was not soul power (appetite, emotion, desire, intellect), but in the power of the Spirit.  The Spirit in turn manifested itself in healing of the physical body, correction of the intellect and desire, and fulfilment of the appetite.  Believers don't minister to the needs of the hungry because they believe the body is superior to the spirit of the person, but because the Spirit inside of the giver compels the believer to meet the physical need so as not to distress the body and soul, which executes the will of the Spirit.  When the body and soul are in distress, it is difficult or impossible for them to Nitzavim, or stand to receive the words of the covenant. 

 

Alleviate the suffering of the body, and the spirit of a human being can hear the Word.

 

The temptation to use was to MISuse the power of the spirit and the Word.  Those three temptations are:

 

1.  Make the stones bread.  Commercialism turns human needs or wants into a consumable commodity, especially on Shabbat. It even turns humans into slaves or "human capital."   

 

2.  Throw yourself off the Temple Mount.  Use something that is holy to bring attention to yourself and misdirect the holiness to yourself.  A homicide bomber or terrorist can be dropped into this category.  Murderous thoughts are feigned faith.

 

3.  Bow down, and I'll give you the kingdoms of the world.  Dominate those around you and mistakenly claim it is divinely ordained. 

 

All three of these categories are bait.  If Yeshua had accepted any of them, he could not have been Messiah, for Messiah is prophesied to judge with righteousness and justice, not what he sees or what he hears.  He cannot be bribed with human desire, appetite, reasoning, or emotion. 

 

The spiritual bread predates physical bread.  Shabbat teaches us to rebel against the soul desire to "ever build" or "ever learn" (Cardozo), yet because it is the soul, a bundle of appetites, it will never be satisfied.  Only with the mastery of the Spirit over the soul can it be satisfied.  Until the mastery of that test, the soul yet yearns for bread, and it will feed on anything available.  Cessation from work on Shabbat and fasting on Yom Kippur are every human's wilderness temptation.

 

Holiness cannot be robbed from Adonai or His Word, and Yeshua's ministry did not "rob God."  Robbing God is a phrase applied to tithes and offerings.  When Kain and Abel brought their offerings, Abel " gam hu," or offered himself with the sacrifice.  This was not sacrificial suicide, but to benefit other human beings, who eat the tithes with the giver.  Kain feigned his faith, which was detected in his inferior offering.

 

Dominance over others is not from the realm of the Spirit, but the soul. Religions and various dictatorships, such as the Third Reich, as institutions both fell/fall into this category, and both have envisioned world domination, but the holiness was robbed from God and misappropriated to their soul's desire for dominance and attention. 

 

In order to Nitzavim, a people must stand with Israel both as a nation ( nitzavim) and an individual ( omed) as stated in the opening chapter.  Tammy McClendon pointed out in Torah class this week that the incident of Peter healing a lame man when he was on the way to the Temple to pray the 3:00 o'clock Amidah, the Standing Prayer, is no coincidence.  A person who cannot stand ( omed, the root of Amidah) as a free person cannot accept the covenant freely or serve freely.  He is still like the woman bound, "lo, these eighteen years."  Messiah came to loose our bodies and souls so that we can stand...today. 

 

You stand today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath which the LORD your God is making with you today, in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here today...(Dt 29:10-16)

 

When Peter healed the lame man, it signaled that Yeshua's authority prevailed in the souls of his disciples, and it was their mission to heal fallen Israel to stand freely and serve in the Temple TODAY, something the lame man had never done, either alone or with his nation.  He could now worship in the Temple with the Standing Prayer.

 

Standing "today" in Nitzavim is an affirmation of the Torah covenant given long ago to a people whose souls were chained to Egypt.  They could not stand and freely agree even though with their mouths they said "We will do and we will hear."  They did not do and hear the moment Moses left their sight and hearing.  Yeshua's leadership offers his Messianic quality of accepting the Word not by the sight of the physical eyes and hearing of the physical ears only, but with spiritual eyes and ears, righteousness in the Word.  It doesn't matter if Moses is out of sight, for Moses is spiritually discerned and obeyed with faith in the Giver of the covenant.

 

In Messiah Yeshua, we do not continue in chains to work on days of rest, for our spirits master our appetites, that earthly survival instinct.  We stand upright, not on all fours, nor do we fall down and go on our bellies, the mark of the most cunning beast of the field, the serpent.  We don't eat their doctrines, either.

 

In Messiah Yeshua, we do not chain our soul's need to express the holiness of God to pseudo-religious acts that damage other human beings.  We stand upright, we do not free fall from a twisted intellect to force God to accept what He never taught or ordained.

 

In Messiah Yeshua, we serve the Father alone, and we do not bow to our own intellect or need for respect.  We stand to offer our gift freely and only then kneel before the priest to offer our gifts.  Our countenance does not fall because we brought our whole soul that joyfully expresses the will of the Spirit.  The content of the last two Torah portion, Ki Teitzei and Ki Tavo, have helped us to ascend to Nitzavim. 

 

A captive woman had to be free in order to marry an Israelite husband.  She had to grieve her idolatrous "parents," representing the enslavement of the soul to its own emotions.  When grief goes beyond its bounds, it can become an idol.  The broken-hearted human being is close to Adonai, but unable to stand and serve Him freely, for he or she is still chained to the loss.  A tithe must be certified as free of contamination from mourning or dedication to the dead.  Mourning and death inhibit the individual from standing and giving it freely.  Like Kain, the countenance will fall. 

 

Did Elohim withdraw from Kain because of his grief?  No.  He even protected him, but Kain could not serve as a free man.  He became a wanderer, like his soul unsatisfied, never mastered and settled in the peace of the Spirit, which alone direct the soul to authentic joy in the tithe and offering. 

 

Before we hear the Song of Moses, do we agree to allow our spirits, a gift from Heaven above, to master our souls so that we can sing joyfully, with all our hearts?  A slave will only cower and fear the curses and tribulation for violation...a free person will stand joyfully to hear and do.  Nitzavim.  Stand.  

Although the lessons draw from the traditional Jewish sources, Workbook Five Volume 1, Bereishit, is not designed to be a typical scholarly Torah commentary. This work delves into the human aspects of each portion or elicit points not typically addressed. For instance, is the seven-branched menorah concealed within the four Rivers of Eden? What do donkeys and camels symbolize in Scripture, and what do they have to do with prophecy? What can each portion teach that will transform lives? The Ruach HaKodesh is invited to move over the words so that disciples of Yeshua can mature in their relationships with the Body of Messiah, with the Father, and even with enemies. Recommended for both individual and group weekly Torah study. Includes study/review questions on each portion.

LaMalah Children's Centre

 

Orphanage Update

  Special thanks to our regular donors and our new donors. The history of LaMalah Children's Centre is now located on our website www.thecreationgospel.com. 

 

If you have children's clothes or children's books (in English) to send, you can mail them to:   

 

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Kenya
East Africa

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