Exodus 7–14; 1 Kings 15–22; 2 Kings 1–6; and Luke 13–19
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages.
If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those comments. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.
In Luke 14, Yeshua teaches the virtue of taking the lowly place at a wedding feast, and the priority that should be given to the outcasts and rejects of society (verses 7–14).
Then in the Parable of the Great Supper (verses 15–24), Yeshua shows how the rejected and outcasts make it into the great supper over those who are attached to their materialistic pursuits.
Perhaps these passages are best summed up by the following statement:
YHVH acknowledges as guests in his kingdom only those who acknowledge their own poverty.
Selah. Please pause and reflect on this.
In our modern world (including in much of the church world as well!) where riches, material possessions, physical beauty, outward appearance, sex appeal, head knowledge, power, influence and physical talent are idolized, do you find it hard to focus on, much less embrace, the iconoclastic values that Yeshua promotes in his teachings? For him less is more, you have to die to live, give everything away to become rich, go low in order to be elevated to a position of status, and serve in order to lead.
I see Yeshua’s teachings as revolutionary and against societal currents in every way. Aren’t they as radical now as they were then?
How are we as disciples of our Master Yeshua to swim upstream successfully against the swift current of secular society whose values are so antithetical to those of Yeshua?
Luke 8:10, The mysteries of the kingdom. The Greek word for mystery is musterion meaning “hidden thing, secret, mystery; religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to ordinary mortals; a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding.”
Of the some 136 subjects recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and John pertaining to the life and words of Yeshua, there are 144 verses dedicated to Yeshua speaking about the kingdom of Elohim (or heaven). In fact, it was the fourth subject he talked most about (after himself, his Father and the hypocritical religionists of his day). In the four Gospels, there are 109 direct references to the kingdom of Elohim (or heaven).
This being so, why do we not hear much about this subject in churches? What is the kingdom of God/Elohim (or heaven)? What are the mysteries of the kingdom? Matthew 4:23 characterizes the message Yeshua preached as “the gospel (good news) of the kingdom.” Just prior to this (verse 17), we read that Yeshua preached saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Again, is this message preached in the church? If not, why not?
Luke 5:17, The power [Gr. dumanis] of YHVH was present.
Let’s explore the healing activities of Yeshua. The Greek word dunamis means “strength, power, ability” or as often used in the Testimony of Yeshua, “miraculous power.” This is an interesting statement pertaining to the dynamics of Yeshua’s healing activities. Did Yeshua heal all people all the time, or only when the power of Elohim was present for him to do so? This verse, at least in this case, would indicate the latter. Elsewhere, we read that Yeshua “healed many that were sick” (Mark 1:34), but not all that were sick. On other occasions, the Gospel record implies that Yeshua did in fact heal all the sick who were brought to him (Matt 4:23–25; 9:35).
The Gospels reveal some other interesting facts about Yeshua’s healing activities that we often pass over. On at least one occasion, Yeshua prayed to heal someone and they were only partially healed. After he prayed for them the second time, they were completely healed (Mark 8:22–25). Often Yeshua healed people after he was “moved with compassion [love and pity]” for someone who was sick (Matt 14:14; Mark 1:41; Luke 7:13–15). The Greek word for compassion, literally means “to be moved in one’s bowels,” or in the deepest areas of one’s emotions. Some people simply touched Yeshua’s clothing as he was walking by, and the miraculous power (Gr. dunamis) of Elohim flowed from him and healed them (Matt 9:20; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44).
Elsewhere, it appears that Yeshua’s healing activities were hampered by the presence of those who ridiculed him and exhibited doubt and unbelief, which is why, on one occasion, he put the unbelievers out of the room and closed the door when he raised the little girl from the dead (Mark 5:40–42). Similarly, in his hometown of Nazereth, Yeshua “could do no mighty works there” except for healing a few sick people, “because of their [the townspeople’s] unbelief” (Mark 6:5–6; also Matt 13:58). Matthew’s account adds that the people of Nazareth were offended (literally, scandalized, stumbled over, judged unfavorably, distrusted) by Yeshua. Because of their low esteem for him, they lacked the faith to receive healing, which is why he healed so few people in that town.
What can we learn from the example of Yeshua about healing the sick? Do you have some personal experiences that would correlate with what we read in the Gospels about Yeshua’s healing activities?
Mark 13:28–31 (also Matt 24:32–35; Luke 21:29–33). Yeshua’s Parable of the Fig Tree. What is the meaning of this prophetic parable as it relates to the end times (or does it even relate to the end times at all)?
Some view the fig tree as a biblical metaphor for Israel (see Hos 9:10). The modern nation of Israel, like the fig tree in the parable, re-sprouted in 1948.
Is Yeshua saying here that the end times leading up to the second coming started with the rebirth of Israel in 1948, and that the generation alive at that time will not pass until the prophecies of the Olivet Discourse are fulfilled? Or is there some other way to view this prophecy? Your thoughts please…
Mark 11:10, Hosanna in the highest. The simple Hebrew phrase hoshana rabbah has more depth and spiritual significance than first meets the eye. Let’s explore it.
First of all, it was this phrase—hosanna in the highest—(Heb. hoshana rabbah) that the crowds of Jews exclaimed as Yeshua entered Jerusalem riding a colt in Matthew 21:9 (also Mark 11:9; Luke 19:38). This event has become known as Yeshua’s “Triumphal Entry.”
Hoshana rabbah, in part, derives from Psalm 118:25, a psalm that is called the Great Hallel (Heb. meaning “praise”), and was the climax of a series of psalms that the priests would proclaim or sing from the temple in Jerusalem on various feast days including the Feast of Tabernacles.
Psalm 118 is a prophetic psalm, which speaks of the coming Messiah who was the hope of the Israelite people. The words of this psalm prophetically point to Yeshua the Messiah in every way. That’s why the crowds proclaimed “hoshana in the highest, ” at Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem, for upon him, they had pinned their highest hopes of a Messianic figure who would deliverer them from their oppressors (in this case, the Romans).
The actual Hebrew words in Psalm 118:25 are ana YHVH hoshiah na, which can be translated as “I beg you YHVH save now,” (Green’s Interlinear), “Save now, I pray, O YHVH” (KJV), or “O [YHVH], please save us!” (ArtScroll Stone Edition Tanach).
The phrase “Hosanna in the highest” was an added exclamation of the people, and is not a quote from the Hebrew Scriptures (Tanakh). In Hebrew it would be hoshiana rabbah or hoshana rabbah, which, according to Jewish tradition, is the name of the seventh or last day of the fall biblical Feast of Tabernacles (or Sukkot).
It was on this “last great day” of the Feast that the joyous water pouring ceremony occurred, and when the Jews prayed to receive rain from heaven to water their crops including the latter (spring) rains and the former (fall) rains. In the arid region of the land of Israel, rain was received as a gift and a favorable blessing from heaven, since it meant that the crops would flourish and famine would be averted.
Prophetically, the rains of Hoshana Rabbah speak of a time when during the Millennium (of which Sukkot is a symbolic picture) YHVH will pour out the rain of his Spirit (along with his Torah and his glory) upon the world, thus spiritually cleansing and refreshing mankind resulting in a great harvest of souls into the kingdom of heaven.
Similarly, it was on Hoshana Rabbah (“the last day of the feast,” John 7:37–39) that Yeshua encouraged his followers to come to him as the spiritual River of Life. This would result in the dry ground of their spiritual lives being quenched, and in their becoming a river of life like him resulting in abundant spiritual fruits of salvation of lost souls coming to Yeshua (i.e., the regathering of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Matt 10:6; 15:24).
This phrase hoshana rabbah can also mean, “save us O great one,” since the Hebrew word rabbah can mean “great one.” The term rabbi (the title for a Jewish Bible teacher) originates from this word. Rabbi literally means, “my great one,” which is why Yeshua forbad his disciples (and us) from taking this word as an ecclesiastical title for themselves, or from calling someone else by that title (Matt 23:8). This is title that should be reserved only for Yeshua himself (Matt 23:10)!
Hoshana rabbah in its fullest sense means “I pray, I beseech thee to open wide, free, succor, deliver,help, preserve, rescue, bring salvation, bring victory, save greatly, in abundance, increasingly, or please deliver us Great One.”