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Behar-Bechukotai
Leviticus
25:1-27:34
Jeremiah
16:19-17:14
Jeremiah
32:6-27
Luke 4:16-21
The
portion we read this week once again has two Parashot. The first opens
with the words on the mountain (Behar). Here the laws of Shemitah
(Sabbatical Year) and the Yovel (Year of Jubilee) are stated.
G-d
speaks of blessings if we obey or curses if we do not follow His
commandments.
In
Leviticus 10: 16 the Torah tell us of Moses searching carefully for the
goat of the sin offering. In Hebrew the word for search is Darash .
This tells us, as people of the book, that we must constantly study and
seek deeply in order to understand G-d and His will for us.
I
would take an educated guess that most people that claim to be believers
in God today have stopped being seekers. Otherwise they would not be
confused with what G-d has in purpose for them, us, the nations, and,
especially, concerning His Land Israel.
The
Scripture proclaims that the Earth is the Lord's and it's fullness there
of. So too the Sabbatical Year proclaims that the land of Israel belongs
to G-d.
One of
the many things I have learned about G-d these many years of walking with
Him, is that G-d is sovereign and His purposes are unstoppable and He can
do whatever he wants. We must, as His children, know, trust and have
Emunah (faith) that G-d is in complete control.
Today
many people look at Israel and declare that Israel is occupying other
peoples lands. We who trust God look, search, and discern that first of
all the earth is the Lords and all its fullness. Therefore the Earth is
His and He can do whatever HE pleases (Psalm 24:1).
Psalm
115:16 declares that the heavens, even the heavens are the Lords, but the
Earth he has given to the children of men. We as of yet are not in Heaven,
but he has given us the Earth. Adam was given dominion over the Earth. The
book of Acts in chapter 17 verse 26, tells us that G-d preappointed when
and where we live. Psalm 105:6-11 says that G-d gives His declaration of
title to the land which we know as the Land of Israel. "To you I will give
the land of Caanan as the portion you will inherit."
And if
you think that was written in by the later priests or scribes after the
fact, lets us go to the beginning before the people were even formed into
a nation. G-d told Abraham in Genesis 12:3, 15:18, 17:1-8, and 21:12 that
thru Isaac that "your seed shall be called." So G-d declares that He has
given the land of Israel to what the world knows today as the Jewish
people. This is confirmed in Psalms 105:6-11, Luke 1:72-74, and Hebrews
6:13-17.
Finally, we have the promise that when we see things go negatively for
Jerusalem or maybe in our lives as well, we must remember that the Lord
will go forth and fight those who come against His people and His land
(Zech.14).
Let us
stand with G-d's promises and not lose hope or be faint hearted in these
days or any future time periods.
Shavua Tov
Rabbi
Z.
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