B’har - (on the mountain) Podcast May 28, 2022
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Introduction
Introduction
B’har [ bhar] = translated as on the mountain
Fifth word in the Parashah (Torah Portion) and 32nd. weekly Torah portion in the annual cycle of the readings
The Parashah tells us the laws of the Sabbatical year: Shmita- and limits the debt service ration
REST and FREEDOM
Only the FREE can experience True REST
Preparation for the Millennial Shabbat
God desires for us FREEDOM
Freedom comes from observing the Torah
Freedom is not the same as Salvation
Freedom is not the same a redemption
Freedom from what?
Freedom from SIN
Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
SIN is lawlessness - lawlessness = absence of LAW
In the Greek
490 ἀνομία (anomia)
lawlessness, wickedness, lawless deed
James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
In Hebrew
אָוֶן (ʾā·wěn)
Str 205 evil, wickedness אָוֶן (ʾā·wěn) [aven]
iniquity, i.e., an act. (of many kinds) which is morally evil and corrupt, and damaging to one’s relationship to God and others, according to a standard
James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
What does the Lord thinks of those who practice lawlessness?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
What were we redeemed for?
Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began
but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—
to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,
as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
(Mt 13:41; 23:28; 24:12; Ro 4:7; 6:19; 2Co 6:14; 2Th 2:3, 7; Tit 2:14; Heb 1:9; 10:17; 1Jn 3:4+; Mk 16:15 v.r.)
Presentation
Presentation
Why is this Torah portion important?:
No only is there a reference to the giving of the Law (On the Mountain) - including the law of the Shmita year.
And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,
The reason the portion starts with the mountain is so that we may know God did not come up with the idea of Shmita later, but at the same time He came up with all the law at Sinai.
In the Hebrew when you see the phrase on the mountain, you actually see the statements in the mountain
In the mountain
בְּ= in
בְּ S1119 TWOT193 GK1198, prep. in
[bet]
Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 88.
He brought me to the banqueting house, And his banner over me was love.
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.
Thunder, lightning flashes - the voice of God sounds like this to the one who is in bondage to sin
For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.
For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Shemitah (Shmita)
Jubilee REST & FREEDOM
Shabbat
SHEMITAH (SHMITA)
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord.
Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit;
but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land.
And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,
for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.
Lord gives the Land
Land keeps the Sabbath
Sabbath to the Lord
Rest for the Land
Solemn Rest
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
Same pattern for the year and for the one thousand years - because for God a day is like a thousand years:
But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
A year of complete test
You are not suppossed to collect and store or sell for profit.
Your can eat of it- the fruit is going to fall from the tree anyway
Everyone has access to it
You’re not supposed to take more than you need
JUBILEE
‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years.
Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.
7x7=49
50 year cycle 50=1
50 and 1 are the same because it is a cycle
50 is a picutere of Shavaout - Pentacost
The festival of Shavu‘ot arrived, and the believers all gathered together in one place.
Suddenly there came a sound from the sky like the roar of a violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them.
They were all filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and began to talk in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
Now there were staying in Yerushalayim religious Jews from every nation under heaven.
Jubilee is of 50 years
The Book of Jubilee confirms the cycle is 49 years
The number 7 represents the cycle of completion in Creation. Therefore the Sabbath day and the Shmita year give testimony that the fullness of creation is God’s
It also points to the 7th millennium
Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land.
Jubilee = yobel = ram
Trumpet
Cultural speaking understood as the shofar
Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, on Yom-Kippur, you are to sound a blast on the shofar; you are to sound the shofar all through your land;
It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
First mention of Cultural Shofar
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
Jubilee - yobel = ram
[a yil] means RAM, RULER, Mighty
So when the shofar is sounded at His second coming, at the end of the 6000 years, we will know the Ram, the Ruler, the Mighty is coming to establish His kingdom in Jerusalem
And there will be A day of Jubilee
Yom Kippur - attonment - our sins completely forgiven
Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.
Back to be with our Creator
With our Lord
Under His complete ruling
“Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing.
If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him.
If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out by himself.
But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
FREEDOM
Jubilee is the celebration because of the redemption
“The Spirit of Adonai is upon me because he has anointed me to announce Good News to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned and renewed sight for the blind, to release those who have been crushed,
to proclaim a year of the favor of Adonai.”
Another translation in Greek says: “to proclaim the year of the Lord acceptable”
Acceptable = dektos in Greek
In the Septuagint: what is pleasing, liking favor. To take pleasure in; be favourable to someone. In Hebrew:
רָצוֹן
[ratzon]
רָצוֹן S7522 TWOT2207a GK8356 n.[m.] goodwill, favour, acceptance, will
‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord.
He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, For He restores to man His righteousness.
For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Leviticus explains it even further:
That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine.
For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.
‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession.
We own nothing
We eat not from the produce of our labour, but His
His inheritance is to receive us back to Himself
In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was captured, on the very same day the hand of the Lord was upon me; and He took me there.
In the visions of God He took me into the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain; on it toward the south was something like the structure of a city.
He took me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze. He had a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand, and he stood in the gateway.
Limits to debt service ratio - debt canceled
And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another.
According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you.
According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops.
Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.
‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety.
Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.
‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?”
Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years.
And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.
Cycle
The right to Redemption
‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.
And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.
‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold.
Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it,
then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession.
But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it.
But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.
However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee.
Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time.
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland.
And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return.
But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.
The Lord owns the land
We are just passing by
We are called to redeem our brother
Redeemed in Jubilee
Levites did not get inheritance of land but they would get land withing other tribes
Who is our brother, or our neighbour?
While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.
Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”
But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?”
And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!
For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave.
As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee.
And then he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers.
For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves.
You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God.
And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.
Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property.
And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.
‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family,
after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him;
or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself.
Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him.
If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought.
And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption.
He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight.
And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him.
For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Reemed to be purchased back
‘You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.
You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.
When we celebrate the Sabbath we enter into His freedom and Rest
Only a free person can rest
A free person can take a day off
A slave cannot take a day off
Through Idol worship we become a slave
Slave to sin - licentiousness
Debt paid
Keep His Sabbath and Sanctuary = connection
Not only about salvation but sanctification
There’s Jubilee when we receive salvation and are sanctified
and the Levites who were the singers, all those of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, stood at the east end of the altar, clothed in white linen, having cymbals, stringed instruments and harps, and with them one hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets—
indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever,” that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud,
so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
What do we do in the meantime?
Summary
Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness,
and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered;
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;
the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors!
Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is.
It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.
Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—
lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.
And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”
Therefore, brothers whom God has set apart, who share in the call from heaven, think carefully about Yeshua, whom we acknowledge publicly as God’s emissary and as cohen gadol.
He was faithful to God, who appointed him; just as “Moshe was faithful in all God’s house.”
But Yeshua deserves more honor than Moshe, just as the builder of the house deserves more honor than the house.
For every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.
Also, Moshe was faithful in all God’s house, as a servant giving witness to things God would divulge later.
But the Messiah, as Son, was faithful over God’s house. And we are that house of his, provided we hold firmly to the courage and confidence inspired by what we hope for.
Therefore, as the Ruach HaKodesh says, “Today, if you hear God’s voice,
don’t harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel on that day in the Wilderness when you put God to the test.
Yes, your fathers put me to the test; they challenged me, and they saw my work for forty years!
Therefore, I was disgusted with that generation— I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, they have not understood how I do things’;
in my anger, I swore that they would not enter my rest.”
Watch out, brothers, so that there will not be in any one of you an evil heart lacking trust, which could lead you to apostatize from the living God!
Instead, keep exhorting each other every day, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceit of sin.
For we have become sharers in the Messiah, provided, however, that we hold firmly to the conviction we began with, right through until the goal is reached.
Now where it says, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, don’t harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel,”
who were the people who, after they heard, quarreled so bitterly? All those whom Moshe brought out of Egypt.
And with whom was God disgusted for forty years? Those who sinned—yes, they fell dead in the Wilderness!
And to whom was it that he swore that they would not enter his rest? Those who were disobedient.
So we see that they were unable to enter because of lack of trust.
Therefore, let us be terrified of the possibility that, even though the promise of entering his rest remains, any one of you might be judged to have fallen short of it;
for Good News has also been proclaimed to us, just as it was to them. But the message they heard didn’t do them any good, because those who heard it did not combine it with trust.
For it is we who have trusted who enter the rest. It is just as he said, “And in my anger, I swore that they would not enter my rest.” He swore this even though his works have been in existence since the founding of the universe.
For there is a place where it is said, concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
And once more, our present text says, “They will not enter my rest.”
Therefore, since it still remains for some to enter it, and those who received the Good News earlier did not enter,
he again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David, so long afterwards, in the text already given, “Today, if you hear God’s voice, don’t harden your hearts.”
For if Y’hoshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later of another “day.”
So there remains a Shabbat-keeping for God’s people.
For the one who has entered God’s rest has also rested from his own works, as God did from his.
Therefore, let us do our best to enter that rest; so that no one will fall short because of the same kind of disobedience.
Shabbat Shalom