Rabbi's Drash

Bereshit

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Numbers 30:2-36:13
 

As we begin Bereshit again in this new year 5770, I would like to try to examine how the followers of Yeshua who knew the Hebrew Scriptures very well, viewed the Messiah, what they wrote about him in their writings-the Ketuvim Yehudim M'shichim, the Messianic writings. How can we return to see the Messiah as they did without modern day Christianity or Rabbinic Judaism clouding their vision?   Today many believers try to look for or appropriate Jewishness and, spend so much time searching for their Jewish roots. God's revelation, however, is for all of humanity. The first eleven chapters of Bereshit aren't even about Jews; they deal with the history of all humanity. Remember G-d revealed Himself to a people for the express purpose that they would present His message to the world. They are not the ones who are important; He is the focus. People tend to elevate the Jewish people almost to the point of idolatry. I meet too many who spend much of their time trying to prove their Jewish roots believing that this will give them their importance instead of understanding that G-d is the Creator of all humanity and that He gives each of us our identity. The emphasis needs to be placed upon Him, the Creator and not the creation. We all, Jews and Gentiles, are God's creation and are all belong to Him. In fact, though we say that the Jews are Semitic, if we were to go to Israel we would meet Jews who are from all the "races" and of all types of facial features, black, oriental, white, brown. We must not fall into the trap of racial pride. Being Jewish is not a race; as I have taught before-it is a calling, a choosing. Yaakov and Esav were twin brothers; same parents, yet Yaakov was called to be a father of the Jewish nation while Esav was the father of the Edomites, a gentile nation.   What was G-d revealing to us from the very beginning of Genesis? From the book of Bereshit we read about the creation of Adam and Eve and their fall. Do you think that G-d was surprised that this would happen? Sometimes we misunderstanding the meaning of the written Word and try to explain or defend G-d when it says that He repented that He created us and that He changed His mind. Could He do that? Of course, He can do anything He wants to. The whole plan is the movement toward His revelation in the Messiah.   In the Ketuvim Yehudim M'shichim, the other book of beginnings is the book of Yochanan (John 1:1-14): "(1)In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G-d, and the Word was G-d. (2)He was with G-d in the beginning. (3)Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (4)In him was life and that life was the light of men. (5)The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it". The parallel with the first verses of Bereshit is striking. The two books begin by saying the same thing… through His Word G-d creates. The first thing He creates is light. He separates it from the darkness, by His Word. Yochanan introduces the "Word" and the "Light". By doing so He establishes that the Word has the power to create. In other words, God Himself is the subject and object of the book.   In Genesis 1:26 God gives us a hint of what He has done for us as humans. " (26)Then God said, "Let us make man in our image (tsalmenu- wnmlu), in our likeness (kidmutenu- wntwmdk) , and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." In So much is lost when translating from the Hebrew into another language. In Hebrew tsalmenu refers photographic image and kidmutenu to design or blueprint. Only humans were given this privilege in the whole of God's creation, none of the animals received this. Man was to rule over the rest of creation and be the guardians, the caretakers of it. We were given the capacity that the other creatures do not have, that of speech, expression, the ability to share the "WORD." We live in a 3 dimensional environment. Have you ever tried to imagine what the 4th dimension is like? It is impossible yet every religion spends so much time trying to define G-d-it is also impossible.   Pitifully at the time of Yeshua, the message changed from a Hebraic one to a Hellenistic one when it went out to the gentiles. "Word" was translated to "logos". Many foreign ideas entered the Scriptures and the message of Yeshua became blurred. The rabbis in their zeal to protect their beliefs denied the message of Yeshua and what happened and though their intentions were good, the results for the world were disastrous. In their desire to hold onto their Jewishness instead of the truth, the message of Messiah changed. Not only of Messiah but many of the other laws changed as well. For example the fact that Jewishness came through the father changed to being through the mother alone. With that one rule, one half of the Jewish people were eliminated from being who they are. Moreover when Christianity took over the religious world, their intent was to remove the Hebrew root and replace it with their own ways. The rabbis reacted denying many of the truths of Scripture simply because the Christians took it to be truth for them.   What makes the Word so important? As we begin to understand the Word it is like opening the cookie jar. We take out so many wonderful things, understanding what God is, what the Messiah is and what God has done for us, things that God has revealed to us from generation to generation. We will understand things we have not understood because of our religious pride and our doctrines. He has given us His Word, the Word that created. In Hebrew the root word for "WORD" is Daber rbd. A word which is derived from this root is "Deborah" which means "bee". G-d created in Bereshit by His Word and the only creature which creates is a bee when it creates honey. G-d spoke everything into existence. When we give thanks for the food we say, "Blessed are You Lord our G-d Creator of the Universe who has given us food through your Word". God spoke and food was created. The Targumim such as the Septuagint are the first translations of the Scriptures from Hebrew into other languages. It is here that we are first introduced to "memra" which means "the word" in Aramaic, the language that the Hebrews spoke when they went into captivity into Babylon. The Jewish Encyclopedia states in defining Memra: "The Word," in the sense of the creative or directive word or speech of God manifesting His power in the world of matter or mind; a term used especially in the Targum as a substitute for "the Lord" when an anthropomorphic expression is to be avoided.   The three best known Targumim in Aramaic are: the Yerushalmi, Jonathan and Onkelos. Targum Jonathan, the closest to the Hebrew constantly used the term "memra" when referring to 'the Lord" but this Targum was for the most part rejected by the rabbis in their zeal for religious purity because it was the most "Christian" in its explanation of Messiah and G-d. Targum Onkelos (who was a proselyte to Judaism) was far more widely used as the official translation, and is still accepted today.   I personally believe strongly that the rejection of Targum Jonathan was due to a definitive effort on the part of the rabbis to remove anything that might point to the physical incarnation of Yeshua on earth as Messiah. Maimonides in his 3rd principle of faith expresses that the Creator is not corporal, is free from all matter, and has no form whatsoever. In so doing, Rambam limited G-d and robbed Judaism of having a personal relationship with the living G-d which had become something simply ethereal, distant and untouchable. Man was removed from having His "image and likeness."   Furthermore Isaiah 52:12-53:13, Isaiah 9:6 and 11: 1-5 were all given different interpretations. It is obvious to anyone who reads Isaiah 52:12- 53:13 in the Hebrew exactly who it is referring to-Yeshua. For example they changed the references of the Messiah to interpret them as the nation of Israel.   In the Greek the word used to translate "WORD" is logos but takes on a completely different meaning. Many scholars believed that the book of John was written for the Greeks since the Greek is a little more sophisticated than the Palestinian Greek of the other Gospel accounts however this was changed with the discovery of the Qumran scrolls in 1947. In 1 Qumran 11:10, in the manual of discipline the wording is almost identical to John 1: 1-6 proving that Yochanan was indeed a very Hebraic writer. We read, "for judgment is God's from his hand … from His design everything received its origin… without Him was nothing made." Other passages talk about: "Those who practice righteousness walk in the ways of light under the domination of the Prince of the light … those who practice perversity are under the domination of the angel of darkness and walk in darkness." "All that is came from the God of knowledge, before things came into existence He determined the plan of them" "You have created these and by the wisdom of design you prepared its laws before they were, and by his word and his mouth they have come into being" All these Essene concepts existed long before Yochanan wrote his accounts. In fact many now think that Yochanan was a disciple of the Essenes before he knew Yeshua. Evidently he based his expression of the Messiah on Essene thought.   If we look at Yeshua neither from the Christian nor Rabbinic perspective but from a very Messianic or Biblical view we get a very different picture of him. We must remember always that we are not to add or take away anything from the Word of G-d. We must always remain true to Scripture and not to the doctrines or dogmas of man (Deut 4:2; 12:32).   The WORD, memra is extremely important. With it, G-d created all there is. One of the most important ideas in Jewish ethics is the issue of lashon ha rah-the evil tongue. Do you realize the power of the spoken word? In Yaakov 3:3-12 we read about the tongue: "(3)When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. (4)Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. (5)Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. (6)The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. (7)All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, (8)but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. (9)With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in G-d's likeness. (10)Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. (11)Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? (12)My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.   We of the Messianic movement have been accused of idolatry of the Torah because every Shabbat we have the Torah procession and we kiss it We have been accused of being just like the Catholics who kiss the images of the saints and carry them around in processions. This is a complete misunderstanding of the reverence we have for the Torah, the Word of God. We understand the power of the Word of God and hold it in high esteem. The common use of foul language is so very pervasive in our cultures represented here today. It is indicative of the turpitude and ethical decay of today's culture. This language should never come from our lips. We should constantly repent of our use of our tongue. Only God can save us from our words, our mouth. Only God can change our spirits so that our words can be healing and encouraging.   Over the next weeks, I would like to continue to develop this message of Messiah Yeshua but for today let us consider and remember that we are made in the likeness and image of G-d. Let us realize the power of the spoken word that comes out of our mouths. Yeshua himself told us about the importance of the spoken word (Matt. 12:33-37; 15:10-20). The Word of G-d builds us up, uplifts us. Let us be careful to speak to each other words that build up and not tear down. Let us walk in the footsteps of Messiah Yeshua and be more like him as he reveals himself to us. Let us represent Yeshua, the living Word of G-d. The word of God does just the opposite of our rash word. It builds up a person. The people of God should strengthen, animate and encourage others. We should be a community that supports and encourages those who are in despair, strengthen the weak and heal the bruised. This is the true meaning of the power of the word.      May G-d add blessings to His Word!      Rabbi Percy Johnson      Netanel ben Yochanan      [nxy [b lantn      © 2008 Use by Permission      Kehilat She’ar Yashuv

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