Sunday after Ki Tisa
Sunday after Ki Tisa
Weekday Reading
Jeremiah chapter 33 & 34
Recall, Jeremiah has been imprisoned by the King and Cohen HaGadol for daring to prophecy Jerusalem’s defeat. Some argued that other prophets had said the same in the past and they were respected, but their appeals went on deaf ears to a King and Cohen who were facing the enemy practically on their doorstep and considered such talk to be treason, not prophecy.
Jer 33:1 Moreover the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying,
Jer 33:2 Thus says YHWH who does it, YHWH who forms it to establish it; YHWH is his name:
Recall, Jeremiah has spent a fair amount of ink so far in this book complaining to the people that they are praying to “ba’al,” that is, “lord,” instead of praying to YHWH. His name is a verb and has several different pronunciations depending upon tense (as all verbs do), but for purposes of prayer is usually considered to be pronounced either “Yahweh” or “Yahowah.” This is His Name, not “lord.” Praying to “lord” actually offends him, as do all pagan words substituted for His Real Name.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 33:3 Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don’t know.
Jer 33:4 For thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Yisra’el, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Yehudah, which are broken down [to make a defense] against the mounds and against the sword;
Jer 33:5 while [men] come to fight with the Kasdim, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have killed in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city:
Jer 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them; and I will reveal to them abundance of shalom and truth.
Jer 33:7 I will cause the captivity of Yehudah and the captivity of Yisra’el to be rescinded, and will build them, as at the first.
Often mistranslated in English as “turn back” or “return,” this phrase in Hebrew actually means “rescind.” We are still in exile at this time – the Diaspora Jews until very recently outnumbered the Jews in Eretz Israel. At the time of the Ingathering, however, the exile will be officially rescinded, and all of the House of Israel who survive WWIII will be brought home to receive their inheritance. Those who were Obedient Believers prior to the Tribulation will receive their transformation at the Parousia on Yom Teruah, and those who were Tribulation Martyrs will be inculded in the Resurrection of the Just at Yom Kippur – and the immortal beings will reign over the mortals as kings and priests in the Kingdom. Thus everyone will receive their reward.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 33:8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, by which they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me.
Jer 33:9 [This city] shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the shalom that I procure to it.
Jer 33:10 Thus says YHWH: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, about which you say, It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Yehudah, and in the streets of Yerushalayim, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,
Jer 33:11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to YHWH Tzeva’ot, for YHWH is good, for his loving kindness endures forever; [and of them] who bring [sacrifices of] thanksgiving into the house of YHWH. For I will cause the captivity of the land to be rescinded, [and the people will be] as at the first, says YHWH.
Notice again here Elohim says clearly that sacrifices will be operating during the Messianic Kingdom.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 33:12 Thus says YHWH Tzeva’ot: Yet again shall there be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all the cities of it, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
Jer 33:13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Binyamin, and in the places about Yerushalayim, and in the cities of Yehudah, shall the flocks again pass under the hands of him who numbers them, says YHWH.
Jer 33:14 Behold, the days come, says YHWH, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Yisra’el and concerning the house of Yehudah.
The “House of Israel” is here in reference to the Northern Kingdom, which called itself “Israel,” and was comprised of the “lost 10 tribes” led by Ephraim of the House of Joseph. Yehudah is, of course, the Judah-ites and Levites who stayed in the Southern Kingdom, which called itself “Yehudah.” The House of Israel has largely become assimilated into the nations – many call themselves “Christians” and are caught in the paganism of the roman church and her descendants. The House Of Judah is, of course, largely held in thrall by the Rabbinate which made up their Oral Law to replace Elohim’s simple Written Torah. Neither camp is obedient to Elohim, therefore both are excluded from Elohim’s Kingdom until they repent.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 33:15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
Jer 33:16 In those days shall Yehudah be saved, and Yerushalayim shall dwell safely; and this is [the name] by which she shall be called: YHWH our righteousness.
Jer 33:17 For thus says YHWH: David shall never want a man to sit on the throne of the house of Yisra’el;
Jer 33:18 neither shall the Kohanim the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually.
Again, it can’t be more clear – the sacrificial system, like the rest of the Torah, is NOT “done away with” or “superceded” or “set aside.” Nothing is further from the truth.
Jer 33:19 The word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
Jer 33:20 Thus says YHWH: If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season;
Jer 33:21 then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne; and with the Levites the Kohanim, my ministers.
Jer 33:22 As the army of the sky can’t be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me.
Day and Night will last as long as the space/time continuum lasts – so the Torah, and the Davidic Kingship of Yeshua, and the Sacrificial System will last at least until the new heavens and the new earth are created after the Great White Throne Judgement – over 1000 years from now. We are still bound by the Torah and everything in it as long as this world lasts.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 33:23 The word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu, saying,
Jer 33:24 Don’t you consider what this people has spoken, saying, The two families which YHWH did choose, he has cast them off? thus do they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Jer 33:25 Thus says YHWH: If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
Jer 33:26 then will I also cast away the seed of Ya`akov, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya`akov: for I will cause their captivity to be rescinded, and will have mercy on them.
In other words, as long as this world and it’s universe lasts.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:1 The word which came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, when Nevukhadnetzar king of Bavel, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Yerushalayim, and against all the cities of it, saying:
Jer 34:2 Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Yisra’el, Go, and speak to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah, and tell him, Thus says YHWH, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he shall burn it with fire:
Jer 34:3 and you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Bavel, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Bavel.
This is a national judgement against the nation that refused to submit and be obedient to Elohim – and the Kings, as its leader, is responsible for the sins of his subjects to the extent that he failed to work to prevent them. Apparently, he did make some such efforts (although they were clearly inadequate), because Elohim promises that he, personally, will not die by the sword.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:4 Yet hear the word of YHWH, O Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah: thus says YHWH concerning you, You shall not die by the sword;
Jer 34:5 you shall die in shalom; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you, [saying], Ah Lord! for I have spoken the word, says YHWH.
It’s not clear linguistically from the context whether the people are exclaiming “Ah, Lord” to lament their Lord and King on earth, or “Ah, Adonai” to cry to Elohim in Heaven. Since the original has no vowel pointers, it could go either way.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:6 Then Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke all these words to Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah in Yerushalayim,
Jer 34:7 when the king of Bavel’s army was fighting against Yerushalayim, and against all the cities of Yehudah that were left, against Lakhish and against `Azeka; for these [alone] remained of the cities of Yehudah [as] fortified cities.
Jer 34:8 The word that came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, after that the king Tzidkiyahu had made a covenant with all the people who were at Yerushalayim, to proclaim liberty to them;
Jer 34:9 that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondservants of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother.
Here is one of the righteous acts that the King tried to implement, to return the people to obedience to Elohim. At every 7th year, Hebrews who have been sold into indentured servitude for their debts or non-capital crimes must be set free. However, the Judeans had not been observing the Sabbath years, so their indentured servants were held past the legal time for their service to end.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:10 All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant, and everyone his female servant, go free, that none should make bondservants of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go:
Jer 34:11 but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
Slavery is a profitable economic enterprise, which is why the Torah takes steps to limit it. We see the same issue in the US’s current economic woes – it’s cheaper to have defacto slaves making pennies on the dollar for 16 hours a day in third world factories, places where there are no child labour laws, no safetey or environmental laws, no worker’s rights to sabbaths, holidays, vacations, or wage and hour laws. So American CEOs dumped their living wage American employees and engaged defacto slave labour for their businesses so they could make billions-with-a-B in profit instead of just hundreds of thousands or mere millions. They have no intention of letting these people organize unions and demand worker’s rights and decent wages – unions and worker’s rights laws would cut into their profits. They claim they can’t be “profitable” without the defacto slave labour, but this is not true. If tariffs leveled the playing field between lawless third world nations and the Judeo-Christian ethics first world workers insist upon for themselves, there would be no difference. Here the business owners complained about basically the same thing – having to hire people at decent living wages made them less profitable, so they preferred to drag their indentured servants back into slavery than give up their greed. Elohim was not amused, neither then nor is He now.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:12 Therefore the word of YHWH came to Yirmeyahu from YHWH, saying,
Jer 34:13 Thus says YHWH, the Elohim of Yisra’el: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,
Jer 34:14 At the end of seven years you shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers didn’t listen to me, neither inclined their ear.
Deu 15:1 At the end of every seven years you shall make a release. Deu 15:2 This is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother; because YHWH’s release has been proclaimed. Deu 15:3 Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of your is with your brother your hand shall release. Deu 15:4 However there shall be no poor with you; (for YHWH will surely bless you in the land which YHWH your Elohim gives you for an inheritance to possess it;) Deu 15:5 if only you diligently listen to the voice of YHWH your Elohim, to observe to do all this mitzvah which I command you this day. Deu 15:6 For YHWH your Elohim will bless you, as he promised you: and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
Deu 15:7 If there be with you a poor man, one of your brothers, within any of your gates in your land which YHWH your Elohim gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; Deu 15:8 but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need [in that] which he wants. Deu 15:9 Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to YHWH against you, and it be sin to you. Deu 15:10 You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing YHWH your Elohim will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to. Deu 15:11 For the poor will never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.
Deu 15:12 If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold to you, and serve you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. Deu 15:13 When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty: Deu 15:14 you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as YHWH your Elohim has blessed you, you shall give to him. Deu 15:15 You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your Elohim redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today. Deu 15:16 It shall be, if he tell you, I will not go out from you; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you; Deu 15:17 then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. Deu 15:18 It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and YHWH your Elohim will bless you in all that you do.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:15 You were now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:
Jer 34:16 but you turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.
It is an act of profaning Elohim’s name to go back on our word, not just in matters of Torah but in any matters.
Num 30:1 (30:2) And Moses spoke unto the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying: This is the thing which YHWH hath commanded. Num 30:2 (30:3) When a man voweth a vow unto YHWH, or sweareth an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
And embarassing Elohim’s name in front of the world is called “chillul Hashem,” and desecrating the Name, especially for profit, demonstrates to the world that a person is not Elohim’s servant but hasatan’s.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:17 Therefore thus says YHWH: you have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says YHWH, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
Jer 34:18 I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it;
Jer 34:19 the princes of Yehudah, and the princes of Yerushalayim, the eunuchs, and the Kohanim, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf;
Jer 34:20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth.
Measure for measure – they unlawfully made people into lifelong slaves, now they will go themselves into lifelong slavery. Notice the King himself was not mentioned in the above list.
Jeremiah, continued:
Jer 34:21 Tzidkiyahu king of Yehudah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Bavel’s army, who have gone away from you.
Jer 34:22 Behold, I will command, says YHWH, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Yehudah a desolation, without inhabitant.
America was founded as a “city on a hill,” supposedly a god-fearing nation that, while not exactly callit it “Torah Observance,” still understood that the laws of the Torah were the basis for determining what was and was not sin. Even mortgages could not be had for more than 7 years, until this past century. America has now acted exactly as Jerusalem acted formerly, throwing off Elohim’s just and ethical commandments and embracing every sort of greed and debauchery, sin and lawlessness. Americans now have respect for nobody’s laws, not Elohim’s laws and not even their own government’s laws. And this rebelliousness will not go forever unpunished. We have not even entered the Tribulation yet – the terrible economic mess in America is just birth pangs. It can and will get a lot worse if we refuse to repent, both in our personal lives, our congregational lives, our city, regional and state lives, and yes, our national life. Each level will receive its own judgement – meaning a lot of people are looking at 6 or more levels of angry punishment from Elohim.
The time to repent is now, while we still can. Personal repentence will not shield us from all congregational, city, regional and national judgement, but it will help some. Seek out a congregation or “home church” (or start a new one in your area) that is Observant of the Written Torah and teaches faith in Yeshua HaMashiach and Immersion for all sin and uncleanness. Fight sin and debauchery in your city, region, state and nation. The King was personally spared from a gruesome death for his efforts, even though they were not entirely successful. This should give us a clue about how judgement operates – if we do our best, we may be “carried into exile,” but our experience of exile will not be as painful and horrible as that of others who did not fight against Torahlessness. Every little bit counts. Write letters, teach, preach, post blogs – do whatever you can. There is still some time to mitigate your circumstances – and who knows? Perhaps you are where you are now for such a time as this!
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