Haftarah Masei

Haftarah Masei

Jeremiah 2:4-28, plus

Ashkenaz – Jer. 3:4 or

Sephard – Jer. 4:1-2

This reading is very self-explanatory – Israel has put faith in pagan religions and in political alliances, but she should have put her faith in the only one who really cares about her.

Jer 2:4  Hear you the word of YHWH, O house of Ya`akov, and all the families of the house of Yisra’el:

Jer 2:5  thus says YHWH, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Jer 2:6  Neither said they, Where is YHWH who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?

Jer 2:7  I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

Jer 2:8  The Kohanim didn’t say, Where is YHWH? and those who handle the Torah didn’t know me: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Ba`al, and walked after things that do not profit.

Jer 2:9  Therefore I will yet contend with you, says YHWH, and with your children’s children will I contend.

Jer 2:10  For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.

Jer 2:11  Has a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

The doctrine of a trinity does exactly this – exchanged the true Deity who is One with a pagan triad along the lines of the Osirus, Isis and Horus mythology (Christianity, of course, replaces the female Isis with the neuter “Holy Spirit,” denying Elohim has any female aspect – which, of course, scripture itself shows not valid theologically.  El Shaddai, the Shekinah, and Binah are all female aspects of Elohim.).

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 2:12  Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says YHWH.

Jer 2:13  For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Jer 2:14  Is Yisra’el a servant? is he a native-born [slave]? why is he become a prey?

Jer 2:15  The young lions have roared on him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.

Jer 2:16  The children also of Mof and Tachpanches have broken the crown of your head.

Jer 2:17  Haven’t you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken YHWH your Elohim, when he led you by the way?

Jer 2:18  Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shichor? or what have you to do in the way to Ashur, to drink the waters of the River [Euphrates]?

Jer 2:19  Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken YHWH your Elohim, and that my fear is not in you, says Adonai, YHWH Tzeva’ot.

Jer 2:20  For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green tree you did bow yourself, playing the prostitute.

Jer 2:21  Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?

Jer 2:22  For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says Adonai YHWH.

Jer 2:23  How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba`alim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

Jer 2:24  a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire; in her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

Jer 2:25  Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

Jer 2:26  As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Yisra’el ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their Kohanim, and their prophets;

Jer 2:27  who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

The “time of their trouble” has a double meaning – not just for Jeremiah’s time at the Babylonian deportation, but for our own time of the birth pangs and the coming Tribulation.  Those who do not repent, who are not Obedient Believers, should not expect Elohim to act on their behalf.

Jeremiah, continued:

Jer 2:28  But where are your gods that you have made you? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Yehudah.

This is still applicable to this day, as the various communities, town, neighborhoods, and cities tend to be highly segregated.  Those who follow the Rabbinate live in one neighborhood, Arab Christians live in another neighborhood, Reform or Secular Jews live somewhere else, Muslims have their own districts, and so on.  There is hostility between them all and even violence when people who are “different” try and pass through some areas.

Ashkenaz finale:

Jer 3:4  Didst you not just now cry unto Me: ‘My father, You art the friend of my youth.

Sephard finale:

Jer 4:1 If you will return, O Israel, says YHWH, yes, return unto Me; and if you will put away your detestable things out of My sight, and will not waver;

Jer 4:2  And will swear: ‘As YHWH lives’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; then shall the nations bless themselves by Him, and in Him shall they glory.

Next:  Talmidim Masei.