每週一妥拉 2016/10/23-10/29
從古時起,世界各地的猶太會堂會一週一次在安息日讀經,
2016年10月28-29日
一個新的循環開始!
這週妥拉的閱讀循環重新開始,新的閱讀稱為『起初』(B'
妥拉:創世記 1:1-6:8
先知書:以賽亞書 42:5-43:10
妥拉
*創世記 1:1-5.『起初,神創造天地。地是空虛混沌,淵面黑暗;
當我們翻開充滿神氣息(提後3:16)的書卷第一章,
*創世記1:3.『神說:要有光,就有了光。』聖經並沒有說神『
在創世記的頭幾章,有幾個字用來描述神的動作:創造(從無到有,
*創世記1:5.『有晚上,有早晨,這是頭一日。』今日,
*創世記2:3. 『到第七日,神造物的工已經完畢,就在第七日歇了祂一切的工,
*創世記1:27. 『神就照著自己的形像造人,乃是照著祂的形像造男造女。』人的希
在創世記第三章尾聲,因著罪,那形象遭到破壞,
在創世記4:8有謀殺案發生,
*創世記 2:24. 『因此,人(希伯來文: ish) 要離開父母與妻
在這裡造物主從起初就立下清楚的真理,
*創世記4:26. 『塞特也生了一個兒子,起名叫以挪士。那時候,
到了創世記第六章,地上都敗壞了,
請禱告:『就像挪亞的日子一樣』(馬太福音24:37),
惟有挪亞在耶和華眼前蒙恩!
(6:5,7a, 8)
『在某人眼前蒙恩』仍是現代希伯來文很普遍的一種表達語,
請禱告:今日,正如『挪亞的日子怎樣』(馬太福音24:37),
聖靈請來,聖靈請來,今日就來
我心中的渴望就是在祢眼前蒙恩
我心靈的渴望就是更多像祢
神啊請來,住在我裡面,使我純淨
讓我的眼目專注在討祢喜悅的事上
使我全然歸祢
(聖靈請來Boi Ruakh. ©2004 by Keren Seguin)
先知書
*以賽亞書 42:5-7. 『創造諸天,鋪張穹蒼,將地和地所出的一併鋪開,
*以賽亞書43:1-3a. 『雅各啊,創造你的耶和華,以色列啊,造成你的那位,
*以賽亞書43:5-7. 『不要害怕,因我與你同在;我必領你的後裔從東方來,
*以賽亞書43:10. 『耶和華說:你們是我的見證,我所揀選的僕人。既是這樣,
下週的閱讀(10/30-11/5)稱為挪亞,讀經進度為妥拉:
馬汀和娜瑪‧賽維士(Martin & Norma Sarvis)
於耶路撒冷
THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:
From ancient times there has been a weekly portion (Parashah) from the first five books of Moses (The Torah) and an ending (Haftarah) from the Prophets read on the Sabbath in synagogues around the world. This portion is given a Hebrew name drawn from the opening words of the Torah passage. An illustration of this practice appears to have been recorded in Luke 4:16 where Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in the synagogue in Nazareth and was asked to read the portion (Isaiah 61) from the Prophets. We have found that in perusing these weekly readings, not only are we provided opportunity to identify in the context of God's Word with millions of Jewish people around the world, but very often the Holy Spirit will illumine specific passages pertinent that week in our intercession for the Land and people of Israel. All texts are those of English translations of the Scriptures.
28-29 October 2016
The NEW CYCLE BEGINS!
This weekend the cycle through the Torah begins anew. This first reading is called B'resheet-"In the Beginning".
TORAH: Genesis 1:1-6:8
HAFTARAH: Isaiah 42:5-43:10
TORAH
*Genesis 1:1-5. "In the beginning Elohim (English: God) created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then Elohim said, "Let there be light; and there was light. And Elohim saw the light, that it was good; and Elohim divided the light from the darkness. Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day."
As we open to the first chapter of this divinely-breathed (II Timothy 3:16) book, ELOHIM-GOD is simply there--creating. The SPIRIT of God is there (vs 2). And as God speaks, His living WORD is there (Vs 3; John 1:1). Elohim is a Hebrew word translated into English God. It is a plural word, which could be translated "gods" or "exalted beings"-yet, when referring to the Hebrew God Who is over all, it is always accompanied with a singular verb.
*Genesis 1:3. "God said: 'Let there be light!' And there was light." The Scriptures do not say that God "created" light (God Himself is light, I John 1:5). Rather, He spoke it forth-"Be light!"-and it was released into His creation! John 1:1-9 speaks of Yeshua as being God's Word, in whom was life "which is the light for men".
There are a number of words used for God's actions during these early "beginnings" chapters: creating (from nothing that is seen, Hebrews 11:3); making; building; fashi
*Genesis 1:5. "And there was evening and there was morning, one day." Today, in Israel all days for religious observance (such as the Sabbath or feast days) are reckoned from sundown the evening before rather than sunrise.
*Genesis 2:3. "And on the seventh day Elohim ended His creative work which He had done, and He ceased on the seventh day from all His creative work which He had done. Then Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it (Hebrew: "made it holy"), because in it He ceased from all His creative work which Elohim had created and made". It is significant that the first place in Scripture in which we see God making something "holy" or "set apart" is here in relation to the seventh day of the week when He shabbat-"ceased working".
*Genesis 1:27. "So God created man in His image, in the image of Elohim He created him; masculine and feminine He created them.""Man" in Hebrew is adam. In Genesis 2:7, we are shown that Elohim formed the adam out of adamah-"earth" (which, in turn, is adomah-"reddish in color"). The modern-day Hebrew term for "human being" is still benei-adam-"son (or child) of adam." From this passage it is clear that God, although always referred to in the masculine gender, bears, nevertheless, within His nature both the masculine and feminine which is transferred into the nature of those created "in His image".
By the end of Chapter 3 that image is marred and what had received the breath of life is, because of sin, already dying. In 4:1 the man and woman have begun to reproduce, and realize that their Creator and the One through whom this new life comes has a name, YHVH (Yehovah, "The LORD"). Their sons bring offerings to this YHVH (4:3); yet it will be many generations before Humankind comes to know and use that Name in a personal and intimate sense (Exodus 3:15b; 6:2-3).
In Genesis 4:8 murder is committed, and Abel, a good man whose sacrifice pleased God, becomes the first man to die. It is interesting that Abel's name in the Hebrew is spelled the same as the Hebrew word for "vapor" or "vanity" (This word both begins and permeates the book of Ecclesiasteswhich we have been reading during the feast of Sukkot.). Life is but a vapor which is here and passes away, and the life of Abel the good and that of Cain the wicked are both temporary.
*Genesis 2:24. "Therefore a man (Hebrew: ish) shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his woman (Hebrew: isha), and they shall become one flesh" (NKJV).
Here the Creator lays out clearly right at the beginning and for all time His ordained order for his human creatures' being joined together in what we call marriage-(His Son, the Messiah Yeshua would corroborate it in Matthew 19:4-6). Attempting to become 'one flesh' in any other kind of relationship besides "man and woman" steps outside of this ordained order, and is strictly forbidden for all humankind (Leviticus 18:22-23; 20:13,15; Romans 1:26-27). The holy alternative "for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven" is celibacy (Matthew 19:12).
*Genesis 4:26. "And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Ehnosh."
It was perhaps with an awareness of the death of his brother Abel, as well as of the sin-sickness obviously at work in his eldest brother Cain that Seth chose to name his first son Ehnosh. Ehnosh is often translated into English "man" (Psalm 8:4, "What is man (ehnosh) that You are mindful of him, and the son of man (ben-adam) that you visit him?"). The most-used word for "people" is anashim-a plural of enosh. But at its root, the word more literally means "mortal". Just as English "mortal" has to do with that in man which dies ("mortuary" is related to that word), so ehnosh has within it a reference to the fallen effect of sin in the children of Adam. Ehnush, a word using the same Hebrew letters, appears in Jeremiah 17:9 where it says that the heart is deceitful above all things and "desperately wicked" (NJKV), "desperately sick" (ESV and NAS), "beyond cure" (NIV).
By Genesis 6 the earth is corrupted through sinful man in conjunction with rebellious angelic beings. "Then YHVH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.So YHVH said, 'I will destroy the man(Hebrew: the adam) whom I have created from the face of the earth(Hebrew: the adamah).'
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD!"
(6:5,7a, 8)
To "find grace in the eyes of" is an expression which is still common in modern Hebrew, meaning "to bring pleasure to."
PLEASE PRAY: that today, when "as it was in the days of Noah" (Matthew 24:37), we are faced with a rapidly rising darkness of evil on the earth, there will also arise not one but a multitude of latter-day "Noah's"---who will bring pleasure to their LORD, who will "walk with God", who will "find grace in His eyes." The English translation of a popular Hebrew worship song, written some years back by an Israeli teenager reads:
Come Spirit, Come Spirit, come today/The Desire of my heart is to find grace in your eyes/The desire of my soul is to be more like you/Come God, Dwell within me, make me pure/Focus my eyes on what pleases You that I may be devoted to You
--Boi Ruakh. ©2004 by Keren Seguin
HAFTARAH
*Isaiah 42:5-7. "Thus says God the LORD, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it: 'I, YHVH, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.'"
*Isaiah 43:1-3b. "But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk throu8gh the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
*Isaiah 43:5-7. "Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, and gather you from the west; I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not keep them back!' Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth-everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.'"
*Isaiah 43:10. "'You are my witnesses,' says the LORD, 'and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.'"
Martin and Norma Sarvis
Jerusalem
[The readings for next week (30 October-5 November) are called Noach-"Noah". TORAH: Genesis 6:9-11:32; HAFTARAH: Isaiah 54:1-55:5]