於2018-05-11發佈


每週一妥拉 2018/5/6-5/12

從古時起,世界各地的猶太會堂會一週一次在安息日讀經,從摩西五經(妥拉)到先知的書(先知書)。每週的讀經內容都有一個希伯來名稱,其出自經文內容起頭的字。每週慣例讀經的實例剛好記載在路加福音四章16節,耶穌來到拿撒勒的會堂,讀了一段先知書(以賽亞書61章)。我們發現每週一次閱讀這些內容,不僅提供我們機會,與世界成千上萬的猶太人來確認神話語的內容,在我們為以色列與猶太人的代禱上,聖靈更時常貼切的啟發具體的內容禱告。

這週(5/6-5/12)為『雙倍閱讀』,讀經內容包括

I.  『在西乃山』(Behar
     妥拉利未記 25:1—26:2

II. 我的律例B'Chukkothai
     妥拉:利未記 26:3—27:34
     先知書:耶利米書 16:19—17:14
 
『在西乃山』(Behar 

*利未記25:2, 23: 你曉諭以色列人說:你們到了我所賜你們那地的時候,地就要向耶和華守安息。地不可永賣,因為地是我的;你們在我面前是客旅,是寄居的。』

神下令亞伯拉罕、以撒和雅各子孫所居住之地在祂眼中看為寶貴。上週的妥拉閱讀說到,神使地吐出犯重罪而玷污地的居民。這一章神則曉諭以色列的地要守安息(利未記 26:33-34),不幸的是以色列並沒有理會此命令。490年之後猶大眾民最終被擄到巴比倫,主說直滿了七十年,荒涼的地土現在終於有機會得享安息(耶利米書25:11;歷代志下36:20-21)。

請禱告:以色列有智慧處理神復還給她的地,意識到那是從神來的神聖託管與禮物,她會與她的神建立關係,使她能在神的時間被託付神所應許的全部土地(以西結書36:4-8教導,到了一個時候,在猶大與撒瑪利亞的土地會為著回歸的雅各子孫『發枝條』結果子)。 

*利未記25:8-12: 你要計算七個安息年,就是七七年。這便為你成了七個安息年,共是四十九年。當年七月初十日,你要大發角聲;這日就是贖罪日,要在遍地發出角聲。第五十年,你們要當作聖年,在遍地給一切的居民宣告自由。這年必為你們的禧年,各人要歸自己的產業,各歸本家。第五十年要作為你們的禧年。這年不可耕種;地中自長的,不可收割;沒有修理的葡萄樹也不可摘取葡萄。因為這是禧年,你們要當作聖年,吃地中自出的土產。』

正如我們『正在數算俄梅珥(大麥捆)的期間』,直到第五十日(五旬節),自由的靈(哥林多後書 3:17)會在那天釋放!在以色列地的希伯來人也屬算『安息年』,然後宣告自由。這是得自由的一年,包括土地與為奴的以色列人,他們因著財務困境,成為他們弟兄的奴僕。那年必為他們的『禧年』。禧年(Jubilee)的希伯來文是yovel,亦是羊角的另一種稱呼(這個字是與約書亞記6:4的角shofar合在一起)。在這裡很重要的是在第50年,此宣告自由的羊角是在贖罪日被吹出來。這隻兩角被扣在稠密小樹中的公羊(創22:13),象徵替代以撒的祭物(神所供應的羊),被扣住的是羊的角。這樣的角每五十年會在贖罪日時被吹響,宣告從奴役中得自由。

今日,贖罪日禁食最後總會伴隨一聲很長的羊角聲作為結束。我們相信此象徵在那即將到來的偉大日子,當神的『號筒末次吹響的時候』(哥林多前書15:52),宣告脫離死亡與地上墮落老我的永恆自由,在天上地上與神的羔羊同來慶祝,祂除去世人的罪! 

萬軍之耶和華說:不是倚靠勢力,不是倚靠才能,乃是倚靠我的靈方能成事。

 
此掛在耶路撒冷haPa'amon 公園的『自由之鐘』是美國費城的複製版本,鐘的上方有一段話剛好摘自這週的妥拉閱讀,利未記25:10(請參考下面)。

*利未記25:10第五十年,你們要當作聖年,在遍地給一切的居民宣告自由。這年必為你們的禧年,各人要歸自己的產業,各歸本家。

西元1753年所建立的美國費城自由之鐘(上圖),上面的字摘於利未記25:10。在耶路撒冷老城西南方有一處公園複製了此自由之鐘,事實上這公園就叫做『鐘園』(Bell Park)。但對以色列而言很重要的是瞭解這節經文,在這裡『自由』這個字與人類一般所謂的自由完全無關,而是神所頒佈在祂同在中釋放人從壓制與綑綁中進到自由!以賽亞書61章也使用相同的字來形容,當主的靈顯現時是『報告被擄的得釋放(自由)』。

我們為我們在以色列所擁有的自由充滿感恩,但我們的百姓要得著真正的自由,需要『主的靈』的工作!在新約哥林多後書3:17說:主就是那靈;主的靈在哪裡,那裡就得以自由。』

請禱告:主的靈澆灌在以色列全地,帶領我們進入真實的自由:藉著『施恩叫人懇求的靈,叫人看見並且認罪,從我們的罪中得自由(撒迦利亞書12:10);藉著重生的洗和聖靈的更新,成為潔淨並且重生(提多書 3:5);藉著聖靈將神的愛澆灌在我們心裡,充滿盼望而不至失望或羞恥(羅馬書5:5)。藉著被聖靈充滿,大放膽量傳講神的道,伸出我們的手來醫治疾病,並且使神蹟奇事因著神聖僕(僕:或作子)耶穌的名行出來(使徒行傳 4:29-31) 

我也不再掩面不顧他們,因我已將我的靈澆灌以色列家。這是主耶和華說的(以西結書39:29)

*利未記25:18-19我的律例,你們要遵行,我的典章,你們要謹守,就可以在那地上安然居住。地必出土產,你們就要吃飽,在那地上安然居住。』

在我們的禱告中,很重要的是我們需要瞭解:以色列在那地上安然居住的能力和土地本身富饒與多產的能力,取決於她與神的關係。以色列目前是在恩典時期,直到她的聚集完成,但神帶她回來是為了賜給她啟示與瞭解,使他們得潔淨並回轉向神(以西結書36, 37; 耶利米書31)。事實是,她雖是『被揀選的族類』,卻無法保證她的安全,我們必須禱告帕子被除去,她回轉向她的牧人。

*利未記25:23地不可永賣,因為地是我的;你們在我面前是客旅,是寄居的。』

我的律例B'Chukkothai

這週我們會讀完利未記;廿六章將利未記帶到一個合宜的結尾(廿七章則為附錄,聚焦在聖所種種獻祭和繳稅的律法上)。廿六章強調遵行主的律例典章而有的恩寵和祝福(3-13節)─順服影響著氣候和地土,正如不順服(在園中)對其所帶來的咒詛。接著是五個不順服神命令的後果警告,每一個警告前面都會說:『你們若不聽從我』、『你們因這些事若還不聽從我』、『你們行事若與我反對,不肯聽從我』,或是『你們因這些事若仍不改正歸我,行事與我反對』。在在說明主的渴望是:這些嚴厲的管教會將祂的子民帶回生命之道,而不是遠離。 

34-35節處理地的歇息,倘若以色列最後被逐出,以色列將會陷在失去神的流亡困境中(36-39節);他們若謙卑自己就會再次被重建(是主的憐憫帶領我們悔改),並回轉尋求祂的道路。最後幾節則是對猶太人的悔改,以及對未來盼望所帶來的安慰和鼓勵─不管是後來流亡到巴比倫的期間,甚至更大的流亡一直到今日。 

當我們讀完摩西五經的一卷書時,習慣上會在結束閱讀時宣告: 

『要剛強!要剛強,願我們都被堅固!』 

*耶利米書17:5-8: 耶和華如此說:倚靠人血肉的膀臂,心中離棄耶和華的,那人有禍了! 因他必像沙漠的杜松,不見福樂來到,卻要住曠野乾旱之處,無人居住的鹼地。倚靠耶和華、以耶和華為可靠的,那人有福了!他必像樹栽於水旁,在河邊扎根,炎熱來到,並不懼怕,葉子仍必青翠,在乾旱之年毫無掛慮,而且結果不止。 

這是為以色列彌賽亞肢體禱告很棒的一段經文;重要的是,我們不該信靠個人的天然能力,否則當福樂來到時我們就看不見。我們知道『炎熱』會以許多形式來到(我們已經在自然環境經歷『多年的乾旱』,但神的渴望是我們可以扎根於祂聖靈的水旁,好讓祂的恩典使我們在炎熱時仍保持青翠,並且結果不止。 

請禱告:我們可以被餵養與訓練,好使我們的信靠與信心全然在祂身上,我們也會為你們做同樣的禱告! 

*耶利米書17:14: 耶和華以色列的盼望啊,凡離棄祢的必致蒙羞。耶和華說:離開我的,他們的名字必寫在土裡,因為他們離棄我這活水的泉源。耶和華啊,求祢醫治我,我便痊癒,拯救我,我便得救;因祢是我所讚美的。』 

以色列的國歌就叫『盼望』(HaTiqva),但那首歌的『盼望』是說『要在我們的土地上成為一個自由的國家』。以色列不會在她的土地上擁有真正的『自由』,直到天父的兒子釋放她得自由,她就『真自由了』(約翰福音8:36),直到她領悟到只有主才是她的『盼望』。每一年我們看見此開始越來越多發生!請繼續禱告更多以色列會找到此『活水的泉源』我們的醫治,我們的拯救,也成為我們所讚美的! 

下週的閱讀進度(5/13-5/19)被稱為『在曠野』B'midbar讀經內容包括:妥拉─民數記1:1-4:20;先知書─何西阿書1:10-2:20。 

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.  The Haftarah, unless otherwise noted, will be that read in Ashkenazy synagogues around the world. The references for all texts are those found in English translations of the Scriptures.
 
The Parashah for this week 6-12 May 2018 is (in nations outside Israel) a double reading: 
 
I.  B’Har— “On the Mountain”
     TORAH:  Leviticus 25:1—26:2
II. B’Chukotai— “In My Statutes”
     TORAH:  Leviticus 26:3—27:34
     HAFTARAH:  Jeremiah 16:19—17:14
 
B’Har
*Leviticus 25:2, 23:  “When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD…for the Land is Mine, for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.”
 
The land in which Elohim ordained that the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob should dwell is precious to Him.  Last week’s readings spoke of His causing that land itself to spit out inhabitants who defiled it with gross sin. In this chapter Israel was commanded to allow the Land to observe its own regular ‘sabbaths’ to the LORD.  Every seven years, the land was to be allowed to rest. If Israel failed to allow the Land the LORD was entrusting to them this blessing, He would remove them from it and give it to their enemies—and Israel would live in desolation while the land enjoyed its Sabbaths (Leviticus 26:33-34).  Unfortunately, Israel chose to ignore this earnest direction from her Lord. After 490 years Judah was eventually carried away captive into Babylon, where she was in desolation for 70 years while the land finally received the rests which it had been denied (Jeremiah 25:11; II Chronicles 36:20-21). 
 
PLEASE PRAY:  that Israel will deal wisely with the land to which God has returned to her, coming to realize that it is a gift, and also a holy charge. That she will come into a relationship with her God which will enable her in His timing to be entrusted with all of the land He has promised to return to her oversight (Ezekiel 36:4-8 teaches of a time when the very land currently under contention in Judea and Samaria will “put forth its branches” to bear fruit for the returned children of Jacob).
 
*Leviticus 25:8-10 (Trans:  Alter):  “And you shall count you seven Sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, and the days of the seven Sabbaths of years shall come to forty-nine years.  And you shall send round a blasting ram’s horn, in the seventh month on the tenth of the month, on the Day of Atonement, you shall send round a ram’s horn through all your land.  And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and call a release [or liberty] in the land to all its inhabitants.  A jubilee it shall be for you, and you shall go back each man to his holding and each man to his clan, you shall go back.  It is a jubilee, the fiftieth year it shall be for you.  You shall not sow and you shall not reap its aftergrowths and you shall not pick its untrimmed vines.  For it is a jubilee.  It shall be holy for you.”
 
Just as we are presently ‘counting the omer’ up to the fiftieth day (Pentecost) upon which the Spirit of Freedom (II Corinthians 3:17) was released, in ancient times the Hebrews dwelling in the Land were asked to count seven “sabbaths” of years, and then to proclaim Dror!— “Release!”Freedom!” “Liberty!”  This was to be a year of “freeing up”—both for the land, and for those Israelites who, because of financial hardship, had been required to place themselves under servitude to their brothers. It was to be a Jubilee!  The name is related to the Hebrew yovel—which is another name for a shofar or “ram’s horn” (The word yovel is actually combined in usage with the word shofar in Joshua 6:4).  It is significant that in the 50th year, this freedom-proclaiming horn was carried round on Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement”—the very day in which the congregation was released from its sin for the previous year.  And it was significant that the freedom-blasts were made with a ram’s horn. The “ram caught by its horn in the thicket” (Genesis 22:13) had signified the atoning, substitutionary sacrifice for Isaac (God had provided the Lamb).  Such a horn would release its redemptive sound every fifty years upon God’s Day of Atonement to proclaim freedom from slavery and debt. 
 
It is significant that today, the fast of Yom Kippur (September 19 this year) always comes to an end with one long blast of the shofar.  We believe this to signify the coming Great Day when the “last shofar” of God (I Cor. 15:52, Hebrew translation) is sounded to proclaim eternal freedom from death and our fallen earthly natures, and Celebration in Heaven and on Earth with the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World! 

Not by might and not by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD 


This copy of the “Liberty Bell” in Philadelphia hangs in Gan haPa’amon, Jerusalem.  Along its top is a passage from this week’s Torah Portion (see below), Lev. 25:10:

*Leviticus 25:10b.  “…Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.” 
 
This portion of Lev. 25:10 is quoted on the American “Liberty Bell” in Philadelphia, founded in 1753.  A park southwest of the Old City in Jerusalem contains a replica of this bell, and is in fact itself called “Bell Park”.  Yet it is important to realize that the word dror in the context of this verse is by no means referring to a humanistic, general “liberty” from all human constraints.  Rather, it is a God-ordained release from oppression and bondage into a new freedom in His presence!  This is the same word used in Isaiah 61 where the “Spirit of the Lord GOD” (Ruah Adonai YHVH) is present to “proclaim liberty to the captives”. 
 
We are grateful for the freedoms we presently enjoy in the nation of Israel.  But for our people to be really free, it will take a work of the “Spirit of the Lord GOD!”  II Corinthians 3:17 of the New Covenant Scriptures reads, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!”  
 
PLEASE PRAY:   FOR A RELEASE OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD OVER ISRAEL TO BRING US INTO A TRUE FREEDOM—through grace and supplicationto see, be convicted for, and freed from our sin (Zech. 12:10); through washing of regeneration and renewing to become clean and born anew (Titus 3:5); through the love of God having been shed abroad in our hearts, to be filled with hope, no longer disappointed and ashamed (Romans 5:5); through being filled, to speak the word of God with boldness, stretching out our hands to heal, that signs and wonders may be done through the name of God’s holy Servant Yeshua! (Acts 4:29-31) .
 
“ ‘…and I will not hide my face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD”  (Ezekiel 39:29).
 
*Leviticus 25:18-19.  “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.” 
 
It is essential to realize in our prayers, that Israel’s capacity to dwell safely in the land, and the land’s capacity itself to stay fertile and productive, is related to her relationship with her God.  Israel is currently in a period of grace as her gathering is completed—but God is bringing her back to give her revelation and understanding of herself, to be cleansed and to return to her God (Ezekiel 36, 37; Jeremiah 31).  The fact that she is a “chosen people” does not in and of itself guarantee her safety.  We must pray that the veil be removed, and that Israel will return to the Shepherd of her soul.
 
*Leviticus 25:23.  “The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners (“sojourning settlers”) with Me.”
 
B’Chukotai
With this reading we come to the end of the Book of Leviticus.  Chapter 26 brings the book-proper to a close (Chapter 27 is an appendix “focusing on a variety of laws pertaining to voluntary offerings and taxed obligations to the sanctuary). Chapter 26 emphasizes the favor and blessing which will accompany walking in obedience to statutes and commandments of the Lord (vss 3-13)—Obedience will affect the very weather and soil of the land, even as dis-obedience (in the Garden of Eden) had brought a curse on the ground.  Then follow five necessary warnings of the consequences for getting out from under the Protection afforded by obedience to God’s directives.  Each of these warnings is preceded by “But if you do not obey Me”—or, “And after all this, if you do not obey Me”—or, “Then if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me”—or, “And if by these things you are not reformed by me, but walk contrary to me’.  The clear implication is that it is the LORD’s desire that these severe disciplines will draw His people back into His way of life, not away from it!  Verses 34-35 deal with the recovery of the Land if Israel is finally ejected, the plight of Israel in exile without God (36-39); and the restoration of the people when they at last humble themselves and turn back to seek His ways. “It is the Lord’s mercies which lead us to repentance.  These closing words would be a comfort, an encouragement to repentance, a hope of a future for Jews—both during their future exile in Babylon, and through an even greater exile down to today.
 
As we complete our way through each of the Books of Moses, it is customary to end the reading with the following declaration:
 
“Chazak, Chazak, v’Nit’Chazek!!
“Be Strong!  Be Strong! And may we be Strengthened!”
 
*Jeremiah 17:5-8 (NIV):  “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.  He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes.  He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.  But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.  He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.’”
 
This is a wonderful passage to pray over the Body of Messiah in Israel.  It is so essential that we be weaned from trusting in our own natural abilities—otherwise, we will not even see true prosperity when it arrives.  We know that ‘heat’ will be coming, and in many forms .  But it is God’s desire that we be so rooted in the streams of His living Spirit that His grace will keep us green and fruitful, even during those times. 
 
PLEASE PRAY:  that we be nurtured and trained in placing our trust and confidence totally in Him.  We pray the same for you!
 
*Jeremiah 17:14:  “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be ashamed.  ‘Those who depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the source of living water, the LORD.’  Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, For You are my praise.” 
 
HaTiqva—“The Hope”, is the name of Israel’s national anthem.  The ‘hope’ in that song is “to be a nation free in our Land.”   But Israel will never be truly ‘free’ in her land until the Son has set her free and she is “free indeed” (John 8:36)—until she realizes that the LORD alone is her ‘Hope’.  EACH YEAR WE SEE THIS MORE AND MORE BEGINNING TO HAPPEN!!  Please continue to pray that more and more Israelis will find the ‘Source of living water”—our healing, our Salvation—and that He become “Our Praise!”

Martin & Norma Sarvis
Jerusalem

[The Parashah for next week 13-19 May 2018  is called B’Midbar—“In the Desert”: TORAH: Numbers 1:1—4:20;  HAFTARAH: Hosea 1:10---2:20 (Heb: 2:1—2:22) .]