Yesha'yahu

 

This week's Torah portion is very short, so I took the opportunity to read through all the Scriptures relating to it. I've been enjoying Isaiah and this week is certainly no exception.

    The Haftarah is listed as Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9. My curiosity bested me and I went to have a look at the verses preceding it, namely Chapter 61:1-9:

    V1-3: "The Spirit of Adonai ELOHIM is upon me, because ADONAI has annointed me to announce good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to proclaim freedom to the captives, to let into light those bound in the dark; to proclaim the year of the favour of ADONAI and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, yes, provide for those in Tziyon who mourn, giving them garlands instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a heavy spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness planted by ADONAI, in which he takes pride.

    V4-6: "They will rebuild the ancient ruins, restore sites long destroyed; they will renew the ruined cities, destroyed many generations ago. Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, foreigners plow your land and tend your vines; but you will be called cohanim of ADONAI, spoken of as ministers to our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations and revel in their riches.

    V7-9: "Because of your shame, which was doubled, and because they cried, 'They deserve disgrace', therefore in their land what they own will be doubled, and joy forever will be theirs. 'For I, ADONAI, love justice; I hate robbery for burnt offerings. So I will be faithful to reward them and make an eternal covenant with them.' Their  descendants will be known among the nations, their offspring among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge that they are the seed ADONAI has blessed."

    As soon as I began reading verse One, I thought: "This is what Yeshua said about Himself!" So I went looking for the Scripture in the Brit Chadashah, and found it in Luke 4:18-19.

    The backdrop to the story is that Yeshua had just gone through the mikveh with Yochanan the Immerser, been tested in the wilderness for 40 days and then returned to the Galil, teaching in the synagogues. He then came to Natzeret, where he spent most of his childhood. Verse 16 picks up the narrative:

    "Now when he went to Natzeret, where he had been brought up, on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual. He stood up to read, and he was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written: 'The Spirit of ADONAI is upon me; because he has annointed me to announce good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the imprisoned nd renewed sight for the blind, to release those who have been crushed, to proclaim a year of the favour of ADONAI'."

    Verse 20 continues: "After closing the scroll and returning it to the shammash, he sat down; and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He started to speak to them: 'Today, as you heard it read, this passage of Tanakh was fulfilled!"

    So the first thing I realised was that when Yeshua read these words from the prophet, it was during this week of the year, during the reading of the parashah Nitzavim, exactly where we are today! About 2000 years ago, our Saviour was reading exactly the same Haftarah that we are reading today! Amazing! Connecting us through the centuries!

    As I have noted before, Yeshua the Messiah is firmly rooted and established in the Torah and the Prophets. He did not come to create a new religion, but rather to solidify the covenants God already made with His people, building on the covenants of old through means of his mesirut nefesh - giving his innocent life so that others may be saved. This is a well-known and understood concept in Judaism, which is fitting, since Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah; and it is through His sacrifice that we, of the nations, can be brought near to God and become partakers of the Covenants established with the fathers of our faith.

    I'd like to highlight some things from the passage in Luke that are easy to miss, as they show just how Jewish the Gospels are.

    Luke 4:15: "He taught in their synagogues, and everyone respected him."

    The fact that he was teaching in their synagogues is, by itself, a strong indicator that he was a respected Jewish teacher of the Torah. One has to be invited to teach, or even talk, to the congregation in a synagogue setting. The words "and everyone respected him", speaks of His blameless life in the eyes of God and man.

    Verse 16: "... on Shabbat he went to the synagogue as usual."

This clarifies that Yeshua was in the habit of going to the synagogue every Shabbat, as all Jews and those from the nations who turned to the God of Israel, were known to do. The Temple was still standing, and Yeshua went there at the Three Festivals - Pesach, Sukkot & Shavuot, as commanded in Scripture - but the Galil is far away from Jerusalem, hence synagogues were built on the instruction of the Men of the Great Assembly (Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordechai to name but a few), to allow those who lived far from Jerusalem to have a consecrated place of worship and prayer near their homes. One would always find Yeshua in His Father's house, not only on Shabbat, but also for the 3 daily prayers: Shacharit, Mincha & Ma'ariv, as is still done today. Didn't He say: "My Father's house will be a house of prayer for many nations"? He did!

    Verse 17, where He was handed the scroll of Isaiah, and Verse 20, where He returned the scroll to the Shammash, both speak of protocol in synagogues for the reading of the Tanakh, even up until today.

    Then He made The Announcement!

"Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled!"

    A lot of people still deny that truth today. Don't be one of them. The time is short and He is returning soon!

    Early Shabbat Shalom!