Joy in the Messiah

בְּהַר  
Behar / On the Mount
Bechukotai  / By My Decrees
Torah Portion: Leviticus 25:1-27:34
Haf Torah Portion: Jeremiah 32:6-27   Jeremiah 16:19-17:14
Brit Chadasha: Luke 4:16-21    Matthew 21:33-46

      Leviticus 26:45 states: ‘But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors… Does God need to remember? Does He forget? He remembers for us, it is our remembrance because we forget…
    This Torah portion is a double parsha, Behar/ On the Mountain and Bechukotai / By My Decrees.  In Leviticus 25, the laws and instructions for the Sabbath Year and the year of Yovel (Jubilee) are given.  Rabbi Shaul in Galatians 5:13 remezes back to Leviticus 25:10 and exhorts the people/us, that we have been called to liberty, but  not to use this liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. In Leviticus 25:8-55 God lays out the instructions for the right of redemption.  At the 50^th year, exactly on Yom Kippur, the trumpet is to sound proclaiming liberty throughout the land. Revelation 11:15-18, 1 Corinthians 15:52, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 directly connects Yeshua to all of this. 
In Luke 4:18-19 Yeshua quotes Isaiah 61:1-2. 
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
     In Leviticus 25:23 God specifically instructs Israel: “The land must not be sold permanently because the land is Mine, and you are but aliens and My tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.” God continues with instructions regarding the poor, those that have sold property, those that become poor, and if a man sells his house in a walled city and cannot redeem it within one year, the house then belongs permanently to the buyer. Yeshua in Mark 14:6-8 rebukes His disciples: “Leave her alone; why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful deed to Me. The poor you will always have with you and you can help them whenever you want, but you will not always have Me. She has done what she could to anoint My body in advance of My burial.…” 
     He was referencing Deuteronomy 15:11 ‘For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your land.’ This connects to the redemption plan and the instructions in this parsha. It speaks of ‘brothers, poor and needy in the land’.
     Leviticus 26 is considered to be the chapter of the Promise of Blessing and Retribution and begins with a profound and distinct command: ‘Do not make idols, set up an image, a sacred stone for yourself’.  
     When we operate with idols in our hearts, we set up a sacred stone for ourselves. We replace the commands and instructions of God with our own set up standards, our own interpretations of Scripture according to the desires of our heart. Verse 2 God reiterates to observe His Sabbaths.  This is not a Sabbath that man would choose but The Sabbath of YHWH.
      In Leviticus 26: 9-13 God tells His people that He will look on us with favor if we follow His commands, (Leviticus 26:3). He continues with: “I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. ¹² I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. ¹³ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.” 
     The Words ‘Your God and My people’ are the covenantal terms made famous by Hosea in 1:9-10, 2:23, Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:28, and Hebrews 8:10.
   Leviticus 26 ends with “But for their sake, I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I Am the LORD.”  Adonai reminds His people again and again that it was He who released them from the bondage and slavery of Egypt.  As it is now, it is He who releases us from the bondage of our own self-made slavery. We are released back into our inheritance as we are redeemed. Redemption is the lifestyle that we are given when we obey His Word.
     Acts 20:32 His chesed/grace gives us an inheritance: ‘So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.’
     Acts 26:18 His forgiveness offers an inheritance: ‘… to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
 Ephesians 1:11-14 we have obtained an inheritance: ‘In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, ¹² that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. ¹³ In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.’
     Leviticus 27 is the final chapter of Vayikra and is the chapter of redemption. Leviticus 27:28 contains a sentence that is often translated in different ways.  The word devoted is often worded as doomed. This can be confusing as it is linked to Jephthah and his daughter.  He in fact did not slaughter his daughter but ‘devoted’ her to Temple service. This is confirmed in the book of Judges when it concludes that as a result of his promise she never “knew a man.” The Torah does not state that she was put to death, but that she remained a virgin. She was redeemed to The God Most High.  To be devoted to God is a high calling, a promise that is part of the covenant.
     1 Kings 8:61 ‘Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.’ 1 Samuel 1:28 ‘So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.’
     Baruch HaShem!       Chazek! Chazek! V’nitchazek! Be Strong! Be Strong and May We Be Strengthened!

בְּהַר B'har/ On the Mount 
Leviticus 25:1-26:2
Jeremiah 32:6-7 Luke 4:16-21
בְּחֻקֹּתַי B'chukotai / In My Statutes 
Leviticus 26:3-27:34 
Jeremiah 16:19-17:14 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

Chazak! Chazak! V'nitchazek! Be Strong! Be Strong! And May We Be Strengthened!

     This week we read the double parsha of B’har/B’chukotai thereby completing the Sefer/Book of Vayikra/Leviticus.  B’har begins with the laws of sh’mita, the Torah’s prohibition of normal farming of the Land of Israel every seven years. The parsha then deals with different types of redemption including lands that were sold and Hebrews sold as slaves.
     B’chukotai deals mostly with the to’chacha– punishment that will result if we don’t live up to the responsibility of being the Chosen People. However, B’chukotai begins with promises of prosperity if we follow the commandments of God and live as covenantal people.
     After we read in Leviticus 26 what is called the Tochecha, the terrifying curses warning of what would happen to Israel if it betrayed its Divine mission, God extends His mercy in Leviticus 26:44-45. ‘Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.’ 
     This is referred to as the birth of hope, not hope as a dream, a wish, or a desire, but as Divine.  God is just. He may punish. He may hide His face. But He will not break His word. He will fulfill His promise and redeem His children. He will bring them home.
       It is true that Israel, God’s people would suffer and deny His word. We would be brought out of bondage only to return by our own choices. We would serve the idols of our hearts and would become the tail. But we confessed and will continue to confess our grave sins; we will go forward, become the children of God, and once again live in His covenant.  We have the hope that we will be the overcomers that we are meant to be.   
        Hope is one of the very greatest Jewish contributions to Western civilization. Hope is what keeps humans striving forward. We have hope for the future and hope in Adonai. Even the Israeli national anthem is a song about hope. Titled Hatikva, (The Hope)was written in the early 1880's by Naftali Herz Imber, a Galician Jew, and then set to music. Hatikva is about the undying hope of the Jewish people, through the long years of exile, that they would someday return to independence in their homeland. The second stanza of the Hatikva recalls the undying hope of Jews through the generations, Jews who lived in other countries. When Hatikva is sung together, we are making a promise that we will never forget the undying Jewish hope for independence and that we will do all within our power to help the State of Israel prosper.’ (Jewish Virtual Library.)
       Israel is a nation of ‘hope’ and God is the author. Hope is defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Synonyms for hope include aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition, aim, goal, plan, and design. The verb “to hope” is yachal which  means “to wait or to have expectation.” We have hope in a merciful God.  We worship the God of hope. We put our hope in His word. We hold onto hope. We have hope for our descendants. We have hope in our praises and our hope is Messiah.
Jeremiah 29:11 ‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Psalm 42:11 ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.’
Romans 15:13 ‘Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’
Lamentations 3:24 ‘“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!”
Psalm 71:4-6 ‘Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. ⁵ For You are my hope, O Lord God; You are my trust from my youth. ⁶ By You I have been upheld from birth; You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall be continually of You.’
1 Timothy 1:1 ‘Paul, an apostle of Yeshua HaMashiach, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Yeshua Messiah, our hope…’
  Romans 5:1- 5 is a powerful verse. ‘Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua HaMashiach, ² through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.’
    This states that we are justified or sanctified through faith and can only acquire peace with God through Yeshua, the Living Torah.  Without the Living Torah, Yeshua, the Torah we do not have access to the grace of the Torah in which we are to stand.  Stand within the grace of the Torah, not on the outside looking in. Then we can rejoice in the hope of glory.
Psalm 119:114 ‘You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word. 
Hebrews 10:23 ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.’
Psalm 31:24 ‘Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.’