Yah’s Confederacy (The Psalm of Lech Lecha/words and music by Will Spires © 2014)
We confederates, of Yah’s confederation
Traveling mi-kedem (to the east),
in a spiritual migration
Learning how to leave what we knew
and how to listen,
Meh-ha-Shi-Loach, Meh-ha-Shi-Loah!
(Go forth and find your authentic self, to learn who you are meant to be”)
Counting the stars and sand, trust in His promises, this is the walk of faith—just like Abraham
O’ Isra’el my eh-ved (servant), O’ Ya’akov whom I’ve chosen
Descendants of Avraham—Ohavi! (my friend/literally “who loves me”)
Bridge:
Do not be frightened! Ani Ah-zartich! (I will help you),
We two have entered in, this everlasting covenant! Declares Adonai!
Chorus:
Come to me wholly! And drop your defenses!
I’ve come to undo the lies from the truth, and to light up your darkness!
To go forth in redemption! O’ how I’ve pursued you!
From the far corners I drew your heart inside, to bring down my Kingdom
Look up into stars and space, while the wheels on our cars still pace
The pitch in the pavement and lines made of sand.
Reminding us even here, soon one day we’ll gather there
The call still goes out to the children of Abraham…
Yah’s Confederacy (Lech Lecha summary)
A teaching on the words and music of Yah’s Confederacy by Will Spires 2014
Genesis 12:1-17:27 Isaiah 40:27-41:16 Romans 4:1-25
Recently during a study of the parsha Lech Lecha, a word kept coming to my mind. This word, confederate; and from it I considered its neighbors, confederation and confederacy. Between the three I had a cross of imagery somewhere between that of a confederate infantryman, Springfield rifle slung over his shoulder in ranks with several hundred troops marching on to the next battle field; and that of the United Confederation of planets including the Star Trek Enterprise with Captain Kirk at the helm, hurling in retro-style through some mysterious final frontier of unexplored space.
In the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th Edition confederate is defined as “1: united in a league: allied. 2: ally. 3: to unite in a confederacy, to band together.” The word confederacy is defined as “1: a league or compact for mutual support or common action: alliance.” And so here within the pages of this particular Torah portion we witness this smal fledgling group of members in the forming of a confederacy. Haran died before he could escape his home country, but Terah the father, Lot Haran’s survived son and nephew of Abram, Abram son of Terah and Sarai daughter of Terah but with a different mother fled Ur of the Chaldees to embark upon this incredible journey together. Their father Terah passes away while sojourning in Haran, who not so incidentally was the name of Abram's brother who died before he could leave Ur with them. With Haran and Terah passed suddenly there were three. This fragile beginning seemingly doomed to fail from the start holds the divine promise that not only survives, but reaches out, touching the time fabric of today and into our hearts, revealing the endurance and trustworthiness of our Elohim's word.
We discover further into the parsha that although they began very small Abram was a successful shepherd of flocks and had amassed quite a number of “persons”. I would imagine these to be workers and their families who had joined themselves to Abram and Sarai. Still Abram must have often felt alone in this strange new journey. Ten generations had passed from Noach to Abraham. We don’t have much of an account of God’s dealings with people in between these two pivotal characters on God’s stage, so it had to have felt almost as if a new and different chapter had begun when Abram first heard YHVH call to him.
M’Qedem (from the East)
Abram did not travel to the east but he did travel to the land of promise, into the land of Canaan where eventually the nation of Israel would begin to take serious shape through Abraham's descendants, the patriarchs. You and I however living scattered in and amongst the diaspora in the western part of the world are moving toward the east; if not literally then spiritually. The word used for east in Genesis chapter 12 comes from the word qedem. It means east, and yet so much more, as often is the case when exploring the living language of Hebrew. Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it as “east, antiquity, front, that which is before, ancient time, from of old, earliest time, (adverb), beginning.” The east represents where we begin. Mishpacha, if we want to understand who we are and what our purpose for life is we must look to the east. There we will find our history as a people and our Messiah.
Learning to Leave What We Knew
Prior to making their leap of faith Terah had to make a hard decision while still living in the land of Ur of the Chaldees. Continue living in rebellion of the truth and choose to trust in the temporal creature comforts he and his family had indulged and grown accustomed to? Or count it all as loss and embrace the life of a hunted fugitive? They were on the lamb, forgive the allegorical pun. Uncertain whether their future would be cut short or if they would be able to start again this much is true, God opened Terah’s and Abram’s eyes to shed light on the corruption they had allowed for so long. How could they return to living a lie? They were learning, just like us in many ways everyday how to leave those things that are contrary to God’s word and to listen to His voice, His promise, His command because His Word is true and anything less than that is a lie.
Mei-Ha-Shi-Lo-ah
So we too must learn how to abandon those things we’ve coddled, the traditions of man, the steady diet of junk that seeks to steal our lives and to turn, to repent and to listen to what our Heavenly Father is telling us. He is the giver of all good gifts and His truth will transform us chiseling away those corrupt things we had identified ourselves with and reveal who we truly are. The beginning of this parsha we learn YHVH calls Abram to “Go Forth”. In the Etz Hayyim commentary we learn that “a midrash interprets this to mean, ‘Go forth to find your authentic self, to learn who you are meant to be’ [Mei-Ha-Shi-lo-ah].” Isn’t that one of the core things YHVH is restoring to His people, their identity? Paul said to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).
2 Corinthians 4 is such a beautiful chapter to me. Specifically verse 16 which says "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. This word "renewed" is rooted in the Hebrew word "chadash" and means to be continual. This is a process, which helps us to realize just like the Hebrew phrase "Mei-ha-shi-loah", we are discovering who we are in Messiah as we continue in Him. So each day we are being changed and learning how to think like our Redeemer, walk like our Redeemer, to interact and to serve other people like our Redeemer, and to reflect the glory of Messiah in all we do! But we have an enemy, and he is a liar (John 8:44). If he can persuade mankind to swallow the lie that we are free agents here by nothing more than chance, or that we alone control our destiny then we cut ourselves off from the source of our Creator, and our lives can never achieve the divine purpose we were created for. But if we receive Yah’s truth and a proper understanding of who we are as God’s people, then much of the chaff and worldly trinkets we’ve clung to will become detestable to us and we will depart from those things that keep us from The Father. We have the truth, now we have to walk it out, which brings us to the next stanza of our parsha psalm.
It’s About Trust
“Counting the stars and sand—trust in His promises, this is the walk of faith, just like Abraham.” Abram was concerned with the uncertainty, his and Sarai’s advanced years and perhaps that their sacrifice would all be for nothing. We struggle with these same things and Yeshua Himself addresses them in Matthew chapter six, always a beautiful reminder that He knows what we know and has gone to great lengths to reach out and speak peace to that part of us.
"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:31-34). Again to refer back to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 Paul in his appeal to us to not lose heart goes on to say in verse 17 that "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." How quickly I forget that all of my choices, all of my thoughts and actions have eternal consequences. It drives me to a humble place; one where I want to honestly assess the condition of my heart before God, and when I do God lifts me up and can use me again to speak life into another heart.
But God takes Abram out under the star-filled night sky and asks him to count the stars, and to count the sand. In Genesis 13 after pursuing shalom with his nephew Lot, YHVH assures Abram that his offspring with be like the dust of the earth (v.16). In chapter 15 God takes him outside and asks him to count the stars and tells him that his offspring like the stars will be innumerable. What I observe personally is God gives Abram a taste to inspire, to fan the fire, to encourage and lovingly prod him to trust and to walk in faith. This life we live is one of faith. Certainly I would prefer to have things laid out for me in marvelous detail and see everything before it comes to pass, but that’s not how Abba has designed our lives to be. Life can be a real test especially when you live with any number of challenges; health, financial, family, travel, home, children, spouse, parents etc. It’s easy to live for God when you live on top of the mountain and there’s plenty of money in the 401K, the house is paid for and the car has less than 10,000 miles. The reality of our faith becomes much more real when we find ourselves facing physical lack or a negative report. A good close friend of mine once told me that God sometimes grows our faith the most by letting us be moved to a place that requires deliverance, because that’s when we see God show up! So true.
The Covenant of the Pieces is detailed in Genesis chapter 15 as well. If you have never done a study on this chapter I encourage you to do so. There are many good teachers who provide excellent teachings on the subject, Rico Cortes, and Brad Scott are two excellent recommendations. So here we read about a smoking oven and a flaming torch. Our imaginations may or may not struggle with this imagery, but keep in mind our English language is limited .The important thing to recognize in this verse are that the references to these two ‘entities’ is a physical manifestation of YHVH and of our Messiah. They pass between the pieces together and The Father establishes His covenant with Abraham and his descendants forever. The tag at the end of the bridge of our Parsha Psalm reads “we two/too have entered in this everlasting covenant, declares Adonai.” The significance of this verse cannot be overstated because Yeshua being one of those two physical manifestations moving between the parts in Genesis chapter 15 bore the brunt of Abraham’s descendants (you and me) having broken covenant with God, which resulted in Yeshua receiving the punishment for our rebellion by being crucified in order that we could be restored to right relationship with YHVH.
Chosen to be My Servant
In the haftarah we fast forward to Isra’el, the house of Ya’akov. The scenario is Israel is in exile, living in bondage to Babylon and the prophet Yeshayahu has been sent by YHVH to spark the flame inside every Israelite heart, and to remind them that they are called to return to their homeland. The commentary of Etz Hayyim eloquently states “to renew a a redemptive journey begun by their great ancestor more than a millennium earlier” referencing Abraham our spiritual father in the faith. Yeshayahu's relevant words penetrate time and speak into our lives even today.
In Isaiah 41 through His prophet Isaiah, YHVH declares starting in verse 8, “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham my friend—You whom I drew from the ends of the earch and called from its far corners.” My friend in Hebrew is ohavi, literally “who loves Me.” Here the prophet is drawing Israel’s attention back to the truth. What is this truth? The truth that they are a people chosen to serve YHVH which as a servant signifies a very special relationship, one that requires there to have been a covenant struck that is still in place, the very one established with Abraham back in Genesis chapter 15, the covenant of the pieces.
I Will Help You
He goes on to tell them not once, not twice, but three times do not be frightened and to have no fear, and then tells them three times “I will help you.” The Hebrew transliteration for that phrase is Ani Ah-zartich. When God says something once, He means it. How much more important is it for us to listen when he repeats something three times! Very important! Why? Because Israel was living in bondage, in exile and could see no hope. Perhaps many had begun to accept their bondage as a way of life and God was saying “No! This is not who you are!” We get into the same situations in different seasons in our life and we must cling to His Word if we hope to live in true freedom. When we begin to close ourselves off to things of His Spirit, when we marginalize Him in our study time, in our thought life, in our daily meditation and social interactions we close ourselves off from the truth and allow lies to gain a stronghold. Our perception becomes darkened and hope is drained.
I see it evidenced in the workplace. You see it in the faces of your co-workers. They appear lost, void of joy, sometimes it’s fatigue, sometimes we're the ones who appear stressed out or out of touch, but we all go through it and it is a symptom of a heart darkened by a lie. Sometimes we need an Isaiah to come and speak God's truth into our life! Sometimes we allow ourselves to become shortsighted or to pick up things that don't belong to us. Isaiah comes and stirs us up to refocus on who we belong to, who we are and why what we do is so important despite the world's attempt to define us.
Again let us return to 2 Corinthians 4--our light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. It's precisely what God was saying to Abraham. His life, his choice to obey YHVH's word has produced for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. A great saying says “Grow where your planted!” We have to remember that God uses all of our circumstances to mold us into the mature spiritual person He’s created us to become. In “My Utmost for His Highest” Oswald Chambers touches on this concerning “The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances.” After quoting Romans chapter 8 verse 28 he goes on to say that “God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you.”
Wholly
This is why God tells Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 verse 1 “I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. Walk before me, walk in My ways and be blameless.” The word there for blameless is tamiym (Strong’s# H8549). If we direct our attention back to the Etz Hayyim commentary we read “In the King James translation, the word translated here as “blameless” is rendered “be perfect,” an unrealistic demand. We might understand it to mean “be whole,” “come before Me with your whole self: the parts of yourself you are proud of, and the parts you are ashamed of and wish were different.” Thus do we come before God on Yom Kippur, not proclaiming our blamelessness but bringing to God our whole selves, our faults with our merits, to be told that we are acceptable in God’s sight.” This explains the first line in the chorus of our parsha psalm that reads “Come to me wholly, and drop your defenses, I’ve come to undo the lies from the truth and to light up your darkness.”
Thinking about Israel in bondage makes me think about us in the west. We are a first world nation in terms of technology, in terms of defense, and in terms of a multitude of things compared to every other place on the planet. But in many ways we are a third world country spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. Don’t misunderstand, I truly believe YHVH has blessed America beyond measure. We see His fingerprints upon so much of this land it is humbling. But to have such an overabundance of His presence and yet to allow so much corruption to gain a foothold in this nation is shameful and tragic. In order for us to be transformed by God we have to come to Him completely.
Shine His Light on Your Darkness
We cannot withhold any part of ourselves from Him and expect enduring change. It’s really that simple, and to that end this requires honesty on our part. It requires us to agree not only in thought with God’s covenant but to agree to the application part of it as well. If we are His servants of righteousness then we are not going to push responsibility upon Him and then complain about Him when confronted about compromise we make in our private lives. Yes we are to live by the Spirit of the Law, but in order to affect real change we have to pull sin out by the roots and the only way this can be accomplished is through obedience to God’s Word. Identify sin, do not attempt to try to cover it up—in fact it just makes it that much more obvious. Then let us begin to apply the healing salve that comes from the cure outlined in His Word, not by an arm of flesh but rather by the power of His Holy Spirit working in a humble heart. Now we can see what Paul was talking about when he boldly wrote “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14).” He has come to remove the lies from our lives and to light up our darkness; one to expose the sin in our lives so we can remove it, and two to shine through us so that the world can see His glory in us everywhere we go.
He’s Still Pursuing Us
This is the Gospel story, over and over God approaches man looking for relationship. Man joins God. Man rebels and becomes enslaved to bondage. Man suffers and falls into despair. God says… I still love you, I can save you. Man cries out to God. God shows Himself strong and faithful to man. This is the historical account we read in Isaiah 41. Yeshayahu is declaring God’s love for them even in exile. He’s seeking to stir their hearts to remembrance, and to let them know that even though they’ve sinned, they still have a future with God and can be free from the lies and experience a beautiful life of restoration! God is doing that today thousands of years later for every heart who feels the pull of God upon them and who desire to live this life He’s purposed for them since eternity. He is pursuing us still, not in wagons or on camels and donkeys or even in tents. The stars are still the same, testifying to us just like they did to Avraham. The sand may appear a little differently depending upon where you are. It may actually be the seashore, or it may be taking the form of thousands of square feet of concrete city sidewalk, or it could be miles upon miles of interstate asphalt. During that morning commute just before the sun comes up the moon and stars give chase and God is still calling, calling to bring down His kingdom and shine in your heart today. Are you ready to join Yah’s Confederacy?
We confederates, of Yah’s confederation
Traveling mi-kedem (to the east),
in a spiritual migration
Learning how to leave what we knew
and how to listen,
Meh-ha-Shi-Loach, Meh-ha-Shi-Loah!
(Go forth and find your authentic self, to learn who you are meant to be”)
Counting the stars and sand, trust in His promises, this is the walk of faith—just like Abraham
O’ Isra’el my eh-ved (servant), O’ Ya’akov whom I’ve chosen
Descendants of Avraham—Ohavi! (my friend/literally “who loves me”)
Bridge:
Do not be frightened! Ani Ah-zartich! (I will help you),
We two have entered in, this everlasting covenant! Declares Adonai!
Chorus:
Come to me wholly! And drop your defenses!
I’ve come to undo the lies from the truth, and to light up your darkness!
To go forth in redemption! O’ how I’ve pursued you!
From the far corners I drew your heart inside, to bring down my Kingdom
Look up into stars and space, while the wheels on our cars still pace
The pitch in the pavement and lines made of sand.
Reminding us even here, soon one day we’ll gather there
The call still goes out to the children of Abraham…
Yah’s Confederacy (Lech Lecha summary)
A teaching on the words and music of Yah’s Confederacy by Will Spires 2014
Genesis 12:1-17:27 Isaiah 40:27-41:16 Romans 4:1-25
Recently during a study of the parsha Lech Lecha, a word kept coming to my mind. This word, confederate; and from it I considered its neighbors, confederation and confederacy. Between the three I had a cross of imagery somewhere between that of a confederate infantryman, Springfield rifle slung over his shoulder in ranks with several hundred troops marching on to the next battle field; and that of the United Confederation of planets including the Star Trek Enterprise with Captain Kirk at the helm, hurling in retro-style through some mysterious final frontier of unexplored space.
In the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 11th Edition confederate is defined as “1: united in a league: allied. 2: ally. 3: to unite in a confederacy, to band together.” The word confederacy is defined as “1: a league or compact for mutual support or common action: alliance.” And so here within the pages of this particular Torah portion we witness this smal fledgling group of members in the forming of a confederacy. Haran died before he could escape his home country, but Terah the father, Lot Haran’s survived son and nephew of Abram, Abram son of Terah and Sarai daughter of Terah but with a different mother fled Ur of the Chaldees to embark upon this incredible journey together. Their father Terah passes away while sojourning in Haran, who not so incidentally was the name of Abram's brother who died before he could leave Ur with them. With Haran and Terah passed suddenly there were three. This fragile beginning seemingly doomed to fail from the start holds the divine promise that not only survives, but reaches out, touching the time fabric of today and into our hearts, revealing the endurance and trustworthiness of our Elohim's word.
We discover further into the parsha that although they began very small Abram was a successful shepherd of flocks and had amassed quite a number of “persons”. I would imagine these to be workers and their families who had joined themselves to Abram and Sarai. Still Abram must have often felt alone in this strange new journey. Ten generations had passed from Noach to Abraham. We don’t have much of an account of God’s dealings with people in between these two pivotal characters on God’s stage, so it had to have felt almost as if a new and different chapter had begun when Abram first heard YHVH call to him.
M’Qedem (from the East)
Abram did not travel to the east but he did travel to the land of promise, into the land of Canaan where eventually the nation of Israel would begin to take serious shape through Abraham's descendants, the patriarchs. You and I however living scattered in and amongst the diaspora in the western part of the world are moving toward the east; if not literally then spiritually. The word used for east in Genesis chapter 12 comes from the word qedem. It means east, and yet so much more, as often is the case when exploring the living language of Hebrew. Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it as “east, antiquity, front, that which is before, ancient time, from of old, earliest time, (adverb), beginning.” The east represents where we begin. Mishpacha, if we want to understand who we are and what our purpose for life is we must look to the east. There we will find our history as a people and our Messiah.
Learning to Leave What We Knew
Prior to making their leap of faith Terah had to make a hard decision while still living in the land of Ur of the Chaldees. Continue living in rebellion of the truth and choose to trust in the temporal creature comforts he and his family had indulged and grown accustomed to? Or count it all as loss and embrace the life of a hunted fugitive? They were on the lamb, forgive the allegorical pun. Uncertain whether their future would be cut short or if they would be able to start again this much is true, God opened Terah’s and Abram’s eyes to shed light on the corruption they had allowed for so long. How could they return to living a lie? They were learning, just like us in many ways everyday how to leave those things that are contrary to God’s word and to listen to His voice, His promise, His command because His Word is true and anything less than that is a lie.
Mei-Ha-Shi-Lo-ah
So we too must learn how to abandon those things we’ve coddled, the traditions of man, the steady diet of junk that seeks to steal our lives and to turn, to repent and to listen to what our Heavenly Father is telling us. He is the giver of all good gifts and His truth will transform us chiseling away those corrupt things we had identified ourselves with and reveal who we truly are. The beginning of this parsha we learn YHVH calls Abram to “Go Forth”. In the Etz Hayyim commentary we learn that “a midrash interprets this to mean, ‘Go forth to find your authentic self, to learn who you are meant to be’ [Mei-Ha-Shi-lo-ah].” Isn’t that one of the core things YHVH is restoring to His people, their identity? Paul said to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).
2 Corinthians 4 is such a beautiful chapter to me. Specifically verse 16 which says "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. This word "renewed" is rooted in the Hebrew word "chadash" and means to be continual. This is a process, which helps us to realize just like the Hebrew phrase "Mei-ha-shi-loah", we are discovering who we are in Messiah as we continue in Him. So each day we are being changed and learning how to think like our Redeemer, walk like our Redeemer, to interact and to serve other people like our Redeemer, and to reflect the glory of Messiah in all we do! But we have an enemy, and he is a liar (John 8:44). If he can persuade mankind to swallow the lie that we are free agents here by nothing more than chance, or that we alone control our destiny then we cut ourselves off from the source of our Creator, and our lives can never achieve the divine purpose we were created for. But if we receive Yah’s truth and a proper understanding of who we are as God’s people, then much of the chaff and worldly trinkets we’ve clung to will become detestable to us and we will depart from those things that keep us from The Father. We have the truth, now we have to walk it out, which brings us to the next stanza of our parsha psalm.
It’s About Trust
“Counting the stars and sand—trust in His promises, this is the walk of faith, just like Abraham.” Abram was concerned with the uncertainty, his and Sarai’s advanced years and perhaps that their sacrifice would all be for nothing. We struggle with these same things and Yeshua Himself addresses them in Matthew chapter six, always a beautiful reminder that He knows what we know and has gone to great lengths to reach out and speak peace to that part of us.
"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:31-34). Again to refer back to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 Paul in his appeal to us to not lose heart goes on to say in verse 17 that "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." How quickly I forget that all of my choices, all of my thoughts and actions have eternal consequences. It drives me to a humble place; one where I want to honestly assess the condition of my heart before God, and when I do God lifts me up and can use me again to speak life into another heart.
But God takes Abram out under the star-filled night sky and asks him to count the stars, and to count the sand. In Genesis 13 after pursuing shalom with his nephew Lot, YHVH assures Abram that his offspring with be like the dust of the earth (v.16). In chapter 15 God takes him outside and asks him to count the stars and tells him that his offspring like the stars will be innumerable. What I observe personally is God gives Abram a taste to inspire, to fan the fire, to encourage and lovingly prod him to trust and to walk in faith. This life we live is one of faith. Certainly I would prefer to have things laid out for me in marvelous detail and see everything before it comes to pass, but that’s not how Abba has designed our lives to be. Life can be a real test especially when you live with any number of challenges; health, financial, family, travel, home, children, spouse, parents etc. It’s easy to live for God when you live on top of the mountain and there’s plenty of money in the 401K, the house is paid for and the car has less than 10,000 miles. The reality of our faith becomes much more real when we find ourselves facing physical lack or a negative report. A good close friend of mine once told me that God sometimes grows our faith the most by letting us be moved to a place that requires deliverance, because that’s when we see God show up! So true.
The Covenant of the Pieces is detailed in Genesis chapter 15 as well. If you have never done a study on this chapter I encourage you to do so. There are many good teachers who provide excellent teachings on the subject, Rico Cortes, and Brad Scott are two excellent recommendations. So here we read about a smoking oven and a flaming torch. Our imaginations may or may not struggle with this imagery, but keep in mind our English language is limited .The important thing to recognize in this verse are that the references to these two ‘entities’ is a physical manifestation of YHVH and of our Messiah. They pass between the pieces together and The Father establishes His covenant with Abraham and his descendants forever. The tag at the end of the bridge of our Parsha Psalm reads “we two/too have entered in this everlasting covenant, declares Adonai.” The significance of this verse cannot be overstated because Yeshua being one of those two physical manifestations moving between the parts in Genesis chapter 15 bore the brunt of Abraham’s descendants (you and me) having broken covenant with God, which resulted in Yeshua receiving the punishment for our rebellion by being crucified in order that we could be restored to right relationship with YHVH.
Chosen to be My Servant
In the haftarah we fast forward to Isra’el, the house of Ya’akov. The scenario is Israel is in exile, living in bondage to Babylon and the prophet Yeshayahu has been sent by YHVH to spark the flame inside every Israelite heart, and to remind them that they are called to return to their homeland. The commentary of Etz Hayyim eloquently states “to renew a a redemptive journey begun by their great ancestor more than a millennium earlier” referencing Abraham our spiritual father in the faith. Yeshayahu's relevant words penetrate time and speak into our lives even today.
In Isaiah 41 through His prophet Isaiah, YHVH declares starting in verse 8, “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham my friend—You whom I drew from the ends of the earch and called from its far corners.” My friend in Hebrew is ohavi, literally “who loves Me.” Here the prophet is drawing Israel’s attention back to the truth. What is this truth? The truth that they are a people chosen to serve YHVH which as a servant signifies a very special relationship, one that requires there to have been a covenant struck that is still in place, the very one established with Abraham back in Genesis chapter 15, the covenant of the pieces.
I Will Help You
He goes on to tell them not once, not twice, but three times do not be frightened and to have no fear, and then tells them three times “I will help you.” The Hebrew transliteration for that phrase is Ani Ah-zartich. When God says something once, He means it. How much more important is it for us to listen when he repeats something three times! Very important! Why? Because Israel was living in bondage, in exile and could see no hope. Perhaps many had begun to accept their bondage as a way of life and God was saying “No! This is not who you are!” We get into the same situations in different seasons in our life and we must cling to His Word if we hope to live in true freedom. When we begin to close ourselves off to things of His Spirit, when we marginalize Him in our study time, in our thought life, in our daily meditation and social interactions we close ourselves off from the truth and allow lies to gain a stronghold. Our perception becomes darkened and hope is drained.
I see it evidenced in the workplace. You see it in the faces of your co-workers. They appear lost, void of joy, sometimes it’s fatigue, sometimes we're the ones who appear stressed out or out of touch, but we all go through it and it is a symptom of a heart darkened by a lie. Sometimes we need an Isaiah to come and speak God's truth into our life! Sometimes we allow ourselves to become shortsighted or to pick up things that don't belong to us. Isaiah comes and stirs us up to refocus on who we belong to, who we are and why what we do is so important despite the world's attempt to define us.
Again let us return to 2 Corinthians 4--our light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. It's precisely what God was saying to Abraham. His life, his choice to obey YHVH's word has produced for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. A great saying says “Grow where your planted!” We have to remember that God uses all of our circumstances to mold us into the mature spiritual person He’s created us to become. In “My Utmost for His Highest” Oswald Chambers touches on this concerning “The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances.” After quoting Romans chapter 8 verse 28 he goes on to say that “God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you.”
Wholly
This is why God tells Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 verse 1 “I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. Walk before me, walk in My ways and be blameless.” The word there for blameless is tamiym (Strong’s# H8549). If we direct our attention back to the Etz Hayyim commentary we read “In the King James translation, the word translated here as “blameless” is rendered “be perfect,” an unrealistic demand. We might understand it to mean “be whole,” “come before Me with your whole self: the parts of yourself you are proud of, and the parts you are ashamed of and wish were different.” Thus do we come before God on Yom Kippur, not proclaiming our blamelessness but bringing to God our whole selves, our faults with our merits, to be told that we are acceptable in God’s sight.” This explains the first line in the chorus of our parsha psalm that reads “Come to me wholly, and drop your defenses, I’ve come to undo the lies from the truth and to light up your darkness.”
Thinking about Israel in bondage makes me think about us in the west. We are a first world nation in terms of technology, in terms of defense, and in terms of a multitude of things compared to every other place on the planet. But in many ways we are a third world country spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically. Don’t misunderstand, I truly believe YHVH has blessed America beyond measure. We see His fingerprints upon so much of this land it is humbling. But to have such an overabundance of His presence and yet to allow so much corruption to gain a foothold in this nation is shameful and tragic. In order for us to be transformed by God we have to come to Him completely.
Shine His Light on Your Darkness
We cannot withhold any part of ourselves from Him and expect enduring change. It’s really that simple, and to that end this requires honesty on our part. It requires us to agree not only in thought with God’s covenant but to agree to the application part of it as well. If we are His servants of righteousness then we are not going to push responsibility upon Him and then complain about Him when confronted about compromise we make in our private lives. Yes we are to live by the Spirit of the Law, but in order to affect real change we have to pull sin out by the roots and the only way this can be accomplished is through obedience to God’s Word. Identify sin, do not attempt to try to cover it up—in fact it just makes it that much more obvious. Then let us begin to apply the healing salve that comes from the cure outlined in His Word, not by an arm of flesh but rather by the power of His Holy Spirit working in a humble heart. Now we can see what Paul was talking about when he boldly wrote “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14).” He has come to remove the lies from our lives and to light up our darkness; one to expose the sin in our lives so we can remove it, and two to shine through us so that the world can see His glory in us everywhere we go.
He’s Still Pursuing Us
This is the Gospel story, over and over God approaches man looking for relationship. Man joins God. Man rebels and becomes enslaved to bondage. Man suffers and falls into despair. God says… I still love you, I can save you. Man cries out to God. God shows Himself strong and faithful to man. This is the historical account we read in Isaiah 41. Yeshayahu is declaring God’s love for them even in exile. He’s seeking to stir their hearts to remembrance, and to let them know that even though they’ve sinned, they still have a future with God and can be free from the lies and experience a beautiful life of restoration! God is doing that today thousands of years later for every heart who feels the pull of God upon them and who desire to live this life He’s purposed for them since eternity. He is pursuing us still, not in wagons or on camels and donkeys or even in tents. The stars are still the same, testifying to us just like they did to Avraham. The sand may appear a little differently depending upon where you are. It may actually be the seashore, or it may be taking the form of thousands of square feet of concrete city sidewalk, or it could be miles upon miles of interstate asphalt. During that morning commute just before the sun comes up the moon and stars give chase and God is still calling, calling to bring down His kingdom and shine in your heart today. Are you ready to join Yah’s Confederacy?
