The Triumphant Case of Ami Ortiz

Hat tip to Rosh Pina for the heads up on the Ortiz case.

I’m a few days late to the chase, but – praise God – there is new good news in the case of Ami Ortiz, the 15 year old Messianic Israeli who was nearly killed in a bomb sent to his family’s house.

15 year old Israeli Messianic before and after the bombing.

The good news in the case: A suspect has been arrested, and the police may have a confession from the suspect. I’ll let Ami’s mother Leah tell the story:

We have incredible news and answer to prayer. A suspect has been arrested in our case! Actually he was arrested about 2 weeks ago, but there has been a continuing gag order placed on the story. Therefore we cannot tell you all the details because we don't have them yet. To be noted that we didn't hear the news from the police, but from our lawyer and media sources, and today the American Embassy called us to tell us that there was an arrest! We are dual American and Israeli citizens, and I thanked them for having the consideration to inform us.

Concerning the suspect, we only know that he is an Orthodox Jew, originally from the U.S. He was living in a settlement in our area, is married, the father of four children, and is now being held by the secret services because the case is wider than we expected. We know that weapons and explosive material were found in his home, and that there is a lot of hard evidence against him. We also know that there are those in Ariel who are under intense investigation as well, but we're not sure if any other arrests have been made. We also know that his lawyer went before the judge to ask for the suspect to be released on bail, and he was refused because of the amount of evidence against him in his file. We expect that the gag order will be lifted maybe on Wednesday or Thursday, and then we will know more details and the press will be all over the story for a few days.

GREAT RELIEF

Our family has experienced great relief. We are happy that we don't have to look over our shoulder, we don't have to check our car before we get into it, and we can open our front door with more confidence. Before this we knew there was a murderer roaming free, perhaps standing in line with us in the post office, or continuing to keep surveillance on our house. We also feel sorrow for the suspect who has so ruined his life, the lives of his family, and has brought a bad name on the people of Israel. We can testify that the nation as a whole condemns this man's actions. We have received telephone calls and communications from Israelis throughout this past year and a half, from every town, city, and village in Israel. They have been secular, orthodox and ultra orthodox Jews, and the message has been the same - shock, grief and anger over the incident, and the need to let us know that they condemn this vicious act. They all blessed Ami with wishes for a full recovery, and hopes that he would succeed in life and fulfil his dreams.

PRAY FOR WISDOM

Please pray for us as the media interviews begin, both domestic and international, for wisdom and for the name of Yeshua to be lifted up. Please pray for Ami, as he goes back to the moment and shares it publically. He took the news very coolly. I don't think he wants to let his heart get involved in any way, which I understand. Right now he is with all the 11th graders in his school in the northern Negev, in a pre-army type of experience called in Hebrew the "gadna" which means "youth battalions". It's kind of a light basic training simulation with many lectures from the army about what they can expect, and what their possibilities are.
Psalm 27:1-6 sums it all up-

The LORD is my light and my salvation-
whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life-
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh,

when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;

though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:

that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;

at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

Thank you for standing with us as you have helped us to pray this through, and for continuing to be with us in prayer.

In the Messiah,
Leah

This is huge news.

First, it confirms the suspicion of anti-missionary vigilante violence carried out by ultra-Orthodox Shamer groups like Yad L’achim.

Second, vindication! The police were initially sitting on their hands, dismissing this as a accidental firecracker accident (!), and the media chimed in with agreement, excusing the violence by claiming Messianic Jews are part of a cult. For example, here’s an original article from the left-leaning, secular Haaretz newspaper that all but excused the bombing:

Police are investigating the possibility that the explosion occurred while the boy was opening a Purim gift basket. Police reportedly believe the blast was caused by some sort of firecracker used during Purim celebrations.

The Parents of the victim are members of the Messianic Jews movement, which the police classify as a cult. The boy's father is considered to be one of the movement's leaders.

After previous attempts to harm the family, a security camera was installed at the family's home. The police were checking the footage to see whether the explosion was documented by the cameras. The police emphasized that there was no proof to support the theory that the explosion was deliberate and malicious.

Fine blog readers, notice the non-sequitur arguments used here: “This cult family has been targeted by attacks before. Therefore, it’s probably a firecracker accident.” (What kind of journalism and police detective work is this?!)

And the article failed to mention that the family’s security cameras caught a man in Orthodox Jewish garb dropping off the bomb at the family home. Yet the police, and apparently the author of this Haaretz article, cite no proof of malicious intent.

This highlights the extreme anti-Messianic bias witnessed in the Israeli media: Messianics are portrayed as a cult, violence against us is denied or excused, and finally dismissed. No one wants to be on the side of the ugly Messianics.

A great goodness has come out of this!

Things are changing. With the Jerusalem Institute of Justice standing up in court on behalf of persecuted Messianics, and the Israeli courts cracking down on evil vigilante anti-missionary Shamer groups, we’ve seen a turn in the Israeli media, with a few lone voices speaking up for the plight of Messianic Jews, praise God.

Additionally, many Jews in the Israeli Orthodox community are distancing themselves from these shameful anti-missionary groups. The Ami Ortiz family reports that when Ami was hospitalized after the bombing, many from the surrounding Orthodox Jewish communities came to visit Ami, and denounced and apologized for whomever carried out this bombing.

In word, the Orthodox communities were denouncing vigilante anti-missionary groups, whether knowingly or not. Praise God!

As Leah Ortiz put it,

We can testify that the nation as a whole condemns this man's actions. We have received telephone calls and communications from Israelis throughout this past year and a half, from every town, city, and village in Israel. They have been secular, orthodox and ultra orthodox Jews, and the message has been the same - shock, grief and anger over the incident, and the need to let us know that they condemn this vicious act.

Praise God that secular, Orthodox, and Ultra Orthodox Jews have all condemned this shameful act! I believe God has his hand on this situation: a terrible tragedy – the attempted murder of a family because of their belief in Messiah – has been turned into a great witness, changing the hearts of many. Praise God!

Look out, anti-missionaries, God is at work. When Messiah comes, I hope he finds you loving his flock, instead of persecuting it. And even should you continue persecuting us in your stubbornness, God is going to use it for his glory, just as he has in the triumphant case of Ami Ortiz.

The Greatest Commandments, Part 6

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve done work on our commandments hierarchy project. This week, we we’ll be mapping commandments related to brotherhood. And at the end of this post, a little bonus for all you fine blog readers: some interesting stats tallied from the biblical commandments we’ve mapped thus far.

But first, a recap: What is the Greatest Commandments Project?

Imagine all the commandments in the law arranged in a visual tree, where each commandment hangs on another. For example, “love the sojourner” is a branch hanging on the “love your neighbor as yourself” commandment.

This is what we’ve done, and you can see our work here.

The project is inspired by Messiah’s words:

“Hear, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one; love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

That’s what the Greatest Commandments Hierarchy project is all about. Read past commandments mappings, or have a peek at the latest snapshot of our work! If you’re technically inclined, you can even contribute to the project through the open source Greatest Commandments software project.

With that covered, let’s begin!

No destroying objects associated with God’s name

These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land. Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.

-Deuteronomy 12:4

Commandment #8 (the bolded part above) is an interesting one, where the Christian translations and interpretations is different than Judaism’s.

Many Christian interpretations: “Do not worship as they [the pagans] worship.”

Many Jewish interpretations: “Do not do so [wipe out the name, the places of worship] unto the Lord.”

Looking at different translations, and looking at the surrounding texts, I find the Jewish interpretation correct. With the literal text of, “You shall not do so unto the LORD your God”, the preceding statement of “wipe out the name of false gods”, and the following statement of “seek the place where God puts his name among you”, I’m thinking this is more about honoring God’s name.

Accepting the traditional Jewish interpretation, I deem this commandment deriving from the “Do not profane God’s name” commandment:

No Hating Others

Do not hate your brother in your heart.

-Leviticus 19:17 (part 1)

Like the issue with “love the convert”, Judaism traditionally interprets this commandment as a Jew-specific commandment. In fact, Maimonides summarizes this commandment as “Do not hate other Jews”.

This argument can be made: “brother” and “neighbor” would most likely be other Israelites, as the Torah was given to Israel.

On the other hand, it may also be argued that neighbor could mean even the sojourner. Indeed, we read last week the commandment “be kind to the sojourner among you”. Additionally, the text does not explicitly specify this commandment as applying only to Israelites.

And finally, Messiah himself mentions this commandment while amplifying it:

I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' [Aramaic term of contempt] is answerable to the Sanhedrin.

-Matthew 5:22

I would argue that Messiah’s words here (and by extension, the commandment not to hate your brother), are applicable to all God’s people, including those gentiles brought near through Messiah.

So I break with the traditional Jewish interpretation here and summarize this commandment as the general “Don’t hate others”, rather than the limited “Don’t hate other Jews”.

I deem this commandment as deriving from the golden “Love your neighbor as yourself” commandment:

Reprove the sinner

Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

-Leviticus 19:17 (part 2)

The next sentence after “do not hate your brother” commandment in Leviticus 19:17, is the commandment to rebuke your [guilty] neighbor, rather than share in his guilt.

Maimonides’ interpretation of “reprove the sinner” seems correct to me, as the text implies that the neighbor to be rebuked is guilty, and that you must reprove, rather than hate him, so that you don’t share in his guilt.

Given the locality of these commandments in the text, and their inter-related nature, I deem this commandment as deriving from “no hating others” commandment:

No embarrassing others

But wait, we’re not done with Leviticus 19:17. Maimonides extracts yet another commandment from this same verse: “no embarrassing others”.

Here is the whole verse again, this time in literal translation:

You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.

-Leviticus 19:17

Where does “no embarrassing others” come from?

An educated guess might be “do not bear sin because of him”. I would argue against Maimonides here, honestly; I just don’t see this interpretation as legitimate, not bearing sin here seems to be part of the “don’t hate your brother” commandment, not a new commandment about embarrassing others. If you fine blog readers have any thoughts, I’d like to hear them.

Like the previous commandment, I deem this related to not hating your brother:

Closing thoughts: Maimonides’ double standard?

Today we mapped 3 commandments from Leviticus 19:17:

Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

-Leviticus 19:17

Now note how Maimonides splits this verse into 3 commandments:

1. Do not hate other Jews.
2. Rebuke the sinner.
3. Don’t embarrass others.

Maimonides sees 3 parties here: Jews, sinners, and others. Yet the text mentions neither Jews nor sinners nor others.

Why does Maimonides feel “do not hate your brother” applies only to Jews, but “embarrassing others” and “rebuking others” are not limited in this way? A consistent interpretation would seem to be “Do not hate other Jews, rebuke sinning Jews, and don’t embarrass other Jews.” Instead, Maimonides interprets each of these as pertaining to different groups. Is it a double-standard, or just a matter of interpretation? You fine blog readers have any thoughts?

The Big Picture

Behold! In all its glory, the current snapshot of the commandments hierarchy project:

(Click for full size)

Beautiful!

Note that Kineti reader and project contributor Nathan Tuggy has modified the source code to spit out “can’t be carried out today” commandments as red. Thanks, Nathan! Click the picture to see our 2 mapped commandments that cannot be carried out today: both of them are related to the Levitical priesthood and the tabernacle offerings.

Nerd Notes

I’ve modified the Commandments Hierarchy generator program to output some interesting stats about the commandments mapped thus far:

Some statistics to tingle your nerdly id

• 27 commandments have been mapped thus far.
• 11% of them are from Exodus.
• 41% of them are from Leviticus.
• 4% of them are from Numbers.
• 44% of them are from Deuteronomy.
• 93% of them can be carried out in modern times.
• 63% are positive commandments.
• 37% are negative commandments.
• 63% are observed by Christians.
• 89% are observed by Messianics.
• 89% are observed by Jews.
• The average commandment length is 123 characters.
• The average summary length is 27 characters.

Interesting stats indeed! Looking forward to seeing how these stats evolve as we progress into more commandments.

There it is, folks! I hope you’ve enjoyed this installment of the Greatest Commandments Project. Enjoy your shabbat!

Haaretz article on persecution of Messianics

In most cases the people hurt are Israelis, country citizens for all matters: they perform military service; educate their children on their country’s values and Zionism and send them to regular schools; celebrate the nation's holidays and observe its commemorative dates, work for a living, usually in free professions, and pay taxes. They love the country,
swear to their loyalty and devotion, become emotional with the raising of the flag and the singing of the anthem, and still feel like a persecuted minority.

About 20 communities of Messianic Jews are active around the country, and the number of their members is estimated at several thousands. They believe in G_d and consider themselves as Jews, refer to the Bible and the New Testament as their holy scriptures, are convinced that Jesus is the messiah and don't understand how it's any of the country authorities' business.

Haaretz, a prominent Israeli newspaper, recently posted an article about the plight of Messianic Jews in Israel, and their persecution by anti-missionary Shamer groups like Yad L’Achim.

The Jerusalem Institute for Justice has posted an English translation of the article (PDF).

Here’s a snippet from the article:

Barbara Ludwig, a 33 year old Jewish student at a Hebrew university, was on the verge of being deported from the country, after her student visa was refused. In the hearing conducted about a year ago in the Court for Illegal Aliens, before her deportation, she was asked about her lifestyle and beliefs:

The court: I want to know once and for all – what is the religion of truth, Judaism or Christianity?

Ludwig: in my opinion the truth is G_d, and not Judaism or Christianity.

The court: is Christianity idolatry?

Ludwig: there are elements of idolatry in Christianity.

The court: and who are you in this story – a Jew, a Christian, or something in between?

Ludwig: in my eyes I am a Jew. I live as a Jew and handle the responsibility involved in it.

The court: what is the weekly Torah portion?

Ludwig: since we're past Passover, it's either "Ahrey Mot" or "Kedoshim". But what does that have to do with my student visa?

Hat tip to Rosh Pina.

Messianic Judaism: A purpose that angered many

There has been renewed focus, as of late, to make Messianic Judaism more Jewish.

Some have well intentions: being true to our Jewish nature and tradition, bringing more Jews into Messianic Judaism. Giving a place for Judaism to continue.

Others have foolish intentions: “We must be an authentic, recognizable Judaism!”, they say. “Only then will we be recognized in the Jewish world and move into the Jewish space!”

And yet others have used this as an opportunity to distance Messianic Judaism from independent Messianics, Torah-for-Christians folks, two houses of Israel advocates, gentiles called out from the Church, gentiles interested in returning to Hebraic roots of Jesus faith, and other followers of Messiah they deem undesirable.

(Talk about a load of negative, exclusionist religion!)

I’ve made it no secret: I think some of our leaders have an inferiority complex that ultimately hurts Messianic Judaism more than it helps. We’re a Jewish movement by our own right: we follow the only authentic Jewish Messiah. We don’t need others’ approval or recognition to feel secure about our faith and identity. Nor do we need to be a movement that shuns gentiles, or that lets gentiles operate only peripherally.

What is our purpose?

Rabbi Joshua from the Yinon blog asks, “What is our purpose?”

His answer is: “Messianic Judaism’s primary goal has been to be a home and way of life for Jewish followers of Yeshua.”

I see things differently. Yes, of course Messianic Judaism is for Jews returning to Messiah – but it’s more than that.

God has done something huge, folks. He has sparked a Jewish return to Messiah, and a gentile reformation. A spiritual awakening among both Israel and the nations. Simultaneously. It’s happened in the last 40 years, and continues to this day. The result is Messianic Judaism.

It is undeniable: go to any Messianic congregation – why are there so many gentiles? Why are they worshipping with Jews? Why are they keeping God’s commandments? Why are they loving Israel? Why do they love the Jewish people? Why are gentiles called to learn and practice and teach the Scriptures of Israel?

It’s from God, folks. Yes, the Torah-for-Christians people. Yes, the two houses of Israel people. Yes, the young gentile man drawn to Messianic Judaism and the Jewish people. Yes, that gentile overflowing with joy in worshipping among Jews – it’s all from God.

Messianic Judaism is furthering the work of the Reformation. And it’s God’s doing. God’s bringing his people – both Jews and gentiles – into maturity. Reforming our old ways and bringing us to fresh truth of Messiah, and holiness through his commandments. That’s God’s doing.

It’s that huge.

This view angers many! In fact, there are probably a few commenters already furiously typing away at long, angry replies, laden with insults and accusations and slander.

It doesn’t matter, they’re irrelevant. God is at work.

I’m not the only one who sees things this way. John McKee of Outreach Israel Ministries writes in Is God’s Purpose Bigger?,

[T]he Messianic movement is really designed to complete the work of the Reformation, bring all of Israel together, and see a unique faith community of Jewish and non-Jewish Believers emerge.

Many people honestly do throw their hands up in the air and ask, “What happened to the love and grace of Yeshua? What happened to the work of the Holy Spirit? Where is God really leading us?”

We are certainly not being led to a place by God where there are two sub-peoples of God: Messianic Jews and evangelical Christians.

The unity that all of God’s people are to have—either Jewish or non-Jewish—is to be a testimony of the greater redemption to come. We have the capability to be a faith community that is a real force of holiness and righteousness. Many more than just Jews and Christians are to ultimately be affected.

The latter half of John’s statement reminds me of a song written by Messianic pioneer Joel Chernoff:

Jew and Gentile one in Messiah

Help us, Father, to love one another

With humble hearts, forgiving each other

Heal our wounds, bind us together,

That the world might believe

What is our purpose? Our purpose is the restoration of Israel.

All the gentiles in the Messianic movement? They’re not a by-product. They’re not a side-effect. They’re not something to be embarrassed about. They’re not something to be shunned. They are here because God brought them, just as he brought Jews to Yeshua, so God is bringing gentiles to holiness through his commandments.

Praise God for doing this awesome act! Thanks to God he’s moving today among both Jews and gentiles. As the psalmist wrote,

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Messianic Judaism has an inferiority complex

Remember that awkward nerd girl at school? You know, the one who tried to hang out with the cool cheerleaders? The cool kids would always pick on her. They’d say nasty things to her. They’d make fun of her when everyone’s watching.

Even so, the nerd still vied for their approval. She’d brush her hair. She’d lose the thick glasses. Change the way she dressed. She even stopped hanging around her nerd friends. Her nerd friends were saddened by all this.

Despite all these supposed improvements, the cheerleaders still mocked her and made her a public spectacle.

I think Messianic Judaism is that nerd. There's a great inferiority complex in Messianic Judaism. Some of its leaders are trying very hard to make it fit in with greater Judaism, even to the point of alienating its own gentile friends and abandoning the New Testament model of joint, equal fellowship of Jews and gentiles.

Oh, hello, fellow Jew. I’m a Jew, too; a Messianic one. We’re a legitimate form of Judaism. Honest! Now, excuse me while I put away my nerd glasses sweep our gentiles members and all their crazy theologies under the rug. Just nevermind them!

Hey, look at me, I’m reciting the Sh’ma! Are we cool now?

What makes the situation worse is, the Judaic world will never accept Messianic Judaism as a legitimate form of Judaism. Only deluded optimists believe otherwise.

No matter how much liturgy we chant, no matter how much tradition we embrace, no matter how great the wall we build to separate us from our “undesirable” gentiles, as long as Yeshua is Messiah and Lord of Messianic Judaism, we will be shunned and downplayed and isolated and delegitimized by greater Judaism.

Let me say it again: Messianic Judaism will never be a legitimate form of Judaism as long as Yeshua is Lord.

It is very painful to watch as certain leaders divide and build more walls and distance itself from its friends in an ever-futile attempt to legitimize itself in the eyes of greater Judaism. Like the nerd girl trying to fit in with the cheerleader crowd, it’s all in vain. Messianic Judaism won’t fit in unless it denies Yeshua as King. It is painful to watch our faith strive in vain for approval in the eyes of men.

I don’t want the nerd girl to become a cheerleader. She’s too caught up trying to fit in with the cool crowd to notice who her real friends are. We can only hope and pray she realizes this as she gets older.

Check out my hidden stash!

**Update May, 2013: The post below is several years old; I’ve since moved all of my Messianic music chords to my new site, MessianicChords.com, the best place to go for lyrics and guitar chords to Messianic music.

---

A few folks have recently asked me for my Messianic music chord sheets compiled over the years.

This is the stuff that is quite the labor of love: learn to play a song on the guitar, write it out with paper & pencil for trial and error, practice it on the guitar until perfect, type it all up in digital form, keep it organized, all that work.

Well, dear blog readers, you may now eat freely of the fruit of my labor:

Judah’s amazing, wonderful, flashy Messianic music guitar chords 

[cue monarchal trumpets]

Now technically speaking, not all the songs listed there are Messianic. There are chords for some old Christian favorites like Petra’s Take Me In, or I Exalt Thee, or Evangelical songs like Robin Mark’s Days of Elijah.

And there are chords to some traditional, non-Messianic Jewish songs, like Am Yisrael Chai, as well as chords for a few songs from various Jewish artists like Yosef Karduner and Shlomo Carlebach, and others.

I guess such is the life of a Messianic: savoring the good from both Christian and Jewish worlds.

But a vast majority of the music chords you find here is authentic Messianic: from classics like Lamb’s Yerushalayim Descending and Israel’s Hope – Oh Give Thanks, all the way to fresh stuff from Joel Chernoff, Meha Shamayim, Avner & Rachel Boskey, Paul Wilbur, Steve McConnell, and many others.

Nerd Notes

As it stands, the chords are mostly in .doc, .docx .rtf, and .pdf formats. That means you need Adobe Reader or Microsoft Office to open the documents. I’m considering migrating to plain old HTML files in the future. We’ll see.

Also, I’m still trying to transfer all of my chord sheets from paper to digital; not everything’s up there yet. As I progress in going all-digital, I’ll continually be updating the Messianic music guitar chords page with the new bits.

Enjoy!

Judaism’s Alien Conversion Program

Sounds like something straight out of X-Files! [cue haunting X-Files theme song]

I was sitting down to make a new installment of the Greatest Commandments hierarchy project this week, reviewing the commandments added by Kineti reader Nathan Tuggy.

(Nathan, by the way, is a rockstar programmer.)

I sat down and reviewed commandment #14:

And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt.

-Deuteronomy 10:19 (10:20 in Hebrew bibles)

Now, before I tell you how Judaism interprets this commandment, answer to youself, “what does this mean?” Yep. Go for a Joe Shmo’s simpleton interpretation for a moment.

Really. Answer it. Then scroll down.

…

 

..

 

…

Did you answer it? Good.

Now here’s a prevailing interpretation of this commandment in Judaism:

“Be kind to the convert.”

Yep. Maimonides and other great and respected sages of Judaism claims this commandment means “be kind to the convert”.

Hrmmm.

If “alien” (or “sojourner” in some texts) is to mean “convert”, a literal reading would go like this:

And you are to love those who are [converts], for you yourselves were [converts] in Egypt.

It becomes a non-sequitur.

I know it is popular in Messianic Judaism to respect mainstream Judaism as an “essential point of reference”, and I am really hesitant to buck mainstream interpretation in favor of Joe Shmo’s plain English interpretation, but after having read some commentary and investigating several different translations, I think this is one of those times where Judaism’s traditional interpretation might just have it wrong here.

Maybe I’m missing something. Any comments from you fine blog readers?

The Time of Our Rejoicing

Sukkot has come – halleluyah!

Sukkot, also called the Feast of Booths of Feast of Tabernacles, is called the “time of our rejoicing”, and rightfully so: it is a time for us to look forward to its fulfillment in Messiah, when God tabernacles – dwells – with His people. The last chapter in the Bible paints the awesome picture:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

The prophet Zechariah prophesies that, in the coming Messianic Age, all nations – even the crazy gentiles – will be divinely invited mandated (ahem) to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles with Messiah King:

Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south.

On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost. It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.

On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.

The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

Jerusalem will be raised up and remain in its place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the First Gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the royal winepresses.  It will be inhabited; never again will it be destroyed. Jerusalem will be secure.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

What’s more, a number of scholars have suggested that the Feast of Tabernacles is when Messiah was born, thus explaining the large crowds and that there were no rooms available when Yeshua was born.

And how fitting that would be, yeah? Immanuel (“God with us”) being born on the Feast of Tabernacles, when God will dwell with us.

Happy Feast of Sukkot! It’s a week-long feast, with rest commanded for the first and last days of the feast. Later this week, as part of our commandment hierarchy mapping project, we’ll blog about Sukkot-specific commandments.

As a little Sukkot gift to you, fine blog readers, please enjoy the following Messianic music from Steve McConnell, where he puts a traditional Jewish sukkot prayer to a joyful praise song:

Proverb of Peace

Rash language cuts and maims,
   but there is healing in the words of the wise.

Truth lasts;
   lies are here today, gone tomorrow.

Evil scheming distorts the schemer;
   peace-planning brings joy to the planner.

My son and I read Proverbs together before his bedtime. I ran into the above proverb the other night. I’m not big on inspirational snippets, but hey, there are times when you need a word of encouragement.

So preach it, King Solomon. :-)

I’m a starstruck Messianic

I'm sporting a big grin today. I went to Minnesota’s big MJAA Messianic synagogue last night for Sukkot and for…Joel Chernoff!

Joel is the original Messianic music pioneer – he and Rick Coghill started the music group “Lamb” back in the early 1970s. He now works for the MJAA and runs a massive charity organization that helps the poor and needy in Israel. He’s done his share of work for the Lord, and then some.

I grew up listening to Lamb, old favorites like the beautiful worship song Break Forth in Joy, the forward-looking Yerushalayim Descending, the ‘80s anthem He Is Messiah, and so many others have inspired me and helped me through tough times in my life.

I even learned the guitar so that I could play Lamb songs. The first song I played was Lamb’s Baruch HaShem. And today, I am now playing music for our shabbat Bible study, passing on the blessings of Lamb music onto others. 😊

Needless to say, it made my night – made my month, actually – to meet Joel in person. After a little chat, I asked him a favor: “Joel, mind if I’d get a picture with you?”

“Ah, sure thing.”, he says.

And with a click of my poor-quality camera phone, this Messianic music lover was on Cloud 9: