Day 2 We and our fathers have sinned.

According to Andrew White, author of Father Forgive , page 66, Ignatius of Antioch wrote that  anyone who eats the Passover with the Jews was in league with those responsible for killing Jesus. In letters to several Christian communities, Ignatius refers to Jews in a very derogatory way, at one point declaring it is “monstrous to talk of Jesus Christ and to practice Judaism” (To the Magnesians 10:3).

Since we are focusing these 40 days on attitudes, we choose to forgive our forefathers for their failings and search our lives to see where we have used our tongues (or pens) to “set on fire the course of hell.”  Like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, we humbly approach God to beseech Him to forgive us and change us as a people.

Father, today, on Day 2, we ask you to forgive us and our forefathers for lack of understanding Your word, for lack of understanding the height and width and depth of Your love and Your kingdom, and for failing to ask You for the grace to extend it to our neighbors.

Forgive us, Abba, for counting Your feasts a “strange thing.”

In addition, we ask You to heal the wounds of the Jewish people that we have caused and to help us to unite as brothers. Abba, we ask You to forgive those whose tongues were weapons against the Jews and those who believed their hurtful words. Forgive us where we have made proclamations that did not align with Scripture and where our words have been arrows and darts that caused great harm.  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.  (Psalm 19:14)

Related Scripture:

[Exo 12:47-50 ESV]  47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.” 50 All the people of Israel did just as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.

[1Co 5:7-8 ESV] 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

[Eph 2:11-13 ESV] 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands– 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

[Jhn 20:22-23 ESV] 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

[Hos 8:11-12 ESV] 11 Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning. 12 Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.

[Jas 3:5-6 ESV] 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

[Ezr 9:7 ESV] 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

[Neh 9:16-17 ESV] 16 “But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

[Dan 9:8 ESV] 8 To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

 

We and our fathers have sinned.

It’s been quite a while since I sat down with the intent to create a blog post.  Carpal tunnel syndrome threatened, a sure sign that I needed a break.  I forsook Facebook and focused on prayer and the Scripture. What compelled me to open this page and begin to write was THE LIST that I received about a week before the 9^th of Av, which in 2018 fell on July 21.

Chai Sarah [Life of Sarah] 2015

Torah Portion: Genesis 23:1 through Gen 25:18
Haftarah: 1Kings 1:1-31, 46
New Testament: Mat. 13: 24-50, John 4:35, Heb 11:6-19, Heb 13:6

Though our portion this week is entitled “Life of Sarah,” it curiously records both her’s and Abraham’s death, though, in actuality, he lives another 38 years. Scripture inserts the death of the saints in the narrative when their mission is complete. Like Noah and Shem before him, Abraham remains alive in the background to influence and intercede for his descendants.

Vayera [ and He Appeared] 2015

Torah Portion: Genesis 18:1 through Gen 22:24
Haftarah: 2 Kings 4:1-37
New Testament: Acts 7:2-3, John 8:28-59, Jude 1:1-8, James 1:2-6

Returning to our quest to understand what caused God to passionately pursue Abraham. Thus far, we note the following:

VAYISHLACH – AND HE SENT

Torah Portion: Genesis 32:4 through Genesis 36:43
Haftarah: Hosea 11:7 through Hosea 12:12 or Obadiah 1:1-21
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Rev 7:1-7

Jacob and his family return to his father’s house.

This week we will see Jacob return to the land of Israel after an absence of 34 years.  Fourteen of these years are unaccounted for in Scripture and the sages of Israel surmise they were wisely spent in Eber’s house of study.  The remaining 20 years were spent in toil in Laban’s house, where Jacob’s children were born in the midst of fierce competition between his wives.  Sage Iben Ezra estimates Reuben to be 12 years of age at the time of Jacob’s departure for Israel.  Jacob’s return to the land portends much for the return of his children at the end of days.

Vayetse – and he left

Torah Portion: Genesis 28:10 through Genesis 32:3
Haftarah: Hosea 12:13 through Hosea 14:10
New Testament: Mat 21:42, Mat 27:57 through Mat 28:6, Luke 1:33, John 1:45-51

Rebecca Instructs Jacob to go to her brother Laban for safety.

Last week, in Toldot, after falling into Rebekah’s snare, Jacob was forced to flee for his life from his brother, Esau.  Before sending him away, Isaac granted the blessing intended for Jacob all along.

Toldot – Generations

Torah Portion: Genesis 25:19 through Genesis 28:9
Haftarah: Malachi 1:1-2:7
New Testament: Mat 25:31-46, James 3:6

Meeting of Isaac and Rebecca, by Friedrich Bouterwek (1841) – Rebekah will fall off that camel any minute!

We ended last week with a glorious love story. Abraham’s servant found the perfect bride for Isaac and she readily agreed to “come out from among them and be ye separate.”  (2 Co 6:17)  Rebekah fell off her camel when she caught sight of her betrothed and, as soon as the bride made herself ready, the captivated Isaac ushered the beautiful virgin into Sarah’s tent and made her his wife.  It was then that he loved her and was comforted after Sarah’s death.  However, it soon became clear that, like Abraham and Sarah, the couple would struggle with infertility.