Roots of Faith

For this week’s lesson on the Torah Portion Yithro, I chose as my title “The Fire and the Un-named Feast”.

Fire is a key theme in this week’s lesson as both the Torah Reading and the Prophets have much to do with fire as will be illustrated below.

In Exodus 5:1 and 10:9 there is mention of a feast, but the name is not given. In 5:1, Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh and tell him, “thus saith the LORD - Let me people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” 

What feast?  Exodus 10:9 has Moses telling Pharaoh that all of Israel will go, “for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
In Exodus 19:16-20 we read the incredible events that transpired when the children of Israel met with God at Horeb for this “feast“.  In this lesson I describe this awesome event, and blow the shofar (the ram’s horn trumpet) to make the point more real.
 
In Exodus 3:1-4 we find that when Moses first meets the God of his fathers he gets a micro version of what the entire nation will see.  He hears the voice of God in the midst of fire.  After the events described in the Giving of the Law from Sinai - Moses recounts the story in Deuteronomy 4:32-40.  Again in 5:1-5 he mentions this fire. You should read these passages!

The result of this encounter is stated in Moses’ final words to Israel when he tells us that God’s hand delivered an “esh dat” - a FIRE law (Deuteronomy 33:1-2).

The feast - the encounter that produced this “fire law” took place 50 days after Pesach.  On the 50th day, God issued the fire law that would later be written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18 and Deuteronomy 9:10).

The rabbis say that when God spoke these words to those present, his voice divided into the 70 languages of the world.

I am trying to give you some clues as to the identity of the un-named feast.  Namely, 1) divided tongues, 2) fire, 3) the 50th day. 

The Greek word for fiftieth by the way is Pentecost. Perhaps with this information we are in a better position to understand Acts chapter 2!

One day the curse of Genesis 11 at the building of the tower of Babel will be reversed when humanity is mature enough.  Zephaniah 3:9 says that one day all people will be converted to a pure lip so that they can call upon the LORD.

Here are some stats on languages in the world today that I found on the internet:
*There are approximately 6,912 languages on earth today
*Only 426 of them have a translation of the Hebrew Bible
*2,426 have a portion of the Biblical revelation (Hebrew Bible, Christian Scriptures, etc)
*1,144 have a translation of the NT
*This means that about 300,000,000 people on the planet today have no portion of the Bible in their native language

The “testimony of Yehovah” contains 620 Hebrew letters.  The rabbis suggest that this points to the universal importance of the “Laws of God”.  613 for Israel and 7 for the Gentiles being hinted at in the perfect number of 620 total letters in the Ten Commandments code”.

The purpose of the people hearing God speak to Moses was for something quite specific.  In Exodus 19:9 we learn that the reason for this was so that the people would “believe Moses forever!” Remember, Moses had complained earlier (Exodus 4:1) that the people would not believe him.  Sadly, I point out, people do not believe Moses to this day.
 
The final word from the ancient prophets of Israel is found in Malachi 4:4 (English Bible); 3:12 in Hebrew tells us to remember the Torah of Moses.  This should give us pause as we tend to NOT remember the things that God tells us to remember.  Consider the Sabbath!!

After the reading of the Law and Prophets I focus on a single word in the 10 commandments.  It occurs 4 times in 2 verses and according to Yeshua it equals 1/2 of an equation that leads to eternal life!  The word is found in Exodus 20:13-14.  NEIGHBOR

Who is my neighbor? And what does proper treatment of my neighbor have to do with eternal life?
The New Covenant predicted by Jeremiah foretells of a day when it will no longer be necessary for a man to teach his “neighbor” saying KNOW YEHOVAH, for they will all know him from the least to the greatest (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

I talk about the essence of the fire law being love - LOVE God and LOVE your neighbor.  I quote Jesus, and Paul (Romans 13:8-10, Galatians 5:14), and James (2:8) where love of neighbor is referred to as the Royal law.

I encourage you to check out this week’s class.

Please listen to Part One and Two in order to get the entire message. 

 

 Yithro - Intro Part One [27:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Yithro - Intro Part Two [27:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Yithro - Reading [20:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Yithro - Comments [33:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download