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Iyyar 19, 5761 /
May 12, 2001
Iyyar 17, 5764 / May 8, 2004
Iyyar 17, 5767 / May 5, 2007
Iyyar 17, 5770 / May 1, 2010
Iyyar 17, 5773 / Apr 27, 2013
Iyyar 20, 5776 / May 28, 2016
Iyyar 20, 5779 / May 25, 2019
Iyyar 20, 5782 / May 21, 2022
“Blessed are You, Yahweh our God,
King of the Universe,
Who has
sanctified us by His Word, and instructed us to count the Omer.
Today is thirty-five days of the
Omer; it is five weeks of the Omer.”
Tze Min-hatvah / Go Out from the Ark
SCRIPTURES should be read first
“I endure all things for
the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which
is in Messiah Yeshua and with it eternal glory” (II Tim 2:10). Here we see Paul,
in the name of Yeshua as the antitype of Noah, enduring hardship for the sake of
God’s elect.
“Then God spoke to Noah,
(for him) to say*, ‘Go out of the ark’ ” (v.8:15-16). From Leviticus 1:1
(Talmud: Yoma 4a) we learn that if a man was told something by his neighbor, he
may not spread the news without being told *“L’amor”
– “Go to say it”.
“Bring out with you every
living thing” (v.8:17) meant “order them out”. That they “went out by their
families from the ark” (v.8:19) indicates that Noah let them out in an orderly
fashion, so that they would not injure one another, and so that they would be
with their own species.
Contrasting the command to
enter the ark, “you shall enter the ark –
you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives” (v.6:18),
with the command to go out from the ark, “Go out of the ark
– you and your wife
and your sons and your sons' wives” (v.8:15), we see the basis for the
rabbinic teaching that male and female were to be separated upon entering the
ark, and brought together upon leaving. It is further taught that they were
afraid to co-habit upon leaving the ark, “Noah
went out, and his sons and his
wife and his sons' wives” (v.8:18), until God commanded, "Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the earth” (v.9:1) and promised them and end to the terror,
“all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood” (v.9:9).
“Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of
every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the
altar; and Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma” (v.8:20-21). Since Noah left the
ark eight days before Shavuot (the Day of Firstfruits), this may be seen as a
Firstfruits offering. Shavuot requires several animal offerings (Leviticus
23:18-20). These offerings are always related to “Yahweh”, the merciful God who
desires life – dedicating the bearer to Godliness; they are never an appeasement
to a god of nature. The remaining remnant of the world would be thus dedicated –
betrothed to Messiah, if this were Shavuot.
18
“Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without
defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be an elevation
offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an
offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh. 19 You shall also
offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a
sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for
a wave offering with two lambs before Yahweh; they are to be holy to Yahweh for
the priest” – Leviticus 23:18-20).
After Adam ate of the
forbidden tree, Yahweh said to him, “cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles
it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat
of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it
you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (v.3:17-19). But
here Yahweh says, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man,
for the intent of man's heart is evil from his early life; and I will never
again destroy every living thing, as I have done. While the earth remains,
seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
night shall not cease” (v.8:21-22).
As we teach that man
inherits a sinful nature, so here we see that man’s heart is evil from the time
he is formed in the womb. Thus David says, “In sin did my mother conceive me”
(Psalm 51:5).
The earth was destroyed and renewed this once by
water; it will in the future be destroyed and renewed by fire (Revelation).
“Just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the
Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were
being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood
came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot:
they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they
were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom
it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just
the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30).
“Every moving thing that
is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant”
(v.9:3). Here God gave, for the first time, meat for food. As He gave plants
(v.1:30), though some were unfit for food, so He gave animals, the details of
clean and unclean being already understood by Noah. Note that meat was permitted
after Noah presented an elevation offering of clean animals: grain is permitted
to us only after its firstfruits are offered from each year’s crops.
Cruelty to animals was
prohibited, such as eating the flesh off a live animal (v.9:4).
Capital punishment was
commanded, and also taking the life of a beast that killed a man. But Yahweh
gave a gracious covenant that He would not destroy all mankind or animals,
signifying it with the rainbow.
“Behold, the former things
have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim
them to you” (Isaiah 42:9).
“O let the evil of the
wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous” (Psalm 7:9).
Noah did not leave the Ark
until God told him to do so, and likewise the Apostles did not leave Jerusalem
until God told them to do so. The Apostles, during the Feast of Pentecost
(Firstfruits)
at Jerusalem, proclaimed the Gospel in
the different languages of all the nations that were represented there. This was
a re-enactment of a Feast of Pentecost 1300 years earlier, when the Torah was
given in the languages of all the nations that were represented at Sinai. As the
Church in the Wilderness was to take the Torah from there to all the world, now
the Church at Jerusalem was to take the gospel to the whole world. The church
was not replaced, and the Torah was not replaced: both the messenger and the
message were continuations of the original.
Readings:
Reader 1*
Amen 15
Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 "Go out of the ark, you and your
wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 "Bring out with
you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on
the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18 So Noah
went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19
Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the
earth, went out by their families from the ark.
Reader 2*
Amen 20
Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and took of every clean animal and of every
clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 Yahweh
smelled the soothing aroma; and Yahweh said to Himself, "I will never again
curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from
his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.
22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."
Reader 3*
Amen 9:1
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth. 2 "The fear of you and the terror of you will be
on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that
creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are
given. 3 "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I
give all to you, as I gave the green plant.
Reader 4*
Amen 4
"Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5
"Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And
from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. 6
"Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of
God He made man.
Reader 5*
Amen 7
"As for you, be fruitful and multiply; populate the earth abundantly and
multiply in it." 8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him,
saying, 9 "Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you,
and with your descendants after you; 10 and with every living
creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth
with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
Reader 6*
Amen 11
"I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by
the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the
earth." 12 God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am
making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all
successive generations; 13 I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be
for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.
Reader 7*
Amen 14
"It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be
seen in the cloud, 15 and I will remember My covenant, which is
between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall
the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 "When the bow is in
the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant
between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."
17 And God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant which I have
established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth."
Isaiah 42:5-21
Reader 8*
Amen 5 Thus says El-Yahweh,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and its
offspring, Who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in
it, 6 "I am Yahweh, I have called you in righteousness, I will also
hold you by the hand and watch over you, and I will appoint you as a covenant to
the people, as a light to the nations,
7
to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell
in darkness from the prison. 8 "I am Yahweh, that is My name; I will
not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.
Reader 9*
Amen
9
"Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before
they spring forth I proclaim them to you." 10 Sing to Yahweh a new
song, sing His praise from the end of the earth! You who go down to the sea, and
all that is in it; you islands, and those who dwell on them. 11 Let
the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices, the settlements where Kedar
inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, let them shout for joy from
the tops of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to Yahweh and
declare His praise in the coastlands. 13 Yahweh will go forth like a
warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes,
He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies. 14 "I
have kept silent for a long time, I have kept still and restrained Myself. Now
like a woman in labor I will groan, I will both gasp and pant. 15 "I
will lay waste the mountains and hills and wither all their vegetation; I will
make the rivers into coastlands and dry up the ponds.
Reader 10*
Amen
16
"I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I
will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places
into plains. These are the things I will do, and I will not leave them undone."
17 They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame, who trust in
idols, who say to molten images, "You are our gods." 18 Hear, you
deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see. 19 Who is blind but My
servant, or so deaf as My messenger whom I send? Who is so blind as he that is
at peace with Me, or so blind as the servant of Yahweh? 20 You have
seen many things, but you do not observe them; your ears are open, but none
hears. 21 Yahweh was pleased for His righteousness' sake to make the
Torah great and glorious.
Psalm 7
(To be sung)
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to Yahweh concerning Cush, a
Benjamite.
O Yahweh my God, in
You I have taken refuge; save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,
2 or he will tear my soul like a lion, dragging me away, while there
is none to deliver. 3 O Yahweh my God, if I have done this, if there
is injustice in my hands, 4 if I have rewarded evil to my friend, or
have plundered him who without cause was my adversary, 5 let the
enemy pursue my soul and overtake it; and let him trample my life down to the
ground and lay my glory in the dust. Selah. 6 Arise, O Yahweh, in
Your anger; lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries, and arouse
Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment. 7 Let the assembly of
the peoples encompass You, and over them return on high. 8 Yahweh
judges the peoples; vindicate me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness and my
integrity that is in me. 9 O let the evil of the wicked come to an
end, but establish the righteous; for the righteous God tries the hearts and
minds. 10 My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
12 If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His
bow and made it ready. 13 He has also prepared for Himself deadly
weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts. 14 Behold, he travails
with wickedness, and he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. 15
He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, and has fallen into the hole which he
made. 16 His mischief will return upon his own head, and his violence
will descend upon his own pate. 17 I will give thanks to Yahweh
according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of Yahweh Most
High.
II Timothy 2:8-19
Reader 11*
Amen
8
Remember Yeshua the Messiah, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according
to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a
criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 10 For this reason I
endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may
obtain the salvation which is in Messiah Yeshua and with it eternal glory.
11 It is a trustworthy statement: for if we died with Him, we will also
live with Him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we
deny Him, He also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, He remains
faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. 14
Reader 12*
Amen
Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge
them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words, which is useless and
leads to the ruin of the hearers. 15 Be diligent to present yourself
approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately
handling the word of truth. 16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter,
for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will
spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men
who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already
taken place, and they upset the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless, the
firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "The Lord knows those who are
His," and, "Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from
wickedness."
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