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Iyyar 1, 5763 /
May 3, 2003
Iyyar 1, 5766 / Apr 29, 2006
Iyyar 1, 5769 / Apr 25, 2009
Rosh Hodesh Iyyar
Nisan 29, 5772 / Apr 21, 2012
Nisan 29, 5775 / Apr 18, 2015
Nisan 29, 5778 / Apr 14, 2018 The
fourteenth day of the Omer.
Nisan 28, 5781 / Apr 10, 2021
Vatdaber Miryam vAharon
/ Miriam and
Aaron spoke
SCRIPTURES should be read first
Basis from
Leviticus 14: A slanderer whom God has
under the discipline of the disease tzaraat is called a metzora
(both words being from the root tzara – one who spreads slander).
Tzaraat is a state of spiritual impurity (tumah), with physical
manifestations: no other impurity takes effect upon the declaration of a priest,
and no other impurity can be temporarily ignored as a matter of convenience,
such as for a wedding or festival. Only a metzora is excluded from the
entire camp, and contaminates everything in a building he enters. (Note that
tozia ra (slander) may be true or false.)
Leviticus 13 is
concerned with the diagnosis and discipline of the metzora – the one who
is stricken for slander. Leviticus 14 deals with the healing and return of the
niddah – the quarantined slanderer, who repents.
When God heals
him, he must go through an eight-day two-stage process of purification. A priest
who is himself a niddah – one who is quarantined as a metzora – is
not eligible to rule on a healing, since the Torah requires that the priest who
rules must go out of the camp to rule.
The root cause
of the sinner’s gossip or slander is haughtiness – contempt for others. His
purification therefore symbolically displays his repentance, going from
haughtiness to humility.
The first stage
of involves a ritual with two birds, performed outside the camp, after which he
could enter the camp. Because the punishment came for gossip and slander,
twittering, chirping birds are used in the ritual as symbols. The slaughter is
not a karban – offering. The birds must be of a kosher kind, but
not of those species that may be used for offerings.
The tall, wide
cedar tree symbolizes haughtiness. Crimson dye comes from a small creature whose
identity is uncertain, showing lowliness; likewise, thyme (often translated
hyssop) is a lowly plant.
As the gossip /
slanderer has “slain” his victims, with his words of life-destruction running
far and wide. So now the better of two birds must be slain, its life-blood being
spread with water.
A sprig of the
small thyme plant is tied with a scarlet thread to a large cedar board. {Sample
presented} They are dipped into the bloody water. The live bird is also dipped
into the blood, and then thrown to freedom over the open field: the death-cry of
the blood is carried far. The slaughtered bird is buried after the ritual.
The healed
metzora is sprinkled seven times with the blood, and then must go to a
mikvah (baptistery) and put on clean clothes. He is afterward allowed into
the camp, but may not go into his house (he may not cohabit with his wife) until
his cleansing is completed seven days later.
The final stage
of his purification, on the eighth day, requires an unusual three atonements:
two male lambs, plus a ewe lamb. The third offering, a guilt offering, is
brought by someone who has used something dedicated to God – stolen from the
Temple; the implication is that the slanderer has robbed God.
Setting:
Aaron is Moses’ brother, and Miriam is his
sister: they are all Levites (Exodus 2:1, 4:14, 15:20). Moses was married to a
Cushite woman (“The sons of Ham were Cush and . . . Cush became the father of
Nimrod” – Gen 10:6-8).
“So Yahweh
said to Moses: ‘Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know
to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the
tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down
and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put
the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that
you may not bear it yourself alone’ ” --
Numbers 11:16-17.
Preface:
“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” –
1 Corinthians 10:11.
Numbers 12
(V.1) “Then
Miriam (a prophetess – Ex 15:20) and Aaron spoke against Moses because of
the Cushite woman whom he had married; . . . and they said, ‘Has Yahweh indeed
spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?’ And Yahweh
heard it.”
(V.3) Now Moses
was very humble, and did not defend himself. However, Yahweh defended him!
Without warning, Yahweh said to the three siblings, “You three come out to
the tent of meeting.” Then Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud, and
standing at the doorway of the Tabernacle, called Aaron and Miriam out before
Him.
(V.6) Then He
said to them, “Hear now My words: if there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh,
shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.
Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; with him I
speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the
form of Yahweh. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant,
against Moses?”
(V.10) When
Yahweh left, “behold, Miriam was a metzora, as white as snow.
As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was a metzora. Then Aaron said
to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we
have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. Oh, do not let her be like one
dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother's womb!’ And
Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, ‘O God, heal her, I pray!’ But Yahweh
said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her
shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and
afterward she may be received again.’
(V.15) So
Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move
on until Miriam was received again.
Psalm 104
(v.19)
Interestingly, on this Rosh Hodesh (Head of the Month), the Psalm says, “He
made the moon for seasons”.
(V.13) As
though speaking of this time of wandering in the Wilderness, when the people
were to be growing in faith, this Psalm speaks of God’s provision. “He waters
the mountains from His upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of
His works. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the
labor of man, so that he may bring forth food from the earth, and wine which
makes man's heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food
which sustains man's heart.”
(V.32) And, as
though looking forward to the time of the full count of the fiftieth day, it
says, “He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and
they smoke.”
(V.31) And,
befitting the situation of testing in the wilderness, this Psalm speaks of those
who will learn, and those who will continue to defy God. “Let the glory of
Yahweh endure forever; let Yahweh be glad in His works; I will sing to Yahweh as
long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Let my
meditation be pleasing to Him; as for me, I shall be glad in Yahweh. Let sinners
be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless Yahweh, O my
soul. Praise Yahweh!”
Romans 11:22
– 13:4
(V.22) Paul says
exactly the same thing as the Torah portion and Psalm. “Behold then the
kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's
kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.”
[(V.23)
Parenthetically, the Torah portion concerns natural-born Hebrews and those of
the nations that followed them, basically as one group. But Paul is here
considering gentiles in contrast to natural-born Hebrews. “And they also, if
they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to
graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive
tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much
more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive
tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest
you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to
Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will
be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will
remove ungodliness from Jacob.’ ”]
(V.12:1) Back to
the main theme, Paul says, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what
the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Many
professing Christians today speak and act as though their intuition were the
Holy Spirit: whatever ‘feels right’ to them is taken to be truth or righteous
acts (because they “have the Holy Spirit”). But God is teaching us here to have
our fallen minds transformed. We must learn His Word, and have our thinking made
in conformance to it.
(V.6) Firstly,
we are taught to exercise the gifts that God has given us, whether teaching or
serving or giving, etc. Then, we are taught, in exercising these gifts, to put
the welfare of others ahead of our own! This world teaches us differently, to
climb on the backs of others to gain our own wealth. “And since we have gifts
that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them
accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service,
in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his
exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who
shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is
evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give
preference to one another in honor”
(V.13:1) In
remembrance of Miriam, we are taught to be in subjection to those whom God has
placed in positions of authority. Obviously, we are not to do things contrary to
God’s commands, even if an authority figure requires such; but that is not an
excuse for disobedience to whatever rules don’t fit our feelings.
Readings:
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who chose us from among all peoples by
giving us Your Torah.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the
Torah."
Preface: “Now all these things happened
to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the ages have come” – 1 Corinthians 10:11.
Setting: “So Yahweh said to Moses:
‘Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the
elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of
meeting, that they may stand there with you. Then I will come down and talk with
you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon
them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not
bear it yourself alone’ ” -- Num 11:16-17.
Reader 1*
Amen. 1 Then Miriam
(the prophetess, Aaron's sister – Ex 15:20) and Aaron (Moses’ brother
Aaron the Levite -- Ex 4:14) spoke against Moses because of the
Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman) (And
the sons of Ham were Cush and . . . Cush became the father of Nimrod; -- Gen
10:6-8); 2 and they said, "Has Yahweh indeed spoken only through
Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?" And Yahweh heard it. 3
(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the
earth.)
Reader 2*
Amen. 4 Suddenly Yahweh
said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of
meeting." So the three of them came out. 5 Then Yahweh came down in a
pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and
Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said, "Hear now My
words: If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, shall make Myself known to
him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 "Not so, with
My servant Moses, he is faithful in all My household; 8 with him I
speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the
form of Yahweh. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant,
against Moses?"
Reader 3*
Amen. 9 So the anger of
Yahweh burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had
withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was a
metzora, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she
was a metzora. 11 Then Aaron
said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which
we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 "Oh, do not
let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his
mother's womb!"
Reader 4*
Amen. 13 Moses cried out
to Yahweh, saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!" 14 But Yahweh said to
Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for
seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward
she may be received again." 15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp
for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.
16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped
in the wilderness of Paran.
Torah of the Metzora
(chastisement for slander)
Leviticus 14:1 Then Yahweh
spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "This shall be the torah of the metzora
in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, 3
and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall
look, and if the infection of tzaraat has been healed in the metzora,
4 then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and
cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.
5 "The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an
earthenware vessel over running water. 6 "As for the live bird, he
shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the
hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was
slain over the running water. 7 "He shall then sprinkle seven times
the one who is to be cleansed from the tzaraat and shall pronounce him
clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field. 8
"The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair
and bathe in water and be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he
shall stay outside his tent for seven days. 9 "It will be on the
seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and
his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes
and bathe his body in water and be clean. 10 "Now on the eighth day
he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without
defect, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain
offering, and one log of oil; 11 and the priest who pronounces him
clean shall present the man to be cleansed and the aforesaid before Yahweh at
the doorway of the tent of meeting. 12 "Then the priest shall take
the one male lamb and bring it for a guilt offering, with the log of oil, and
present them as a wave offering before Yahweh. 13 "Next he shall
slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and
the elevation offering, at the place of the sanctuary – for the guilt offering,
like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. 14
"The priest shall then take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the
priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and
on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 15
"The priest shall also take some of the log of oil, and pour it into his left
palm; 16 the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil
that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven
times before Yahweh. 17 "Of the remaining oil which is in his palm,
the priest shall put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed, and
on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the
blood of the guilt offering; 18 while the rest of the oil that is in
the priest's palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the
priest shall make atonement on his behalf before Yahweh. 19 "The
priest shall next offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be
cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the elevation
offering. 20 "The priest shall offer up the elevation offering and
the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him,
and he will be clean.
"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who in giving us Yeshua, the Living
Torah, has planted everlasting life in our midst.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the
Torah."
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"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King
of the Universe,
Who selected good prophets, delighting
in their words which were spoken truthfully.
Blessed are You, Yahweh, Who chose the
Torah, Your servant Moses, Your people Israel,
and the prophets of truth and
righteousness."
Psalm 104
(To be sung.)
1 Bless Yahweh, O my soul! O
Yahweh my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2 covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, stretching out heaven
like a tent curtain. 3 He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the
waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind;
4 He makes the winds His messengers, flaming fire His ministers.
5 He established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not
totter forever and ever. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a
garment; the waters were standing above the mountains. 7 At Your
rebuke they fled, at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. 8
The mountains rose; the valleys sank down to the place which You established for
them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass over, so that they
will not return to cover the earth. 10 He sends forth springs in the
valleys; they flow between the mountains; 11 they give drink to every
beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside
them the birds of the heavens dwell; they lift up their voices among the
branches. 13 He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; the
earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. 14 He causes the
grass to grow for the cattle, and vegetation for the labor of man, so that he
may bring forth food from the earth, 15 and wine which makes man's
heart glad, so that he may make his face glisten with oil, and food which
sustains man's heart. 16 The trees of Yahweh drink their fill, the
cedars of Lebanon which He planted, 17 where the birds build their
nests, and the stork, whose home is the fir trees. 18 The high
mountains are for the wild goats; the cliffs are a refuge for the shephanim.
19 He made the moon for the seasons; the sun knows the place of its
setting. 20 You appoint darkness and it becomes night, in which all
the beasts of the forest prowl about. 21 The young lions roar after
their prey and seek their food from God. 22 When the sun rises they
withdraw and lie down in their dens. 23 Man goes forth to his work
and to his labor until evening. 24 O Yahweh, how many are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your possessions. 25
There is the sea, great and broad, in which are swarms without number, animals
both small and great. 26 There the ships move along, and Leviathan,
which You have formed to sport in it. 27 They all wait for You to
give them their food in due season. 28 You give to them, they gather
it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good. 29 You hide
Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire and return
to their dust. 30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and
You renew the face of the ground. 31 Let the glory of Yahweh endure
forever; let Yahweh be glad in His works; 32 He looks at the earth,
and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33 I will
sing to Yahweh as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my
being. 34 Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; as for me, I shall be
glad in Yahweh. 35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth and let the
wicked be no more. Bless Yahweh, O my soul. Praise Yahweh!
Romans 11:22 – 13:4
Reader 5*
Amen. 22 Behold then the
kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's
kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be
grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you
were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary
to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the
natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do
not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-- so that you will not
be wise in your own estimation-- that a partial hardening has happened to Israel
until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel
will be saved; just as it is written, " The Deliverer will come from Zion, He
will remove ungodliness from Jacob. 27 And this is My covenant with
them, when I take away their sins." 28 From the standpoint of the
gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice
they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and
the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you once were
disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy
shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. 32 For God has shut up
all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. 33 Oh, the
depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the
mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first
given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36 For from Him
and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
12:1 Therefore I urge you,
brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy
sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect. 3 For through the grace given to me I say to
everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think;
but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure
of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the
members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one
body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we
have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to
exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his
faith; 7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his
teaching; 8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with
liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is
good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference
to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent
in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in
tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the
saints, practicing hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you;
bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep
with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do
not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own
estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what
is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it
depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own
revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "
Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. 20 "But if your
enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so
doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." 21 Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
13:1 Every person is to be in
subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from
God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore
whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have
opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are
not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear
of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4
for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be
afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God,
an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices
evil.
"Blessed are You, Yahweh
our God, King of the Universe,
Rock of Ages, righteous
throughout all generations.
You are the faithful God,
promising and then performing, speaking and then fulfilling,
for all Your words are true
and righteous.
Faithful are You, Yahweh
our God, and faithful are Your words,
for no word of Yours shall
remain unfulfilled;
You are a faithful and
merciful God and King.
Blessed are You, Yahweh our
God, Who are faithful in fulfilling all Your words."
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