Absorption Rate
Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one who keeps the sabbath and does not profane it, and all who hold fast to my covenant; Isaiah 56:6 (Hebrew World)
Sons of the stranger – Perhaps we should start with the next verse, Isaiah 56:7. God promises to bring all these people to His holy mountain, to make them joyful in the house of prayer, to accept their worship. In fact, this next verse contains the famous phrase, “My house shall be called a House of Prayer for all people.” We are familiar with this phrase on the lips of Yeshua as He disrupts the commercialism in the Temple. But maybe we’re not quite as familiar with the first part of this theme – the part that exhorts the sons of the stranger to join Israel in obedience to YHWH. If “My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all people,” then all people including those who are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel will need to take on the obligations of serving Him, loving Him and keeping the Sabbath.
“Sons of the stranger” is oov’nei ha-nekar. These are Gentiles who have become part of Israel, outsiders who have joined themselves to YHWH. Most of us are oov’nei ha-nekar. What characterizes the oov’nei ha-nekar? They serve YHWH. They love YHWH. And they honor the Sabbath. Isn’t it odd that this requirement is spelled out? Why didn’t YHWH say, “and they keep the ten commandments,” or “and they show love to each other,” or “and they love their neighbors as they love themselves”? Why emphasize the Sabbath? After all, it’s only a day.
If honoring the Sabbath is an essential part of participating in the House of Prayer for all nations, then most Christians have a problem. Most Christians do not honor the Sabbath. There are a myriad of excuses. “One day is as good as any other.” “Sunday is the Christian Sabbath.” “Jesus rose on the first day of the week.” I am sure you can add a few more. But how do we get past God’s statement in Isaiah? The sons of the strangers are accepted when they adopt the ways of Israel, including keeping the Sabbath. You might want to do a little research on Sunday worship. You might want to know when and how the Church became a Sunday community. One thing is clear. God established the Sabbath, the seventh day, not the first. The only way the Christian Church can circumvent this divine ordinance is to argue that the Sabbath is for Israel, not the Church. But then what do we do with oov’nei ha-nekar?
Christians love Matthew 21:13. They put emphasis on the fact that Yeshua declared God’s Temple open to Gentiles. Christians are adamant that Yeshua and Sha’ul had a message for foreigners, the oov’nei ha-nekar. But the message of Yeshua and Sha’ul is much older than the first century AD. God Himself proclaims this message at least as far back as Abraham. The sons of foreigners are welcome. Come and join the household of YHWH. Be absorbed into His kingdom. Serve Him. Love Him. Keep His Sabbath. And have peace.
Topical Index: oov’nei ha-nekar, sons of strangers, Sabbath, Isaiah 56:6, Matthew 21:13
“keeps the sabbath and does not profane it.
Many of us grew up with Sunday trading laws (i.e. no trading) and “no work or play” rules at home. Our Sunday was spent at church – twice for service and maybe the afternoon for Sunday School. These were attempts to apply Sabbath principles to the wrong day of the week.
But . . . the Sabbath is not confined to the Sabbath Day, and Sabbath Year – Shmita – is also a requirement. Why this is excluded from Sabbath teaching in most places is still a mystery, but many older universities to this day still give their professor a sabbath — a year on full pay and no teaching. They are usually required to write and get published, do visit lecturing, etc. The Sabbath year was a test of faith: Will YHWH really provide sufficient in the sixth year, to keep me years 7 (rest), 8 (replant), and into 9 (next harvest)? City dwellers don’t have this problem: the supermarket always has produce from somewhere in the world. But Israel’s period of captivity was determined by its failure to keep Shmita – Sabbath Year (2 Chron. 36:20f).
And then the Sabbath of Sabbaths — the Jubilee, or Yovel — which no one even tries to implement because of the thorny question of property rights. Having abandoned family for the individual, there is no need to hold a Jubilee because in the intervening 49 years, the land may have be been sold many times to another individual — not rented or leased, to be returned in the Jubilee to the owning family. Jubilee required a double Shmita – 2 years with no work or production — a real test of faith, and appears to be played out in the interaction between YHWH, Hezekiah and Sennacherib in 2 Kings 19:20ff).
Skip is right on emphasizing the importance of Sabbath. The problem for the rest of us is how do we structure our lives to be able to keep Sabbath in its entirety. The problems are economic: how will you be able to save enough money to live a whole year without work? Taxation levels, which currently exceed biblical standards by a huge portion, are an economic drain on the family, and help make Sabbath difficult, but not necessarily impossible.
This issue just goes to highlight that Sabbath does not exist in isolation to other Torah requirements. And somehow it seems necessary to include other Torah requirements to make Sabbath fully possible.
Thank You Ian!
Yes, ditto, thank you Ian. How true your last paragraph.
This issue just goes to highlight that Sabbath does not exist in isolation to other Torah requirements. And somehow it seems necessary to include other Torah requirements to make Sabbath fully possible.
“Instead, continue to encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, (Hebrews 3.15)
For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.” (Psalm 95:10)
“He revealed his character to Moses and his deeds to the people of Israel.” (Psalm 103.7)
Do we know G-d’s character? If we were to describe Him, what words would be appropriate? – None but His own. We have before us the “self-revelation”, the unveiling of Elohim, written for us in an ancient book, our own Bible. G-d’s word and the words of Elohim contained within His book are vital and crucial for our very survival and fitness for duty. How are we to know G-d except through the words He has given unto us for our daily bread and sustenance?
Let us try and imagine life as we know it without the word(s) of the our Elohim. It would be the Animal Planet and chaos and confusion would reign as it does in the lives of so many who do not know this Book or the will of G-d contained and revealed within it.
We recently have been discussing the requirements for a successful witness. It takes two. We have what it takes. We have the written word, the Torah of YHWH and we also have the Living Word, the LORD Jesus/Yeshua, (who is the) Christ, the Annointed, the Living Word or the Word incarnated into our heart,souls, minds and strengths. These are our two witnesses,the written word and the living word.
There is little to say about a Day or about Diet, because neither of these are needful. We can eat massive quantities of Twinkies and Ho-Ho’s and still be a Christian,- we will just be- rather “puffed up” at the end of it all and might even do bodily harm to G-d’s own temple. Diet is for my benefit and G-d “commands” that I “eat that which is good” and let my soul delight itself in fatness, again for my own physcial benefit. I don’t wan’t to digress into the “meat offered unto idols thing”, some early Christians were probably attempting to find a good deal on some cheap baloney.
This past Sabbath day- I witnessed some Jews (I live in a “kosher” neighborhood) walking to the synagogue. I wasn’t too worried about what they ate for breakfast that day- I was more concerned about whether or not they knew the Messiah. Anytime I see someone wearing a yarmulke, this is my heart’s desire toward them- do they know their own Savior and Redeemer?
Am I worshiping G-d today? Or do I need to wait for the weekend? – There is a Sabbath-rest that remains for the people of G-d. Is this “rest” available on a Monday?
To answer your question Carl, I do not know. However, my question to Skip is; How can some of us not schooled in the Hebrew scriptures know how to keep the Sabbath as required. For about five years now I have always had the longing to be part ofa Jewish worship center so as to learn everything I need to know about this faith I have embraced. But, it is not materializing for me. Is there any other way that I can learn the how to of this practice the right way.
Thanks for your understanding and help.
Start your own Sabbath observance. Order Bob Gorelik’s guide (www.eshavbooks.org) to the Sabbath. It’s simple, easy and gentle. Then invite other to join you who are also hungry for more. Read Abraham Heschel’s book The Sabbath to get a view of the depth of this ritual. Tell us where you live and we will see if there is someone else nearby.
I am learning that in regards to observing sabbath it’s not just about keeping it on the 7th day of the week, but is about preparing for it beginning on the 1st day if the week. One cannot keep what one is not prepared for. Much of my sabbath struggle – economic and otherwise – is because I failed to prepare. In Exodus we’re told Israel did not recognize the “day of visitation” into the Promise Land for they were not prepared. The commentary in Hebrews makes the same point in regards to those who were not permitted to enter the rest of the LORD. Yeshua’s parable about the virgins awaiting the wedding hour shows 50% of them were not prepared. It’s not that they didn’t know to prepare or how to prepare. It’s because they chose not to prepare.
How many Jordan River visits does it take for a nation to enter the Creator’s promise? How many sabbaths have to pass before we realize they come every 7 days? How many times must the Inspector General show before we’re ready to be His army?
Roderick- it has been said (and rightly so..) “Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.” G-d has been “hammering” me lately with the idea of “preparation.” Prayer at the beginning of each new day is preparation for the day yet to be. Our early morning “quiet time” is to be a time of preparation, a “tune-up” for us to get up, wash up, clean up, look up, and prepare our hearts and minds to serve our Savior in our daily lives, no matter if we are a preacher,a painter, a poet or a plumber. Each of us (and all of us) are to “avad” the LORD our G-d with all of our hearts, souls, (collective) minds and strengths. Our Bible the word(s) of G-d enjoins us: “let all the people praise you..” “If only” we could live this way..The question following is this: “why can’t we “bless the LORD?” What is preventing us from doing so? Is this G-d’s will that we praise Him? No stutter or stammer on my part..-it is absolutely His will and good pleasure. “Let all the people praise You” (find this in your Bible and come back and answer this: “What is the “rest of the story?” What happens when G-d’s children praise Him? What happened,- what occurred when Paul and Silas “gave unto the LORD the glory due His name?” When it was midnight, when their feet and hands were bound, when they were captives inside a Philippian jail? Do we wish to be “Torah obedient” followers of the Way? Do we see these as our instructions from our Father or the “commands of Elohim?” “Give unto the LORD the glory due His name..” “Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness?..” Have we spent quality time with the ONE who is worthy this morning?
“This is the day which the LORD has made-I will rejoice and be glad in it..” “Rejoice in the LORD always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
When we praise Him and remember and bless His name- it is for and to our benefit and well-being. If we would learn to live within the confines (the fence) of Philippians 4.8 and purposefully,intentionally, bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and give Him our “focused attention” (as per instructions) and prepare our hearts every day to “seek first the kingdom of G-d”- would this be pleasing to our ABBA and would He empower and enable us through the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh to do so, and to live this way? Verily,verily, according to His word,- He would (and does!).