Parshah 2 – Noach – Rest B’reshit (Genesis) 6:9-11:32 B’rit Chadashah Reading: Matthew 24:1-44; Acts 2:1-16; 1st Peter 3:8-22; 2nd Peter 1:3-2:22 Believers are not given knowledge that will allow us to predict the exact day of the return of Yeshua. Therefore, individuals who prophesy that Yeshua will return on a specific day are giving false prophecies. In fact, Yeshua was not even empowered with the ability to predict the specific day of His return. 36But when that day and hour will come, no one knows — not the angels in heaven, not the Son, only the Father. (Matthew 24:36) Believers do not know the exact day of the return of Yeshua. Not knowing requires us to live each day as if Yeshua will return today. Not being prepared led to the destruction of society during the time of Noah. 37For the coming of the Son of Man will be just as it was in the days of Noach. 38Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark; 39and they did not know what was happening until the Flood came and swept them all away. It will be just like that when the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 24:37-39) The people living around Noah continued to eat, drink, and live life as if nothing had changed. Despite the desire of society to ignore the signs, HASHEM was warning people of the impending destruction. In fact, the time required for Noah to build the ark was ample time for the world to repent. Unfortunately, only eight people acknowledged and acted on the warnings they received. 20to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water. (1 Peter 18:20) In a similar way, HASHEM will give warning signs to the generation that exists before the return of Yeshua. Some of the most obvious of the warning signs that occur before the return of Yeshua are false Messiahs, natural disasters, and wars. 5For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6You will hear the noise of wars nearby and the news of wars far off; see to it that you do not become frightened. Such things must happen, but the end is yet to come. 7For peoples will fight each other, nations will fight each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various parts of the world; (Matthew 24:5-7) Yeshua forewarns us about these signs so that we will be continuously prepared for his return. Unfortunately, the people living during the time of Noah did not heed the signs that HASHEM gave them. As a result, the judgment of the generation of Noah experienced was total destruction. To prepare ourselves and avoid perishing with the unrighteous, we must fully understand the comparison of Yeshua between the generation of Noah and the generation of His return. 11Now the earth had become corrupt before God; and the earth had been filled with robbery. 12And God saw the earth and behold it was corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. 13God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with robbery through them; and behold, I am about to destroy them from the earth. (B’reshit 6:11-13) In the generation of Noah, the earth was on a downward spiral of corruption. Before the return of Yeshua the world will also be in a downward spiral of corruption. Even the holy place of HASHEM will not be free from the corruption that exists. 14Let it be that the maiden to whom I shall say, ‘Please top over you jug so I may drink’, and who replies, ‘Drink and I will even water your camels,’ her will You have designated for Your servant, for Isaac; and may I know through her that You have done kindness to my master.” 15And is was when, he had not yet finished speaking that suddenly Rebecca was coming out — she who had been born to Bethuel the son of Milcah the wife of Nahor, brother of Abraham — with her jug upon her shoulder. (Matthew 24:14-15) The corruption that exists even infiltrates the temple and specifically the Holy place. This will grieve HASHEM, as He was grieved in the days of Noah. 6And HASHEM reconsidered having made Man on earth, and He had heartfelt sadness. (B’reshit 6:6) HASHEM may even regret the creation of humanity. The corruption leads to only one choice. HASHEM needs to purify the earth as He did during the days of Noah. 7And HASHEM said, “I will blot out Man whom I created from the face of the ground — from man to animal, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky; for I have reconsidered My having made them.” (B’reshit 6:7) We can see this type of purification occur before the return of Yeshua. 21For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now, and there will be nothing like it again! 22Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited. (Matthew 24:21-22) Purification of the earth is necessary. Purification in the days of Noah as well as during the return of Yeshua protects the people of HASHEM from being overcome by this wickedness. The mercy and protection of HASHEM for the few righteous, individuals who are living requires Him to eliminate the wickedness in order to deliver the righteous. HASHEM will intervene during human events. 22Indeed, if the length of this time had not been limited, no one would survive; but for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited. (Matthew 24:22) HASHEM shortens the days of the tribulation for the righteous. The shortening of the tribulation occurs simultaneously with the return of Yeshua. 29But immediately following the trouble of those times, the sun will grow dark, the moon will stop shining, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in heaven will be shaken. 30Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, all the tribes of the Land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with tremendous power and glory. (Matthew 24:29-30) The shortening of the tribulation is similar to the intervention of HASHEM when the family of Noah entered the ark. 13On that very day Noah came with Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, with the wife of Noah, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the Ark — 14they and every beast after its kind, every animal after its kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, and every bird of any kind of wing. 15They came to Noah into the Ark; two by two of all flesh in which there was a breath of life. 16Thus they that came, came male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And HASHEM shut it on his behalf. (B’reshit 7:13-16) As the ark was in the time of Noah, the return of Yeshua will occur so that the righteous individuals remaining on earth are protected and delivered from the corruption of the world. HASHEM has not granted His people the right to discern the exact day of the return of Yeshua. Since we do not know the exact day of the return of Yeshua it is our responsibility to stay constantly prepared. One way to prepare is to observe and be aware of the warning signs HASHEM is giving to us. These warning signs are the only evidence we have that the return of Yeshua is getting closer. Yeshua even compares the warning signs that the tribulation generation receives, with the warning signs the generation of Noah received. By studying the comparison of the tribulation by Yeshua and the generation of Noah, we can understand that wickedness will continue to increase, and there will be very few righteous individuals left. Hopefully, this generation will be wiser than the generation of Noah. The generation of Noah allowed wickedness to sway them away from being prepared. The generation of Noah had time to prepare before the flood; we have time to prepare before the tribulation. Therefore, all the people of HASHEM should heed the warning of Yeshua. After all, we do not know the hour or the day when destruction comes. NOACH HAFTORAH COMMENTARY Y`shi`yahu (Isaiah) 54:1-55:5 Y`shi`yahu 53 is almost never read in the synagogues, as it is consistently neglected during the Haftorah readings. This is amazing in light of the fact that the chapters proceeding and following Y`shi`yahu 53 are recited during these special readings. The following list illustrates this point: Haftorah for Noach — Y`shi`yahu 54:1-55:5 Haftorah for Ekev —Y`shi`yahu 49:14-51:3 Haftorah for Shoftim —Y`shi`yahu 51:12-52:12 Haftorah for Sephardi ritual —Y`shi`yahu 54:1-10 Haftorah for Re’eh —Y`shi`yahu 54:11-55:5 Haftorah for Ki Tetze —Y`shi`yahu 54:1-10 Herbert Lowe, a Cambridge University Rabbinics Professor notes: ”Quotations from the famous 53rd chapter of Y`shi`yahu are rare in the Rabbinic literature. Because of the Christological interpretation given to the chapter by Christians, it is omitted from the series of prophetical lessons (Haftorah) for the Deuteronomy Sabbaths. The omission is deliberate and striking.” Explicit and Implicit References to the Great Biblical Flood. The weekly Haftorah is often a single-minded metaphor for the Torah portion this week. Yet in Haftorah Noach, Y`shi`yahu employs metaphors of his own on several layers. He speaks of the exiled nation of Israel as a woman unable to have children, stranded in despair, but about to be redeemed. “Sing, o barren woman!” he proclaims (Y`shi`yahu 54:1), before instructing her to prepare her house for children, letting her know that she soon will no longer be barren. “Enlarge the space of your tent … lengthen the cords and strengthen your pegs, for southward and northward you shall spread out mightily; your children shall dispossess nations.” Y`shi`yahu is not talking about a literally barren woman. He is prophesying to the exiled nation of Israel, telling them to be ready because their redemption from the Babylonian Exile will be imminent. He may also be addressing the land of Israel itself, saying, “Get ready, because we are coming back.” In verse 9, Y`shi`yahu makes the parallel to the story of Noah explicit. “As I have promised never again to pass the days of Noah over the Earth, so have I promised not to be wrathful with you or rebuke you, ,” he says. On paper (or on parchment), there is an additional pun in the words of Y`shi`yahu – the Hebrew phrase “like the waters of Noah,” or ki’may Noah, can also be read, ki’yemei Noah, as in “the times of Noah.” Nothing is Permanent From there, Y`shi`yahu emphasizes the temporariness of everything, even nature: “The mountains may be moved and the hills may falter, but my kindness shall not be removed from you and my covenant of peace shall not falter (Y`shi`yahu 54:10).” And although not everything bad comes from God: “Should any attack you, it will not be my doing (Y`shi`yahu 54:15).” God promises to always, in the end, step in and save the day: “whoever attacks you will fall because of me (Y`shi`yahu 54:15).” These are lush and fruitful promises, but the situation in the time of Y`shi`yahu was, in a way, both dire and hopeful. The entire nation of Jews was exiled in Babylon, taken to the lowest of the low, but world events and the flood of the prophecies of Y`shi`yahu foretold both a dramatic reversal of fortune, and the eventual return of the Jews. This, too, is a parallel to the Torah portion. God started out with a perfect, idyllic creation; then little by little –Adam and Eve eating the fruit; the murder of Abel; the lawlessness and violence of ear of Noah – the world grew farther and farther from perfection, until God decided to start the world over again. Through comparing these similarities, the rabbis and Y`shi`yahu were hoping to draw a comparison between the renewal of the Earth after the Flood, the return to Zion prophesied by Y`shi`yahu, and the final, ultimate redemption of the Messiah and the World to Come. The Haftorah ends on a note that is part prophecy, part command: “A nation that you did not know will run to you, for the sake of Your God.” One day, the Jewish nation will be the inspiration for others, even nations who have never before met a Jew. Shabbat Shalom.
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 05:16:47 +0000
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