Parashah For Simchat Torah 5765/2004
EJD
Special holiday reading for Simchat Torah on 23 Tisrei, 5765 - October 8, 2004 Simchat Torah: Holiday Torah reading Deuteronomy 33:1 to 34:12; Haftarah: Joshua 1:1-18; Mei Kituvim: 1 Chronicles 18:1-17; Brit Chadashah: Matthew 10:1-42
 The Bagel: The Conquering G-d. The selection of readings for Simchat Torah show a common thread of the idea that Adonay has militaristic capabilities.
Torah:
Deuteronomy 33:1 to 34:12 and Genesis 1:1 to 2:3. In the Parashah for Simchat Torah, at the end of Moses' final words to Israel is the comment: "The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. He thrusts out the enemy before you; it is he who cries, 'Destroy them!'" (Deuteronomy 33:27 NLT) The Hebrew word for destroy "Shamad" can also mean exterminate. The history of the exercise of that command is displayed in the book of Joshua. It was an extermination of those enemies in the land of Canaan. Why was G-d so harsh? This is a question many have asked throughout the generations.
The reason for the conquest and extermination was a long-standing one. In Abraham's day he was told by Adonay that "After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, when the sin of the Amorites has run its course" (Genesis 15:16 NLT). The sin of the peoples in the land of Canaan hadn't reached the point of intoleration then, but it had when Joshua entered the Land.
Later, Israel was judged by the same standard in two ways. First, there was a time factor. From Abraham to Joshua was 400+ years. From the division of Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Judah (Southern Kingdom) to the Babylonian Exile in 587/6 BCE was 500+ years. We didn't factor in the exile of the Northern Kingdom by Assyria over a hundred years earlier. Second, there was the progressive degradation of society during those intervening years. The Canaanites became more evil in the time of Joshua than in that of Abraham's day. Israel/Judah became progressively worse as time went on leading to their respective conquests and dispersion by enemies.
Finally, if demon possession was widespread and entrenched in the Land, then drastic measures of surgical removal of those spiritual cancers became necessary. All indications are that the driving force for Nazism in WWII was by a strong occultic involvement. Hitler behaved like a demon-possessed man. The emblems that the SS wore on their uniforms were Rune letters, which were used in ancient Germany to gain power by occultic means. It was right to exterminate the Nazis. If it was right for the Allied Powers to exterminate the Nazi enemies, then it was right for Joshua to do likewise.
Men, women, children and animals died in the bombing of German cities. Some of those lives lost were due to collateral damage. Perhaps much of the real cause for many of the non-combatants to be killed there had to do with their previous decisions to bond with the demonised Nazis. Thus the bombing campaign killed a mixed group of demon possessed Nazis, those who were irretrievably bonded with the Nazis, and those who were forced, like slaves, to live under the authority of the Nazis. Those who were forced beyond their wills did suffer collaterally. But this kind of collateral damage was probably true of the Canaanites as well. In radical surgery some good cells die in the process of removing the cancerous ones.
Haftarah:
Joshua 1:1-18. In the Haftarah reading, we see the directive by Adonay for Joshua and the children of Israel to take the Land: "Be strong and courageous, for you will lead my people to possess all the land I swore to give their ancestors" (Joshua 1:6 NLT). This was only possible because of the power of the of the Conquering G-d: "I command you-- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9 NLT). It is not surprising that Joshua met Adonay in battle array later:
Once, when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked him, "Are you one of us or of our enemies?" He replied, "No, I am captain of the LORD's host. Now I have come!" Joshua threw himself face down to the ground and, prostrating himself, said to him, "What does my lord command his servant?" The captain of the LORD's host answered Joshua, "Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy." And Joshua did so (Joshua 5:13-15 Tanakh JPS). This text reminds us of similar visitation by Adonay to Moses at the Burning Bush. Joshua worshipped Adonay and submitted to His authority to conduct the war. It also means that an army of angels were involved in the campaign. This was the unseen cause for Joshua's victory.
Mei Kituvim:
1 Chronicles 18:1-17. In the reading of the Kituvim, is David's victory over the Philistines. David was a brilliant tactician. His victories in war were largely due to his implicit trust in Adonay. The outcome was predictable: "....The LORD gave David victory wherever he went" (1 Chronicles 18:13 Tanakh JPS). It was because Adonay is the Conquering G-d.
Brit Chadashah:
Matthew 10:1-42. When we get to the Brit Chadashah, a different form of military conquest is conducted. Yeshua gathered His army of Talmudim (students/disciples) to go out and campaign for the Kingdom: "And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction" (Matthew 10:1 ESV). This was war against the evil spiritual realm.
There are weapons in the arsenal of Yeshua that are more powerful than the weapons of war. The difference is in the collateral damage. There is rescue for the cancerous cells. Demon-possessed people could be delivered by faith, rather than have to be exterminated by the sword. The reversing of the possess is required. Just as the decision to go with the demon was made so a decision to go with Yeshua must be made in its place. Repentance means to turn from the power of the demons to the greater power of Yeshua.
Yeshua conquers by divine power in a regenerative way. That doesn't mean that there won't be demon-possessed people around. One of the qualifications in the campaign is the attitude of the city: And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town (Matthew 10:11-15 ESV). Notice that there is a dynamic of communal responsibility not just a individual culpability that brings the alternative judgment in the form of the surgical-removal type. It's one thing to have a cancer cell here or there, but another to have a mass threatening the very life of the patient. If the cells in the tumor won't receive the treatment of the Gospel (good news of salvation) then the whole tumor is in danger of removal.
G-d is the G-d of conquest precisely because the planet needs Him to be. There is the time factor before radical surgery. There is the power of regeneration. It all hinges on what you do with Yeshua.
Cream Cheese: Divine conquest is the only way to true peace!
Special holiday reading for Simchat Torah on 23 Tisrei, 5765 - October 8, 2004 Simchat Torah: Holiday Torah reading Deuteronomy 33:1 to 34:12; Haftarah: Joshua 1:1-18; Mei Kituvim: 1 Chronicles 18:1-17; Brit Chadashah: Matthew 10:1-42
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