Hear my voice in accordance with your lovingkindness, by CMY

[Mevaser]

Hear my voice in accordance with your lovingkindness, by CMY
http://www.cmy.on.ca/toraportions200.../yomteruah.htm (Online version)
Congregation Melech Yisrael, Toronto, Canada
Shabbat 1st Tishre 5763, September 27, 2003
http://www.cmy.on.ca / cmy@ca.inter.net

This week's Reading list:
* Beresheet / Genesis 21:1-34,
* Bamidbar / Numbers 29:1-6
* Sh'muel Alef / 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10
* Tesolonikim Alef / 1 Thess 4:13-18

So here we are again, another year has come and gone. Rosh Hashanah is traditionally considered to be the birth of the world, the day of creation. Do not ask me how the rabbis calculated this, it is another topic for another time. That is why Jews throughout the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah greeting each other with L'Shonah Tovah "Happy New Year." It is for this reason the Scripture references above are read this week, because with Yitzchak (Isaac) came the birth of a nation, the Jewish nation. I suggest you read some of our past teachings on Rosh Hashanah to get a more complete picture of this most significant feast day.

The verses I would like to discuss this year however do not concern Yitzchak; they involve Hagar and her son Ishmael.

Sarah was not pleased with the relationship between Yitzchak and his half brother Ishmael. So she asked Avraham (Abraham) to send Hagar, her handmaiden, along with Ishmael, Hagar's son, away from the family.

Beresheet {21:11} The thing was very grievous in Avraham's sight on account of his son. {21:12} G-D said to Avraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Yitzchak will your seed be called. {21:13} Also of the ben (son) the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is your seed." {21:14} Avraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-Sheva. {21:15} The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. {21:16} She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. {21:17} G-D heard the voice of the boy. The angel of G-D called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For G-D has heard the voice of the boy where he is. {21:18} Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation." {21:19} G-D opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.

There are two very interesting points I would like us to see from these verses. The first point is taken from verse 21.17. "G-D heard the voice of the boy." Just previous to this verse we are told that it was Hagar who was off doing all the screaming and crying and not Ishmael, in fact noting is said about Ishmael making any sound whatsoever. Yet, it was not screams and tears to Hagar that HaShem heard, but rather the silence of Ishmael, why? I believe it is because when G-d makes a promise He keeps it even if we are disobedient, when that promise is unconditional. To Noach (Noah) HaShem made this promise:

Beresheet {9:8} G-D spoke to Noach, and to his sons with him, saying, {9:9} "As for me, behold, I establish my Brit (covenant) with you, and with your offspring (seed) after you...

This Brit being referred to here is a Brit of life and a prodigy. This same Brit was reaffirmed to Avraham who was of the seed of Noach. Therefore Ishmael, even though he was not the son of promise, as the seed of Avraham he was obviously still heir to this Brit of life and a prodigy. However the Brit HaShem made was not with Hagar, but rather with Avraham and his seed. Ishmael was of the seed of Avraham, therefore it was with Ishmael that HaShem was concerned and it was his voice, although silent, that He heard and not Hagar's. Hagar was saved from death in process of G-d saving Ishmael. Our G-d is a promise keeping G-d and sometimes the people around us get blessed in the process of G-d blessing us!

The second point I would like us to draw from these Scriptures comes from verse {21:19}. "G-D opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink." HaShem did not just create that well of water in the wilderness at that particular time. The way the Scripture reads it was there all along, yet Hagar could not se it.

Sometimes because of the seemingly hopelessness of our circumstances we cannot see G-d's solution. Hagar was out in the wilderness. Now this was not desert it was wilderness, although it was still dry and barren. The water Avraham had given her for the trip ran out and her son was dying of thirst. Hagar was, in my opinion, so caught up in her circumstances, she was so overwhelming with the contempt she was feeling for Sarah and for what she and Avraham had done to her, that she could not see that the solution to her problem was only a few steps away. Sometimes we too are so blinded by our contempt, anger, indignation and hatred that we fail to see solutions that are right in front of us. HaShem is showing us here that crying, screaming and hiding in a corner are not the solutions to our problem. However like Ishmael who despite the fact he was silent, HaShem still heard him and He will hear your silent voice as well. Yes HaShem will hear you for the same reason He heard Ishmael, because of His Brit of life He has made with you as a believer in Mashiach Yeshua.

****************
Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Jack (Yaacov) Farber

Hallelujah to our L-rd, our Teacher, our Rabbi, "YESHUA" King Messiah for ever and ever!!!
Visit our Webpage @ http://www.cmy.on.ca / cmy@ca.inter.net
272 Rannee Ave Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6A-1N6, Tel: 416-785-7612
An ever changing Messianic Jewish website
till King Mashiach Yeshua comes back!!!
Shalom Shalom....