SEASONS - COUNTING THE OMER IN THE 50 DAYS AFTER FIRST FRUITS UNTIL PENTECOST

 

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

We have been talking a lot about The Holy Days of God.  I wish to spend the next few days pondering the Hebraic celebration of Early First Fruits, the day that many begin counting the 50 days of the omer while waiting on Pentecost.  This is how the ancients knew the day. They did not look at a calendar or ask Google as we do today; they counted the omer. 

 Have you ever considered this practice or pondered the wisdom of these days?  The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah.  It is how the people traditionally prepared their hearts for God to reveal things to them.  

The most important thing to remember about Passover is that Early First Fruits represented the resurrection of Christ.   Early First Fruits is celebrated on the second day of The Seven Days of Unleavened Bread; three days after the Passover Seder.  It is one of the seven days of Unleavened Bread during the Passover season.  The three days (Passover plus the first two days of Unleavened Bread) represent the time of Christ in the grave.  On Early First Fruits He is risen!   The Passover Seder tells in symbols of how Jesus died, was buried and rose on the third day.  Hence, it is very important that a family observe the Passover to understand all the details of the history of the people that God used to bring us Messiah and to understand how everything that God did with them led to the sacrifice of the Messiah in our place. 

 

There is more to the progression of this victory.  The proof was in the Resurrection of Christ.  This is what Early First Fruits symbolizes; the Resurrection.  The barley loaf that is waived on Early First Fruits is symbolic of Jesus and how He was resurrected a victorious Savior of the the World.  He was the "first" of a full harvest for The Kingdom of God.  This is what one must understand in order to understand the further progression, the giving of the Holy Spirit of God to His people on Pentecost.

The first miracle of Pentecost was with Moses when God gave the Torah.  The Holy Spirit is the personification of the Torah living in God's people.  God told the people to count from Passover to Pentecost from the offering of the early first fruits sheaf of barley grain.  They counted 50 days and that brought them to the day that the wheat harvest was ready to be offered.  The wheat harvest was the larger crop, the most valuable crop of the year.  If the barley crop was good and the wave sheaf was offered first at early first fruits, the latter first fruits offering of the wheat crop would be abundant!  The symbolism is that Jesus was our early first fruit offering, and we are the latter first fruit offering.  These offerings are brought into the storehouse of God and The Kingdom of God thrives!  

You start counting the 50 days on the day of the early first fruits offering.  That is how you know which day is going to be Pentecost.  

This is an ancient custom and a very old tradition of Israel.   Knowing this, I want to simply contemplate the reasons and the original purpose for the custom of "counting the Omer."

The first thought that comes to mind is that this practice, done properly, (without the intention of using it for self gain or magic) helps us to grow as individuals.   The fifty days are days that we should be meditating on our purpose and our growth before God.  

It has been noted by some that the formula for staying young is to always continue growing.  Losing that capacity to continue growing at any age is tragic.  Yet, when you stop to think about it, any time we are not growing and changing, we are not living; we are just existing.  The proper counting of the omer is actually about moving to a spiritual place that is higher than "just existing." It is looking forward to what God is going to do next with us.  It is NOT the practice of elevating ourselves, but it IS the process of letting God work inside of us to bring us to a better plane of existence in our lives in His Kingdom.

 

I love this often misquoted passage of scripture found in Genesis 24:1:

"Abraham was old; he came with his days" 

"He came with his days" informs us that Abraham used each of his days to the fullest extent.  At the end of his life, he came to old age "with all his days" in hand.  No day was without its own unique growth.   In other words, Abraham had something to show for all his days of living.  He had produced spiritual fruit from the labor of his soul on this earth.  This is what we hope to achieve in the counting of the omer; to number our days for the goodness of God's Kingdom in our lives.

This all sounds great, but it isn't always easy.  Some people do not want to move any further spiritually than reaching the place of knowing there is a Messiah, believing in Him and receiving and enjoying the gift of salvation.  Salvation is, after all, the greatest gift ever given and by all means the most important gift.   

It surprises many to learn that fact that there are even more gifts!  Why is this such a surprise and so hard to understand?  When you married your husband, did your life end with the marriage on your wedding day, or was that day only the beginning?  There is so much more!  God is such a giver!  Going further with God is a choice we all have to make for ourselves.  Do we want to stay warm and cozy with all we have already attained through the granting of the greatest gift, or do we want to keep moving on into even more adventures with God?  Salvation is an awesome, most important gift, and it is free for the taking, but if you value it, you will more than likely also value another gift called sanctification.  Sanctification can only come after Salvation.

Unlike salvation, sanctification is not free.  Salvation required no effort on our part. Sanctification does.  Jesus gives us both gifts; salvation and sanctification.  It is only Him working inside of us that make either gift possible.   His blood is ALL that makes us holy before God.  Make no mistake that it is His blood that saves us and only His blood that makes us holy before God.  None of our own works will ever attain our salvation or sanctification.  Our own efforts are like filthy rags, but that doesn't mean that we should not make an effort.  

God desires for us to want to be holy like Him.  Sanctification will cost you your attitude!  You will have to surrender your will and succumb to the will and nature of God.  God wants us to turn from the old man and begin to be the new man.   This process; the time of being made new after salvation is called sanctification.   Once we are covered with the blood of Jesus, this process becomes possible.  It is impossible without the blood of Jesus.  Please hear me out on this; once we have been saved, it is sanctification that makes new life begin in us.  Growing closer to God through sanctification increases the working of God's Holy Spirit that resides inside our soul.  Sanctification is how God transforms us from the old person we were to the new person He actually created us to be.  It is again, like a harvesting.  A seed must die to itself, be buried in the ground and endure until the sun and water and nutrients that make it grow do their work.  We are counting the omer during this time of lying dormant, the time that is unseen, the time that the little seed becomes a small plant and begins to push itself to the surface and come into the world a new plant.       

Some of us are afraid of walking down this path of sanctification and new growth.  We are often afraid of failure, but we must continuously keep in mind that we are covered by the blood of Jesus.  We must remember the fact that His blood is so righteous that it cannot fail.  So many people are afraid of failing in life that they refuse to ever start to live.  How ironic!  This is so sad.  It causes people to settle for dust when they could obtain pure gold.  

Setting too lofty and unattainable goals is often the biggest reason people fail. When we set our goals too high and too soon, we inevitably fall short and get discouraged. Things are easier and less frustrating if you take them one day at a time. This is the method used in “counting the omer.”  This is how God teaches us to be holy; one day at a time, one life experience at a time.  Each lesson builds as we go through the 50 days meditating on God's nature and determining to imitate Him as best we can.

We are told in the scriptures to count the 49 days between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost) beginning on the day of Early First Fruits and ending on The Day of Pentecost.  

Like most events in life we tend to be more aware of the beginning and the end, but it is the part in the middle that is required to bring about true and lasting transformation. Therefore the counting of the days from Passover to Pentecost is very much an effort in which THE PROCESS is in and of itself of great value. 

Counting the omer is how we learn to "number" our days. The word for "number" in Hebrew is “mispar.” Its root is closely related to our English word for "story" ― “sipur.” Can you see the relationship between the two?

A collection of events (or days) becomes a story ― as opposed to a random anthology of events. Each day builds on the day before as we go along creating God's story for each of us.  You will have a beginning in which the characters are introduced, a middle in which conflict takes place, and an end in which there is resolution. There is a full story eventually, but it happens, unfolds and builds in increments of time.

Unfortunately today our lives flow by so quickly that we frequently lose awareness of the awesome power of our own stories. The metamorphosis of today into tomorrow is subtle enough for us to lose consciousness of time, how it began, what lay in the middle and how it all ends.  The commandment to count each day after we have experienced a "passing over" teaches us mindfulness.  It re-opens our hearts to hearing stories.  The stories of God help us to count out the days of our lives, showing us how to live in each moment.   From Passover to Pentecost there are two stories which are intertwined.  One is the story of a transformation of a people who at Passover become physically free into a people who at Shavuot become spiritually free.

The Passover story tells us of the day the People of God left Egypt.  This was a day in which they rejected the Egyptian definition of what their lives would hold.  They learned through the power of God they were free to be exactly who they truly were created to be.

But they did not yet know their own stories.  

It was only when they received the Torah that they found the channels that could give their souls expression.  Always with the onslaught of total freedom comes a process of learning.  It is unexpected, but it always shows up.  It is through the learning process that the people of God learned the mechanics of meeting those real challenges they faced in the wilderness, challenges that were genuine and enduring.  We each face our own wilderness circumstances and we each have our own challenges in this life.  Through this process of living out time day-to-day the stories of the people of God in the wilderness began to evolve.  Without this process of time and learning they would have simply remained slaves forever.  There would have been no stories to tell.  Salvation brings us life and freedom.  Sanctification gives our life stories.  

By living through the time of transition (in the wilderness) The Israelites evolved into a people that would be used by God.  

                          

All evolution eventually involves change.  God gave the people the ritual of the early first fruits sacrifice to follow so they would recognize this.   Even this ritual defining the time of year for them reflected change.   The sacrifice that was offered on Passover was made out of barley.   In ancient times, barley was used as fodder for animals.  The sacrifice that was offered on Pentecost was made of wheat.  Wheat is often used as an allegory for the human capacity of intelligence.  While an animal can eat a fruit or a leaf (the early sacrifice), it requires human intelligence and creativity to make bread (the later sacrifice.)  This pictures the growing process from the sacrifice of early first fruits to the sacrifice of latter first fruits.

Here in this process of time from the Passover and leaving Egypt until arriving in the promised land and eventually experiencing Pentecost, we begin to see the amazing transformation of God's people from a people who are defined by the strife and yearnings of the sort of freedom shared by animals; to the freedom of becoming truly evolved human beings.  The time between Passover and Pentecost and the counting of the omer is all about transformation and progression to a higher form of life.  God desires that we have this gift!  

Only God can bring about our transformation!

Left to ourselves we would remain depraved animals.  God has a way of transforming us if we let him.  Upon leaving Egypt, those who were transformed had to be obedient in putting the blood of the lamb over their door posts.  This was the first step to total freedom yet they hardly noticed what they were doing; they were simply acting in faith and obedience.   Sometimes the transformation from slavery to freedom is gradual and unnoticed as time marches on and on, but it happens when we are obedient enough to trust God and let it happen.    

What makes us truly human? Some think it is the bond that we share with God that makes us human beings.  These bonds are called "sefirot," a name which also has the same root word as "number" and "story." This common root conveys the fact that our beginnings, middles and ends are ultimately measured and finite, but nonetheless our time is touched by the infinite spark of godliness within us.  The earliest mention of this concept is presented in the Kabbalistic work called Sefer Yetzirah, literally; the "Book of Formation."  This book has been attributed to Abraham by the sages of old.                  

 Do you know or understand that some Kabbalistic work evolved from Abraham?  It was a long time before I discovered this fact.  The very word Kabbala sounded very spooky and strange to me.  I avoided it.  Most of the time it is still strange and spooky!  This is one of those times to discern what is scriptural from what has been added to scripture.  Be careful where you go, especially with mystic Kabbalistic teachings.  Because of this, it took me some time to come around to the truth of counting the omer.  

                                                                                                                                 

 I thought about the fact that God attributed righteousness to Abraham.  Maybe he (Abraham)  knew something that I had not yet thought of and I began to study the parts of the puzzle in Kabbalistic thinking that were attributed to Abraham only.  Hmmmm.....  Be careful though not to be mislead.  Do not to mix the interest in biblical Hebrew roots with the wrong kind of Kabbala that practices magic and sorcery.  Magic and sorcery are an abomination to God!  Abraham did not participate in such things.

Over the years what Abraham knew has been perverted by greedy and ungodly men using and twisting the knowledge for their own selfish reasons.    Abraham would not have been mixed up with or participated in any type of sorcery, magic or idol worship.   He was strongly opposed to the occult and idol worship; which is where all of the wrong types of Kabbala perversions lead.  That is why I probably will not even call what I am referring to here Kabbala; because it is not a part of such things, but biblical in nature and follows the scriptures.   

I am simply referring to the study of the nature of God and how it works in our lives when we recognize and count the days between Passover and Pentecost.   God was the One who commanded that we do this.  There are those who take this practice to an extreme who do not even believe in God.  That is not at all what I am talking about. 

                                                                                                                             

My only reason for considering the practice of counting the omer at all is because of God's commandment to Abraham, Moses and others in the bible.  The scriptures clearly spell out that we should count the days up to 50 days, beginning with Passover on the Day of Early First Fruits in order to know when Pentecost will arrive.

 There are over a thousand commentaries on Sefer Yetzirah.  It remains one of the most fascinating Jewish works on the nature of God.  The thing I love about it is that it helps me to know more of The Father.   In the 1500s, Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, a mystic from Egypt, settled in Safed.   He was known widely by the acrostic of his name as the Ari (literally "the Lion").   He taught the most enigmatic sections of Kabbalah to a select group of disciples.   Subsequently, the mystic teachings of Judaism became far more accessible than they had ever been in the past.   Those who knew the commandment to "count the days" could now begin to understand "why" they were counting the days.  Understanding is the birth of wisdom.  Always remember to chew up the meat and spit out the bones, or in other words weigh the wisdom written down by men against the scriptures as you go along in order to stay pure to God's will.  

The most central theme of this Rabbi's teachings is the significance of gaining an awareness of the bond that we share with God.  He calls this the "sefirot" of our spiritual souls.

It has been determined that there are seven aspects of godliness that can be displayed by human beings:

1) Chesed - which means loving kindness

2) Gevurah - which means justice and discipline

3) Tiferet - which means harmony and compassion

4) Netzach - which means endurance

5) Hod - which means gratitude and humility

6) Yesod - which means foundation and bonding

 7) Malchut - which means kingship, leadership and sovereignty.

These attributes of God are taught in the scriptures.  They are the things that one should meditate on in the days of counting the omer. 

I find it wonderful to see and know that the commandment which summed up all commandments - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself" is the first commandment mentioned and taught in the counting of the omer.  All other things build upon this one commandment.  This commandment describes the state called "chesed."  It seems if we don't get this "love" part of life - we miss out on everything else altogether.  It is the first aspect of godliness that is taught as we begin to count the days.  It is our first thought toward developing holiness in our day to day lives. 

Another favorite of mine is  aspect number five which represents gratitude and humility - as the past ten years of life for me have been full of the recognition that gratitude and humility are two of the truest forms of worship. 

It is also noted in these teachings leading through the counting of the days till Pentecost that at the root of all forms of enslavement (thinking of the Israelites in Egypt as well as our own enslavement to sin), is a distortion of these attributes of God's nature.  If we are not careful with our humanness, we will distort these things of God and defeat the learning.  We must beware and stay pure to the original meanings.

Each of the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot is dedicated to examining and refining one of these seven aspects of godliness and different combinations of each of them together.

There is something in our nature that can reach higher and learn more and be transformed for each day that we are faithful to counting the omer.  It is not at all about the salvation we have already been freely given; but it is about the sanctification process, a way of letting God sift and shape and transform our natures into what He originally created us to be now that we ARE saved.  It is about achieving our fullest destiny before God

The counting happens in its set time every year between Early First Fruits and The Day of Pentecost.   Each season is compounded upon another until, hopefully, like Abraham; we grow old and we come before God with our own days.   Let us learn to make each one count for God's Kingdom.

As we dwell on these qualities of a godly person during the seven weeks between Passover and Pentecost our own stories and purposes begin to unfold a little further each day.  If we let God work in this time He will enlighten us with more of the stories of our own destiny and purpose He created.   It is through knowing the bond that we share with God, through The indwelling of The Holy Spirit and the blood of The Lamb from Our Savior Jesus Christ, that we are transformed and begin to grow spiritually.

So, dear friends, I pray that God will lead and teach each of us as we go through this season of numbering our days after we reach the time of Early First Fruit in the season of Passover.     

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 113 - IN DEFENSE OF SELF-DEFENSE

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

In the last blog we discussed the theory that Moses committed murder when he defended his fellow Hebrew and killed the Egyptian that was abusing him.  When you kill someone in self-defense, either for yourself or some other helpless victim, is it still considered to be murder?

This may seem to be getting “off track” with our original study, but I did promise that we would stop and revisit this passage and look at it again.  So many questions arise about Moses and his character.  Was this righteous anger? 

I was noticing how Moses hid the body of the Egyptian in the sand and was thinking of the passage in Genesis where Cain hid Abel’s body in the dirt of the earth and his blood cried out to God.   I hear nothing in this passage about the Egyptian’s body crying out to God.  Did God see the killing of this Egyptian different from the way he saw the killing of Abel? 

The obvious answer is that Abel was an innocent victim who was murdered in cold blood.  The blood of life calls out when the innocent are murdered.  The Egyptian was obviously guilty of horrendous sin against a Hebrew; there was nothing innocent about the Egyptian who had actually probably intended murder himself.  He was not a victim at all.  His decision to act the way he did brought him to his end.  We live and die by the choices we make.
   

How would God have been feeling about what Moses did?  Obviously, only God could tell us, and He doesn’t!  Usually when God doesn’t give us direct answers it is because He wants us to seek out the answers.  We can attempt to do that here.  You may come up with more answers than I do.  I would love to hear about them.

Other questions also arise from this scene that seems to demand answers.   If what Moses did was right, then why did he look to the right and the left to see if there were witnesses before committing the act?  What gives here?

When the ancient rabbis could not answer such questions they chose the wisest among them and asked him to study Torah, history and culture and to write down his theory of what may have happened.  These thoughts went into the Midrash.  

The key words to remember about the Midrash comments are those words “may have happened.”  There is no proof of what we read in the Midrash; it is simply full of wise opinions and the suggestions of wise old men, and the Midrash is not known as the exact inspired words of God; but it is the exact inspired words of wise godly men.   There is a huge difference between the two!  

The Midrash is said to “fill in the blanks” of the Torah.  That doesn’t necessarily mean it makes ALL of our interpretations of all of those blanks accurate.  One must read with discernment and prayerfully make their own decision about accuracy.  The Midrash is simply designed to make you think beyond your normal capacity for thinking on a subject.  Some of the stories are VERY accurate and yet, some are only the imaginations and theories of wise old men.  Some of these wise old men’s stories can be proved out (many actually) but some of them are more like fables and legends. 

The Midrash fills in a few blanks by suggesting that the man who was being harmed by the Egyptian had come to Moses seeking help and defense because the Egyptian had been coming to his house and rapeing his wife right in front of him.   He needed someone with strong authority to handle the situation since he was a slave; and he was desperately coming to Moses for help knowing that Moses was actually born a Hebrew.   This seems to be one rabbi’s version of the rest of the story.   So should we trust what the Midrash tells us?  The actual Torah scriptures leave us and the problem at hand in a very vague place, with little proof to the reader.  When this happens we simply have to keep looking at the facts that we know are sure.

The inspired scriptures state that an Egyptian was harming a Hebrew slave, and that is about all we really have to go on in the passage. 

In his book called "The Purpose Driven Life" Rick Warren called Moses a murderer.  So why would Rick Warren be qualified to give the correct answer anymore than the rabbi who wrote the story in the Midrash?  Let’s face it; he isn’t qualified.  He sure stirred up a lot of animosity against Moses though! 

Christian interpretations, just like Jewish commentators often make mistakes in interpreting passages of the scriptures.  There are a lot of unexplored questions here regarding what was legal and moral in the days of Moses living in Egypt. 

If you look at this scene from the viewpoint of our modern day laws you will find that an individual has the right to use force, including deadly force if reasonable, in self defense.  We know that Moses was actually acting in the self-defense of another, but our laws for self-defense today seem to be stating if a person is in a place he has a right to be in, is not engaged in criminal activity,  and has a reasonable belief that he is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, he can defend himself.   The defender must not be the one who initiated the aggression, but he has the right to defend himself once the other person does the agressing.

None of the above explanation of modern day law would apply to this situation with Moses though, because Moses was not the actual person being attacked.  The victim was either the Hebrew slave, or a member of his family.  If you believe the logic of the Midrash it was both; if you are going strictly on the basic Torah scripture;  it was only the Hebrew slave.  For the sake of accuracy, we will only look at the inspired scriptures.   

In our modern laws when it comes to a person coming to the aid of another person in danger, the third party person has the right to use force, including deadly force if reasonable, if the person to whom they are providing aid has the legal right to use force in self-defense.  This means that in a court of law today, most likely Moses would NOT be declared a murderer.  (I pause to proclaim that I am not an attorney, but from what I’ve read of the law, this would be true.)

Our times however are drastically different from the times of Moses.  Our laws bear no resemblance to the laws of the land of Egypt during the reign of the Pharaohs. 

Think back to all the reasons Moses happened to be in the palace in the first place.  It was because the highest ruler in the country had ordered the murder of innocent children in the course of an otherwise regular day!  In Egypt at that time,  whatever the Pharaoh proclaimed immediately became the law of the land.  

It would seem that there were no set laws against murder in Egypt, because the Pharaoh himself  had ordered murders right and left all day long every day, whenever he felt the whim.  It goes even beyond that though.  If you were a slave, you had no rights.  Your life really did not matter to the Egyptians.  The life of a Hebrew was considered cheap and unnecessary.  There was a cast system that judged people according to their race and nationality.  Pharaoh wanted the Egyptians gone from the land of Egypt.   It had been his plan all along to kill them off through cruel harsh slavery; but the Israelites had been too hearty a people.  They were stronger than anyone had ever imagined.  For some reason they stayed healthy under all kinds of horrific circumstances.  We know that God was looking out for them and providing for them in their dire circumstances.  He might have been hiding behind the lattice work, but He was still there with them.

Immediately following the day Moses defended the Hebrew from the Egyptian at the cost of being proclaimed a murderer, there was another confrontation; this time between two Hebrews.   Again, Moses interceded and restrained one man from hurting or killing the other, only this time, Moses did not have to kill in order to achieve his goal.  

It is obvious that Moses was convinced that self-defense was a good thing.  He practiced this belief for two days in a row.  He did not kill for the sake of killing, but only when there was no other answer in the course of self-defense.  Moses believed in justice.  Not just justice for his own kind, but justice for ALL of mankind.  Justice allows self-defense and does not label it murder. 

Someone else who walked the earth long after Moses also believed in justice for all mankind.  In Luke 4:18 it was Jesus Christ who proclaimed:  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free."

Everything has a reason and every action has a purpose.  Moses was laying the ground work for the greatest deliverance of all times.  Moses would lay the foundation and Jesus Christ would make that building of living stones come alive!

The God who does not approve of murder strongly does approve of deliverance.   So it was that Moses, the first living example of a good citizen, carried out justice twice in two days.  The justice that Moses used did not answer to Pharaoh; it answered to God. 

If the laws of the land had been just, Moses would not have been so troubled, but they were not just.  The laws of Egypt were based on pagan ways and principles totally opposed to God's ways.  In spite of growing up in the palace, Moses had been taught God’s ways and principles by his original Mother and Father.  He obviously had stayed in touch with his Hebrew family, since we are told at the beginning of the chapter that he went out to see how his “brethren” were getting along. 

So…. Was Moses justified in using deadly force against the Egyptian on the first day? 

Some people seem bothered by the fact that Moses looked both ways before killing the man.  They seem to think this act implied guilt, but does it?  

We have already mentioned that the laws of the land were unjust. Moses could have been looking to see if any other Egyptian might possibly come to the aid of the Hebrew.  Perhaps he assumed or hoped that SOME of the other taskmasters might be merciful and fair?  This act alone would not be proof of guilt. 

Also the fact that Moses hid the body would make you think these were the actions of someone who had done wrong, otherwise, why hide anything?  I have to admit that was the part that bothered me!  I immediately thought of the guilt of Cain.  Moses, however; wasn’t like Cain.  He was defending an innocent person who needed help.  Moses was God's answer for that person on that day.  Cain plotted and planned the murder of his innocent brother out of jealousy.  Moses’ motives and Cain’s motives were diametrically opposed to each other.  They were distintly different.  One motive is pure and kind, one motive is sinful and hateful. 

Do either of the above two actions many give as proof really matter though?  Neither are able to prove whether the actions were right or wrong.  They DO speak loudly of the times and the corrupt laws that Moses was living under in Egypt.  

In that place and in those times one did not necessarily have to worry about whether what one did was right or wrong; only that it would be pleasing to Pharaoh.  Everything HAD to be politically correct.   Moses knew the answer to that question in his case.  Pharaoh wanted the Israelites dead.  He would not be happy with what Moses had done. It was probably very hard to find taskmasters so willing to kill millions without reason.  Moses had committed the ultimate politically incorrect act of his times; he had defied Pharaoh’s wishes and thwarted part of Pharaoh’s carefully plotted schemes.
 

Moses was totally correct in his thinking!  As soon as he found out what had happened; Pharaoh ordered the death of Moses. 

So what does an unjustly accused man living in a land full of unjust laws do?  He doesn’t hang around to see who might accidently grant him favor.  Moses got out of Egypt, and who could blame him?
 

Because Pharaoh said Moses was guilty of murder did not make it true.
 

Moses was only guilty of self-defense.
 

Self-defense is not a sin in the eyes of God.  

God’s laws (which were written down much later) actually hold up and condone self-defense.  Moses killing the man in self-defense was not at all the same as Cain murdering Abel.
 

If only the courts of America today could see this!  It is almost like we are again being ruled by Pharaoh in a land where a man is not allowed the freedom to defend himself.  Just like Moses, God has plans for us; but just like Moses; God is going to have to teach us more of his ways first. 

Moses may have already known that God intended for him to free his people; but he was not yet ready.  Everything must be done in accordance with God’s timing. 

There were lessons to learn in Midian that would help to change the world.  It was going to take about 40 more years to learn them.  

Another forty years for Moses; and how many will it take for us?

COME AS A CHILD - LESSON 112 - HOW THE PRINCE OF EGYPT BECAME A SHEPHERD OF MIDIAN

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

At some point as Moses grew up in the Egyptian palace as a prince, he must have realized that he was actually a Hebrew. 

He had been nursed by his own mother until he was two.  Perhaps he had memories of being with her in that warm, cozy little house where they lived in Goshen.  

Perhaps his sister had stayed in touch without letting anyone know.  Children are not easily separated.  

It seemed that at some point he knew but did not acknowledge who he really was.

The scriptures speak of Moses as a grown man going out one day and seeing how hard his “brethren” worked and feeling sorry for their burdens. 

One day Moses saw an Egyptian harshly beating a Hebrew.  When Moses looked around and saw that there were no Egyptian witnesses; he killed that hateful Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.  It seemed like the thing to do, since there would be no defense for a Hebrew slave and the Egyptian man was clearly committing a hateful sin.  Moses, in a sense, made his own justice, and then he tried to hide the evidence by covering up the body.

Does anything about this remind you of the story of Cain?  You would not expect to find the same traits of the sinful Cain lurking in the heart of Moses.  Yet, similar to Cain, Moses had become angry and that anger had led to murder.  Of course the man who abused the Hebrew WAS guilty.  Did that make Moses less guilty?  Was his anger righteous anger?  Did the fact that there was no justice for the Hebrew people make Moses’ actions right?  This is something to ponder and perhaps discuss a little later.

Moses thought he had covered up the evidence of the murder. 

The next day two Hebrew men were fighting and Moses approached them and asked them “Why are you striking your companion?”  One of the men apparently had seen Moses kill the Egyptian because he answered “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?  Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”  

The truth always comes out.

Moses became afraid that his secret justice was known.  Word of mouth travels swiftly.  When Pharaoh heard of the matter he commanded that Moses be killed.

Apparently the fondness that Pharaoh showed before when his daughter adopted Moses had worn off.  Moses had presented Pharaoh with an easy and legal way to dispose of his unpleasant company.

Moses and Pharaoh must have disagreed on almost everything as Moses had grown into manhood.  Living in the Egyptian palace might have been a bit uncomfortable for Moses at times.   Pharaoh might have considered Moses a threat to his kingdom from inside its very walls, especially in the times when they disagreed; which was probably every day that passed.   

Moses was not stupid.  He could see where this situation was headed and he ran away.  He had not been very happy in the palace anyway.

Moses went to live in the land of Midian.  When he arrived there he sat down beside a well.  I’ll give you three guesses as to which well this was?  Perhaps we will speak more about this at a later time too.

The seven daughters of the priest of Midian came out to draw water from the same well. They sought to water their father’s flocks, but some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses saw this and stood up to the shepherds for them and helped them to water their flock.  Something about this story sounds oh so familiar.  

Remember how Jacob met Rachel?  The same details are included in both stories.

Perhaps this problem of not being able to use the well until all the other shepherds had left the area happened often to the daughters of the Midian priest.  Maybe they came home late many times over because they had been waiting their turn and had been forced to be the last to water their flocks after all the other shepherds had finished watering their sheep.  One automatically wonders about this because when they arrived back home to their father, he said, “How is it that you have come so soon today?”

They told their father an Egyptian man had delivered them from the hands of the shepherds and that he stayed and drew enough water for them and their flock.  I had to wonder if this Midian priest knew the old stories of Abraham and his descendants.

The father, Reuel, asked them why they had not called the man to come and eat dinner with them?  It would have been customary to return a favor.  So they ran and found Moses and brought him to their father’s table to share his bread.  Reuel and Moses became good friends.  Reuel invited Moses to stay awhile.  Moses enjoyed their company very much and was content to live under Reuel’s roof. 

Eventually, the father and priest named Reuel gave Moses his daughter Zipporah to be his wife.

Zipporah bore Moses a son. His name was Gershom, meaning “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”  Perhaps we will also have more to say about Moses and his relationship with Zipporah later.

Time passed.

Eventually the King of Egypt died.

 The plight of the Hebrew people only grew worse under the new Pharaoh. They groaned under the burden of their heavy bondage. They cried out to God again.

It is funny how people always seem to remember God when they come into miserable circumstances; though they had completely forgotten Him when they were doing well on their own.

The Israelites in Egypt were not doing well at all and they cried out night and day.

God heard of their bondage.

He remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God looked down and saw the pain of the Children of Israel and God acknowledged them.  They were, after all, God’s chosen people.

SEASONS - WHAT IS PURIM AND WHY SHOULD A NON-JEWISH CHRISTIAN CELEBRATE PURIM TODAY?

The true understanding of Purim starts with the study of The Book of Esther.

Previously I wrote about the love story of Esther and the King.  It was re-published not many days ago in this blog, with the hope of refreshing some people's memory about the story of Esther before the date of Purim.   The story tells how the celebration of Purim came about.  It would be a good thing to re-read this story for yourself before Purim if you have not already done so.  If you chose to do this you can find my version of the love story at this link: 

dancinginseason.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-winter-love-story-written-by-gail.html.

Long story short though; and to make things even easier and convenient (but not nearly as much fun) a short, brief, to-the-point summary of the whole tale follows:

Esther had hidden her Jewish identity and the King had fallen in love with her and taken her to be his Queen.  Esther’s uncle Mordechai had overheard some people plotting against the King and gave this information to Esther in order to save the King’s life.  It was recorded in the records of the King but the King had forgotten to reward him.  The King appoints Haman to rule under him and Haman demands that everyone bow down to him.  Mordechai refuses to do this.  Haman prepares to persuade the King to hang Mordechai from the gallows and to use him as an excuse to kill all people who are Jewish.   Haman talks to the King and persuades the King that all Jewish people should be killed and they draw lots to set the date.  In the meantime the King discovers that he has overlooked rewarding Mordechai.  He asks Haman what he would do to reward a man who saved the life of the King and Haman, thinking it is him that will be rewarded, says he would parade him through the kingdom on the King’s horse wearing the King’s robe and wearing the King’s ring and announce loudly that he is a hero the King wishes to honor.  The King then asks Haman to do this for Mordechai and Haman is deeply humiliated.  His anger toward Mordechai is more than ever.  Haman continues with his plot to convince the King that all Jews are bad and must be eliminated knowing that the King doesn’t know that Mordechai is a Jew.   The proclamation is sent out under the King’s signature and Mordechai goes to Esther and asks her to reveal her true heritage and idenity to the King in order to save her people.  Esther prepares by prayer and fasting and goes before the King to make her petition.  This very act will be putting her life in great danger.  No one usually went before the King un-summoned.  Yet, the King listens to Esther and lets down his scepter for her to speak.  She states that she will reveal her petition to him and Haman at a private banquet in her quarters.  This happens three times, each time the King and Haman come together, dine with Esther, and then she tells them she will reveal her request at their next banquet.  At the third meal Esther reveals Haman’s plot against her people and begs the King for mercy.  She also reveals her own identity in the process.  The king is angry that someone would plot against innocent people like this, and asks who the evil person is.  That is when Esther reveals Haman’s true intentions to the King.  The King is very angry with Haman and has him hung on his own gallows which he had prepared for Mordechai.  The King puts Mordechai in charge of his kingdom directly under him, as Haman once had been.  The proclamation to kill the Jews cannot be reversed, but the King gives the Jewish people the right to defend themselves.  They prepare and win the battle for their people and all is well in the end.  The King issues a new proclamation that the day of their victory will be celebrated forever after.  That “forever after” part is why we celebrate Purim today.

If you look carefully at all the vivid details of the story you will grasp that the bloodline that produced Jesus Christ was saved from extinction on the first Purim.  This is the part you will not hear in a Jewish celebration, but this is the MAIN REASON a Christian has for celebrating Purim.  What better reason could there be?

 Had there not been that first Purim, no Jew or Christian would exist at all because we would not have had the birth of Christ, nor his life, death and resurrection that make our Christian faith possible.  Christians could not exist without the Jews, because Jesus was Jewish!  So you see – A Christian probably has more reason to celebrate Purim than a Jew.  The Jewish people are only celebrating the salvation of the heritage of their people.  The Christians are celebrating the salvation of the whole world that was made possible by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We can always look back to see that everything that happened to the Jewish nation of Israel and all of the Holy Days they celebrate today are just shadows and types of how we all have came to have salvation through Jesus Christ.    

So – if you are a Christian – study this well.  Then join in the celebration, because it is great fun and a wonderful thing to do!    In 2016 the holiday of Purim starts at sunset on March 23rd and ends at sunset on March 24^th. 

I’ll tell you another little secret that is hidden from many Christians today – God loves celebrations!  He gave us many dates that He wishes for us to celebrate because we are members of His royal family.   If you are missing out on it all you only rob yourself – come join in with the rest of your family!  ALL are invited to God’s table; you only have to accept the invitation.  Never let anyone tell you different!   Don’t miss the family holidays that our Father has taught us to keep.  He wants us to be a joyful family, a family that plays together and has fun together.  He wants us to always remember the things He has done for us and celebrate those things forever.  He wants to see us smile and love each other’s company.  He wants to see us have festive meals together and to set aside time just to be a family together.

If you have missed this one point, you have missed the secret to joy in the Christian life.  Don’t let the world rob you of your joyful heritage!

So, go ahead!  It is okay!  Celebrate Purim with a Messianic understanding.

The most important part of the whole celebration will be the telling of the story of Esther.  You can find many plays and parodies on the internet that will help you do this.  The scroll used to read the book of Esther is called the Megillah.  You can find beautiful copies of it in bookstores and on the internet.  Read the scroll and/or have a play.  Appoint one reader or several readers with different parts or give out scripts to your guest and let them read and act out a play.  It is all fun!  When the reading is done there are actions that must take place with the noisemakers you need to furnish:  When the name of Haman is stated people should boo loudly or shake grogers.   When the name of Mordechai is given, people should shout “YEA!”  When the name of Esther is given people should clap their hands. 

Start by preparing a festive meal for your family and anyone else you want to invite.  If you really want to have fun – ask them all to dress like one of the characters in the story, or simply ask them to wear any costume they choose.  The dressing up in costume is symbolic of the fact that Esther hid her identity from the king.  Wearing costumes makes this point.  

Make your room look like a royal banquet hall and put noise makers at each place on the table. 

 Suggested foods: 

Hamentaschens:  You may serve almost anything that you like in this feast, but most people make sure they include Hamantaschen cookies.  These are cookies filled with fruit marmalade or poppy seeds.  They were originally called “mundtaschen” which means “poppy seed pockets” and the word “hamantaschen” is Yiddish for “Haman’s pockets.”  These cookies are triangular in shape to represent the triangular-shaped hat worn by Haman.  Some people have also thought there are three points on the hat to represent the victory for the three founders of Judaism:  Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  These cookies are traditional and delicious.  There are many recipes available in cookbooks and on the internet. 

Drinks:  Though it may at first seem an unusual custom for Christians to participate in; it is also customary to serve alcoholic beverages at Purim celebrations.  I chose to imitate Jesus at our house – Jesus drank wine, but Jesus never got drunk.  This is what I have taught my children all their lives, and moderation is the key to pulling off this part of the celebration.  One of the most interesting commandments related to a traditional Jewish Purim has to do with drinking.  According to Jewish law, adults of drinking age are supposed to get so drunk that they can’t tell the difference between Mordechai (the hero) and Haman (the villain).  This drinking tradition stems from the joyous nature of Purim.  It also symbolizes how ironically we sometimes live our lives mistaking good for bad and bad for good.  There are lessons to be found here and they are many – but when this commandment was given people only walked, there were no cars at the time.  Now in the age of driving it is too dangerous to keep this commandment and a true Christian would not participate in drunkenness.  So – most people chose to add moderation to this part of their celebration – only serving drinks to those who chose to drink wisely and not letting things get out of hand.  Of course it goes without saying that if you choose to participate fully in this custom you should drink responsibly by arranging for a safe ride home, or BE IN your home so you do not have to leave.  Don’t ruin a joyful celebration by becoming a drunk.  Remember Haman lost the victory.

Mishloach Manot:  These are pretty decorated baskets of easy-to-serve foods that are customarily sent to others on this day as part of the celebration.  Most of the baskets will contain nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, hamentaschen, fresh fruit and breads.

Be Charitable:  With one’s friends and relatives well-fed and happy, Purim stipulates that one must also take care of the poor. The holiday’s second obligation is giving to charity.  Since you, as a Christian, will not be in a synagogue that auctions off some of your Mishloach Manot and uses the money to care for the poor, it is suggested that you start a fund in your home that goes to charitable causes.  Have a decorated basket to be given away by lottery to everyone who buys a ticket at your party.  This brings up the fact that Haman chose the lot as a way to pick his date to destroy the people. The word “pur” translates to “lot.”   Many biblical dates were chosen by lottery.  Reverse that bad action of Haman by having a lottery to help the poor and draw “pur” to determine the winner.   The money that the participants donate for the lottery can be used as a donation to your pre-selected charity. It is also great fun to take these baskets personally to others in the community during this time.  Many people allow their children to do the delivering.  It teaches children the act of having a giving heart and that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

So there you have it.  Deeper layers of the meaning of Purim will come to you each year as you revisit the story.  You will come to cherish the story of Esther and you will see more and more of Christ in the story each time you celebrate Purim.  God is such a great storyteller!  What better way to learn the ways of The Kingdom of God than to listen to the stories of our Father?  Could anything be more fun to do?

Happy Purim!