Doing what the new covenant says, looks not of the world. 1 Corinthians 11 requires women to be covered and men not to cover their heads while praying and prophesying, Uncovered heads and thighs and no skirts are nakedness Isaiah 47:1–3.
1 Peter 3,
James 1:22,
1 Timothy 2:11-15,
Proverbs 31,
The New Covenant is:
Jeremiah 31:33,
Ezekiel 11:14-21,
Ezekiel 36:22-31,
Hebrews 8:10, and Hebrews 10:16
Shalom, friends,
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The lesson for the day is titled: "Salvation"
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FIRST MACCABEES
CHAPTER 2
In those days Mattithyahu, son of Yochanan, son of Shimon, a koheyn of the family of Yoariv, left Yerushalayim and settled in Modein. He had five sons: Yochanan, who was called Gaddi; Shimon, who was called Thassi; Yehudah, who was called Maccabeus; Eleazar, who was called Avaran; and Yonathan, who was called Apphus. When he saw the sacrileges that were being committed in Yehudah and in Yerushalayim, he said: “Woe is me! Why was I born to see the ruin of my people, the ruin of the set-apart city - to dwell there as it was given into the hands of enemies, the sanctuary into the hands of strangers? Her Temple has become like a man disgraced, her glorious vessels carried off as spoils, her infants murdered in her streets, her youths by the sword of the enemy. What nation has not taken its share of her realm, and laid its hand on her spoils? All her adornment has been taken away. Once free, she has become a slave. We see our sanctuary laid waste, our beauty, our esteem. The gentiles have defiled them! Why are we still alive?” Then Mattithyahu and his sons tore their garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned bitterly.
The officers of the king in charge of enforcing the apostasy came to the city of Modein to make them sacrifice. Many of Yisrael joined them, but Mattithyahu and his sons drew together. Then the officers of the king addressed Mattithyahu: “You are a leader, an honorable and great man in this city, supported by sons and kindred. Come now, be the first to obey the king’s command, as all the gentiles and Yehudym and those who are left in Yerushalayim have done. Then you and your sons shall be numbered among the King’s friends, and you and your sons shall be honored with silver and gold and many gifts.”
But Mattithyahu answered in a loud voice: “Although all the gentiles in the king’s realm obey him, so that they forsake the religion of their ancestors and consent to the king’s orders, yet I and my sons and my kindred will keep to the covenant of our ancestors. Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the commandments. We will not obey the words of the king by departing from our religion in the slightest degree.”
As he finished saying these words, a certain Yehudy came forward in the sight of all to offer sacrifice on the altar in Modein according to the king’s order. When Mattithyahu saw him, he was filled with zeal; his heart was moved and his just fury was aroused; he sprang forward and killed him upon the altar. At the same time, he also killed the messenger of the king who was forcing them to sacrifice, and he tore down the altar. Thus he showed his zeal for the law, just as Pynchas did with Zimri, son of Salu.
Then Mattithyahu cried out in the city, “Let everyone who is zealous for the law and who stands by the covenant follow me!” Then he and his sons fled to the mountains, leaving behind in the city all their possessions.
At that time many who sought righteousness and justice went out into the wilderness to settle there, they and their children, their wives and their animals, because misfortunes pressed so hard on them. It was reported to the officers and soldiers of the king who were in the City of David, in Yerushalayim, that those who had flouted the king’s order had gone out to secret refuges in the wilderness. Many hurried out after them, and having caught up with them, camped opposite and prepared to attack them on the Shabbath. The pursuers said to them, “Enough of this! Come out and obey the king’s command, and you will live.” But they replied, “We will not come out, nor will we obey the king’s command to profane the Shabbath.” Then the enemy attacked them at once. But they did not retaliate; they neither threw stones, nor blocked up their secret refuges. They said, “Let us all die in innocence; heaven and earth are our witnesses that you destroy us unjustly.” So the officers and soldiers attacked them on the Shabbath, and they died with their wives, their children and their animals, to the number of a thousand persons.
When Mattithyahu and his friends heard of it, they mourned deeply for them. They said to one another, “If we all do as our kindred have done, and do not fight against the gentiles for our lives and our laws, they will soon destroy us from the earth.” So on that day they came to this decision: “Let us fight against anyone who attacks us on the Shabbath, so that we may not all die as our kindred died in their secret refuges.”
Then they were joined by a group of Chassidym, mighty warriors of Yisrael, all of them devoted to the law. And all those who were fleeing from the persecutions joined them and supported them. They gathered an army and struck down sinners in their wrath and the lawless in their anger, and the survivors fled to the gentiles for safety. Mattithyahu and his friends went about and tore down the pagan altars; they also forcibly circumcised any uncircumcised boys whom they found in the territory of Yisrael. They put to flight the arrogant, and the work prospered in their hands. They saved the law from the hands of the gentiles and of the kings and did not let the sinner triumph.
When the time came for Mattithyahu to die, he said to his sons: “Arrogance and scorn have now grown strong; it is a time of disaster and violent wrath. Therefore, my children, be zealous for the law and give your lives for the covenant of our ancestors. “Remember the deeds that our ancestors did in their times, and you shall win great honor and an everlasting name. Was not Avraham found faithful in trial, and it was credited to him as righteousness?Yoseph, when in distress, kept the commandment, and he became master of Mitzrayim. Pynchas our ancestor, for his burning zeal, received the covenant of an everlasting priesthood. Yehoshua, for executing his commission, became a judge in Yisrael. Kalev, for bearing witness before the assembly, received an inheritance in the land. David, for his loyalty, received as a heritage a throne of eternal kingship. Eliyahu, for his burning zeal for the law, was taken up to heaven. Chananyah, Azaryah and Mishael, for their faith, were saved from the fire. Daniel, for his innocence, was delivered from the mouths of lions. And so, consider this from generation to generation, that none who hope in Heaven shall fail in strength.
Do not fear the words of sinners, for their esteem ends in corruption and worms. Today exalted, tomorrow not to be found, they have returned to dust, their schemes have perished. Children! be courageous and strong in keeping the law, for by it you shall be honored.
“Here is your brother Shimon who I know is a wise counselor; listen to him always, and he will be a father to you. And Yehudah Maccabeus, a mighty warrior from his youth, shall be the leader of your army and wage the war against the nations. Gather about you all who observe the law, and avenge your people. Pay back the gentiles what they deserve, and observe the precepts of the law.”
Then he blessed them, and he was gathered to his ancestors. He died in the year one hundred and forty-six, and was buried in the tombs of his ancestors in Modein, and all Yisrael mourned him greatly.
FIRST MACCABEES
CHAPTER ONE
After Alexander the Macedonian, Philip’s son, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and Medes, he became king in his place, having first ruled in Greece. He fought many battles, captured fortresses, and put the kings of the earth to death. He advanced to the ends of the earth, gathering plunder from many nations; the earth fell silent before him, and his heart became proud and arrogant. He collected a very strong army and won dominion over provinces, nations, and rulers, and they paid him tribute.
But after all this he took to his bed, realizing that he was going to die. So he summoned his noblest officers, who had been brought up with him from his youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died. So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory, and after his death they all put on diadems, and so did their sons after them for many years, multiplying evils on the earth.
There sprang from these a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome. He became king in the one hundred and thirty-seventh year of the kingdom of the Greeks.
In those days there appeared in Yisrael transgressors of the law who seduced many, saying: “Let us go and make a covenant with the gentiles all around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon us.” The proposal was agreeable; some from among the people promptly went to the king, and he authorized them to introduce the ordinances of the gentiles. Thereupon they built a gymnasiumin Yerushalayim according to the Gentile custom. They disguised their circumcision and abandoned the set-apart covenant; they allied themselves with the gentiles and sold themselves to wrongdoing.
When his kingdom seemed secure, Antiochus undertook to become king of the land of Mitzrayim and to rule over both kingdoms. He invaded Mitzrayim with a strong force, with chariots, elephants and cavalry, and with a large fleet, to make war on Ptolemy, king of Mitzrayim. Ptolemy was frightened at his presence and fled, and many were wounded and fell dead. The fortified cities in the land of Mitzrayim were captured, and Antiochus plundered the land of Mitzrayim.
After Antiochus had defeated Mitzrayim in the one hundred and forty-third year, he returned and went up against Yisrael and against Yerushalayim with a strong force. He insolently entered the sanctuary and took away the golden altar, the lampstand for the light with all its utensils, the offering table, the cups and bowls, the golden censers, and the curtain. The cornices and the golden ornament on the facade of the Temple – he stripped it all off. And he took away the silver and gold and the precious vessels; he also took all the hidden treasures he could find. Taking all this, he went back to his own country. He shed much blood and spoke with great arrogance.
And there was great mourning throughout all Yisrael, and the rulers and the elders groaned. Young women and men languished, and the beauty of the women faded. Every bridegroom took up lamentation, while the bride sitting in her chamber mourned, And the land quaked on account of its inhabitants, and all the house of Ya'akov was clothed with shame.
Two years later, the king sent the Mysian commander to the cities of Yehudah, and he came to Yerushalayim with a strong force. He spoke to them deceitfully in peaceful terms, and they believed him. Then he attacked the city suddenly, in a great onslaught, and destroyed many of the people in Yisrael. He plundered the city and set fire to it, demolished its houses and its surrounding walls. And they took captive the women and children, and seized the animals. Then they built up the City of David with a high, strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel. There they installed a sinful race, transgressors of the law, who fortified themselves inside it. They stored up weapons and provisions, depositing there the plunder they had collected from Yerushalayim, and they became a great snare.
The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary, and a wicked adversary to Yisrael at all times. They shed innocent blood around the sanctuary; they defiled the sanctuary. Because of them the inhabitants of Yerushalayim fled away, she became the abode of strangers. She became a stranger to her own offspring, and her children forsook her. Her sanctuary became desolate as a wilderness; her feasts were turned into mourning, her Shabbaths to shame, her honor to contempt. As her esteem had been, so great was her dishonor: her exaltation was turned into mourning.
Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, and abandon their particular customs. All the gentiles conformed to the command of the king, and many Yisraeli delighted in his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the Shabbath.
The king sent letters by messenger to Yerushalayim and to the cities of Yehudah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to their land; to prohibit burnt offerings, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the Shabbaths and festivals, to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers, to build pagan altars and temples and shrines, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to defile themselves with every kind of impurity and abomination; so that they might forget the law and change all its ordinances. Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king was to be put to death.
In words such as these he wrote to his whole kingdom. He appointed inspectors over all the people, and he ordered the cities of Yehudah to offer sacrifices, each city in turn. Many of the people, those who abandoned the law, joined them and committed evil in the land. They drove Yisrael into hiding, wherever places of refuge could be found.
On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, in the year one hundred and forty-five,the king erected the desolating abomination upon the altar of burnt offerings, and in the surrounding cities of Yehudah they built pagan altars. They also burned incense at the doors of houses and in the streets. Any scrolls of the law that they found they tore up and burned. Whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant, and whoever observed the law, was condemned to death by royal decree. So they used their power against Yisrael, against those who were caught, each month, in the cities. On the twenty-fifth day of each month they sacrificed on the pagan altar that was over the altar of burnt offerings. In keeping with the decree, they put to death women who had their children circumcised, and they hung their babies from their necks; their families also and those who had circumcised them were killed.
But many in Yisrael were determined and resolved in their hearts not to eat anything unclean; they preferred to die rather than to be defiled with food or to profane the set-apart covenant; and they did die. And very great wrath came upon Yisrael.
The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.
#proverbs 14:10
Suffering is relative. What destroys one person might not phase the next. Don't judge someone too harshly for being weak where you are strong. The same is true of joy. I don't understand what people get out of watching golf or tennis and they probably don't understand why I enjoy identifying a peculiar bug in my garden.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 3:15
Discord in the body is like an autoimmune disease. Strive for peace with fellow believers, despite our differences.
One of the messages I gave at Sukkot this year. The Our Father contains a reference to the Torah's economy and God's intention for mankind that we will experience in the millennium.
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