2 Kings 5:15: “And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel””
The ‘parsha’ (‘Torah’ portion) this week is a double ‘parsha’, ‘Parsha Tazria’ and ‘Parsha Metzora’.
‘PARSHA TAZRIA’
‘Parsha Tazria’ (she conceives) found in Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59, is the twenty seventh weekly ‘Torah’ portion in the annual Jewish cycle of ‘Torah’ reading. The corresponding ‘haftorah’ (reading of the prophets) is found in 2 Kings 4:42 – 5:19.
‘Parsha Tazria’ continues the discussion of the laws of ‘Tumah v'Taharah’ (ritual impurity and purity), including laws concerning ‘metzora’ (leprosy).
‘Haftorah Tazria’ describes how G-d, through Elisha the prophet, miraculously cured an Aramite general of his leprous ailment, paralleling the laws in the ‘parsha’ concerning leprosy.
The ‘haftorah’ begins with a brief mention of one of the Prophet Elisha’s miraculous feats and goes on to give an account of Naaman, a general in the powerful Aramite army who contracted leprosy.
A young captive Israelite maid advised him to seek the assistance of Elisha the prophet. Acting on this suggestion, the king of Aram dispatched a message to the king of Israel, informing him that he had sent Naaman his servant to the king of Israel to be cured of his leprosy.
The king of Israel panicked, until Elisha sent him a message: “Why have you rent your garments? Let him come to me now, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel”.
Elisha advised Naaman to immerse himself in the Jordan River. Despite his initial reluctance to do so, Naaman carried out the prophet’s orders, and was immediately healed.
Elisha refused to accept any gifts from Naaman, and Naaman promised Elisha that he would no longer serve any deity other than the One G-d, the G-d of Israel, and he departed – “And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel;””
(2 Kings 5:15).
Although this week’s ‘parshiot’ and ‘haftorot’ both address the skin ailment of leprosy, what the ‘haftorot’ also teaches is that, if we live our lives according to G-dly morals and according to His word, trusting in Him at all times, people will see G-d in us and, like Naaman, they will realise that there is only one true G-d in Heaven, the G-d of Israel.
For born again believers in the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, Matthew 5:16 tells us (Yeshua speaking): “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Many professing Christians say to me: “I love Israel”.
I appreciate every person who loves Israel - the land; I appreciate every Christian who visits Israel; I appreciate every person who stands with Israel and not against her and I appreciate everyone who prays for the wellbeing of Israel, the people and the land.
I truly appreciate all the wonderful Christian organizations who do so much for Israel and the Jewish people, many actively involved in bringing Jewish people back to their Jewish homeland, ‘Eretz Yisrael’ – Truly, they are fulfilling the scripture in Matthew 5:16 by letting their ‘light so shine before the Jewish people’.
However, I really appreciate Christians who actually tell Jewish people about their Jewish Saviour, Yeshua. This is one of the most beautiful things any believer in Yeshua can do for a Jewish person. It’s so beautiful, that Isaiah 52:7 declares: “How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!””
In fact, the Jewish people are the only people group mentioned by name in the Bible who G-d specifically gives the church a mandate for regarding salvation – “To provoke them (Jewish people) to jealousy so that they may be saved”; we see this mandate in Romans 11:11-14: “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.”
If you provoke Jewish people to emulation and plant the seeds of Yeshua in their hearts and minds, your light will so shine before them that they too might come to salvation, as did the Aramite general, Naaman … and this goes for all those in your sphere of influence, and this is beautiful to Almighty G-d.
‘PARSHA METZORA’
2 Kings 7:3-4: “Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.””
‘Parsha Metzora’ (one being diseased) is found in Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33 and it is the twenty eighth weekly ‘Torah’ portion in the annual Jewish cycle of ‘Torah’ reading. The corresponding ‘haftorah’ (reading of the prophets) is found in 2 Kings 7:3-20.
‘Parsha Metzora’ begins by detailing how the recovered leper was purified by the priest by a special procedure involving two birds, spring water in an earthen vessel, a piece of cedar wood, a scarlet thread and a bundle of hyssop.
A home could also be afflicted with leprosy by the appearance of dark red or green patches on its walls. In a process lasting as long as nineteen days, a priest determined if the house could be purified or whether it had to be demolished.
Ritual impurity was also engendered through a seminal or other discharge in a man, and menstruation or other discharge of blood in a woman, necessitating purification through immersion in a ‘mikvah’ (ritual pool of water).
‘Haftorah Metzora’ relates the account of how Israel was being ravage by famine as enemy troops had surrounded them and cut off all sources of supply. Mothers were eating their own children just to survive.
Right in the middle of this, the L-rd told the Prophet Elisha that in twenty four hours, the whole situation would change. Flour and barley would sell for just a Shekel and there would be abundance for all.
So what did G-d use to turn the situation around? Four lepers!
Four lepers who instead of sitting around feeling sorry for themselves and waiting to die, decided to arise and take their chances in the enemy camp. When they got there, they found it abandoned, and all the enemy soldiers had been frightened away by the angels of G-d, and they had left enough food behind to feed all of Samaria.
Both the double ‘parshiot’ and the ‘haftorot’ deals with people stricken with skin disease, and both the ‘parshiot’ and ‘haftorot’ employ the term, ‘metzora’ for the person affected by skin disease.
In ‘Parsha Tazria’, we see that a person with skin disease had to live alone outside that Israelite camp; and in the ‘haftorah’ the person with ‘metzora’ (disease) had to immerse himself in the Jordan River for healing.
Parsha Metzora’ addresses the skin ailment of leprosy, and the ‘haftorah’ teaches that if we just sit around feeling sorry for ourselves, we will eventually just die, spiritually and sometimes physically. However if we decide to arise and trust G-d with our situations, not only will we live, G-d will use us to save others … just like the four lepers in 2 Kings 7:9-11:
“Then they (the lepers) said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us. Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household.” So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city, and told them, saying, “We went to the Syrian camp, and surprisingly no one was there, not a human sound--only horses and donkeys tied, and the tents intact.” And the gatekeepers called out, and they told it to the king’s household inside.”
2 Kings 7:14-16 continues: “Therefore they took two chariots with horses; and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying, “Go and see.” And they went after them to the Jordan; and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.”
Sometimes we get problem-centred instead of Word-of-G-d centred. We allow ourselves to focus on the voice of the world and we forget about the victory the L-rd attained for us on the Cross. Our faith caves in and we begin to feel sorry for ourselves.
My advice to you: Don’t just sit there accepting defeat; rise up in faith, read G-d’s Word, stand on G-d’s Word and believe Him for your victory.
And then, like the four lepers, allow G-d to use you to save others by sharing with them the good news of salvation…beginning with the Jewish people.
The Jewish people are the only people group mentioned by name in the bible who G-d specifically gives the church a mandate for regarding salvation – “To provoke them (Jewish people) to jealousy so that they may be saved”; we see this mandate in Romans 11:11-14: “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them.”
G-d’s desire is for all people, Jews and Gentiles, to accept Yeshua as L-rd and Saviour and come to salvation. We see this in 1 Timothy 2:3-6: “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…”
Yeshua sacrificed His life for mankind so that mankind could receive the forgiveness of sin, and have the guarantee of eternal life in heaven. Only by accepting Yeshua and G-d’s gift of salvation can your sins be forgiven you and eternal life in heaven be granted to you.
If you haven’t done so already, will you accept Yeshua as your L-rd and Saviour? Will you confess your sins, repent of them and ask Yeshua to come into your life? You can do this by praying the Prayer of Salvation found at the end of this article.
Finally, don’t just sit there, but arise for the Kingdom and be the vehicle that Almighty G-d wants to use to reach mankind with the greatest treasure of all, salvation. And then through Yeshua, let your light shine for the Kingdom by sharing the forgiveness of sin and the good news of salvation with Jewish people you know and with those in your sphere of influence.
And like Naaman, they too may realise that there is only one true G-d in Heaven, the G-d of Israel - the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
2 Kings 5:9-15: “Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean…So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel””
We love you.
Shalom.
Scriptures of the week: 2 Kings 5:9-15 and 2 Kings 7:3-20
SALVATION PRAYER
Thank you Yeshua for Your love for me.
Thank you for giving up Your life on the cross for me and for taking my sins upon Yourself.
I confess that I have sinned.
I repent of my sins and I turn from everything I know to be wrong.
I invite You to come into my life as my Messiah, my Saviour.
By Your grace I will serve You all the remaining years of my life.