{Disclaimer: these are my rough teaching notes I use in my Mishkan Katan weekly broadcasts. There will be "typos". Proceed at your own risk, lol.You can find all my Mishkan Katan video teachings on my YouTube channel: genahood2818 . Look on the playlist called Messianic LAMB TV Network.}
Boker Tov! I hope your week is off to a great start. We are on the cusp, if you are watching in real time, of Elul 1, which is a two-day celebration that began last night at sundown. Let’s explore that a bit more. Most of you know that Rosh Chodesh is the monthly celebration in Jewish practice of the new moon. As with all the prescribed by Father Yahweh festivals and celebrations, this one is done every month, to inaugurate the new month. The Rosh Chodesh, which means in Hebrew “head of the month”, for Elul, though, is a two-day celebration, instead of just one. When the preceding month has 30 days (as opposed to 29), the last day of the outgoing month is the first day of Rosh Chodesh for the next month. So, although the first day of Elul begins tonight, we started the Rosh Chodesh celebration last night at sundown. All the mo’edim begin at sundown, the sundown that begins the day being marked. The prescribed reading for Rosh Chodesh is Numbers 3:1-15.
As the last month of the civil calendar year, Elul is traditionally a time for introspection, of looking back over your life over the past year, to examine yourself. Self-examination and the resulting repentance are not popular themes in most of Christianity today. However, the Bible is full of exhortations to the follower of God, of Jesus, to have an ongoing attitude of repentance and confession before a perfectly holy God. (See Lamentations 3:40, Haggai 1:5, Psalm 119:59, Matthew 7:3-5, Galatians 6:3-4, 1 Corinthians 11:28, 2 Corinthians 13:5, James 5:16, 1 John 1:8-9 etc.) As a redeemed member of the Bride of Messiah, are all our sins forgiven, past, present and future. The Scriptures teach us that this is so. Should this be a license for us to be inattentive to our daily offenses toward our God, the Divine, Majestic Mystery? No, it should not. I have found that it is a blessing on my life to apologize to Father Yahweh for my shortcomings, the times I have missed the mark, which are many, and to thank Him for His ultimate sacrifice for me, in the redeeming work of His Son on my behalf. It is a blessing to re-establish my fellowship with my Savior and King, by confessing where I’ve done wrong, left the path, walked away, been disobedient, overlooked opportunities to bless others, etc. Confession AND repentance - - confession means to speak it, to own it, and repentance means to turn and walk way from it, to leave it behind.
The emphasis of the month of Elul is to draw near and to repent of our sins, to re-establish that connection with our King. The rabbis have designated that Elul 1 through the 9th day of Tishri (the next month), those 40 days, are to be this designated period of introspection, self-examination and repentance. For those of us who know the Mashiach and have His spirit within us, it can be a meaningful time of “drawing near”, allowing the flame of His Spirit to fill us to an even greater degree. Voluntarily undergoing Teshuva, that is, to examine our lives and measure them by God's standard of holiness, to repent and to return to God, to renew our commitment to walk in His ways, when done in light of the truth of the gospel, can be a healing practice for our spirit.
Historically, it is believed that on the 1st day of Elul Moses ascended up the mountain for the 3rd time, taking with him the stone tablets he had hewn at God’s command so that God could once again inscribe upon them the 10 Commandments. It was on this trip that God allowed Moses to see His back, but not His face. Moses remained on the mountain for 40 days, as he had done in the past, coming down on Yom Kippur, the 10th of Tishri.
One specific Elul custom, though not specifically given in Scripture, is the sounding of the ram’s horn each day, as a call to repentance. I have a shofar, but “sho-far”, pardon the pun, I have been unable to blow it. I guess I am not doing it right. I need shofar lessons, apparently. As the new civil year approaches, we begin to use the closing/greeting, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” L’shanah tovah tikateiv v’taychataim, in Hebrew.
Ok, so, I pray you will have a blessed and meaningful Elul, my friends. Now, let’s get into the psalms again, by first looking at Psalms 120 through 134 as a group. These 15 psalms are called “A Song of Ascents”. You may remember from several weeks ago that Psalms 113 through 118 are known as the Hallel psalms, a similar grouping. In Jewish thought, 15 is a number with special significance. The numerical value of the name of God, Yah, is 15, for example. The Hebrew word for man is Ish. It contains a yod in the middle of it. The Hebrew word for woman or wife, is Isha. That Hebrew word contains a letter hay. Put both of these letters, yod, and hay, together, and you have God‘s name yeah which has a numerical value of 15. This alludes to the successful union of a man and his wife. The town that teaches in Sotah 17a that if a man and his wife are righteous and meritorious, then the divine presence dwells in the midst of them. However, we are blessed as followers of Yeshua to have the Holy Spirit, i.e., the divine presence, dwelling within each of us. Each of us who follows Yeshua as Mashiach. Still, we are encouraged to keep God at the center of our relationship as man and wife, because we know that by doing so our relationship will be stronger than the marriages of the world.
Solomon was the 15th generation from Abraham, and it was Solomon who built the first Temple. The composition of the 15 Songs of Ascent is related to the Temple’s construction. For example, there are 15 words in the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26.
But, why are these psalms called the Song of Ascents? Perhaps the most well-known reason is that these psalms were sung by the people as they journeyed from their homes “up” to Jerusalem, for the three regalim festivals.
These songs were also sung by the Levitical choir in the Temple on the 15 steps which led from the Women’s Courtyard into the Courtyard of the Israelites. This was especially meaningful during the festival of Sukkot, when the Water-Pouring Ceremony took place.
During this festival, each morning, a special amount of water was poured on the altar as part of the daily burnt offering service. This only took place during the festival of Sukkot, because at other times, wine was the libation that was offered with the burnt offering. This special ceremonial water was drawn each day from a freshwater spring near the temple mount. It was called Shiloach. There was a tremendous amount of pop and circumstance, as well as public participation in this water, drawing ceremony at the temple. The celebration was so great that we find written in the mission that any person that did not live to see this ceremony had never seen or experienced actual rejoicing in his or her lifetime. We find this written in Succah 5.1. So what does this have to do with those 15 steps and these 15 songs? Well, the procession to draw the water began from the courtyard of the temple and moved to the outer courtyard, which we know as the women’s courtyard. From they are the procession went to Shiloach. There were 15 steps, as I mentioned earlier, leading downward from the women’s courtyard to the outer courtyard. The steps were built in a half Circle across the width of the courtyard, so that large numbers of the Levitical singers and musicians could stand on the steps while simultaneously seeing each other. As the procession descended, they would pause on each step to sing one of these songs of ascent. You may be wondering, then, while they are not called the songs of descent! Well, what goes down will again come up. So after the Priest procured the water at the designated will, they turned around and proceeded back up to 15 steps to the altar to complete the ceremony.
Another significance is that the sage Meiri believes that the first of these psalms were to be sung softly, with each successive psalm to be sung louder in volume, and other sages say each song in this grouping was sung in a progressively higher key. If you are a musician, you know what that means. R’Hirsch and others believe that these psalms describe and are dedicated to the mission and aspiration of the Jewish people to “ascend” to higher and higher degrees of holiness. These psalms describe the rising fortunes of the wise. When the people of God follow God’s commandments, they as a society, as a treasured people, find themselves in ever-increasing levels of success, joy and prosperity. The converse is also true, sadly. Deuteronomy 28:43 issues this warning, and those of us who have lived for several decades have witnessed societal decline brought about by a severe straying from God’s ways. It is a sad phenomenon.
And finally, there is an ancient custom that these 15 psalms as well as Psalm 104 are to be recited after the Minka offering every Shabbat, from Côte until Passover. This presentation begins on the Shabbat where the Bare sheet Porsche describing the creation is red. 104 deals with the topic of creation, affirming God as the creator, and describing the wonders of creation.
All of these Psalms of Ascent are relatively short, particularly by Psalm 119 standards! The longest one is Psalm 132, with about 12 verses, I think. Some of them are as short as 3 verses, but most of them are 6, 7, 8 or 9 verses long.
All right, let’s begin by reading Psalm 120.
120 (0) A song of ascents:
(1) I called to Adonai in my distress,
and he answered me.
2 Rescue me, Adonai, from lips that tell lies,
from a tongue full of deceit.
3 What has he in store for you, deceitful tongue?
What more will he do to you?
4 A warrior’s sharp arrows,
with red-hot coals from a broom tree.
5 How wretched I am, that I’m an alien in Meshekh,
that I must live among the tents of Keidar!
6 I have had to live far too long
with those who hate peace.
7 I am all for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.
A Song of Ascents….
There is a concept in modern Judaism that each person has the ability to “ascend” spiritually, to draw ever closer to God. In so doing, he or she “merits” everlasting life. As followers of Yeshua, we know that we can never meet God’s standard of perfect righteousness. Were we ABLE on our own merits to be “good enough” there would have been no need for a Redeemer, a Mashiach, a Savior. Therefore, we trust in Him, in His merits, to make our souls right before Almighty God, and then, in gratitude and in love, we yearn to be more like Him, our Mashiach, who was the very essence of Hashem, yet clothed in human flesh. By the power of His Holy Spirit living in each of Yeshua’s talmudim, His followers, His disciples, we are empowered to live lives of ever-increasing holiness, lives which reflect the set-apartness of our status in this world, lives which bring ever-increasing glory to our beloved God. In that sense, we “ascend”, but it is not through our own earthly efforts. It is the fruit of God’s own Spirit, working through our lives.
Vs. 2 - - we are currently living in a day when Jews are being viciously slandered, in practically every forum. Yes, many Christians, particularly Protestants, are standing up for the Jewish people and not succumbing to these horrific canards. The worst anti-Semitism seems to be coming from Catholic Christians, although there are some in the Reformed branches of Protestantism who are similarly infected by the likes of people like Carlson, Owens, Kelly, Fuentes and their ilk. These influencers seek to deceive people by trotting out these centuries-old tropes about the Jews. There is nothing new under the sun. Although the Jewish people have been subjected to may forms of hostility and abuse, over the centuries, perhaps the most subtly destructive has been slander and falsehood. This is the gateway, which opens up a people group to other, more evil persecutions, after all. Belief shapes action. And, people will more easily take egregious, demonic actions against a people, if they believe the devil’s lies about them.
In the Talmud’s section Arachin 15b, it is said that the Holy One said to the tongue: “I have enclosed you within two walls, one of hard bone-like material (the teeth) and one of flesh (the lips).” Knowing the tongue as He does, He enclosed it within these two “gates”. However, the tongue, still manages to “escape” its bonds, and break through both barriers, to engage in slander. The Psalmist’s frustration with the tongue’s behavior is expressed in verse 3.
In verse 4, “arrows” are a metaphor for slanderous words. The tongue is pictured as a bow which shoots slanderous arrows (words). And, who can recall an arrow? It hits its target, does its damage, and is generally unusable again until rehabilitated. Similarly, slanderous words cannot be recalled either.
As far as I know, we don’t have broom trees here in the United States. The broom tree is also called the Rotem tree. Burning nuggets of rotem wood resemble burning briquets of charcoal. They may appear ashy, gray and harmless on the outside, but on the inside they continue to burn just as hot. A slanderer is like this. His slander is done in the shadows. He is a malicious whisperer, much like a disease that is a silent killer. By the time his work becomes known, much damage has been done, difficult to eradicate. It is for this reason the Talmud (and Proverbs ) classifies slander as a worse sin than idolatry, or illicit sexual relations, or even murder.
Verses 5 and 6 deal with the long, nearly 2000-year long exile. Two regions, Meshach and Kedar, are mentioned. The first is believed to refer to the land occupied by Japeth’s descendants. That would be the areas of Persia and Greece. Of course, the Greek and Romans spread to Western Europe, from which I descend. The second is believed to refer to the nomadic Bedouins, descendants of Esau. The Midrash Shocher Tov asks if it is possible that any people group would despise peace? I would contend that today’s Islamic fundamentalist groups despise peace, because they want nothing more than the destruction of the nation of Israel and the Jews. Golda Meir famously said that there would be peace with the Islamists when they being to love their children more than they hate the Jews. That day has not yet come, I’m sad to say.
Verse 7 reminds me of our current president of the United States. While some see him as a warmonger, I view him as a man who seeks peace, but in the case of the nation of Iran meets war at every turn, for the reason I described above.
On now to Psalm 121. This psalm is the one from which our local congregation of believers took its name…Rising Hills Church. Our anchor verse is 121:1-2. The Midrash, Bereshit Rabbah 68.2, interprets this Psalm as the expression of the patriarch Jacob’s feelings as he fled the land of Israel on his way to the house of his uncle, Laban. Let’s read the entire psalm, all 8 verses, from the ESV.
121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Unlike all the other 14 psalms in this series, which begin with “A Song of Ascents”, this one is the only one that begins with “A Song TO the Ascents”. The Midrash Shocher Tov says that the reason this subscription is different is because this psalm points to the nation of Israel’s ultimate victory when Messiah comes. This victory is prophesied in Obadiah chapter 1, verse 21. Here’s what that verse says: “those who save will ascend Mount Zion to judge Esau’s mountain, and the kingdom will be Hashem‘s.” And after this happens, the nation of Israel will never again be in a state of descent. Another role of a prophecy is Deuteronomy 28:13, which the sages say will be fulfilled at this time. That verse says, “and you shall only ascend, and you shall never descend.”
Why, though do the scripture say that we should look to the hills, or to the mountains, for our help? One reason is that in ancient times, military help would often appear over the top of a ridge. But also, a little-known prophecy is recorded in the book of Zechariah, chapter 4 verse seven. In this verse, Zechariah calls the Messiah, the great Mountain, the only trustworthy human “mountain”. It is He who will come by way of the mountains. And Isaiah 52:7 prophecies “how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the herald, who brings good tidings, who announces peace.”
In verse two, God is described by his title Maker of Heaven and Earth. This indicates His supremacy, His sovereignty, over all things, including our present circumstances. Our God is bigger than our current state of trouble. He knows us. He sees our troubles. And He is more than able to be with us in the midst of them. He may not resolve our troubles the way we would like. But we can trust that He is always interested in both our greatest , and His greatest glory.
If you have ever stumbled and fallen, it is a distinctly unpleasant experience. This happens when we “lose our footing”. These days, anytime I go to my internist office for any reason, I am asked to fill out a one page form that asks me the following questions.
#1- - Have you fallen in the last 12 months?
#2 - - Do you have a fear of falling?
#3 - - - Do you worry constantly about falling?
Well, I don’t worry constantly about it, but I am always mindful, particularly if I am going up or downstairs, or I am out walking in unfamiliar terrain. I am watchful for curbs that pop up out of nowhere. And I always hold onto railings when I am going up and down steps.
Spiritually speaking, however, I never have to worry that my soul is unguarded. My Redeemer lives. He guards my soul, both now and forever. He will never allow me to fall out of His hands. I will never go where His sovereignty cannot reach.
With verse 3, I am reminded of the words from the great oratorio, Elijah, by Felix Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish, but whose family converted to Christianity when he was young. He was baptized at age 7 and lived his life as an ardent follower of Yeshua.
Anyway, the words I’m thinking of from the oratorio are: “ He will not suffer the righteous to fall; he is at thy right hand.” it seems the composer was thinking of Psalm 121 verse three.
Verses three and four remind us that our God is never “ asleep at the wheel”. In this same masterwork, Mendelssohn wrote the magnificent choral aria, “He Watching Over Israel.” Go to YouTube and listen to it. Felix Mendelssohn loved Psalm 121.
Verse eight promises that our God will guard both our departure and our arrival. As previously mentioned, the stage is believed that this applies to the patriarch Jacob departing the land of Israel, and arriving in the land of his uncle, Laban. An hour current day, this is a good verse to pray before you start on a trip. And when we come to the end of our lives, we can be assured that our God will hold us carefully in his mighty hand as we depart this life and arrive in the next. What a precious promise!
Allright, allright, allright. We are going to cover one more of the Songs of Ascent this morning. Psalm 122 describes the glory of ancient Jerusalem. The commentaries point out that it was a very distinctive city, one like no other. Think about this. What are cities? They are places where people settle together to pursue their career goals, generally. As the population increases, the significance of the individual decreases, in part because “community” disintegrates. This situation, the devaluation of the individual, increases friction and crime. But, this was not the case in ancient Jerusalem. Why not?
There, a uniformity of belief was prevalent. Most Jews pursued and experienced a personal encounter with God. The special and divine nature of each person’s soul was celebrated. During the three regalim festivals, the crowds of pilgrims that flowed into the city, with similar theological goals and desires, enhanced this realization of individual worth. They did not come to Jerusalem for a vacation. They came with godly intent, to worship in spirit and in truth. The Talmud, in Pesachim 8B says that God purposely did not endow the city of Jerusalem with things like the fruit orchards of the Sea of Galilee or the Hot Springs near Tiberius, so there would be no vacation-like enticements for the pilgrims to come and enjoy physical pleasures.
To get an idea of how many people would flood Jerusalem during one of the three required festivals, the Talmud relates a story in Pesachim 64a that one year King Herod Agrippa commanded that the high priest number the size of the population of Israel. He asked the high priest to count each of the Passover lamb sacrifices. In order to do that, the high Priest set aside a kidney from each of the lambs. When all of those kidneys were counted, they numbered 1,200,000, twice as many as the 600,000 grown men who made the original exodus from Egypt on that first Passover. Now, you must keep in mind that each of the lambs was eaten by at least 10 people and often more, who acted as partners in the sacrifice. Therefore, during this particular required-attendance festival, that specific Passover, there were more than 12 million people in Jerusalem that year. And this did not even include the people who could not attend because they were ritually clean. It did not include the nursing mothers who were unable to make the trip and who stayed home with their babies. This means that the population of the nation of Israel was probably twice that number, at least.
The Jerusalem pilgrims were from a variety of places throughout Israel, and from all 12 tribes. They were young, old, rich, poor, learned, and ignorant. Yet, during the festivals, the city of Jerusalem and the proximity of the Temple transformed them. This unity built a healthy community that valued the diversity and uniqueness of each of God’s children, while forming them together into one people. In this way, the proliferation of the masses heightened each person’s self-esteem, fostered brotherhood and unity. Therefore, the city became known as The City of Peace. Isn’t that beautiful? It was not perfect, of course, but it was so far superior to the cesspools we currently call cities, and a welcome promise to the faithful, given all the division we have amongst ourselves today.
Let’s read Psalm 122.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2 Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for[a] Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5 There thrones for judgment were set,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
7 Peace be within your walls
and security within your towers!”
8 For my brothers and companions' sake
I will say, “Peace be within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.
One day, Jerusalem will again be the premiere city of the world, and from there Mashiach will reign. Let us all pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May we who love her be serene and secure.
Ibn Ezra says (quoting Rabbi Moshe’s opinion) that David composed Psalm 122 with the intention that it would be recited after the Beit HaMikdash would be constructed. Other commentators believe this psalm is intended to convey the exultation that will come when the next Temple is built.
I love verse 2. In the ArtScroll translation, it says, “Immobile stood our feet, within your gates, O Jerusalem.” Have you ever walked into a place, and been so stunned by its beauty that you just stood there and marveled? That’s what I think about and anticipate, when I read that verse. But, the sages say that in the days of the regalim festivals, in ancient Jerusalem, it was literally so crowded you could not move. Rabbi Vidal HaTsorfati interprets this verse to pertain to the immovability of the feet of those whose hearts are stayed on Hashem. Spiritual sturdiness, if you will. And, finally, the sage Rashi believed that the intense Torah study that took place in Jerusalem enabled the feet of Israel’s armies to stand firm in battle against their enemies.
Verses 4 and 5 allude to the governmental structure of Jerusalem, in ages past, the “thrones” indicated in verse 5. Not long after the Hebrew nation had entered the promised land, the portable tabernacle was erected in the city of Shiloh. It remained there for 369 years. Whenever there was a need for the tribes to congregate, such as for the three regalim festivals, they would congregate at Shiloh. Later, after the temple was built, they congregated in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, then became Israel‘s legislative, judicial hub. The Torah instructed the people in Deuteronomy 17 verse eight that they should arise and go to that designated place. This place was Jerusalem, once the governmental center became that city. The Talmud, in Sanhedrin 8B, records that this is how disputes were settled in the ancient days in Jerusalem. The highest court was the Sanhedrin. It contained 71 members, and convened in an area of the temple called the Chamber of Hewn Stone. In addition, there were two high courts that each had 23 members. One of these courts met at the lower gate, that is the entrance to the temple mount. The other one convened at the upper gate, which was the entryway to the courtyard of Israel in the temple. When a question or a dispute came about, it was first referred to the local court in the country of Israel. If the dispute could not be settled there, the matter was taken to the court at the entrance to the temple mount, that is the lower court. If the lower court could not settle the question, then the litigants went to the court at the entrance of the temple courtyard. And if that court was also unsuccessful, it went to what you might call Israel’s supreme court, that is the Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin would not recess until the question was decided. Once the Romans began to rule in Judea, the comprehensive legal system just described, began to disintegrate. ignorance amongst the learned increased. As a result confusion increased, and many disputes were never resolved satisfactory. Things in Judaism were in a big mess by the time Yeshua came on the scene.
Well, we only looked at three psalms today. But we did spend the first part of our time together talking about the last month of the year, the month of Elul. We may be able to finish the rest of the songs of ascent next week. We’ll see how that goes.
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