“Today is
thirty-four days which are four weeks and six days of the Omer.”
· Theme of the Week: Hod - Glory
· Theme of the Day: Yesod - Intimacy
· Overall Theme: The Intimacy of His Glory
· Psalm 78:56-72
The counting of
the Omer also recounts the journey in the wilderness to Mount Sinai where
Israel received the Torah (Law) and every so often in the count a stop or an
event in the journey is recounted. Today is just such a day as we recall the
stop at Rephidim where Moses gets water from the Rock.
Exodus 17:1-16
We see Israel is
camped in Rephidim which means, “spread them” a contraction of Raphot Yadim meaning
“weakness of the hands. This is a Hebrew idiom for fear. Kind of like when we
say, “Weak in the knees” The hand in Hebraic thought means ability, authority
and power. So we can put it all together like this; “When your hands are weak,
spread them.” When do we see people spreading their hands in Scripture, what
are they usually doing? Praying and or Praising. And in our day and time what
does spreading the hands mean? Surrender. So when we are weak we must surrender
ourselves and our situation to God and spread our hands out in prayer and
praise for the anticipated answer that is coming.
There are two
stories about Rephidim, and each involves weak and spreading hands.
- Exodus 17:3 “And the people thirsted there for water; and the
people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast
brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle
with thirst?”
Israel was WEAK with fear for their lives, and
Moshe SPREAD his HANDS and struck the rock and water flowed.
This most likely was a porous volcanic rock that
allowed water to flow through it from an underground spring. Or it could have
been sandstone or limestone rock which is light enough to allow water to pass
through it, and the rock would act as a purifier and so the water would be
supper clean.
“The striking of the Rock at Rephidim by Moses and the
gushing forth of water sounds like a veritable miracle, but the writer [Major
Jarvis] has seen it happen. Some of the Sinai Camel Corps had halted in a wadi
and were digging in the loose gravel accumulated at one of the rocky sides to
obtain water that was slowly trickling through limestone rock… One of the men
began to dig with great vigor… One of his lusty blows hit the rock… out of the
porous rock came a great gush of clear water.” – Yesterday and Today in Sinai –
Major C.S. Jarvis
- The battle with Amalek. The problem
was that Moshe’s hands were physically WEAK and the solution was Aharon
and Hur helped SPREAD his HANDS so they could win the war.
“Did then the hands
of Moses wage war or break war? Not so; but so long as Israel looked
upwards and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed;
and when they did not, they fell.” -- Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 29a
Exodus
16:1 “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the
congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which
is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their
departing out of the land of Egypt.” (KJV)
Yesod means
foundation and in going through the attributes we liken foundation to closeness
and intimacy because when you superimpose the Seforitic chart onto the outline
of a man, Yesod symbolizes the regenerative organ, and hence in a marital
relationship this has to do with intimacy.
In a relationship one will go the extra wile or jump through hoops to
please their partner and to prove their love. Sometimes a want or a need arises
and one will go out of their way for their partner to meet such a want or need
because of love. Water was just such a need and getting it from a rock was the
extreme ADONAI was willing to go to meet that need and to prove His love for
Israel. His Intimacy for Israel
was manifested in a Glorious and unusual way.
Now spiritually
who is the Rock? And who is the Water? Yeshua the Messiah (I Cor. 10:4, John 4:10)!
The Traditional
Psalm to read is Psalm 78:56-72:
Yet they tempted and
provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies: But turned back, and
dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful
bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to
jealousy with their graven images. When God heard this, he was wroth, and
greatly abhorred Israel:
So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent which he placed among men; And delivered his strength into captivity,
and his glory into the enemy's hand. He gave his people over also unto the
sword; and was wroth with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men;
and their maidens were not given to marriage. Their priests fell by the sword;
and their widows made no lamentation. Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep,
and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine. And he smote his enemies
in the hinder parts: he put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he refused
the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: But chose the
tribe of Judah,
the mount Zion which he loved. And he built his
sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.
He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From
following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people,
and Israel
his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and
guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.
“Abba ADONAI God,
You indeed are my all in all and if I but trust, believe and submit, even my
most intimate and essential needs would be met. Help and enable me to fully
trust, believe and submit to You. In the Name of Messiah Yeshua I pray. Ameyn!”
