Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 105
Miracle #35. Healed woman of 18 year illness.
- The Thirty-fifth Miracle of Messiah
- The Master of Shabbat
- The Condition
- Human Need and Mercy Over Ritual
- The Letter of the Law vs. the Spirit of the Law
- The Problem
- The Starter Kit to a Solution
- The Permanent Solution: A New Heart/Spirit
- Our Living Torah
The Thirty-fifth Miracle of Messiah:
Lukas 13:10-17 (see follow-on mashal of the Mustard Seed)
וַיְהִי הוּא מְלַמֵּד בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת בְּבֵית כְּנֵסֶת אֶחָד׃ וְהִנֵּה אִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר בָּהּ רוּחַ־חֳלִי כִּשְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה וְהִיא כְפוּפָה וְלֹא יָכְלָה לָקוּם קוֹמָה זְקוּפָה׃ וַיַּרְא יֵשׁוּעַ וַיִּקְרָא אֵלֶיהָ וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ אִשָּׁה הֵחָלְצִי מֵחָלְיֵךְ׃ וַיָּשֶׂם יָדָיו עָלֶיהָ וּכְרֶגַע קָמָה וְתִּתְעוֹדָד וַתְּשַׁבַּח אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִים׃ וַיִּכְעַס רֹאשׁ הַכְּנֵסֶת עַל־אֲשֶׁר רִפָּא יֵשׁוּעַ בַּשַּׁבָּת וַיַּעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־הָעָם שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים הֵם אֲשֶׁר תֵּעָשֶׂה בָהֶם מְלָאכָה בָּאֵלֶּה בֹּאוּ וְהֵרָפְאוּ וְלֹא בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת׃ וַיַּעַן הָאָדוֹן וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו הֶחָנֵף הֲלֹא יַתִּיר אִישׁ מִכֶּם בַּשַּׁבָּת אֶת־שׁוֹרוֹ אוֹ אֶת־חֲמֹרוֹ מִן־הָאֵבוּס וְיוֹלִיכֵהוּ לְהַשְׁקֹתוֹ׃ וְזֹאת אֲשֶׁר הִיא בַּת־אַבְרָהָם וַאֲשֶׁר הַשָּׂטָן אֲסָרָהּ זֶה שְׁמֹנֶה עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה הֲלֹא תֻתַּר מִמּוֹסְרוֹתֶיהָ בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת׃ וַיְהִי כְּאָמְרוֹ אֶת־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה נִכְלְמוּ כָּל־מִתְקוֹמֲמָיו וַיִּשְׂמַח כָּל־הָעָם עַל־כָּל־הַנִּפְלָאוֹת הַנַּעֲשׂוֹת עַל־יָדוֹ׃
בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לִמֵּד בְּאֶחָד מִבָּתֵּי הַכְּנֶסֶת. וְהִנֵּה הָיְתָה שָׁם אִשָּׁה נְגוּעָה בְּרוּחַ־חֳלִי זֶה שְׁמוֹנֶה־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה; כְּפוּפָה הָיְתָה וְלֹא יָכְלָה לִזְקֹף קוֹמָתָהּ. כִּרְאוֹתוֹ אוֹתָהּ קָרָא לָהּ יֵשׁוּעַ וְאָמַר: “אִשָּׁה, שֻׁחְרַרְתְּ מֵחָלְיֵךְ!” הוּא סָמַךְ אֶת יָדָיו עָלֶיהָ וּמִיָּד זָקְפָה קוֹמָתָהּ וְשִׁבְּחָה אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים. אֲבָל רֹאשׁ בֵּית הַכְּנֶסֶת נִתְמַלֵּא כַּעַס עַל שֶׁיֵּשׁוּעַ רִפֵּא בְּשַׁבָּת. הוּא פָּנָה אֶל הַקָּהָל וְאָמַר: “יֵשׁ שִׁשָּׁה יָמִים שֶׁמִּן הַדִּין לַעֲבֹד בָּהֶם. עַל כֵּן בּוֹאוּ וְהֵרָפְאוּ בַּיָּמִים הָאֵלֶּה וְלֹא בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת.” אָמַר לוֹ הָאָדוֹן: “צְבוּעִים! הַאִם כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד מִכֶּם אֵינֶנּוּ מַתִּיר בְּשַׁבָּת אֶת שׁוֹרוֹ אוֹ חֲמוֹרוֹ מִן הָאֵבוּס וּמוֹלִיךְ אוֹתוֹ לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם? וְאִשָּׁה זֹאת, בַּת אַבְרָהָם, אֲשֶׁר הַשָֹטָן כָּבַל אוֹתָהּ בְּמֶשֶׁךְ שְׁמוֹנֶה־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה, הַאִם לֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לְהַתִּיר אוֹתָהּ מִן הַכֶּבֶל הַזֶּה בְּיוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת?” כְּשֶׁאָמַר אֶת הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה הִתְבַּיְּשׁוּ כָּל הַמִּתְנַגְּדִים לוֹ, וְכָל הַקָּהָל שָׂמַח עַל הַנִּפְלָאוֹת שֶׁעָשָׂה. פ
On the day of Shabbat, he (Rabbi Yeshua) was teaching in a certain synagogue. A woman in whom there was a spirit of disease for eighteen years was bent over and unable to stand with a straight posture. Yeshua saw and called to her. He said to her, “Woman, be freed from your disease.” He placed his hands upon her, and immediately she arose and stood upright and praised God. The head of the synagogue (רֹאשׁ בֵּית הַכְּנֶסֶת) became filled with anger that Yeshua had healed her on Shabbat, so he responded and said to the people, “There are six days on which you may do labor. Come and be healed on them, but not on the day of Shabbat!” The Master (Ha-Adon) answered and said to him, “Hypocrite! Will not any one of you untie his ox or donkey from the stable on Shabbat and lead him to get a drink? But here we have a daughter of Avraham whom Satan has bound for these eighteen years. Will she not be released from what binds her on the day of Shabbat?” When he said these words, all (of the pious ones) who were standing against him were ashamed, and all of the people rejoiced about all of the wonders that were performed by him.
The Master of Shabbat:
In the four Jewish besorot (gospels) of Matteo, Markos, Lukas, and Yochanan the Messiah performs seven miracles on the day of Shabbat. In the 50 miracles of Messiah the 7 miracles of Shabbat are:
Sabbath Day Miracle #1: Healing demon-possessed man.
Sabbath Day Miracle #2: Healing Shimon’s mother-in-law.
Sabbath Day Miracle #3: Healing withered hand of man.
Sabbath Day Miracle #4: Healed man crippled for 38 years.
Sabbath Day Miracle #5: Healing a man born blind.
Sabbath Day Miracle #6: Healed woman of 18 year illness.
Sabbath Day Miracle #7: Healing a man with edema.
The Messiah Yeshua is more than a prophet and and a healer: He is the Master of Shabbat (אדון השבת).
The Condition:
The woman was severely hunched or bent double and was completely unable to stand up straight. This description matches two medical conditions:
Ankylosing Spondylitis: A chronic inflammatory arthritis that can cause the vertebrae in the spine to fuse over time, forcing the back into a permanently fixed, bent-forward position.
Severe Kyphosis: A spinal disorder resulting in an excessive outward curvature of the upper back, often caused by osteoporosis or degenerative disc disease.
The Healing: Yeshua called her forward, touched her, and declared, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” She was instantly healed and stood up straight to praise God. This description matches two medical conditions:
The Controversy: The leader of the synagogue became angry because he believed Yeshua had violated God’s law when he healed the woman of her infirmity this on Shabbat.
The Response: Yeshua rebuked the religious leaders as hypocrites, pointing out that they would untie their animals to give them water on Shabbat. He declared this “daughter of Abraham,” whom Satan had kept bound for 18 years, deserved to be freed on Shabbat.
Human Need and Mercy Over Ritual:
The controversy surrounding Yeshua and Shabbat (the Sabbath) is one of the most prominent debates in the HaBrit HaChadashah. It does not center on whether Shabbat should be kept, but rather how it should be observed. Regarding how Shabbat should be observed Yeshua said:
“Shabbat was made for Adam, and not Adam for Shabbat.”
He therefore was declaring that acts of mercy, healing, and satisfying basic human hunger on Shabbat are a requirement of God. This means the hyper-orthodox religious leaders who were opposing acts of mercy and compassion on Shabbat were disobeying God. They were not discerning correctly the purpose of Shabbat. Shabbat was created by God to serve, benefit humanity. Humanity was not created to serve, benefit Shabbat.
The Letter of the Law vs. the Spirit of the Law:
The religious leaders had failed to discern who God is and what His true motivation and purpose was for establishing Shabbat—His Seventh Day of Rest. They did not correctly discern the Spirit of God’s Torah. So it is written: “The letter of the Law kills; the Spirit of the Law brings life.”
Written Torah vs. Oral Torah: The written Torah forbids “melacha” (labor) on the seventh day but does not minutely define every forbidden act. Over centuries, Jewish religious authorities developed the Oral Torah (Law). The Oral Law later recorded in the Mishnah. The Mishnah added 39 categories of forbidden work to act as a protective “fence” around the law.
The Problem
Before the fall of Adam the spirit of Adam was the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Father resided in the heart of Adam ben Ha-Elohim. However, after Adam sinned his heart (spirit) ceased to be the home of the Spirit of the Father.
The Spirit of God was supposed to permanently reside within the hearts of every member of the race of Adam. However, Adam’s errant exercise of his free-will led to humankind replacing, within the spirit of man, the spirit of Self in the place of the Spirit of God. Tragically, this decision has led to the race of Adam experiencing both physical and spiritual death. Consequently, the human race no longer lives in a state of harmony (אַחְדוּת) with the Creator. Rather, on the whole humankind up to the present day continues to live in a general state of independence, opposition, and open hostility toward God.
The Starter Kit to a Solution:
The 613 Divine commandments are a “means” (a kind of Divine starter kit) to achieving the ends of the echad (unity) of the Spirit in the bond of Shalom. The 613 Divine commandments use a variety of synonyms to assist the process of our deliverance from a (temporary) state of sin to a state of perfect (unending) righteousness. The 613 Divine commandment terms (synonyms) being reviewed here are five in number (there are others):
Term #1. Mitzvah (commandment),
Term #2. Dibbur (word),
Term #3. Mishpat (law),
Term #4. Ed (witness), and
Term #5. Chok (decree).
The Permanent Solution: A New Heart/Spirit:
The Hebrew word used for ‘decree’ (Term #5 above) indicates a law observed in submission to an unquestionable authority. Chok is the name of a specific class of mitzvot (the chukim) which the human mind cannot rationalize. Its literal meaning is “engraving:”
רוֹאִים בְּבֵרוּר שֶׁאַתֶּם אִגֶּרֶת הַמָּשִׁיחַ הַנֶּעֱזֶרֶת עַל־יָדֵינוּ – כְּתוּבָה לֹא בִּדְיוֹ, אֶלָּא בְּרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים, לֹא עַל לוּחוֹת אֶבֶן, אֶלָּא עַל לוּחוֹת שֶׁל לֵב בָּשָׂר.פ
It being manifestly (רוֹאִים) clear (בֵרוּר) that you are a letter (אִגֶּרֶת) of the Messiah, cared for by us, not written with ink (כְּתוּבָה לֹא בִּדְיוֹ) but with the Spirit of the living God (בְּרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים חַיִּים), not on tablets of stone (לֹא עַל לוּחוֹת אֶבֶן) but on tablets of hearts of flesh (עַל לוּחוֹת שֶׁל לֵב בָּשָׂר).
וְנָתַתִּי לָהֶם לֵב אֶחָד וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וַהֲסִרֹתִי לֵב הָאֶבֶן מִבְּשָׂרָם וְנָתַתִּי לָהֶם לֵב בָּשָֽׂר׃
And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within you (Israel). And I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (לֵב בָּשָֽׂר).
וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב חָדָשׁ וְרוּחַ חֲדָשָׁה אֶתֵּן בְּקִרְבְּכֶם וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת־לֵב הָאֶבֶן מִבְּשַׂרְכֶם וְנָתַתִּי לָכֶם לֵב בָּשָֽׂר׃
Moreover, I will give you (Israel) a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (לֵב בָּשָֽׂר).
The Real Oral Torah is the Holy Spirit Indwelling our Hearts:
הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם־ה’ וְכָרַתִּי אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶת־בֵּית יְהוּדָה בְּרִית חֲדָשָֽׁה׃ לֹא כַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אֶת־אֲבֹותָם בְּיֹום הֶחֱזִיקִי בְיָדָם לְהֹוצִיאָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם אֲשֶׁר־הֵמָּה הֵפֵרוּ אֶת־בְּרִיתִי וְאָנֹכִי בָּעַלְתִּי בָם נְאֻם־ה’׃ כִּי זֹאת הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר אֶכְרֹת אֶת־בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַחֲרֵי הַיָּמִים הָהֵם נְאֻם־ה’ נָתַתִּי אֶת־תֹּֽורָתִי בְּקִרְבָּם וְעַל־לִבָּם אֶכְתֲּבֶנָּה וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵֽאלֹהִים וְהֵמָּה יִֽהְיוּ־לִי לְעָֽם׃ וְלֹא יְלַמְּדוּ עֹוד אִישׁ אֶת־רֵעֵהוּ וְאִישׁ אֶת־אָחִיו לֵאמֹר דְּעוּ אֶת־ה’ כִּֽי־כוּלָּם יֵדְעוּ אֹותִי לְמִקְטַנָּם וְעַד־גְּדֹולָם נְאֻם־ה’ כִּי אֶסְלַח לַֽעֲוֹנָם וּלְחַטָּאתָם לֹא אֶזְכָּר־עֹֽוד׃
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares Adonai. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Adonai (the LORD), “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Adonai,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Adonai, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
In the Torah there is a difference between engraved (not with ink) Hebrew letters and written Hebrew letters (with ink). Written letters are only partially penetrating to the objects they are impressed upon. In contrast, engravings are completely penetrating. This is the difference between the written Torah and the Living Torah (the one true Oral Torah of the Spirit).
First, the written Torah (the law of Moses) is written upon us, it does not dwell within us, and it is not living through us.
Second, in contrast, the Living Torah – the Real Oral Torah of the Spirit – dwells upon us, in us, and through us.
On the first Shavuot, Moses came down from Mount Sinai and gave us the Ten Commandments that were engraved by the Hand of Adonai. This was a promise that one day our hearts would not just be written upon but they also would be engraved like the two tablets prophetically were.
Our Living Torah:
In the second and final Shavuot, after our redemption was secured, the ‘Moses to come’ (the Messiah) sent down from heaven to us the Living Torah that is the Indwelling Presence of the Hand of God. The Hand of God is the omnipresent Spirit of the Holy One Who indwells us forever.
The Spirit of the Holy One is the One Who is our Living Torah.
He is our never-ending Oral Torah for He is eternally present “upon,” “in,” and “through” us and He will never cease from communicating His unending love for us. Therefore it is a true saying that:
The Engraved Torah is superior to the written Torah.
Prophecy will “cease” because all of the written Torah of Adonai will one day be fulfilled. Greater than the temporal fulfillment of the written Torah is the never-ending relational Presence of the Spirit of Adonai.
כִּי חֶלְקִית הִיא יְדִיעָתֵנוּ וּבְאֺרַח חֶלְקִי מִתְנַבְּאִים אָנוּ, אַךְ בְּבוֹא הַמֻּשְׁלָם יְבֻטַּל הַחֶלְקִי.פ
“For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes (הַמֻּשְׁלָם), the partial will be done away.”
Therefore, the engraved gift of the Father—the Holy Spirit, the Oral Torah of the Messiah given to us on the second and final Shavuot—is the complete fulfillment of all of the written Torah of Moses given to us on the first Shavuot. Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit Himself Who will perfect us on the day of resurrection and it is the Spirit Himself Who will maintain our perfection for all eternity!