Shavuot Gifts from YHWH

Emet Ministries     www.emetministries.com

By Brother Rabbi Daniel Rendelman, Rav Dani'el Ben Shmu'el 

Shavuot, also known as Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks, is a special time.  This is one of the seven festivals of YHWH found in Leviticus 23.    Shavuot comes at the end of counting 7 weeks from Passover.  It is a time of harvest and a time of celebration.  Traditionally, the feast of Shavuot is called "Matan HaTorah" or the "Giving of the Torah."

Shavuot is recognized as the time that the Torah / the Law of Moses was given on Mount Sinai to the nation of Israel .  This can be easily understood by looking at Exodus 19, which declares that it was during the third month that the children of Israel received the tablets of the 10 Commandments.  The Rabbis have traditionally described this event as parallel to the traditional Jewish wedding ceremony.  As we all know, weddings are celebrated each year with an anniversary.  Shavuot is the anniversary of the giving of Torah.  And with any anniversary come times of intimacy and course gift giving.  Shavuot is like a wedding and a wedding anniversary. 

One day a young man and his wife were invited to visit an elderly couple for dinner. The elderly couple had been married for about 60 years, and seemed to love each other very much. The husband would always address his wife as honey, pumpkin, etc. When the two women disappeared to the kitchen the younger man asked the elderly man, "How do you manage to keep calling your wife honey and stuff after being married for so long?" The man blushed as he looked away for a moment, then turned back to the young man and replied, "I forgot her name ten years ago."

On this special anniversary YHWH has a unique gift just for you!  Abba knows exactly what you need and has provided this gift today.

This gift is "Matan HaTorah" - the anniversary of the giving of the Torah.  Now, before you gloss over this important fact, please consider your definition of the Torah.  Think about it...what is the Law of Moses to you?  What is the Torah to you?  How much Torah do you know? 

Take that definition and that understanding and cast it aside.  Throw it away!  Ignore your thoughts, regardless of how great a theologian you are! 

There is only ONE word that accurately describes the Torah.  This one word definition can change your faith and it can change your life.

The absolute best and only true understanding of Torah is...

It is a "GIFT.

The Torah is NOT:

Rules, laws, commands, burdens, do's, don'ts, instructions, teachings, theology, or the Old Testament law.

The Torah is simply a GIFT from YHWH to mankind.  And like any gift, the Torah can be received or it can be rejected.  Like Hallmark, YHWH loves us so much that He has sent the very best - the TORAH.  This is opposite to how many religious people think about the Torah. 

Christianity regards the Law of Moses as a collection of stories given for principles but not necessarily obedience.  Most Christian pastors consider the Torah only as a schoolmaster that brings us to Messiah and then leaves us at the foot of the cross.  Many Jewish people consider the Torah a burdensome way of life that was learned during Hebrew school.  Friend, these ideas are WRONG.

The Torah was given by the very spirit of YHWH and the very FINGER of YHWH!  How could this be bad for us?

Deuteronomy 10:9

YHWH gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of YHWH. On them were all the commandments YHWH proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

If we can learn to view the Torah first and foremost as a gift from YHWH then our obedience will have meaning. 

Too many people get the cart before the horse and think they can work themselves into a good relationship with YHWH. This is not so!  YHWH loves you so much.  He can't love you any more than He does right now...no matter how much Torah you obey!  You can NOT earn His love.  You can not earn His approval.  The Torah was NOT given for us to please YHWH but for us to live our lives in holiness.  NOTE: the Torah was not given to YHWH or for YHWH.  Instead, we are taught that the Torah was given to mankind and for mankind.

The Torah is a gift, yet even a wonderful anniversary gift can be forgotten or abused.

I remember a great and meaningful gift I received on Father's Day a few years ago.  It was a handmade shirt that said "World's Best Dad."  The shirt had the actual hand prints of my children painted on the front.  I absolutely loved the shirt and the thought behind getting my kids to only get pain on the shirt and not the walls, carpet, and ceiling of my home.  However, the shirt meant so much to me that I never wore it.  Never.  Not even once.  I took the shirt and hung it in my closet to remind me of the love of my wife and children.  How sad.  I couldn't truly appreciate the gift because I had put it on a shelf.  I considered it to special (and maybe a little too tacky) to wear.  Did I use this gift properly?  No.

Sadly, many people treat the Torah in the same manner that I treated my hand-painted t-shirt.  We put the Torah on the shelf and consider it to be simply a nice thought but not practical.  Many consider that the Law has passed away with Judaism.  Maybe we place the Torah out of reach because it is too hard, or too harsh, or too Jewish.  We don't keep Torah because we think that the Messiah completed it when He said "it is finished."  Sadly, the Torah is on a hanger right next to my shirt. 

Sometimes we let the preacher or the Rabbi get the revelation and teach us.  We sit as sponges ready to soak up the word and rarely crack the good book.  Our Bibles collect dust as we consider it's the preacher's job to teach, study, and visit the sick.  Are we really using the gift of the Scriptures properly?

Some place it on the shelf because they reason that they will never understand it.  We have this idea that we can't know exactly how to keep the Torah so we simply give up.  Many are guilty of putting the true Torah on a shelf as we focus on the smaller details.  We trace rabbit trails about the belly button fuzz of Moses and Joshua while we leave the weightier matters of love and mercy.  A gift can be put on a shelf and we have done this with the Torah.

The opposite of forgetting a gift is using a gift. 

A few years ago a friend gave me a one of a kind gift.  My life-long dream of having a 2 cup coffee maker was finally realized.  This coffee maker was great as it made coffee in two silver mugs.  No filter needed and not pot to wash.  I used this coffee maker everyday for over 2 years until it finally puttered out.  My gift of the coffee maker was put to good use.  This is what the Torah was intended for - to be used for life and love. 

We need to accept the gift of Torah afresh and anew today and begin to really apply it to our hearts.  Take for example, Pastor Sylvia Silva and her family.  Pastor Silva leads the ministry at Christ Central in Columbia , South Carolina .  In the name of YHWH Y'shua they feed the homeless, cloth the poor, minister to the needy, and provide a place of comfort.  This is TORAH! 

Many of us are guilty of talking about Torah but seldom go outside of our family and live the law.  Again, how sad.  We settle for learning about our Hebrew roots than reaching out to those around us.  Friend, you don't learn Hebrew roots!  You DO Hebrew roots!  It's not our Torah knowledge that matters.  How much love do we really show?  This is the gift that Abba has given us and we must choose to use it and SHARE IT!

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does YHWH require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your YHWH?

James 1:27

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our YHWH and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Romans 10:4-5

For Messiah is the GOAL of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.  For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them

We have the gift of Torah and many of us do use it for its true purpose.  A gift can be used, shared, ignored and also abused. 

Do you ever buy yourself something nice?  I remember one day that I bought myself a new gift.  Well, I went to Wal-mart and spent a few hundred dollars on a brand new lawn mower.  The grass had gotten way too tall and my wife didn't think a goat was the answer.  To solve this problem I needed something that was big, and green, and had lots of power.  You can imagine the joy I had as I got home and cranked up the motor for the first time.  I immediately cut the front yard and then the back yard and then the front yard again.  Oh the power of that mower!  Then, the unthinkable happened.  Black smoke began to rise out of the motor of my new tractor.  The engine began to sputter.  The life of my new mower was literally sucked away as my yard was filled with smog.  What happened?  In my earnest desire to cut the grass I had forgotten a very important part of correct engine maintenance.  My new mower died on it's first day because of a lack of motor oil!  I had the gift but I abused it.

The Torah is abused when we thrust our personal convictions upon others.  The Torah is abused when we beat people up with the commandments and expect others to obey as we have been lead.  Honestly, we all know people that have been hurt and condemned by others because they didn't "keep Torah" the way others did.  Our movement has been divided numerous times over calendars, names, theologies, and personalities.

The Torah has been given for our freedom and for our good.

James 1:25

But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

This Shavuot may we begin to accept and love one another as Y'shua prayed - "that we could be one."  To have unity also means that we stop our constant attacks on our Christian brothers and sisters. 

Do we really expect someone to want to follow the Torah if all we do is berate them about what they are doing wrong? 

The Torah scroll was never meant to be a weapon.  Don't talk Torah to people... SHOW it to them through your actions and love!  Let people come to you and stop trying to be the Holy Spirit for others!

I have seen so many Messianic followers fall because of pride.  They think their way is the only true path and therefore anyone else is wrong, wrong, wrong.  These people exalt their beliefs about diet, home schooling, names, head coverings, and moons above love and acceptance.  Many focus on the outward commands and forget the inward commands of love and justice. Many are misusing the Torah today. 

The scriptures teach that the Torah was given to us for many reasons:

Romans 7:7 -

I would not have known what sin was except through the law

Deuteronomy 9:10

YHWH gave me two stone tablets inscribed by the finger of YHWH. On them were all the commandments YHWH proclaimed to you on the mountain out of the fire, on the day of the assembly.

1 Corinthians 10:11

These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come

2 Timothy 3:16

All Scripture is YHWH-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

Let's make sure the GIFT of Torah is accepted and used properly. 

Again, it is interesting that the Rabbi's of Judaism call this day "Matan HaTorah."  This is the day of the giving of Torah.  Shavuot is not called the day to "Receive Torah."  This is because EVERYDAY should be a time and a day to receive a blessing and revelation from YHWH's word.

The Torah is only ONE of the gifts that Abba has given us during Shavuot.  There is more for us!

We can read in Acts 2 about how another promised gift was received by the believers.  This is the Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh. 

What do you know about the Holy Ghost? 

Again, take what you think about the Ruach HaKodesh and put it aside for 30 seconds.  Wipe your mind clean of what you understand about the Ruach and get this one word definition.

The Ruach HaKodesh / Set Apart Spirit is... a GIFT!

The Ruach is NOT: a holy ghost, emotions, power, little voice, force, tongues, goose bumps, or the third person trinity.

The Ruach is a GIFT! 

John 14:25

All this I have spoken while still with you.   But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

And like any gift, the Ruach can be rejected or received.  This gift is being offered to you today.

Like my wonderful t-shirt from my children, we can ignore the spirit.  Pharaoh did this and his heart was hardened.  Jonah did this and he was in the belly of a whale.  David did this and he sinned with Bathsheba.  The Israelites ignored the GIFT and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.  We ignore the spirit when we consider its power dead. 

Many churches are themselves void of life and power because they think that Pentecost ended at the upper room.  NO!  The Gift of the Spirit should not be programmed out with bulletins or the Baptist Faith and Message.  

1 Corinthians 4:20

For the kingdom of YHWH is not a matter of talk but of power.

The gift of the Spirit will convict us of sin and lead us to the path of holiness. The probing power of this gift will show us when we are wrong and help us correct our mistakes.  If we ignore this gift we will go farther and farther down the path of perdition.

We also ignore the GIFT of the Ruach when we allow envy and strife to enter our lives.  Stress, pain, sin, pride, and selfishness all grieve the gift of the Ruach.

Ephesians 4:30

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

James 3:16

Where there is envy and strife there is confusion and every evil work.

The Gift of the Spirit can also be abused.  The Ruach is abused as we try to operate without its power.  Think again about that lawn mower.  It was used in the wrong way and therefore didn't function very long.  What did the lawn mower need?  It needed oil!  We need the oil of the Spirit to operate in this faith!

Churches plan their revival and program a time for the Spirit to move.  Not a day early and not a day late!  Do we really think we can schedule "revival?"  Doesn't such an idea seem a little strange? 

We are also guilty of abusing the Spirit when we IN THE FLESH operate in its "supposed" gifts.  For example, you will read of no saved, sanctified, or believing person in the entire Bible who falls back under the power of YHWH.  Every time people fell when the presence of YHWH would manifest - they would always fall on their faces, not fall backward.  Why do people fall back in the Spirit?

How many "words from YHWH" have heard that were directly "words from man?"  How many feel good prophecies do we have to hear before we realize that it is man that is talking?  This gift has been so abused by many who want to have power yet put their focus in the wrong place.  So many seek for signs and power that they abuse the gift.  Was the GIFT of the Spirit really given so we could have "tea time with the Holy Ghost?"  Come on!

Sadly, many in the charismatic movement abuse this gift.  Should we really tell people that they are not Christians if they don't speak in tongues?  Condemnation and chaos results when the Spirit is abused.

The Ruach HaKodesh is a GIFT from YHWH that is to be used properly.  Like the Torah, we have MUCH FREEDOM when it comes to flowing in this GIFT.  The Ruach helps us with guidance, protection, understanding, and wisdom.  This is the power of YHWH.  Like the two cup coffee maker, we are to be open vessels that the Ruach may flow through.

1 Peter 4:10

10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering YHWH's grace in its various forms.

Remember that this gift must be received.  We can read of many people in the Newer Testament that were born again but had not received the gift of the Spirit, as in Acts 8:12-17.

1 Peter 4:10

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering YHWH's grace in its various forms.

1 Corinthians 12:7 

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

This Shavuot may we accept BOTH the gift of the Torah and the gift of the Ruach.  The two go together like love and marriage or peanut butter and jelly.  You can't have one without the other!  Do not be deceived....it is not an either/or choice of the spirit or the law.  We can and should have both.  The two complete each other and are NEVER in opposition.  Indeed, if they ever are in opposition then you are either reading the Torah wrong or hearing the Spirit wrong.

Too many churches and ministries focus on one Pentecost.  Either folks are all about Acts 2 or Exodus 19.  Most center their attention on the Law or the Spirit.  We must choose to accept these as ONE gift.  Then we must choose NOT to seek either! 

READ THAT AGAIN... we must choose to accept the Torah and the Ruach as one and the same AND then we must choose NOT to concentrate on either of these gifts.  When we focus on the Gifts we go wrong!  Our focus should be on the GIVER!  The pendulum will swing far and wide and we will be off track if we focus on either gift.

James 1:17

Every generous act of giving and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whom there is no inconsistency or shifting shadow.

We know that Y'shua was the Torah made flesh and that He dwelt among us.

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We also know that He waked in the fullness of the Spirit.

Acts 10:38

How YHWH anointed Y'shua of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because YHWH was with him.

Y'shua balanced the Torah and the Spirit.  His Torah keeping upset those who knew the letter of the Law and ignored the spirit of the law.  We must seek to be like Y'shua and balance the Torah and the Spirit.  Taken separately we end up in trouble.  The Torah and the Spirit are like sodium and chloride.  Taken individually, you will die as each of these elements are poisonous.  Pure sodium is lethal by itself.  Chloride is lethal by itself.  However, if you mix sodium and chloride together you get TABLE SALT.  We have been called to be the salt of the earth through walking in the letter and the spirit of the Torah.

Condemnation, legalism, and burden carrying happens when a person focuses on the Law.  Chaos, constant searching, and burden carrying happens when a person focuses on the Spirit.

If all we do is think, live, breath, eat, sleep, and read the Torah then we will die spiritually.  Sorry!  That's the emet...

2 Corinthians 3:6

For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

1 Corinthians 8:1

Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.

We can not simply learn and focus on Torah or we will only build our knowledge level and have little interpersonal skills.  If all we do is study and study then we will have little time to do and do.  If all we do is focus on the Spirit then we will become a Spiritual "flake" that only repels people away from us.  There must be balance.

"Rabbi Yohanan said in Talmud Bavli Tractate Bava Metzia 30B that Jerusalem in 70 C.E. was destroyed because people followed "din Torah" (the Law of the Torah). He explained that they followed the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. They did not practice "lifnim mi Shurat ha Din" (beyond the letter of the Law).  They were destroyed. It is not just correct for a Jew to do ritual minutia while ignoring the plight of those around him. That would be keeping to the letter of the law, but not to the spirit. When we endeavor to keep to the spirit of the law, we progress toward holiness," wrote Rabbi Arthur Segal. 

1 Timothy 1:5

The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Y'shua spoke to the woman at the well and said that those who have true worship will worship in Spirit and in Truth - Ruach v'eh Emet.  It takes both gifts to truly worship.

It is not enough to know Torah... we must act in a proper way with the Spirit of Torah on our hearts.  This difference is found in a simple Hebrew concept of "kavannah."  This is the idea of "devotion" and "intention."  What is our true purpose for wanting to know Torah?  What is the reason that we seek spiritual gifts?  How does the Ruach HaKodesh want to use you to bring others to the Torah?

A true believer that is after YHWH's heart will seek the GIVER and NOT the GIFTS.  YHWH has given us His Torah.  YHWH has given us His Ruach.  Yet power and words are not enough.  We must have the right intentions.  That purpose, that kavenah, should be to further our relationship with Abba.  We are to seek YHWH through the Torah and the Spirit.  Shavuot is like an anniversary and YHWH want us to bring closer to Him during this time.

Consider now - how is your relationship with YHWH?  What is your personal one-on-one relationship like?  I am not asking how much Torah you know or how much Holy Ghost power you have.  How close are you to YHWH?  I am not asking how many times you speak in tongues or how many miracles you have seen.  What is your devotion to YHWH?

The Torah and the Ruach are a GIFT from YHWH that should be used and shared with others.  Today and everyday YHWH is offering these gifts to us.

Here are a few ideas to increase your kavenah:

·        Pour out your heart to abba in prayer.  Tell Him how you feel.  Release grudges and unforgiveness.

·        Read and meditate on verse of scripture a day.  Don't see how much Torah you can learn but see how much you can learn from the Torah.

·        Serve others.  Focus your attention on showing love to others.  Get out of your comfort zone.

·        Commit 10 minutes to prayer today.  Then 11 tomorrow.  Then 12 next week.  Then 13.

·        Speak in faith and not in doubt.

·        Start a weekly Bible study to share the gift of Torah and Spirit that you have with others.

Today you can choose to accept the GIFT of Shavuot afresh and anew.  Or you can ignore this gift.  May we choose to walk in all that Abba has for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a very familiar verse yet the three following verses are often forgotten.  Let's take this passage to heart on this Shavuot - Matan HaTorah.

Jeremiah 29:11-4

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares YHWH, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares YHWH, "and will bring you back from captivity.  I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares YHWH, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."