Mattot-Masei: Staying Connected to the Source
Summary
Parasha Matot opens forcefully with this declaration, "When a man makes a vow to ADONAI or swears an oath... he shall not profane his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds from his mouth" (Numbers 30;3). In other words, don't take what is holy and make it common. When HaShem breathed His breath into Adam, mankind became a “speaking spirit.” Created in His image, our words carry a divine spark, “entrusted with speech that can bring either holiness and order, or chaos and destruction.”
Words create worlds. “In the beginning…God said….” And a world came into being. We also create with our words. Our poets and storytellers create worlds that sometimes echo an ache of truth in our own hearts. In our speech, we create hopes and dreams, build our lives on promises and vows, “till death do us part.” But too often we are quick to break a promise and profane holy words.
Time and again my word is not my bond, my yes is not yes, and my no is not no. I fail; I make excuses. And my failures cause worlds to crash and collide, bringing heartache and brokenness. Rabbi observed that our words and promises, expose. Words “expose what is in our hearts, what we worship, and whether we remain connected to the Source of Life.
Standing at the entrance to the Promised Land after forty years of wandering, Moses gives the Matot—the tribes—final instructions beginning with, “when you make a vow…” Why start here? Because a people are kept or destroyed through their promises. Words can heal or destroy a home, a friendship, a community. And for the people of Israel, community is what has bound them together through all the years of testing and wandering.
Matot, “tribes” can also mean branch or rod. A branch or rod, cut off from its source, dies. As Rabbi stated, “Tribes travel together through trusting and testing.” Trust, commitment, and words are tested. The tribes of Israel were never meant to journey independently. While a tribe remains connected to the Source of Life and to one another life flows through it. “A covenant community is only as strong as the words that hold it together.”
What do my words expose about me? Have I made a rash vow from which I need forgiveness? Is there a promise I need to keep?
Reflect: We also touched on a second parsha this week, Masei—The Journeys. Forty-two journeys are listed. Matot teaches us that community strength comes from connection to our Source—revealed by our commitment to our spoken words. Masei shows us how to journey together.
In warning Reuven (Reuben) and Gad that to keep their inheritance, they must also keep their word to fight alongside their brothers, Moshe reveals an important lesson—"people before possessions.” If they are to remain strong, they must stay connected to the Source—the source of their identity, their faith, and the root of their covenant. No tribe entered the land alone. They were “a people bound together by faithful words.” And what happened when those faithful words became faithless words? Jeremiah declares: "My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the Fountain of Living Waters and they have dug for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2;13).
“The branch doesn't die because it stops bearing fruit. It stops bearing fruit because it has been cut off from its source. The same is true of God's people. Faithless words are not the disease. They are the diagnosis. These were never the root problem. They exposed a heart that had already become disconnected from the Source. This is always where compromise leads.”
Am I trying to journey alone? Have I quietly cut myself off from God's people and the Source of my strength? Do I mistake that distance for freedom and independence?"
Respond: There is hope! We have a redeemer. We can return. Adonai calls to us, "Will you not from this time call to Me, 'My Father...'" (Jeremiah 3;4). Messiah Yeshua shows us what covenant faithfulness looks like. At Golgotha Yeshua is surrounded by false witnesses, mocking, and ridicule, create a world enveloped in a fiery storm of faithless speech. Everyone around Yeshua profanes their words, but Yeshua alone sanctifies His, remaining rooted in HaAvinu, connected to the Source.
What does this mean for us and for Sha'arei Shalom? It means that “our story does not end with the crucifixion. Nor does it end with the fall of Jerusalem. Our story continues with the resurrection!”
Avinu Malkeinu, may these days leading up to Tisha B’Av, be for me a time of repentance and renewal. Return me to the Source of my faith, the vine that keeps and protects. Replace my cracked and broken cisterns and fill them with your living water. May my word be holy and true to faithfully represent the God of my faith who is the Source of my salvation.
Transcript(from the video captions)
Shabbat shalom everybody again. And as we think about the month of Av coming up, it's there's a bit of attention because we always say, you know, blessing and joy and happiness when it comes to a new moon and and it's always there. But when we're going into the month of A, there's also a bit of a joy being contained as we remember the destruction of both temples. For us, we also remember the crucifixion of our messiah. And so we always live within those tensions and but but of course on the other side of that are the the ha tootro coming up of consolation of comfort. So I always like to make you aware of of what's going on in the calendar. So when we enter into the month of Av, we're preparing for tisha av. And and those are our important holidays for us to to remember and to press into messianic Jewish life. And so as we we set forth, that's that's where we're moving right now. So let's pray and we'll get started. Vina Shabbashim, we bless and sanctify you. We thank you so much for your word. We thank you for your guidance and that you always empower us, Lord, to to walk in your spirit. You give us that amazing
choice, that privilege to drink from your living water, your Mayaim. And we thank you for that. I just pray that your word would go forth and that you would teach us and guide us and strengthen us today on this Shabbat. And I pray in Yeshua's name. Well, Shabbat shalom. >> So, I have a question for you, and you don't have to raise your hand on this. Have any of you ever eaten rabbits? That wasn't a trick question. Well, see, rabbits are actually delicacies. And for those of you that have European descent might know that it could be, you know, popular over there, but in the US it's it's hardressed to find rabbit on an American dinner table or in a restaurant for all that all we say. And this is one of those questions that my kids would ask me, "Dad, if somebody offered you a million dollars to eat rabbit, would you do it?" And my answer is the same. yesterday, today, and forever. Absolutely not. [laughter] God forbid. But that brings me to to a deeper thought because if any of your children are asking you questions like this, would you do this or would you do that? What they're really asking you is that
is there a point where the reward outweighs the cost of a particular sin? That's what they're asking you at the heart of it. Something as what you might find as silly as eating a rabbit, but to them they're they're they're brilliant. They are clever. Very clever question. But this reminds me of a story in the Talmud. So the story takes us back to the final years before the destruction of Urusim, which is of course in line with our calendar right now. And it was King Zitki. So Zedekiah. He once entered the chamber of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. And he found him tearing apart and eating a live rabbit. Embarrassed, Nebuchadnezzar made Zedekiah swear an oath before God never to tell a soul about this. Zedekiah agreed. But in time, in his suffering, unable to bear the burden and the weight of it, Zedekiah sought release from his oath before the elders of the Sanhedrin. They released him from his oath. And once released, he revealed to everybody. He told everybody what he had seen. And when Nebuchadnezzar learned that he was publicly humiliated, he was furious. and he summoned Zedekiah and the elders and he said
this, "Didn't Zedekiah swear an oath in the name of heaven?" And they answered, "He was released from his oath?" And Nebuchadnezzar replied, "Doesn't your own halaka require the one to whom the oath was made to be present when he is released? Indeed, in 2 Chronicles, we read this. He, as in Zedekiah, also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear an oath to God. That's 2 Chronicles 36:13. Our sages saw a profound connection between this story and the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem. Public humiliation, the un unlawful anulment of an oath, and the violation of covenantal trust became a part of the nation's unraveling before exile. And it's no coincidence that today we move into Mat Messiah and we read this para right here in the midst of the three weeks leading up to Tisha A. And it opens up with one of the strongest Torah commands regarding holy speech and not just holy speech but covenantal speech. standing on the threshold of the promised land. Before Israel enters into battle, before Israel establishes its borders, and before Israel receives its inheritance,
we read this is Adonai. When a man makes a vow to Adoni, oh he shava, a vow or swears an oath, he shall not profane his word. Rather, he shall do everything that proceeds from his mouth. This could also refer to a woman. But look at the Hebrew here for a moment. lovo. That word yel says he shall not profane his word. It does not merely say don't break your word. It says don't profane it. Don't take what is holy and make it common. This brings us back to bed sheet for creation when God created the the world. He created what was holy and what was common. The Shabbat of course being holy. And this nair shua is holy speech. Don't take what is holy and make it common. The scriptures begin with the words vyomare Elohim, the word of God. And God said, God spoke the world into existence. Hashem created the world through speech through holy speech. Pure a vote tells us that Hashem created the world through 10 utterances. There were the nine and then the 10th would be the very first one by Yomare Elohim. 10 utterances in which he breathed and created through his speech. And then he breathed his life breath
into Adam. And the Tarum says that mankind became a living being but actually a speaking spirit. The ability to speak. We were the only ones endowed with the ability to speak. When God calls us, he entrusts us with a speech, with a holy speech that can bring holiness and order into the world. And the entire Torah portion kicks off with this premise, with this principle of understanding holy speech and covenant commitments. When we make vows, when we swear an oath, or when we just say yes and make a commitment and obligate ourselves. But God God says that this is holy. Words don't just express, they expose. They expose what's in our hearts. They expose what we worship. They expose whether we remain connected to the source of life. The Torah speaks about this holy speech today. A needair, a vow dedicates something to God. A shua, an oath binds the person making it. Together these two becomes isar which means a binding obligation before the authority of heaven. And this is what Nebuchadnezzar was calling out. You made a sar. You made it a b binding obligation. You're the king of Israel and he you made a binding obligation
before God to me is what he was saying. Therefore, he should have been present as the Torah portion tells us today. And it's talking about certain types of anulments of vows have to be in the presence of the one that heard it obligated it or the authority figure. But some may ask this, didn't Yeshua say, do not swear at all by heaven or by earth because the earth is God's foottool or don't swear by Jerusalem. But let your yes be yes and your no be no and anything else is from the evil one. And the answer is yes, he did. But Yeshua was not lowering the Torah standard. He was raising it. See, the Torah portion today talks about when you make an actual vow or you swear an oath. But Yeshua says you don't even have to do that. When you say yes, then that automatically obligates you. Isar are automatically you're you're obligated right there. He is saying that every word should be as trustworthy as an oath. Every word that comes from our mouth. Otherwise, we profane our own word and we take something that God has put in us as holy and it becomes secular or common or what you would expect to see in the world.
But God calls us, the people of God, to a higher calling. And with that there's responsibility in that. So the very existence of the process in our tradition tells us how seriously the rabbis regarded this when it comes to holy speech. And so why do we see that holy speech is mentioned just before we enter into the promised land. Well, we don't have to look any further than our parachut today. a tote, tribes, also branches, rods. [snorts] A rod has no life when it's disconnected from the source. But when it is or when it was connected to the source, life th flows through it. The Torah portion is showing us a spiritual formation as we enter into what God is showing us. And that is through a covenant commitment to him and to each other that binds us together that we would remain connected to the source. And that's where life flows through us and through this congregation because we're meant to remain connected to the source. The source of life connects one of us to the other. Tribes, they travel together through trusting and testing because the testing will come. Trust is tested. Commitments are tested. Words that we
speak are tested. A covenant community is only as strong as the words that bind it together, whether they are trustworthy or not. And the first test in the Torah portion today, we see almost immediately Ruvane and God, the two tribes, they come to Moshe with a request. The promised land had already been designated west of the Yard. That was the the borders of the promised land, west of the Jordan. But when they looked at the east side of the Jordan, they saw something. They saw something that was rich and vibrant and beautiful and fertile for their cattle, for their possessions and the possessions even before their children. When we think about that, these are important aspects, our possessions. But our entry into the promised land wasn't dependent on our own secular views of the world. It was dependent on God's promise and his blessing and his spirit guiding us. It was about tribes traveling together trusting God. So they asked to be to remain in the Trans Jordan area on the east side of the yard for they did have very large herds. Moshe initially hears something different. Echoes of the 10 spies come
into his mind. The 10 spies profane the speech of God. They divided the nation 40 years earlier. Our speech can unite and it can divide. That's what we see. Moshe rebukes them. Shall your brothers go to war while you stay here and worry about your possessions? And then he reminds them of what happened to their forefathers. Hashem's anger. It burned at an ib on that day. On that day, he swore shabuah. God swore an oath that none of them who rebelled against God would enter into the promised land except Kalev and Yahosua because they had a different heart, different spirit. They were trusting God. They were ready to travel together trusting God in the midst of God. He warns them, "The same God who commands us to keep our Nedair, our Nedarim and our our shot, our our our vows and our our oath is the same God that keeps his word always. He holds us to the same standard. That's the principle." And but yet Ruvane and and and God they they kind of redeem themselves. They come forward with a new promise and they say we will settle here to the east because they like the land there. But not before we
cross over with our brothers and we will now return to every tribe. Mot has received its inheritance. Notice the the the negotiation there. And Rashi points out that subtle detail, but they mentioned the cattle before the children. And Moshe then quietly reverses the order around and he says, "Build cities for your children." And then folds for your sheep. He tests their word. Comes the testing. If you will cross over, by the way, an if then is a vow and need there. And if then, if you will cross over, if you will fight alongside your brothers. If you'll remain until every tribe receives its inheritance, then the land shall be your possession. If and then if you do these things, then the land will be your possession. So he's making a provision. They could live east of the Yard, but their hearts would have to be residing west with the rest of the tribes. You see, we we tend to live a bit spread out here. A lot of us are 20 minutes away, 30 minutes away, 40 minutes away, an hour away. We can't all live in the in this building. It wouldn't be feasible, right? But at the same time, we are united together. Our
hearts are united together. That's the beauty and what's enabled this congregation to flourish for so many years. But just as they were then, we are now on a journey. We're always traveling and journeying together in the spirit and in our our work for God. Messiah comes up now. Messiah journeys. Israel's journeys. 42 journeys, 12 tribes, one bre covenant. No tribe entered the land alone. A people bound together by faithful words. That was the principle as we move forward together. But then we get to the ha and yeryahu. Jeremiah reminds us what happens when those faithful words that we made become faithless words and we have a warning and that takes us back to the days of Zid Kyahu Zedekiah because Zedekiah was king at this time and the people stood not on the threshold of entry into the promised land but on the edge of exile. Notice the tension, the reversal happening. And we remember the image of Mat. Remember that branches, rods. Before Israel abandoned the temple, before Israel abandoned the fountain, Yeryahu declares this. My people have committed two evils. in this order. They have forsaken me.
And God says he is me, the fountain meor, the fountain of living waters. And then they have done this. They have dug for themselves brokenists that are empty, that hold nothing, no water. A branch doesn't die because it stops bearing fruit. Rather, it stops bearing fruit because it has been cut off from the source of life. The same is true for God's people to remain connected to the source. Faithless words, they are not the disease. They are the diagnosis. They are the symptoms of what's been unveiled in the hearts of a corrupt people of those who forgot what was holy and made the holy common and worst in common profained. Instead of vows, empty promises. Instead of living waters, brokenistance. Instead of life in the land, exile. These were never the root problem. Though they just pointed to the source, the root itself, which was a heart that was disconnected to its lifeline, a heart that didn't stay connected to the source. And we all know how how we have to maintain and continue to build and to work on our spiritual life with God and with each other. It's it's continuous as we move forward. It's
imperative as we move forward because this is always where compromise leads. Yet it never ends in compromise. It never ends in exile. It never ends in destruction. Because God is there. God is keeping his side of the breath, the covenant. God swore an oath to Abraham. And this is why the prophet ends with, "Will you not from this time Qur?
That's the call of Yermyahu that we remember as we move through these three weeks. But then we come to the Besser at Golgatha. False witnesses speak. The leaders mock. Roman soldiers ridicule. Criminals crucify beside him. Heap insults upon him. And the world around Yeshua becomes a fiery storm of faithful speech. faithless faithless speech. Everyone profaines their words. Yet the irony is that Yeshua sanctifies his
faithless or faithful. Yeshua alone remains rooted in a havinu the father. He remains connected to the source all the way through all the way through on the to the execution stake where he stands before Aenu and takes on every sin known. So, as we think about this word today, when we think about what the Torah is telling us about our words, about oaths and vows and commitments when we say yes to each other, as we serve together, moving forward with the many opportunities that are coming forward and God raising us up as as live rods God's and living water flowing through us at a special time with the spirit adding its seasoning upon us in this season. What does this mean for us? What does this mean for share shalom? And we we are reminded that the story never ends in exile. It never ends at the crucifixion. Nor does it ever end at the fall of Jerusalem. because we pray about the rebuilding. We pray about the return of the exiles and the return of our Messiah. Our story continues on in the resurrection and we live in that resurrection today. The invitation to return to the source. We we know that
that is the biser that is the good news of God to return to the source of life. in the Messiah by the power of the Holy Spirit who is endowed upon us today. And next month, some of you will publicly affirm your allegiance to Messiah through Tivil Messiah. And Tivilot Mashiach Messiah immersion is it is a vow is what it is because you are dedicating yourself to the Messiah of Israel to the God of Israel for life. This is a lifelong commitment. And so it is a vow. And then there's always opportunities for other others to renew your vows. You don't have to be reimmers. Depends. We'll talk about it. But we have a a renewal. We have a revival taking place, a commitment. Mat teaches us how to keep our words. Teaches us about holy speech. Messiah teaches us how to unite and journey together. and Messiah teaches us what covenant faithfulness looks like. Let's pray. Ainu Shabbashim, we bless and sanctify you. We thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the for the valuable lessons that when we step out of here, we remember our covenant with you and with each other. That we take that seriously.
We live in a world that doesn't always value the power of words and holy speech. That every word we speak has the potential for divine sparks within it because you breathe your life force within us and made us a speaking spirit. And I pray Lord God that we would live up to our calling. you would empower us, cause us to return in all areas of our life that we need to return. And we thank you for this opportunity to travel together. We thank you for this congregation and what you've made here and for everybody here that we'd go out with a great blessing today. In Yeshua's name, I pray. Shabbat shalom.