PRAYER UPDATE FROM ISRAEL (August 20, 2018) Ki-Tetzeh 1. The Islamic Festival of Eid al-adha. Tuesday evening will mark the beginning of Eid al-adha, considered the most holy holiday of the Muslim year. The name means Festival of the Sacrifice and commemorates a time, according to an Islamic teaching, when Ibrahim (Abraham) was asked by Allah to take his son Ismail (Ishmael) to a place in the Arabian Peninsula (near modern-day Mecca). There Allah commanded him to sacrifice Ishmael. There are a number of different traditions of exactly what happened next. One is that when requested to slay his son, Ibrahim faltered, but Ismael called on his father to obey Allah. Then, after slaying his son with a knife, he looked down, and a miracle had occurred there was a goat lying with its throat cut, and Ismail alive and whole. (Another
tradition has Allah or an angel staying Ibrahim s hand at the last moment.) As a gift for Ismail s faithfulness to Allah and Ibrahim s obedience, Isaac was born. On this day, Muslim families, if possible, sacrifice a goat or sheep dividing up the meat three ways, to be given to the poor, to relatives, and one s own family. There is feasting and giving of gifts. Although the holiday falls on a specific day, the celebrations extend from four to nine days. The Eid al-adha also marks the end of the Hajj a pilgrimage to Mecca. As one of the Five Pillars of Islam, each Muslim is, if possible, at least once in his or her life, to make this trip. The pilgrimage traces the path Ibrahim and Ismael (and later, Mohammed) are supposed to have made in ancient times. Some 2 million make the Hajj each year. At first light this past Sunday, the masses began circling seven times counter-clockwise round the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, meant to represent the house of God. After these prayers, they head to a place called Mount Arafat where Mohammad is said to have delivered his final sermon. And from there, they move towards the Mina valley, picking up stones along the way, which will be used in a symbolic stoning of the devil, something which Ibrahim, at the instruction of Gabriel, is said to have done to drive away the temptations of the enemy away. And here, they also symbolically cast away their sins. Historically, there have been many occasions upon which dire things have accompanied this devil-stoning ritual. The most deadly took place three years ago on September 24, 2015, when a stampede of pilgrims left 2,426 dead. Interestingly, the Koran makes no mention of Ishmael in connection with the sacrifice which God instructed Abraham. Yet through the centuries, this sacrifice of Ishmael has revealed itself as at the heart of the Islamic religious system. Thus, this most holy day of the year which celebrates it. As such, it lies in direct opposition to the word of God, as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Genesis 17:18, Abraham prayed to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before You! God answered that He would indeed bless Ishmael, But My covenant I will establish with Isaac (17:21). And it was later Isaac, not Ishmael, whom God told Abraham to take to a mountain of Moriah (later Jerusalem), and there to offer him up as a burnt sacrifice. And at Abraham s obedience, it was Isaac who was spared, and a ram was offered in his place. God had provided the lamb! One of the cardinal and deadly errors in a religious system which replaces Isaac with Ishmael, is that it places God s covenant of life for all
Humankind in the wrong physical line. As stated above, Elohim states unequivocally that His covenant must go through Isaac not Ishmael. That Covenant of Life would eventually be realized in a descendant of Isaac Yeshua/Jesus, the Messiah and Savior of the World. In His blood would come a New Covenant given on behalf of all the children of Adam! (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20). One of the revealed names for God is Elohim Haim--the Life- God. His covenants will all be covenants of life, from which we may infer that any covenant opposed to His life-covenants must be a covenant of death. This is the tragedy for people under the bondage of this religious system. As did the serpent in the Garden, the evil spiritual power behind it hates God s covenants and desires to lead those made in His image into a place of death. In Scripture, such a covenant-hating spirit is linked with the name Amalek a power which God hates and is at war with until its very memory is erased from the earth (Exodus 17:14-16; Numbers 24:20). As is clear in the last verse of this week s Torah Portion (Deuteronomy 25:19; see below), Israel, and indeed, we as Believers, also find ourselves at war with that spirit. But our Banner in the battle is God s promise that we are not alone (Exodus 17:15-16). Beneath that Banner, we war in the Holy Spirit, that those under bondage of the Amalek spirit may be set free! PLEASE PRAY: * For mercy on those within the Islamic faith who are truly seeking a knowledge of the Holy. Pray for supernatural encounters, dreams, visions. There have been wonderful first-hand reports of Muslims who, in the midst of the Hajj in Mecca, had a supernatural encounter with Jesus, and were set free! * For revelation among the Muslim people that they are following a religious system which has at its center adherence to a covenant of death. For revelation regarding the covenants of Life the God of the Universe made through Abraham, Isaac and Israel and realized in His Son, Messiah Yeshua. * An awakening of understanding in believers around the world that we are at war with powerful spiritual forces which hate God s covenants of life especially as realized in the Jewish people (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). But we are not alone in the fight. As a believer, my Banner (Nissi) is the promise that God Himself is fighting on behalf of His covenant Word.
* As we are nearing the Hebrew High Holy days (Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement is four weeks from this Wednesday) pray for an understanding among Jews and Muslims that the only atonement for our sin comes, not through the blood of bulls and goats, but through the blood of the Lamb of God, which is clean and filled with Life! THIS WEEK S TORAH PORTION: From ancient times there has been a weekly portion (Parashah) from the first five books of Moses (The Torah) and an ending (Haftarah) from the Prophets read on the Sabbath in synagogues around the world. This portion is given a Hebrew name drawn from the opening words of the Torah passage. An illustration of this practice appears to have been recorded in Luke 4:16 where Yeshua (Jesus) arrived in the synagogue in Nazareth and was asked to read the portion (Isaiah 61) from the Prophets. We have found that in perusing these weekly readings, not only are we provided opportunity to identify in the context of God s Word with millions of Jewish people around the world, but very often the Holy Spirit will illumine specific passages pertinent that week in our intercession for the Land and people of Israel. The Haftarah, unless otherwise noted, will be that read in Ashkenazy synagogues around the world. The references for all texts are those found in English translations of the Scriptures. The Parashah for this week 19-25 August 2018 is called, Ki-Tetzeh When You Go Out. TORAH: Deuteronomy 22:10 25:19 HAFTARAH: Isaiah 54:1-10 TORAH Deuteronomy 22:10 25:19 *Deuteronomy 21:21, 22:21, 22:22, 22:24; 24:7; 23:14. Thus you shall purge away the evil from among you. As mentioned last week, the word for purge may also be translated to burn, kindle or root out. There are many
situations and circumstances dealt with in these passages (some of necessity not making for the most pleasant reading) pointing to the fact that it is of great importance that God s people be set apart and clean both morally and physically, personally and as a community since the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and to defeat your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy; and He must not see anything indecent among you or He will turn away from you. We find Psalm 101 to be especially pertinent in applying this same principle to our hearts and homes today, especially verses 2-4: I will be careful to lead a blameless life when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart. I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil! (NIV) *Deuteronomy 23:5. Nevertheless the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, but the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you. *Deuteronomy 23:7. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land. We believe this admonition to be still in effect today. PLEASE PRAY for a love for Egypt among the Body in Israel. Pray for the Body in Egypt to rise up in faith and love and hope and moving in the miraculous power of the Spirit of God. Pray that relations be strengthened between the two countries! God has promised that there will one day be a highway of holiness stretching from Egypt through Israel to Assyria to the north. *Deuteronomy 25:19. Therefore it shall come about when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies, in the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you must not forget. This is Our Part of the promise made a few months ago in Exodus 17:14-16: Then the LORD said to Moses, Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner; and he said, The LORD has sworn; the LORD will have war against Amalek from generation to
generation. HAFTARAH Isaiah 54:1-10 *Isaiah 54:2-3. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited. PLEASE PRAY: That Israel will come into that place of righteousness in her Messiah which will allow God to extend her borders to encompass the territory which He has ordained for her, a territory from which she will never be plucked up. *Isaiah 54:5. For your Maker is your husband, YHVH of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. PLEASE PRAY: For revelation in Israel that God loves him in an intimate way and has provided a Redeemer for him, who is One with the Father. All things came into being through Him (i.e. Yeshua/Jesus), and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:3). *Isaiah 54:7-8. For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says the LORD, your Redeemer. *Isaiah 54:10. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
Martin & Norma Sarvis Jerusalem [The Parashah for next week 26 August 1 September 2018 is called Ki-Tavo When You Come Into : TORAH: Deuteronomy 26:1 29:9; HAFTARAH: Isaiah 60:1-22.] You may give to our work in Israel by donating online (click HERE and add Sarvis Support in the comment line) or by calling 1-888-965-1099 or 1-940-382-7231. Give Now