Did you know? Sidra...

Did you know that Jewish congregations have assigned portions of scripture to read for each Sabbath?

In my Basic Biblical Hebrew class, we are learning the characters and words by examining the Sidra, the Weekly Torah Portions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekly_Torah_portion). This is the way that the Torah was sub-divided - there were no chapters and verses.

For example, the first reading is

b’Reisheet

or

in the beginning

and it encompasses Genesis 1:1-6:8.

There are also portions from the prophets to be read each week.

If you think about it, the Hebrew Bible was/is on a scroll. It isn't quite as easy to lookup a particular verse on a scroll as in a book. So, the readings are from Genesis through to Deuteronomy. My teacher, Pat, told us that at the end of the year (coming up towards the end of October, I think 10/22), Jewish congregations will complete the last reading for the year 2018-2019 and "roll the scroll" back to the beginning, and immediately start with b’Reisheet again. The celebration is "Rejoicing with/of the Torah" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simchat_Torah).

So, I should have known this... and, I guess in some ways I did - for example,  in Luke 4, regarding Jesus:

And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

From what I have been taught about this scripture, Jesus read the appointed scripture for that day in the synagogue - so, I was aware that there were specific readings.

 

But, I love how God uses different things that I am learning to make scripture come to life for me... I am using the F260 Bible reading plan in the Discipleship group to which I belong. The assigned reading in the F260 reading plan for 9/25 was Acts 13 & 14. These verses in Acts 13 stood out as if they had flashing lights around them (I added the yellow highlight to imitate the flashing lights for you):

¹⁴ but they [Paul and Barnabas] went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵ After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

<< pause for a moment here... do you think the rulers of the synagogue sent a text message? No? Curious minds want to know... >>

Continuing on a little further in the chapter, Paul speaking:

²⁷ For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

Okay, I *know* that those verses have been in there every time I've read these chapters, but this week, they stood out -- I now better understand what they are referencing.

God is so generous to me to allow the timing of my starting the Basic Hebrew course and these verses in the Bible reading plan to come together! I am, indeed, wonderfully blessed!