This whole week is the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles/Sukkot.  It is a reminder of how God brought out His people Israel from slavery in Egypt, and He led them under Moses’ leadership through the desert for 40 years on their way to conquer and possess the promised land of Canaan which YHVH had covenantally promised to the descendants of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.

This mo’ed/appointed time looks ahead to the restoration of the Kingdom of YHVH, God of Israel, to Israel and over the nations for 1000 years, and it is a kingdom that will never pass away.  Yeshua will dwell in the midst of His redeemed and holy people in the land promised to them for an everlasting inheritance, and all will know Him, from the least to the greatest.  He will sit on the throne of David, and be the glory of God’s people Israel.  Every one will sit in peace and rest under his own vine and fig tree; weaponry will be destroyed; and nations will not learn war any more.  Truly a Sabbath rest for the people of God, and for the whole of Creation!  The Gentile nations will praise YHVH for His grace and mercies to His people. (Ps 117; Rom 15:8-13)  Praise the LORD for that sure promise and hope!  We sure need it in these troublous and complex times.

The current turmoil in Israel has not let up.  To Yeshua/Jesus, no side is justified in God’s  eyes — not the right, not the left, not the center. We are challenged not to take partisan sides, or to take some middle ground of compromise that nearly always also compromises God’s truths of justice and morality. Any political compromise that calms the outward agitation is welcome , but it is most always only a superficial and temporary ‘solution’ to a very deep problem (like a bandaid or an aspirin).  One question that connects with this came to me:  Where in the Bible does it say that the religious Jews who study Torah do not have to serve in the military?  This is a very big issue in Israel that is a major cause of the divide between those who benefit from those who do serve in the military, risking their lives to protect everyone else’s and the nation’s existence; and that these yeshivot/Jewish learning ‘seminaries’ and “students/talmidim receive payments from the government/taxpayers for their studies and non-service, contributing to a drain on the economy, and their part in the body politic.  Complicated.  Here was my brief response, as I ‘understand’ it for now:

“It seems to me that the Kohanim (priests) and the Levites were exempted from military service, other than to go before the army and blow shofars when directed to.  The first 3 or 4 chapters of Numbers seem to show that they were not included in the census commanded by God to determine the number of military-aged men from each of the tribes. 

“So, I assume that those today who consider themselves the fleshly and/or spiritual descendants of the priests and their assistants feel it their privilege and duty not to serve in the IDF, as long as they are studying Torah (which probably actually means studying the Talmud). [‘I doubt that the Haredim of today can prove by genealogical registration that they are Levites or Kohanim.  If that is the reason that they don’t have to serve in the IDF, the government should ask them to prove it by genealogical registration in order to be exempt from IDF service, just as every Jew who wants to make aliyah has to prove they are Jewish.’  Great remark from my questioner!]  I don’t see any reason, though, that they cannot perform some national non-military service for 2-3 years, as a way of demonstrating their citizenship, and inclusion with and appreciation for the rest of “the tribes” of their brothers and sisters and nation.   If things were “the way they are supposed to be”, all would be under the Lordship/Kingship of YHVH, and in obedience with faith to Him; Israel would be a united nation, with brotherly love, and would win all her battles; and righteousness and peace would “win the day.  Even so, come, Lord, Jesus!”

Have a blessed and rejoicing Feast of Booths, praising the Lord for being with us through it all until, and beyond, the finish line!