Toldot - Generations 3

This coming Shabbat Parshah (Weekly Portion)  {11/10/2018}

"TOLDOT" (GENERATIONS)

Haftorah (Prophets):  Malachi 1:1-2:7

A pronouncement:

The word of YHWH to Israel through Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says YHWH.

Yet you ask, “How have you loved us?”

“Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” This is YHWH’s declaration. “Even so, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. I turned his mountains into a wasteland, and gave his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

Though Edom says: “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” YHWH of Armies says this: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called a wicked country and the people YHWH has cursed forever. Your own eyes will see this, and you yourselves will say, ‘YHWH is great, even beyond the borders of Israel.’

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of me? says YHWH of Armies to you priests, who despise my name.”

Yet you ask: “How have we despised your name?”

“By presenting defiled food on my altar.”

“How have we defiled you?” you ask.

When you say: “The Lord’s table is contemptible.”

“When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks YHWH of Armies. “And now plead for God’s favor. Will he be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will he show any of you favor?” asks YHWH of Armies. “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle a useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says YHWH of Armies, “and I will accept no offering from your hands.

“My name will be great among the nations, from the rising of the sun to its setting. Incense and pure offerings will be presented in my name in every place because my name will be great among the nations,” says YHWH of Armies.

“But you are profaning it when you say: ‘YHWH’s table is defiled, and its product, its food, is contemptible.’ You also say: ‘Look, what a nuisance!’ And you scorn it,” says YHWH of Armies. “You bring stolen,lame, or sick animals. You bring this as an offering! Am I to accept that from your hands?” asks YHWH.

“The deceiver is cursed who has an acceptable male in his flock and makes a vow but sacrifices a defective animal to YHWH. For I am a great King,” says YHWH of Armies, “and my name will be feared among the nations.

“Therefore, this decree is for you priests: If you don’t listen, and if you don’t take it to heart to honor my name,” says YHWH of Armies, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. In fact, I have already begun to curse them because you are not taking it to heart.

“Look, I am going to rebuke your descendants, and I will spread animal waste over your faces, the waste from your festival sacrifices, and you will be taken away with it. Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says YHWH of Armies. “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of YHWH of Armies."

#Parsha
#Shabbat
#Sabbath
#Toldot