Parshah 35 – - Take - B'midbar / Numbers 4: 1 - 7:89. Haftarah - Shoftim / Judges 13: 1-25. B'rit Hachadashah – Yochanan/John 12:20 - 36.

Confession and restitution!

B'midbar / Numbers 5: 7 "He must confess the sin he has committed; and take full restitution for his guilt, add twenty percent and give it to the victim of his sin." (CJB) We are here facing a powerful biblical statement, capable of changing difficult situations, especially when we sin against Godand against our neighbor. Jonathan Allen begins his commentary on this text by saying that: "The opening word of the text - is a form of the root, to play or to cast. It is also used to mean both "openly and freely confessing," such as "confessing, making a confession." Here then, that means "and they will confess." Plaut adds the word 'public', the confession must be in public. The Septuagint translates as "to confess, in the sense of speaking out, to make known, to declare," a way that in the comments of Jacob Milgrom, it is 'Declare' - repentance of the penitent must be articulated. " Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888 CE) states that this text is the point where "the great far-reaching principle in the Torah is given: the Torah puts men and women in equal responsibility for all transgressions against the law." Anyone, regardless of their position or status within society can and should confess their sin. But why the public confession, why should we do it? According to most dictionaries, the word "confess" has two meanings and is closely linked. The first is "to acknowledge or confess guilt, crime, weakness, etc." to declare or acknowledge (sins), especially to God or a Cohen (priest, pastor, etc.) to obtain acquittal. This is the meaning seen in our text and in many other verses of the Torah, for example: "when he perceives his guilt in any of these sins and confesses what he has committed ..." ( 5: 5, ESV) The second meaning is collectively: "Aharon shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of , and all their transgressions, all their sins." (Vayikra 16:21). After the confession, the relationship with God is restored: "If they confess their iniquities and the iniquity which their fathers in unfaithfulness have committed against me, and also to walk contrary to me ... then I will remember my covenant with Ya'akov, and I will remember my covenant with Yitzchak and my covenant with Avraham, and I will remember the earth. "(Vayikra 26:40 and 42 NIV). This idea is quite familiar to the psalmist when he says, "I confessed my sin to you, and my iniquity did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my guilt to Adonai,’ then you have forgiven me the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32: 5, ESV). Yaakov/Apostle James should also have this idea in mind when he wrote: "Therefore, openly acknowledge your sins to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16, CJB). But the second meaning of “confessing” may be even more important. Rav Sha'ul/Apostle Paul should had been thinking this way when he wrote, "that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai – to the glory of God the Father. " (Philippians 2:10 - 11, CJB). This has the power both to admit the truth of Yeshua's lordship in our lives and to declare fidelity to Him. Just as confessing sin is the first step to repentance; confessing Yeshua is the first step to salvation (Romans 10: 9). Apostle Yochanan/John highlight the importance of this confession in the spiritual world and tells us: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us all our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1: 9, BVN) This is one of the strongest statements about forgiveness of our sins throughout the B’rit Hachadashah/New Testament. The second part of the verse that I use as the basic text (B'midbar/Numbers 5: 7), brings something forgotten in our communities and denominations: "and will make full restitution for guilt, plus 20% giving it the victim of its sin." In our days, there is rarely a message about restitution. Nowadays we hear more messages about prosperity than any other subject. But we cannot prosper if we do not restore the wrong committed. "This brings us now to the almost complete circle, back to the question of public confession. Our confession of faith must be public, both in words and attitudes - that is, we must be consistent, otherwise our confession will be invalidated by our actions. Mashiach Yeshua gave us reason for this: "Whoever confesses me before other people, will also be confessed by me before my Heavenly Father." (Matthew 10:32, BVN). Our confession (our acknowledgment) that Yeshua Ha Mashiach is Lordof our lives in this world is the guarantee that He will confess (recognize) before the Eternal Father that we are His. If we are not prepared to acknowledge Him in this world, then He will not recognize us in the other. "Jonathan Allan. How do we deal with this issue today? In the course of these my nearly forty-four years of walking with the Eternal, I have seen many good and bad things in this area. Many times, I have heard that brothers had to go to the front of the congregation to confess their sins, when in fact this confession should be made in particular. We do not have the right to expose the life of another person just because we "feel" a person must do it. This is not the teaching I bring here. On the other hand, we need to take courage and confess Yeshua at every opportunity, even if it means embarrassment and getting out of our "comfort zone," we need to be consistent with what we believe and confess, for Rav Sha’ul/Apostle Paulmake it clear: "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom.10: 9, BVN). May the Lord help us to confess our sins and confess our faith, make restitution and thus bringing glory to His Name. In the love of Yeshua Our Lord. Biblical translations used: ESV- English Standard Version. NIV - New International Version. CJB - Complete Jewish . BVN – Biblia Vida Nova. Richmond, June 14, 2019. Rabbi Jaime Araújo.