Crumbs!

How should a Gentile approach the Father?   An often asked question, and one worth considering when we consider that Yahusha said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6), so we know that all – Gentile included -  must approach the Father through Yahusha.

But Yahusha said that he was sent only to “lost sheep of the house of Israel” – so where does this leave a Gentle?   I believe the key lies in the same conversation in which he said what is quoted above, this is the encounter with the Canaanite (Gentile) woman:
 

“And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Master, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came and worshipped him, saying, Master, help me. And he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. But she said, Yea, Master: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. Then Yahusha answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed from that hour.” Matt. 15:22-28

Yahusha made it clear that the only spiritual food he had to offer was the food for the children – even those who are lost, but are of the house of Israel, are still counted as children.  He had no food for anyone else! In Romans 3:1-2 Sha’ul notes that it was to Israel that the Word of YHWH (the only true spiritual food) was given: “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of Elohim.”  The Torah given to Israel is the only food on offer from the Master and it is on the table for the children!

Dogs who run wild are indeed like the Gentiles, alien from humanity, they hunt and kill their own food.  Gentiles too have been alien from YHWH, and have made their own mighty ones, their own “spirituality.”

But the Scriptures speak of those Gentiles (like the Canaanite woman) who turn to YHWH and seek to know their Master’s voice:
 

“O YHWH, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit. Shall a man make unto himself elohim, which yet are no elohim?  Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will I cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is YHWH.” Jer. 16:19-21.

The progression for these people is from wild dog to adopted child. This conversion is enabled by eating the food that comes from the Master. The first step in the process  is that of becoming one of the tame dogs under the Master’s table.  As such we seek the children’s food and must obtain it by any means possible! This means finding all the crumbs that fall, taking the food the children may offer from time to time, and when opportunity presents, getting up on the table and helping ourselves! Effectively we become what could be termed “spiritual raiders.”

One example of such a person is found in Acts 10, the story of Cornelius, you will recall that Kepha had to be given a vision to instruct him not to call any person unclean – for Cornelius was a “dog.”  Cornelius you will notice was already praying to YHWH, when a crumb fell. Cornelius hade to make the effort to request Kepha to come and speak to him.  It was by his and his family’s demonstrated faith that the Ruach (Spirit) was given to them and they began down the road of adoption.

The example of this encounter was used in the Acts 15 meeting when the issue of Gentiles coming to the faith was discussed.  At this meeting a list of “necessary requirements” for Gentiles was decided upon.  I don’t believe that this was ‘dog food’ – so that “dogs” would always remain “dogs” – all these requirements are from the Torah and as such are food from the Master’s table.  One feed however doesn’t last a lifetime, the apostles envisaged the Gentiles continuing to seek the crumbs when they said: “For Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

The goal is to become a child of the kingdom, to sit at the table and eat the food that is served from the Master’s hand.  Special encouragement is given in this regard in Isaiah 56:3-8:
 

“Neither let the foreigner, that hath joined himself to YHWH, speak, saying, YHWH will surely separate me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith YHWH of the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant: Unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the foreigners that join themselves to YHWH, to minister unto him, and to love the name of YHWH, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast my covenant; even them will I bring to my set-apart mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt-offerings and their slaughterings shall be accepted upon mine altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

Sha’ul expresses similar sentiments in Ephesians 2:11-19, speaking of the completion of the process – complete adoption as a child of the kingdom:
 

“Wherefore remember, that once ye, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called Circumcision, in the flesh, made by hands; that ye were at that time separate from Messiah, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without Elohim in the world. But now in Messiah Yahusha ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Messiah…
...So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the set-apart ones, and of the household of Elohim,”

As such of course one sits at the table and eats their fill of children’s food, which is another way of saying that they take on the whole Torah.  But my major point here is that the initiative in this process must come from us…we must seek this food at every opportunity, it will not be forced on us and rarely offered! If you consider yourself to be a Gentile, then you must be a ‘spiritual raider!’

 However we can refuse the children’s food, in which case we will starve, and probably turn back to finding our own food – which is exactly what happened to the Christian church in those early centuries when they became anti-Jewish and refused the food that was on the children’s table.  They had to find their own food, food that didn’t come from the hand of the Master – real dog food!
 
  The Shofar