A Divine Guarantee

For the week of November 9, 2024 / 8 Heshvan 5785

Message info over a map of Israel with a red push pin inserted

Lech Lecha
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 12:1 – 17:27
Haftarah: Isa 40:27-41:16
Originally posted the week of October 28, 2023 / 13 Heshvan 5784 (updated)

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Avram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land…” (Bereshit/Genesis 15:18)

Important note: Having been providing TorahBytes for many years—in fact, based on the Jewish calendar, it’s twenty-seven years this week—as part of my preparation, I glance back at previous messages. I do this mainly to avoid unnecessary repetition and look for potential repostings. When reposting, I try to choose one that’s several years old, thus increasing the likelihood that current users haven’t encountered it before or, if they have, forgotten it. I am making an exception with this message, however. It’s from last year, but most worthy of repeating. More than that! It’s essential that I do. Not only is it foundational for understanding the whole Bible, but also for knowing how to effectively navigate the times we are in.

The October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel was not only the worst day for Jewish people since the Holocaust, it changed the world in more ways than what  most people realize as a demonically inspired threat upon Western civilization was unleashed. Whether or not the events of the past few weeks have deterred that threat for now or not is yet to be seen. Regardless, to claim to value Scripture but ignore God’s ongoing faithfulness to the Jewish people undermines its effectiveness.

*     *    *

The following is a slightly edited version of last year’s post.

It is no exaggeration to say that we may be on the brink of a catastrophe hitherto unknown in history. I hope I am wrong—that the current crisis in Israel will calm down, but not until the demonic evil unleashed by Hamas on October 7 is destroyed. I have no illusions; however, if, by God’s grace that happens, it will manifest again soon and probably worse.

Serious readers of Scripture have no reason to be unaware of the dynamics at play, including why so much fuss is made over one of the smallest countries on the planet. Yet, not only are most people unaware of such things, but they have also reduced the truth of the Bible to a detached spirituality of the inner life while failing to grasp its global implications and all-encompassing importance. Core to this misguided spirituality is the disregard for the centrality of the people of Israel and the land of Israel in God’s plan.

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah-reading portion) is foundational in this regard. It begins with Avram, whose name is later changed to Avraham (you can figure out the English versions of his name yourself, I am sure). The God of all creation, who made everything “very good” (Bereshit/Genesis 1:31), determined to one day rid the universe of the curse he imposed on the earth due to our first parents’ rebellion against him (see Bereshit/Genesis 3:17-19). Described as the bruising or crushing of the serpent’s head (see Bereshit/Genesis 3:15), we are given no details on how this plan was to be worked out until this parsha. If Avram ventured to the alien land God would show him; he would make him a great nation and bless the entire world as a result (see Bereshit/Genesis 12:1-3). One of Avram’s most famous descendants would call the promise of blessing the nations, “the good news” or “the Gospel” (see Galatians 3:8).

The agreement, contract, or covenant (they all mean the same, by the way) that God established with Avram included an aspect that Bible readers have tragically ignored. People often called the covenant made with Avram unconditional, but it did have one condition—a condition he fulfilled. He had to go to a specified location. It wasn’t until he arrived there that God said, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Bereshit/Genesis 12:7). The land, therefore, was a crucial aspect of God’s covenant with Avram, which was later passed on to his son Isaac (see Bereshit/Genesis 26:2-5) and grandson Jacob (see Bereshit/Genesis 28:13-14).

But did you know how essential the land promise to Avram was? As we also read in this week’s parsha, sometime later, God says to him: “Fear not, Avram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (Bereshit/Genesis 15:1). Avram’s trusting response to God’s telling him that, despite his ongoing childlessness, his descendants will be like the stars of the sky, is an appropriate high point for many Bible believers as it demonstrates the importance of faith.

Following that interchange, God has Avram perform a covenant ritual whereby he was to cut up some animals (see Bereshit/Genesis 15:7-20). Apparently, this was a traditional covenant-making ceremony. The Hebrew for “make a covenant” is actually “cut a covenant,” probably taken from the cutting up of the animals. The two parties would walk together between the pieces to declare that if either fails to live up to their covenantal obligations, may they become like the cut up pieces. But note that Avram doesn’t walk between the pieces. Instead, he sees the unusual site of a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passing through them. Commentators consider this an indication that God was taking the full covenantal obligation on himself, so that if either party would break the covenant, God alone would suffer the consequences. We see this happen in the person of the Messiah, of course. But neglecting the context of this prevents us from seeing an key aspect of God’s commitment to the people of Israel. God’s self-imposed covenantal obligations to the people is not only about the people. Here’s what God says when he reiterates the covenant to Avram:

To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites (Bereshit/Genesis 15:18-21).

God’s covenant with Avram includes the land, guaranteed! Should Avram or his descendants (those through Isaac and Jacob) fail in their covenantal obligations, God himself would bear the punishment. Do you know what this means? Yeshua’s death doesn’t only ensure your reconciliation with God by faith, but also upholds Israel’s right to their God-given land.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version, except that “Abram” is changed to “Avram.”

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Reproductive Positivity

For the week of November 2, 2024 / 1 Heshvan 5785

Message information over a group of happy children showing thumbs up

Noach
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 6:9 – 11:32
Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1-24

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Bereshit/Genesis 9:1)

I like to think of the story of Noah and the flood as God’s reboot, a system refresh. Seeing that human beings, whom he made in his image, had become deeply corrupted, we read, “And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart” (Bereshit/Genesis 6:6). And yet, he did not wholly give up on his creation project, including on human beings. I imagine he could have completely obliterated Planet Earth, but he didn’t. Instead, his commitment to his original plan led him to restart what he had initiated “in the beginning” (see Bereshit/Genesis 1:1).

There is reason to believe that the post-flood world was different in some ways from the Earth’s original design, including permitting humans to eat animals (see Bereshit/Genesis 9:3) and significantly reduced lifespans. But for the most part, God’s creation project was moving ahead as planned. Central to that plan is the essential role he gave to human beings. As creatures made in his image, men and women, despite our corrupt nature, we were to continue to represent him on Earth. God, the ultimate king of the universe, determined that we should rule Planet Earth under his direction (see Bereshit/Genesis 1:26, 28).

This unique leadership role underlies God’s very first directive: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Bereshit/Genesis 1:26). As humans were to rule over the entire planet, it was necessary to reproduce accordingly. Note that the issues arising from Adam and Eve’s disobedience in no way undermined this foundational command as it is repeated to Noah (see Bereshit/Genesis 9:1, 7)—a command that has never been rescinded or modified in any way.

As a father of ten (now adult) children, I am aware of how controversial and emotional the topic of human reproduction can be. I don’t have the space here for a deep dive into all the concerns and reactions people may have. But let me offer this: I believe that at the core of this issue is the inability or unwillingness to view ourselves from God’s perspective. I am painting this as personal on purpose. Much of the negativity in our society towards God’s unchanged directive to be fruitful and multiply can be found in the mirror. I don’t mean you are the problem necessarily; it’s that we human beings have such a low view of ourselves that, given the choice, we don’t want too many of us around.

Most of us don’t believe what I attempted to explain in last week’s message, You Are God’s Great Idea. Even those with a positive self-image don’t realize how great an idea we are. Zero population advocates and other extreme environmentalists don’t only warn us of the existential threats plaguing our planet today; they insist that we are the problem. I admit that we cause great problems. The Bible agrees but also clearly asserts that we are the solution.

Some may react to such a statement, insisting God is the only solution to the Earth’s problems. That’s true, but how does he do it? God is determined to work out his purposes for Planet Earth through his image bearers, human beings. Not only do we see this in his reiterating his reproduction directive, but in his taking on human form as the Messiah to eventually bring about the new creation. But doesn’t the actions of the Messiah prove the failure of human beings to fulfill our God-given mission? Not if I read the Bible correctly. The Messiah’s actions equip those loyal to him to join him in fulfilling God’s purpose for humankind. He doesn’t replace or distract from our being God’s image bearers but rather enables us to become everything we were made to be.

Once we, as human beings, understand who we really are and what we are called to do, I suspect that our perspective on reproduction would become overwhelmingly positive. Combine that with God’s promise of provision according to our needs (see Matthew 6:25-34), how many more children might we welcome into the world?

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

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You Are God’s Great Idea

For the week of October 26, 2024 / 24 Tishri 5785

Message info along with illustrations of a happy face, a finger pointing out toward the viewer, and a check mark within a circle

Bereshit
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 1:1 – 6:8
Haftarah: Isaiah 42:5 – 43:11

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Bereshit/Genesis 1:26-27)

Did you know that you are God’s great idea? That’s something my wife likes to remind our kids (and others) on their birthday. That’s very different from my mom telling me on more than one occasion that I was an accident. Perhaps you have heard worse. But no matter what you have heard, my wife is right. Each and every human being is here by design, God’s design. Are we born into a broken world, inheriting the same brokenness as every other human since Adam and Eve? Sure. Do some find themselves having to face greater levels of brokenness than others? Certainly. But does that change that each of us has been equally endowed with God’s image to represent him and his purposes in the world? Absolutely not.

It is one thing to know that you are God’s great idea. It’s another to discover how that great idea is to be lived out. It hasn’t been easy for me to shed my mother’s negative perspective. The words we hear and the experiences of our early years make indelible imprints upon us. I am so grateful to God for rescuing me when he did (see My Story), but that didn’t automatically change how I thought about myself or all the patterns of thinking I developed as a child.

God has done all sorts of things in the past decades to free me of my misguided thoughts, including using my wife, to remind me that I, too, am God’s great idea. Yet, all the good reminders in the world will make no difference unless we accept a most fundamental principle of life, as found in this week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion). Indeed, our being made in God’s image is the basis of our identity, value, and purpose. Just as idols are representations of false gods, so human beings, as made in God’s image, are his representatives. We might think that this alone should remedy just about any false notion we have about ourselves, but there is something more basic than this.

Intrinsic to God’s design of human beings is our distinctiveness as male and female. Not only are males and females purposely different from one another, this difference is essential to our being made in God’s image. That throughout the ages, the relationship between males and females has been fraught with innumerable challenges doesn’t undermine the importance of the sexes in representing God in the world. However, despite how essential our male-female differences are, there is still something even more basic that we need to be aware of before we can discover who we really are.

As objects of God’s purposeful design, the only way to resolve identity confusion is through the God who made us. And yet, many of us believe that we possess within us all we need to fix our problems. We are convinced that self-discovery and self-assertion can free us from every life obstacle as we embrace our brokenness as that which defines us. This venture establishes the self as the standard of who we are. It assumes we have what it takes to determine the nature of our design and how best to fulfill our purpose. But how do we know what is good or bad for us? Is it those things that make us comfortable, popular, or rich? If we had been self-created, we might have the tools to make us what we should be, but we are not. We are God-created, made in his image for his purposes. Only our Designer holds the key to all we are meant to be.

The truth about ourselves can only be discovered outside of ourselves. The journey within will only lead us further astray. That doesn’t mean we should ignore ourselves. Taking responsibility for our brokenness and the many ways it manifests is crucial to finding freedom in God. But here too, the only way to effectively determine what’s wrong with us is by accepting the Designer’s assessments and solutions.

I shudder to think what it would have been like to give into my desires and self-perceptions, allowing my feelings to define me while demanding that others affirm my self-assessment. What a hellhole that would have been! I am so grateful that by God’s power, I was able to accept myself as a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness through the Messiah. Only then was I ready to hear that I am God’s great idea!

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

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God of Marvels

For the week of October 19, 2024 / 17 Tishri 5785

Message info over a scene of a sukkah in the wilderness

Sukkot
Torah: Shemot/Exodus 33:12 – 34:26; B’midbar/Numbers 29:26-34
Haftarah: Ezekiel 38:18 – 39:16
Originally posted the week of October 15, 2022 / 20 Tishri 5783 (updated)

A special word first. I cannot reference the Festival of Sukkot without taking a moment to acknowledge how it will forever be associated with the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. Not only was it a Shabbat (English: Sabbath), but it was also “Shemini Atzeret,” the special extra eighth day observed at the conclusion of Sukkot (see Vayikra/Leviticus 23:36). In Israel, it coincides with Simchat Torah (English: Rejoicing of the Torah), the traditional celebration of God’s gift of his Word to Israel. Outside Israel, Simchat Torah occurs the following day. As discussed below, Sukkot is a time to reckon with both our vulnerability and God’s wonders. As we remember October 7 and the ongoing crisis since then, including the hostages, dead and alive, still held by cruel terrorists, it’s a challenge to rejoice, be it over God’s wonders or his day-to-day provision. But, let us not give the enemy a double victory. Let us grieve, let us acknowledge our trauma, but let’s not allow them to rob us of the ability to see the hand of God at work in the midst of it all. All through history, evil forces have prevailed for a time, but eventually, they all meet their end. Am Yisrael Chai! The people of Israel live!

* * *

And he said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.” (Shemot/Exodus 34:10)

The festival of Sukkot (English: Booths or Tabernacles) begins this year the evening of October 16 and lasts eight days. The readings this week are special for the festival. Outside the Land of Israel, due to ancient issues with the calendar, it continues for one more day[1]. Sukkot is a harvest thanksgiving festival that includes two special features. First, the people were directed to “take…the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and…rejoice before the LORD” (Vayikra/Leviticus 23:40). Traditionally these four things are willow, palm, and myrtle branches, plus a lemon-like fruit called an etrog (English: citron). Second, the people were to build temporary dwellings called sukkot (one sukkah, many sukkot). They were to live in these sukkot for seven days. This was to remind the people that their ancestors lived in similar accommodations the years they were in the wilderness (see Vayikra/Leviticus 23:43).

It is interesting how this festival of rejoicing is to occur while living in sukkot. Calling the people to leave their permanent homes for a week to connect with the years of wilderness wanderings is powerful. Think of how effective it is for parents to tell their children stories of God’s miraculous provision and protection while sitting in a flimsy hut far more exposed to the elements than their normal residences. But more than simply providing a tangible backdrop, the environment places the people into a state of vulnerability, so that they could better relate to the vulnerability of their ancestors.

Within the context of getting in touch with their forebears’ state of vulnerability the people would more than just remember that God took care of them, but also how he did. As we read in this week’s Torah reading, God protected and provided them by doing “marvels.” The Hebrew word for marvels is “pala’,” which is often translated as “miracles.” The word carries the sense of “special” or “out of the ordinary.” God had promised Israel he would do extraordinary things, marvels, never experienced before to cause others to realize how awesome he really is.

God does more than take care of his people. He does so in marvelous ways. For Israel in the wilderness, it was through a physical manifestation of his presence in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire, which both guided them and protected them from the elements. He also gave them manna for their daily bread, which miraculously appeared on the ground every day except the Sabbath (he doubled the amount the day before). He sent quail to give them meat, he cleansed undrinkable water on one occasion, and caused water to emerge from rocks twice.

Note, however, that we can list God’s marvels yet not be impacted. Somehow we can tell these and other marvelous Bible stories and they remain just that – stories. Stories that happened to a people in such a different time and place, they may as well be fairy tales. This is why he sent Israel back outside into a wilderness-like environment. Perhaps there, in a place of vulnerability, we can feel the need for him in a way our more secure permanent houses don’t allow us to. For it’s in the place of vulnerability that we realize how much we need God.

The extraordinary nature of God’s marvels is most often due to the state of our vulnerability. The greater the need, the greater the marvelous nature of his provision. The more vulnerable we are, the more extraordinary is his power in and through our lives. But if we don’t allow ourselves to be in places of vulnerability, we might have a general sense of God’s presence and goodness but fail to experience his marvels. I wonder what we may be missing.


[1]  The duration of the festival is a bit complicated. It would be more accurate to say that Sukkot lasts seven days plus one. The people were to celebrate with the specified growing things and live in the sukkah for seven days. The first day was to be treated as a sabbath (the first two days are sabbaths outside Israel). God also directed that an additional eighth day, known as “Shemini Atzeret” (Eighth Day of Assembly) was also to be observed. Traditionally, a special ceremony to mark the restarting of the annual Torah reading cycle, known as “Simchat Torah” (Rejoicing over the Torah), is observed during Shemini Atzeret (in the diaspora, it is observed on the extra ninth day).

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

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The Eternal Scapegoat

For the week of October 12, 2024 / 10 Tishri 5785

Message info over the painting, "The Scapegoat" by William Holman Hunt, 1854–1856
“The Scapegoat” by William Holman Hunt, 1854–1856

Yom Kippur
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 16:1-34; B’midbar/Numbers 29:7-11
Haftarah: Isaiah 57:14 – 58:14

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. (Vayikra/Leviticus 16:21-22)

It’s been a year since October 7, the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza security fence and slaughtered about 1200 men, women, and children, including babies, wounded around 5000, and took over 230 Israelis and others hostage, with about 100 still being held. If that wasn’t bad enough, this unthinkable atrocity unleashed not a wave of sympathy for Israel and the Jewish people but rather a tsunami of worldwide Jew hatred.

The Jews have been the eternal scapegoat of just about anything and everything that has gone wrong in the world. Scapegoating is when an individual or group is blamed for problems they did not cause. The concept of scapegoating is derived from the Hebrew Scriptures but has nothing to do with wrongly blaming the Jewish people or any other people group.

How the term scapegoat historically came to us is worth investigating. The Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) Torah portion includes a ritual performed in the days of the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle) and the later Temple. Two goats were to be taken. One was chosen by lot as a sin offering; the other became known as the scapegoat. I say “became known as” because the term scapegoat resulted from ancient English translations (e.g., Wycliffe, Tyndale, and the King James Version). The Hebrew word translated as scapegoat is “la-aza-zel.” Many modern translations, including my “go-to,” the English Standard Version, no longer use the term scapegoat but “to Azazel” instead as if it refers to some sort of demonic entity. The problem is, as we read in what I quoted at the beginning, the cohen (English: priest) was to send the second goat off to wander in the wilderness. There is no mention of giving it up to any particular entity. This more reasonably fits with the idea of scapegoat, but not in the way you might think.

The reason why the older English translations chose the word scapegoat to describe the second goat was not because this goat was a scapegoat in the popular sense, that of taking blame. But rather, this was the “escape-goat,” as in the one that would be led away to be lost in the wilderness. While it is true the sins of the nation were placed upon this goat, scapegoat in the Torah context refers to its carrying away the sins, not taking the blame for them. How ironic, then, that the very people who were given a scapegoat (in the biblical sense) to carry away their sins would become the scapegoat (in the modern sense) for the sins of the nations.

And yet, the two uses of scapegoat are related. Scapegoating in the modern sense reflects our inability to accept the true nature of negative situations or circumstances. It could be due to an unwillingness to accept responsibility, so we blame shift. Or we are unwilling to do what is necessary to engage the actual dynamics of evil. Perhaps we are afraid of being personally indicted in the process or we may find ourselves having to change our perspective of long-held beliefs. Whatever the reason, we find resolve in victimizing others through blame, a scapegoat, regardless of the damage we may cause them.

Through the Yom Kippur ritual, God acknowledged that human beings could not bear their individual and societal wrongs on their own. His loving mercy provided a way to release us from such a crushing burden. The need to repeat the ritual year by year reflects the reality that it didn’t permanently solve the problem. That would wait until the coming of the true scapegoat, the Messiah, “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Note: I am aware that goats and lambs are not the same, but I think you get the point.

Tragically, much of the world hasn’t discovered the wonderous relief of the forgiveness of sin that has been offered to us through the messianic scapegoat. Unable to cope, they seek others, most often the Jewish people, God’s Chosen Ones, upon whom to lay the burden of sin. They don’t realize that when they do so it’s ultimately God they are blaming.

Ironically, God wants to take the burden of sin onto himself through the Messiah. But for that to happen, we need to stop blame-shifting and take personal responsibility for our sins. As we read in the New Covenant Writings:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9).

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

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Israel, God’s Portion

For the week of October 5, 2024 / 3 Tishri 5785

Message info over an image of a gold Magen David, resting on the palm of a hand

Ha’azinu/Shuva
Torah: Deuteronomy/D’varim 32:1-52
Haftarah: Hosea 14:2-10 (English 14:1-8); Micah 7:18-20; Joel 2:15-17
Originally posted the week of September 23, 2017 / 3 Tishri 5778

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. (D’varim/Deuteronomy 32:8-9)

Near the end of Moses’s life, God directed him to teach the people a song. This is no simple folk song, but rather a complex prophetic lyric designed to confront them as they will inevitably one day stray from God and his ways. Contained within these inspired words is a reference to God’s providence in the establishment of peoples and their God-allotted regions. Nationhood and defined territorial boundaries are not the outcome of human will alone, but primarily emerge come out of the purposeful oversight of the Almighty.

That much is clear in the verses above, but they include a curious statement about the relationship between borders and, according to this Bible version, “the number of the sons of Israel.” I make mention of this particular version because the text here is controversial. A quick glance over other English translations shows that another common rendering of this phrase is along the lines of “the number of the sons of God” (see ESV, etc.). Exactly what is meant by “sons of God” isn’t certain. It could be another way to refer to the sons of Israel, a generic reference to people of God, or to heavenly beings such angels. The reason for the difference is in the manuscripts. The most common Hebrew manuscript is called the Masoretic Text (MT). Some English versions rely heavily on it, and only seldom prefer readings from other manuscripts. The MT reads, “sons of Israel.” The alternate reading, “sons of God” is from the oldest Greek translation of the Hebrew called the Septuagint (LXX). While it may seem to be more reasonable to prefer the MT over the LXX, since it is written in the original Hebrew, many scholars believe that the Hebrew manuscripts that were used by the LXX translators were older and thus closer to the original than the copies upon which the MT relies.

Textual Criticism is the study of ancient manuscripts to determine what the original writings were. It might come as a surprise to some of you that this sort of thing is necessary at all. We might prefer to believe that exact copy after exact copy was passed on from generation to generation, but that isn’t the case. But note that in spite of differences like the one we are looking at here, there is far more agreement between manuscripts than not. Remarkably and thankfully, no discrepancy threatens any major element of Scripture. Whether the text reads “sons of Israel” or “sons of God” certainly doesn’t greatly affect the Bible’s teaching either in this passage or others.

What’s most interesting to me is that many English versions prefer “sons of God” even though most other versions rely on the MT. While I hope the translation committees followed this route due to a high standard of scholarship, there may be something else is going on. If indeed the correct reading is “when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel,” then we are made to understand that the makeup of world geography is intimately linked to the people of Israel. I am concerned that the real reason to prefer the LXX over the MT here is a resistance on the part of Christian scholarship to accept the centrality of Israel in the outworking of world history.

Few biblical scholars deny the place of ancient Israel in the development of God’s plans and purposes particularly with regard to salvation. But there is a tendency to cast off literal Israel in favor of a supposed New Israel, a generic people of God as were. But if the MT reading is correct, then the very framework of nations and borders is somehow dependent on the people of Israel. By disregarding the ongoing nature of Israel in God’s economy, Christians unknowingly contribute to the disintegration of legitimate nationhood through misguided globalization in the name of unity, Christian or otherwise.

But as I mentioned, the Bible’s central teachings are unaffected by the relatively few discrepancies in the various manuscripts. This verse is no exception. Whatever may be intended in this statement concerning the connection between national boundaries and the sons of Israel or sons of God, Scripture is abundantly clear about the foundational and ongoing place of literal Israel. For there is nothing controversial about what follows. As verse nine reads: “For the LORD’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.” The use of Jacob reminds us that references to Israel in Scripture is not code for “the Church” or a post-Jewish generic “sons of God,” but that God has special regard and connection to the real, actual, physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To deny that is to deny the essence of the Bible.

Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995

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Silence Is Not an Option

For the week of September 28, 2024 / 25 Elul 5784

Message info along with the message title on a sign held up with two hands superimposed upon a Jerusalem skyline

Nitzavim & Vayeilech
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 29:9 – 31:1-30
Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 – 63:9

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. (Isaiah 62:1)

Have you ever found yourself unable to stop talking? There are many reasons for that. Some people like the sound of their voice. Some have no respect for others. But then there are times when something is so vital that silence is not an option. That’s what was happening with the prophet Isaiah here. Though taking a closer look at the passage, it might not be Isaiah who was the one who couldn’t keep quiet, but rather God himself.

God’s concern for Jerusalem is such that he can’t stop talking about it. It might seem strange to think about God this way. But let’s not miss the point. God is so concerned for Jerusalem that he will speak about it until his heart’s desire for this city is completely fulfilled.

Tragically, God’s insistence in addressing this issue hasn’t prevented people from trying to shut him up. And that includes those who claim allegiance to him. Of course, they would never admit to this, all the while subtly and not-so-subtly denying or deflecting his words.

They may redefine Zion from being an actual place, the hill from which Jerusalem was derived. They claim it should be taken metaphorically as a generic, immaterial “people of God” sort of thing. They don’t realize the damage they do when they twist the very real David’s City into a spiritual transnational collective. Spiritualization of real things can feel so bright when it, in fact, undermines God’s grand plan for all creation. Similarly, focusing solely on how the messianic good news transforms individuals not only neglects God’s grand global narrative, it robs those same individuals of the fullness of God’s design for their lives.

Others, refusing to spiritualize literal promises to a literal people, limit God’s concern to the ancient past. Either Jerusalem had a sufficient taste of its destiny at some point, perhaps in Solomon’s day, or it lost its claim to God’s promises due to disobedience. Both of these perspectives misrepresent the passage. No matter how glorious Jerusalem was in Solomon’s day, it in no way measured up to what is described here. And as for the effects of disobedience, to think that Israel’s failures annul God’s promises is to betray great ignorance of Scripture. God is absolutely determined to bring Jerusalem to a glorious future.

God will not be silenced! He will fulfill every word of this prophecy. The world will behold a Jerusalem fully right with God as it does his will in every way in the earth. It will be fully delivered by God from all its troubles. However its reputation has been affected by its own poor judgments through the centuries, God’s delight in this city will be evident to all.

Because this matters to God so much, he calls others to join him in his cry:

On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the Lord in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62:6-7).

The redemption of Jerusalem through the Messiah is central to all that God is doing in and through his creation. To claim to follow the Messiah but neglect God’s heart for the Holy City is to be callous toward him.

If you are a follower of the Messiah, have you stopped to think that perhaps what’s important to God should be important to you? There is so much confusion over the place of Israel in God’s plan, and yet God’s passion regarding Jerusalem’s future is clear. If he won’t stay silent on this, why would you?

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

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Being and Becoming

For the week of September 21, 2024 / 18 Elul 5784

Message info along with an image of a hand in the foreground, holding an acorn and a mature tree in the background

Ki Tavo
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8 (English 26:1 – 29:9)
Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1-22
Originally posted the week of September 1, 2018 / 21 Elul 5778

Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Keep silence and hear, O Israel: this day you have become the people of the LORD your God. You shall therefore obey the voice of the LORD your God, keeping his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today.” (D’varim/Deuteronomy 27:9-10)

Why do Moses and the priests say to the people of Israel: “This day you have become the people of the LORD your God”? Were they not already God’s people? Didn’t God direct Moses and his brother, Aaron, almost forty years earlier to tell Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to let his people go (e.g. Shemot/Exodus 5:1)? God’s considering Israel as his people was based on an already established relationship, rooted in their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That’s why God said to Moses when he first spoke to him at the burning bush: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Shemot/Exodus 3:8-9).

Much had transpired since that time. This week’s parsha (Torah reading portion) takes place about forty years later. The bulk of the generation who had been slaves in Egypt have died by now. They died, not simply due to natural causes, but God’s judgement upon their faithlessness when first faced with the prospect of taking the Promised Land (see B’midbar/Number 13-14). Could it be that due to the previous generation’s obstinance, Israel’s peoplehood status was lost, and that it was not restored until Moses and the priests made this pronouncement? Could it be that they are not only being given a second chance to take the Land, but also in terms of their divine chosenness?

It is difficult to overstate how farfetched such a conclusion is. From God’s promises to the forefathers to his continued involvement with Israel in spite of their attitude and behavior throughout their wilderness wanderings, God couldn’t make it any clearer that he was absolutely committed to them. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be reading about their getting ready to enter the Land again.

If their status as God’s people isn’t in question, then what’s with this kind of wording? Could you imagine, my taking one of my adult sons aside and saying, “Today you have become my son”? Or maybe you can. Relationship is a complex thing, whether it be of a very personal nature as in me and each of my children or on a broader scale as in a leader and his or her community. My children will always be my children, but they may or may not grow up to embrace their heritage and their destiny. That’s up to them. That which establishes the parent-child relationship is one thing, that which fully expresses it is another.

This generation of Israel was different than the one before. Tragically, their parents didn’t reflect the reality of who they were as God’s people and suffered as a result. Their status as God’s chosen was no different from the next generation, but their children embraced who they were in a way they (the previous generation) did not. The reality of this difference would be evident in the days and years ahead.

Relationship with God must not be taken for granted. Remember, the ones who survived the ten plagues, celebrated the first Passover, crossed the sea, ate the manna, received the Torah, and on and on, failed to trust God when it was time to enter the land of promise. Peoplehood in and of itself doesn’t guarantee embracing it. This is why the next generation needed to hear this affirmation. The true essence of their peoplehood was not solely based on their past, but upon the reality of who they were at that moment, a moment that needed to continue from that day onward.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

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Finders Keepers? Not!

For the week of September 14, 2024 / 11 Elul 5784

Message info with a happy young man, holding a good deal of paper money

Ki Teitzei
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10
Originally posted the week of September 2, 2006 / 9 Elul 5766 (edited)

You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. (D’varim/Deuteronomy 22:1-3)

I can remember very clearly when I was young learning a very important principle regarding personal property. It was “finders keepers, losers weepers.” This was very easy-to-remember. Just in case you are not familiar with this saying, it means if you found something someone lost, it was yours to keep. Of course, if I did happen upon something of significant value, I was expected to look around to see if the possible owner might be nearby. But if not, whatever it might be, it became rightfully mine.

As one who claims to respect the authority of Scripture, the verses I quoted at the beginning challenge (or should I say contradict?) this principle. God calls us to return lost things to their original owner even if we don’t know who the person is or if they live far away. Moreover, we are to take care of the thing found until the person comes looking for it.

Godly directives such as these should lead us to ask certain questions. Does this apply to things of small value? For example, if I find twenty-five cents in a vacant parking lot, should I take it home and wait for someone to claim it? What about perishable items? Perhaps in that same vacant lot late at night after the grocery store is closed, a bunch of ripe bananas is found. Would it be wrong for a homeless, hungry person to eat them? Looking again at these verses, they are referring to items of substantial and lasting value, not things of little value or perishables.

Another question has to do with how long we should hold on to something before the original owner loses his claim to it. The passage does not speak of a time limit. Perhaps if it were an animal, then it should never be slaughtered, but would it be okay in the meantime to milk it, if it were a milking animal, or to shear its wool if it were a sheep, or to use its services if it were a work animal? I don’t know. And if the item were a cloak—which today might be a coat, jacket, or sweater—should it be put away in a closet forever just in case the owner comes to claim it? Again, I don’t know.

What I do know is that we need to take our responsibility toward the care of other people’s things seriously. There is more to biblical property rights than the prohibition regarding stealing. My losing something does not cancel my ownership of an item. I also have an obligation to others to ensure that I do my part in returning lost items to their original owner. How we deal with some of the implications of these directives must at least start with accepting our God-given responsibilities.

Whether it is this or another directive, we need to allow the Bible to confront and contradict our long-held life principles. It may even confront and contradict what we thought God was saying to us more recently. If we want to walk in God’s ways, we need to hear what he is saying about all of life and live accordingly.

All scriptures, English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible

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That’s Good News!

For the week of of September 7, 2024 / 4 Elul 5784

Message info with a smiling boy holding two thumbs up

Shoftim
Torah: Devarim/Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9
Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12
Originally posted the week of August 26, 2017 / 4 Elul 5777

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)

This week’s Haftarah (excerpt from the Hebrew prophets) includes what might be the prophetic high mark in all Scripture (if I am exaggerating, then I should only correct myself by saying “one of”). The great prophet Isaiah makes this proclamation after much of ancient Israel had been overrun and scattered by the brutal Assyrians, while the remaining region known as the Kingdom of Judah, where he lived, had barely escaped the same fate. Moreover, God had revealed to Isaiah that it was only a matter of time before Judah would be exiled by the next great world power, Babylon. Yet like much of the Bible’s prophetic literature gloom and doom is tempered with words of hope.

And a good deal of the last third of Isaiah’s book contains some of the Scripture’s brightest light and this one verse I quoted is the brightest (or one of the brightest) of them all. The picture painted here is one of relief and excitement due to a messenger’s appearing upon the hills surrounding Jerusalem as he announces good news of peace and deliverance.

The core of this hopeful expectation is found in the promise of the eventual reign of Israel’s God. This is what makes this proclamation so climactic. For it is God’s being established as king – first and foremost over Israel and then extended to the entire creation – that is the supreme goal of Scripture. But doesn’t the Bible teach that God was, is, and will always be king? Yes and no. Ultimately that is always true. The traditional Jewish way to address God in prayer as “Lord God, King of the universe” is certainly correct. But in another sense, God’s rule over the earth is dependent upon the submission of human beings. From the beginning, God desired that people do his will on earth as it is in heaven. Our failure to do so undermines his reign.

Through the Scriptures we see this played out in the story of Israel. The spotlight of divine revelation shone on this particular people to demonstrate to the whole world how God’s reign was to be lived out. Or not, as was the case. And in case I need to remind you, any nation would have similarly failed, for this is the state of human nature. But in the genius of God, through his commitment to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he made a way to establish his rule on earth in spite of human dysfunctionality. And that’s good news!

And that’s the good news first proclaimed by messengers in around Jerusalem two thousand years ago. The Middle English word, “gospel,” based on the Old English, “godspel” (meaning “good tale”), is the translation of the Greek word “euangelion,” the term used in the Greek New Covenant Writings (New Testament). Euangelion is the word that was used to translate the Hebrew for “good news” in this verse. Therefore, the good news expressed through the proclamation of the coming of the Messiah is summed up in: “Your God reigns.” The early Jewish followers of Yeshua, therefore, were announcing that through his coming the long-anticipated reign of God over Israel (and the whole world) had come.

The power of the Greek word euangelion is made even greater by its use outside the Jewish community. This is the word commonly used to describe proclamations about Caesar, the Lord and King of the Roman Empire. To proclaim the Good News of the Jewish Messiah, was to announce the reign of the earth’s true king. In other words: Yeshua is King and Caesar is not. The subversive nature of Gospel proclamation is in full keeping with the essence of Isaiah’s’ prophesy – through the Messiah the reign of the God of Israel has come.

Knowing Yeshua is not simply a personal, private spiritual experience designed to comfort adherents by giving them a ticket to heaven. It is about welcoming the rule of God into our lives, allowing him to be Lord in every way. And that’s not just something that lives inside a tiny spiritual vault called our hearts. It’s a reality that is to affect every part of us and to be lived out in every aspect of life, because our God reigns. That’s good news!

All scriptures, English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible

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