For the week of September 2, 2017 / 11 Elul 5777

Ki Teze
Torah: Devarim/Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1-10

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If a man marries a woman, has sexual relations with her and then, having come to dislike her, brings false charges against her… (Devarim/Deuteronomy 22:13-14)

Many people assume that the Bible is an archaic, backward book, written when people were superstitious, given over to mythical stories, and all round ignorant – nothing like we are today: enlightened, progressive, and intelligent. This might be hard to accept, but very little about humans has changed since the beginning, except for technological advances. We continue to do what we have always done, just faster and more efficiently. And that goes for things both good and bad.

This is not to say that the ancients weren’t superstitious. Many were. But many still are today. We continue to believe in all sorts of fanciful ideas, and ignorance over life essentials is rampant. Yes, much has been learned through the millennia, while some basic lessons of life continue to be ignored. The idea that people started off ignorant and foolish and have been progressing mentally and morally since then has no basis in fact.

One of the areas where the progress assumption is strongest is with regards to the Bible’s view of women. Some will even use the Bible itself to back up this claim by comparing the Old and New Testaments’ depictions and treatment of women. It is typical to assert that Yeshua was the great liberator of women, since he freely engaged females and considered some as associates in his work. That he did that is indeed the case, but making it sound as if he was being so-called progressive isn’t valid. Even a casual reading of his interactions with women demonstrates there was no scandal or even concern over them. There is his disciples’ questioning over the Samaritan Woman in John chapter four, but it isn’t clear from the text exactly what their issue was.

This is not to say that the world of that day, Jewish or otherwise, was necessarily altogether correct, vis a vis women’s rights. Certainly, all sorts of injustices were done unto women, but injustices of all kinds occurred to both men and women and have continued to this day. Whether or not we have significantly progressed to a higher moral plain is difficult to determine.

What we can determine, however, is that the whole Bible, Old and New Testaments, has a high regard for women. The divinely inspired wisdom of Scripture is displayed within a realistic view of life. Simply stating that all people should be treated equally does nothing to alleviate harmful behavior. But God knew that if left unchecked men and women would abuse each other.

In this week’s parsha, we have a situation where a man accuses his wife of deceitful impropriety prior to their marriage (see Devarim/Deuteronomy 22:13-21). The penalties for slander on the part of the man or impropriety on the part of his wife are harsh by today’s standards, but note the equality shown towards each party. If the man’s accusation is correct, then the woman was to be executed, the normal penalty for such things. But if the accusation is false, he was to be whipped, fined, and not allowed to ever divorce her. I know some will find these consequences backward in the way I referred to at the beginning, but don’t miss the sentiment here. Contrary to popular misconception, wives weren’t property to do with whatever their husbands pleased. Men were not allowed to say whatever they wanted about their wives and get away with it. There were repercussions for false accusations against women. These directives were designed to keep male selfishness in check. Yet, there is no preferential treatment here. Justice was to be done regardless of which partner was at fault.

There’s more. If I read this correctly, the result of God’s word here goes beyond this specific scenario. Because God provided a disincentive regarding false accusations, one would hope that men should think twice before acting on their suspicions toward their wives. In that day as well as our own, accusations in and of themselves destroy people’s reputations whether or not the accusation is valid. Yet, unlike in Moses’ time, there are no penalties for falsely accusing someone. Unlike the Torah, many justice systems tolerate false accusations to encourage victims to come forward. But that’s not just. True justice shows no bias toward supposed victims nor alleged perpetrators. Everyone should be treated fairly before the law. To allow otherwise is not progress.

Scriptures, Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

For the week of August 26, 2017 / 4 Elul 5777

Shofetim
Torah: Devarim/Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9
Haftarah: Isaiah 51:12 – 52:12

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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

For the week of August 19, 2017 / 27 Av 5777

Re’eh
Torah: Devarim/Deuteronomy 11:26 – 16:17
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:11 – 55:5

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All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. (Isaiah 54:13)

This week’s Haftarah (selection from the Prophets) looks to a future age and the restoration of the creation. One of the central aspects of these wonderful days is shalom (English: peace). Shalom is a personal and societal condition much deeper than the lack of war and strife. It’s a way to describe life in perfect harmony, everything in its place, functioning as it should in right relationship to everything else.

The reference to children here is particularly interesting. The conditions of those days are to result in peace for children. When life is out of sorts, children are greatly impacted. Children suffer when their parents’ individual lives or marriage relationship is dysfunctional. Simply observing their parents, not to mention experiencing direct harm, has long-term, potential devastating effects on the young. Similarly, when the society at large is failing, children most often suffer the most. But one day according to God’s promise to ancient Israel, “great shall be the shalom of your children.”

But notice that their experience of shalom is not just an outcome of general peace upon the adults. It is the direct result of their being taught by God. We shouldn’t get distracted by attempting to figure out the details of what the Bible terms, “the age to come.” To do so would result in missing the point. What God through the prophet is saying is that the children’s peace would be a direct outcome of their being taught by God.

Parents have been mandated by God to be the prime educators of their children. Moses reiterates this at the end of last week’s Torah reading: “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 11:19). The educational content referred to is, of course, God’s commandments. But when we understand the broad nature of God’s directives in the Scriptures, it becomes obvious that they are designed to be at the core of all education, not just things spiritual, moral, or religious. Exactly how our children’s education is done, formally and informally, is a serious task every parent needs to address.

That said, no matter how well-meaning, diligent, or capable a parent may be, we live in a broken world, where things don’t work in the way God intends. That doesn’t get us off the hook. Whether it’s our children’s education or anything else in life, we need to do our best. The problem is our best will never be good enough. The taint of sin undermines our efforts to fully meet God’s standards. No matter how well we do regarding education, human dysfunctionality will continue to get in the way of lasting peace. But one day, the barriers preventing God’s direct access to his people will be completely removed and children will no longer be the victims of their parents’ dysfunctions. Instead, the instruction of God himself will be the guiding force for everyone, kids included.

The promised shalom is not only something for a far-off day, however. Through the coming of the Messiah and the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh (English: the Holy Spirit), God has made available to us now the resources of the age to come. This doesn’t only apply to children’s education, but it’s included. Parents who know the God of Israel through faith in Yeshua the Messiah have the opportunity to be conduits of his shalom. The reality of God present in the homes of true believers provides a foretaste of the great shalom to come. The effectiveness of educating our children is not solely due to our experience of God, but that of our children as well. As our children come to know Yeshua for themselves, the same Spirit directly works in their hearts too, thus making God their ultimate teacher. Our role, then, is to cooperate with what he is doing in their lives as he teaches them. The result? Our children’s peace.

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

For the week of August 12, 2017 / 20 Av 5777

Ekev
Torah: Devarim/Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25
Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3

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For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. (Devarim/Deuteronomy 11:10-12)

The people of Israel were not simply rescued from an old, oppressed life of slavery in Egypt. They were rescued to a new life of freedom in the Promised Land. The contrast between these two situations is great. Not only were they liberated from bondage, taken from being under the abusive control of the king of Egypt in order to be servants of the Master of the Universe, their entire sphere of existence was radically altered. It would have been sufficiently wonderful if they only had been granted a status change, free to thrive in Egypt as they had when they first settled there. But instead God led them to an entirely different territory as was promised to their ancestors centuries earlier.

Yet another significant difference between their former existence and the one yet ahead was that life in their new land worked completely differently from how it did in Egypt. And I don’t mean culturally, although it included that too. Settling the Land of Israel would necessitate new challenges with other peoples, and the working out of a new culture based on God’s Torah directives. The dynamics of living in the Promised Land were so different compared to Egypt that it was almost like being taken to another planet.

Egypt and Israel, though neighboring regions, are controlled by different ecosystems. An ecosystem, according to Merriam-Webster is “the complex of a community of organisms and its environment functioning as an ecological unit.” Agriculture in Egypt was dependent on the Nile River. As far as the Egyptians were concerned, the Nile was a permanent and dependable resource. Having such a vast water supply in those days in that part of world was more valuable than anything. No wonder the Egyptians regarded the Nile as a god.

Israel’s ecosystem was not like that at all. As Moses said: “The land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for” (Devarim/Deuteronomy 11:11-12). Israel even today has very little permanent water resources, notwithstanding current technological advances in desalination and waste-water purification. Without adequate annual rain, Israel would quickly experience a drought induced famine situation. Regular provision of rain would be a matter of life and death.

Israel’s ongoing dependence upon rain was to lead them to an ongoing dependence on God. Of course, Egypt was actually as dependent on God as Israel was to be. As the Creator and Sustainer of all things, he is behind all provision, including the presence and abundance of the Nile. But since the rain-dependent source of the Nile was far removed from the center of Egyptian life, the people would not be readily aware of that. Israel’s ecosystem forced them to look to God in a way that was not so obvious in Egypt. They had spent hundreds of years in a land, which, while oppressive, was rich in water, but now they were called to live in a land where their water situation would be precarious.

The uncertainty surrounding this essential resource didn’t mean they wouldn’t have water. Moses’s words were not geared to make them anxious due to the fear of drought, but rather confident in God’s provision. As we read, this would be living in “a land that the LORD your God cares for.” While Israel lacked the luxury of taking water for granted they were gaining an environment that was under the watchful eye of a loving and caring God.

The level of trust in God required of Israel is no different from the basic faith of any true follower of the Messiah. Yet, not all environments are the same. We know we should always be dependent upon him, yet he leads us into all kinds of situations where we find ourselves having to trust him in ways we’ve never had to before. We may not know that we have been taking certain areas of life for granted until they are not as readily available as we had been used to.

We need to take care not to overreact when we discover we have been depending on things instead of on the God who provides them. It can be jarring to all of a sudden have to trust God for things we have been taking for granted. But let’s remember, like the Land of Israel, the eyes of our God are always upon us. We can trust him even when the ecosystems of our lives radically change.

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