For the week of April 27, 2024 / 19 Nisan 5784

Pesach
Torah: Shemot/Exodus 33:12 – 34:26; B’midbar/Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:37 – 37:14

For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth? (Shemot/Exodus 33:16)

This week’s parsha (Torah reading portion) is a special mid-Pesach Shabbat Torah reading. It covers the time following Israel’s worship of the golden calf and Moses’ breaking the original tablets of the Ten Commandments. Due to Moses’ intercession, God relents of destroying the people for their sin and reaffirms the covenant. That the parsha is chosen for the week of Pesach is curious, since there is no mention of leaving Egypt and associated events. However, God’s renewal of the covenant as documented here demonstrates that the rescue of Israel from slavery is part of something much bigger and enduring. Commemorating Pesach is to remember God’s commitment to Israel for the long haul.

The parsha also includes Moses’ seeking God for clarity over his continued presence with the people going forward. Through his conversation with God, he expresses that which sets Israel apart from all other nations. It’s not the extraordinary events that recently took place even though the exodus from Egypt is one of the most well-known stories of history. It’s not the giving of the Torah and the rest of the Bible even though it’s a unique heavenly gift that has blessed the world for centuries. What makes Israel distinct is God’s presence with them. In fact, it’s God’s presence from which everything else worthy of note in Israel’s history stems.

God himself sought out a people, beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through whom to bring blessing to the rest of the world. And from those earliest days, he engaged Israel personally. They were not always aware of his presence. Long periods would go by when they may have felt that he had abandoned them. But even then, God’s attention was on them to oversee the workings of their lives to further his purposes both in and through them.

Some may want to reduce Israel’s story as one in which superior religious thought developed over time. Amid great struggles, special men and women rose to the fore as they developed extraordinary ways of living life. The Bible stories and the people involved can therefore be regarded as prototypical object lessons from which later generations could glean wisdom. According to this perspective, whether or not these stories actually happened to real people in real-life situations is secondary to the lessons we can learn from them.

Learning lessons from Bible stories is a good thing, but to downplay their historicity greatly undermines their intended power. For, if the people and events are nothing more than highly developed prototypical stories to enlighten readers, what does this tells us about Moses’ claim about what made Israel special? In order to establish the importance of Moses’s claim, an actual God needed to be literally present with real people. Otherwise, Moses’ words are nonsense.

But they were not nonsense. Moses really did encounter the Creator God, who spoke and made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He really did tell Moses what to say to Pharoah, striking Egypt with plagues due to Pharoah’s obstinance. He really did appear to Israel in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire and led them through the sea to freedom. He really did provide them with food and drink in the wilderness and really did give his Torah to Moses. God’s presence was really with Israel. It was (and still is) his personal attention that sets Israel, and all who trust in him through Israel’s Messiah, apart.

What makes God’s people different is that God is personally present with us. He never intended to leave us with a set of principles or ideas that we simply rehash and aspire to. He has indeed given us his Word, but never with the intention that we would figure it out on our own. That same Word calls us to be aware of his presence as we fix our attention on him and continually rely on him.

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

For the week of April 20, 2024 / 12 Nisan 5784

Metzora
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33
Haftarah:  Malachi 3:4-24 (English: 3:4 – 4:6)
Previously posted the week of April 16, 2016 / 8 Nisan 5776

Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst. (Vayikra / Leviticus 15:31)

This is perhaps one of the most important statements in the Torah that helps us to understand the implications of the New Covenant. Vayikra (the Book of Leviticus) contains detailed instructions regarding how the community of Israel was to deal with spiritual uncleanness.

The term unclean in Hebrew is “tamei.” It does not mean unclean in the sense of being dirty but rather refers to defilement with regard to spiritual purity. When someone or something is tamei, they are unfit to be in God’s presence or to be used in God’s service. Not only did the defiled person risk death by attempting to be in God’s presence, their defilement also defiled God’s dwelling.

Let me explain. God’s plan and purpose for creating the people of Israel were to make himself known to the world through them. God instructed them through Moses to construct a tent-like structure called the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle), which would later become a permanent structure called the Temple (the Hebrew word for Temple is simply “bayit,” meaning “house”). Whether it be the Mishkan or the Temple, they represented God’s dwelling place. The various inner sections of these structures, while providing, in one sense, access to God, they vividly illustrated the barriers that existed between us and him.

Much of the sacrificial system was to deal with this issue of defilement. On one hand it allowed people to engage God by undergoing ritual cleansing, but at the same time, it continually reminded them how they, as an example of the condition of all nations before God, were unfit to intimately engage him.

Many of the things that defiled a person, which in turn threatened the purity of God’s dwelling, were unintentional, including certain diseases, bodily emissions, and childbirth. While immorality was also defiling, it was necessary to learn that human defilement was fundamentally involuntary. Being unfit to approach God was an aspect of our natural human state.

The Torah’s teaching on defilement, therefore, describes our predicament before God. Even though Israel was called to be God’s people, human nature as derived from our first parents is unable to engage our Creator as he originally intended.

It is this predicament that the Messiah came to resolve. He, who in his nature was completely undefiled, took upon himself our defilement so that we can approach God freely and fully. The New Covenant book of Hebrews details how Yeshua purified God’s heavenly dwelling of which the earthly Mishkan and Temple were models. Our defilement defiled God’s dwelling place and kept us alienated from him. But the sacrificial blood of the Messiah the Son of God removed the effects of our defilement, making all who trust in him eternally pure, and thus absolutely fit to be in God’s presence and be in a state whereby we can freely serve him.

It is no wonder then that not long after Yeshua’s coming the Temple was destroyed. There is no longer any need to go through the motions of purification or to be reminded of our defilement since Yeshua has purified us once and for all.

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

For the week of April 13, 2024 / 5 Nisan 5784

Tazria
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59
Haftarah: 2 M’lachim/2 Kings 4:42 – 5:19
Originally posted the week of April 6, 2019 / 1 Nisan 5779

Then he shall examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, the disease is a persistent leprous disease; it is unclean. And he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any article made of skin that is diseased, for it is a persistent leprous disease. It shall be burned in the fire. (Vayikra/Leviticus 13:51-52)

As I have studied Torah for most of my life, I have come to see that there is far more to its teachings than the particular details it describes. Don’t get me wrong! The details are extremely important, but the details point beyond themselves to something much greater. I don’t mean that in some esoteric way as if the Bible is a code book of mysteries to be solved (in spite of what some may think!). It’s more straightforward than that. As we absorb its content over time, we are drawn into God’s understanding of the world in which we live. This worldview is not simply one possible way to look at life, but the only truly effective way. The God of Israel – the one who both designed and implemented the creation – is the only one who truly understands how best to negotiate the complexities of living. Through the Scriptures he has revealed that understanding.

Take for example the section of Torah we are in currently. God through Moses establishes strict guidelines with regard to certain infections. Note what’s missing. There is a great lack of spiritualization here. There’s nothing to suggest that people whose bodies or houses were afflicted were to blame in any way. While there was what to do in response, there was no reason to be ashamed of such things. Lack of shame encourages people to not hide their problems but bring them out into the open where they can be dealt with.

Not everything that looks problematic is serious. It was necessary for the general population and the leadership to learn the difference between those things that needed to be cut out and destroyed and others that could be left alone. A culture trained by God in this way would learn to approach all of life in a similar fashion. One doesn’t have to be a psychologist to know that negative human behavior can be as infectious as the examples given us in Torah.

In the New Covenant Writings, Paul provides an illustration of this (see 1 Corinthians 5:6-8). The faith community of the city of Corinth had allowed arrogance and malice to fester. He likened these negative influences to the way leaven pervades dough. Once the fermentation process gets in, it can’t be removed. It affects the entire batch. He therefore calls for a whole new lump of dough.

The problem with Paul’s illustration is when it comes to fermented dough, it’s permanent. If this was really about dough, then “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened” (1 Corinthians 5:7), would require throwing out the infected batch and starting with a new one. There’s no way he intends an exact parallel for the Corinthians. He isn’t saying that their community was beyond the point of no return; that they would need to start with a whole new group of people. What he is saying is that the transformative process required to resolve their metaphorical infection was drastic and would, therefore, require a resolve on the part of this community to take their situation seriously. They would have to do whatever was necessary to experience renewal. Thankfully, Paul’s extreme language emphasizes the potential of God’s transformative power available to them (and to us!) through Yeshua the Messiah.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of April 6, 2024 / 27 Adar II 5784

Shemini
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 9:1 – 11:47; Shemot/Exodus 12:1-20
Haftarah: 2 Shmuel/2 Samuel 6:1 – 7:17
Replaced by: Ezekiel 45:16-46

Note: This following message was intended to be based on this week’s Haftarah (selection from the Hebrew Prophets). From time to time, the regularly scheduled Haftarah is preempted by a special selection due to that particular Shabbat’s proximity to a festival or other special occasion (see this article for more information). This is something I am usually aware of when preparing my weekly TorahBytes message. However, for some reason, I failed to notice the special reading and prepared the following based on the regularly scheduled one. I decided to post what I wrote anyway. Perhaps you will catch the irony. —Alan Gilman

And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.” But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in?’” (2 Shmuel/2 Samuel 7:3-5)

After King David’s throne was secure, having unified the tribes of Israel and having brought peace to the land, he had it in his heart to build a permanent house for God. According to Torah, God’s dwelling was to be in the form of the mishkan (English: tabernacle), the complex, semi-portable, national center for sacrifice. After erecting and dismantling the mishkan as needed during the years of Israel’s wanderings, it eventually came to rest in Shiloh about forty-five kilometers (thirty miles) north of Jerusalem. In the days of Eli, the cohen ha-gadol (English: the high priest), the central furnishing of the mishkan, the ark of the covenant, was captured by the Philistines. Many years later, after David became king, he brought it to Jerusalem where it was housed in a tent.

It troubled David that he himself dwelt in a permanent dwelling, while the ark of God dwelt in a tent. The ark signified the presence of God among the people of Israel. To David, God’s appointed earthly king had more dignified housing than the heavenly king of all kings. So, he brought his concern to the prophet Nathan. From their interaction and what follows, it’s clear that Nathan understood David wasn’t simply sharing a concern but also had a specific plan in mind: to build a permanent house for God. To Nathan, this was a great idea, and he told David so.

Nathan was correct to assume that God was with David and apparently viewed David’s grand building project in line with all he understood about both David and God. It must have been gratifying to David to get the prophet’s green light to proceed.

But sometime later (the wording sounds as if it wasn’t that much later), God speaks to Nathan, contradicting what Nathan had earlier said to David. David was not to build him a house. It would be his son who would do it instead. This in no way undermines what David envisioned. Far from it! According to First Chronicles, the plans for the temple were given to David by God. We read, “All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord, all the work to be done according to the plan” (1 Chronicles 28:19). David was indeed inspired to build a permanent dwelling for God. It’s understandable that this being the case, both David and the prophet assumed that David would oversee the project, that is, until God said otherwise.

I cannot tell you how impressed I am by Nathan! Acknowledged as a prophet of God, he green lights David’s temple project, but then has to go back and say that he got it wrong. He not only received the message of correction; he also delivered it.

God did reveal more to Nathan than a simple correction of something like, “Yes, but not you and not now.” God gave Nathan a good deal of detail regarding his plans for David’s dynasty, the nature of which would have likely cushioned any sense of negativity that was included. But still, Nathan was open to God’s correcting what he had said to King David and was willing to tell him so.

How many of us would do as Nathan did? You might think, “If God would speak to me as clearly as he spoke to Nathan, of course I would!” Do you really think your openness to correction, especially after you’ve gone on record with regard to a matter, is based on how clearly God speaks to you? In any way that we might discover we have misrepresented God’s will—be it an interpretation of Scripture or how we might understand its implications in our lives or the lives of others—would we be as quick as Nathan to say so?

How often are we too embarrassed to admit that we’ve been wrong? And if we are not correctable in small things, do we think that we will be correctable in divine things? Nathan’s correctability should inspire us to consider what’s at stake here. For those of us who claim to know the God of Truth, we must commit ourselves to that truth at all costs. What’s the alternative?

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version