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this foundational command as it is repeated to Noah (see Bereshit/Genesis 9:1, 7)—a command that has never been rescinded or modified in any way.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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