For the week of May 23, 2026 / 7 Sivan 5786

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Shavuot
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 14:22 – 16:17
Haftarah: Habakkuk 3:1–19
Originally posted the week of May 30, 2009 / 7 Sivan 5769 (updated)

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

When I first came to know the reality of God through the Messiah almost fifty years ago, it was pretty much me-centered. I had been told that if I believed in Yeshua, then I would be happy for the rest of my life. To be clear, there was much more to it than that at the time. The happiness promise may have been a hook, but the person who shared this with me powerfully demonstrated how the Jewish Bible pointed to Yeshua as the Messiah and clearly explained my need for forgiveness before God.

Thankfully, despite any misguided motives on my part, God indeed made himself known to me. Don’t get me wrong. It is not as if knowing God has no personal benefit. It’s that knowing him is not primarily about me, my personal needs, and my happiness. That’s not to say that I haven’t experienced a happiness I never dreamed possible, not to mention peace and security in the midst of great difficulty.

The depth of reality that comes from truly knowing the God of Israel is vividly expressed in the words I read from this week’s Haftarah (weekly reading portion from the Hebrew Prophets). It is striking that this portion is a special reading for the festival of Shavuot (English: Pentecost or Weeks; beginning this year, Friday evening, May 22). Shavuot is a harvest festival, a time to rejoice over God’s provision. But Habakkuk says that he will rejoice in God even when the harvest produces nothing. This is a most difficult concept if we think, as I originally did, that following God is all about what we get out of it.

Habakkuk’s words remind me of the Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who, while in exile in Babylon, faced the possibility of excruciating death due to their unwillingness to commit idolatry. Just before being thrown into the fiery furnace, they said to the king of Babylon, “…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (Daniel 3:17–18).

This kind of understanding of God and life goes far beyond self, our personal welfare, comfort, and prosperity. These men knew that there is a reality of life that comes from knowing God, far deeper than what many of us normally experience.

Habukkuk could rejoice in God even in the face of starvation. His strength and ability to face dire circumstances were not based on normal material prosperity but in God himself. This is no abstract spirituality detached from the realities of life, but a strength that enables us to live life amidst enormous challenges.

To begin to grasp the depths of this reality, we need to turn away from our obsession with self and our desire to please self. It’s as we submit ourselves to God and his will for our lives, whatever that may be, that we can find a joy and a strength beyond our wildest dreams.

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

For the week of May 16, 2026 / 29 Iyar 5786

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B’midbar
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 1:1 – 4:20
Haftarah: 1 Samuel 20:18–42
Originally posted the week of May 24, 2014 / 24 Iyar 5774 (revised)

But they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die. (B’midbar/Numbers 4:20)

A friend once asked me how we can reconcile what appear to be two very different depictions of God in the Bible. He had just read the incident in the Torah where a man was executed for gathering sticks on Shabbat (see B’midbar/Numbers 15:32-36). To my friend, the God who would mete out such a harsh consequence for a seemingly insignificant act is contrary to the God revealed to us through Yeshua. How could the one who tenderly embraced children (see Mark 10:13-16) and called the weary to find rest in him (see Matthew 11:28-30) tolerate capital punishment for carrying sticks?

This is the age-old false dichotomy that claims the Bible portrays two different gods: The god of the Hebrew Bible being a god of wrath and judgment; the god of the New Covenant Writings, a god of love and mercy (I am using a lowercase “g” for “god” here because I am referring to false gods who don’t exist). While my friend didn’t accept such a two-god theory, the difficulty he was having is all too common.

The God of the Bible is a complex being. Throughout Scripture, he is revealed to us as a God of love and mercy, of wrath and judgment. He who cursed the world due to sin immediately determined to rescue it. In his dealings with human beings, his heart’s longing for restoration and relationship pours forth from the Bible’s pages. Yet his intense intolerance of evil, both its source and its outworkings are clear. God longs for his goodness to be experienced by his beloved creatures, but will in no way lightly put up with wrongdoing. The tension between God’s determination to rescue his beloved creatures and the necessity to judge evil is found throughout. The Gospels’ portrayal of God, as demonstrated through Yeshua’s actions and teachings, is consistent with this. Yeshua, who can be so tender and welcoming, is also at times severely confrontational. Contrary to some people’s perceptions, he didn’t reserve his harsher statements for religious leaders alone; he had some pretty hard things to say to his followers as well. In the book of Acts, we read of the early experiences of the messianic community following Yeshua’s return to heaven after his resurrection. God’s plan of salvation is in full swing, yet in one case, we see a married couple struck dead due to their deceit (see Acts 5:1-11) and, in another, a man struck blind for opposing the preaching of the Gospel (see Acts 13:6-12).

So, we shouldn’t be surprised when we read in this week’s parsha (English: Torah reading portion) the dire warning given to the Kohathites, one of the Levitical clans. They were responsible for the transportation of the sacred furniture of the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle). While they were to carry these items, if by any chance they looked at them, they’d die.

While, as I have tried to explain, harsh consequences for trespassing a God-given directive are found throughout Scripture, we may still have trouble with God treating people this way. Why is he so harsh at times? That he might punish the wicked, we may be okay with, but this kind of thing? That he has rules regarding the holy items, no problem. His property, his rules; but death? And just for looking? Even by accident?

The truth is, God is dangerous. I know we’d rather not think like that. We would rather stick with the image of Yeshua and the children. But when we insist on solely focusing on one aspect of God’s character, no matter how true and wonderful it might be, we turn him into a caricature, perverting the reality of his complexity into an idol of our own making.

God is dangerous because he is the most powerful being in the entire universe. Have you ever seen one of those high-voltage signs that are common around power stations-the signs with the lightning bolt and the falling man? The Mishkan should have had one of those signs. Every synagogue and church should have one too. Bible covers as well.

The God who forbade the Kohathites from looking at the holy articles hasn’t changed. He is still dangerous. We still can’t approach him on our terms without risking death. But he has made a way. Through the forgiveness available to all who put their trust in Yeshua, we can approach God in a way the Kohathites could not. Still, as we approach the dangerous, all-powerful God, let’s remember who it is we are dealing with.

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

For the week of May 9, 2026 / 22 Iyar 5786

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Behar & Bechukotai
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 25:1 – 27:34
Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19 – 17:14
Originally posted the week of June 4, 2016 / 27 Iyar 5776 (revised)

But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. (Vayikra/Leviticus 26:40-42)

In this, the last weekly portion of the third book of Moses, we read of the conditions under which God would restore the people of Israel to a right relationship with himself and return them to their land, first promised to their forefathers. The covenantal reference in the verses just quoted is key to understanding God’s unique arrangement with the people of Israel.

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah reading portion) describes the blessings of obedience and the consequences of disobedience under the covenantal arrangement established by God through Moses at Mt. Sinai. As long as people adhered to God’s commands, they, as a nation, would thrive. But should they reject God’s ways, breaking this covenant, they would experience terrible circumstances, culminating in oppression by their enemies and exile.

In the event this should occur, which indeed it did, God made provision within the Sinai covenant for restoration both to himself and to the land. But note that this provision is not based on the Sinai covenant, but rather on the earlier one made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel’s existence as a people, including their habitation and their role among the nations of the world, was established, not by Sinai through Moses, but by God’s unconditional promises to Abraham (see Bereshit/Genesis 12:1-3) and passed down to Isaac and Jacob. The Sinai covenant with its conditional blessings came about as a result of God’s deliverance of his people from their oppression in Egypt, a deliverance also rooted in his earlier covenant with the forefathers. This is what we read in Shemot (the Book of Exodus):

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. (Shemot/Exodus 2:23-24)

The earlier covenant is the driving force behind all of God’s dealings with Israel. So that even if Sinai resulted in failure, which it did, the covenantal foundation would survive. That’s why God’s judgment upon Israel could never be his final word to them. Even after rejecting God by turning to other gods and suffering the threatened consequences, there would always remain a right of appeal to unconditional promises that predated Moses.

This is also why a new covenant would one day be necessary. Jeremiah, in chapter thirty-one of his book, looked beyond the day when these words of judgment would be fulfilled towards a new covenantal arrangement that would finally resolve the sin problem that continually beset Israel under the Sinai covenant. That God’s affirmation of his ongoing faithfulness to Israel is based on their being the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is eloquently stated immediately following:

Thus says the LORD,
who gives the sun for light by day
    and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the LORD of hosts is his name:
“If this fixed order departs
    from before me, declares the LORD,
then shall the offspring of Israel cease
    from being a nation before me forever.”

Thus says the LORD:
“If the heavens above can be measured,
    and the foundations of the earth below can be explored,
then I will cast off all the offspring of Israel
    for all that they have done,
declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:35-37)

The establishment of the New Covenant on the foundation of the forefathers provides hope for Israel’s full eventual restoration. It’s in Romans 11:28 that we read, despite Israel’s behavior, “they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.” More than that! Knowing the New Covenant is rooted in unconditional promises to Israel assures all its participants, Jewish or Gentile, of God’s ongoing faithfulness to them.

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