For the week of September 13, 2025 / 20 Elul 5785

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Ki Tavo
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 26:1 – 29:8
Haftarah: Isaiah 60:1-22

Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. (Isaiah 60:10)

Frankly, I don’t get it! I don’t understand how it could be that so many people who claim to love and respect the Bible are entirely clueless about God’s relationship to the Jewish people. It’s not that I don’t understand, since I have spent so much time—perhaps too much time—grappling with various expressions of Christian antisemitism. I am aware of a significant portion of the historical background and theological dynamics that influence this misguided thinking. But still, it’s not as if God hasn’t made himself clear on this issue.

I admit that some of the ways the people of Israel are characterized and criticized throughout both the Hebrew Scriptures and New Covenant Writings can lead people to draw some fairly negative conclusions. But that’s only if you ignore the rest. About a month ago, I commented on how these misreadings of such passages trouble me. Still, I know that some of these passages are seriously harsh.

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) is one of the sections of Scripture that lists God’s blessings for obedience and his curses for disobedience. That the leaders and people of Israel were under a cloud of God’s disapproval for much of biblical history is clear. The threat of judgment increased over the years, culminating in exile. The return from Babylon provided little comfort as the prophetic warnings didn’t wane.

Israel’s precarious state under the Sinai Covenant, as given through Moses, continued into the New Covenant Writings. If anything, the coming of the Messiah shone an even more intense light upon Israel’s inability to live up to God’s standards. This doesn’t mean that there weren’t exceptions, of course. From Abraham and Joseph to Moses and Joshua, to Samuel and David, to Elijah and Elisha, to Isaiah and Jeremiah, to Peter and Paul, and all the other named and unnamed holy ones, Israel always had a remnant of faithful, godly men and women (see Romans 11:5). Tragically, however, these didn’t prevent God’s wrath from falling upon the nation more than once.

But is that the entire picture of God’s relationship to Israel? God didn’t seem to think so, as is evident in this week’s accompanying reading from the prophet Isaiah. Despite God’s judgment upon Israel, he will restore them. As we read, “Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion” (Isaiah 60:10).

I wonder if people simply have a hard time grasping the reality of the tension that exists between God and his ancient covenant people. It’s a lot easier for people to understand a much more straightforward narrative of disobedience and rejection. Moreover, it appears that some regard Israel’s disobedience as proof of their being impostors, as if God was biding his time until the “authentic” Israel would emerge in the Messiah. That might make an interesting story, but it’s not the biblical one.

I am aware of how specific biblical passages are used to support such a notion, but that overlooks the Bible as a whole. Why can’t people see that God’s promises of restoration only make sense if they are spoken to the very people who are under the threat of judgment? God, through Isaiah, is clear: “Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion.” The ones guaranteed favor are the ones he is angry with. The threat of judgment due to disobedience under the Sinai Covenant was always in tension with the unconditional promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. No matter how bad things get for Israel and whatever the resulting consequences, God’s covenant loyalty to Israel as a nation continues. If you don’t get that, you don’t get the God of the Bible.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version