For the week of March 28, 2026 / 10 Nisan 5786
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Tzav
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 6:1-8:36 (English 6:8 – 8:36)
Haftarah Malachi 3:4-24 (English: 3:4 – 4:6)
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)
I understand how difficult it is to grasp God’s covenantal loyalty, his “hesed” in Hebrew. But it isn’t acknowledged—more than that—celebrated, in Scripture for nothing, such the twenty-six times it is repeated in Psalm 136: “Ki l’olam chasdo; his steadfast love endures forever.” However, the difficulty surrounding God’s enduring love isn’t due to some sort of linguistic or conceptual complexity. It’s that we cannot seem to accept that God would commit in this extreme way.
But, no matter how you might feel about it, that’s exactly what he did. When God called Abram in the twelfth chapter of Genesis, he put no conditions on his promises to him of nationhood, blessing, and land. Perhaps the directive to go to the land of Canaan was a condition. If so, that condition was met.
It’s one thing to make unconditional promises; it’s another thing to keep them. But to keep them was never in question, the certainty of which is expressed by God through the prophet Malachi: “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).
Not being consumed doesn’t mean easy street by any stretch of the imagination. Israel’s chosenness thrust them into the pressure cooker of partnership with God, his plans, and his purposes. God’s spotlight shone upon them, entrusting them with divine truth, but also putting a target on their backs as God’s enemies became their enemies. Bearing the weight of God’s calling, their human nature would be taxed in unique ways. Their frailty and sin would be showcased for all to see.
Their failure—as any other nation would have done—to live up to God’s standards would have consequences, consequences of oppression, exile, and death. By Malachi’s day, they thought they had seen it all. Some, having returned from exile to Babylon, hoping for long-anticipated better days, continued to experience corruption and strife.
Yet, like every other time, whether before or afterwards, they were down, but not out. But why? Why hasn’t Israel ended up, like so many other nations, on the ash heap of history? Why are the children of Jacob not consumed? Because the God of Israel doesn’t change!
God’s unchanging nature is the basis of our confidence in him. Tragically, those who reject God’s enduring faithfulness to Israel don’t realize that if he can’t be trusted to fulfill his promises to Israel as a nation, we have no basis to trust in his enduring faithfulness to us as individuals.
Thankfully, that’s not the case! The unchangeable God is not fickle; he is trustworthy. That’s why we can look at the miracle of the Jewish people’s existence—not just existence, but thriving—despite persecution, exile, and attempted genocide and take heart that whatever we might be going through today, if we have put our trust in the Jewish Messiah, he will see us through.
Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version
