For the week of October 21, 2023 / 6 Heshvan 5784

Noach
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 6:9 – 11:32
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5

Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. (Bereshit/Genesis 8:20-21)

When my wife, Robin, tells the story of how she came to trust in Yeshua as the Messiah, she explains that it occurred in stages over a period of time. A key encounter she had was during a phone conversation with her best friend, who was her primary help in navigating this. At some point the issue of capital punishment came up, something that Robin didn’t believe in. When her friend found out that Robin didn’t believe in capital punishment, and inquired why, Robin responded, “Because man is basically good.” Her friend questioned her, “Do you think you’re basically good?” “Yes”, Robin replied. “Do you think you’re basically good?” she asked back. Her friend said, “No. I am a sinner.”  Robin was surprised at this response, as her friend was the “good-est” person she knew. But her friend explained the biblical concept of sin and its effects on human nature.

Robin’s view of self at that time is the view held by most people today. Through the past several decades, we have been taught to admire ourselves and trust in our personal moral compass (as if we have one). This is quite different from the prophet Jeremiah’s statement, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jeremiah was much more in line with God’s assessment of human nature as expressed in this week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion). After God reset his creation project through Noah, his assessment of the inclination of the human heart was like that from before the flood. Even though God was determined to continue his creation project, he declared, “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Bereshit/Genesis 8:21).

The current crisis in Israel instigated by Hamas on October 7 is an extreme example of the evil intentions of the human heart. While there’s certainly a place to examine the particular motives of the “Islamic Resistance Movement,” the Arabic of which “Hamas” is an acronym, as well as questions over Israel’s response, this week parsha calls each of us to look at our own hearts.

It’s tempting to distance ourselves from “the bad guys,” as if we are morally superior. But do we have that right? Perhaps it was with a personal righteous air that Yeshua was asked about the gruesome murders the Roman governor committed against some Galileans in the middle of a religious exercise (See Luke 13:1-5). They must have been shocked and offended by his directing the issue back at them.

Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

This is not to say that it isn’t right to grapple with justice issues. It’s that Yeshua knew that it was more important at this moment to help these people face the truth of their own sinfulness.

It’s not cool in our day to focus on negatives. However, the great solutions to human problems provided by God in the Scriptures cannot be realized without first accepting that all human beings have this same basic problem.

I fully support the need for Israel to enact justice upon the perpetrators of the attack on the south of Israel last week. I grieve over the loss of life on both sides. I am so grateful for the expressions of support I have heard and read about, not to mention the personal ones I have received. But let’s not forget that there is something much bigger and more personal for all of us here. The great evil that was unleashed and the tragic gruesomeness of war are manifestations of inclinations that dwell in all our hearts. I am in no way saying that everyone will necessarily commit such atrocities. However, have we ever stopped to think of how destructive our sins really are? “Oh, I didn’t mean that!” we say. “I wasn’t thinking! we say.” Here’s a good one: “I forgot.” And those are “nice” ones. How about, “Daddy didn’t mean to hurt you, dear!” You and I know the depths of evil we humans can stoop to, if we are honest.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe that all sin is equal as some misunderstand James 2:10, which I don’t have time to get into now. There are different consequences for different sins. Yet, at the same time, all sin is rooted in the same basic human nature—a nature if left to itself will destroy us and others.

Therefore, as we pray for the current situation, looking to God for justice and (hopefully) mercy, let’s not forget to examine our own hearts. If we do, then we might better appreciate the sacrifice God has made through the Messiah on our behalf.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of October 14, 2023 / 29 Tishri 5784

Bereshit
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 1:1 – 6:8
Haftarah: 1 Shmuel/Samuel 20:18-42

And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. (Bereshit/Genesis 6:6-8)

I write this on the fifth day since, what one writer has called, “The Simchat Torah Pogram,” when Hamas terrorists invaded the south of Israel, indiscriminately murdering, raping, and kidnapping over 1200 Israelis and others. Simchat Torah is a special celebration at the end of the biblical feast of Sukkot (English: Tabernacles/Booths) to mark the end and beginning of the annual Torah reading cycle. Torah scrolls are held high and danced with inside and outside synagogues all over the world. Such a celebration seems inappropriate on such a day. Yet, it is the Torah as the foundation of the whole Bible that provides us the hope and direction we need to not only get through these terrible days but emerge victorious in time.

As we return to the first parsha (Torah reading portion) of the year, it is always a challenge to choose what to address, since there is so much to explore here. It seemed fitting to look at a time that was so bad that God himself regretted that he made human beings. I wonder how many times since then he has felt this way. What encourages me, however, is that despite the harsh judgment that he brought upon human evil in Noah’s day, he didn’t completely give up on his creation project. God’s commitment to his creation has sustained us until this day.

Note that it was not just general concern for creation that prevented him from destroying the planet. While he was just about to give up on human beings altogether, his plan for the earth included preserving people, which he did through Noah and his family. Also note that God assigned the task of preserving the people and the air-breathing animals to people. There’s so much about life that we imagine God could or should do on his own. Yet, in keeping with the mandate assigned to our first parents, God chooses to work through us. The story of Noah is a key example of how throughout history, human beings are both the problem and the solution of life on Planet Earth.

In the midst of impending doom, we read, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD”(Bereshit/Genesis 6:8). This is the first occurrence of the Hebrew word, “khen,” which appears almost seventy times in the Hebrew Scriptures and is most often translated as “favor” or “grace.” Readers of the New Covenant Scriptures rightly regard the Greek equivalent “kharis” (English: again “grace”) as a central aspect of a genuine life of faith. Grace is a driving force behind a biblical understanding of salvation.

God’s grace and favor are unmerited. It’s not something we can achieve. Yet, there is a lot more to grace and favor than God’s acceptance and forgiveness. It’s more than a status statement. It’s a dynamic of relationship between God and the person he favors.

When God favors someone, his presence and power is with them. God’s favor is the dynamic that equipped Noah with everything he needed to know and the capability to fulfill this great rescue operation. God had rejected the rest of mankind. They were doomed. But God’s favorable posture toward Noah set him apart to make all the difference in his day.

We read in the New Covenant Writings:

For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore no one should boast. For we are of God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do. (Ephesian 2:8-10; Complete Jewish Bible)

Being saved by grace through faith (or trusting) in Yeshua the Messiah is more than a position or status, it is being equipped to display godliness in an ungodly world. This is especially important in difficult times. When everything around us seems to be going down the drain, those of us who know God’s favor are to reflect the goodness and power of God in all the ways he calls us to.

That probably won’t be as dramatic and complex as building an ark, but there are a lot more of us today under God’s favor than in Noah’s day. Let us not be overwhelmed by the rise of evil. Instead let us be attentive to God, doing whatever he calls us to do, be it big or small. There’s no telling how God’s favor may express itself through us, if we simply trust him.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise indicated

For the week of October 7, 2023 / 22 Tishri 5784

Shemini Atzeret
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 14:22 – 16:17; B’midbar/Numbers 29:35 – 30:1
Haftarah: 1 Melachim/1 Kings 8:54-66

If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (Divrei Hayamim Bet/2 Chronicles 7:14)

In the almost twenty-seven years that I have been producing TorahBytes, I almost never stray from the particular week’s Torah or Haftarah readings. As you will see, I am not straying too far this week in that the verse I quoted is related to the events of the Haftarah reading for the festival of Shemini Atzeret (the eighth day of solemn assembly), which marks the end of the autumn holy day season that began three weeks ago with Rosh Hashanah. Shemini Atzeret follows the seven days of Sukkot (Booths/Tabernacles). According to Torah, the people of Israel were to live in temporary dwellings (sukkot) for seven days, followed by an additional holy day back in their normal homes. Shemini Atzeret was to be treated as a sabbath day and featured special sacrifices.

The Haftarah reading for Shemini Atzeret is 1 Melachim/1 Kings 8:54-66, the end of the section of Scripture when Solomon dedicated the temple, which occurs on this specific holy day. The Second Book of Chronicles provides an expanded version of the temple’s dedication, including God’s words to Solomon immediately afterwards. In other words, the verse we are looking at is from God’s speaking to Solomon during the same occasion of the Haftarah reading for the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. And this is most relevant to us because it is a God given prayer for climate change.

First, let me be clear that whatever implications we may derive for our own day from this verse, we mustn’t forget that it is primarily a word to the people of Israel. Through all the challenges throughout the history of the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it is this prescription that guarantees God’s forgiveness and restoration. At the same time, we discover here the very core of the climate change problem.

As for “the climate change problem,” I, like many others, am reticent to be too certain as to what it is exactly. Are we facing the end of life as we know it or is extreme weather simply part of the normal cycle of climate throughout history? Some would have us believe there is no climate issue at all. Perhaps, but simple observation suggests otherwise. And then, environmental issues aside, the world is in turmoil. Hitherto tolerant, pluralistic, democratic societies are becoming increasingly polarized to the point that the potential for civil war is increasing before our eyes.

Be it the environmental climate change or social climate change, God’s word to Solomon is the solution. God instructs his people through King Solomon that if and when they observe issues in their land, here’s what they were to do:

First, humble ourselves. Stop self-justifying and blaming others. Stop talking and start listening. Take the time to do personal inventory. Become teachable and correctable. Second, pray. Don’t just think about the problems at hand. Stop complaining and start petitioning the only one who can effectively bring about the needed transformation. Third, seek God’s face. This might be simply another way of referring to prayer, but it focuses that prayer on the one and only God. It’s not good enough to be vaguely spiritual. Only the God of Israel can make a difference. Also, to be directed to “seek” God, implies focused, ongoing prayer, rather than performing a superficial formulaic duty. Finally, turn from our wicked ways. As we go through the process of humbling ourselves, praying, and seeking God, we need to be ready for him to show us what’s wrong with us. As that occurs we need to take responsibility for our actions and change course.

If we do all of this, God is committed to take notice, forgive us, and bring about the needed environmental and social restoration. If this is true, much, if not all, of our efforts to treat the symptoms of climate change are misguided. I am not saying that we shouldn’t try to be better at taking care of God’s creation. We should always be open to how we can be better stewards of our beautiful planet. But if the problems are as dire as some say, we are fooling ourselves to think that we will fix them through taxes, electric cars, recycling, and so on. Focusing solely on human solutions will only result in making matters worse, not better.

Political leaders impose restrictions on us in an effort to fix the environment when the environmental problems are actually due to spiritual and moral failure. I don’t expect our governments to heed God’s word in this matter, but perhaps it’s time you and I did.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of September 30, 2023 / 15 Tishri 5784

Sukkot
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 22:26 – 23:24; B’midbar/Numbers 29:12-16
Haftarah: Zechariah 14:1-21

On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. (Zechariah 14:4)

My wife and I watched Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent speech to the UN General Assembly. A couple of things stood out to me. There are so many remarkable things about the Land of Israel. One is its strategic location. As Netanyahu said: “You see, the Land of Israel is situated on the crossroads between Africa, Asia, and Europe. And for centuries, my country was repeatedly invaded by empires passing through it in their campaigns of plunder and conquest elsewhere.” Geographically, Israel is a land bridge. Whoever held that relatively small section of land was able to exercise inordinate control of the vast region. However, the Prime Minister was offering Israel’s strategic location, not, as in days of old, for empire, but as a blessing to many. He continued, “But today, as we tear down walls of enmity, Israel can become a bridge of peace and prosperity between these continents.” Such a prospect is certainly in keeping with the very essence of Israel’s Abrahamic call to be a blessing to the nations (see Bereshit/Genesis 12:1-3). I will come back to this shortly.

The other issue that caught my attention was what he had to say about AI (Artificial Intelligence). He began with a warning:

The perils are great and they are before us: the disruption of democracy, the manipulation of minds, the decimation of jobs, the proliferation of crime and the hacking of all the systems that facilitate modern life. Yet even more disturbing is the potential eruption of AI-driven wars that could achieve an unimaginable scale. Behind this perhaps looms an even greater threat, once the stuff of science fiction: that self-taught machines could eventually control humans instead of the other way around.

He then called for the nations of the world to come together to ensure we don’t end up with what he called “an AI dystopia.” I thought that was the end of that subject. Given his great concern, surely the responsible thing would be for the nations of the world to put the brakes on AI, but no. Netanyahu returns to his earlier optimistic tone. Here’s a taste:

We have so much to gain. Imagine the blessings of finally cracking the genetic code, extending human life by decades, and dramatically reducing the ravages of old age. Imagine healthcare tailored to each individual’s genetic composition and predictive medicine that prevents diseases long before they occur.

As he continues with his list of the wonderful potential benefits of AI, he says something of a depth of irony that I am guessing he didn’t catch. With a hint of a smile, he said, “I know this sounds like a John Lennon song,” clearly referring to the song “Imagine.” I am aware that when people think of “Imagine,” they think of it as an anthem of world peace. Here’s the chorus:

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Not too far from a biblical view of the future, right? But what about the verses? Here are some sample lines:

Imagine there’s no heaven…
Imagine all the people living for today…
Imagine there’s no countries…And no religion too
Imagine no possessions

This is exactly the world that many people are hoping for, believing that herein lies the path to true peace. I won’t take the time to expound upon each one but notice that the first line of the song is “Imagine there’s no heaven.” This is in keeping with another Lennon song from that period, though not as well known, entitled “God,” in which he sang:

God is a concept by which we measure our pain

This song lists all sort of things Lennon didn’t believe in, including magic, the Bible, Hitler, and Jesus. It concludes with nothing but himself and his wife:

I just believe in me
Yoko and me
And that’s reality

I am not for a moment, implying that the Israeli Prime Minister’s reference to “Imagine” means he believed in Lennon’s twisted utopia. In fact, I agree with him that the nations of the world need to take the negative potential of AI seriously and do their best to ensure it’s used for good. Similarly, I pray that his peace initiatives succeed and result in great benefit to as many people as possible. Yet, whatever he may think of the lyrics to “Imagine,” his optimism is naïve at best and seriously misguided at worst.

Netanyahu’s speech (commenting on what he said, as I don’t actually know what he thinks) falls into the age-old humanistic trap, that somehow, if we only get our act together, the world would be paradise. Not only will that not happen, the more we think we can do this on our own, the greater the probability of impending doom.

God’s answer to war, poverty, disease, and death is clearly outlined in this week’s special Haftarah portion for Sukkot (Festival of Booths): the return of the Messiah to Jerusalem. Imagine that!

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of September 23, 2023 / 8 Tishri 5784

Ha’azinu/Shuva
Torah: D’varim/Deuteronomy 32:1-52
Haftarah: Hosea 14:2-10 (English: 14:1-9); Micah 7:18-20, Joel 2:15-17
Originally posted the week of September 26, 2015 / 13 Tishri 5776

For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. (D’varim/Deuteronomy 32:3-4)

When I first read this passage in this translation, I found it jarring, because I was used to hearing, “all his ways are just.” If you look at a list of various other English translations (https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Deuteronomy%2032:4), you will see an assortment of words used, such as fair, right, righteous, just, judgement and the one used here, justice. The Hebrew word is “mishpat,” which indeed means justice, which is a noun, but in English it doesn’t sound right. The phrase more naturally lends itself to using an adjective, the way I am used to hearing it. But to make the text read, “God’s ways are just,” gives the impression that his ways simply possess a just quality to them. While that is true, what mishpat expresses here is much more than that. Regardless of the sound English prefers, God ways are in and of themselves justice.

Let me try to explain. If I said “smoking is harmful,” harmful being an adjective, then I am saying that smoking has a destructive quality. How it causes harm depends on how people relate to it (smoking or breathing second-hand smoke, for example). But if I say instead “smoking is harm” (which sounds strange, of course), I am claiming that smoking’s harmful quality is essential to its essence, and that its existence in and of itself brings about harm regardless of how people use it or relate to it. Whether or not smoking is truly that I will leave to anti-smoking advocates to decide.

So when Moses says God’s way are mishpat, it is not only because his ways have a just quality to them, but that his ways are in and of themselves justice. It is not as if they are shown to be just only when they are followed as when we follow good advice. Rather God’s ways establish justice by their very existence alone.

How this works becomes clearer when we understand that God is personally invested in his word. By his power his ways are actively at work in the world, confronting evil and leading people in the path of righteousness. No wonder the writer of the New Covenant book of Hebrews states, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

One might argue that the word of God cannot function on its own, but rather requires someone somewhere to communicate it. While this is normally the case, from personal conversation to preaching to writing to broadcasting, we need to realize that the power of justice in God’s ways as communicated through these methods is far more dependent on God than we may think. It is God who uses people to communicate his word, and it is God who makes his communicated word effective.

Let me illustrate with a true story. I had been thinking and praying about this concept, when a young family friend posted online an experience she had. I share it with her permission:

Late this evening I was busing home, and I was very tired. So tired in fact, that I fell asleep. However, I was woken with a start when someone tapped on my shoulder to ask me about abortion. She had noticed the pro-life shirt I was wearing. She said “I’m pro-choice. Always have been and always will be. And you can’t change my mind.” I replied, “Guess what? I am also pro-choice, but not when it comes to taking the life of an innocent human being.” She then went on to say that she didn’t think that they were human until the point of birth. So we talked about when human life begins, and she finally agreed that they were human from conception. But she still said, “What if the mother can’t afford to keep the child? Wouldn’t it be better for her to just have an abortion in that case?” I replied “What if the mother of a toddler lost her job and could no longer afford to raise the child, would it then be ok for her to kill the toddler?” The woman right away shook her head and said, “No.” Then a light dawned on her and she said, “I never thought of it that way before. You’re right, killing a pre-born child is no different than killing a born child. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of this to me.”

Our friend was sleeping when the ways of God provoked the other person to wake her up, resulting in repentance. The other party was in collusion with death and destruction. God’s word, which appeared to be just lying there doing nothing was actually living and active as it pierced the heart of that up-till-then confused soul.

Mishpat, justice, is a living force, given to the world as a gift of God through the revelation of Scripture. And as it is living and active, there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Perhaps it’s time to embrace it.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of September16, 2023 / 1 Tishri 5784

Rosh Hashanah
Torah: Bereshit/Genesis 21:1-34; B’midbar/Numbers 29:1-6
Haftarah: 1 Shmuel/Samuel 1:1 – 2:10

The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as he had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. (Bereshit/Genesis 12:1-2)

This week’s Torah reading is special for Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, which is derived from the biblical Feast of the Blowing of the Shofar (see Vayikra/Leviticus 23:23-25). The Torah reading begins with the wonderous birth of Isaac in fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah.

Has it ever occurred to you that we live in a world of promises? Most of the time we are not aware how promises are pillars of human interaction. Promises make up so much of our lives. As I am writing this, it’s with an understanding that the computer I am using is going to work promised, be it the hardware or the software. And that’s just the beginning. Since my plan is to share this with the world via the extremely complex system known as the Internet, there are innumerable pieces of technology and human involvement committed to perform as promised. I am depending on those promises. I depend on the promises my fellow drivers make when they get their drivers’ licenses to not purposely harm me. I expect that businesses will be true to their word when I purchase their products. If I buy a carton of milk, I expect the promised milk to be in the carton. So many promises do we take for granted!

Most employment and work contracts contain all sorts of promises made by all parties involved. I promise to do a particular type and quality of work for a certain number of hours. You promise to pay me a certain amount of money to be given to me at set time intervals.

We depend on the promises given to us via travel and event schedules. You couldn’t plan a trip, be it locally or internationally, if buses, trains, and planes would only be available when travel companies might feel like it.

I am guessing that while you have been reading or listening to this, you have thought about the great number of broken promises you have endured in your life: companies that didn’t deliver the goods, undependable employees, the show you were looking forward to cancelling last minute, buses that don’t show up, and so on. The reason why this is so irksome is because we are promise oriented beings. We expect promises and we expect them to be kept.

We live in a promise-oriented world because it was created by a promise-oriented God. Promise is embedded in the very system of life. Even more than our dependance on the promises we make to each other, we depend on the systems of life, subconsciously most of the time. We don’t worry that gravity or buoyancy will not come through for us. That’s because the God of promise designed, implemented, and oversees these systems. Even people who believe that the universe is the result of random impersonal chance, relate to life as if it is designed in the dependable way I just described.

They do so until they want otherwise. More and more people are attempting to deny the innate dependability of God’s creation. It doesn’t matter to them that men and women are created a certain way, for example. It doesn’t seem to matter to that treating ourselves or others contrary to design will inevitably end in disaster. Desire, not design, is paramount.

It’s no wonder that along with rejecting the way the promise-oriented God made the world, more and more have human promises become less and less reliable. We still promise but do so in order to manipulate others not commit ourselves to promised outcomes. Politicians have been doing that for a long time. Perhaps we have all become political now, treating our word like it’s nothing.

This is not new, of course. When Messiah came into the world, he said: “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil” (Matthew 5:37). Being true to our word should be normal. We are to be promise-oriented people because we have been made in the image of a promise-oriented God.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of July 1, 2023 / 12 Tammuz 5783

Hukat-Balak
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 19:1 – 25:9
Haftarah: Micah 5:6 – 6:8
Originally posted the week of July 13, 2019 / 10 Tammuz 5779

So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live. (B’midbar/Numbers 21:9)

One of the prime focuses of the Hebrew Scriptures is the issue of idolatry that was expressed in ancient Israel in two ways: the worship of false gods as represented by an image or claiming that the true God was represented by an image. In either case, the essence of idolatry is it misrepresents reality and especially the reality of the God of Israel. The dynamics of idol worship is captured by the New Covenant Writings through this statement: “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” (Romans 1:25).

Idolatry, whether it be through an actual figure associated with the true God or false gods, gives undo credence to a created thing instead of to the author of all creation. Putting one’s hope in an idol assumes that goodness can somehow be derived from the experience of engaging the thing, receiving blessing in other words. But blessing, as I just quoted, is derived from God, not things, even though God uses things to bless us. And therein lies the problem. It is so easy to confuse the instruments God uses with God himself.

This is exactly what happened with the Israelites and the bronze serpent, a story that took about eight hundred years to tell. During the wilderness wanderings under Moses, God punished the people for their grumblings by sending deadly snakes among them. In response to their humbling themselves, God prescribed an unusual remedy. He told Moses to set up a bronze serpent on a pole. All anyone bitten by a snake had to do was to look at the bronze serpent and they would be cured.

What we don’t know until the reign of Hezekiah eight centuries later was that not only did they hold on to the bronze serpent, but they made offerings to it, that is until Hezekiah smashed it (see 2 Melachim/2 Kings 18:4). For eight hundred years worship of this object had been tolerated! For eight hundred years “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”

It isn’t difficult to understand why they did that. They believed, mistakenly so, that there was power in the object. What had begun as an act of faith unto God by following his instructions at the time, became an idol. They confused the source of power through his chosen instrument with the thing itself.

This is what underlies superstition. Superstition is believing that certain objects when related to in particular ways will empower us in some way. This is what happened with the bronze serpent. Looking to it was not originally superstition, since doing so was directed by God. It only became superstitious once the people assumed the power was in the object itself. They may have justified their misguided beliefs by claiming that if God used it in the past, then it’s appropriate to continue using it even after the occasion for which it was made was over and done with.

This is exactly where a lot of people of faith get stuck. We have a legitimate experience of God in the past and insist on revisiting it, thinking that we can continue to derive blessing from it when it’s outlived its intended purpose. We may not be doing this with a tangible object, but the dynamics are the same. Our precious moments with God were for the time allotted to them. To expect to derive the same blessings over and over again from what God did in an earlier time and place is to exchange the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

It is the Creator “who is blessed forever.” Blessing resides in God, not objects or experiences. He is free to use whatever he wishes to pour out blessings upon us. But if we confuse the One who blesses with that which he uses to bless, we will find ourselves living a lie and cut off from the very blessings we long for.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 24, 2023 / 5 Tammuz 5783
Korah
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 16:1 – 18:32
Prophets: 1 Shmuel/1 Samuel 11:14-12:22

So the LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear iniquity connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear iniquity connected with your priesthood. (B’midbar/Numbers 18:1)

Leaders are special. Whomever or whatever they may be leading, their role sets them apart from others. They stand out. Everyone knows their names. In many cases leaders have benefits, perks not accessible to non-leaders. Their importance often gives them access to even more important people, thus potentially increasing their influence even more. They live on a different plain from the general population.

When we think of leaders, this may be all we think about. Compared to them, we feel less important, disadvantaged. We might accept that some people in leadership truly possess superior ability than the rest of us. But others are just like us. Yet, they were chosen to be special. And that’s just not fair! What right do they have to be given all sorts of privileges we don’t have?

This was the sort of thing that Korah and his associates were thinking when they confronted Moses and Aaron in this week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion). Despite already being part of the specially chosen tribe of Levi – the tribe responsible to assist the cohanim (English; the priests) – they were greatly offended by their not being selected for the priesthood itself, which by God’s decree had been given to Moses’ brother Aaron and his descendants.

Their perception of the priestly role was all wrapped up in everything except what it actually was. What it was is emphasized by God’s words to Aaron immediately following the tragic outcome of Korah’s rebellion. As I quoted at the start, after the deadly plague and God’s confirmation of Aaron’s calling, he impressed upon Aaron the depths of responsibility he and his sons would bear in their priestly role. Every special aspect of their leadership was designed to serve the crucial responsibilities God gave them as cohanim. No other Israelite would carry the concerns of the sacrificial system and everything along with it as they would.

The truly special thing about leadership is not the perks but the responsibility. Perhaps I should say, “genuine, godly leadership.” I don’t deny that to a great extent leadership throughout history has been about being at the top of the heap on the backs of the oppressed masses. Many leaders are nothing more than spoiled children who one way or another managed to hoard more toys than anyone else. But neither of these examples reflect how God designed leadership to be. And it doesn’t matter if leaders are aware of the true God and his ways or not. Genuine leadership is only realized when it is in keeping with God’s design.

The Messiah needed to remind his followers the true essence of leadership when he said:

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:25-28).

Korah and company were not the first (or last) to misunderstand true leadership. Yeshua’s teaching here completely turns conventional thinking on this issue upside down. He confronts typical warped thinking on leadership at its utterly selfish core.

Leadership is not fundamentally about power. Leaders certainly possess far greater power than others. But they have been given that power not to benefit themselves but rather to empower others. This is related to the general stewardship role given to all human beings at the beginning of creation. By virtue of our being made in the image of God, we have all been entrusted with various resources, abilities, and opportunities to be used for the benefit of others. Leaders are those who, as part of that general stewardship, have been assigned levels of management for the common good.

Leadership is simply a heavier level of stewardship. In the New Covenant Writings we read, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task” (1 Timothy 3:1). Being given greater responsibility than others is noble and should be treated as noble. It’s not about money or popularity. It’s about being true to our God-given responsibilities; something to which we will all be called to account.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 17, 2023/ 28 Sivan 5783

Sh’lach
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 13:1 – 15:41
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24
Revised version of “The Ultimate Sacrifice,” originally posted the week of March 17, 2018 / 1 Nisan 5778

But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him. (B’midbar/Numbers 15:30-31)

For the New Covenant believer, the concept of forgiveness of sin is central. We understand that whatever the Old Covenant sacrificial system meant, it in some way points to the Messiah’s ultimate sacrifice. For that reason, it is understandable that we would search for parallels between the multi-purpose sacrifice of animals in the Torah and Yeshua’s unjust death. The problem is it is difficult to draw exact parallels. First, not all Torah sacrifice was for sin. At times, people would offer something due to gratefulness, for example. But in contrast, the Messiah’s death was altogether tragic. While Yeshua freely accepted his mission, there was nothing celebratory about his having to die. While the results of his death were over-the-top good, and his resurrection certainly should be celebrated, the process of death itself was not good. Therefore, Yeshua’s sacrifice only parallels those sacrifices that were for sin of some kind.

Another dissimilarity is that the animals didn’t unduly suffer when killed. They weren’t beaten beforehand as Yeshua was, and they were killed quickly unlike Yeshua’s slow, excruciating, humiliating death on a Roman cross.

There’s at least one more difference. We see it in the verses I quoted at the beginning. You might be surprised to learn that Old Covenant sacrifice for sin was only for unintentional sin. There were no sacrifices for intentional sin at all. The consequence for intentional sin, the Hebrew phrase for that being sinning with a “high hand” (B’midbar/Numbers 15:30), was either banishment or death. This could be why King David in his well-known penitential psalm writes:

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:18-19; English: 51:16-17).

This is not a New Covenant-esque post-sacrificial system advanced theology of anti-animal sacrifice. It’s that there was no sacrifice that could cover David’s intentional sins of adultery and murder. The only acceptable action on David’s part is what he did – honestly and humbly admit his guilt.

What was the point of sacrifice for sin if it was not to cover serious, intentional wrongdoing? It appears that the loss of animal life was designed to make the people aware of their sinful condition. Most of us are conscious of our big sins, but we tend to go through life blind to how much we fall short. The sacrifices helped the people in ancient times to take even their unintentional shortcomings seriously. Sin is costly to ourselves and to those around us; it is also an affront to God who created us to serve him and his purposes. Instead of glibly saying, “nobody’s perfect,” we need to be made aware of the great chasm caused by our ever-present failings and the world as it was supposed to be.

It should be obvious that if unintentional sin was serious enough to require the killing of innocent animals, how much more serious is intentional sin? No wonder Yeshua’s offering was so different from animal sacrifice. It was the only sacrifice designed to actually take away sin. Old Covenant ritual wasn’t simply symbolically foreshadowing a similar, but greater, sacrifice, Rather it prepared Israel and the world for a much different, far more effective sacrifice that would deal with sin once and for all.

Despite the supreme effectiveness of Yeshua’s death for sin, its effects are not applied to us automatically. In order to experience the benefits of what Yeshua has done, we need to echo David’s words. On our own we have nothing to offer that which could satisfy the great losses we have caused the world or the affront our lives have been to our Creator. Nothing but God’s full giving of himself in the person of the Messiah is sufficient to resolve our alienation from him. Making it ours requires a turning of our lives in faith to Yeshua and personally accepting the precious gift of his sacrifice.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 10, 2023 / 21 Sivan 5783

Beha’alotcha
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 8:1 – 12:16
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7 (English: 2:10 – 4:7)
Originally posted the week of June 13, 2020 / 21 Sivan 5780

At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. (B’midbar/Numbers 9:18)

I am a big picture guy. That’s true in nature as well as stories and ideas. I love grand views and vistas, be it wide mountain ranges or hills and valleys from above or looking back at the skyline of a great city. I love big pictures because I also love the details they encompass. The better I can see the big picture, the more I understand its details. In stories, the Bible included, between its big picture and details are themes and motifs. Themes are ribbons of ideas, common subplots woven through events and descriptions. Motifs are recurring story elements. God’s love, mercy, and justice are biblical themes. The dynamics of how humans interact with God’s will is a common motif.

We first encounter this motif in the Garden of Eden (see Bereshit/Genesis 3). God gives clear directives to Adam and Eve, which are soon challenged by the serpent. The reader can sense the peril that awaits our first parents should they give into the temptation to doubt the goodwill of their creator, which tragically they do. This motif is played out over and over again throughout Scripture, including this week’s parsha (Torah reading portion).

Israel’s journey through the wilderness is a time of training between their slavery in Egypt and their conquest of the Promised Land. Having been given the gift of God’s word through Moses, the difficult challenges of wilderness living provides opportunity after opportunity to discover the nature and character of their God.

Like Adam and Eve before them they are instructed that obedience to God results in life and blessing, while rebellion results in death and destruction. One of the many ways this was to be lived out was in their travel directions. God reserved the right to tell them when they were to break camp and where they were to go next. The indication of when to go and where was provided by a pillar of cloud. If it stayed, they were to stay. When it moved, they were to move until it stopped.

Our translation expresses God’s communication via the cloud as being at “his command.” While capturing the intent of the Hebrew metaphor here, it misses its vividness. The Hebrew reads more along the line of “At the mouth of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the mouth of the Lord they camped. The picture painted by the metaphor is one of God’s speaking, key to the motif we are looking at. What’s not clear is whether it’s the cloud’s movement that’s in response to God’s speaking or that the movement of the cloud was the indication of God’s speaking. Either way, the people were to learn to embark or settle exclusively in response to God’s word.

Note the implications of this. If God’s word was to be their only guide, then that means they were not to listen to anything or anyone else. Enemies attacking? No cloud movement. Stay put. Water supplies exhausted? No cloud movement. Stay put. Living in a lush oasis? Cloud is moving. Time to go. Circumstances, preferences, and opinions don’t count. Only God’s word.

Should it be any different for us today? There’s no cloud to follow that I know of. Yet we have something more, not less, than the ancient Israelites. We have far more of God’s written word than they had. In the books of the Hebrew and New Covenant Scriptures we have more direct words from God; more examples, good and bad; more truth sorted out than they did. Plus, under the New Covenant, we have a far greater intimacy with God through the Messiah and the gift of the Ruach HaKodesh (English: the Holy Spirit) empowering us. It’s as if the wilderness cloud has now taken up residence within us.

Are we being driven by voices shouting at us or are we listening to God? That in no way diminishes the issues of our day, but it should determine what we do about them. The listening to God motif of Scripture clearly directs us to avoid being reactive. Circumstances and opinion are blind guides. Only God’s direction leads to life.

It feels good to connect to popular causes, but at what cost? What would happen if you stopped, took a deep breathe, and asked God what to do? His direction may not take you where you think you should go, but it’s the only way to ensure you get to where God wants you to go.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version