For the week of July 6, 2024 / 30 Sivan 5784

Korach/Rosh Chodesh
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 16:1 – 18:32; Numbers 28:9-15
Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1-24

Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:1-2)

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah reading) records yet another time when Moses’ leadership was challenged. We saw this two weeks ago when his sister and brother confronted him, and now here, a group led by Korach takes him on again. This time, the issue is the special status given to Moses’ tribe, Levi, as stewards and servants of the mishkan (English: tabernacle). As in the previous affair, God supports Moses. It might be better to say that God supported himself because the special positions of Moses and the Levites were his choice. It’s relatively easy to claim God is behind one’s position; it’s another to see him come through in practical ways as he does in both these occasions.

This week’s Haftarah (accompanying reading from the Prophets) is special for Rosh Chodesh (the new month). From time to time Rosh Chodesh coincides with Shabbat. The month of Tammuz begins at the end of Shabbat this week. Coincidently, the content of the Haftarah from the prophet Isaiah speaks directly to what’s happening in our Torah reading.

Who is it that God regards? Who is it that he is with? Is it the strong, the wise, the spiritually powerful, the successful? Isn’t that what most of us think whether we admit it or not? Moses certainly had some significant qualifications. Did not God do great acts of power at his word? Yet, I wonder what Moses was like in the day-to-day that he would be challenged the way he was. Many leaders make great efforts to prevent such challenges from happening. Not Moses. It’s in the context of the challenge from Miriam and Aaron where we read, “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth” (B’midbar/Numbers 12:3).

There is a great deal of misunderstanding over what meekness or humility really is as if it’s about being a pushover, someone who is easily manipulated. However, when we read the Isaiah passage with the incident of Korach and company we discover a vivid illustration of true humility. First, we see what humility is not. Korach and the others were jealous and self-motivated. They sought to take matters into their own hands for their own purposes. On the other hand, Moses, the humble one, didn’t defend himself, but continually deferred to God to act on his behalf.

True humility places one in a very vulnerable situation. Instead of hiding behind structures and people, they remain open to engaging others as they find their security in God. The proud and self-sufficient may reference God and his word but, in reality, depend on self and others to accomplish their goals.

Moses grasped what Isaiah said many centuries after he lived. The all-encompassing God, who cannot be contained by human beings, will never be controlled by them. It is foolish to think we can ever truly set the agenda for our or others’ lives. Yet, as great as God is, he has regard for those humble like Moses.

The person whom God regards, the one to whom he draws near and communicates, is the one whose heart remains open to him in all things and at all times, always ready to hear his correction and direction, knowing that he alone is Master of the Universe.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 29, 2024 / 23 Sivan 5784

Sh’lach
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 13:1 – 15:41
Haftarah: Joshua 2:1-24

If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel. (B’midbar Numbers 14:8-10)

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) is so crucial in at least two ways. First, it recounts a most tragic turn of events in the early history of ancient Israel. Generations were anticipating the moment when the promise of acquiring the land of Canaan would be realized. As foretold to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob hundreds of years earlier, God’s announcement to Moses at the burning bush was not simply one of deliverance from slavery in Egypt, but also of acquiring the Land (see Shemot/Exodus 3:8). After years of oppression, the people of Israel were witnesses to great acts of God’s power through his securing their release from Egypt, the powerful experience of receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, and his protection and provision during the two years of wilderness living. Yet, despite all that they had experienced, when the time came to enter the land, the people could not or would not connect all that God had done for them with what he would do for them going forward. Their unwillingness to embrace the next stage of their history resulted in their remaining in the wilderness until that whole generation died out. God’s plans and purposes for Israel as a nation were not thwarted, but the current generation sorrowfully missed a great opportunity.

It’s also crucial for what this demonstrates. Lack of trust in God results in harm to ourselves and to our communities. Highly destructive paths await those who allow fear to cause them to reject God’s specific direction in their lives. How this story reflects the negative results of lack of faith is obvious, but there is something else lurking here that we would do well to note.

The people reacted extremely negatively upon receiving the report of ten of the twelve men who were appointed to scout out the land. However, Joshua and Caleb, the two scouts who believed God would give them success, tried to encourage them. Their encouragement was based on their experience of God. Why wouldn’t they try to help the others to think positively on this matter? Wouldn’t you? But then, look at how the majority reacted: “Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones.” They wanted to kill them.

The people’s murderous desire reflects the depth of their fear. Perhaps they believed that Joshua and Caleb had sufficient clout in the community that their minority opinion would win out, an option that the majority could in no way tolerate.

Think about it. Have you ever been so afraid that you found people’s encouragement threatening? I am sure most of us have experienced situations when the encouragement of others helped us to do something that we were afraid of. And I suspect that we have appreciated most, if not all, of those times: “Try it, you’ll like it!” “Jump in, you’ll get used to it!” “Make the call, you won’t regret it!” But perhaps there have been other times when you didn’t appreciate such encouragement. Note that I am not referring to situations where people encourage us to do wrong. This is about confronting a great fear of something that we should do, but we are so afraid that we can’t handle people’s encouragement.

When this happens, it’s like a living nightmare. You want everything to stop. Perhaps you wouldn’t actually kill anyone, but the desire to shut out undesirable forces, no matter how well-meaning, can be overwhelming, not to mention, destructive.

Let’s face it, from time-to-time God takes us into situations that are not just intimidating—the kind of thing that makes us feel apprehensive or nervous—but full-out terrifying. And yet, they are God’s best for us. From confronting issues from our past to venturing on something greatly unfamiliar, or how about being called to something that previously resulted in great failure? Make your own list.

It can take a lot of courage to do God’s will sometimes. But, may I encourage you to acknowledge the source of your fear and look to God to enable you to overcome it before you cause irreparable damage to yourself or others.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 22, 2024 / 16 Sivan 5784

Beha’alotcha
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 8:1 – 12:16
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14 – 4:7

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. (B’midbar/Numbers 12:1-2)

Do you notice anything strange about Moses’ siblings Miriam and Aaron’s confronting Moses here? Actually, we don’t know if they confronted him directly or not. All we know is that they were outspokenly critical of him. But that’s not the strange part, however. Read it over again. Do you see it yet? The passage states that the issue Miriam and Aaron had with Moses was that he married a Cushite woman. But that’s not what they said, be it to Moses directly and/or anyone else (at least not as far as the passage is concerned). According to the passage, what they said had to do with an apparently different matter. Instead of addressing the marriage issue, they made a big deal over whether or not God uniquely spoke through Moses. Now, it’s not as if Moses’ unique position in the community was not a serious matter. Right or wrong, it would be surprising if this wasn’t something that several Israelites might question from time to time. Complaints over leadership privileges wouldn’t be strange. What’s strange in the passage is that Miriam and Aaron are clearly concerned about one thing, while what they address is a completely different matter altogether. Search the entire passage (12:1-16). Nothing is ever said about Moses’ Cushite wife again.

That we are told they were critical of Moses about one thing but then addressed a completely different subject is an example of what scholars love to sink their teeth into. Some may deduce that this must be the result of two different and unrelated stories that somehow got stuck together. No wonder it makes no sense, since there are two different issues being addressed here. But wait! Perhaps this isn’t so strange. Think about it. People motivated by one concern, while saying something completely different with no reference whatsoever to their real concern. This isn’t strange; it’s normal!

How often have you been the object of someone’s anger, but you can tell (perhaps) that what they are saying isn’t what’s really bothering them? Should we also include ourselves as possible perpetrators of this phenomenon while we’re at it? Instead of the Torah clumsily and inappropriately connecting two different stories, what we have here is a brilliant example of a common human dysfunction.

There’s a good chance that the reason why Miriam and Aaron didn’t address the real issue was because they didn’t think they could do anything about it. Perhaps they thought they could get a lot more leverage by asserting their own spirituality. Yet, evading the family issue not only challenged Moses’ relationship to God but also his     essential role in the community, which in turn disrupted the community for a time, not to mention resulting in Miriam getting sick.

We don’t know what Miriam and Aaron’s problem with this was exactly. But that’s part of what is ingeniously instructive about this passage. When people aren’t willing to be honest about a concern, be it between individuals or within the broader society, it causes all sorts of unnecessary confusion and damage. Maybe Miriam and Aaron simply didn’t like the woman. The mention of her being Cushite may be a clue that they had an ethnic or racial concern. But their refusal to say so may indicate they knew it would not have gotten them anywhere. So, they had to find something else.

Note that from Moses’ and his wife’s perspectives, God took care of the situation. That should encourage us when we are the object of this sort of thing. And it’s also a warning when we are tempted to act out in this way. If we can’t be honest about our concerns, we should keep them between ourselves and God.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 15, 2024 / 9 Sivan 5784

Naso
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 4:21 – 7:89
Shoftim/Judges 13:2-25

You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks (Hebrew: Shavuot) to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you. (D’varim/Deuteronomy 16:9-10)

I don’t know about you, but I am still amazed at wireless technology. On a recent walk with my wife, I mentioned how photocopies used to look like photocopies (low-quality duplicates), but now from our devices  we can print documents wirelessly that look as original as the original. And what about wireless earbuds? Incredible! I get such a nice feeling when I put them in my ears and hear the pleasant voice say, “Connected.”

We live in a world of connections. We begin life connected to an entire family tree, whether or not we ever fully grasp those connections. Moreover, living life requires the connection of relationships, including family, friends, co-workers, and more. Then, like the earbuds, society depends on all sorts of connected systems.

This week, beginning Tuesday evening, June 11, Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) begins. You may know it by its Greek-based name, Pentecost. If so, you might be saying to yourself (thinking you are talking to me): “But Pentecost was about a month ago.” We’ll deal with that later.

For now, I want to explain how Shavuot is a feast of connection. Of the three major Torah feasts, Pesach: (English: Passover) and Sukkot (English: Tabernacles or Booths), Shavuot is the only one that doesn’t explicitly commemorate a historical event. It does, but not explicitly. During Pesach, we remember God’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Sukkot commemorates Israel’s years in the wilderness. Shavuot also lacks the kind of specialized customs that Pesach and Sukkot have, Pesach has the Seder and eating matza for a week, Sukkot has living in temporary dwellings and rejoicing while holding specified growing things. Shavuot’s customs as observed today were developed in post-biblical times.

However, there is an explicit and unique feature of Shavuot that is easily missed—connection. God, through Moses, set the date of Shavuot by directing the people of Israel to count seven weeks from Pesach, which is why Shavuot is called the Feast of Weeks. Its alternate name, “Pentecost” is from the number fifty as it was to occur the day after the counting of seven weeks or forty-nine days. Based on this, as acknowledged by Jewish tradition, the timing of Shavuot places it at the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Therefore, the purposeful counting established a strong connection between the rescue from Egypt and the giving of God’s Word, the Torah. This demonstrates that Israel’s freedom from Egypt was not so that they could do whatever they wanted, but rather to serve the God who rescued them.

But then why in Acts chapter two of the New Covenant Writings does the Ruach HaKodesh (English: the Holy Spirit) come at Shavuot? What’s that connection all about? The key is in understanding one of the core aspects of the New Covenant as prophesied hundreds of years earlier through Jeremiah:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law (Hebrew: Torah) within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jeremiah 31:33).

Shavuot commemorates the calling of the people of Israel through the giving of the Torah. But as the overall biblical story unfolds, we discover that on our own, we were unable to live up to that call. That is, until that very special Shavuot when through the Ruach HaKodesh, God enabled us to truly be his people from the inside out, thus connecting the people of Israel to himself by his Spirit.

That same special Shavuot also marks a great development of God’s plans and purposes for the world by not only connecting the people of Israel to himself as never before—but by opening the way for people of all nations to truly know him through the Jewish Messiah. And yet most non-Jewish Yeshua followers are not aware that the Pentecost of Acts 2 is the biblical Feast of Shavuot. It doesn’t help that the connection between the Christian celebration of Pentecost occurs at a different time from Shavuot. Why is that? It’s because the Christian Church in the fourth century purposely broke the connection between Yeshua and the Jewish people. I wonder how many other God-given connections we’re missing out on?

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 8, 2024 / 2 Sivan 5784

B’midbar
Torah: B’midbar/Numbers 1:1 – 4:20
Haftarah: Hos 2:1-22 (English: 1:10 – 2:20)

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” (Hosea 2:1; English: 1:10)

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah reading portion) is the beginning of B’midbar, the book of Numbers, which chronicles Israel’s almost forty years of wilderness wanderings. Such a duration was due to the people’s refusal to trust God when they were intimidated by the prospect of taking the land of Canaan. Throughout the book, we see the consequences of their lack of faith.

It is tragic when Bible readers fail to see themselves in the lives of the Israelites. Israel in the Bible functions as a prototypical people group. Scripture is to act like a mirror. Readers are supposed to see themselves in the lives of the people of Israel. Looking down on them for their tendency to mistrust God and stubbornly go their own way reflects great hypocrisy. Who would have done differently? Israel’s failure to live up to God’s standards was designed to show the whole world its need of God. Distancing ourselves from the ancient Israelites cuts us off from valuable scriptural lessons God longs for us to learn.

Core to those lessons is the essence of God’s faithfulness to his people. This week’s Haftarah (selected reading from the Prophets) is from Hoshea (English: Hosea). Few biblical books reflect the theme of God’s faithfulness as Hoshea does. God had called Hoshea to marry a wayward woman to demonstrate this. Throughout his book, as with the other prophets, we read very harsh words of judgment upon Israel. So much so that I could understand why some think God completely rejected them. But to come to such a conclusion, you need to be most selective in your reading. You would need to ignore what Hoshea says in what I quoted at the start:

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God” (Hosea 2:1; English: 1:10).

God’s commitment to Israel is so misunderstood that when Peter references this in his first letter, many assume he is speaking about Gentile believers rather than Messianic Jews:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Confusion over God’s faithfulness is fueled by a misunderstanding regarding God’s unconditional covenant with Israel. Disobedience on Israel’s part in no way undermines God’s covenantal commitment to them. Individuals, even generations, may experience harsh judgment, but that doesn’t nullify God’s commitment to them. This then leaves the door open for individuals to return. Never in Israel’s history was anyone to regard the nation’s spiritual condition as an indication of God’s general posture toward them. On the contrary, reconciliation to God was always possible on the basis of God’s faithfulness to Israel. Not that his faithfulness was ever to be taken for granted. Reconciliation always requires repentance. And repentance requires an honest acceptance of our own inadequacy before God.

What holds true for Israel is available to all through Israel’s Messiah. Through his death and resurrection, people of all nationalities can be embraced by God’s faithfulness. He is ready to accept anyone who humbly comes to him through Yeshua.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of June 1, 2024 / 24 Iyar 5784

Bechukotai
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 26:3 – 27:34
Haftarah: Jeremiah 16:19 – 17:14

Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5)

This week’s parsha (weekly Torah reading portion) includes one of the sections of the Torah that contrasts the benefits of obedience with the consequences of disobedience. The Haftarah (supplemental reading from the Hebrew Prophets) taken from Jeremiah sums up the latter this way: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD” (Jeremiah 17:5). The Hebrew word translated “trust” here is batach and contains the idea of finding security or confidence in someone or something. God through Jeremiah warns against finding security or confidence in human beings.

But aren’t we supposed to trust others? Shouldn’t little children learn to trust their parents? Picture a parent in a swimming pool coaxing their child to jump in: “Don’t worry Jonny! Mommy will catch you.” Through this simple, if not frightening, act of trust, children learn that others, especially adults, can be trusted. And that’s what most of us learn to do. Could you imagine the alternative? “Did you know that human beings designed and built that bridge? I wouldn’t try going over it if I were you!” Or “I am not taking those pills. I think my doctor wants to kill me!”

Sure, these are extreme, fanciful examples, but perhaps you have been seriously let down by others. I often wonder what happened to that person I gave wrong directions to. I honestly didn’t do it on purpose. But what if they think I did? Maybe you have been the victim of intentional misinformation or other ways we humans can purposely let each other down.

This may be more complicated than I first thought. Jeremiah provides a serious warning against finding security in people. Yet, I am sure that he knows that most of the time most people can be trusted. We should note, however, that he was living in a very dark time in Israel’s history, where human selfishness likely saturated the society. Perhaps not too different from today. Be that as it may, what he says doesn’t sound time-limited, but more of a generalized statement.

It comes down to how in the course of a day, we normally trust people (I don’t think that someone who holds a door open for me is going to then trip me). But, at the same time, humans are not ultimately dependable. Perhaps that is what God is communicating through his prophet. According to Jeremiah, the person who is cursed here is one “whose heart turns away from the Lord.” Someone whose heart is entuned to God can effectively navigate the world in which they live. Their confidence isn’t ultimately in others, but in the Master of the Universe. He is their ultimate guide, protector, and provider. Their interactions with others exist within the security of a loving heavenly Father.

Even the best-intentioned and most capable human beings are not completely dependable. A wise, informed person learns how to engage such a world. But if humans are the ultimate source of security we have or if we treat them as such, we are in big trouble. To be cursed is to be sapped of life, which is exactly what happens when human beings take the place of God in our lives. Again, that doesn’t mean we are not to trust others at all. In fact, it is only when we find security in God that our relationship with our fellow human beings can truly flourish.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of May 25, 2024 / 17 Iyar 5784

Be-Har
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 25:1 – 26:2
Haftarah: Jeremiah 32:6-27
Originally posted the week of May 16, 2015 / 27 Iyar 5775 (revised)

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Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. (Vayikra/Leviticus 25:2)

Everyone who believes that the entire Bible is God’s inspired and authoritative written Word faces the challenge of working out how to apply it to our lives today. It’s not as if the Scriptures are simply a collection of general spiritual sayings or a compilation of moral tales. While it includes such content, the Bible is much more than that. Almost all of Scripture was originally intended for a particular people at a particular time. From its stories, laws, prophetic utterances, and letters, and so on, we seek to deduce truths about God and life in an effort to determine how those truths apply today.

In both Jewish and Christian communities there is much controversy in particular over the section of Scripture called the Torah, the five books of Moses. Orthodox Jews claim to fully observe it but do so through the filter of rabbinic tradition. That includes making up for the impossibility of fulfilling key commands – including the offering of sacrifice – due to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. Non-orthodox Jews tend to see Torah as ever evolving as they accommodate it to changing times. Christians, on the other hand, have tended to relate to Torah in one of two ways. Some claim that it has been rendered obsolete by the New Covenant, having been superseded by the teachings of Yeshua and his followers. Others insist it continues to be binding except for its ceremonial aspects, which have found their completion in the Messiah.

It seems to me that the root of the confusion has more to do with what Torah really is, both then and now. Contrary to much Jewish and Christian thought, the Torah and the Sinai covenant given through Moses are not one and the same even though the Sinai covenant is often called, “Torah.” The Sinai covenant was designed as the constitution for the nation of Israel. With the giving of the New Covenant through Yeshua (see Jeremiah 31:31-33; compare Luke 22:20) and the destruction of the Temple, the Sinai covenant was rendered obsolete along with the particular elements given to maintain it, such as the sacrifices.

But there was more to the Sinai covenant than its constitutional function. God used the giving of this covenant to reveal, first to Israel and then to the whole world, his ways regarding every aspect of life, including business, sexuality, justice, and so on. The establishment of the New Covenant in no way abolishes God’s eternal ways or his “Torah.” In fact under the New Covenant, Torah is internalized. For God says through Jeremiah: “I will put my Torah (English: law) within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” Discerning what of Torah was temporary, being limited to the Sinai Covenant, and what is ongoing until now is not always an easy task, but well worth the effort.

Sadly however, it seems that we often regard God’s directives as oppressive restrictions that get in the way of things we want to do. It’s too bad we are slow to see that our reluctance to embrace God’s will is due to the forces of evil that continue to get the upper hand in our lives. God’s ways as revealed throughout the whole Bible, and understood correctly, are always life giving. Take Sabbath laws for example. Under the New Covenant, it is clear that Sabbath laws were not to be imposed upon non-Jewish believers (see Galatians 4:10; compare Acts 15:19-20). But does that mean all believers must disregard God’s weekly rhythm and embrace the 365-day/year, 7-day/week, 24-hour/day lifestyle so prevalent today? It’s not that long ago that countries with strong biblical roots took weekly days off – real days off – when most businesses were closed and a majority of people attended worship services, taking time to rest and be with family. Perhaps we would do well to consider Sabbath again.

Or take the sabbatical year as mentioned in the verse I quoted at the beginning. Covenantally, like the weekly Sabbath, we have no justification to enforce such a custom, but should that stop us from considering its possible benefits? Is the sabbatical year strictly a ritual for the sake of the Sinai covenant only, or are there benefits in allowing farmland to take a rest one year in seven?

The sabbatical year is but one of many reminders in Torah that in our responsibility to be stewards of the planet (see Bereshit/Genesis 1:26) we must avoid exploiting our resources. It is so tempting to try to extract as much as we can for ourselves in the moment. But if we do that, we will create a disastrous situation for future generations that could have easily been avoided. God, who himself rested on the seventh day and was refreshed (see Shemot/Exodus 31:17), designed his creation to require rest as well. Whether it’s you personally or your sphere of work, maybe it’s about time you gave it a rest.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of May 18, 2024 / 10 Iyar 5784

Emor
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 21:1-24:23
Haftarah: Ezekiel 44:15-31
Revised version of “Perfect Offerings,” originally posted the week of 20 Iyar 5758 / May 16, 1998

And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. (Vayikra/Leviticus 22:21)

Offerings to the God of Israel were to be without defect. Certainly one of the reasons for this was that the people were not to bring their leftovers and undesirables to him. For a sacrifice to be meaningful and acceptable, it had to be valuable. But apart from value, the perfect nature of these offerings has much to teach us about God, his creation, the Messiah, and ourselves.

First, by insisting that these animals have no blemishes, deformities, or disease, we are reminded that God himself has no defects, weaknesses or faults. We tend to create religion and spirituality that accommodates our own imperfect nature. But God calls us to something much higher. God is perfect. So what we offer to him must be of a fitting quality. To offer him anything less is to lower him to our level.

Next, we are reminded that the world was created perfectly. The imperfections and blemishes of life are a result of human rebellion against the Creator. By bringing some of the best of our possessions, we are confronted with an ideal that once was and will be again. Having to reject the defective, emphasizes the nature of the perfect. A day is coming when the creation will be renewed; the curse upon it will be no more.

For generations the people Israel had to carefully examine the offerings they brought as they were to be of only the highest quality. Little did they know that they were acting out what God himself would one day do himself. For what the animals could not accomplish, God did through the perfect offering of his Son, the Messiah, whom Peter refers to as “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

Yeshua lived the only perfect and sinless life ever, preparing him to provide the way for imperfect people like us to be fully accepted by God. We read in the New Covenant book of Hebrews:

For if sprinkling ceremonially unclean persons with the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer restores their outward purity; then how much more the blood of the Messiah, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself to God as a sacrifice without blemish, will purify our conscience from works that lead to death, so that we can serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:13-14; Complete Jewish Bible).

On our own, because of our imperfections, we cannot approach God and serve him in the way he intends; we are disqualified. But if we trust in Yeshua and his perfect offering on our behalf, we are made acceptable to God, blemishes and all.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of May 4, 2024 / 26 Nisan  5784

Aharei Mot
Torah: Vayikra/Leviticus 16:1-18:30
Haftarah: 1 Sh’muel/1 Samuel 20:18-42
Originally posted the week of May 4, 2019 / 29 Nisan 5779

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Vayikra/Leviticus 17:11)

This statement by God through Moses clarifies the sacrificial system’s operative dynamic. Or, in other words, that which makes sacrifice work. Within God’s design of creation, a creature’s life was in its blood. Whether this be metaphorical or literal, I can’t say for sure, though I suspect it’s both. The blood on the altar represents the giving up of the life of the sacrificed animal.

So, it’s not so much the physical presence of blood that makes atonement. The word for atonement, “kaphar,” means “to cover.” And while blood is an effective covering; it’s the life which the blood represents that is doing the covering. That which needs to be covered is our souls. What is missed in English, however, is that the word “life” in the phrase “the life of the flesh is in the blood” and the word for “soul” here is the same Hebrew word “nephesh.” If we more precisely reflect the Hebrew word in both cases, we would better understand that the Jewish sacrificial system established that it was the giving of the offered animal’s life that provided cover for human life.

Why covering? Our first parents were created by God to have intimate unobstructed fellowship with him. When they turned to the creation over against the creator by heeding the voice of the serpent over against God’s word, they were overwhelmed with shame, attempted to cover themselves with leaves and hide. They knew they were no longer fit to be in God’s presence in this condition. Their being cast out of the garden reflected the resulting distance between them and God. Every additional misdeed done by them or their ancestors (including us) is a manifestation of the twisted nature they introduced to humankind. It would require the tragic ongoing loss of life to allow for any semblance of fellowship with God by covering the shame of human sinfulness.

For the nation of Israel, all the sacrificial system could do was maintain the tentative presence of God in their midst. It was a needed, albeit temporary, solution to the sin problem that did more to remind the people of Israel of the problem than to resolve it. As we read in the New Covenant book of Hebrews:

For since the law (Torah) has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. (Hebrews 10:1-4).

The stopgap measure of the ancient sacrificial system prepared Israel and the world for the life that would not only cover human shame but release us from it forever. The shed blood of the Messiah is the giving of his sinless life, not only for Israel, but for anyone who avails himself or herself its power. It’s the giving of his life on our behalf that reestablishes intimate relationship with God. It’s no wonder that within forty years of his death the sacrificial system would be no more. The Messiah’s lifeblood is now freely available to all.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version

For the week of April 27, 2024 / 19 Nisan 5784

Pesach
Torah: Shemot/Exodus 33:12 – 34:26; B’midbar/Numbers 28:19-25
Haftarah: Ezekiel 36:37 – 37:14

For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth? (Shemot/Exodus 33:16)

This week’s parsha (Torah reading portion) is a special mid-Pesach Shabbat Torah reading. It covers the time following Israel’s worship of the golden calf and Moses’ breaking the original tablets of the Ten Commandments. Due to Moses’ intercession, God relents of destroying the people for their sin and reaffirms the covenant. That the parsha is chosen for the week of Pesach is curious, since there is no mention of leaving Egypt and associated events. However, God’s renewal of the covenant as documented here demonstrates that the rescue of Israel from slavery is part of something much bigger and enduring. Commemorating Pesach is to remember God’s commitment to Israel for the long haul.

The parsha also includes Moses’ seeking God for clarity over his continued presence with the people going forward. Through his conversation with God, he expresses that which sets Israel apart from all other nations. It’s not the extraordinary events that recently took place even though the exodus from Egypt is one of the most well-known stories of history. It’s not the giving of the Torah and the rest of the Bible even though it’s a unique heavenly gift that has blessed the world for centuries. What makes Israel distinct is God’s presence with them. In fact, it’s God’s presence from which everything else worthy of note in Israel’s history stems.

God himself sought out a people, beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through whom to bring blessing to the rest of the world. And from those earliest days, he engaged Israel personally. They were not always aware of his presence. Long periods would go by when they may have felt that he had abandoned them. But even then, God’s attention was on them to oversee the workings of their lives to further his purposes both in and through them.

Some may want to reduce Israel’s story as one in which superior religious thought developed over time. Amid great struggles, special men and women rose to the fore as they developed extraordinary ways of living life. The Bible stories and the people involved can therefore be regarded as prototypical object lessons from which later generations could glean wisdom. According to this perspective, whether or not these stories actually happened to real people in real-life situations is secondary to the lessons we can learn from them.

Learning lessons from Bible stories is a good thing, but to downplay their historicity greatly undermines their intended power. For, if the people and events are nothing more than highly developed prototypical stories to enlighten readers, what does this tells us about Moses’ claim about what made Israel special? In order to establish the importance of Moses’s claim, an actual God needed to be literally present with real people. Otherwise, Moses’ words are nonsense.

But they were not nonsense. Moses really did encounter the Creator God, who spoke and made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He really did tell Moses what to say to Pharoah, striking Egypt with plagues due to Pharoah’s obstinance. He really did appear to Israel in the form of a pillar of cloud and fire and led them through the sea to freedom. He really did provide them with food and drink in the wilderness and really did give his Torah to Moses. God’s presence was really with Israel. It was (and still is) his personal attention that sets Israel, and all who trust in him through Israel’s Messiah, apart.

What makes God’s people different is that God is personally present with us. He never intended to leave us with a set of principles or ideas that we simply rehash and aspire to. He has indeed given us his Word, but never with the intention that we would figure it out on our own. That same Word calls us to be aware of his presence as we fix our attention on him and continually rely on him.

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