Archive for December 14th, 2008

14
Dec

Va Yishlach commentary: Part 1 of 3

   Posted by: admin   in Torah

Folks interested in diet pills have plenty of great blogs to explore, but MessianicMusings.com is a rarer sort of thing; we offer up Messianic teachings that will help inspire Jews and Gentile believers alike. Here’s part one of my three-part posting of my Va Yishlach commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Today’s parashah is Va Yishlach, or, “And he sent.” It covers Genesis chapters 32:3 through 36 and since the portion we are going to look at today concerns some very sensitive material, let’s start out in prayer.

“L-RD, as we come before You to study Your Word, I pray that You would open our hearts and heal any old wounds that You, L-RD, may find there. Accomplish Your work in us, so that we may be a better reflection of You, L-RD. Help us to live out Your truth in spite of our pain by the grace and power of the Messiah, Yeshua. Amen.”

This is not a message I’ve looked forward to teaching. My reluctance is based not on a lack of study or preparation, but because of the subject matter, which may touch close to home for many people. Now, certainly, I could have played it safe. I could have spoken about Jacob wrestling with an angel of the
L-RD. However, as I prayed and studied through the full passage, my focus kept coming back to the rape of Dinah.

Let’s begin with some background.

Genesis 34:1-2 (NLT)
One day Dinah, Leah’s daughter, went to visit some of the young women who lived in the area. But when the local prince, Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, saw her, he took her and raped her.

Now, in the process of committing this atrocity, the Torah says Shechem became enamored of Dinah and tried to win her affection and seek her hand in marriage. When word of his crime reached Jacob, his sons were out in the field and while waiting for them to return, Shechem’s father, Hamor, approached Jacob to work out a peaceful arrangement. Yet when Jacob’s sons returned from the field, they were enraged at the atrocity Shechem had committed.

Now, this is one of the most natural and understandable reactions I can imagine. A terrible crime has been committed, one of the worst things imaginable. They’re shocked. They’re angry. They’re furious. It would be surprising if they were not feeling this way!

But how do they handle to their anger? Do they pray to The L-RD? If so, it’s not apparent by their actions. Now, this is a time prior to the giving of the Torah to Moses, so Jacob’s sons would be subject to the Noachide laws. Do they follow those commands and subject Shechem to judgment by a court? No. The sons of Jacob are thirsting for justice, retribution, revenge! And they proceed to carry that out by their own hands.

The sons of Jacob lead Hamor and Shechem into an agreement; they will allow Shechem to take Dinah as wife, and mix their two peoples into one, on the condition that all of the Hivite males become circumcised as they are. And we know what happened after they agreed. On the third day, when the pain of their circumcision was at its greatest, Levi and Simeon invade and slaughter every male in the town.

Now, Jacob was not pleased with his sons for dealing dishonestly with Shechem and Hamor. He rebukes them!

Genesis 34: 30
Afterward Jacob said to Levi and Simeon, “You have made me stink among all the people of this land–among all the Canaanites and Perizzites. We are so few that they will come and crush us. We will all be killed!”

Jacob’s concern here is, in part, a matter of self-preservation, rather than a spiritual objection. That leaves him open to the rationalization his sons offer in response.

Genesis 34: 31
“Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” they retorted angrily.

One thing I noticed here is that there is no response to this rationalization and this apparent absence of a rebuttal has led some Torah scholars to the false conclusion that their actions were, if not exactly perfect, at least defensible. But is that so? In the wake of certain atrocities, is it OK to rationalize away even the most heinous acts in the name of retribution?

Let’s consider that for a moment. While what Shechem did to Dinah was indefensible, was the response by Levi and Simeon proportional to the crime? Shechem raped one person, and in response, Levi and Simeon wipe out an entire town! Dozens, perhaps even hundreds of people died for the sin of one man. Even the Torah teaches, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” which is about proportionality. But this is more like, “A life for a tooth, and a village for a life!” In other words, it’s not proportional to the original crime.

Moving to how this relates to us today, I would like to suggest that the central question here is not applicable only to the sons of Jacob, or this particular crime. Out-of-proportion responses to injustices are a problem prevalent in the world today … even among believers.

How often have you heard sentiments expressed that sound something like this:

“I’m a peaceful person … but if you mess with my family, we’re going to have issues.”

“I believe in forgiveness… but NO ONE disrespects me.”

“If the driver of that car that just cut us off gets us into an accident, I’ll make him regret it.”

Or how about this: “I submit myself to the direction of Yeshua and the prompting of His Holy Spirit… but if anyone ever did something to hurt or damage one of my children, they’d better lock me up, because I will kill them.”

Now, I’ve heard these statements and others made over the years. I admit I’ve even made similar statements myself at times. Yet every one of these statements I’ve just quoted, I heard come not from worldly people, but out of the mouths of believers. Yes, that includes Messianics!

That tells me these feelings are not uncommon. As Shimon recently pointed out to me, people can say anything they want, but until you’re in an extreme situation like that, you simply don’t know how you’re going to react.

While that’s true, what I’d like to suggest is that I believe it is the attitude we rehearse in our minds and our speech would be our most likely course of action. And that’s dangerous.

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14
Dec

Va Yishlah Commentary, part 2 of 3

   Posted by: admin   in Torah

Equestrian fans may prefer a blog about English saddles, but those who seek to understand the Messianic mindset need look no further. Here’s part two of my three-part posting of my Va Yishlah commentary. Or listen to it!

Let me be clear: We are NOT speaking of petty offenses today. Such things are relatively easy to forgive. But when it comes to extreme violations – the rape of a sister, the molestation of a son or daughter, the assault or murder of a parent or other loved one – these crimes are the deepest violations one can think of. These things are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to forgive, apart from the direct intervention of God on our hearts, minds and actions.

Does that mean taking such actions is justifiable? Is the underlying message of this parashah that it’s OK to obey The L-RD and his commands up to a point, but if it gets really personal, then toss the Torah aside! Do whatever it takes to gain a sense of justice, because we can repent and be forgiven?

No. Absolutely not! That sort of double-mindedness is why most of us who come here from a more mainstream Christian or Evangelical background left the church in the first place! We who are Messianics believe that what is done in the flesh still counts, that our grace in Yeshua did not come cheap.

Although these are admittedly the hardest of situations, the Torah is not silent on such matters. First, what does the Bible have to say about the issue of retribution or revenge?

Romans 12:17-21
Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. For it is written, “I will take vengeance; I will repay those who deserve it,” says the L-RD. Instead, do what the Scriptures say: “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, and they will be ashamed of what they have done to you.” Don’t let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Now, most of us are familiar with this passage. Yet people make the mistake of assuming that by placing a matter like this into the hands of God, they are somehow being pushovers, or it means the offenders will only get the justice due them in the world to come. But this is not so. In fact, throughout the Bible, The L-RD promises that the feet of the unrighteous will slip and they will have their destiny overtake them. Sometimes, we’re just not aware of it when it happens.

So let’s look at the situation with Jacob’s sons and how they dealt with the rape of their sister. What does the Torah say about how to handle the rape of a young woman who is not someone’s wife or engaged?

Deuteronomy 22:28-29
“If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.

Remember, people of Jacob’s time were under the Noachide laws. Yet Shechem and Hamor were going above and beyond the cure the Torah demands. They were trying to make the situation right! Yet instead of trusting God, Levi and Simeon substituted The L-RD’s justice for their own, because they allowed anger to rule them, rather than the Spirit of The L-RD.

That is really what is at issue here. Retribution and revenge arise from a core emotion of anger. How are we to deal with our anger? Can allowing anger to rule us solve anything? Let’s look at what we are told in the book of:

James 1: 20
Your anger can never make things right in God’s sight.

Soak that in. Indulging our anger can never make things right in God’s sight. Never! Ultimately, this is a problem of serving our own desires, rather than serving God.

Did Jacob’s sons know what they ought to do? Yes. The Noachide laws include prohibitions against murder and falsehood, and a command to set up courts to deal with those such as Shechem.

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14
Dec

Va Yishlah Commentary, part 3 of 3

   Posted by: admin   in Torah

One can find blogs that drone on endlessly about cat supplies, but where else can you find solid Messianic teaching? Only here at MessianicMusings.com! Here’s the final part of my three-part posting of my Va Yishlah commentary. Or listen to it!

So what about us? When we are faced with our own extreme circumstances, do we know what we ought to do? Well, if we claim to be Messianics, trusting in Yeshua and led by the Ruach haKodesh in all we do, then yes, we should.

Yet do we live up to that? Not always. Too often, we also let anger control us, rather than the Spirit of God. And there are consequences for doing so. The consequence is that we bring disrespect to the name of the God we claim to serve! And when we do that, as Romans suggests, “the world blasphemes the name of the L-RD” because of us.

Now, I always wondered where the Scriptures said, “the world blasphemes the name of The L-RD because of you.” Well, I found it. It comes from the story of David and Bathsheba. As we read in:

II Samuel 12:13-14
Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the L-RD.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the L-RD has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. But you have given the enemies of the L-RD great opportunity to despise and blaspheme him, so your child will die.”

Will God punish us as he did David? We don’t know. On the one hand, He deals with each of us individually. Yet it would be arrogant to assume he would exempt us from consequences when he did not exempt David. We can never be sure. David’s example must always serve as a warning not to abandon our obedience to The L-RD and His commands under any circumstances.

Remember, we do not set aside our own anger, our thirst for vengeance, justice and retribution, for the sake of those who have wronged us! We do it, in part, for ourselves, to avoid bitterness and even more sin. But more importantly, we do it to protect and exalt the name of our God.

Whenever we give into selfish desires, we hurt more than just ourselves. We damage the reputation of God in the eyes of the world!

Too often, people do terrible things out of selfish desires, and then claim to be believers! Dennis Rader, the serial killer known as the Bind-Torture-Kill Strangler, was the president of his church board and claimed from prison to be a genuine believer, despite the brutal murders of at least ten people over more than twenty years. Such hypocrisy only brings scorn on the name of God!

Remember, we represent the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob and his Messiah, Yeshua! We want people to look at us and see God’s character, rather than for people to look at God and see only ours.

Shabbat Shalom.

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