Some folks write Web pages that go on endlessly about Blackberry plants in Asia or something obscure like that. But here at MessianicMusings.com, we’re all about the Torah and the Messiah Yeshua. Here’s my commentary for Passover Day 3. Or listen to it! Shalom.
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashah for today is for the third day of Passover and covers Exodus 33:12 through Exodus 34:26 as well as Numbers 28:19-25. The main body of this text comes to us from the parashah known as Ki Tisa, which we studied only a few weeks ago. So while much of this week’s reading will be familiar to many of you, I’d like to focus on something I didn’t spend as much time on a few weeks ago, and that is the specific qualities named by The L-RD when He agrees to show Moses his glory.
Now, there is a context for this. You’ll remember that the people of Israel had just demanded that Aaron build them a calf of gold to worship because Moses was taking – they felt – too long on the mountain. Moses shared the L-RD’s anger at this betrayal, but also demonstrated his concern for the L-RD’s reputation by talking to Him and convincing the L-RD not to strike down the Israelites in anger, but to keep His promises to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so that the L-RD’s name would not be cursed by His enemies.
So, as this portion begins, Moses has convinced God to accompany His people into the land he promised and Moses has developed such trust and intimacy with the L-RD that he has asked to see the L-RD in his glory. We read this in:
Exodus 33:17-20
And the L-RD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the L-RD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the L-RD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Now, this can be a disconcerting passage, in context, for it was not long before this passage that we are told that the L-RD would meet with Moses in the Tent of Meeting, and that he would speak to Moses face-to-face.
Yet here, only a few verses later in Exodus, we read that the L-RD says that no one may see His face and live. So, is the Torah contradicting itself, as some may charge? Not at all. Let’s look at the other passage in context.
Exodus 33:10-11
Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The L-RD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Notice the language in this passage. The L-RD would speak to Moses face-to-face … as a man speaks with his friend. Is this a description about the physical presence of the L-RD, or is this a description about the nature of His conversation with Moses? To help us understand this passage, let’s take a look at the Strong’s entry for the word “face.”
Strong’s 6440 paniym
1) face
1b) presence, person
1f) as adv of loc/temp
1f1) before and behind, toward, in front of, forward, formerly, from beforetime, before
As you can see here, the Hebrew word used is paniym, and it can mean face, presence, person, and as an adverb, it can indicate location and temperament. It is in this context that I believe the paniym is being used – to describe how the L-RD (subject) would speak (verb) to Moses (object). Therefore, in this sense, face-to-face is not being used to describe the L-RD’s location relative to Moses, but his temperament toward Moses.
This is supported by the phrase that follows it, “as a man speaks to his friend,” which is intended to further define what is meant by the adverbial phrase, “face-to-face.”
So, how does a man speak to his friend? Usually that would mean directly, without pretense, without one’s guard up, and without the normal formality that one adopts when talking with strangers.
So, that is how it is between the L-RD and Moses when finally He agrees to show Moses His glory. We read this in:
Exodus 34:5-8
Then the L-RD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the L-RD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The L-RD, the L-RD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.
Now, when the L-RD is revealing Himself to Moses like this, He’s not literally saying, “The L-RD, the L-RD.” Instead, He is using his personal name, which we know to be revealed in the Hebrew letters, yod-hey-vav-hey. So the L-RD is being very revealing at this time with Moses and what I’d like to focus on for the remainder of our study today are the personal qualities the L-RD reveals about Himself in this passage.
The first quality the L-RD reveals about Himself is His compassionate nature. We know this to be true by the testimony of other passages in Scripture, as well as the L-RD’s actions as revealed through the Torah and the rest of the Tenakh. For example, we read this in:
Nehemiah 9:31
Even so, in your great compassion, you didn’t completely destroy them; nor did you abandon them, for you are a compassionate and merciful God.
Compassionate, gracious, merciful. All of these words are similar and used to describe various facets of the nature of God’s character. We find that the word used here for compassion is the Hebrew word racham.
Strong’s 7355 racham
1) to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion
1b1) to have compassion, be compassionate
1b1a) of God, man
1c) (Pual) to be shown compassion, be compassionate
So we can see that what the L-RD is saying is that he is a loving and patient God. Why would he say that?
Well, because ever since the fall in the Garden, man’s core instinct is not to trust the L-RD. And we don’t trust because we lack faith. So in showing Moses His glory, his true nature, we see here that part of that picture is compassion – racham – which speaks about a loving, merciful, tender and affectionate nature that the L-RD possesses.
Nearly everything that follows this self-description of the L-RD to Moses is an elaboration on this same concept. Take “slow to anger” as an example. Now, some would point to certain passages, such as the flood, and question the L-RD’s slowness to anger. What we often lose sight of, however, is that for One who is unable to allow anything unholy into His presence, the L-RD is incredibly patient.
Prior to the flood, the earth was around for nearly 2,000 from the time of Adam’s creation in the Garden. The L-RD could have justly wiped out the earth then and there, after the man and woman ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He could have destroyed the earth after Cain took Abel’s life. Any number of stops along the way, the L-RD could have poured out His full wrath upon us all, and yet he did not. In fact, even when the flood waters rose around Noah’s ark, he had already promised a Messiah many times over. In the midst of the judgment and correction of the flood, he was showing his compassion and his slowness to anger.
I mean, the Torah only speaks of six thousand years of history, and the first two thousand years are known among the rabbis as the time of desolation. In all that time, only Enoch pleased God sufficiently in his obedience that the L-RD took him up to heaven without suffering death first. Think of two thousand years and millions (if not billions) of people living in all that time, and yet humanity still fell short of God’s perfect standard and often rebelled against whatever He did reveal, such as in the Garden. I’d call that patient, slow to anger and whatever else you can dream up.
We know that He is abounding in love and faithfulness and maintaining His love to many. But it’s the next part of the L-RD’s description of Himself to Moses that seems at odds.
On the one hand, the L-RD says He forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet in the same breath, He reveals that He “does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Right?
So how can God, on the one hand, forgive wickedness, rebellion and sin, yet still say He does not leave the guilty unpunished? After all, they are almost diametrically opposed concepts! Either a person is forgiven and not punished… or a person is punished in their guilt, but not forgiven. Right? That’s what the world would say.
Yet with the L-RD, there’s a solution to this seeming contradiction. You see, if we stand on our own before the L-RD, we do indeed fall short of his standard. However, we are not on our own before the L-RD, are we? No, we have the promised Messiah, Yeshua, interceding between us and the L-RD, acting as our advocate and redeemer, paying a price for that forgiveness that would have been beyond us on our own.
So there is the answer. If those who practice wickedness, rebellion and sin remain in their sorry state, then the L-RD’s justice will be visited on them, just as the L-RD promised. If, however, they do repent and turn to the Messiah Yeshua, God will indeed forgive them.
Does that mean the guilty go unpunished?
Not at all; if one truly trusts in the Messiah Yeshua, the punishment has indeed been dealt out; yet instead of falling on those who committed these things, the punishment falls on the head of our Messiah Yeshua.
So the L-RD could offer forgiveness to the guilty – and we’re all guilty – and yet honestly say that He punishes the guilty. Because anyone who is guilty and repents can be forgiven while, through the work of our Messiah Yeshua, their guilt is still punished.
There is much to learn about God from these character-revealing words, and as we look over all it teaches us about who God is, there is a single word that comes to mind each time I witness a new layer of meaning revealed. You’ll recognize it from our Passover Seder.
Dayienu! It would have been enough! So let’s recount the L-RD’s goodness now, and each time I share a quality, I’d like you to respond with, “It would have been enough!”
If the L-RD was gracious and compassionate, but was not slow to anger… It would have been enough!
If the L-RD was slow to anger, but was not abounding in love and faithfulness… It would have been enough!
If the L-RD was abounding in love and faithfulness, but was not maintaining love to many… It would have been enough!
If the L-RD was maintaining love to many, but was not forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin … it would have been enough!
If the L-RD was forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin, but was leaving the guilty unpunished … it would have been enough!
If the L-RD was NOT leaving the guilty unpunished, but had withheld from us the Messiah … it would have been enough.
Yet the L-RD has richly blessed us in all these many ways and yet has also offered us the promised Messiah, Yeshua, to take our punishment upon Himself. It is more than we have earned, more than we deserve, and praise be to the L-RD for all He offers us, both through His Torah and His Messiah.
Dayienu! IT IS ENOUGH AND MORE THAN ENOUGH!
Shabbat Shalom.
My Tazriah-Metsora Commentary
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
You won’t get free life insurance quotes here at MessianicMusings.com. There are better sites for that. Here, we’re all about Torah and Messiah Yeshua. Here’s my Tazriah-Metsora commentary. Or listen to it! Shalom.
Shabbat Shalom.
Our parashahs for today are Tazriah or “She bears seed” and Metsora or “Infected one,” covers Leviticus 12:1 through Leviticus 15:33. Now, this week’s reading covers such topics as pregnancy and childbirth, skin diseases, bodily discharges and the laws surrounding purification from all of these afflictions. I know, I know, it’s fascinating stuff, right?
Well, the point these two readings seem to drive home is this: there are plenty of things that make you unclean. Did you notice that simply touching a mildew-y cloth can make you unclean? Or marital relations between a husband and a wife can make you unclean? Or even sitting on a piece of furniture that has been used by a person with a skin disease, or even a woman who is going through her monthly cycle can also make you unclean?
Now, there are detailed in this week’s readings various ways to restore oneself to a clean state, but there’s an important distinction to be made here, and that is this: clean and unclean are not necessarily the same as sinful and holy.
In fact, what I think this week’s reading makes clear is that uncleanness is the natural state of affairs for life in this world. Let’s take a look at an example of this in:
So, following childbirth, the mother is considered unclean for thirty-three days if she has a son, and for twice as long – sixty-six days – if she has a daughter. Why should this state of uncleanness last twice as long if she has a boy rather than a girl? For one reason only: it’s what God commanded.
But the point is, childbirth is part of life in the world. Should a husband not even give his wife a kiss on the cheek for a month or two after she gives birth, just to avoid becoming unclean? There might be some unhappy wives if that were the case.
See, a state of uncleanness and a state of sin are not always the same thing. Think about it. Let’s say you’re working in the kitchen and your hand slips and you cut your thumb. Blood seeps out. Guess what? That’s a bodily emission and you’re now ritually unclean! Does this mean you’ve sinned against the L-RD? I hope not! Does this mean you need to repent for cutting yourself? I don’t think so. But do you want to go before the L-RD in the Tent of Meeting – or, to service here – with your hand and clothes covered in blood from dealing with that cut? Probably not, right?
And if someone pats him on the shoulder or sits on a chair he sat on, they’re unclean, too. So what must one do to become clean again? We read this, for example, in:
Does that sound like a sin issue? Remember, according to the Torah, simple water cannot cleanse sin; forgiveness requires the shedding of blood. So being unclean does not always equal being in a state of sin; the remedy is different.
Let’s be clear here that there is more than one type of uncleanness. In this case, we are talking about ceremonial uncleanness, which is related to the Tent of Meeting, the Temple, and situations in which one is coming into the presence of God. We serve a holy God who can allow nothing that is unclean into His presence.
But there is a type of uncleanness related to sin. So, just to be clear, that’s not the type of uncleanness we’re talking about in this passage. We’re talking about ritual uncleanness.
And the truth is, the whole world is in a state of ritual uncleanness, and you can’t avoid it. We live in an unclean world, and being unclean is not unusual at all – it’s normal. Being ritually unclean is not a sin; it’s part of living in the world.
Does that mean it’s unimportant? Certainly not. You can be ritually unclean in this world, and it’s not a problem – until you want to go into the presence of the L-RD. There is no uncleanness with God – He is eternally pure. So, as we are, as we normally exist in the world, we also are unable to enter into the presence of God because we are unclean.
Yet is this state of ritual uncleanness all that different from other ways in which we are unlike The L-RD? God is eternal; we are mortal. Those who are mortal cannot look on the face of the L-RD and live, and yet in the world to come, we will know him in exactly that way. So can we truly enter into the presence of the L-RD as we are now, or must we undergo a fundamental change? We learn this from:
Did you catch that? Flesh and blood is what we are now and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In the same way, the unclean cannot inherit the clean; the mortal cannot inherit the immortal. But we will all be changed. The cleansings, the rituals, the sacrifices that we see in this week’s Torah portion are all to point us toward that promise, that future reality.
Now, we are like all flesh and blood: unclean and mortal. But in the world to come, that will not be the case. We will be made clean, we will cast off our mortality, so that we may dwell in the presence of the L-RD in a manner that will allow Him to dwell with us.
We do not achieve this on our own; we will be changed by the L-RD. This transformation is what the ceremonies detailed here in this week’s reading point to.
While this week’s portion may seem a bit dry, a bit boring, and about things that simply do not relate to our lives today, the truths that underlie these teachings are lasting and permanent. It tells us about the nature of our humanity, our need for our Messiah, and if we listen to Messiah and obey all that He commands us to do, it hints at our future, our eternity, where we will have the ability to enter into the eternal Tent of Meeting to dwell in the house of the L-RD forever.
Shabbat Shalom.
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