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My R’eh commentary is ready for the weekend!

Friday, August 6th, 2010

I completed my commentary for R’eh (a Hebrew word that means “See” and is the name of this week’s Torah portion) in only a few hours last night; Stan even got his feedback to me shortly after I emailed it to him this morning and I immediately incorporated his suggestions.

It’s becoming really comfortable to write Torah commentaries these days; that’s because I’ve been through all the parashahs several times now as a reader, and at least once each as a commentator, so I’m more at ease with finding my way around each parashah, isolating something of interest, and teaching it as best I’m able.

We’ll see how it goes over this Shabbat; look for it to get added to this space on Sunday or thereabouts.

Tags: R'eh, Torah commentary
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My 2009 VaYeshev Commentary

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Here’s my 2009 VaYeshev Commentary! Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is VaYeshev, a Hebrew word that means “And he settled.” It covers Genesis chapters 37 through 40.

Now, a lot happens in this week’s portion and one could do at least four commentaries with the material, but what I’ve decided to focus on this week is chapter 39. As this chapter opens, we see that from the moment Joseph is sold as a slave in Egypt, the L-RD proves His faithfulness by blessing Joseph in all he does. In fact, he becomes such a worthwhile worker for his first owner, Potipher, that Joseph is placed in charge of everything Potipher is responsible for. We read this in:

Genesis 39:6-7
So he left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master’s wife took notice of Joseph and said, “Come to bed with me!”

Keep in mind that at this time, it is believed that Joseph is a young man still in his late teens – perhaps eighteen or so. As anyone who is the parent of a teenager, or at least has watched teen comedies, can tell you, this is not a time in a young man’s life when he is necessarily at his most mature and self-controlled, especially in the area of sexual temptation. And the danger of this situation is already hinted at in these very verses. As we read in:

Weekly Midrash, vol. 1, pg 193:
Ramban writes: Why does the verse call her here the wife of his master (39:7)? To show us that even though she was his master’s wife, and Joseph ought to have been afraid to disobey her, yet in this matter he was unafraid and feared God alone.

So it is clear that Joseph, despite his hardships, is made of sterner stuff that many young men his age; he fears the L-RD more than he desires to give in to temptation, for he turns down Potipher’s wife. But I believe there’s more than a “Just Say No To Temptation” message in this tale about this period in Joseph’s life, so let’s examine how he says no. We read this in:

Genesis 39:8-10
But he refused. “With me in charge,” he told her, “my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her.

Did you catch that? Not only did he refuse to go to bed with her, but he refused to even “be with her.” The Hebrew here suggests that this means not only did Joseph refuse to have sex with her, but he avoided situations of even being alone with her.

How could a young man show such restraint? Was it as shallow a reason as he didn’t find Potipher’s wife attractive? I don’t think so.

But perhaps it’s this. Perhaps it is because our current culture is incorrect when they suggest that one cannot expect obedience and restraint from young people. Some have called this “the soft bigotry of low expectations” and too often, I believe, we don’t expect enough from young men and women when it comes to restraint and a willingness to obey the L-RD. The Sages also suggest an additional motive, as we read in:

Weekly Midrash, vol. 1, pg 193:
Joseph did not want to lie with her in This World, and then again be her companion in the World to Come. For he who lies with another man’s wife goes to Gehinnom together with her.

Now, Gehinnom is a Hebrew word that has the same connotative meaning as the word, “hell.” It is a place of suffering and complete separation from the L-RD. And unlike the popular Hollywood images of hell today, there is no aspect of Gehinnom that is desirable or fun. It’s not a party.

Yet is a fear of hell or punishment enough to banish temptation from anyone’s minds, young or old? In all honesty, that seldom works. If it did work, no child would ever grab a cookie from the cookie jar without permission – at least, they would not grab one the second time.

Could it be that Joseph’s ability to resist Potipher’s wife comes because of his deeply-rooted belief in the promises of the L-RD for his life? Let’s remember that from an early age, Joseph has received prophetic promises from the L-RD, dreams that depict him at being destined for great things. These are the dreams that caused his brothers to be so jealous of him that they sold him into slavery in the first place. Yet despite being sold into slavery, being moved to Egypt against his will, and serving in the house of a man who did not worship the same God Joseph worshipped, he does not allow bitterness and disillusionment to overcome him. He clings to the promises of the L-RD on his life, even when his life circumstances seem to be leading him further away from fulfillment of those promises.

So the question is, can promises of a desirable future motivate young people to put aside distracting influences in order to achieve a goal? I believe so.

In fact, the examples are many. One need only study the lives of dedicated Olympic and professional athletes to find examples of sacrificing the pleasures of the moment to achieve a desirable goal. The top achievers in athletics seldom have prolific romantic and social lives; they seldom have additional hobbies and outside interests; they remained focused on achieving their goal to the exclusion of such distractions.

Certainly, not all athletes pull this off. Tales of those who get in trouble with drugs or sex and other distractions abound. You can read about it on just about any sports page. And yet, these distractions either are not found in the lives of the top athletes, or such distractions creep in after they’ve achieved the top level of success and they no longer feel challenged.

In a similar way, one could view Joseph’s focus on God’s promises for his life as being analogous to the young woman who practices for hours on end, each day, in order to make the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team; or the young man who “doesn’t have time for parties and girlfriends” because he’s so focused in making it to the NFL or the NBA.

God has set lofty promises before Joseph and, like a dedicated athlete, when the distraction of sexual temptation comes to him in the form of Potipher’s wife, Joseph so desires the goal God has promised him, he has no time for, nor interest in, the distraction that could keep him from achieving that goal.

I believe this focus on God’s promises is what gives even a young man like Joseph the ability to say no to temptation. And he doesn’t just say no once, does he? No, the Torah teaches that Potipher’s wife sought him out daily, trying to tempt him, hoping to catch him in a weak moment.

You know, much is made of “weak moments.” They are a frequent excuse given by those who give in to temptation. “Oh, I wouldn’t normally do that, but I was caught in a weak moment.” Joseph avoids such a weak moment, but how?

I believe a lot of it has to do with how he avoids temptation. Already we’ve read that Joseph avoided even “being with her.” He tried to avoid being alone with her, even though she was his master’s wife. And there’s more to his strategy of resistance. Let’s read on in:

Genesis 39:11-12
One day he went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the household servants was inside. She caught him by his cloak and said, “Come to bed with me!” But he left his cloak in her hand and ran out of the house.

So there we have it, the moment in this entire episode during which even well-intentioned young people could fall back into the excuse of having a weak moment, and allow themselves to give in to temptation. The Torah tells us Joseph was on the job and none of the other servants were there that day. In all the other circumstances, Potipher’s wife had approached him while others were around, and the fear of discovery could have been a sobering factor.

But now, that excuse is gone. There is no one else to see them, no one who could discover them; it’s just Joseph and Potipher’s wife, all alone in the house. And she doesn’t merely proposition him, but grabs him by his clothing, an aggressive gesture meant to control Joseph.

So does he surrender to temptation? No, Joseph is still valuing the promises of the L-RD over a temporary moment of pleasure with another man’s wife. So what’s his response?

Does he spend time sharing about the plan of God for her life out of the Torah?

Does he offer to pray with her?

Does he say no, but stick around and allow her to continue grabbing at him?

No! He does none of these things! What does he do? He flees! He runs! He gets himself out of the house entirely!

And he flees so eagerly, he doesn’t even care when Potipher’s wife doesn’t let go of his cloak! In fact, we’re told his cloak is ripped off his body and he still runs away!

You see, too often people resist sin only half-heartedly. They say they want to choose the path of righteousness, but they keep themselves in the path of temptation, rather than getting out of its way. In fact, some believers consider it a form of proving their character to plunge themselves right into the middle of temptation and then try to resist it.

In the middle of the third century of the Common Era, one Byzantine community of believers was discovered testing their level of purity by having single men and women, including a bishop, sleep and cohabit together without having sex. Cyprian condemned the practice and put an end to it, but it is still considered an ideal in the minds of some ascetic-minded people, even though the results of such a foolish test is often out-of-wedlock pregnancies, rather than spiritual growth.

And we see a similar lack of wisdom today? New believers are often rescued by the L-RD out of habitual sins, such as drinking, and yet, in their zeal to share their newfound faith, where is the first place they want to go? Back to the bars to share their faith, when that’s the last place they should be!

That’s not the Torah’s advice for avoiding temptation, is it? What does the Bible say?

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee sexual immorality.

In the L-RD’s Prayer, Yeshua tells us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Does God lead us into temptation? No, but he does lead us out! We either lead ourselves into temptation, or we flee it. That’s how Joseph avoided sexual immorality with Potipher’s wife. He didn’t stick around to prove he was super-spiritual or especially holy. He knew he was as prone to temptation as anyone… so he ran the other way.

Of course, choosing righteousness rarely is rewarded by the world, and we all know how Joseph’s story plays out. Despite doing the right thing, a false accusation is made against him by the spurned wife of Potipher, and he’s jailed for doing the very thing he made sure not to do!

Some would say his comfort is in knowing this accusation is false, but does Joseph alone know the truth, apart from God? Perhaps not. The crime Joseph was accused of was usually punishable by death, yet Joseph is only jailed. Why?

Here’s a clue from the:

Weekly Midrash, vol. 1, pg 194:
Chizkuni writes: Why did they not put him to death? Because there were no witnesses.

Had Joseph given into temptation, none of the promises the L-RD had made to him would have been fulfilled through Joseph. The L-RD would have found another way. By fleeing temptation, Joseph proves even a hormonal teenage male can obey the L-RD and not submit to temptation. By obeying the L-RD, his life became a shining example, and indeed, our best shadow of the promised Messiah – the Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Torah commentary, VaYeshev
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My 2009 VaYetze Commentary

Monday, November 30th, 2009

If you’ve come seeking Torah wisdom, settle down and read my 2009 Torah commentary on VaYetze. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is VaYetze, a Hebrew word that means “And he went out.” It covers Genesis chapter 28, verse 10 through chapter 32, verse 2. This is another Torah portion rich in narrative, symbolism and meaning, and what I’d like to concentrate on is Jacob’s relationship to Leah and Rachel.

As we recall from last week’s Torah reading, Jacob has triumphed over his brother Esau, Rebekah learned that Esau sought to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac was gone, and so both Isaac and Rebekah urged Jacob to leave the area until Esau has forgiven him, and not to take a wife from among the Hittites, as Esau had done, but to return to the family of Rebekah, to her brother – Jacob’s uncle – who has two daughters.

So, as we begin this week’s reading, Jacob has traveled east, beyond the land promised to Abraham, and as Jacob enters the lands where his grandfather Abraham once dwelled, we read this in:

Genesis 29:1-3
Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

Jacob has come to the lands belonging to Laban, his mother’s brother, and I find it interesting that what he encounters are sheep, and a well, covered with a stone that must be rolled away for the water to flow. Let’s read on:

Genesis 29:7-8
“Look,” he [Jacob] said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.” “We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”

Now, on the pashat – the literal level – this is simply what is happening as Jacob enters the land of his mother’s brother, the lands of Laban. Yet I believe that as we begin to search for the sod – the deeper meaning, and begin to remez – to see what this passage brings to mind, we’ll find much more going on in these seemingly mundane actions.

So on seeing what is before him, what does Jacob say? It’s not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water them and send them back out into the fields. But this cannot be, he is told, until what else happens? Until the stone is rolled away. Only then can there be access to the water, and the sheep need to be watered before they can be sent back into the field.

From a Messianic mindset, this entire passage is highly suggestive of the first appearance of Messiah. When Jacob sees the flocks being gathered, he says it is not yet time for them to be gathered. This should remind us of how the Jewish people of the first century were looking for the appearance of the Messiah, and expecting an earthly deliverance – the establishment of an earthly kingdom with Messiah as king. In other words, they were expecting to be gathered and delivered but, as Jacob points out, from the L-RD’s perspective the sun was still high in the sky, the day not yet over, and there was more work yet to be done in the fields.

Would the appearance of Messiah in the first century be the right time to expect Messiah’s earthly reign? No.

Even rabbinic tradition teaches about the seven thousand year plan of the L-RD for His creation; in the first century, they were completing the fourth day of that plan, the fourth one-thousand-year period, and bringing to an end a two-thousand year period the Sages described as the Era of Instruction. And since there was another two thousand year period remaining – the Era of Messiah or Salvation – we can look at Jacob’s words here as a gentle reminder of that.

Yet what ushers in the Messianic era? That is alluded to here as well. “We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled away … then we will water the sheep.” Does this align with what we know of Messiah’s time? It does. Under Roman rule, nearly the entire world was under one authority and all the nations to which the tribes of Israel had scattered spoke a common language. So, in a sense, the flocks were gathered; yet that alone was not enough. What else had to happen? The stone had to be rolled away. This clearly alludes to Messiah’s resurrection from the dead.

And what would these conditions being met allow? For the flocks to be watered – refreshed. And then what? Sent back out into the fields. In the same way, Yeshua’s time on earth was a time of refreshing for the people of the L-RD, a long-awaited fulfillment, and something that empowered those who clung to the Messiah – the Living Torah of the L-RD – to complete the work ahead, the work of the dawning Messianic era.

Taken to its deeper meaning and its allusions to Messiah, this seemingly mundane moment from the life of Jacob is suddenly filled up with new meaning and significance. And there’s more to come, as we read on in:

Genesis 29:9-11
While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess. When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud.

Here, Rachel becomes an allusion to Messiah – the Great Shepherd. As she arrives with her father’s sheep – an allusion to those who trust in the shepherd and who belong to the father of the shepherd – this is just rich, isn’t it? – what is Jacob’s response? In this Torah picture, Jacob represents Israel, eagerly rolling the stone away and embracing the Messiah, weeping for joy at Messiah’s arrival.

Now, I’d like to move on to another part of this week’s portion, and explore another part of Jacob’s life and relationship with his wives; we’ll find that it paints a different Torah picture than this one, but one that is still important to notice. Let’s move on to:

Genesis 29:16-17
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel was lovely in form, and beautiful.

Now many people have speculated as to what is meant when the Torah describes Leah as having weak eyes. Some Bible encyclopedias will talk about poor eyesight being a blemish according to the Near Eastern standards for beauty. Rabbi Stan has suggested it might be an indirect way of saying that Leah was “hard on the eyes.” And one Jewish midrash I read suggested that there had been an original plan between Rebecca and Laban to have Rachel given to Jacob, while Leah, the older of the two sisters, would be given to Esau, the older of the two brothers; as the midrash explains, Leah’s eyes had grown weak from a lifetime of weeping over her fate, horrified she should be promised to such a corrupt man as Esau.

But let’s see what exactly “weak eyes” means in Hebrew. There are two words that represent the concept translated as weak eyes; they are rak and ’ayin. Here’s the insights we gain from the Strong’s:

STRONG’S H7390 rak {rak}
• AV – tender 9, soft 3, fainthearted + 03824 1, one 1, weak 1, tenderhearted + 03824 1; 16
• 1) tender, soft, delicate, weak 1a) tender, delicate (of flesh) 1b) weak of heart, timid 1c) soft (of words) 1c1) gentle words (subst)

STRONG’S H5869 `ayin {ah’-yin}
• AV – eye 495, sight 216, seem 19, colour 12, fountain 11, well 11, face 10, pleased + 03190 10, presence 8, displeased + 03415 8, before 8, pleased + 03474 4, conceit 4, think 4, misc 66; 887

The most common definitions of both words would give us the rough translation of “tender-eyes” or “delicate eyes.” So perhaps this suggests vision impairment. But some of the alternate definitions could suggest here a timid presence; perhaps she was painfully shy.

One possibility I like is that she had a gentle conceit – suggesting humility. And this interpretation would make sense, because although she is not loved, each time she bears Jacob a child, she expresses her hope that maybe this time, she’ll capture her husband’s devotion. Even when that doesn’t seem to happen, she bears the pain of his love for her sister Rachel in relative silence. That would suggest a gentle conceit.
And there’s another possibility.

Growing up, I often would rush home from school to watch my favorite after-school TV show – reruns of Gilligan’s Island, which ran for several years in syndication back then. Anyone who has seen that show will remember that there are two younger women among the castaways; Ginger, the movie star, and MaryAnn, the Kansas farm girl. Now Ginger was the eye-catching beauty on the show; the one everyone would notice first. But as you watched, you began to realize it was humble MaryAnn who seemed more pleasant to be around.

Perhaps that is what the Torah is also telling us about Leah and Rachel; while Rachel is an eye-catcher, could it be that Leah is actually the better wife?

Let’s explore this further and more deeply, because there’s some significance here beyond the debate over which sister – Leah or Rachel – was cuter. So let’s read on in:

Genesis 29:18-20
Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

So, it’s obvious Jacob was in love with Rachel first and foremost. And anyone who has read the parashah knows how the story plays out; after working for Laban for seven years, Jacob ends up with Leah as his wife, rather than Rachel. When he confronts Laban about the deception, Laban gives him this evocative explanation in:

Genesis 29:26-28
Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.” And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

Whenever one encounters sevens in Torah, it is significant and naturally brings to mind the time of Jacob’s Trouble. Here, we are told Jacob should finish his bridal week with Leah, then he can have Rachel, his desired bride, in exchange for seven more years of work.

In this Torah picture, Leah becomes representative of those who come to faith in Messiah before the time of Jacob’s trouble – the tribulation period of Revelation – who are taken in the catching away of the righteous to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Jacob becomes the shadow of Messiah, desiring the bride promised to him. Rachel is representative of the Tribulation saints, but especially of the fullness of Israel, those who recognize Messiah after the catching away of the righteous; they endure the time of Jacob’s trouble, but are ultimately united with their bridegroom, the Messiah Yeshua. The wedding week of Leah alludes to the seven year period of Jacob’s trouble at the end of the sixth millennium; the additional seven years of work for Rachel alludes also to this.

Now, one can overthink such Torah pictures. For example, does Rachel’s theft of her father’s household gods allude if Israel’s unfaithfulness to the L-RD or not? Does Leah’s vast fertility – she personally bears half of the twelve tribes of Israel – signify that the pre-Jacob’s Trouble believers are superior to those who come to faith in Messiah in that time, or simply that they had longer to work in the field, as in the parable Yeshua told of those who labored in the final hour of the day were paid the same as those who labored from the start of the day?

When considering these questions, we must always keep in mind that these are shadows, not fulfillments; they are the lives of real people, as well as allusions to future events. Because of this, not all details may fit; but that is the way of shadows, as compared to the reliable consistency of our Fulfilled Promise, the Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Torah commentary, VaYetze
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My 2009 Toldot Commentary

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Here’s my commentary on Toldot. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Toldot, a Hebrew word that means “generations,” and covers Genesis chapter 25, verse 19 through chapter 28, verse 9. Now, this week’s Torah portion is rich with events that are deep, meaningful, full of symbolism and significance. We witness the birth of the twins who are so unlike each other – Esau and Jacob – and their struggle with each other for position from their birth well into their adult lives. And while there is a lot to learn from their story, today I would like to concentrate on a less explored and often overlooked aspect of this week’s Torah portion.

The situation I would like to spend our time on today begins in:

Genesis 26:7-11
When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah. So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” Then Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

Now, does this story sound familiar at all? It should, because very similar episodes took place in the life of Isaac’s father, Abraham – not just once, but twice. In Genesis 12, Abram conspires with Sarai to tell the Egyptians he is her brother rather than her husband, because he fears they will kill him if he reveals himself as her husband rather than her brother, due to Sarai’s great beauty. Sure enough, Pharaoh abducts Sarai and attempts to take her as his wife, but the L-RD intervenes. The fact that Sarai was abducted despite Abram’s lie should have shown Abram that trusting in the L-RD, not in deception, was the key to his safety. After all, Abram’s lie did not prevent Sarai’s abduction, but it was the L-RD Himself who inflicted the house of Pharoah to prevent him from violating Sarai.

But did Abram learn his lesson? No, for in chapter 20, Abraham runs the same gambit while in Gerar. The leader there, Abimelech, responds more righteously than Pharaoh, but is offended by Abraham’s deception once he learns the truth.

So, lesson learned, right? No, for we see in this passage from Genesis 26 that Isaac has followed in the footsteps of his father Abraham, and tells Abimelech of Gerar that Rebecca is his sister and not his wife!

Now, this raises a lot of questions. Let’s begin with one of the simplest ones: who is this Abimelech, and just how old is this guy who is around long enough to be offered the same fib by both Abraham and Isaac, father and son? Well, we learn this from the:

Strong’s H0040 ‘Abiymelek
• Abimelech = “Melek is father” or “my father is king” 1) king of Gerar in Abraham’s time 2) king of Gath in David’s time; maybe title of Philistine kings

So, it could be that both Abraham and Isaac attempted the same deception on the same king of Gerar – for Abimelech was indeed a Philistine king – or, if the name is indeed a title rather than a name – like Pharaoh or Caesar – the perhaps Abraham and Isaac dealt with different men bearing the title of Abimelech – which means “my father is king.”

Now that this source of possible confusion is dealt with, let’s explore what this pattern teaches us. The pattern begins with Abraham, who lies not just once, but twice, about his wife being his sister. Of course, this is apparently a half-truth, for, as we read in:

Genesis 20:11-12
Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.

So, Abraham’s wife was his half-sister; it wasn’t a complete lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth, either. However, this is not the case with Isaac and Rebecca. You see, Abraham had a brother, Nahor, and with his wife, Milcah, they had a son, Bethuel. Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel. That means she’s the daughter of Abraham’s brother’s son. So Bethuel is Isaac’s cousin, and therefore Bethuel’s daughter Rebekah is Isaac’s second cousin – I think. All that first cousin, second cousin stuff has always made my head hurt.

Anyway, what is clear is that Rebekah is definitely not Isaac’s sister, as he claims to Abimelech. So why would Isaac make this completely untrue claim, when at least in his father’s case the claim was partially true?

Well, we do know that much of what people learn about how to interact with others and how to get along in the world is learned first and often most powerfully by the example set by parents. This is supported by this passage from:

Exodus 34:6-7
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.”

In this passage, where the L-RD is revealing his character to Moses, we see this phrase, that children are punished for the sins of the fathers for several generations from the original sin. A similar phrase shows up in the Ten Commands, which should tell us that the L-RD is sharing with us an important truth; and it’s a truth that goes against the conventional wisdom of the world: no sin is committed in a vacuum; it has consequences that can reverberate down throughout several generations.

The lie we too often tell ourselves when we allow ourselves to slip into a sinful choice is all too familiar, isn’t it? “Oh, well, no one will know. I’m only hurting myself.”

Yet that’s not the truth, is it? And it’s not just that the same sin is repeated, but it snowballs throughout the generations; it gets worse and worse and worse.

Consider the example of David, who is called a man after God’s own heart. His sin with Bathsheba was a major sin, but it was also one of the few times he did not obey the L-RD’s commands to that point in his life.

What was the cost to him? Most people would say that it’s the death of David and Bathsheba’s first-born son, the product of their initial, sinful union. But did it end there? No.

David’s core sins were wanting a woman who was not his wife, and committing murder to get her. Let’s look at David’s sons. One of them, Amnon, lusts after his own sister so much that he rapes her. In response, one of David’s other sons, Absalom, eventually kills Amnon out of a desire for vengeance that David never delivers himself. These are ripples of the same sins David committed, repeated in his sons, only magnified.

To this list, David’s son Solomon adds a sin of his own – worshipping false gods, despite ruling from Israel’s throne is wisdom and fairness and faith in the God of Israel for many of his years, because he disobeyed the L-RD when the L-RD told him not to take too many wives, for they would lead his heart astray and cause him to worship other gods.

By the time we get to the sons of Solomon, virtually none of them follow the L-RD, and sins like rape, murder and incest abound, as well as adding to that a split in the kingdom of Israel. It gets really messy quickly, doesn’t it? I think you get the idea.

And we can see this in our own lives and the lives of those we know, can’t we? A parent might read pornography; their child does that, plus is prone to affairs; the grandchild embraces even worse perversions.

Or perhaps a parent has an occasional drink or experiments with drugs; the child becomes a drunk or an addict and by the time the grandchildren grow up, there’s an unusual tendency toward all that and more – be it selling drugs or abusing loved ones. It continues and it snowballs if left unchecked.

Does the old excuse sound a little hollow yet? “Oh, no one will ever know. And besides, I’m only hurting myself.”

History argues against that; the Bible instructs against it. Abraham’s “little white lie” – telling a half-truth about how he was related to Sarah – is already turning into a full-fledged deception by the time his son, Isaac, is married. So, where does our help come from? Who can deliver us from this “body of sin and death?”

We read this cry for help in:

Psalm 79:8-9
Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake.

Those words are inspiring, especially for those of us who know Who our Savior, our Messiah, is. And the L-RD will indeed forgive us, just as He did David, just as He did Abraham and Isaac, just as He has throughout history.

Yet that inspiring Psalm was written by David who, although forgiven by God, saw so much generational corruption seep into the lives of his direct descendants. Sure, David is the “father” of Messiah Yeshua, but he is also the father of Amnon, Absalom and Solomon, isn’t he? What’s the missing element? Is it only trusting in Messiah Yeshua? After all, David lived generations before Yeshua; he didn’t have the Messiah like we do, right?

Not exactly. David had the promise of Messiah; the only difference between David and ourselves is that David looked forward to the promised Messiah, while we look back to the fulfilled promise of Messiah in the person of Yeshua.

So, what is the missing element? What can help us avoid David’s fate and escape our own generational curses? Well, notice that after David’s sin with Bathsheba, after losing his first son to her, his obedience begins to wane; by the time Amnon has raped his own half-sister, it is David’s lack of response, his lack of concern for judging Amnon that drives Absalom to murder. So could it be that he became less and less obedient to the Torah as time went on?

Gaining not just the forgiveness, but the favor of the L-RD has never been a mystery, it’s just challenging to live out, and a key reminder of how to gain the L-RD’s favor is found right here in this week’s parashah, as the L-RD speaks to Isaac in:

Genesis 26:3-5
Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws.”

There it is. That’s the key. Abraham obeyed the L-RD and kept His requirements and commands, His decrees and laws. While we need the forgiveness offered by Yeshua’s sacrifice to make up for our failings, the only way to minimize our failings, and therefore minimize the generational curses we pass on to our children, is to pursue not just salvation, but holy living – sanctification – by seeking to embrace the Torah of God, which is the mind and will of the L-RD for our lives, the mind and will of our Living Torah, the Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Toldot, Torah commentary
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My 2009 B’resheet Commentary

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Here’s my commentary for this year on the parashah known as B’resheet. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is B’resheet, which means “in the beginning,” and covers Genesis chapter 1 through chapter 6, verse 8, and what I’d like to focus on today is the episode related in this Torah portion commonly referred to as “The Fall of Man.” Now you’re probably wondering, what is there that could possibly be found in the fall of man that’s new and interesting, right? I mean, after all, it’s one of the most told and re-told tales in all of Genesis. And the basics of the story are actually pretty simple and almost universally accepted.

As commonly told, the story goes like this: after God created Adam, he realized it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone, so he made Eve from Adam’s rib and, some time after that, the serpent tricked Eve into eating the forbidden Honeycrisp apple, bringing sin into the world, and then Adam appears, sees what Eve has done and, in an act of selfless love for his wife, decided to eat it right along with her so they could be together. Then they all blame each other and God casts them out of the garden. That about the size of it?

Well, let me just say right now, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about this story of life in paradise, and I threw a few of the most common errors into that little summary. Now, let’s back up and see what B’resheet really teaches us about the fall of man, shall we?

One of the most important elements of the story of the fall happens before Eve is even in the Garden. We read this in:

Genesis 2:16-17
And the L-RD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

In another translation, that last phrase is rendered, “it will become certain that you will die.” I think that will be a helpful translation as we continue our study, so keep that in mind. Now, in the very next verse, we begin the account of how the L-RD formed Eve from one of Adam’s ribs; so let’s remember that this command about not eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil came before Eve was even formed. Sure, Adam and Eve were of one flesh and were together in the Garden with the L-RD for an unspecified period of time prior to the fall; but for now let’s just keep in mind that she wasn’t created yet when the original command was given.

So now, let’s take a closer look at the temptation and fall.

Genesis 3:1-3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the L-RD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

Now, most people pay a lot of attention to the serpent’s question, trying to paint the ways in which he manipulated Eve. But that’s not what I want to focus on today. I want to focus on Eve’s response.

It’s a little different from the command the L-RD just gave, isn’t it? Remember, the L-RD said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” But here, Eve states it slightly differently, doesn’t she? She says, “‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Now, there are two major differences here, at the minimum. First, we get some new information; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is located in the middle of the garden. But the L-RD’s original command was simply not to eat of the fruit of that tree. Yet when Eve recites the command back to the serpent, what happens? She adds something. “You must not eat of it, or touch it.” Hold on! Where did the “You must not touch it” come from?

To be completely honest, no one is sure. It’s not written about in the Torah. There is no indication in the Word of the L-RD. All we do know for certain is that when Eve recites the command of the L-RD to the serpent, it comes out differently than the way the L-RD actually said it.

Well, who can blame her, right? I mean, Eve wasn’t even there when the L-RD spoke the original command. Of course, Adam and she are echad once she is created as his wife, and they did have that time in the Garden with the L-RD before the fall. So what could have happened that the command of the L-RD became twisted and inaccurate? How could this extra phrase, “you must not touch it,” come into the picture? Well, there is a theory. Granted, a theory is not as reliable as Scripture by any means, but this one may be useful to us. We read this tradition in:

Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, vol. 1, p. 72
[Eve] spoke thus, because in [Adam’s] zeal to guard her against the transgressing of the Divine command, Adam had forbidden Eve to touch the tree, though God had mentioned only the eating the fruit.

So, according to this tradition, Adam had passed on the command of the L-RD to his wife himself; it did not get transmitted to Eve directly from the L-RD. And Adam chose not to trust his wife with the command exactly as it was given to him; instead, he did what? He added to the words the L-RD Himself had spoken.

Now, any parent will understand Adam’s motivation here. He was being protective. We do it to our own children all the time. We have a pot boiling on an open flame on the stove. We don’t want the child to burn their hand on the open flame, so we tell them, “Don’t touch the flame or you’ll burn your hand.” But then we think, wow, even letting them near the stove is dangerous. So them we tell them, “Don’t touch the stove.” But hey, we know how curious little kids are, so even letting them in the kitchen at all is risky. So we say, “Don’t come into the kitchen while I’m cooking.” Before you know it, we have grounded the child to his or her room because we’ve built so many protective fences around the actual threat. The worst part is, they don’t even know why they’re grounded to their room anymore.

But, Eve wasn’t a child, was she? She was supposed to be a suitable helpmate to Adam, and therefore he should have given her the command exactly as the L-RD had given it to him. But hey, Adam’s intentions were good, right? Well, let’s see if it worked! Let’s see if adding to the actual command of God produced a good result. We read this in:

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Now, there’s a lot to deal with here. Let’s start with why Eve ate the fruit. The same tradition I read earlier from Ginzburg suggests that while he was beguiling her, the serpent pushed Eve into the tree and, when she didn’t die, the seed of doubt began to grow in her. I also think there’s a hint in the text of the Torah here that Eve touched the fruit before eating it, because how else could she “see that it was good.” Either way, once she touches the tree and does not die, doubt springs to life and she then has cause to doubt the rest of the L-RD’s command. After all, she had been taught that she could not even touch it and live, right? So when she does touch the fruit and there’s no lightning bolt from above… well, the door to deception is wide open, isn’t it?

But that’s not what God said. If you remember what I said was a preferred translation, the L-RD said that if they eat of it, it would… what? It would become certain that they would die. That doesn’t sound like immediate judgment, instant keeling over or the cliché lightning bolt from above. That’s not in God’s nature! He’s patient with us, wanting all of us to come to repentance.

One more point on the fall. Most people, when asked about the fall of man, will say, “Oh yeah, Eve really messed us up.” But is that what’s really going on here? Not at all. Remember how it was worded in the last part of verse eight. It reads, “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” See that? “Who was with her.” Adam didn’t show up after the fact. He was there the whole time. And they are echad. So they fell together, but that’s not how it’s remembered. People remember that Eve bit first and create this whole scenario about Adam showing up after the fact – but it’s not there in Scripture; just the opposite is written.

And Adam’s responsibility is, in some ways, even greater. He has the burden of headship in the marriage and it was his place to speak up in the middle of the serpent’s efforts to deceive, and put a stop to it. He didn’t do that. Adam could have stepped in and pointed out that touching the fruit was not part of the L-RD’s original command; for whatever reason, he also did not do that. And so we know how the story goes from there.

So let’s consider this idea of adding to the words of the L-RD. Does this remind you of anything else? Does it sound familiar at all? It should. For one thing, it should remind you of rabbinics. That is exactly what rabbinics is, what it does. This is testified to directly in the:

Babylonian Talmud, Avoth 1
Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the great synagogue. The latter used to say three things: be patient in [the administration of] justice, rear many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.

Now, we’ve all heard Stan use this quote and teach on it as the origin of the Oral Torah. If anyone has any doubt that how we interpret this passage is correct, one need look no further than a footnote in the Soncino Edition of the Babylonian Talmud regarding this very passage. It reads this way:

Babylonian Talmud, Avoth 1, footnote
The Torah is conceived as a garden and its precepts as precious plants. Such a garden is fenced round for the purpose of obviating wilful or even unintended damage. Likewise, the precepts of the Torah were to be ‘fenced’ round with additional inhibitions that should have the effect of preserving the original commandments from trespass.

You see, in their tradition about Adam adding to the words of the L-RD, the rabbis attempt to make Adam a hero of rabbinics. Even he, according to their teachings, saw the value in adding additional commands to the L-RD’s, to prevent violation of the actual command. But they overlook Adam’s results; the fall of man, the necessity of shedding blood for the remission of sins, the necessity of a Messiah to mend things between God and man. Why on earth would one want to continue doing something that didn’t work?

Yeshua Himself points this out, calling the Oral Torah a burden no one can bear, and saying that His burden, by comparison, is light. And what is Yeshua’s lighter burden? It is pure and simple obedience to the written Torah of God – the Word of God alone, and nothing more. Which is exactly what the Father had in mind from the beginning.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Adam and Eve, B'resheet, Torah commentary
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My Ha’azinu Commentary

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Here’s my commentary for Ha’azinu. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Ha’azinu, a Hebrew word that means “Give ear!” and covers all fifty-two verses of Deuteronomy chapter 32. This is the chapter that is more often known as The Song of Moses, and the opening four verses certainly have been made into memorable songs by various artists. They are poetic and inspiring and, well, let’s just read them, shall we?

Deuteronomy 32:1-4
Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the name of the L-RD. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

They are certainly words befitting a man like Moses, who is said to have known the L-RD better than anyone since Adam and Eve, better than anyone until Messiah Yeshua. Moses knows the L-RD better than most of us probably know people we refer to as “friends.” He had a friendship, a close friendship, with the creator of the universe!

What many people don’t take the time to do, however, is read past those first four verses and discover what other insights this man who knew the L-RD so well has into the mind and character of our Creator. What we find when we do is a sad and tragic portrait of how often Israel – and indeed, all of us –fails to stay faithful to the L-RD, even as He remains faithful to His people.

Deuteronomy 32:5-6
They have acted corruptly toward him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation. Is this the way you repay the L-RD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?

Here, the L-RD is prophesying through Moses about the future of Israel, how when they are settled in the land and have grown comfortable, they will turn away from the L-RD and worship other gods, false idols who are not gods at all. For the L-RD, there can be no greater sin that turning aside from the truth once you have already known it.

Even Peter taught this message, as we read in:

II Peter 2:20-21
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Peter must have had this Torah portion in mind when he wrote these words to the first-century believers. Like the children of Israel, those who follow the Messiah Yeshua enter into a new life, just as the children of Israel are about to enter into a new land. Just like the children of Israel, we who follow Messiah Yeshua are assured of victory over our enemies – the evil one – through the work of our Messiah. Just like the children of Israel, the danger for us is not an impending battle, but the danger is in the aftermath of victory.

You see, when life is difficult, when there is a struggle, when you are under persecution, you find out what is most important to you, what makes you who you are. At times like that, although they are not easy times, clinging to God, clinging to faith, isn’t necessarily a challenge; it’s a survival skill. On the one hand, Yeshua may be all you have, but on the other hand, all you have is Yeshua! All you have is the hope in Your savior, Your Messiah, the one who gives you life.

But when the battles are over, when life gets more comfortable, when the pressure is off and the victory celebrations have died down, what do we do? Well, human nature tells us that we tend to relax. We tend to get comfortable. We tend to begin taking things for granted. And that’s when the most destructive form of temptation can creep in; that’s when sin can overtake us. Not by outright attack, but through a quiet seduction.

That’s how it was for David. David, who had victory over Goliath, who persevered against King Saul without raising his own hand to strike him down, who conquered much of Israel and established a palace for himself in Bethlehem and whose life is a shadow of the Messiah in many respects – how did David fall? Was it through a mightier and more determined enemy? No. Let’s read this in:

II Samuel 11:1-5
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

Now, notice what is going on in the first verse. We’re told that it is springtime, a time when kings go off to war. That’s where David should be, leading his people into battle. But that’s not where he is, is it? No, instead, he’s wandering about on his rooftop, feeling restless, feeling comfortable, feeling perhaps just a little too safe. And what happens as a result? A sin with another man’s wife that spirals out of control and, it could be argued, poisons the rest of his time on the throne. Although the L-RD forgives David of his sin, the consequences have a ripple effect on David and his family that is felt for generations to come.

This is what worried Peter. This is what worried Moses. These are the sort of things that drive men and women of God to prayer throughout history, from the time of Moses to Yeshua to now; the knowledge that we are weak against the temptations of sin, that one bad choice can be made in an instant and yet leave such destruction in its wake. And we are at our weakest when we are at our most confident, in our most secure moments. That is why Moses goes on to say this in:

Deuteronomy 32:45-47
When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you–they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Now, what words is Moses speaking of here? Is he speaking merely of the Song of Moses that this chapter concerns itself with? Absolutely not. He’s speaking on a grander scale than that. Remember, Moses began this farewell address to the people of Israel at the beginning of Deuteronomy and he’s only finishing up just now. And Deuteronomy is a review of the entire Torah, the complete instructions of the L-RD for how to live at least to his minimum standard. Those are the words Moses is speaking of; not just the Song of Moses, but he is speaking of the entire Torah of God. That is what Moses had in mind when he said, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you–they are your life.”

You know, the phrasing is made even more clear in the:

Stone Edition Chumash
For it is not an empty thing for you, for it is your life.

That’s the message we ought to take away as we wrap up our journey this year through the Torah cycle, and are nearing the end of our time in Deuteronomy. You see, some people explore the Jewish roots of their faith, and all it will ever be for them is an intellectual exercise. Maybe they see it as a useful way to “witness” to a Jewish friend. Maybe they simply want a history lesson. It could be any number of reasons.

Whatever the case, even though they learn more about God and who He is and what He expects of us, somehow it just doesn’t land on them and they return to whatever their previous experience with God was.

You know, when I was in college, I was part of a Christian Bible study where the subject of salvation came up, and the question we discussed was, which is the truth? Are we “once saved, always saved?” Or can we somehow lose our salvation? And as young believers searching for reassurance, we naturally clung to any verses that seemed to agree with our preferred answer, “Once saved, always saved.”

Even back then, though, I noticed verses that didn’t seem to fit with that conclusion. Verses like the words of Peter that I read earlier, as well as many others. And it was only later, as I saw how some of my friends, overconfident in their salvation, began slipping into sin, only when I formed a Bible study a few years later and saw how grace without obedience can lead people astray, that I began to lose my fear of what those harsher words of the Bible said and began to explore what they really meant. It’s part of what drew me to the Messianic movement.

You see, when I was single, I went to Christian singles retreats and one of the most common themes was “finding God’s will” or “knowing the mind of Christ” and yet I came away from each of those experiences finding the answers that were given in those settings to be either highly personal and subjective, or lacking in specifics and details drawn directly from Scripture.

You see, as a maturing believer, I was no longer satisfied to with making it up as I went along. “You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit,” as Moses said in Deuteronomy 12:8. Somehow, I knew that. I was saved. I knew there was a God and a Savior. But I also knew that He had to have a specific will, that it wasn’t a subjective thing, but something specific, something easily accessible, something that would even be possible to keep, or, as we read a couple weeks ago, something, as Moses said, that was “not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

That’s where the Torah comes in. It is our clear words from the L-RD on what His will for us is, His instruction book for us to follow. It is the Word of God, which means it is also the Living Torah, an expression of the Messiah Yeshua Himself. And once we know it, we must never turn our backs on it again, for when we do, we are turning our backs also on the Messiah.

“Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you–they are your life.”

L-RD, may they never be idle words for any of us here. May they be our life – the life found in Messiah Yeshua, our living Torah.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Ha'azinu, Torah commentary
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My Nitsavim-VaYelech 2009 Commentary

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Here’s my Nitsavim-VaYelech commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

We have a double portion this week, so our parashahs for today are Nitsavim, which means “you are standing” and VaYelech, which means “and he went,” which cover Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 10 (though due to a difference in numbering, some Bibles will say the portion starts at Chapter 29, verse 9,) through chapter 31, verse 30.

Now, the last time we met, I taught about how the L-RD commanded us to tie fringes on the four corners of your garments, putting a thread of blue upon the corner fringe as a reminder of the commands of the L-RD. And we talked about how the method of tying these fringes – called tzitzit in Hebrew, which is a word that has a numerical value of 600, as well as five knots and eight strands, which equals 613, the number of commands of the L-RD in the Torah.

Now, the fact that we teach about the 613 commands here at Beth Yeshua is something that makes us unique. It’s part of what distinguishes us as Messianic.

However, there are some common misunderstandings about the 613 commands related in these five books that comprise the Torah, and that is what I’d like to talk about today. When the subject of the Ten Commands comes up, or the 613 commands, or the five books of Torah or even the entire Tenakh – with perhaps the exception of Psalms and Proverbs – what is the most common misunderstanding?
“Well, the Law has been done away with.”

OK. What else is a common objection?

People might say, “Oh, this is all too difficult,” or “No one can keep all these commands. It’s impossible!” And you know what? On a technical level, I agree. No one can keep all 613 commands of the Torah. But not because human will is too weak. It’s because not all 613 commands are directed at everyone.

You see, among those 613 commands, there are commands that are for men only; there are commands that are for women only; there are commands that only apply to Levites; there are commands that only apply to those who sit on the earthly throne of Israel as king; there are commands that only apply to married people; there are commands that only apply to parents.

See, if you’re not a Levite, do you have to worry about keeping the commands for the Levites? No. Can you keep them even if you wanted to? No. They don’t apply to you. Can you keep the commands for parents if you are not a parent, even if you wanted to? Of course not.

So yes, technically, you can’t keep all of the commands of the Torah. I agree. But not because the human will is too weak to obey the L-RD; only because not all of the commands of the L-RD apply to everyone.

Now what about that argument that human will is too weak to keep the commands? Certainly there are verses that would seem to back this up, verses we all recognize, such as, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But is that passage talking about the weakness of human will to obey the written Torah? Or is there something else going on there?

We all understand that Scripture reveals Scripture, right? So let’s start our examination of these questions in this week’s parashah, where we read at:

Deuteronomy 30:11
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

In this passage, the L-RD is speaking through Moses to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. He has spent time summarizing the entire history of the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah, and the laws that shall govern them in the land they are about to enter. And so it is entirely appropriate at this point for the L-RD to reassure the people, so that they do not feel overwhelmed by the burdens and responsibilities they have been given and he shares these words. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

You know, as Solomon observed, there’s nothing new under the sun, is there? As it was back then in the days of Moses, so it is today. That’s what’s going on here. I’m sure many of the children of Israel listened to these 613 commands, this entire Torah, and found themselves overwhelmed by it, and in their hearts, if not yet on their lips, were thoughts that it was too much for God to ask, too much for Him to expect of them. That no one could ever keep it. And that’s how many people still feel about it today.

But is it true? Well, if the Torah is to be believed, and of course we trust that it is the Word of God, then we have to accept as true what we read here. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

Now, this is consistent with the life of Messiah Yeshua. He lived a life far above the standard set down in the Torah, and if He is our example, would he set an example that no one can follow, or would he set one that we are capable of following?

We also know of others who lived at or above the standard set by the Torah. For example, we read this in:

Luke 1:5-6
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.

We also know that Paul’s wishes for Yeshua’s early followers included a wish for them to live blamelessly, as we read in:

Philippians 1:9-10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Messiah,

Finally, such an achievement is actually a requirement for leadership in a congregation, as we read in:

Titus 1:6-7
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless–not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

So I ask you this: Is blameless keeping of the Torah standard really too hard for any believer to live up to?

Notice that these passages do not indicate sin-free living, but blameless living. I took most of my examples here from the New Covenant writings to demonstrate that this is not simply a Mosaic standard; the expectation to live a life blameless according to the written Torah is not only a command of the
L-RD to Moses, but it is how Yeshua lived out His example for us to follow, it is a standard many people are said to have lived up to in both the Old and New Covenant writings, and it was a general expectation for those in leadership in the first-century church. Would this be expected if it could not be accomplished?

The answer, of course, is no, it would not be required if it were impossible to attain. Again, it is important to remember that what the Torah requires is not the L-RD’s perfect standard for holy living, but merely the minimum standard for our behavior to be acceptable to Him, a minimum standard that was the result of negotiations between the L-RD and Moses. In other words, it’s the least we could do in gratitude for all He has done for us.

This is why Yeshua so often taught things in this style, saying, “You have heard it said, but I tell you this.” In each teaching of that style, Yeshua was always raising the standards, not lowering them or doing away with them. And He did this to point out that not only was the Torah standard achievable, but much more was possible as well.

Take Yeshua’s teaching on divorce for example. The Torah standard is for a husband to write his wife a certificate of divorce; Yeshua pointed out that Moses allowed for divorce because our hearts were hard, and that, except for marital infidelity, divorce was not acceptable. I should add that it was understood in Yeshua’s time that the preservation of life came before all the rules of the Torah, so divorce would also be acceptable for those in abusive marriages.

So, I submit that it is a myth that no one can live up to the expectations of the Torah. In fact, we’re called to live beyond it, far above that minimum standard.

Of course, let’s not deceive ourselves. We are all subject to sin; we all fall short of the L-RD’s perfect standard. But, as I pointed out a few weeks ago, there is a vast difference between the occasional slip into sin in a moment of weakness and what Paul identifies in:

Galatians 5:21
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That phrase, “live like this,” indicates a state of ongoing, willing, unrepentant sin. It is that point at which we give up the struggle against the fleshly desires, snuff out the will of the Spirit in our lives, and we begin to justify and excuse whatever sinful behavior captures and enslaves us.

That is what the L-RD is referring to here as well as he speaks to the people of Israel through Moses in this week’s reading. The L-RD is not impatient with those who slip up occasionally; but those who allow their hearts to grow hard and unrepentant will not go unpunished by Him.

What about the misunderstanding that God’s will is too complex and unknowable? Let’s read on in:

Deuteronomy 30:12-14
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

Here, the L-RD makes plain that His word, His standards, are completely accessible. Not only are they possible to achieve, but they are no mystery, either. He has made His will known in the words of the written Torah, so all that’s really necessary is to obey; to accept the L-RD’s word as right and just and correct, and then submit our will to His and live by it.

For example, is it possible to observe a seventh day Sabbath? Absolutely. Is there a cost to doing so if you’re in a family that goes to church on a different day? You bet. So it comes down to a willingness to obey, once you are convinced that God’s will is accurately laid out in His word, rather than in the human traditions we’re used to observing. So there’s a cost to obedience, but is there a reward as well? Certainly.

Let’s read on in:

Deuteronomy 30:15-18
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the L-RD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the L-RD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

That’s our insight for today; the L-RD is and will always be consistent. He is not a God who deals unfairly, making demands that are impossible to meet. He is not a God who gives one set of rules to one person, and another set of rules to another. Now, our completion comes through the Messiah Yeshua, who makes up for our failings. The challenge of following the Living Torah is always to be moving closer toward more perfect obedience, rather than lounging about in our sin, overconfident in our own salvation to the point that we no longer even struggle against our sinful desires.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Nitsavim, Torah commentary, VaYelech
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My 2009 Ke Tetse Commentary

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

I was pleased to finally finish this one; it took me far too long to write. Here is my Ke Tetse commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Ke Tetse or “when you go out” and covers Deuteronomy chapter 21, verse 10 through chapter 25, verse 19. You know, as a young congregation, there are still many among us who notice all the things we do – things we take for granted – and they wonder, “What’s up with that? Why do you do that?” And this week’s parashah allows me the opportunity to address one such issue, which comes to us in:

Deuteronomy 22:12
Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear.

This is an abbreviated version of the original command given to Moses in Numbers. We’ll find this to be familiar because it is part of our weekly prayer service, and there is more detail offered here in:

Numbers 15:38-41
Speak to the children of Israel and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, putting a thread of blue upon the corner fringe. They will be a fringe for you to look upon and remember all the L-RD’s commands and do them. And that you follow not after your own eyes, after which you used to go astray; that you may remember and do all my commandments and be holy to your God. I am the L-RD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the L-RD your God.

To understand this tradition, we must first understand its context. As related in the preceding verses of Numbers, an Israelite was found to be gathering wood on the Sabbath, the day the L-RD commanded no regular work be done. And the penalty was severe; the man was stoned to death. But almost immediately, the L-RD offers this command to put fringes on the corners of garments as a reminder of His commands.

Now, I’m sure most of you have forgotten something you were supposed to remember at one point or another. For me, sometimes, it seems like it’s a daily occurrence. And if you’re forgetful, what is some common advice?

That’s right. “Why not tie a string around your finger to help you remember?” It’s not a big stretch to suggest that this old nugget of advice had its origins in this command of the L-RD. The concept of a visual reminder of a promise is nothing new; the same concept is the reason people wear wedding bands when they get married; as a visual reminder that they are vowed to someone and no longer available to anyone else.

So that’s what the tzitzit are, basically; a visual reminder of the L-RD’s commands and our promise to follow them. Now, we know what the L-RD commands here; to make tassels or fringes on the four corners of our garments as a reminder of His commandments. But beyond the command to do so, how does one fulfill this command? For example, how many threads should one use in these fringes? Beyond the thread of blue, what color should they be? How should they be tied? How long should they be? For most of these questions, the Torah is silent.

That means there is some freedom in how to observe this command, so long as you observe it. One source a person can turn to for examples in observance of this command, of course, is Jewish tradition and practice.

Now, one must be cautious in this area. This is not an endorsement of all rabbinic traditions or everything that the rabbis teach. Yet if one is searching for a “how do I do this” response, certainly one can find some examples as a guideline in this area, within the realm of Jewish tradition and practice.

Look at my prayer shawl and fringes a moment. On each corner, there are eight strands; seven white and one blue.

The blue thread is significant. It is the only thread singled out in the Torah command, and the word used for blue here is t’chellet. There is more than one school of thought on the meaning of t’chellet blue.

One school of thought insists that t’chellet blue is made from the blood of a creature the Torah calls the chilazon. This rare fish at some point was thought to have gone extinct and the use of the thread of blue in the fringes, for many, passed out of practice with it. However, some Jewish scholars believe a rare fish found in the ocean near Israel, called the cuttlefish, matches the description of the chilazon and have reintroduced the use of the thread of blue through cuttlefish blood.

Another school of thought holds that t’chellet blue was derived from a rare type of snail, and so you’ll come across fringes made with that kind of t’chellet blue also. A few – such as Karaite Jews – believe that any blue will do the trick because the Torah does not refer to a specific dye.

No matter how one interprets t’chellet blue, however, its meaning is also a source of various views. Some teach that the blue was chosen to remind people of the ocean, which in turn reminds them of the sky, which then in turn reminds them of God’s throne, which finally reminds them of the L-RD’s commands. Among Messianics, the blue thread is a reminder of the Messianic promise, and therefore of the Messiah Yeshua.

Now, the rest of the threads are white; typically, they will be white, although if the main prayer shawl is another color – black, for example – then the rest of the strands would be the color of the main garment. No matter what fabric the prayer shawl is made of, the tzitizit are to be made of wool.

The white strands are typically forty inches in length, while the blue strand is to be sixty inches, so it can be the thread used for winding. Also, the blue strand only needs to be dyed blue on about half to two-thirds of its length, since it needs to be white on the other end, so that when these four threads are doubled over for tying and winding, there are seven strands of white and only one strand of blue.

The next area for diversity is in how to tie the tzitzit. Mine are wound in an Ashkenazi style. What that means is this: we start the tying of the tzitzit with a double knot, then use the t’chellet blue thread to wrap around the other strands several times, then do a double knot again, then go back to windings. This pattern repeats for a set of four windings and ends in a final, fifth double-knot. The end result of this is that in Hebrew the numerical value of the word tzitzit is 600. There are then five knots and eight strands, which added up gives you a total of 613, the number of commands in the Torah.

I called this style I use the Ashkenazi style. There are two main styles: Ashkenazi and Sephardic. For those who don’t know, Ashkenazi refers primarily to the Jews of eastern Europe – Germany and parts of northern France, primarily – while Sephardic refers primarily to the Jews of Spain and Portugal.

The Ashkenazi style of tzitzit tying follows a pattern that also includes four sets of windings: seven winds in the first set, then eight windings, then eleven, then thirteen windings. That totals thirty-nine windings. In biblical Hebrew, thirty-nine is the numeric value of the Deuteronomy 6:4 phrase, “ADONAI echad” or “The L-RD is one.” This is how I’ve done my windings.

The Sephardic style uses the pattern of ten windings, followed by five, then six, and then five. This pattern follows the Hebrew numeric value of the name of the L-RD: yod-hey-vav-hey. Ten, five, six and five. Either way, the point is to remind the wearer of the L-RD, and this turn his attention toward God and His commands.

So, there are some ideas on how to tie these fringes and why to tie them that way. Yet some of you may be saying to yourselves, “That all sounds good, but it sounds like a lot of human tradition to me. Where is Yeshua in all this?”

Again, let’s be clear: there is freedom for those of us who are Messianic in how to tie the fringes, since how to do it – other than including a thread of blue – is not included in the written Torah. These examples were just that – examples, taken from the traditions of thousands of years of Jewish customs – which do not hold the same weight as Scripture, obviously, but which do have some good ideas and symbolism.

Yet where is Messiah in the fringes? Everywhere. To understand this, first we must reiterate the point that one of the titles for the Messiah is the Living Torah. Since the fringes point us toward the Torah, ultimately they are pointing us toward the Messiah Yeshua who, like the cord of blue that binds all the other strands together, is the force that binds the written Torah together, gives it form and shape and substance and meaning. The very act of looking on the fringes should not only remind us of the commands of the Torah, but also of the one who is the Living Torah – Messiah Yeshua.

That being said, there is deeper significance in the connection between the fringes and the Messiah. There is an episode that will reveal to us that Yeshua Himself wore tzitzit, and they played a role in His ministry. We read this in:

Luke 8:43-48
And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Yeshua asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Yeshua said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.”

In the NIV, the key phrase is “she touched the edge of His cloak.” However, the New Living Translation says, “she touched the fringe of his robe,” and that agrees with the Complete Jewish Bible, which translates the phrase in question this way: “[the woman] came up behind him and touched the tzitzit on his robe; instantly her hemorrhaging stopped.”

Now, this is a nice story, but it raises the question… where did she get the idea? Well, this Jewish woman must have known her Tenakh, because this is what is written in:

Malachi 4:2
But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.

One of the titles for the Messiah is the “Son of righteousness” and the promise is that this Son will have healing in his “wings.” One of the nicknames for the fringes of a prayer shawl is “wings.” So you can see that she took this promise quite literally and her faith has healed her. But was it faith just in the tzitzit? No, it was faith in the words of the L-RD through the prophet Malachi. And again, who is Yeshua? He is the Word of the L-RD, the Living Torah, so ultimately it is her faith in Yeshua that is praised here.

Of course, for every good and positive command, what always follows close behind? The enemy looks for ways to take the good things the L-RD commands and makes them a source of sin. Did this happen with the tzitzit?

It did, as we read in:

Matthew 23:1-5
Then Yeshua said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;

It’s not a bad thing to wear tzitzit, it’s obedient; Yeshua Himself wore them. But as with many things, one can go overboard or make the practice a source of attention-getting, a way to look that much holier than the next guy.

That’s what Yeshua is referring to here; tzitzit are a reminder of the L-RD’s commands for who? For the one wearing them. So they really don’t need to be extremely long; they don’t even need to be visible to others.

Rather than a large prayer shawl like this, which is appropriate for Shabbat service, one could wear a small tallit katan, which means small prayer shawl, with fringes tied and worn under the outer garments, so that only the wearer knows it’s there.

The point, therefore, is to remind yourself – not others – and that is what the Pharisees of Yeshua’s day were ignoring; they wore their tassels extra long and always visible, to draw the attention of others, to be seen wearing them, rather than to simply wear them – as the command states – as a reminder. A reminder of the L-RD’s commands, so we do not forget to obey them – and also of He who spoke those commands to Moses at Sinai – the Living Torah Himself, the Messiah Yeshua.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Ke Tetse, Torah commentary
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My 2009 Shoftim Commentary

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Here it is, my Shoftim commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Shoftim or “judges” and covers Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 18 through chapter 21, verse 9. While there are many potential topics one could discuss out of this week’s parashah, the one that I found most compelling are the requirements the L-RD establishes here for an earthly king ruling these people once they enter the Promised Land.

I find it compelling because it represents a tragic moment in the history of Israel, because it demonstrates how the L-RD desired for His people something far better, and how far they have fallen from that ideal. The L-RD’s ideal relationship to the people of Israel is actually set down in:

Leviticus 26:9-12
“‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

This is exactly the sort of relationship one would expect believers to desire with their creator. To have the L-RD dwelling among them and to be rightly related to Him is what we all want, what we anticipate will be the nature of the World to Come. And yet, that ideal relationship is not what came about; not because the L-RD failed to live up to His promise, but because the people – all of us – failed to live up to ours.

You see, the L-RD did not originally desire Israel to be like the nations that surrounded it. He wanted it to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation so that Israel would be an example to all the other nations of the Earth, and that all people would come to know the L-RD through them. In the L-RD’s original plan, there would be no earthly king or ruler in Israel; there would only be the L-RD in control, and all who lived in Israel would serve him faithfully. There should never have been a need to appoint an earthly king over Israel.

But things went astray almost from the start. The L-RD speaks to the children of Israel, giving them His Ten Commands by speaking to each of them directly at Horeb. And it was apparently a terrifying experience for most of the people gathered there, because, as we read in this week’s parashah, in:

Deuteronomy 18:16-19
For this is what you asked of the L-RD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the L-RD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The L-RD said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.

So, the covenant between the L-RD and his people, in which the L-RD would dwell among them and they would be His people and He would be their God didn’t exactly work out as planned, did it? In a very brief amount of time, the people ask for a change to the terms of the covenant and the L-RD’s response is recorded here in this week’s parashah. He accepts their change; He shall no longer speak to them directly.

But now, instead of dwelling with them, instead of being their sole ruler, the L-RD begins to indicate here that their special status as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation has changed, also. Those terms won’t even be mentioned again in Scripture until the letter of first Peter.

Yet we also can observe in the text that another change has taken place; instead of not having an earthly king, as originally planned, the L-RD anticipates that they will indeed desire one. You see, not only have they replaced the voice of the L-RD speaking to them directly with Moses as the human mediator between God and man, but they also have displaced Him as their ruler.

In the passage I’m about to share from this week’s reading, we see the L-RD establish rules for how the people are to select an earthly king to rule them, and in much of the Jewish commentary on this passage I have studied, it is taken for granted by most of the rabbis that the L-RD desired and even commanded Israel to have a human king. And yet that assumption, I believe, is somewhat mistaken.

To really get a good handle on this, I’ll share the first verse as it is rendered in the Complete Jewish Bible by David Stern, because I believe it captures a level of meaning missed by the NIV rendering. We read this in:

Deuteronomy 17:14 (CJB)
“When you have entered the land the L-RD your God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, ‘I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.’

Pay close attention to how that last sentence is phrased. The Torah here does not say, “When you have entered the land, I, the L-RD, want you to set up a king over you, like all the other nations around you.” No. It is not the L-RD’s desire that is being communicated here. Instead, it is the desire of the people to be like the other nations, rather than set apart and unique, as the L-RD originally desired them to be! So the L-RD here is anticipating this further distancing that’s coming between the L-RD and his chosen people.

It’s another step away from how God wanted things to be. So while some scholars and rabbis will argue that the L-RD commanded Israel to select a king over them when they entered the Promised Land, that’s not exactly correct. Instead, it is as though the L-RD is saying to them, “Well, this is what you want to do… so if you’re going to insist on doing things this way and being like other nations around you and having an earthly ruler over you… then fine, here’s how I want you to do it.”

Let’s take that mindest into consideration as we study the rest of the passage. We continue on, going back to the NIV, in:

Deuteronomy 17:15-20
be sure to appoint over you the king the L-RD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the L-RD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the L-RD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

What I find interesting about this passage is how the L-RD continues to find a way to work with the Israelites and keep His promises to them, even as they fail over and over again to keep up their end of the agreement. Here he warns them of the dangers to having an earthly king, the ways in which one can go astray, and we know from our knowledge of Israel’s history that everything the L-RD warns about here is fulfilled in those who sit on the earthly throne of Israel. Solomon, for example, is the most notable fulfillment of what can happen if a king ignores the commands the L-RD gives here and takes many wives. Indeed, Solomon’s heart was led astray by his many wives, just as the L-RD predicts. And that’s just one example.

But the thing that really captures my attention here, because I think it really presents a picture of the promise rather than the curse, a picture of the Messiah rather than a picture of the ruler of this evil age, is where it talks about the scroll requirement for each king of Israel.

The command here says that he who is an earthly king over Israel must write out a copy of the Torah on his own, carry it with him always and read it daily. Can you imagine what that must have been like?

We at Beth Yeshua go through the Torah once a year, using the reading schedule developed by the rabbis called parashahs. It’s what we base our Torah commentaries on each week. When one first comes into the Messianic movement, it can seem like a daunting task! I mean, getting through those five books the first time – it took me two or three years to do it successfully, so that I didn’t get off track, fall behind, or give up part way through the year.

But when you really think about it… even the longest parashahs are maybe four or five pages in length. That’s not even one page of text per day! And all we’re doing when we do this is, we read it. And once we finally accomplish this, it becomes second nature and we feel closer to the text each time we go through it again.

Some of you may not yet have reached this point, but trust me, persevere and you’ll get there.

But this was not the case for the human kings of Israel. Not only were they expected to read the Torah daily, but they had to write out their own copy of it in their own hand! And this was not an era of copying and pasting off the Internet into a Microsoft Word document. There were no typewriters or even ball-point pens!

No, a Torah scroll is made from the skin of an animal, and carefully written out by hand. Furthermore, it must be copied precisely; if an error was discovered by a soferim, and it was a minor error, it had to be repaired; if it was an error to the name of the L-RD, that entire section of parchment would be discarded and redone. So it was very exacting.

Now ask yourself: how well would I know the Torah if I had to make my own copy and write it out by hand, like the kings of Israel were supposed to do? I suspect one would grow even closer to the Torah than they do by reading it; they would gain a closer appreciation for it simply by writing it out.

You know, I went to college for creative writing and one time I decided to type out the first chapter of a published novel, just to see what it felt like to craft words that were deemed good enough to be published. In doing so, I began to notice things my eyes skipped over when merely reading the chapter; I observed the author’s economy of language more than ever before, and gained an appreciation for how he built suspense in the scene with each word.

It’s the same with the Torah. Writing it out – each and every word, without error – would have made the person who did it come to a very deep and personal appreciation of Torah. So you may think, “Wow! The kings of Israel really must have known Torah well to have written out their own copy by hand and then read it daily.”

And they did. We know David, at least, followed this command of the L-RD from hints in his instructions to Solomon while David is on his death bed, urging his son to follow the L-RD in all his ways.

And yet, we know that even this closeness with the Torah did not prevent men from falling into sin, did it? Even David was led astray by the temptation of Bat’Sheva. Solomon ended up even worse. And then we read this tragic turning point in:

II Kings 10:31
Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the L-RD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit.

This was written of Jehu even after he cleverly destroyed many of the priests of Ba’al. By his actions, Jehu appeared to be a king faithful to the L-RD and familiar with his Torah, and yet this is his epitaph. The path of appointing earthly kings only gets worse for Israel as time goes on, as we read in:

Hosea 8:2-4
Israel cries out to me, ‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’ But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval.

You see, they continued to drift further and further, failing to obey even the command to consult the L-RD and set up as king whomever He appoints. So none of Israel’s kings ever really fully live up to the L-RD’s ideal. But this picture of a king who is so close to the Torah is indeed a picture of the Messiah Yeshua. He is the perfect fulfillment of this command, because he is the living Torah. This is why we should seek to observe the Torah and not rely on grace in a way that cheapens it. As Solomon wrote in:

Proverbs 28:4, 9
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them. If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

This week’s reading is a reminder never to turn a deaf ear to the Torah of God, for when we do, we also turn a deaf ear to Messiah Yeshua, who is the living Torah.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Shof'tim, Torah commentary
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My Ekev Commentary

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

There are no diet pills to be found on MessianicMusings.com, only solid Torah study and the like. Here’s my Ekev Commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Ekev or “as a result” and covers Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 12 through chapter 11, verse 25. The element that stood out most to me in this week’s reading is the remarkable consistency of the L-RD, both here through Moses and later, through the words of Messiah Yeshua. Contrary to what is popularly believed, the messages of Moses and Messiah Yeshua have far more in common than most people believe.

Let me get specific about what I mean here. In this week’s reading, Moses is still addressing the people of Israel, and he is talking to them about the prospect of entering the Promised Land. His concern is that they should not allow this gift the L-RD is about to give them to cause them to grow arrogant and consider themselves better than they are. We read this in:

Deuteronomy 8:11-18
Be careful that you do not forget the L-RD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the L-RD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the L-RD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

This lays out the problem and the primary concern Moses has for the children of Israel as they are about to enter the land. Although they are about to face enemies who are bigger physically and greater in number than they are, notice that not for a moment does Moses doubt their victory; he trusts in the L-RD completely to make them victorious and so their success is not a concern for him.

Instead, he worries that once they have succeeded and begin to enjoy the land and forget all they endured to reach that victory, they will forget to honor the L-RD who did all the work for them, and their hearts will turn to other gods.

If nothing else, this shows that even at this late date, Moses was inspired by the L-RD in the words he was speaking. In the flesh, the battle to come would seem to be a bigger concern; in the flesh, the enemy would seem to be the shadows cast by their mighty opponents and not a slothfulness in the wake of victory that would lead them down the path to idol worship; in the flesh, even Moses’ own death would seem to be a bigger concern. But Moses was not operating in the flesh; he was seeing these Israelites through the eyes of the L-RD and, informed by his own experiences leading them for so long, familiar with their actual vulnerabilities, inspired by the Ruach haKodesh, the Holy Spirit, Moses recognizes the real weak point in these people. The chink in their armor is not in the physical battles ahead that the L-RD has already promised victories over, but in the spiritual battle to stay faithful in the wake of victory, in the temptation of comfort and success.

This point is underlined again as we read on in:

Deuteronomy 9:4-5
After the L-RD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The L-RD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the L-RD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the L-RD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Don’t let that slip by you. Israel is told very clearly here, it is not because of their righteousness that the L-RD is driving out their enemies from the land, but because of the wickedness of the people dwelling there. Had the people living in the land of Israel honored God, lived according to His commands and instructions, and followed him with their whole hearts, perhaps they could have dwelled in the Promised Land with the children of Israel. Yet they had not done this.

But the wickedness of the people dwelling in the land are not the primary focus of our discussion. Our focus is on the fact that the L-RD here tells Israel it is not because of their righteousness that the L-RD is driving out their enemies. Is the L-RD being especially condemning of the people of Israel here? No. He is being consistent. The L-RD is driving out those currently in the land because of their wickedness and He is telling the Israelites that if they, too, become wicked, they also will be driven from the land. That’s consistency.

They may be the chosen people, but as the L-RD warns them over and over again, there is to be one law for all the people; there is not to be a double-standard, where there is one set of laws for the Israelites and another for the servants and strangers living among them. Because they were strangers and servants in Egypt, the L-RD does not want them to do to others what was done to them; He is calling them to a higher standard, so that they might be an example to the nations and a testimony to who the L-RD is to all people.

However, we must be cautious in how we interpret passages like this. There is a great temptation these days, and many give in to it, to claim that through passages like this week’s reading, the God of the Torah is a mean, nasty, vengeful god who is not compatible with how God reveals Himself through the Messiah Yeshua. But is there any validity to this claim? Let’s compare this passage to the words of Messiah Yeshua.

We read this in:

John 15:1-2, 5-6
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

Did you notice what is being said here? Yeshua is using the imagery of an olive tree and is saying that branches that do not bear fruit, whether natural or grafted in, are cut off, thrown away, wither, tossed into the fire and burned. Is there a significant difference between this message, and what the L-RD says through Moses to the people who are entering the Promised Land?

No. It is the same message of consistency, spoken by the same God. There can be no double standards in the kingdom of the L-RD. Those who follow God and obey his teachings are blessed; those who rebel and persist in their sin shall be cast out. This image of the kingdom of God as a plant is also reflected in this passage from the book of:

Romans 11:16b-22
If the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

Does this sound like a different God to you, or a remarkably consistent God? I know it sounds like the same God to me. But that’s often not what is taught. Too often, what is taught is that the God of the Torah is all judgment and rules and punishment, while the God of the New Covenant writings is a God of peace and love and universal acceptance.

So we have seen that Yeshua spoke as much about the consequences of disobedience as did Moses. But was the God of Moses lacking in love as some would charge? That is a hard argument to make in light of what we read in this week’s parashah in:

Deuteronomy 7:12-15a
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the L-RD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land–your grain, new wine and oil–the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The L-RD will keep you free from every disease.

So the idea that the L-RD in the Tenakh is somehow lacking in love simply finds little support when one actually reads the Tenakh. There is as much of the loving and graceful side of God in the Tenakh as is found in the New Covenant writings, and there is as much judgment and condemnation of sin in the New Covenant writings as is found in the Tenakh. Those who teach otherwise haven’t been reading closely enough.

You see, there’s nothing wrong with God; there’s something wrong with our understanding of Him. There’s nothing inconsistent about God; there’s something inconsistent in our willingness to obey Him fully. When we experience grace initially, we understand the cost, but over time, we can slip into the arrogance that says, “It doesn’t matter what we do. We are forgiven no matter what.” But that’s not the truth. That’s not God’s message. Obedience must follow trust. Or as James would say, faith without deeds is dead.

The truth for the Israelites in this week’s passage is that it is not for the sake of their own righteousness that the L-RD cast their enemies out of the Promised Land, but because of their own wickedness; the truth is that if the Israelites fell into wickedness, the L-RD promises to cast them from the land in the same way.

As believers in Messiah Yeshua, these passages should be a warning to us to avoid that sort of prideful arrogance; we are in Messiah, we are part of the promise, only if we bear fruit. Yes, we have an inheritance in Yeshua, but we also must never forget that it is the L-RD who brought us here, who grafted us in, and if we do not bear fruit, we also can be cut off. As Yeshua Himself said, after all, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” So let’s be fruitful.

Shabbat Shalom.

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My V’et’chanan Commentary

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Sometimes I think it would be easier to write about pop culture than the Torah … and some of my other blogs will attest that I make the attempt now and again. However, while it might be easier to write about cyber shopping phenomenons like Cyber Monday, it’s not as fulfilling as digging into the Bible and really trying to figure out how it was understood from a first-century perspective. Here’s my commentary on V’et’chanan. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is V’et’chanan or “and I pleaded” and covers Deuteronomy chapter 3, verse 23 through chapter 7, verse 11. The most obvious passage in this week’s reading that jumped right out at me comes early in the parashah. Now, at this point, Moses is living out what the L-RD has told him will be his final days, and has broken the news to him that Moses himself will not be allowed to enter the promised land. This came about as a result of Moses’ own battle with his temper, which has been a lifelong struggle for him.

Because of his quick temper, Moses murdered and Egyptian guard and had to spend forty years in the desert, in Midian, allowing the L-RD to deal with him and heal him. Because of his quick temper, Moses destroyed the tablets of the Ten Commands the L-RD had written and the L-RD made Moses write them himself the second time. And because of his quick temper, Moses struck a rock twice to cause water to come forth, against the command of the L-RD, rather than speaking to it as the L-RD commanded.

So it’s clear that Moses’s anger is at the core of why the L-RD has decided not to permit Moses to enter the land. But has Moses accepted this? Is he at peace with it? In the way he addresses the Israelites regarding the L-RD’s decision, it seems he may not be. We read this in:

Deuteronomy 3:23-26a
At that time I pleaded with the L-RD: “O Sovereign L-RD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan–that fine hill country and Lebanon.” But because of you the L-RD was angry with me and would not listen to me.

Did you catch that? Because of you the L-RD was angry with me. Because of you the L-RD would not listen to me.

Now, the people of Israel were a handful. They were often rebellious and Moses complained about them to the L-RD. Despite being the chosen people, these descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were, as we all are, difficult. Ask any parent in an honest moment and they will admit that as much as they love their kids … they’re a handful. They’re frustrating, exasperating and even, at times, disappointing. That doesn’t change the love one holds – be it for one’s own literal children, or for the children of Israel as a people – but it does mean that it’s not always easy to show that love.

And here, in this passage, we witness some of the frustration in Moses that any parent will immediately recognize as something that pops up in themselves from time to time. In moments of frustration, we may share the truth in a less than loving way, and we may even slip into pointing fingers at others, rather than acknowledging our own shortcomings.

So, it’s not, “But because of my own temper the L-RD was angry with me,” and it’s not, “but because I struck the rock to bring forth water rather than speak to it, the L-RD was angry with me.” Is it? No, Moses says, “But because of you the L-RD was angry with me.”

Finger-pointing, rather than taking responsibility for one’s own actions, is a human gut-level reaction so essential to the sinful nature, it extends all the way back to the Garden. After all, when the L-RD asked for an accounting from Adam and Havah about what had happened while he was away from their presence in the Garden, what was their reply? Adam blamed Havah, Havah blamed the serpent, and the serpent, with no one left to blame, stayed silent and probably blamed God. None of them took responsibility for their actions. And why? Fear. Fear, rather than trust.

So how does this relate to Moses? Why would Moses blame the people of Israel for his own faults and shortcomings? Was it out of frustration only? Or could fear have played a role? Well, what did Moses have to be afraid of? After all, Moses has known God better than anyone else in history, apart from the Messiah Yeshua; he has known God face-to-face. God has shown Moses His glory and declared His very nature in front of Moses.

Well, Moses is not that different in that respect from Adam, and he fails in the same way as Adam, blaming others for his own actions rather than taking responsibility. Could it be that what Moses feared was that this error, this sin, might cost him more than a chance to set foot in the promised land? Or perhaps pure frustration over his punishment was the root cause for Moses blaming the children of Israel here.

Whatever the cause, however, the L-RD gives Moses an interesting response. We read this in:

Deuteronomy 3:26b
“That is enough,” the L-RD said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.

Can you imagine hearing that from the L-RD? To have Him be that direct and blunt? It would be shocking. It would be intimidating. And it would definitely guarantee that discussion on the matter was over.

You know, it’s an interesting word, enough. The Hebrew word used here, according to:

Strong’s H7227 rab
• AV – many 190, great 118, much 36, captain 24, more 12, long 10, enough 9, multitude 7, mighty 5, greater 4, greatly 3, misc 40; 458

As you can see, rab most often is translated as “great” or “many.” It is rarely used in this sense of the word. The NIV translates rab as enough, while the King James uses “Let it suffice.” Either way, it is a word that God rarely uses in this negative or corrective sense, as it is used here.

In the New International Version, the word “enough” appears only 98 times in all 66 books. In only four instances is “enough” used by the L-RD in a directed, corrective sense. In II Samuel 24:16 and I Chronicles 21:15, the L-RD uses “enough” in the same corrective sense as He does here, but His statement is directed at an angel, not a person. The corrective use of “enough” also appears in Ezekiel 44:6 and 45:9, but in those instances, the L-RD is addressing Israel as a nation, rather than addressing an individual.

Therefore, I can say with relative confidence that the L-RD here is addressing Moses in a rather unique and rare way. He is correcting Moses from a path of grumbling, complaining and desiring to enter the land even after the L-RD has told him, “No.” Is this sounding familiar yet?

You see, a few weeks ago, in the parashah called Balak, the non-Israelite prophet Balaam found himself in a similar situation, continuing to ask the L-RD for permission to do something long after the L-RD told him, “No.” In the case of Balaam, of course, the L-RD ultimately allowed Balaam to harden his heart and go his own way, but foiled Balaam’s efforts to damage Israel in the process.

Here, we can tell Moses is frustrated at the L-RD’s decision to not allow him to enter the promised land, because he continues asking. Yet, unlike the way in which the L-RD dealt with Balaam, with Moses the L-RD draws a line. “That is enough,” said the L-RD. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter.”

If only the L-RD had been so firm with Balaam, perhaps instead of begrudgingly blessing the people of Israel, those words would have flowed freely from his mouth. Instead of joining King Balak, Balaam would have joined himself to the people of Israel! Yet with Balaam, the L-RD stayed silent and allowed Balaam – within limits – to pursue his own stubborn path, which led to his destruction.

Imagine if the L-RD had not spoken up like this with Moses! Imagine if Moses was allowed to go his own stubborn way, attempting to enter the land against the command of the L-RD! Would the L-RD have sent a sword-wielding angel after Moses to oppose him and strike him down, as with Balaam? If that had happened, what would it have done to all the rest of the work the L-RD had accomplished through Moses? Would the name of Moses be considered as blessed today as it is?

Yet praise God, we don’t have to wonder about such possibilities. Praise God, the L-RD did speak up. Praise God, when Moses became stubborn, rather than keep silent and allow Moses’ heart to grow hard, the L-RD spoke to him and said, “That is enough. Do not speak to me anymore on this matter,” words that the L-RD never spoke before, nor spoke again in all of the Torah, all of the Tenakh, all of the Brit HaDasha – the entire Word of God, the complete Jewish Bible. He spoke those words to angels, to nations, but nowhere in the Bible does the L-RD speak like that to any other individual.

It is because of that unique friendship, that unique intimacy, which was shared by the L-RD and Moses, that God decides to intervene. To no one else since the Garden, and until Yeshua, did the L-RD show His glory, communicate with face-to-face and speak without mysteries. And now He also gives Moses another rare gift; the gift of correction. We read this in:

Job 5:17
“Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

This verse gives us insight into the heartbeat of the L-RD’s relationship with Moses. He is treating Moses as a father would treat a son, as a mother would treat a daughter, as any parent would treat any child!

It is easy to wonder why the L-RD treated Moses differently than Balaam, until you think of it in these terms. You see, generally we are to care for everyone. But in practice, in daily life, we do tend to go more out of our way for family than we do for strangers.

If we see a stranger smoking, for example, we might complain or make a comment about cigarettes causing cancer, but if that person isn’t receptive, often we let it go. If we see a son or daughter or niece or nephew smoking, however, we don’t let it go. Certianly, we have more authority in a child’s life than a stranger’s … but we tend to also have a greater interest in seeing the self-destructive behavior stop.

It is not that different here with Balaam and the L-RD, versus Moses and the L-RD. Balaam may have been able to talk to the L-RD, but he did not seek unity with the people of the L-RD or to live in complete obedience to Him, even when the opportunity to join them was there. So, in what Balaam may have mistakenly assumed was grace, the L-RD allowed him to do as he wished, up to a point, and pursue his own desires to his own destruction. If Balaam had allowed the L-RD to control his life, to truly be his Lord, he would never have pressed God to the point of the L-RD allowing him to harden his heart and go his own way. He could have achieved intimacy with God that would have allowed the L-RD to say, “That is enough. Do not speak with me anymore on this matter.”

But that was not what Balaam chose.

What made the difference with Moses, caught in a moment of desire to enter the land overwhelming his judgment to accept God’s decision, is that Moses spent a lifetime – despite all his faults and his anger – seeking intimacy with the L-RD rather than His own way, obeying all the L-RD commanded him. He had made the L-RD truly Lord of his life, and in His kindness, God doesn’t allow Moses’ moment of weakness to destroy a lifetime of obedience. Like a loving, protective parent, He tells Moses, “That is enough.” Harsh words, proving His love.

Shabbat Shalom.

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My D’varim Commentary

Monday, July 27th, 2009

A couple months ago, my wife and I had our insurance come up for renewal. We were already paying a lot, and they wanted to hike the rate quite a bit. So we decided to ask around for an insurance quote or two. It’s a good thing we did; we cut what we would have been paying in half. Yes, really. The L-RD is good! Now here’s my commentary on D’varim. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is D’varim or “words” and covers Deuteronomy chapter 1 through chapter 3, verse 22. Today’s reading represents the beginning of the home stretch in our yearly Torah cycle. As the book begins, Moses is addressing the people of Israel and retelling them their history since coming out of Egypt.

Much of the book of Deuteronomy is like this, a review of everything that has happened over the forty years Israel has spent in the wilderness, and the first time or two you read it, it can, quite honestly, be a bit off-putting. After all, one might say, didn’t we just read the previous four books of the Torah? Is this review prior to an exam, or do they just think we’re too dense to grasp the previous four books, and so Deuteronomy is offered as a mix between a Reader’s Digest condensed version, and a Cliff Notes on the previous four books.

However, there is more going on here than a simple review; we’re getting details that simply were not given in the earlier books of Torah. The most dramatic example of this, of course, is God’s response to Moses when Israel asks not to hear the voice of the L-RD anymore or they will die. When this is related in Exodus 20:19, no direct response from God is recorded, but He no longer speaks to all of Israel, but only with Moses in the Tent of Meeting. But when the same event is related in an upcoming weekly reading, in Deuteronomy 18:15-22, the L-RD’s response to Moses to this request is recorded in detail. And this is not the only instance of this, so those who would ignore Deuteronomy altogether because, “It’s nothing but review,” are missing out on a lot.

The first question that comes to mind, however, is why God would direct Moses to review all that had happened like this; the answer is obvious if we’ve been paying attention to the last few readings in the book of Numbers. Because of several episodes of sin and rebellion, the L-RD had promised the people of the generation of the exodus that not one of them age 20 or older – except for Caleb and Joshua – would live to see the Promised Land; they would all die in the desert. And the L-RD had made good on this promise.

We just read a couple weeks ago about how a new census was taken, consisting of none of those who were counted by Moses and Aaron at the beginning of the Exodus period, in the beginning of the book of Numbers. And it is this new crowd to which Moses is speaking.

That’s why he’s reviewing so much of what has happened over the past forty years! Most of them don’t remember it themselves! At this point, No one in Israel, except for Moses, Joshua, Caleb and maybe Eleazar are older than sixty years old. Only those between the ages of 41 and 60 were alive when the desert exile began, and anyone 40 and under would have no memories other than life in the desert; they would not remember slavery in Egypt, the crossing of the sea on dry land, the giving of the ten commands at Sinai, or the rebellion of Korach.

You see, the reality of the situation the children of Israel are facing is that they are about to lose their mediator! Moses is soon to be gathered to his people and he is one of the last people alive among them who remembers everything, all that has gone before. He is soon to leave them, and so God charges him with retelling the history of their people, so that it might be remembered in the hearts of every Israelite.

You see, beyond the Moabites, beyond the Amorites, beyond Og, king of Bashan, the greatest risk the children of Israel are facing is a loss of their own sense of identity and history, that certainty of who they are as a people. Keep in mind, this is a people who are many generations removed from any generation that might recall the called-out nature of their people.

They endured generations of slavery in Egypt, living among the Egyptians and their culture, picking up some of it and incorporating it into the way they lived themselves. We see this in the sin of the Golden Calf, which was an impulse to return to that with which they had become familiar in Egypt, a culture of idol worship.

They endured after that an entire generation in the desert, surrounded on all sides by peoples and cultures who did not know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in spirit and in truth, and whose practices influenced their own; we see this in the patriarchal system in Israel, the urge to treat women as property rather than people, which God confronted by granting the daughters of Zelophehad property rights. And much of this has happened with Moses, their own chosen mediator between the L-RD and themselves, around! How much Moses must have feared they would drift even further from true worship of the true God without him!

So, as with anyone who is about to leave, Moses begins a long goodbye, a goodbye filled with reminders of who God is, what He as done for them, and who they are as a people. This long goodbye becomes the book we are about to begin studying for the next several weeks.

It is against this backdrop and this understanding that we must begin our study of this week’s Torah portion. One of the overriding themes of this week’s portion is how God is a keeper of His promises; not just in the here and now, but in the generations to come. What does that mean? How can He keep His promises generations after the people He made them to are gone from this life? To get an idea of what I mean, we read this in:

Deuteronomy 2:4-6
Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

Now, think about that for a moment. We first met Esau, the brother of Isaac, early in Genesis. We are hundreds of years removed from the generation of Esau, and yet here is God, directing the descendants of Esau’s brother, Isaac, not to provoke them to war, but to show them kindness, because the L-RD had promised that land to Esau’s descendants, just as He had promised the Promised Land to Isaac’s descendants.

Would Esau know the difference? He’s been dead for hundreds of years! Would the people who live there now, Esau’s descendants, remember the promises made by the L-RD? I would suggest they might not, since there’s no indication they still followed the creator God of Israel. Esau, remember, sold his birthright for a bowl of stew.

But here’s the thing: God would know the difference. He had promised that land to Esau just as he had promised the promised land to the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. And God holds Himself accountable for the keeping of His own promises far better than any of us do in keeping ours.

So the exodus and the promised land was not some random destination, some kingdom where Moses sensed weakness and a chance for victory. If that was all he was seeking, Moses could have led an attack on any of a number of kingdoms and lands. But this was not the case with the children of Israel; God had a specific land in mind, a land he’d promised originally to Abraham, and there would be no substitutions.

As we read in:

Deuteronomy 2:24-25
“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

As the narrative continues, we see that the L-RD gives Israel a significant and complete victory over Sihon the Amorite. Their conquering of the land was careful and calculated, not random. And because they obeyed the L-RD, they are given a victory. We see this obedience to the warnings of the L-RD not to attack the lands promised to Esau or Lot in:

Deuteronomy 2:36-37
From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. But in accordance with the command of the LORD our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

We can trace the L-RD’s direction right back to his original promises to Esau and Lot. After a struggle for the blessing of their father Isaac, years later, Esau and Jacob made peace with each other, sacrificed to the L-RD, and Esau was given his own land as an inheritance. We read this in:

Genesis 36:6-9
Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. Their possessions were too great for them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both because of their livestock. So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir. This is the account of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

In much the same way, Lot was given his choice of land by agreement with Abraham and the L-RD. We read this in:

Genesis 13:7-12
And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.” Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.

When the L-RD destroyed the cities of the plain, most notably Sodom and Gomorrah, for their wickedness, Lot and his family was spared, although his wife perished when she looked back at the destruction. And so the land promised to Lot changes, as we read in:

Genesis 19:30, 36-38
Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave … So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father. The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab; he is the father of the Moabites of today. The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

So, this is why the L-RD ordered the Israelites not to go to war with the Edomites, Ammonites, or most of the Moabites, or take their land from them; because God, as a promise-keeper, had promised those lands to the descendants of Esau and Lot, just as he had promised the Promised Land to the descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel. Even though the people the L-RD had made these promises to were gathered to their ancestors for hundreds and hundreds of years, the L-RD Himself kept continued to keep His promises because he is not someone who breaks His promises.

Which leads us to this closing thought. If the L-RD can keep His promises to Esau and Lot hundreds of years after they were gone, how much more is he capable of keeping his promises to us in this life and in the world to come? And if the L-RD calls us to follow Him and be like Him, through the Messiah Yeshua, then shouldn’t we also seek to be keepers of the promises we make, both to the L-RD and each other, by simply letting our yes be yes, and our no be no?

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: D'Varim, insurance quote, Torah commentary
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