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Sermon: The Parable of the Talents

Monday, December 21st, 2009

Here’s my sermon on the Parable of the Talents. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

You know, usually when I’m asked to give a message, it’s a Torah commentary and my subject matter is determined by the weekly Torah reading. Today I was given more freedom to choose, and I finally settled on a parable of Yeshua that has always had some elements that puzzled me. So I leaped at the opportunity to study it more closely.

This parable is usually referred to as the “parable of the talents,” and I’ve heard teachers teach this parable many different ways. But before we get into analyzing it, let’s read through this parable now so that we all have a common frame of reference. Yeshua is speaking as we read this in:

Matthew 25:14-30
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Now, one of the most common ways that this parable of Yeshua is mistaught, and I believe it can lead us down a wrong path, is to look past the cultural context of this parable and interpret talents to mean the giftedness with which the L-RD has blessed each of us. So there are teachers who will go on and on about using your talents in the service of the L-RD, whether it be singing, dancing, writing, teaching, organizing, working with numbers, or whatever it may be that God has given you as a special talent.

Now, using your God-given talents in service to God is a good thing. I agree with it. We can and should all strive to live closer to that ideal. However … that’s not what this parable is about, and I believe Yeshua’s real point here has been missed by those who teach this parable in this way.

I believe the root of this misunderstand starts with simply misunderstanding what Yeshua means by “talent” here. So what is a talent? Well, it’s actually a unit of measurement, one that is used for measuring precious metals, primarily. The Greek word used is talanton, and we find this definition in:

STRONG’S G5007 talanton
• 2) that which is weighed, a talent 2a) a weight varying in different places and times 2b) a sum of money weighing a talent and varying in different states and according to the changes in the laws regulating currency 2b2) a talent of silver in Israel weighed about 100 pounds (45 kg) 2b3) a talent of gold in Israel weighed about 200 pounds (91 kg).

In addition to this, we are offered this insight by:

Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 59
In Roman times one talent equaled 6,000 denarii, a denarius being roughly a day’s wages for a common laborer … Haman offered King Achashverosh of Persia 10,000 talents of silver to destroy the Jews (Esther 3:9).

So, a talent is a measurement of money used in the ancient world, and it’s a significant amount of money. In fact, if a talent is equal to 6,000 denarii, and a denarii is roughly one day’s wages for the common working person, then it would take the average person, taking only Shabbats off, around 19 years to earn a single talent. Add in the festivals of the L-RD and it’s probably closer to 21 years or more, just to earn a single talent of money.

Stern elaborates on this to give us an idea of just how much money we’re talking about; I’ve updated the amounts in the following quote to reflect today’s precious metal prices, as of this week:

Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 59
If a day’s wages today is in the neighborhood of $80, 10,000 talents would be $4.8 billion! In the Tanakh a talent weighs 75.6 avoirdupois pounds. This amount of gold, at $1120/troy ounce, is worth nearly $13.54 billion; the same amount of silver, at $17.37/troy ounce, comes to over $210 million.

Now, applying this to the current parable, assuming it is speaking of talents of gold, the man with the five talents was entrusted with the equivalent of – in today’s prices – $6.8 million, the man with two talents with $2.7 million, and the man with one talent, $1.35 million.

So, what can we draw from this? Well, first and foremost, I think it should help us realize that even the man given a single talent by his master was given a vast fortune, not a limited resource. While his share may seem small in comparison to the other two, he in fact has been given much more than most people would ever have access to all at once in their lifetimes.

By now, I think it’s clear that this parable does concern itself with financial resources; this is supported by the text itself, when it mentions that the servants of the master are given “talents of money.”

So now that we know Yeshua is teaching us something about our financial resources, let’s take a step back and take note of the greater context of this parable. Without understanding the context of what Yeshua’s teaching here, it would be too easy to fall into misinterpreting what he means.

Remember the very first word of this parable? What is it? It begins, “Again.” The first few words, in fact, are, “Again, it will be like…” So the next questions we must answer are, why is the word “again” here, and to what is the word “it” referring?

Well, if we take a look at the first half of Matthew 25, we see that Yeshua is teaching another parable there, the parable of the ten virgins. The word “again,” therefore, means that whatever Yeshua is about to tell us is linked to what he’s already taught. This is done for emphasis, or to get a point across. Yeshua is telling us that he’s about to make the same point – again – and he’s hoping that if we didn’t get it the first time, we’ll grasp it the second time.

This teaching style is often used by parents teaching their younger children. It would be similar to telling a child, “Right now, it’s time for the dog to sleep,” and then saying, “Again, do not play with the dog right now.”

I’m making the same point each time, but saying it in different ways to emphasize the point. This teaching style can also be used to help eliminate the possibility of misunderstanding. So one thing we gain from the context immediately is the insight that, whatever point Yeshua is making with the parable of the talents, it must be congruent with the point he’s making in the parable of the ten virgins.

Now let’s read how the parable of the ten virgins begins. We read this in:

Matthew 25:1
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

Well, this answers what the “it” refers to in the parable of the talents. The “it” is “the kingdom of heaven.” Yet we have a new question arising from this verse as well. Yeshua starts the parable of the ten virgins with the phrase, “At that time.” Since he’s making the same point in both parables, we need to understand what he means by, “At that time,” in the parable of the ten virgins, in order to understand the parable of the talents properly, don’t we?

So, if we back up to chapter 24, what well see is that both of these parables are building off of an earlier discussion with his disciples, as we read in:

Matthew 24:3
As Yeshua was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Since this point, Yeshua has been teaching the twelve about this period of time – the sign of his coming, the end of the age – without interruption. Each thing he teaches is designed to add another layer of understanding to what he’s already taught. And throughout these few chapters, to remind us that he’s still responding to his talmudim’s questions about the end of the age and His coming, he begins to use this phrase, “At that time,” as we read in:

Matthew 24:10
At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other,

And again in:

Matthew 24:23
At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

And again in:

Matthew 24:30
“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

And this pattern simply continues until Yeshua is done teaching on this topic, and we know that both parables are part of this teaching because it is not concluded until we read, in:

Matthew 26:1-2
When Yeshua had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, “As you know, the Passover is two days away–and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

So now, with confidence, we can pinpoint the time Yeshua is teaching about with both of these parables, when he uses the phrase, “at that time.” The parable of the talents is a teaching about the return of Yeshua.

Now, Rabbi Stan has often taught on the parable of the ten virgins. And from his teaching, we know that the thing which separated the five wise virgins from the five foolish virgins was what? The oil in their lamps. And what does the oil symbolize? Well, it does not symbolize the presence of the Holy Spirit – the Ruach haKodesh – as some teachers suggest, does it? No, it represents our acts of giving, of charity, our good deeds, our mitzvahs, our kindness shown to others, the way in which we treat those who are in need. And we know this is Yeshua’s message because it is stated even more implicitly later in chapter 25, which we’ll look at in a moment.

But before we do, let’s apply this insight to our understanding of the parable of the talents. Yeshua has been teaching us of his return, of the Day of Judgment. So this is a teaching related to which fall festival of the L-RD? Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement! What do we know about the Day of Atonement? We read this in:

Leviticus 16:29-31
“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work–whether native-born or an alien living among you–because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the L-RD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

And again, in:

Numbers 29:7-11
“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves and do no work. Present as an aroma pleasing to the L-RD a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

So the Day of Atonement is the day when our sins are paid for and the books between ourselves and the L-RD are brought into balance. This insight is reflected in the parable when Yeshua teaches, “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.” This settling of accounts alludes to the Day of Judgment. It is the day Yeshua has been speaking of, the day referred to in the parable of the ten virgins and now the day he’s referring to here.

And this makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, if the oil in the lamps in the ten virgins parable represented the Holy Spirit, how long could it take to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Not long, right? But if the time for the wedding supper has come and the oil represents our good deeds – what we did with what we were given by the L-RD – then how long would it take to make up for a lifetime of neglecting the needs of those around us? A pretty long time, right? And too long for them to be ready for the wedding supper once the bridegroom’s return is imminent.

So, if Yeshua’s point about our mitzvahs – our good deeds – being significant at the Day of Judgment is unclear in the parable of the ten virgins, it becomes clearer in the parable of the talents. Remember, all three servants have been entrusted with different resources according to their abilities, but each is still entrusted with plenty, right? I mean, sure, servant with five talents may have more – about $6.8 million, remember – but even one talent is $1.35 million in assets, and if someone can’t figure out how to bless others with those kinds of resources, well, they need a deeper prayer life.

But now we’re getting to the heart of what used to confuse me about this parable. At the master’s return, on the Day of Atonement, at the settling of books, the servant given five talents has doubled what he was given and so has the servant with two talents. Yet the servant with one talent was afraid and instead of putting that talent to work, he hid it and returns to his master exactly what was given him.

Now, the master’s reaction is what used to confuse me, because it doesn’t appear that the servant with one talent did anything wrong. I mean, he didn’t sneak off with his master’s money, or spend it on himself, did he? And yet he’s called wicked and lazy and is tossed outside of His master’s presence!

Yet what I have realized as I have studied this parable over and over again is this: my understanding of this parable had been influenced for many years by yet another off-target way of looking at this parable. Too often, people approach this parable like it is the secret to financial success in this life. They interpret it by fleshly definitions, when in fact Yeshua is offering a deep teaching of the Spirit. Does it make sense, then, to treat this parable like “God’s Secret to Earning Quick Cash Now!”?

Of course not. That’s not what Yeshua is teaching here. He’s not instructing us on how to invest in Wall Street; he’s instructing us on how to invest in the streets of gold in the kingdom of God! You see, the talents each servant is given represent our earthly treasures, all that the L-RD will bless us with over the course of our lives. This is a teaching about how we use the resources we already have to advance the kingdom of the L-RD. Will we be like the faithful servants, who “put their money to work” and doubled what they were originally given? Or will we fear our L-RD and hide all that we have so that it cannot grow beyond us?

Again, this is not about gaining riches in this life, but storing up for ourselves treasures that cannot perish in the World to Come. As we read in:

Matthew 6:19-21
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So in light of this, what is Yeshua teaching here? Do we want to keep all that the L-RD has blessed us with in this life to ourselves, and go before Him on the Day of Atonement to offer it all back, but with nothing beyond what he’s given us to show for it? Or do we want to expand His kingdom? If our heart is focused on His kingdom, then we’ll invest our treasure beyond ourselves. We’ll put food in front of the hungry, clothes on the backs of the needy, offer shelter to those without homes. We’ll treat others with the same unearned kindness the L-RD has shown us, won’t we?

You see, the key to handling our treasures in this life is not to tithe, is not to give away no more than twenty percent lest we become destitute ourselves as the rabbis teach, but to realize that all we have belongs to God; it’s not even ours to begin with, but the L-RD’s and we’re to do His work with it.

We find out just exactly what Yeshua is driving at as we read beyond the parable of the talents, in:

Matthew 25:41-46
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Could it be any clearer? By the end of chapter 25, Yeshua is being about as unveiled as possible. Our faithfulness to our master, Yeshua, is measured by our deeds!

So is Yeshua teaching that it is our deeds that are our salvation? No! Yeshua alone saves us. He is offering us a deeper teaching, a teaching about how to pursue righteousness, holy living. He is speaking to his disciples, his talmudim, to those of us who have already been saved and he’s asking us, “OK, now what are you going to do with it?”

Now, some might object and claim this is putting us back under the idea of works. But this is not so; even James, the very brother of our Messiah Yeshua, agrees on this point, as we read in:

James 1: 22, 27
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says … Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

And also:

James 2:14-18
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

So one question remains, one passage that for a long time has eluded me. In the master’s rebuke of the lazy servant, he says, “So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”

The meaning of this passage eluded me until preparing this sermon. Then the pieces started to fall into place.
If the talents of money are about using our earthly resources to store up treasure in the World to Come, then what’s this about putting it on deposit with bankers and having the master get it back with interest?

Now, clearly, the wicked servant is operating out of fear. Perhaps he was afraid he’d lose his master’s fortune. But how can you lose a fortune if your job is to give it away to those in need? You can’t. But another fear paradigm is this: perhaps the servant feared he’d invest it poorly; like the person who means to help a homeless person by giving them money, only to find out those funds bought the last bottle of whiskey that left them dying in an abandoned alley.

So, using the fear explanation, could one understand the concerns of a person who is afraid of using what they’ve been given in ways that don’t advance the kingdom? Possibly, but is that an excuse not to give, not to help? No. That’s why I think the comment about the bankers is here. Could it be that Yeshua is telling us, “If you’re afraid to invest your earthly treasures yourself, then entrust them to those with experience.”

Again, this is not about banking in this life! This is about spreading the kingdom of the L-RD. If you don’t know how best to invest in spreading the kingdom of the L-RD yourself, then give to those who do; there are many ministries that help the needy. It can be as close to home as your local community of believers, or as global as giving to ministries that help poor Jewish people return to the land of Israel, or anything in between. And I’d suggest this; if you pray long enough and hard enough, the L-RD will not return vacant anything you give in faith. Your treasures in heaven will accumulate.

The bottom line on the parable of the talents is this; we all have more than we think we’ve been given, and we should use it prayerfully and wisely, putting it to work to advance the kingdom of heaven, rather than invest in our comfort and convenience in this world. While none of us are complete works in this regard, all of us – I’m including myself – can do better in trusting the L-RD enough to turn our treasures, our finances, over to Him. For it is far better to enter into the World to Come hearing Yeshua say, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” than it is to hear, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

May we all live toward, and earn, that “Well done” praise from Messiah Yeshua, our master, on the Day of Judgment and in the World to Come.

Shabbat Shalom.

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My Sh’lach L’cha Commentary

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

I know we ought not obsess on the physical to the detriment of the spiritual, but at fifty pounds overweight, it’s time for me to start putting enough energy into improving my physical self that I can have better health and life expectancy. I was hoping to try something light and easy, like a Kettlebell system, but so far it’s just thoughts, which doesn’t exactly help one lose weight. Anyway, here’s my Sh’lach L’cha commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is Sh’lach L’cha or “Send for yourself” and covers Numbers chapters 13 through 15. This week’s reading covers the entire episode when Moses and Aaron send spies into the promised land, the report of the spies, and the L-RD’s reaction to their report. Next to the episode of the Golden Calf, this ranks as one of the most disappointing episodes in all of Israel’s history, and quite often the true cause of this episode is either overlooked completely, or minimized.

For the past couple weeks, Rabbi Stan has taught on the dangers of lashon horah – evil speech – and the destruction it can bring upon any individual or community of people. Also, in last week’s Torah commentary, we looked at how evil speech affected the community of Israel when they grumbled about the manna the L-RD provided, as well as how the grumbling of Miriam – the sister of Moses – was also dealt with harshly by the L-RD.

We’ve learned that committing evil speech does not require the telling of a lie. Often, those who commit lashon horah are telling the truth about another person. But it doesn’t matter. The problem is not the truthfulness of the speech, but the intent of the speaker. So, even if one speaks the truth, if the intent of one’s heart in sharing something about another person is to damage their reputation in the eyes of others, the result is considered evil speech.

This week’s portion reveals yet another aspect to how evil speech can be manifested. Moses and Aaron send a group of twelve spies into the land promised to them by the L-RD. What was the purpose of their mission?

We find this in:

Numbers 13:17-20
When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

So, this is the mission of the spies. To simply gather intelligence on the conditions in the Land, and bring back some fruit of the land if they are able. That’s it. That’s all. Just gather information and fruit, and report back to Moses and Aaron.

Is that what happened? We find this in:

Numbers 13:27-29
They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
Now, to this point, those reporting back to Moses and Aaron have lived up to their responsibilities. They have stuck to the parameters given to them by Moses. They have gathered information and reported it, but they have not gone beyond that specific mission. Yet things are about to take a turn for the worse. After this, Caleb speaks up and offers a faithful conclusion to the report, saying, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Caleb’s summary comes through the eyes of faith. Faith in the ability of the L-RD to deliver on His promises. Yet not everyone who went with him to spy out the Land agree. Instead of trusting the L-RD to make good on His promises, they instead respond out of fear, in the flesh. We read this in:

Numbers 13:31-33
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

This is where the behavior of the spies sent into the Land veers off-course from their mission. After delivering an accurate initial report, they allow fear to rule over them, rather than faith in the L-RD who brought them up out of Egypt and rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Instead of trusting in the L-RD as Caleb had suggested, they choose to fear the odds against them and the forces that will oppose them, and they go a step further by spreading that fear to others throughout the camp.

This is important to understand; it is their words and the intent behind their words that get them into trouble here. Are some of their claims honest? It would appear so. After all, we know that in time, in the generation of David, David will battle a giant from Gath named Goliath – or Golyat, if you prefer the Hebrew version of his name. So is it true that there are giants in the Land? Certainly. But again, when it comes to lashon hora, the truth of what is said is not at issue; what is at issue is the intent of the speech, which here, very clearly, is to cause fear and sew division among the people.

This is important to notice: Caleb and Joshua did not go on a separate mission from the other ten spies! They traveled together. They witnesses the same things. They had the same facts at their disposal. So what is the difference?

The difference is how they reacted to what they saw and what they knew. Ten of them give into fear; fear is a lack of trust, which is the same thing as a lack of faith. Only two – Caleb and Joshua – look at the same information, the odds stacked against them, and say, “The L-RD is able. He can give us the victory.”

Yet their voices were hard to hear over the din of complaints and fear. We read this in:

Numbers 14:1-4
That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the L-RD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Notice how lashon hora has taken deep root in the community of the Israelites at this time. It grows and grows as time goes on, the complaints growing louder and spiraling out of control. In the last parashah, we saw how thousands died because of evil speech over the manna the L-RD provided the people to eat; we read about Miriam’s punishment for speaking against the leadership of her brother, Moses. While corrective actions were taken on each occasion, the habit of evil speech is now so deeply ingrained in the people that the problem continues even though those who were guilty of it before had been severely punished by The L-RD. Now, they are at the point of outright mutiny, making plans to return to Egypt as soon as they can find a willing leader to challenge and replace Moses.

So, what is the solution to this explosive situation? We read this in:

Numbers 14:5-10a
Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the L-RD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the L-RD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the L-RD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Moses and Aaron respond with prayer; Caleb and Joshua respond by speaking a better truth – a truth based in trusting The L-RD – to the people, urging them not to rebel. Yet it doesn’t work, does it? By this time, the people have become fatally infected by the sin of lashon hora, to the point that none of them can pull back from their urge to rebel against the L-RD. From Mount Sinai, when they changed the terms of the agreement, telling Moses to be their mediator and not have the L-RD speak to them anymore lest they die, to complaints about food, until now where an evil report about the land causes them to want to strike down Moses and Aaron and return to slavery in Egypt, this is a group of people who have been saying, “No,” to the L-RD for so long, they simply can’t stop saying, “No,” to Him.

Finally, the L-RD has had enough. Once again, the L-RD declares His desire to strike them all down and build a new nation out of Moses himself. Once again, Moses intercedes for Israel, begging the L-RD to show mercy. Once again, the L-RD agrees to forgive them for Moses’ sake. He won’t wipe them out all at once and thus given the Egyptians a reason to speak of the L-RD with contempt. But this time the L-RD does not back down so completely. Let’s listen in to this passage in:

Numbers 14:20-24
The L-RD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the L-RD fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times–not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

And the L-RD is not light in his punishment of this rebellion, either. As He revealed of Himself to Moses, the L-RD does not leave the guilty unpunished, but he punished the children for the sins of their fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him. He is about to illustrate this literally and directly, as we read in:

Numbers 14:28-35
So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the L-RD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall–every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you–your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years–one year for each of the forty days you explored the land–you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ I, the L-RD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”

Why is the L-RD so harsh with the Israelites here? I would suggest that what we see here is a rejection of even the amended covenant the L-RD had made with Israel at Sinai. Remember, the original terms were that the people would hear the voice of the L-RD. That was all they had to do. Instead, they asked for a mediator – Moses. And God gave them what they asked for! He amended the covenant and as a result they were no longer called “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Now, they want to reject the mediator of their own choosing, Moses, going so far as to plot his overthrow. And yes, that means they were planning to kill him.

So the L-RD decides what their punishment must be; none of them who rejected him so thoroughly and continuously will live to see the promised land themselves. That will be left to their children, who will be put to hard labor in the wilderness for their survival there as a punishment for the sins of their parents. Their parents had not had to struggle to survive in the desert; they will be made to. So, except for Joshua and Caleb, the entire generation of the exodus from Egypt will perish in the desert and never see the land promised to them.

And why? Because of a lack of trust, a root of bitterness, and most importantly, because of careless talk, evil speech, lashon hora. Unkind words and evil speech led to the destruction of an entire generation, over 600,000 men of military age, and perhaps as many as 1.5 million people overall. Only two survive. So, the next time someone tells you that words are not important, can’t hurt you or that God doesn’t care about it… point them to these last two Torah portions. The truth is exactly the opposite of the wisdom of this world.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Kettlebell, Sh'lach L'cha, Torah
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My Passover Day 3 Commentary

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Some folks write Web pages that go on endlessly about Blackberry plants in Asia or something obscure like that. But here at MessianicMusings.com, we’re all about the Torah and the Messiah Yeshua. Here’s my commentary for Passover Day 3. Or listen to it! Shalom.

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is for the third day of Passover and covers Exodus 33:12 through Exodus 34:26 as well as Numbers 28:19-25. The main body of this text comes to us from the parashah known as Ki Tisa, which we studied only a few weeks ago. So while much of this week’s reading will be familiar to many of you, I’d like to focus on something I didn’t spend as much time on a few weeks ago, and that is the specific qualities named by The L-RD when He agrees to show Moses his glory.

Now, there is a context for this. You’ll remember that the people of Israel had just demanded that Aaron build them a calf of gold to worship because Moses was taking – they felt – too long on the mountain. Moses shared the L-RD’s anger at this betrayal, but also demonstrated his concern for the L-RD’s reputation by talking to Him and convincing the L-RD not to strike down the Israelites in anger, but to keep His promises to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so that the L-RD’s name would not be cursed by His enemies.

So, as this portion begins, Moses has convinced God to accompany His people into the land he promised and Moses has developed such trust and intimacy with the L-RD that he has asked to see the L-RD in his glory. We read this in:

Exodus 33:17-20
And the L-RD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” And the L-RD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the L-RD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Now, this can be a disconcerting passage, in context, for it was not long before this passage that we are told that the L-RD would meet with Moses in the Tent of Meeting, and that he would speak to Moses face-to-face.

Yet here, only a few verses later in Exodus, we read that the L-RD says that no one may see His face and live. So, is the Torah contradicting itself, as some may charge? Not at all. Let’s look at the other passage in context.

Exodus 33:10-11
Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The L-RD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Notice the language in this passage. The L-RD would speak to Moses face-to-face … as a man speaks with his friend. Is this a description about the physical presence of the L-RD, or is this a description about the nature of His conversation with Moses? To help us understand this passage, let’s take a look at the Strong’s entry for the word “face.”

Strong’s 6440 paniym
1) face
1b) presence, person
1f) as adv of loc/temp
1f1) before and behind, toward, in front of, forward, formerly, from beforetime, before

As you can see here, the Hebrew word used is paniym, and it can mean face, presence, person, and as an adverb, it can indicate location and temperament. It is in this context that I believe the paniym is being used – to describe how the L-RD (subject) would speak (verb) to Moses (object). Therefore, in this sense, face-to-face is not being used to describe the L-RD’s location relative to Moses, but his temperament toward Moses.

This is supported by the phrase that follows it, “as a man speaks to his friend,” which is intended to further define what is meant by the adverbial phrase, “face-to-face.”

So, how does a man speak to his friend? Usually that would mean directly, without pretense, without one’s guard up, and without the normal formality that one adopts when talking with strangers.

So, that is how it is between the L-RD and Moses when finally He agrees to show Moses His glory. We read this in:

Exodus 34:5-8
Then the L-RD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the L-RD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The L-RD, the L-RD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.

Now, when the L-RD is revealing Himself to Moses like this, He’s not literally saying, “The L-RD, the L-RD.” Instead, He is using his personal name, which we know to be revealed in the Hebrew letters, yod-hey-vav-hey. So the L-RD is being very revealing at this time with Moses and what I’d like to focus on for the remainder of our study today are the personal qualities the L-RD reveals about Himself in this passage.

The first quality the L-RD reveals about Himself is His compassionate nature. We know this to be true by the testimony of other passages in Scripture, as well as the L-RD’s actions as revealed through the Torah and the rest of the Tenakh. For example, we read this in:

Nehemiah 9:31
Even so, in your great compassion, you didn’t completely destroy them; nor did you abandon them, for you are a compassionate and merciful God.

Compassionate, gracious, merciful. All of these words are similar and used to describe various facets of the nature of God’s character. We find that the word used here for compassion is the Hebrew word racham.

Strong’s 7355 racham
1) to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion
1b1) to have compassion, be compassionate
1b1a) of God, man
1c) (Pual) to be shown compassion, be compassionate

So we can see that what the L-RD is saying is that he is a loving and patient God. Why would he say that?

Well, because ever since the fall in the Garden, man’s core instinct is not to trust the L-RD. And we don’t trust because we lack faith. So in showing Moses His glory, his true nature, we see here that part of that picture is compassion – racham – which speaks about a loving, merciful, tender and affectionate nature that the L-RD possesses.

Nearly everything that follows this self-description of the L-RD to Moses is an elaboration on this same concept. Take “slow to anger” as an example. Now, some would point to certain passages, such as the flood, and question the L-RD’s slowness to anger. What we often lose sight of, however, is that for One who is unable to allow anything unholy into His presence, the L-RD is incredibly patient.

Prior to the flood, the earth was around for nearly 2,000 from the time of Adam’s creation in the Garden. The L-RD could have justly wiped out the earth then and there, after the man and woman ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He could have destroyed the earth after Cain took Abel’s life. Any number of stops along the way, the L-RD could have poured out His full wrath upon us all, and yet he did not. In fact, even when the flood waters rose around Noah’s ark, he had already promised a Messiah many times over. In the midst of the judgment and correction of the flood, he was showing his compassion and his slowness to anger.

I mean, the Torah only speaks of six thousand years of history, and the first two thousand years are known among the rabbis as the time of desolation. In all that time, only Enoch pleased God sufficiently in his obedience that the L-RD took him up to heaven without suffering death first. Think of two thousand years and millions (if not billions) of people living in all that time, and yet humanity still fell short of God’s perfect standard and often rebelled against whatever He did reveal, such as in the Garden. I’d call that patient, slow to anger and whatever else you can dream up.

We know that He is abounding in love and faithfulness and maintaining His love to many. But it’s the next part of the L-RD’s description of Himself to Moses that seems at odds.

On the one hand, the L-RD says He forgives wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet in the same breath, He reveals that He “does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” Right?

So how can God, on the one hand, forgive wickedness, rebellion and sin, yet still say He does not leave the guilty unpunished? After all, they are almost diametrically opposed concepts! Either a person is forgiven and not punished… or a person is punished in their guilt, but not forgiven. Right? That’s what the world would say.

Yet with the L-RD, there’s a solution to this seeming contradiction. You see, if we stand on our own before the L-RD, we do indeed fall short of his standard. However, we are not on our own before the L-RD, are we? No, we have the promised Messiah, Yeshua, interceding between us and the L-RD, acting as our advocate and redeemer, paying a price for that forgiveness that would have been beyond us on our own.

So there is the answer. If those who practice wickedness, rebellion and sin remain in their sorry state, then the L-RD’s justice will be visited on them, just as the L-RD promised. If, however, they do repent and turn to the Messiah Yeshua, God will indeed forgive them.

Does that mean the guilty go unpunished?

Not at all; if one truly trusts in the Messiah Yeshua, the punishment has indeed been dealt out; yet instead of falling on those who committed these things, the punishment falls on the head of our Messiah Yeshua.

So the L-RD could offer forgiveness to the guilty – and we’re all guilty – and yet honestly say that He punishes the guilty. Because anyone who is guilty and repents can be forgiven while, through the work of our Messiah Yeshua, their guilt is still punished.

There is much to learn about God from these character-revealing words, and as we look over all it teaches us about who God is, there is a single word that comes to mind each time I witness a new layer of meaning revealed. You’ll recognize it from our Passover Seder.

Dayienu! It would have been enough! So let’s recount the L-RD’s goodness now, and each time I share a quality, I’d like you to respond with, “It would have been enough!”

If the L-RD was gracious and compassionate, but was not slow to anger… It would have been enough!

If the L-RD was slow to anger, but was not abounding in love and faithfulness… It would have been enough!

If the L-RD was abounding in love and faithfulness, but was not maintaining love to many… It would have been enough!

If the L-RD was maintaining love to many, but was not forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin … it would have been enough!

If the L-RD was forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin, but was leaving the guilty unpunished … it would have been enough!

If the L-RD was NOT leaving the guilty unpunished, but had withheld from us the Messiah … it would have been enough.

Yet the L-RD has richly blessed us in all these many ways and yet has also offered us the promised Messiah, Yeshua, to take our punishment upon Himself. It is more than we have earned, more than we deserve, and praise be to the L-RD for all He offers us, both through His Torah and His Messiah.
Dayienu! IT IS ENOUGH AND MORE THAN ENOUGH!

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Blackberry plants, commentary, Passover Day 3, Torah
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My B’shalach Commentary

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

Some sites are great for finding hot deals on wedding invitations, but at MessianicMusings.com, we’re all about the Torah, the Brit haDasha, the Messiah Yeshua and worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth. Here’s my commentary on B’shalach. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Our parashah for today is B’shalach, or “When he let go,” and covers Exodus 13:17 through 17:16. The main focus of this week’s parashah is the escape of the Jewish people from their bondage in the land of Egypt. And the parashah opens with a verse that is very telling, but easy to overlook.

Exodus 13:17
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them on the road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest way from Egypt to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

Notice those first few words. “When Pharaoh finally let the people go.” What does that tell us, straight off the bat? Well, for one thing, it tells us that Pharoah is still alive, doesn’t it? And if Pharaoh is still alive, what else does that tell us about him? That he was not a first-born son. Because if he had been a first-born son, he wouldn’t be left alive by the angel of death that passed through Egypt on the night of the first Passover, would he?

This is one of the final insights we can gain from the plagues. One of the most nagging questions of the Exodus experience is, why the plague of the first-born? Well, it is actually a continuation of the same judgments against Egypt and their false gods as the previous nine plagues were, but with a different target.

You see, the previous nine plagues were all aimed at dissolving the trust of the Egyptians in their false gods. Now, with their gods discredited, The L-RD is also destroying their priesthood. How is the priesthood of Egypt related to the slaying of the first-born? We get this insight from the:

Jewish Encyclopedia
The passage referred to, however, did not introduce this right, for the preference of the first-born, as the issue of the “first strength” of the father, existed in patriarchal times. It is generally assumed that the prerogatives of the first-born consisted in a kind of potestas over the family; in a double share of inheritance; and in the right to the priesthood.

You see, those things were established by the L-RD in the earliest of times, especially those prior to the flood, and after it, and were considered commands for the whole world, not just the Jewish people alone. That included the idea that the responsibility of priesthood for each family would fall to the first-born of each family.

This tradition was passed down and observed even in pagan societies like Egypt, through a right called the right of “primogeniture of inheritance.”

That’s just a fancy word that means the first-born of any family gets some added benefits, but also some added responsibilities, and one of those is the priesthood of the family.

So this is what Adonai accomplished with the slaying of the first-born! Not only did he take away their trust in all their false gods, but everyone who, by tradition, ought to be a priest of those gods was slain on that night.

It is an act by The L-RD that completes an attempt to wipe out the false gods of Egypt; first destroy the trust of the people in the power of their gods, then destroy the priesthood that teaches about those false gods.

With so many people dead, Pharaoh is finally reduced enough in humility that he allows the people to go. And in studying the path of the Exodus, we come to an area of some mystery in the Exodus account. We are told this in:

Exodus 13:18, 20
So God led them along a route through the wilderness toward the Red Sea, and the Israelites left Egypt like a marching army. Leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.

This is where the disagreement first begins. Some Bibles translate the location as we see here, Red Sea. Others translate it as “the Sea of Reeds.” While this may seem like a small matter, it’s actually critical for understanding the nature of the Exodus.

Now, the actual words used here are yam soof:

3220 yam {yawm}
• from an unused root meaning to roar; TWOT – 871a; n m
• AV – sea 321, west 47, westward 21, west side 4, seafaring men 1, south 1, western 1; 396
• 1) sea 1a) Mediterranean Sea 1b) Red Sea 1c) Dead Sea 1d) Sea of Galilee 1e) sea (general) 1f) mighty river (Nile) 1g) the sea (the great basin in the temple court) 1h) seaward, west, westward

5488 cuwph {soof}
• probably of Egyptian origin; TWOT – 1479; n m
• AV – Red 24, flags 3, weeds 1; 28
• 1) reed, rush, water plant 1a) rushes 1b) sea of rushes 1b1) of Red Sea 1b2) of arms of Red Sea 1b3) of Gulf of Suez 1b4) of sea from straits to Gulf of Akaba

Yam, as you can see, is not controversial; it simply means “sea.” But soof has several meanings. It could mean reeds, weeks, the color red, or even flag. Now, for thousands of years, many Bibles have traditionally translated this phrase as “the Red Sea.” This is due to the sensible observation that the Red Sea is located near Egypt, surrounding the Sinai Peninsula. However, in recent years, more and more the same words have begun to be translated as “the sea of reeds.”

This is not due to a new insight in translating Hebrew to English, or a new understanding of the term theologically. Instead, the change has come about primarily because, through the early and mid-20th century, archaeology and science have failed to turn up any evidence of the Exodus.

So, it has been proposed that the Exodus was smaller than the Bible claims, took place in a shallow lake bed without much water to be moved… a “sea of reeds,” rather than a sea of water. By changing the wording in various new translations, the translation is now reflecting a new theological viewpoint that comes not from Bible scholars, but from skeptics – many of whom doubt the Exodus ever took place.

Well, what I want to share with you today is that none of these new views or new translations line up with what the Torah says. Let’s take a closer look at what we are actually told about the route taken and the crossing site.

Exodus 14:1-3
Then the L-RD gave these instructions to Moses: “Tell the people to march toward Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the sea. Camp there along the shore, opposite Baal-zephon. Then Pharaoh will think, ‘Those Israelites are confused. They are trapped between the wilderness and the sea!’

The traditional route of the Exodus, according to those who believe yam soof is the sea of reeds, takes the Israelites north and east out of Succoth, but there are troubles with this. First, there’s not much further north to travel, and such a route would not take the Israelites out of the way of the Philistines. Furthermore, most of the theories that propose this route place the mountain of Moses in an area still controlled by Egypt.

Naturally, it is highly unlikely that the Israelites would flee Egypt, cross the yam soof, and encamp before a mountain that was still in Egyptian territory, all without ever being attacked again by Egypt during their 40 years in this wilderness, before the mountain.

For these and many other reasons, I prefer the theory that places the route of the Exodus in more of a south and easterly direction, following a wilderness path surrounded by mountains, known as Wadi Watir, leading to a peninsula into the Gulf of Acquba – part of the Red Sea – known as Nuweiba.

I have prepared a handout for those of you who are interested, which shows both drawings and a satellite image of this area, and I think you may agree that it’s a better fit to the description of the area given in Exodus. There’s also some extra information on the handout, including some pictures of possible underwater Roman chariot wreckage, now turned to coral, that may provide archaeological proof of the Exodus and this possible route for it. Unfortunately, the pictures turned out a bit darker than I’d hoped, but they should give you an idea.

But ultimately, the point here isn’t about which route for the Exodus is most convincing. The point is that, as with so many things in the walk of faith, you will often encounter things that challenge what you believe. We are told in:

Exodus 14:21-22
Then Moses raised his hand over the sea, and the L-RD opened up a path through the water with a strong east wind. The wind blew all that night, turning the seabed into dry land. So the people of Israel walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side!

Does this sound like the description of a shallow lakebed filled with reeds? The text describes deep waters, walls of water all around, enough water to drown the entire army of Pharaoh when they rush back in.

How big was the contingent of the children of Israel? Well, the Torah describes it as consisting of 600,000 men of military age. When one accounts for women, children, and those either too old or too young to be of military service, as well as a “mixed multitude” adding perhaps an additional ten percent to their number, it is not unreasonable to estimate that the number of people who left Egypt in the Exodus was anywhere between one to two million strong.

How large was Pharoah’s army? We are told in:

Exodus 14:6-7, 9a
So Pharaoh called out his troops and led the chase in his chariot. He took with him six hundred of Egypt’s best chariots, along with the rest of the chariots of Egypt, each with a commander. All the forces in Pharaoh’s army–all his horses, chariots, and charioteers–were used in the chase.

No matter how much we think we know about the Exodus from movies and archaeology and science, it remains important that we base our belief on the words of the Torah. As impressive as Cecil B. DeMille’s film of the Exodus was, the reality was greater than anything that could ever be caught on film, and on a far grander scale.

It comes to this; most believers will say that the L-RD split history once: with the birth of Messiah Yeshua. What I believe we see revealed in the Torah, however, is that the L-RD has never been afraid to split history.

Whether it was the move from the Garden to the world; the move from the world before the flood to the world after the flood; the move from captivity in Egypt to a world of freedom, the Torah and a Promised Land, we serve a God who can move not only the waters of the Red Sea, not only mountains, but history itself. He’s done it before, and as we wait for the return of our Messiah Yeshua, we know that the L-RD will indeed do it again. We serve a God of power, unintimidated by any situation that, in our limited human view, seems inescapable. Through Him, all things are possible.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: B'shalach, Torah, wedding invitations
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My Bo Commentary

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

Sometimes when I’m working on my commentaries, I wish I could isolate for a while by going to extended stay hotels or something; but since that’s not practical or wise, I just go into my prayer closet and things usually work out just fine in the end. Here’s my commentary on Bo. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Before we begin, I’d like to share a story I hadn’t really planned out ahead of time.

A man decided to show some kindness to his wife and so he met her as she got home from work one day. He whisked her off in a rented stretch limo, took her to the fanciest restaurant in town, and spared no expense in treating her to anything she wanted off the menu. Toward the end of the meal, all the wait staff gathered round and everyone began singing Happy Birthday to her.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But then the wife leaned over and whispered in her husband’s ear, “Honey, my birthday isn’t until next month.”

Our parashah today is Bo, or Enter!, and covers Exodus 10:1 through 13:16. This week’s reading covers the final thee plagues that Adonai sent against Pharaoh and the land of Egypt, including the plague of locusts, the plague of darkness, and finally ending with the slaying of the first-born.

It is also the portion of the Torah where The L-RD establishes the festival of Pesach, or Passover. And by the end of this teaching, I think you’ll begin to understand how that little story I shared ties in.

Now, for those new to the Messianic movement, the celebration of the festivals might be an unfamiliar idea. Certainly, within traditional Christian churches, the festivals are not often taught, nor are they celebrated. Depending on your background, perhaps you’ve even been told that things like Passover are Jewish festivals, meant and intended for the Jewish people alone.

Well, let’s see what this week’s reading tells us about that before drawing any conclusions. In the opening verses of chapter twelve, we see the establishment of a lamb as the Passover sacrifice discussed, with details about when it is to be selected, and how it is to be distributed among the family. Once the lamb is slaughtered, its blood was to put on the top and sides of the doorframe so that, during this first-ever Passover celebration, the Angel of Death would not enter the homes of the faithful to slay their first-born, but only the first-born of the Egyptians.

The yearly celebration, repeated every year since the Exodus, was intended by The L-RD to be a remembrance of what God had done to deliver them children of Israel from their time of slavery in Egypt. But is it, as some contend, a Jewish festival only? No. As we read in:

Exodus 12:11
“Wear your traveling clothes as you eat this meal, as though prepared for a long journey. Wear your sandals, and carry your walking sticks in your hands. Eat the food quickly, for this is the L-RD’s Passover.

In this verse, and repeatedly throughout the passage, Passover is identified as The L-RD’s celebration; it is his day. Is this festival temporary or permanent? This week’s reading clarifies that, as well:

Exodus 12:14
“You must remember this day forever. Each year you will celebrate it as a special festival to the L-RD.

This point in elaborated on a few lines down as The L-RD clarifies the purpose and intent for the Passover celebration He is instituting, in:

Exodus 12:17
“Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent regulation for you, to be kept from generation to generation.

So, the nature of Passover is as a reminder of what the L-RD has done, and that it will be a permanent regulation, passed on from one generation to the next. Its practice is not to be forgotten, abandoned to replaced. But is it for the Hebrew people only? That is a key question, but we find an answer in:

Exodus 12:19
During those seven days, there must be no trace of yeast in your homes. Anyone who eats anything made with yeast during this week will be cut off from the community of Israel. These same regulations apply to the foreigners living with you, as if they had been born among you.

That’s pretty direct, clear language, don’t you think? And while it runs contrary to the teachings of many Christian churches, these are the words of The L-RD as spoken directly to Moses, so the question becomes, who will we listen to? The teachings and traditions of man? Or the instructions of The L-RD Himself?

If there is any doubt about the L-RD’s intent on this teaching of the festival of Passover, they are wiped away as He reiterates Himself in:

Exodus 12:24
“Remember, these instructions are permanent and must be observed by you and your descendants forever.
Permanent and forever. That is the kind of language that should cast out all doubt. So we learn here many things. Passover is the L-RD’s festival, it is for “the stranger among you,” and not merely for the Hebrew people alone, and it is a permanent celebration that is to last forever, not a temporary tradition of man to be cast aside with the passage of time and the changing of culture.

Now, some of you may be wondering why I’m spending so much time on something so basic and so clearly laid out in the Torah. I mean, it’s obvious, isn’t it? What could be clearer, right? Well, let me tell you something before you encounter it… and maybe some of you already have… but not everyone you know, who may be believers but attend other houses of worship, are going to look at these verses and see what you see, understand it as you are coming to understand it. It won’t be clear to them because it’s not how they’ve been taught.

And it goes beyond what pastor or rabbi, church or temple, denomination or sect these folks may have been a part of, because the misunderstanding is so deeply rooted in human tradition, some of them tens of centuries old.

You know, I recently began a dialog with an old college friend of mine and some of his acquaintances. We began a discussion about some of these things; the difference in the holidays, avoiding unclean foods or not, but primarily the discussion focused around the Sabbath. The things that kind of mark a difference in practice between Messianics and Christians.

I attempted to make a simple point; that God Himself established the Sabbath, and placed it on the seventh day. That it was humans who changed the day of worship to Sunday, not God. Much like what we’re seeing here with God establishing his Passover.

The reactions I received were surprising. I’m not sure I’ve ever been told I was wrong in so many ways in such a short amount of time as I was in the debate that unfolded. I had used Scripture to underline my line of reasoning; I had not taken a condemning tone toward those who practice differently. I merely wanted to make the point that God had set an appointed time to be specially reserved as a time for us to focus our attention on Him. And yet, few of the people involved in this discussion could accept such a simple assertion, so clearly backed up by Scripture itself – and not even vague, confusing verses, but clear ones, like the ones we’ve reviewed here today regarding the Passover.

God’s appointed time, His Passover. An eternal command. For the Jew first, and then for the “stranger among you” as well. Clear, direct commands. Clear teaching straight from the mouth of Adonai our God, and yet so hard for some people to accept.

We serve a God who cares enough about us to make appointments to spend time with us, specific times set aside especially for that. And you want to keep those appointments at the time God Himself as set them. After all, like the husband in my story earlier, you can have the best of intentions and throw a great party… but if it’s not at the right time, you’ll be like that husband, celebrating a birthday that isn’t for another month.

I mention all this because, at some point, as God opens your eyes and helps you to understand and embrace his clear instruction, you will eventually encounter opposition as well. People who will argue that the Passover is only for the Jewish people, perhaps. Or that it was an OK celebration for its time, but it has been replaced by Easter. Or that, simply by celebrating a holiday God Himself ordained, you are putting yourself “back under the law.”

When that time comes, I have found it is best to return to clear teaching, teaching that comes not from a pulpit, not from a talented public speaker, but that comes from the Bible itself.

You see, some people feel they need to immerse themselves in apologetics; they need to have a ready answer for every question; they desire to anticipate anything that might be tossed their way by someone who believes differently. So they spend all this time studying what other people believe.

Well, here’s the truth: you can never be fully prepared because you never know who you will encounter and what they will understand differently that you do.

At times like that, the best approach is to focus in on what you believe. Because often, if what you believe comes straight from Scripture, the only areas that remain for a counter-argument to come from is either from human tradition and experience, or through personal attack.

Soon, we will be approaching the Passover season. Before long, you will begin to hear announcements about the Passover Seder plans Stan is making for this congregation and, if you choose to attend, some of you may get to sit in on your first-ever Passover Seder, and you will see how wonderfully God designed and interwove the message about His promised Messiah into the practices surrounding this appointed time of Passover. I know that for me, when I went to my first Passover Seder, about 10 years ago now, it was a life-changing experience.

Things like this can add depth to your walk with the L-RD. As you learn them, they will become treasured parts of what you believe, and you may be tempted to forget that not everyone understands what you understand. And at some point, someone will challenge you and suggest you’ve got it all wrong about Passover.

At a time like that, remember this Parashah of Bo. Remember the assurances of The L-RD that are found here. Know that all of these things are deeply rooted in Scripture and are teachings that come directly from God Himself. The Passover is, as this week’s parashah teaches, an eternal celebration, a celebration of the L-RD for all who fear and wish to obey Him. A celebration first for the Jew, but also for the rest of us, the strangers among them. The Passover isn’t a law in the sense that many Christians suggest it is; it’s a celebration… a party thrown by God Himself, and you’re invited to attend! A time of remembering all God has done for us and those who came before us. A time of closeness and intimacy with our creator.

Who would want to say, “No thanks,” to that?

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Bo, extended stay hotels, Torah
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The Sabbath: The Biblical View

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Shabbat Shalom.

Our topic for today is the Sabbath. When is it, what is it, and who is it for?

To approach this topic properly, we really are stepping into a single city block of a much larger neighborhood. What I mean by that is, the topic underlying this discussion really boils down to this question: Is “the law” done away with? If so, what law was done away with? And how are we to approach holy living… with or without the so-called “law?”

This brings up any issues and questions, so for some grounding, let’s begin with the words of our common Messiah, Yeshua, in:

Matthew 5:17-20 (TNIV)
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Now, the TNIV states that Yeshua came not to abolish, but to “fulfill” the Torah and the Prophets. A clearer version is found in David Stern’s Jewish New Testement, where the word fulfill is exchanged with the phrase “to fill them up with meaning.” In the gospels, Yeshua declares Himself Lord of the Sabbath. If he was coming to put an end to Sabbath observance, that would make Him Lord of nothing. Does that make sense? Of course not.

You see, the term “fulfill” is not the best rendering, because it suggest an end; this is not reflective of the Hebrew and Aramaic original language. The original manuscripts use wording that suggest a present and ongoing process… filling the practice up with meaning. Certainly, apart from God, keeping the Sabbath is a rather empty practice. Whether held on Saturday or some other day, a Sabbath absent the presence of God is not something that lends meaning, depth and closeness to our creator; with the Messiah filling these practices up with meaning and significance, we can see why God ordained the Sabbath – to set aside a special time that is exclusively and uniquely to spend time together with those who worship him.

Now, let us look at the origin of the Shabbat:

Genesis 2:2-3
On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.

The Shabbat, therefore, is the seventh day of the week. The seventh day of the week, according to Jewish practice that Yeshua Himself observed, begins at sundown on Friday and is complete at sundown on Saturday. This is the Shabbat as God created by His own actions.

This fact is underlined when ADONAI gave Moshe the Ten Commands. Now, the Ten Commands are unique among the Mosaic Laws, because they were spoken directly by God Himself. The rest of Torah law was a mediation by Moshe, as he stood in the gap between God and the children of Israel. Therefore, whatever one may feel about the rest of the Mosaic Law, the Ten Commands stand apart from such mediation between God and man – they are the direct words of Adonai, and therefore are non-negotiable. If one is searching for “the will of God,” it is with the Ten Commands they must begin their search; nothing less.

It is paradoxical that even the most well-intentioned Christians will fight for the display of the Ten Commands in public places, and yet if it is pointed out that these commands include an expectation for seventh-day Sabbath observance, they immediately begin to mis-quote Paul on the Law being done away with. This can only be due to at least 1,700 years of bad and false teaching on the Sabbath… leading to the false impression that it falls on Sunday.

But what does God say about when the Sabbath falls? It is made clear in:

Exodus 20:8-11 (CJB)
“Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. You have six days to labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work; not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property. For in six days, ADONAI made heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. This is why ADONAI blessed the day, Shabbat, and separated it for himself.

Seventh-day Sabbath observance is one of the 10 Commands. This is simply fact. The question then becomes, when did believers in Yeshua start worshiping on the first day of the week (Sunday) instead of the day God Himself declared the Sabbath? Well, some claim that the practice dates back to the first century itself. This is simply not so, and comes originates from a misreading of Paul’s writings.

Colossians 2:16-17
So don’t let anyone pass judgment on you in connection with eating and drinking, or in regard to a Jewish festival or Rosh–Hodesh or Shabbat. These are a shadow of things that are coming, but the body is of the Messiah.

While many folks interpret this passage to mean that Shabbat observance has been done away with, that is not the case here. Specifically, Paul is addressing conflict within the kehilat as Colossi, where factionalism had APPARENTLY broken out (not unlike on these boards) between those who said all these things must be done, and those who said none of them needed to be done.

Paul, playing the diplomat, isn’t clarifying who’s right. what is he saying is, stop the fighting about it. That’s where the words “don’t let anyone pass judgment on you” about all these practices comes from. But let’s stop for a moment and think about this: was Paul mediating between Sunday worshippers and Saturday worshippers? No. He couldn’t have been, because Sunday worship was not part of the first-century church.

What he was mediating between was likely more akin to the controversy that broke out in the book of Acts, where a group of former Pharisees – now Messianic followers of Yeshua – speak up and say that “to be saved,” Gentiles had to follow things like the kashrut laws, circumcision, etc. That is found in this passage:

Acts 15:5-21
But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the P’rushim; and they stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe.” The emissaries and the elders met to look into this matter. After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and said to them, “Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear the message of the Good News and come to trust. And God, who knows the heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he did to us; that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their heart by trust. So why are you putting God to the test now by placing a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had the strength to bear? No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord Yeshua that we trust and are delivered––and it’s the same with them.” Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar–Nabba and Sha’ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the Gentiles. Ya‘akov broke the silence to reply. “Brothers, ”he said, “hear what I have to say. Shim‘on has told in detail what God did when he first began to show his concern for taking from among the Goyim a people to bear his name. And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony with this for it is written, ‘“After this, I will return; and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David. I will rebuild its ruins, I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, that is, all the Goyim who have been called by my name, ” says ADONAI, who is doing these things.’ All this has been known for ages. “Therefore, my opinion is that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to God. Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.”

This is a rich passage, and often vastly misunderstood.

The key to understanding this passage is the phrase of the former Pharisees: “IT IS NECESSARY…”

When the disciples respond to this challenge, Kefa/Peter and Ya’akov/James are the ones who respond and say, basically, “NO, IT’S NOT NECESSARY.” That’s what this boils down to.

But what are we talking about? We’re talking about bringing Gentiles, completely unexposed to Jewish customs, into union with Messiah. Leaving behind their likely polytheism, into monothesim toward (to them) a foreign (Jewish) God would have been quite a challenge… INITIALLY. You see, this isn’t about whether Gentile believers should NEVER obey these things… this is about whether following the Law of Moses, circumcision and the rest are necessary for salvation. Clearly, they are not necessary for salvation.

But does that mean Gentiles shouldn’t grow in obedience to ADONAI’s word, and eventually take up some, and perhaps all, of such things? I believe that was a given, and generally expected as part of the discipleship process… but NOT part of the salvation process. That’s the distinction being made here.

And as this relates to seventh-day Sabbath observance, please note that verse 21 ends with James/Ya’akov pointing out that the Law of Moshe is being proclaimed “in the synagogues every Shabbat,” a clear reference to seventh-day Shabbat observance, and also an indication that further obedience would come from further study of God’s word. So it’s clear that even this late in Acts, there is NO Sunday worship.

So, where did Sunday worship come from and how was it introduced into the church?

Glad you asked. Sunday worship was instituted by the anti-Judaic Roman Emperor Constantine, who founded the Catholic church, as a way to distance “Christianity” from its Judaic roots, and as a sign of the church’s authority. We get this from:

Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, pg 50
“Saturday is the Sabbath… We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

See? That is from the Catholic Cathecism and they admit it themselves! They transferred the day of worship, not God.

In 1891, Catholic author James Gibbons, who was a Catholic cardinal, wrote the following in his book, Faith of Our Fathers:

Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers, pg. 89
“The Catholic Church… by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday… You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday, a day which we never sanctify. Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act… and the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power. This change is repeatedly referred to as a mark. Sunday is our mark of authority!”

Gibbons is correct; Sunday worship is not found or endorsed in the Bible. It was transferred by an act of man.

Now, does this mean that those who worship on Sunday are knowingly violating the command to honor the Shabbat? Not knowingly, no. Most do so in ignorance, because they’ve never been properly taught about the Sabbath, and many have actively been mis-taught about the Sabbath. And sadly, too many simply accept what their house of worship practices or states in their statement of faith, never bothering to study it out for themselves.

Can God be worshiped and honored on any day? Certainly. But once one learns of when the Shabbat actually falls, one has to form a response of some sort to this newfound knowledge. They can either conform their practices to fit their new convictions, or they can choose to continue worshiping God on the day their church meets, knowing it’s not the true Sabbath but also knowing God is honored on the day they do meet.

What is illogical, however, would be to continue to deny which day God placed the Sabbath on; it is, always has been, and always will be on the seventh day of the week – Saturday. That is what Yeshua Himself practiced; as the Word of the L-RD, it is what he declared to Moshe on Sinai.

Is seventh-day Sabbath worship necessary for salvation? Clearly not, and the attitude of Messianics must be tolerant, as in the book of Acts. However, as each believer grows in faith, I believe if they study out the topic of the Sabbath, they can only come to one conclusion about which day it falls on, which means the only remaining question is how to respond to that new knowledge.

And that is between each believer and Adonai; we must not judge, unless we want to be judged ourselves. Be merciful, and mercy will be shown to you.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: shabbat, Sunday worship, Torah, Yeshua
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Va Yishlach commentary: Part 1 of 3

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

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

Shabbat Shalom.

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

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

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

Let’s begin with some background.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Va Yishlah Commentary, part 2 of 3

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: English saddles, Torah, Va Yishlah
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Va Yishlah Commentary, part 3 of 3

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: cat supplies, Torah, Va Yishlah
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Va Yera Commentary part 1 of 3

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

I had a chance to stop by the new Beth Yeshua congregation in Bloomington for the first time this week. Nice facility, complete even with tv stands. It would be an honor to speak there someday. Here’s part 1 of my three-part commentary on Va Yera. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

Today’s parashah is Va Yera, or, “He appeared.” It covers Genesis chapters 18 through 22, and is concerned with a large portion of the life of Abraham, from the destruction of Soddom and Gomorrah, to the binding of Isaac.

As I was studying through this passage, I began to take notice of a familiar pattern, one we’ve seen before and will see over and over again throughout the Torah. The pattern that emerges here focuses on the nature of Adonai’s goodness and mercy, and I believe that once you begin to recognize it, it can solve many of the theological questions many of us struggle with in the early years of our walk of faith.

Let’s begin our study a bit earlier in the book of Genesis, with a passage from the last Torah portion I taught on, Noach.

Genesis 7:1, 4 (CJB)
Adonai said to Noach, “Come into the ark, you and all your household; for I have seen that you alone in this generation are righteous before me. For in seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; I will wipe out every living thing that I have made from the face of the earth.”

Now notice what happens here. Adonai has seen how violent and evil the world has become and stands ready to judge the world righteously; he stands ready to destroy all life on earth, every living thing.

Yet does He? No. When he notices that Noach, alone among all the people of the earth, is living righteously by walking with Him, Adonai withholds complete destruction and offers Noach and his entire household a way out, a way to avoid being destroyed and suffering His wrath along with the rest of all flesh.

In the case of Noach, this meant building an ark by which a remnant could be saved, the building blocks of a new generation who will become a second chance for humanity to not make the same mistakes and, instead of embracing violence and wickedness, choose to follow Adonai and live a life of obedience.

So as we come into this parashah of Va Yera, what has happened in the world since the flood? Well, some time has passed. In fact, well over 350 years has passed since the flood of Noach’s time and now the descendants of his sons – Ham, Shem and Japheth – have spread out over the face of the Earth. From the time of the flood, two other things have happened as well.

First, lifespans have begun to shrink. While Noach lived for 950 years, his son Shem lived for only 600 years. The next couple generations lived around 450 years, and after that the next three generations lived a mere 250 years or so. By the time we reach Terach, the father of Abram, we see life spans coming closer to what we see possible on the Earth today; Terach lived for only 205 years, and Avram, 175 years. Yitzach 180 years, Ya’akov 147 years and Yosef only 110 years.

This shortening of lifespans is often thought to be due in part to the changes the Earth had undergone during the flood, and that is likely a contributing factor. But I also believe that Adonai allowed this as a lasting judgment against humanity because, in His wisdom, he knew that mankind could not, on its own, live up to any covenant He made with them; so he shortened our years to limit the amount of depravity any one generation could cause.

As lifespans are getting shorter in the time of Abraham, we also see people marrying and having children at younger ages. Prior to the flood, Noach waited until he was 498 before marrying and 500 before he had his first child with his wife. And it was not uncommon for a first-born son to be born when his father was over 100 years old – sometimes well over 100. But in this new post-flood world, all the descendents of Noach’s sons are having their first children when they are in their mid-thirties.

What would the result of this be? Well, a whole lot more people being born, for one thing. As God had commanded, Noach’s sons and their descendants were going out into the Earth and multiplying.

Unfortunately, even though the flood was only 350 years in the recent past, not all of this multiplying was producing new generations of people who feared and obeyed Adonai. In fact, as we studied last time I taught, it only took a couple generations from the flood to produce Nimrod, the ruler who sought to take Adonai’s place as the god of all humanity, and who commanded the building of the tower of Bavel, by which he sought to invade heaven and overthrow God Himself.

Tags: Torah, tv stands, Va Yera
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Va Yera Commentary part 2 of 3

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

When it comes to dieting, Leptorexin might be the way to go; when it comes to getting your spiritual life in shape, nothing’s better than Torah. Here’s part 2 of my 3-part Torah commentary. Or listen to it!

Now, let’s look at another key episode that demonstrates Adonai’s mercy: the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Our parashah begins with Adonai visiting Abraham shortly after he has followed God’s command to be circumcised. Because Abraham was faithful in this step of obedience, we read this in Genesis 18, starting at verse 17:

Genesis 18:17-21 (CJB)
Adonai said, “Should I hide from Avraham what I am about to do, inasmuch as Avraham is sure to become a great and strong nation, and all nations of the earth will be blessed by him? For I have made myself known to him, so that he will give orders to his children and to his household after him to keep the way of Adonai and to do what is right and just, so that Adonai may bring about for Avraham what he has promised him.” Adonai said, “The outcry against S’dom and ‘Amora is so great and their sin so serious, that I will now go down and see whether their deeds warrant the outcry that has reached me; if not, I will know.”

What follows is one of the boldest passages in the entire Torah, where Avraham, a mere man, bargains with Adonai to spare the lives of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. Although performed with great humility, Avraham still has the boldness to question God’s plans, and asks him to spare the cities if, at first 50, and ultimately 10 righteous people are found living there. When not even 10 righteous can be found, we read of God’s judgment in Genesis 19, starting at verse 24:

Genesis 19:24-25 (CJB)
Then Adonai caused sulfur and fire to rain down upon S’dom and ‘Amora from Adonai out of the sky. He overthrew those cities, the entire plain, all the inhabitants of the cities and everything growing in the ground.

Have we found any evidence of the destruction of Sodom and Gamorrah today? Some archaeologists believe they have. Here’s a picture of a site with a destruction layer of ash.

In this same region, there has also been discovered this anomaly, which is the presence of sulfur balls buried deep in otherwise-solid stones and rocks in the area.

While this is of passing interest, let’s move on to the key verses of this part of the parashah, in Genesis 19, starting at verse 27:

Genesis 19:27-29 (CJB)
Avraham got up early in the morning, when to the place where he had stood before Adonai, and looked out toward S’dom and ‘Amora, scanning the entire plain. There before him, the smoke was rising from the land like smoke from a furnace! But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.

Tags: bar and bat mitzvah class, Leptorexin, Torah
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Va Yera Commentary Part 3 of 3

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

The truth of the Torah can be as effective as Alli in the task of stripping away excuses and rationalizations and revealing the sin undernearth. Here’s the final part of my commentary on Va Yera. Or listen to it!

Now, here in this passage, the theme of the nature of God’s mercy is stated clearly for us. “But when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Avraham and sent Lot out, away from the destruction.”

This should answer a key question many of us ask ourselves about God at one point or another: while bad things do happen, even to those who follow Adonai; while we all sin and fall short of Adonai’s perfect standard of righteousness; does He, ultimately, judge the righteous along with the wicked? That is the very question Avraham put to Adonai when negotiating for Him to spare S’dom and ‘Amora.

Genesis 18:23, 25 (CJB)
Avraham approached and said, “Will you actually sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! Far be it from you! Shouldn’t the judge of all the earth do what is right?”

In the life of faith, many of us face trials. Somewhere along the way, we picked up the false idea that, rather than our trials and difficulties being the natural result of our bad choices, or perhaps the consequences of living in a world where so few people obey Adonai and openly violate His will – somewhere we got the idea that we were suffering the judgment or wrath of God for some sin we committed. And yet the Torah couldn’t be more clear: that’s not how Adonai works!

Yes, God will correct us. Yes, God will allow ha-Satan to test us at time … the book of Job proves that. Indeed, it rains on the righteous and the wicked alike. We all lose loved ones. Sometimes we fall victims to accidents or disease. Sometimes we are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we can perish when an earthquake hits, or a volcano erupts or a bridge collapses.

But that is a separate issue from suffering the wrath of God. While we as believers can endure sometimes unbelievable suffering and even the horrors of a Holocaust, the Torah is clear that Adonai does not judge the righteous and the wicked alike. The Holocaust was an act of man against the people of God, but it was not God’s judgment and wrath. When God prepares to pour out His wrath – be it the flood, on S’dom and Gomorrah, upon Egypt to free the Jewish people, or in the future at the time of Jacob’s troubles – He always provides rescue for those who trust in Adonai, obey His commands, and place their hope in His promised messiah – Messiah Yeshua. He is our salvation.

Shabbat Shalom.

Tags: Alli, Torah, Va Yera
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