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Jewish Holiday Calendar
For October 2018 site updates, please scroll past this entry....
The Jewish civil year begins in the fall, though the Biblical year begins in spring (Exod. 12:2). Preparations for the fall holidays begin with a thirty day period of teshuvah (repentance) during the (late summer) month of Elul. The following ten days begin with the Feast of Trumpets (i.e., Yom Teruah or "Rosh Hashanah," on Tishri 1) and end with the Day of Atonement (i.e., Yom Kippur, on Tishri 10). These first ten days of the new year are called the "Ten Days of Awe" (i.e., aseret ye'mei teshuvah: עֲשֶׁרֶת יְמֵי תְּשׁוּבָה), or simply the Jewish "High Holidays." Just five days after the solemn time of Yom Kippur begins the joyous week-long festival of Sukkot ("Tabernacles"), which is immediately followed by the celebration of Simchat Torah. The holiday of Chanukah occurs in late fall and carries over to the winter season:
The Fall Holidays:
The fall festivals prophetically indicate the Day of the LORD, the second coming of Yeshua, the great national turning of the Jewish people, and the establishment of the reign of the Messiah upon the earth during the Millennial Kingdom in the world to come.
Note that in accordance with tradition, holiday dates begin at sundown. Moreover, some holidays may be postponed one day if they happen to fall on the weekly Sabbath:
- Month of Elul (Fri. Aug. 10th [eve] - Sun. Sept. 9th [day])
- Month of Tishri (Sun. Sept. 9th [eve] - Mon. Oct. 8th [day])
- Month of Cheshvan (Mon. Oct. 8th [eve] - Wed. Nov. 7th [day])
- Four Sabbaths: Noach, Lekh-Lekha, Vayera, Chayei Sarah
- Yom Ha'Aliyah - Honoring Israel's immigrants (Mon. Oct. 15th; Cheshvan 7)
- Sigd - 50th day after Yom Kippur; Ethiopian Jewish holiday (Tues. Nov. 6th)
- Month of Kislev (Wed. Nov. 7th [eve] - Fri. Dec. 7th [day])
- Four Sabbaths: Toldot, Vayetzei, Vayishlach, Vayeshev
- Winter Solstice: Fri. Dec. 21st (Tevet 13)
- Dates for Chanukah 2018 (5779):
- 1st Chanukah candle - Sun. Dec. 2nd [i.e., Kislev 25]
- 2nd Chanukah candle - Mon. Dec. 3rd
- 3rd Chanukah candle: Tues. Dec. 4th
- 4th Chanukah candle: Wed. Dec. 5th
- 5th Chanukah candle: Thurs. Dec. 6th
- Month of Tevet (Fri., Dec. 7th [eve] - Fri. Jan. 27th [day])
- Four Sabbaths: Miketz, Vayigash, Vayechi, Shemot
- Dates for Chanukah (continued):
- 6th Chanukah candle: Fri. Dec. 7th (Rosh Chodesh Chanukah)
- 7th Chanukah candle: Sat. Dec. 8th
- 8th Chanukah candle: Sun. Dec. 9th [Zot Chanukah]
- Tenth of Tevet - Tues. Dec. 18th, 2018; fast over the seige of Jerusalem
- Christmas: Tues. Dec. 25th (Tevet 16, 5779)
- Secular New Year: Tues. Jan. 1st, 2019 (Tevet 24, 5779)
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Note: For more about the dates of these holidays see the Calendar pages....
October 2018 Updates
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The Torah of Love...
10.31.18 (Cheshvan 22, 5779) "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, this is the one who loves me (הַמַּחֲזִיק בְּמִצְווֹתַי וְשׁוֹמֵר אוֹתָן הוּא הָאוֹהֵב אוֹתִי). And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). Note that the Greek word translated "manifest" means to "shine inside" (i.e., ἐμφανίζω, from ἐν, "in" and φαίνω, "shine"), indicating that the revelation would be inward light of the Presence of Messiah himself (Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης, Col. 1:27). As we receive God's love, as we embrace it as our own, the love of Messiah will become visible to you. This comes from a place of inward surrender. As Paul Tillich said, "Sometimes in a moment of weakness light breaks into darkness, and it is as though a voice says, 'You are accepted; you are accepted... Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.' If that happens to you, then you experience grace, and everything will be transformed."
Note: I've been sick the last week or so; thank you for your prayers for Hebrew for Christians...
The Divine Presence...
10.31.18 (Cheshvan 22, 5779) God told Moses that his Name means that He is Present (הֹוֶה) in every moment - past, present, and future (הָיָה וְהוֶה וְיָבוֹא). The Name YHVH (יהוה) is "shorthand" for "I AM with you always" (אָנכִי אֶהְיֶה עִמָּכֶם). There is no moment in time, just as there is no place, where God is not "there" for us. This includes times of testing, darkness, and even death itself (Psalm 23:4). The LORD our God does not abandon us, even when He seems hidden, powerless, or unwilling to intervene. Faith trusts that He is present there, in moments when we are vulnerable, weak, afraid, and seemingly all alone, and that all things are bound up in his love and good will toward us... Faith receives God as always present, the substance of our hope and dream of eternal healing and eternal life.
The function of a name is to point to or signify reality... When we are in the hardest of moments, we don't worry about the morphology, phonetics, or linguistics of God's Name, but we rather call out and hunger for His Presence, Love, and Light. We are like little kids crying for our father. It is vanity and pride that makes people hardhearted regarding such matters. The Spirit of God speaks words of life to those who need to hear them.
The Message of Loneliness...
10.31.18 (Cheshvan 22, 5779) Sometimes we may experience painful loneliness -- a desperate feeling that we are unlovable, unwanted, unseen. We struggle between the extremes, at once lamenting our very existence while demanding to be made safe. We feel abandoned, hopeless, and shrouded in gloom: "darkness, my one companion left..." (Psalm 88:18). We then attempt to suppress or avoid the pain through obsessions of various kinds, but doing so will only temporarily hide the truth of our inner emptiness and sadness. Deep down we are profoundly afraid that we will never feel comforted, that love is not possible for us, and therefore we are trapped, bound to our sorrow, made captive to a relentless inner grieving of heart. "Not being welcome is your greatest fear. It connects with your birth fear, your fear of not being welcome in this life, and your death fear, your fear of not being welcome in the life after this. It is the deep-seated fear that it would have been better if you had not lived" (Nouwen). It takes courage to face ourselves, but it is only when we go "through the wound" that we discover who we really are -- and how our loneliness teaches us our desperate need for God's love. Only when we accept our loneliness and understand it as an invitation to turn away from the world and its illusions will we be able to seek God alone, in our solitude, and there find healing for our broken hearts (Psalm 147:3). It is in the seclusion of the desert when we discover yesh ohev davek me'ach, "there is a Beloved one who sticks closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24). In the desert, in the waste places of the hurting soul, in the mourning over your life, you learn that you are never really alone, that you are not forgotten, that God sees you and wants you to feel accepted, chosen, esteemed, beloved, wanted... In the desert your Beloved one speaks and says to you: "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away" (Song 2:10).
The core of the struggle is here - whether you will decide to trust in God's personal love for you or whether you will shrink back into the places of darkness, isolation, and pain. Yeshua says, "Come to me; I love you, I accept you; I receive you; please, be welcome with me; I will take your hand, I will be with you..."
About Pagan Halloween...
10.31.18 (Cheshvan 22, 5779) Regarding those who regard pagan holiday of "Halloween" seriously, remember that there is no sorcery (i.e., nachash: נַחַשׁ) against Jacob, there is no divination (i.e., kesem: קֶסֶם) against Israel. At this time it must be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'Look at what God has done (מַה־פָּעַל אֵל)' [Num. 23:23]. No weapon formed against God's people shall prosper (Isa. 54:17), and the curse of the wicked is powerless against the tzaddikim (Prov. 26:2). Ein od milvado (אֵין עוֹד מִלְבַדּו) - God is the only true Power (Deut. 4:35; 1 Chron. 29:11; Rev. 4:11). Satan is an impostor and a foiled usurper. As Yeshua told his followers, "Behold I give to you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 10:19). Like Balaam and Haman, all who curse God's people or attempt to foil His plans will be upended... Amen.
Israel and Christian Zionism...
10.31.18 (Cheshvan 22, 5779) Theodor Herzl is generally considered the father of the Modern Zionist movement, though it may come as a surprise to learn that the movement has decidedly Christian roots.... Indeed the idea of "Christian Zionism" goes back at least to the theological reflections and teaching of John Nelson Darby (1800–1882) who advocated "dispensational" theology which affirmed that the State of Israel would one day be revived and the Jewish people regathered to their ancient homeland. Later, Darby influenced a number of other Christian thinkers, including the Reverend William Hechler (1845-1931) who took up the political cause of Zionism many years before Theodor Herzl began his work in this area, and who regarded the return of Jewish people to their homeland as a biblical imperative. (Of course the return of the Jewish people from their worldwide exile was taught by Yeshua himself in the Gospel of Matthew (see Matt. 24-25) where their perpetuity was assumed and their presence established at the time of the parousia, or the "second coming" of the Messiah.) "Hechler took part in the early Zionist Congresses - and even received special words of gratitude from Herzl for his work. Herzl noted that Hechler and his biblical inspiration had a great impact on his efforts, giving him a sense that he was a modern-day Moses leading his people back to the Promised Land" (Dr. Jürgen Bühler, "Christian Zionism").
For more information see:
Healing of the Heart...
10.30.18 (Cheshvan 21, 5779) If you've lived for awhile in this fallen world, it is likely you've been wounded and know the bitter taste of disappointment. Many of us have been abused, lied to, mistreated, and so radically damaged that we have become distant, unwilling to open our hearts, fearful that our trust might be shattered again... So how long does it take for you to "come down" from your anger? Do you hold on to the hurt to "enforce" emotional barriers around your heart? Do you harbor "hard feelings" that drive others away? Do you justify living in a self-imposed prison, your very own place of exile? Do you find it difficult to trust? Are you quick to take offence? Are you free to let down your guard with others and let them know who you really are inside? Unless we can find healing for our shame and woundedness, there is a very real risk of becoming hardhearted (קְשֵׁי־לֵב), numb, unfeeling, and incapable of receiving or giving love... The miracle comes when we are willing to be "childlike" once again by awakening to God's love for us. We learn the heart of the Father; we regain our identity as his accepted child. When we come to understand God as our Father, we can trust him to heal our broken hearts and bind up our wounds:
הָרפֵא לִשְׁבוּרֵי לֵב וּמְחַבֵּשׁ לְעַצְּבוֹתָם
מוֹנֶה מִסְפָּר לַכּוֹכָבִים לְכֻלָּם שֵׁמוֹת יִקְרָא
ha-ro·fei · lish·vu·rei ·lev · u'me·cha·besh · le'atz·tze·vo·tam
mo·neh · mis·par · la·ko·kha·vim · le·khu·lam · she·mot · yik·ra
"He is the Healer of the brokenhearted and the One who binds up their sorrows.
He counts the number of the stars, to all of them He assigns names."
(Psalm 147:3-4)
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Tragically, fear interferes with our ability to let go and surrender to God's love. When we are afraid of losing control, failing, being criticized or rejected, we are living in a state of fear; we are in a state of "offence." Put the other way around, when we want control, when we seek success at all costs, when we crave approval from others, or if we "need" to always be right, perfect, "religious," etc., then we are living in fear. Such fear creates compulsions, addictions, unthinking habits, and an abiding sense of shame....
Do not be robbed of the joy of the Spirit. The message of the cross is that your heart is desired by God. The Scriptures teach, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love" (1 John 4:18). Indeed, the LORD imparts a spirit of power, love, and a "safe mind" to us (2 Tim. 1:7). Do you feel safe with God? empowered? truly loved? These are marks of the Spirit of God -- not a sense of being rejected by Him. May the miracle come forth as you open your heart to his unfailing love; Amen...
The Ladder of Truth...
10.30.18 (Cheshvan 21, 5779) The Hebrew idea of "truth" (i.e., emet: אֱמֶת) is richer than factual description or "correspondence" between language and reality, since it contains moral implications and possibilities: what is true is also right, good, reliable (honest), beautiful, and sacred. The Hebrew word comes from a verb (aman) that means to "confirm" or establish, and the noun form (i.e, emunah: אֱמוּנָה, "faithfulness" or "trustworthiness") expresses the will to live by what is ratified, the "amen" of decision. The Hebrew concept is therefore existential: truth that is not lived is not really truth. Speaking the truth (dibbur emet) and abhoring dishonesty are considered foundational to moral life, as it says: "Speak the truth (דַּבְּרוּ אֱמֶת) to one another; render true and perfect justice in your gates" (Zech. 8:16). Yeshua said, "Amen, amen I say to you...." throughout his ministry to stress the reliability and certainty of God's truth (Matt. 5:18, 26, etc.). Indeed, Yeshua is called "the Amen, the faithful and true witness" (Rev. 3:14). In that sense truth is not a "what" of correspondence but rather a "who," since reality turns on the magnetism of the divine presence (Col. 1:16).
The ancient Greek word translated "truth" is aletheia (ἀλήθεια), a compound formed from an alpha prefix (α-) meaning "not," and lethei (λήθη), meaning "forgetfulness." Greek scholars say the word lethei itself derives from the verb lanthano (λανθάνω), which means "to be hidden," so the general idea is that a-letheia (i.e., truth) is non-concealment, non-hiddenness, or (put positively) revelation or disclosure. Thus the word of Yeshua - His message, logos (λόγος), revelation, and presence - is both "unforgettable" and "irrepressible." Yeshua is the Unforgettable One that is manifest as the express Word of God (דְּבַר הָאֱלהִים). He is the Light of the world (אוֹר הָעוֹלָם) who imparts the "light of life" (John 8:12). Though God's message can be supressed by evil and darkened thinking, the truth is regarded as self-evident and full of intuitive validation (see Rom. 1:18-21).
Note that the LXX (i.e., the ancient Greek translation of the Torah and OT otherwise known as the Septuagint) dates from the time of the philosopher Plato, though of course the Hebrew text dates back to the time of Moses (13th century BC) and even earlier. About 300 BC, "Theophrastus," a student of Aristotle, wrote of the Jews that 'being philosophers by race, they converse with each other about the Divine." Abraham, who dates from about 2,000 BC, was the first avowed monotheist who openly repudiated the polytheism and idolatry of ancient Ugaritic culture (Abraham long predates the rise of Hinduism and the animistic hymns of the Vedas and their priestly commentary found in the Upanishads by a thousand years, just as ancient Judaism predates "Islam" by thousands of years). Similarly, both David and his son Solomon (10th century BC) wrote "existential" works of philosophy, predating the modern world by nearly 3,000 years...
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The Power to Repent...
10.29.18 (Cheshvan 20, 5779) Rabbi Israel Salanter, the father of the "Musar" movement, once said, "When I was young, I wanted to change the world. I tried, but the world didn't change. So I decided to change my town, but my town didn't change. Then I resolved to change my family, but my family didn't change. Then I realized that I first had to change myself." To his wise words I would add the essence: "but then I realized that I couldn't change myself, so I cried to the LORD for a new heart and He answered my plea..."
We can only truly change when we die and are brought back from the dead by the power of God. As Yeshua said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). We must be spiritually reborn, remade, transformed, "metamorphosed" by the grace and love and kindness of God. This is the miracle of genuine teshuvah (repentance).
Contrary to the laws of "karma" and worldly wisdom, God helps those who can't help themselves... He delights to take the weak and broken and establish them with divine power, for the glory of His own Name. He confounds the mighty of this world with the "foolish" heart of faith. Blessed be His Name forever and ever...
כִּי־חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם יְהוָה אֱלהֵיכֶם
וְלא־יָסִיר פָּנִים מִכֶּם אִם־תָּשׁוּבוּ אֵלָיו
ki chan·nun ve·ra·chum Adonai E·lo·he·khem
ve·lo ya·sir pa·nim mi·kem, im ta·shu·vu e·lav
"For the LORD your God is gracious (channun) and merciful (rachum)
and will not turn away his face from you, if you return (shuv) to him."
2 Chron. 30:9
The Akedah of Sarah...
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Chayei Sarah... ]
10.29.18 (Cheshvan 20, 5779) Recall that Sarah gave birth to Isaac when she was 91 years old (Gen. 17:17, 21), and she later died when Isaac was 36 years old, at the age 127 (Gen. 23:1). And while the Torah does not explicitly state the cause of her death, we are told about her death following the dramatic episode of the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22), and the midrash Tanchuma therefore links the two together by saying Sarah died from shock after learning about the ordeal of her son at Moriah. It was just too much for her heart to bear: "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also..." (Luke 2:35). Therefore Jewish tradition associates the cries of Sarah with the blasts of the shofar during Rosh Hashanah. The broken notes of the shofar are thought to recall her crying for her son...
Isaac was promised son, the miracle child and the promised heir of Abraham and Sarah. As the firstborn son of God's promise, without him the whole world would fall apart, and there would be no salvation to come... According to midrash (traditional Jewish commentary), when Sarah heard that Isaac was offered at Moriah, her soul departed from her and she thought the world was falling apart. She prayed to God: "Let me die for my son; let me die in place of my son..." Sarah's love was so great it brought Isaac back to life from the dead.
Note: We study these things, bring them again to our hearts, because it is part of our great yerushah (יְרוּשָׁה), our heritage, in Messiah Yeshua... The Torah tells our story as the people of God; it is the context and framework of the entire Bible: "Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him" (Isa. 51:1-2). For more on this topic, see "The Akedah of Sarah," by clicking here.
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Faith's Good Eye...
10.29.18 (Cheshvan 20, 5779) It is not your job to worry about all the problems in the world, nor is it your role to "fix" the troubles that abound everywhere. The upward call of God in Messiah is grounded in the present moment, the "eternal now," whence you are invited to "walk before God and be made whole" (הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים, Gen. 17:1). This implies, among other things, that you must let evil flow past you and ascend by faith above the world and its profane ways. After all, it is God's business to turn darkness to light, to make crooked things straight, to redeem and heal the world and so on... The eye of emunah (faith) discerns gam zu l'tovah (גַּם זוּ לְטוֹבָה), "this too is for good," which is an idea taken directly from the New Testament: "all things work together for good" (i.e., πάντα συνεργεῖ εἰς ἀγαθόν, Rom. 8:28). Notice that the affirmation is not gam zu tovah - "this is the good," but rather gam zu l'tovah - "this, too, is for good." Emunah "sees what is invisible" (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the "present form of this world is passing away" for purposes that are good (1 Cor. 7:31). It affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life (chayei sha'ah) is a deeper reality (chayei olam) that is ultimately real, abiding, and ultimately designed for God's redemptive love to be fully expressed. In this world we must "see through" a mirror (i.e., indirectly) to begin to see the dawn of our eternal home; but one day we will behold God panim el panim (פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים), "face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12).
The best way to engage in "tikkun olam" is to spread the hope and truth of the gospel to this world.... We do not look for utopia on earth apart from the Divine Presence.
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Faith and Resurrection...
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Chayei Sarah... ]
10.28.18 (Cheshvan 19, 5779) More space is given to the negotiation between Abraham and the Hittites for the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron (Gen. 23:3-16) than many other matters in Torah, since it represented Abraham's faith in the resurrection from the dead. Indeed it was the death of Sarah that moved Abraham to "see and greet from afar" the fulfillment of God's promise, despite the appearances of this world (Heb. 11:13). Thus Abraham said to the sons of Chet: "I am a 'stranger and sojourner' (גֵּר־וְתוֹשָׁב) among you; sell me a burial site..." (Gen. 23:4). Abraham foresaw the City of God, the architecture of Zion to come, and by faith "he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:9-10). It is significant that after the great Exodus, the two faithful spies sent to scout the land (Joshua and Caleb) first visited the burial place of the patriarchs in Hebron to renew their conviction that the land could be taken (Num. 13:21-22). The heart of faith affirms the promise of God, even in the face of the dust of death itself; it affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life is a deeper reality that is ultimately real and abiding. It "sees what is invisible" (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the "present form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31). Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).
טוֹב לָלֶכֶת אֶל־בֵּית־אֵבֶל מִלֶּכֶת אֶל־בֵּית מִשְׁתֶּה
בַּאֲשֶׁר הוּא סוֹף כָּל־הָאָדָם וְהַחַי יִתֵּן אֶל־לִבּוֹ
tov · la·le·khet · el · bet · e·vel · mi·le·khet · el · bet · mish·teh
ba·a·sher · hu · sof · kol · ha·a·dam · ve·ha·chai · yit·ten · el · lib·bo
"It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart."
(Eccl. 7:2)
"These (i.e., the patriarchs) all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles (גֵּרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים) on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland (i.e., πατρίδα, "land of the Father"). If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire better, that is, a heavenly land. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city" (Heb. 11:13-16).
The Life of Sarah... חיי שרה
10.28.18 (Cheshvan 19, 5779) Our Torah reading for last week (i.e., Vayera) told how God was faithful to Abraham and Sarah by miraculously giving them a son (Isaac) in their old age. Nonetheless, Abraham faced his greatest test of all by being asked to offer up his promised child as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the place of the future Temple. On account of his willingness to obey, God promised He would multiply Abraham's offspring as the stars of heaven and that in his seed (singular) all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
This week's Torah portion is called Chayei Sarah (חיי שרה), the "life of Sarah," though it begins with the account of her death, and tells how the first great matriarch of the Jewish people was buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, a burial site which Abraham had purchased from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23:1-20). Since the account of Sarah's death is given just after the account of the near-sacrifice of Isaac (i.e., the Akedah), some of the sages link the events together, suggesting that the shock of the loss of her beloved son at the hand of her husband was just too much for her to bear (see: The Akedah of Sarah).
After Sarah was buried in Hebron, Abraham sought a wife for his son by commissioning his faithful servant Eliezer (whom Abraham had originally thought would be his heir), to go among his relatives living in Mesopotamia to seek for a bride for Isaac. Eliezer (i.e., אֱלִיעֶזֶר, lit., "My God will help") then set out on the 550 mile journey to Haran (also called the City of Nahor and the place where Abraham's father died), taking ten camels laden with gifts in search of a suitable bride. Providentially, and in answer to his prayer, as soon as Eliezer reached the city of Nahor he encountered Abraham's grand niece Rebekah drawing water at a well, where she graciously provided water for him and for his ten camels, thereby confirming that she was God's choice for Isaac.
Note: We are stunned and deeply saddened by the loss of life in Pittsburgh, where earlier today a gunman killed congregants of the Tree of Life Synagogue. Our hearts go out the victims and their families during this difficult time, including several law-enforcement officers who were injured during this terrible ordeal. Please, chaverim, pray for the healing and recovery for all the survivors, and ask the LORD God of Israel to intervene..
Identifying with the Lamb...
10.28.18 (Cheshvan 19, 5779) The near-sacrifice of Isaac establishes that God does not want us to sacrifice ourselves on the altar, but rather to identify with the appointed sacrifice of the lamb given on our behalf... Isaac pictures the identification process. First he completely submitted himself to God's will by being bound as a sacrifice. Once that decision was made, God intervened by providing the ram caught in the thicket, which represented the "binding" or identification of God's sacrifice for him (Gen. 22:13). Just as the lamb was identified with Isaac, so Isaac was identified with the lamb. Likewise, Yeshua died in your place so you can identify with his death for you, trusting it as your atonement provided by your Heavenly Father. Your union with Yeshua means that his death was your death: "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Messiah in God" (Col. 3:3). Likewise, his "life after death" (resurrection) is your eternal life: "When Messiah who is your life appears, you also will appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:4). Baptism symbolizes your identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Yeshua as the Lamb of God sacrificed on your behalf (Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:4). Just as Isaac descended from the altar in newness of life, so we are made new creations because of the sacrifice of Messiah: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
Of course we cannot crucify ourselves, but we trust that God finishes the work of Yeshua on our behalf... We "reckon" ourselves crucified with Messiah and trust in his work of salvation performed for our personal blessing. As it says: "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Yeshua the Messiah" (Rom. 6:11). Only after this can you present yourself as korban chai (קָרְבָּן חַי) - a living sacrifice - for God (Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:5).
There aren't two gospel messages: one for the sinner and the other for the saint... The message of salvation is always "good news" to those who are sin-sick and riddled with guilt and shame, and it is always "bad news" for those who deny their inner condition before God and believe that they can justify themselves. We never get beyond the call to "repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). We don't "get saved" in order to follow the path of self-righteousness; we get saved to be witnesses of God's righteousness... We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
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Humility and Spirituality...
10.26.18 (Cheshvan 17, 5779) Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) once said there are two kinds of people: saints who know they're sinners, and sinners who think they're saints. Pride is the deadliest sin because it fundamentally distorts reality. When we awaken to the truth of God's presence, we necessarily draw back in humility. The two go hand in hand. Despite the clamor of our self-adulating egos, we are not the center of the universe, after all... Therefore da lifnei mi attah omed, "know before Whom you stand..." Nothing is hidden from God's eyes, and we live, move, and have our being before the presence of God (Acts 17:28). The whole earth is filled with God's glory (Isa. 6:3). Understand that everything you say, think, and do is before the divine audience of the Living God Himself (Acts 24:16). The danger here is becoming entranced by our own illusions. If you do not sense the Divine Presence in your life, test yourself: "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).
We must be doers of the word and not hearers only, "fooling our own selves" (i.e., παραλογιζόμενοι, literally, "reasoning around the truth," James 1:22). This verse reminds me of a story that I once read and have slightly modified here to help make the point: A debate raged among the disciples as to which was the most difficult task of all: To know how to pronounce the sacred Name of God (YHVH) revealed in the Torah, to understand the secrets of the Spirit to attain spiritual insight and power, or to properly explain proofs for the existence of God to others so they might understand that God exists. Said the Master, when asked his opinion, "I know of a more difficult task than any of those three." "What is it?" they asked. "Trying to get you blockheads to see reality as it is..."
There remains the frightening possibility that the soul - even the soul that professes faith in the Messiah - may fail the test of genuine faith and be rejected (i.e., adokimos: ἀδόκιμος, "tested and found useless"). A person who merely professes love for God with his lips but whose heart is far from Him will eventually hear the verdict of truth, which ratifies the inner life of the soul: "Depart from Me, I never knew you..." This is the like-for-like principle of faith, the reciprocity of the inner life of the soul. Our faith in Messiah must be unalloyed - pure, without compromise in its composition and character. May God help each of us...
Should we live in fear of ourselves? After all, "the heart is deceptive above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9), and it is woefully easy to fool ourselves regarding our sins (1 Cor. 8:2; Gal. 6:3; James 1:26). No, because for the true child of God, there is freedom from dread and joy that comes from the knowledge that you are accepted in the Beloved. God has not given us a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear; and there is no fear in His love (Rom. 8:15; 2 Tim. 1:7; 1 John 4:18). Of course we all will fail the test apart from the grace and love of God, and no one can be approved by means of the unaided will. We all need a miracle from God to love Him in the truth and to pass the test -- but God is the One who performs miracles for us. The LORD is Adonai Nissi (יהוה נִסִּי), the God of my miracle.
There is a price to be paid for the miracle of God being manifest in our lives. The message of the cross means confessing the truth about who we are and how we have failed the test of faith. Yeshua does not appeal to the self-righteous ones to come for healing, but rather to the sin-sick and weary (Mark 2:17). The LORD wants us to be honest with ourselves:
הֵן־אֱמֶת חָפַצְתָּ בַטֻּחוֹת
וּבְסָתֻם חָכְמָה תוֹדִיעֵנִי
hen · e·met · cha·fatz·ta · va·tu·chot
uv·sa·tum · chokh·mah · to·di·ei·ni
"Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart."
(Psalm 51:6)
ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀλήθειαν ἠγάπησας τὰ ἄδηλα
καὶ τὰ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας σου ἐδήλωσάς μοι (LXX)
The unexamined life -- especially as a follower of Yeshua -- is not worth living, and the practice of suppressing the truth about our sinful condition can lead to self-deception and even death (1 Cor. 11:30). "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:7-8). "Therefore, confess (ἐξομολογέω, lit. 'confess out') your sins to one another and pray (εὔχομαι) for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person (tzaddik) works great power" (James 5:16). Notice again the link between confessing our sins and praying for one another with healing... Being yashar - honest and upright - produces spiritual power and life. May it please the LORD God to help us be honest and to receive the miracle of genuine transformation within our hearts, according to his word. Amen.
God once said to a chasid, "I want to play a game of hide-and-seek with humankind. I've asked my angels what the best place is to hide in. Some say the depth of the ocean. Others the top of the highest mountain. Others still the far side of the moon or a distant star. What do you suggest?" Said the man, "Hide in the human heart. That's the last place they will think of! (adapted from an old chasidic tale)
Miracles of the Ordinary Kind....
10.26.18 (Cheshvan 17, 5779) We tend to look for God in the extraordinary, in the great and imposing, in "signs and wonders," but Yeshua regularly pointed to ordinary things to reveal truths about the kingdom of God. For example, he said the kingdom was like a mustard seed that grew into a tree that the birds would come to roost (Luke 13:18-19). Yeshua didn't point to the cedars of Lebanon or to a high mountain, but to a lowly plant - something altogether unremarkable and ordinary - to reveal the transcendent. This parable, like many others, is intended to help see with new eyes. Teshuvah (i.e., "repentance") means changing our vision, turning around, and experiencing the wonder that is right before our eyes. "The Kingdom of God is within (ἐντὸς) you" (Luke 17:21). What the world esteems as ordinary is really miraculous, and what the world esteems as extraordinary is really unremarkable...
"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:3). A child's heart is unprotected, open, free of the designs and defenses of the world of men. Such a heart welcomes the gift of life and takes hold of it with eager simplicity. The parables of Jesus constantly upend our usual way of seeing by challenging us to experience life in a new way. We are to be reborn; we are to rise up from a lifetime of sleep and walk in the power of resurrected life.
"There are three stages in one's spiritual development," said the Master. "The carnal, the spiritual and the divine." "What is the carnal stage?" asked the eager disciples. "That's the stage when trees are seen as trees and mountains as mountains." "And the spiritual?" "That's when one looks more deeply into things—then trees are no longer trees and mountains no longer mountains." "And the divine?" "Ah, that's Enlightenment," said the Master with a chuckle, "when trees become trees again and mountains, mountains." - DeMello: One Minute Wisdom
Spiritual fruit does not immediately crop up but requires time and its own season... The process of spiritual growth is mysterious and divine, As Yeshua said: "The Kingdom of God (מַלְכוּת הָאֱלהִים) is like someone who spreads seed on the ground. He goes to sleep and gets up, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. By itself (αὐτομάτη, i.e., "automatically") the soil produces a crop, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. And when the grain is ripe, he comes in with his sickle because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:26-29). The "ordinary" process of the growth of a seed is regarded as genuinely miraculous... With God all things are possible - and that includes the miracle of our newness of life. It is the fruit of the Spirit, after all, and that means that its source and end is found in God's love...
Strength for the Journey...
10.25.18 (Cheshvan 16, 5779) "And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying... 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted' (Matt. 5:4). Mourning is the expression of care, the voice of pain, the sorrow of a broken heart. Those who mourn care deeply; they feel the weight of loss; they grieve over sin. Such sorrow expresses the longing to be released from inner sickness of evil, as Yeshua said: "from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts..." (Mark 7:21). Our own evil desires convict us of the truth... Here there is no place left to hide, no rationalization, no vain hope for self-reformation - just the raw realization of our fatal condition and the appeal for God's mercy in Yeshua. Mourning over our sins draws us to God, to the Comforter who "comes alongside" to bind up the broken heart. The danger remains, however, for those who deny their sin and refuse to mourn, since they are made blind to their need for forgiveness and comfort (John 9:41). How shall God be able in heaven to dry up your tears when you haven't wept?
One of the great tests of faith is learning to "endure yourself" as your inner character is being transformed... To do so, you must receive the miracle of Yeshua... You must look beyond the realm of appearance, where the "outward man" perishes, to the realm of ultimate healing, where the "inward man" is finally liberated from the ravages of sin and death. This is the comfort we have in our affliction: God's promise revives our hearts to say, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth" (Job 19:25). Even in the "shadow of the valley of death" (i.e., this moribund and broken world), the LORD is with us and comforts us with His Presence (Psalm 23:4). We are given this great promise: "Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven" (1 Cor. 15:49).
Many people seem to want healing apart from the cure. How many of us settle for half-measures? While you might find respite for your suffering in temporary measures, you cannot have lasting healing apart from the divine remedy... Nonetheless, the Lord our God gives us special graces, especially in light of the passing of days, with thwarted hope, aching bones, and inner keening for lasting deliverance. This "gift of despondency" helps us to awaken and to reach out to find the Real, the True, the Eternal. Learn to wait; ask God for the wisdom of patience. Between acceptance and anxiety, always choose acceptance. Find hope while waiting...
זאת נֶחָמָתִי בְעָנְיִי כִּי אִמְרָתְךָ חִיָּתְנִי
zoht ne-cha-ma-tee ve-ohn-yee
kee eem-rah-te-khah chee-yaht-nee
"This is my comfort in my affliction, that your word gives me life."
(Psalm 119:50)
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It's not always easy to wait for God, especially when we are in pain or anxiety, but we must never, ever, give up; we must never ever, abandon our heart's longing for ultimate healing. Faith exercises hope in the Reality, Substance, and Being (ὑπόστασις) of the Invisible and is made captive to undying hope (Heb. 11:1). Therefore the Spirit cries out: come alive and trust in the promise of God! "Blessed are you, LORD our God, King of the universe, who makes us captives of hope."
Deliverance from Anxiety...
10.25.18 (Cheshvan 16, 5779) "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6). Note that the verb translated "be anxious" here (i.e.,μεριμνάω) comes from a root word (μερίζω) that means to be fragmented or divided into parts and pieces. Being anxious is therefore the uneasy state of being distracted, unfocused and divided within yourself. When we worry we heed voices of fear and begin to feel 'double-minded,' (i.e., δίψυχος), unstable, and unable to think clearly; we get restless and find it difficult to deeply breathe. We start to feel out of control, fearful that something bad will happen despite all our efforts or wishes to the contrary; we sense doom; we lose heart; we go dark... The Scripture here admonishes us to pray when we are tempted us to be anxious by focusing on something for which we are grateful. Doing so will bring the "peace of God" (שלום יהוה) that rises above all worldly thinking to keep watch over your heart and your thoughts through Yeshua the Messiah (Phil. 4:7). We gain the "light of life," that is, inner illumination from God, so that we can remain steadfast and unmovable in our faith, despite the temptation to look for remedy apart from God for some relief from our struggles.
"The sovereign cure for worry is prayer.... If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with a different reality system." - William James
"The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: your love, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of your own hands" (Psalm 138:8). Here is the confession that all that we are or ever hope to be comes entirely from God, and therefore we can take heart. The LORD will finish the work he has begun in you: "Fear thou not, for I AM with you; be not dismayed, for I AM thy God; I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness."
אַל־תִּירָא כִּי עִמְּךָ־אָנִי
אַל־תִּשְׁתָּע כִּי־אֲנִי אֱלהֶיךָ
אִמַּצְתִּיךָ אַף־עֲזַרְתִּיךָ
אַף־תְּמַכְתִּיךָ בִּימִין צִדְקִי
al ti·ra ki im·me·kha a·ni
al tish·ta ki a·ni E·lo·he·kha
im·matz·ti·kha af a·zar·ti·kha
af te·makh·ti·kha bi·min tzid·ki
"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (Isa. 41:10)
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The Work of Faith...
10.25.18 (Cheshvan 16, 5779) Our Torah for this week (Vayera) gives the account of the terrible test given to Abraham when God asked him to offer up his son as a sacrifice (see Gen. 22). The apostle James later said that Abraham was "justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar" (James 2:21), whereas the apostle Paul seemed to say just the opposite, that Abraham was not justified by works (see Rom. 4:1-3). So is there a contradiction here in our Bibles regarding the idea of "justification"? To answer this first understand that when James said that Abraham was justified "by works" he was referring to the work of faith and certainly not to the works of the law (מַעֲשֵׂי הַתּוֹרָה), since the Torah explicitly prohibited human sacrifice (Gen. 9:5), and furthermore the Angel of the LORD restrained Abraham's hand during the great test of faith (Gen. 22:12) thereby indicating that it was not God's will (i.e., Torah). On the other hand, the apostle Paul's seemingly contrary statement that Abraham was not justified by works refers to Abraham's unwavering trust in God's promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Gen. 15:1-6). There is no real contradiction, then, since the two apostles were referring to two different episodes in their discussion of justification. Faith and works are two sides of the same coin: true faith will show up in your life and character. As Yeshua said, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the One whom He has sent" (John 6:29).
The life of faith is inherently paradoxical, as Kierkegaard noted: "Ethically speaking, what Abraham planned to do was to murder Isaac; religiously, however, he was willing to sacrifice Isaac. In this contradiction lies the very anguish that can indeed make anyone sleepless. And yet without that anguish Abraham is not the one he is. Neither would faith be what it is." Although Abraham understood that God must be obeyed, he also understood that human sacrifice was immoral, and hence his struggle represented the collision between the imperative of reason and the imperative of faith. Choosing to heed the voice of reason (i.e., the "ethical," the "universal") over the personal voice of God created a state of "fear and trembling" and a sense of being unable to communicate his passion and mission to others.
"God cannot stand good works in the sense of earning merit. Yet good works are required. They shall be and yet shall not be. They are necessary and yet one ought humbly to ignore their significance or at least forget that they are supposed to be of any significance. Good works are like a child giving his parents a present, purchased, however, with what the child has received from his parents. All the pretentiousness which otherwise is associated with giving a present disappears when the child understands that he has received from his parents the gift which he gives to them."- Soren Kiekegaard
As Kierkegaard further commented: "Faith's conflict with the world is not a battle of thought with doubt, thought with thought. It is a battle of character. The person of faith is a person of character who does not insist upon comprehending everything. Now comes the conflict. The world insists that to believe what you cannot comprehend is not only blind obedience but obscurantism, stupidity, and so on. The world wants to alarm the believer against such foolishness. This is precisely why faith is a task for the person of character."
The Sins of Sodom...
10.24.18 (Cheshvan 15, 5779) From our Torah this week (Vayera) we read: "And the LORD said, 'The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave...'" (Gen. 18:20). But what was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah? Why did God destroy the two cities? Was it because the people there refused to show hospitality to the angelic visitors (as claimed by some), or was it because of some ongoing sin of the people?
Though the sin of Sodom undoubtedly included the practice of sexual perversion (called "strange flesh" in the Book of Jude), such behavior was symptomatic of a nihilistic culture that glorified violence, despised moral authority and spiritual truth, and practiced the exploitation of others. Throughout the Scriptures "Sodom" symbolically represents gross immorality, depravity, and inevitable judgment from heaven. For example, the prophet Ezekiel later wrote of Judah: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abomination (תּוֹעֵבָה) before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it" (Ezek. 16:49-50). The New Testament refers to the fate of Sodom as "a fearful example of the everlasting fire of retribution" (Jude 1:7) -- the destructive result of spiritual anarchy, lawlessness, deviancy, perversion, and trauma (2 Pet. 2:6-10). Thankfully there is real hope for those who seek to escape from the wrath to come by turning to God and trusting in his healing power of salvation, though it is only a "remnant" that find true deliverance (Matt. 7:14). Speaking of the final salvation of Israel, the Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah: "If the LORD of Hosts hadn't left us a few survivors, we'd be as desolate as Sodom, doomed just like Gomorrah" (Isa 1:9; Rom. 9:29).
In this connection it should be noted that the word "sodomy" involves any form of violence, perversion, exploitation, or lawless expression of sexuality regardless of gender... In general, it is more helpful to think of it as a code word for egregious sin, "in-your-face" spite toward God, defiant immorality that celebrates spiritual anarchy, moral nihilism, and death... Adultery, fornication, sexual perversions, viewing pornography (i.e., the lust of the eyes), covetousness, gluttony, arrogance (idolatry), unbridled anger (rage), sloth, worshiping the things of this world (i.e., fads, trendy TV shows, sports idols, the world's value system), and so on, all may be called "sodomy." Whenever we consider such things, it is better to look at how we are healed rather than what makes us sick.... The answer in every case to the trauma of the sinful heart is to turn to God and ask for deliverance in the name of Yeshua.
"The hell to be endured hereafter, of which theology tells, is no worse than the hell we make for ourselves in this world by habitually fashioning our characters in the wrong way." - William James
The world and its "group-think" always calls for the abolition of individual conscience. Like the culture of ancient Sodom, today the great sin is to exercise earnest conviction that transcendental moral authority and truth exist, in spite of the world's "homogenizing" value system... Indeed, the only thing regarded as "intolerable" in the devil's world is the objection that people have a supposed "liberty" to sin in whatever way they please. However, tolerating sin in a world ripe for judgment is a tacit form of "collaboration" with the enemy (James 4:4). The LORD is clear on this point: "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and who are shrewd in their own sight!" (Isa. 5:20-21).
The "original sin," that is, eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, meant that man sought to transcend God's will to determine what is valuable, true, beautiful, and so on. Man became autonomous, "the measure of all things." Such was the "logical" method of the German idealism of Kant and Hegel, which led to way for Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Adolf Hitler to unleash their nightmares upon the earth. And this ideology behind the cynical postmodern claim that "good and evil" are tools to express political control... Today, more than ever before, the world is like "Sodom" and therefore ripe for judgment from heaven.
And the judgment of God indeed came upon the moral anarchy of that realm... After the angels rescued Lot (and his immediate family), we read "then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew on the ground" (Gen. 19:24-25). The sages note the word translated "overthrew" is vayahafokh (וַיַּהֲפךְ), which means "overturned," suggesting that besides the fire and brimstone that rained down from the sky, an enormous earthquake engulfed the plain, forming a crater filled with salt that became known as the "Dead Sea" (ים המלח).
Note: If someone were to urge me to declare whether a certain sexual orientation was acceptable (or sinful), I would push the question further back... Before we consider questions of sexual orientation we first must come to terms with questions of theological orientation, and in particular, with the question of whether we will believe that Yeshua is God the Son who redeems humanity from sin... After all, the central concern of life is not with this or that particular sin (since sin reveals the more fundamental problem of "spiritual death") but rather with the question of how can we find true life. How can we be delivered from the fear of death and God's judgment? What is the meaning and purpose of our lives? How should I live? Everyone is entirely responsible for what they choose to believe and our judgment is to be whatever we make of our lives... In our "postmodern" culture we must start here before we get sidetracked into the "mind games" of identity politics, etc.
Postscript: Is "Original Sin" Biblical?
In response to this entry, someone wrote me and questioned the whole idea of "original sin," claiming that it was a "Catholic dogma" that is not based on Scripture... I replied that while the term "original sin" does not explicitly appear in the Scriptures, the idea is clearly taught that as a result of Adam and Eve's transgression, the terrible judgment of eternal death was pronounced upon them and their progeny, and therefore all the descendants of Adam and Eve are inheritors of this fallen spiritual condition. This is clearly taught in our Scriptures: "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest" (Eph. 2:1-3). This passage clearly assumes that "all have sinned" and fall short of the glory of God, which means that human nature is inherently sick with "spiritual death" -- which is precisely why Yeshua had to die.
Adam ha'rishon represented the "federal head" of humanity: "So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned ... for if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Yeshua the Messiah! Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people" (Rom. 5:12-ff).
The Greek text of the New Testament is clear: Ἄρα οὖν ὡς δι᾽ ἑνὸς παραπτώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κατάκριμα, οὕτως καὶ δι᾽ ἑνὸς δικαιώματος εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς δικαίωσιν ζωῆς - "Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people" (Rom. 5:18). Moreover, Paul taught that "since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man" (1 Cor. 15:21).
Yeshua said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies" (John 8:42-45).
Other verses imply the idea that people are born into a "fallen" state in need of redemption: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5); "the Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Psalm 14:2-3); "the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and profane insanity (הוֹלֵלוֹת) is in their hearts throughout their lives" (Eccl. 9:3). Indeed "what is man, that he should be pure, or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?" (Job 15:14). "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is incurably sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9).
Spiritual rebirth is the impartation of new nature, as it is written: "who were born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13). Without the ontological reality of "original sin," that is, the spiritual condition of eternal death, then people would not need to be "reborn" into a new mode of existence based on the federal deliverance given in Messiah. In other words, the doctrine of "original sin" is integrally connected with our redemption, for without the real "fall" humankind into sin, there would be no need for the cross.
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Resurrection and Life...
10.24.18 (Cheshvan 15, 5779) "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26). We are healed from the "sickness unto death," that is, the lethal condition of spiritual death, not by our own personal righteousness or wisdom, but by the miracle of God, a supernatural that does not derive from anything within ourselves. We come into this world spiritually "still born," and unless we receive the miracle of life from above, we remain spiritually cut off, dead while seemingly alive, a shadowy consciousness trapped in illusion... True life is given in Messiah, for apart from him we can do nothing. Therefore we must wait for the blessing, since we are powerless to change or heal ourselves (Job 14:14). When we turn to God in brokenness, confessing the truth of our need for deliverance, appealing to the life given in exchange for our own, we begin to come alive. Pride recoils at these considerations because it always insinuates that there is something we can do to commend ourselves before God. Yet even faith itself is a gift, so all that remains is for us to walk in the truth, accepting the blessing even in the midst of the world enshrouded darkness. This all sounds so simple, yet that is because we focus on the words rather than the power of the words, the reality that the words signify...
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Light in the Darkness...
10.24.18 (Cheshvan 15, 5779) It has been said there are two basic modes of exercising faith: "believing that" and "believing in." Believing "that" regards God an object of knowledge or information - a "fact" that affects the way we reason and think about life; its mode is that of assent, or affirmation of what is real... There is nothing wrong with this mode of faith, since objective truth is necessary for salvation, though there is a deeper mode that "believes in" God, that is, that encounters God personally, relying on him to keep his promises, trusting him for life despite our temptation to despair. Believing "in" God wagers everything on God's care and love, regardless of the present suffering. It goes beyond the rational realm of attempting to understand God by means of human reason into the realm of trusting God for unseen healing to come. This sort of faith "sees the unseen" by means of relating to God despite the darkness and ambiguities of life. Such faith appears foolish to the worldly wise, but by it is manifest the power of God. Believing in God is intensely relational and "subjective" in the sense of being a matter of the heart. S uch faith is exercised "in secret" place where your heavenly Father sees (Matt. 6:6). "Yeshua, I believe in you for my pain, my sorrows, my wounds, as well as for my healing, my joys, and my comfort."
The Torah states that Abraham "believed in the LORD (וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוָה), and it was counted to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3). This was not merely believing that God could do whatever God wanted, but rather believing in God's character and promise, despite the "natural" objections presented by carnal human reasoning. This is an emotional believing - a decision to trust that took Abraham right into the heart of God. This is "panim-el-panim" (face-to-face) believing -- believing "into" God that marks a journey, a crossing over from death to life... Indeed the LORD "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist (καλοῦντος τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα). In hope Abraham "believed against hope" that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." Paradoxically, Abraham's faith was "opposed to hope" (παρ᾽ ἐλπίδα) in its objective reference but was "based in hope" (ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι) in its subjective reference. "Not having been weak in the faith, he did not consider his own body already as dead (for the outer man perishes) nor the deadness of Sarah's womb; at the promise of God he did not stagger in unbelief but was strengthened in faith, having given glory to God, and having been fully persuaded that what the LORD had promised he would also to do" (Rom. 4:17-21).
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Faith Surpasses Reason...
[ Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible. - W. James ]
10.23.18 (Cheshvan 14, 5779) No consideration of the Akedah, or the sacrifice of Isaac, would be complete without considering the comments of the great Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). In his famous book "Fear and Trembling," Kierkegaard discusses the inner conflict Abraham faced when he was commanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. Although Abraham understood that God must be obeyed, he also understood that child sacrifice was immoral, and hence his struggle represented the collision between the imperative of reason and the imperative of faith. Choosing to heed the voice of reason (i.e., the "ethical" or the "universal") over the personal voice of God created a state of "fear and trembling" and a sense of being unable to communicate his passion and mission to others. Kierkegaard says that Abraham "resolved" the paradox by means of what he calls the "teleological suspension of the ethical," that is, the idea that the moral law may be (temporarily) "suspended" for the sake of a higher goal known only through the absolute surrender of faith...
For more see: "Faith Surpasses Reason: Kierkegaard and the Sacrifice of Isaac."
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The Sacrificed Seed...
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Vayera.... ]
10.23.18 (Cheshvan 14, 5779) "And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together" (Gen. 22:6). Isaac was about 37 years old at this time and needed to understand what was being asked of him: "And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (Gen. 22:7). This is the first word of dialog recorded over the three day journey... It is hard to imagine Isaac's pathos during this exchange. Abraham replied, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together (Gen. 22:8). Notice that the Hebrew could be read: "God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering -- my son!" (ירְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעלָה בְּנִי) - making it plain that Isaac would be offered upon the altar. The Torah then repeats, "and they both walked on together," indicating that Isaac accepted his sacrificial death in obedience to his father's will.
"And when they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son (וַיַּעֲקד אֶת־יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ) and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood" (Gen. 22:9). According to the Talmud, Isaac asked his father to make the knots on his hands and feet tighter - not out of fear that he would change his mind and begin to resist - but in order to encourage his father to offer the sacrifice properly (Bereshit Rabbah 56:8). Like the Suffering Servant who would come after him, Isaac "set his face like a flint" to fulfill God's will (Isa. 50:7).
Isaac kept his eyes directed toward heaven as he lay tightly bound and motionless upon the altar. He awaited the final blow and wanted it to fall with trust and obedience within his heart. It was to be a shared sacrifice between the beloved son and his father. Finally "Abraham stretched out (שׁלח) his hand and took the knife to slaughter (i.e., לִשְׁחט, from shechitah) his son" (Gen. 22:10). The Talmud says that when Abraham "stretched out" his hand, he briefly looked at the knife to determine if it was ritually fit, and this delay was the precise moment when the Angel of the LORD (מַלְאַךְ יהוה) called out to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" (Gen. 22:11). (Note the repetition of the name "Abraham" during this second call.) According to various midrashim, when Abraham put his knife to his son's neck, Isaac's soul departed from him, but it returned when the Angel of the LORD said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" (Gen. 22:12). Abraham then immediately released Isaac and recited the blessing, "Blessed are You, LORD, who revives the dead" (בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה מְחַיֶּה הַמֵּתִים).
"I believe in You, O Holy One, though at times there no longer seems any reason for believing..." Here is Abraham, who counted the stars in hope, who trusted God for an heir, a promised son - and from this son another, and from that another, and another, until he envisioned his descendants "as the dust of earth" (Gen. 13:16; 15:5-6), and yet here is Abraham lifting up his knife to sacrifice his son, his beloved child, his promise, his future, his dream. Remember that Abraham did not know the end of the story before it began, and therefore his faith attested: "Though he slay me, I will trust in him."
Some people tend to "explain away" the passion of Abraham and Isaac by quoting the New Testament verse: "He [Abraham] considered that God was able even to raise him [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back" (Heb. 11:19) -- as if this would make the sacrificial act any easier! Again we must bear in mind that neither Abraham nor Isaac knew "the end of the story" before they chose to obey God. As I've mentioned before, simply "knowing about" God is not the same thing as personally trusting Him with your life... This is the distinction between emunah (אֱמוּנָה) and bittachon (בִּטָּחוֹן). Simply knowing about God can lead to a sense of "distance," to theological abstractions, to dogmas and creedal formulas. Rabbi Bechaya put the distinction this way: "Everyone who trusts has faith, but not everyone with faith trusts." Bittachon is an intuitive awareness of the personal love of God for your life, coupled with complete trust that He cares for you (Rom. 8:28). It is an expectation that the love of God is for you, too, despite the test.
Note: For more see, "The Sacrificed Seed: Further thoughts about the Akedah."
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A Treasured Possession...
10.23.18 (Cheshvan 14, 5779) God's love sees the hidden beauty, worth, and value of your life. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it" (Matt. 13:45-46). Now on the face of it this parable seems to teach that once we truly understand the surpassing value of the kingdom of heaven, we would gladly give up everything else to take hold of it. However another way to understand this parable is to see God as the Merchant, the central character of the story.... Instead of you paying the great price for the pearl, turn the story around: God pays the price - and you are regarded as His choice pearl! You are a treasured possession, the "apple of God's eye..."
"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession (i.e., le'am segulah: לְעַם סְגֻלָּה) out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth" (Deut. 7:6).
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The Divine Transposition...
10.23.18 (Cheshvan 14, 5779) "Blessed are those who weep while the world goes on laughing, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; blessed are the meek, for they shall overcome; blessed are those who realize they know little, for they shall find treasure; blessed are those who realize they are unrighteous, for they shall find healing; blessed are the misfits who are disowned by the world as fools, for they shall find mansions in heaven; blessed are the weak, for they shall be made strong; blessed are those who weep, for they shall obtain eternal consolation; blessed are those who refuse to assimilate into this world and its idols, for they shall be called victors in the world to come..."
God turns everything "upside down," for what is esteemed in this world is regarded as vanity in the world to come, and vice-versa. Indeed, the wisdom of this world is based on what I have called the "devil's logic," that is, the cynical notion that "truth" is nothing more than a political tool used to exploit others. The devil's logic is devoid of transcendental reality and therefore relies on compromise and "tolerance" to define truth as a form of "consensus" and "group think." Invariably this approach leads to ambiguity, confusion, cowardice, violence, absurdism, madness, and cruelty... It's fate belongs to eternal wasteplaces that attract and draw energy from the so-called power of the lie.
The Scriptures teach, "Light is sown for the righteous (tzaddikim), and joy for the upright (yashar) in heart" (Psalm 97:11). May it please the LORD God to renew our courage to live wholeheartedly according to His truth, and to resist the pressure to conform to the idolatry of this world. Amen.
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Heaven's Last Laugh...
10.23.18 (Cheshvan 14, 5779) "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh" (Luke 6:21). Despite the heartache of our present life and the grief we now bear, sorrow will not be given the last word, but rather laughter and joy... And even now, in the midst of our afflictions, we can laugh at the prospect of the coming great Day when all things shall be completely healed, the untrue will be made true, the crooked made straight, and our hearts deepest dream for love will be fulfilled...
Nonetheless we still weep because we see the world as painful, tragic, and filled with so much sadness; we cry out for deliverance; we mourn over our lives and for the lives of others we love... If you have a heart that still can feel, you know the crushing weight of sin, you share the agony of others who struggle with their sufferings; and you may feel nearly suffocated by the darkness, pain, and inconsolable despair. Indeed only those who are heartless can laugh at the troubles of this world, unmoved and untouched by the sorrows of others, perhaps because they are insulated in their moneyed indifference or else because they scorn life as "hard" and unforgiving, yet in either case we hear Yeshua add, "Woe to you who laugh now" (either in levity or in bitterness), "for you shall mourn and weep" (Luke 6:25). So you see how it is: God's people will always be "out of step" with this world and its godlessness and idolatry. Genuine faith is a form of protest against any interpretation of reality that denies or minimizes the truth of the Divine Presence and therefore it suffers as the world exchanges truth for the lie.
Indeed God's people are "strangers" in this world; they are estranged and live as "resident aliens" -- here, yet not here.... Those who 'settle' here, who lay claim to life in this world, therefore make God their stranger. Thus King David said to the LORD: "We are strangers with You (כִּי־גֵרִים אֲנַחְנוּ לְפָנֶיךָ) and sojourners like our fathers; our days on earth are like a shadow (כַּצֵּל יָמֵינוּ) without abiding (1 Chron. 29:15). Faith in Yeshua affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life is a deeper reality that is ultimately real and abiding. It "sees what is invisible" (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the "present form of this world is passing away" (1 Cor. 7:31). The mode of faith therefore calls us to live as toshavim - sojourners - who are at an infinite "distance" from the world of appearances and who seek the Eternal. We are "just passing through" this world, as we look forward to our promised home in heaven (Heb. 11:9-10). Then the days of our mourning shall be turned to dancing and God himself shall wipe away all tears from our eyes (Rev. 7:17; Isa. 55:11).
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Shadow of Shaddai...
10.22.18 (Cheshvan 13, 5779) One of the Hebrew names of God is El Elyon (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן), often translated as God "Most High." The name first appears in the Torah regarding the mysterious figure of Melchizedek (i.e., מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק), the timeless king and priest of Zion who served "God Most High" (Gen. 14:18). Malki-Tzedek is the first priest (i.e., kohen: כּהֶן) named in the Torah, a mediator who ministered "bread and wine" to our father Abraham - alluding to the sacraments later use to commemorate our redemption. Note the word "Elyon" itself (עֶלְיוֹן) comes from a root word (עָלָה) that means to ascend. For instance, an olah offering (עלָה) is a whole burnt offering that ascends upward to heaven. Calling God Elyon expresses the truth that the LORD our God has "made aliyah" on high, the resurrected and Ascended One who overcame all the powers of hell and utterly vanquished death's power for us... In other words, Elyon is a name for the LORD our God Yeshua.
ישֵׁב בְּסֵתֶר עֶלְיוֹן
בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלוֹנָן
אמַר לַיהוָה מַחְסִי וּמְצוּדָתִי
אֱלהַי אֶבְטַח־בּוֹ
yo·shev · be·se·ter · El·yon
be·tzel · Shad·dai · yit·lo·nan
o·mar · ladonai · mach·si · u·me·tzu·da·ti
E·lo·hai · ev·tach · bo
"He who dwells in the secret of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
(Psalm 91:1-2)
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It is said that Moses wrote these words as he dwelled in the secret place (סֵתֶר) of the Most High God, in the "midst of the dark cloud" (Exod. 24:18), a place of sacred and holy concealment. As it is written, the thick clouds are a Hiding Place for Him (Job 22:14). Notice that the one who "dwells" in the secret of the Most High abides in an ascended place of rest - being lifted up far above the surrounding madness of this fallen world of flux and shadows. The Hebrew word is related to the word to lodge or "sleep" (לִין), connecting it with death and resurrection. By dwelling in the death and resurrection of Yeshua, God will shield you with His Presence and make evil powerless before you...
Since God hides Himself in this world (Isa. 45:15), we must humbly seek His face to enter into the place of His holy concealment in all things. God is Elyon – High above - but He dwells "with the lowly and the broken of heart" (Isa. 57:15). Therefore the LORD our God is called Shaddai (שַׁדַּי) – our Sustainer, Provider, Refuge, Fortress, our Home. Just as we can be surrounded by the "shadow of death" (tzal mavet), so we can be surrounded by the "shadow of Shaddai" (tzal Shaddai). Like a powerful eagle brooding over her chicks, so Shaddai covers you with wings of protection (Psalm 91:4).
When you "dwell" in the secret of Elyon - the Ascended One - you are concealed by the dark clouds of His Glory, and the Presence of Shaddai overshadows you... The LORD will save you from the ensnaring trap and from the devastating pestilence (Psalm 91:3). By abiding in the truth that God's Presence pervades all things at all times - you become a "stranger" (גֵּר) with the LORD in this world, a "sojourner" (תּוֹשָׁב) who awaits the recompense of the wicked and the healing of the world at the end of the age. "You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot" (Psalm 91:13).
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Waking Up in Time...
[ "When you have to make a choice and don't make it, that is in itself a choice." - W. James ]
10.22.18 (Cheshvan 13, 5779) Our life in this world will end far sooner than we expect, and then what will become of us? I am not here thinking of the end of "the" world, but rather the end of your world - when you will die and face the light of eternity. Today, this moment, you are on the way, going someplace; your "latter days" are already come... If you are not prepared today, how will you be better prepared tomorrow? Today is the day of salvation, the hour that matters most. Learn to die to the world now, to let go of what presently holds you captive, so that you are free to meet that which forever shall come. Don't put off genuine teshuvah: turn while there is still time. And may God give us mercy to say from the heart: "For me to live is Messiah, and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).
"Circumstance does not make me, it reveals me.... We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. ...Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out." - William James
The Way of the LORD...
10.22.18 (Cheshvan 13, 5779) From our Torah portion this week (i.e., parashat Vayera) we note that after delivering the announcement of the coming heir to both Abraham and Sarah, three angels set out to finish their mission (Gen. 18:1-16). Abraham escorted them on their way. The chief Angel (i.e., the Angel of the LORD) then rhetorically asked his two angelic companions, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do (i.e., go to Sodom), seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him (כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו), that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD (דֶּרֶךְ יהוה) -- to do charity and justice (לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט); that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him" (Gen. 18:17-19). Notice here that the LORD commends Abraham because he would instruct his family in the way of the LORD, namely, to do tzedakah (i.e., charity, righteous giving) and to promote justice in the earth...
"A man traversed land and sea to check for himself the Master's extraordinary fame. "What miracles has your Master worked?" he said to a disciple. "Well, there are miracles and miracles. In your land it is regarded as a miracle if God does someone's will. In our country it is regarded as a miracle if someone does the will of God." (Kotzer)
When we recite the Shema, we repeat the admonition to follow Abraham's example: "these words that I command you today shall be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children (וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ), and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise..." (Deut. 6:5-7). We know however, that though Abraham had several sons, we call upon the God of Isaac (Gen. 28:13), and likewise, though Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau, but we call upon the God of Jacob (Exod. 3:6). We are responsible to instruct our children to keep the way of the LORD, though we must entrust the spiritual results to God's hands....
Abraham and the Lamb...
10.22.18 (Cheshvan 13, 5779) The word "love" (אָהַב) first appears in the Scriptures regarding Abraham's passion for his son: "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you" (Gen. 22:2). After journeying to the place, Abraham bound Isaac, laid him upon an altar, and raised his knife to slay him. At the very last moment, the Angel of the Lord called out: "Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me" (Gen. 22:11-12). Abraham then "lifted up his eyes" and saw a ram "caught in a thicket" which he offered the place of his beloved son. Abraham named the altar Adonai-Yireh, "the LORD who provides" (Gen. 22:14). The sacrifice of the lamb for Isaac portrayed the sacrifice of Yeshua, the great 'Lamb of God' (שֵׂה הָאֱלהִים) who would offer up his life in exchange for the trusting sinner (John 1:29). Indeed the story of how God provided the lamb - both at Moriah and later during the Passover in Egypt - may be understood as the "Gospel according to Moses" (Luke 24:27; John 5:46).
Isaac not only pictures the sinner who trusts in God's sacrificial substitute, but also the One who offered himself in obedience to his heavenly Father. The Promised Seed illustrates how Yeshua "humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross" (Phil. 2:7), and in that sense he is a type of Messiah. For instance, both Isaac and Yeshua were born miraculously; both were called "only begotten sons"; both were to be sacrificed by their fathers at Moriah; both experienced a "passion"; both willingly took up the means of his own execution; both were to be resurrected on the third day (Gen. 22:5, Heb. 11:17-19); and both demonstrate that one life can be sacrificed for another – the ram for Isaac, and Yeshua for all of mankind...
The first time the word "Torah" (תּוֹרָה) occurs in the Bible refers to the faith of Abraham (see Gen. 26:5), and the second time refers to the law of Passover: "There shall be one teaching (Torah) for the native and for the stranger" (Exod. 12:49). There is a link here. Abraham lived before the time of the Exodus, of course, and therefore he observed Passover by offering the lamb in place of his son (Gen. 26:5). Abraham revealed that the inner meaning of Torah is that the "righteous shall live by faith" (Hab. 2:4, Rom. 1:17) and that God justifies the sinner who trusts in him (Heb. 11:17-19; Rom. 4:5). During the Exodus from Egypt, Moses declared that the blood of the Passover lamb would be a "sign" of imputed righteousness secured by faith - with no "leaven," or human works, added. This is the "life-for-life" principle that underlies the sacrificial system of the Tabernacle revealed at Sinai as well. Ultimately all true Torah points to Yeshua, the Lamb of God (שֵׂה הָאֱלהִים), who died upon the cross for our offenses and was raised again for our justification (Rom. 4:25).
Elohim yireh-lo ha'seh le'olah b'ni: "God will provide Himself a Lamb for the burnt offering - my son..." The cross itself speaks to the question of "faith vs. works." At the time of the crucifixion of the Messiah, man was "shut out" because of the darkness and utter sanctity of the sacrifice of Yeshua as the Lamb of God who bore all the sins of the world... At the time of utmost darkness, man was on the "other side of the cloud," put into a "deep sleep" not unlike what Abraham had earlier experienced at the covenant of the parts (Gen. 15:12). Every human being stood helplessly on the other side of the cross; no one else participated to make us right with God: It was all Yeshua and the Father, and the Father and Yeshua alone... In that inner sanctum, that holy of holies, shammah! atonement was made.
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Parashat Vayera - וירא
10.21.18 (Cheshvan 12, 5779) Our Torah reading for this week (Vayera) is very dramatic and extraordinarily prophetic. Among other things it includes what I have called the "Gospel according to Moses," or rather Moses' account of how Abraham was tested by God to offer his "only begotten son" (בֵּן יָחִיד) Isaac as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah -- the place of the future Temple. This famous story is referred to as the Akedah (עֲקֵדָה), or Akedat Yitzchak (עֲקֵידָת יִצְחָק) - the "binding of Isaac" (Gen. 22:1-18). At the very last moment, the Angel of the LORD stopped Abraham from going through with the sacrifice and provided a ram as a substitute. Abraham then named the location Adonai-Yireh (יהוה יִרְאֶה), "the LORD will provide/see" (from the 3p impf. of the verb ra'ah (רָאָה), "to see"). The binding of Isaac perfectly illustrates both the principle of sacrificial love and the principle that we must first unreservedly believe in that love in order to understand the ways of the LORD.
As Messianic believers, we understand the Akedah as a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice the heavenly Father would give on our behalf. Unlike Abraham, God the Father actually offered His only begotten Son (בֵּן יָחִיד) Yeshua upon Moriah in order to make salvation available to all who believe (John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:9). As Abraham himself believed: אֱלהִים יִרְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה / Elohim yireh-lo haseh ("God Himself will provide a lamb").
אֱלהִים יִרְאֶה־לּוֹ הַשֶּׂה לְעלָה בְּנִי
E·lo·him · yir·eh-lo · has·seh · le·o·lah · be·ni
"God will see for himself the lamb for the burnt offering -- my son."
(Gen. 22:8)
Indeed, the very first occurrence of the word love in the Scriptures (i.e., ahavah: אַהֲבָה) refers to Abraham's love for his "only" son who was to be sacrificed as a burnt offering on Moriah (the very place of the crucifixion of Yeshua), a clear reference to the gospel message (Gen. 22:2; John 3:16). Some scholars have noted that the word ahavah comes from a two-letter root (הב) with Aleph (א) as a modifier. The root means "to give" and the Aleph indicates agency: "I" give (i.e., the Father gives). Love is essentially an act of sacrificial giving... The quintessential passage of Scripture regarding love (αγαπη) in the life of a Christian is found 1 Corinthians 13: "Love seeks not its own..."
Whereas the Akedat Yitzchak foreshadowed God's provision for the coming Temple, the Akedat Yeshua (i.e., the crucifixion of Yeshua at Moriah) was the altar where the justice and chesed (love) of the Father fully met (Psalm 85:10). For more on this incredibly rich subject, please see the articles, "The Passion of Isaac" and "The Sacrificed Seed."
Forgiveness and Healing...
10.21.18 (Cheshvan 12, 5779) We are all wounded people, for who among us has not felt rejected, abandoned, abused, or betrayed? The pain of our wounds is close to us: often it is the people we needed most who abandoned us, and that shakes us to the very core, hardening our hears so that we become unwilling to trust again... Yet forgiveness is essential for healing, and therefore we have no choice but to let go of our pain and set our captive hearts free. Of course doing this is impossible apart from the miracle of God's grace, but God can help us heal and let go our sickness of heart. After all, Yeshua came to "bring good news to the afflicted; to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives opening the of the prison to those who are bound" (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18). "Forgive and you shall be forgiven," Yeshua said, which means that as we let go of our hurt feelings, resentment, and offense, so we are set free from dark emotions that enslave the soul. May God help us forgive others as he has forgiven us. Amen.
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God's Way of Truth and Life...
10.19.18 (Cheshvan 10, 5779) What did Yeshua mean when he said that he was "the way and the truth and the life"? The context for this statement is found in the upper room just before the time of his crucifixion -- the night before he would die as the Lamb of God -- and Yeshua wanted to comfort and reassure his followers despite the offense they would experience over the cross. "Do not let your heart be distressed, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places... I am going to prepare a place for you, and I will come again to take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too; and you know the way where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Yeshua replied, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:1-6). Thomas was unsure of the way because he was reasoning in worldly terms, perhaps thinking that Yeshua was speaking of a literal road or path. Of course Yeshua was speaking - as he had done many times before - in spiritual terms about the way of deliverance by means of the cross, that is, the truth of salvation and the eternal life he would secure. The mistake Thomas made was regarding the way of Yeshua as something he would follow rather than receive; he was looking for his way rather than God's way of deliverance. But Yeshua is the way to the truth of life, and as you know his way you will know the heart of the Father also (John 14:7). The way of life is to be in relationship with God by Yeshua, not to look for rituals, organized religion, self-improvement practices or paths of self-enlightenment. In other words it is not our way that matters but his way -- he is the focus and everything ultimately centers on him. Yeshua alone is the way to truth and life; this is the central truth of existence.
אָנכִי הַדֶּרֶךְ וְהָאֱמֶת וְהַחַיִּים
וְאִיש לֹא־יָבא אֶל־הָאָב בִּלְתִּי עַל־יָדִי
a·no·chi · ha·de·rekh · ve·ha·e·met · ve·ha·cha·yim
ve·ish · lo · ya·vo · el - ha·av · bil·ti · al - ya·di
"I am the way and the truth and the life
no one comes to the Father apart from me"
(John 14:6)
Note: Regarding religious language there are three basic options. Univocal speech is that which has only one meaning; equivocal speech is that which has many meanings, and analogical speech has an "additional level" of meaning (i.e., ana + logos) that is similar to univocal but transcends it to apply to a different order or aspect of reality. Those who believe that Scripture is God's divinely inspired word generally hold to univocal and analogical reading of the texts, using grammatical-historical methods to discover the context and the original intent of an author, though with the rise of postmodern Christianity, equivocal reading has become fashionable. The problem with equivocal readings, however, is knowing where the semantic line should be drawn regarding significant interpretation and meaning. Postmodern Christianity tends to disregard the primacy of original intent in favor of the reader's intent to locate meaning in a given text, and that of course leads to subjective interpretations of various kinds. Generally speaking Jewish interpretive tradition quotes the Scripture: "One thing God has spoken; two things have I heard" (Psalm 62:11) to suggest that pluralistic interpretations are possible, and this has led to the saying shivim panim la'Torah, the Torah has "seventy faces," by which is meant that there are multiple facets of a given text and each has their place, though each will be grounded in the most basic level, called p'shat, or the plain sense of the original author, and any other facets inferred or derived will ultimately be consonant with that fundamental level. We also see this pluralistic approach in mystical readings of Torah with the division of four general semantic levels described using the term "Pardes," an acronym that stands for p'shat (plain sense), remez (allegorical sense), drash (moral sense), and sod (mystical or mysterious sense). Yeshua, of course spoke in parables and analogies all the time, and moreover as a prophet he also spoke mysterious and miraculous words that foretold the future, and so on, though his message of salvation -- that he was to offer up his life as the sacrificial Lamb of God to repair for the sins of the world -- was intelligible to all "with ears to hear" -- even if sometimes people misunderstood his meaning (as in the case of Thomas in the passage cited above).
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Justification by Faith...
[ The doctrine of "justification by faith" predates Martin Luther by thousands of years... ]
10.19.18 (Cheshvan 10, 5779) From our Torah for this week (Lekh-Lekha) we read: "And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). Like our father Abraham, we are made right with God (i.e., "justified") by trusting in God's promises (Rom. 4:20-25). In the Talmud (Makkot 23b-24a) it says, "Moses gave Israel 613 commandments, David reduced them to eleven (Psalm 15), Isaiah to six (Isaiah 33:15-16), Micah to three (Micah 6:8), Isaiah reduced them again to two (Isaiah 56:1); but it was Habakkuk who gave the one essential commandment: ve'tzaddik be'emunato yich'yeh (וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה), literally, "the righteous one, by his trust, shall find life" (Hab. 2:4). The New Testament likewise distilled the various commandments to the principle that we find life by trusting in God (see Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38). Spiritual life is the blessing of faith, since apart from faith we are spiritually dead and "powerless (ἀδύνατος) to please God" (Heb. 11:6). As King David said, "The LORD is near to all who call upon Him - to all who call upon Him in the truth" (Psalm 145:18). God is near to the honest soul who confesses the truth about his need, just as God distances himself from the proud and puffed up soul:
הִנֵּה עֻפְּלָה לא־יָשְׁרָה נַפְשׁוֹ בּוֹ
וְצַדִּיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִחְיֶה
hin·nei u·pe·lah lo ya·she·rah naf·sho bo
ve·tzad·dik be·e·mu·na·to yich·yeh
"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall find life by means of his trust."
(Hab. 2:4)
Hebrew Study Card
Note: For more see, "Justification by Faith: Further thoughts on Lekh-Lekha."
Meaning of El Shaddai...
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha.... ]
10.19.18 (Cheshvan 10, 5779) When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am El Shaddai (אֲנִי־אֵל שַׁדַּי); walk before me, and be made whole" (Gen. 17:1). Since the compound name "El Shaddai" depicts the image of a nursing mother (i.e., the word shadayim (שדיים) means "breasts," symbolizing sufficiency and nourishment, e.g., Gen. 49:25), perhaps this revelation was meant to remind Abram and Sarai that the LORD would be the Womb, the Sustenance, and the Substance of the coming promised Seed. Only God can bring life out of death - even life from the deadness of Sarai's womb (see Rom. 4:19). For this reason, both Sarai and Abram were renamed by adding the letter Hey (ה) to their original names, symbolizing the Holy Spirit of God. The promised Seed was to be born miraculously, not unlike the virgin birth of the Messiah reported in the Gospels (i.e., just as Sarai was "without a womb" yet enabled to bear the promised seed (of Isaac), so was Mary, a virgin who was enabled to bear God's promised Seed - the Messiah).
וַיּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי־אֵל שַׁדַּי
הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי וֶהְיֵה תָמִים
vai·yo·mer · e·lav · a·ni · El · Shad·dai
hit·ha·lekh · le·fa·nai · ye·he·yeh · ta·mim
And He said to him: "I am El Shaddai,
walk before Me and be made whole" (Gen. 17:1)
In connection with the name El Shaddai (אֵל שַׁדַּי), we note that Abraham has more identifiable descendants than any other person in history... From the line of Isaac would come the twelve tribes of the Jewish people (as well as all those Gentiles who have been grafted into the covenantal blessings of Israel, i.e., the "church"), and from Ishmael would come the twelve tribes of the Ishmaelite people. Abraham also later married Keturah who bore him six more sons that became founders of six other nations of the Arab world, including the Midianites. To signify Abram's status, God changed his name from Avram ("exalted father" [from אָב, "father," + רָם, "exalted"]) to Avraham ("father of a multitude," a homonymic wordplay from אָב, "father" + המוֹן, "crowd"). Notice that some regard Avraham's name to mean "father of mercy" (from אָב, "father" + רחם, "womb").
Note: Most English translations render El Shaddai as "God Almighty," probably because the translators of the Septuagint (i.e., the ancient Greek translation of the Torah) thought that shaddai came from a root verb (shadad: שָׁדַד) that meant "to overpower" or "to destroy." The Latin Vulgate likewise translated shaddai as "Omnipotens," from which we get our English word "omnipotent." or "all-powerful." In other words, the translators regarded this term to suggest that God is so overpowering that He is considered "Almighty." However it is better to regard this name as "God our Sufficiency," or "God our Nurturer."
Note: For more on this topic, please see "God as El Shaddai."
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Seek First the Kingdom...
10.19.18 (Cheshvan 10, 5779) Concerning our Torah portion this week (i.e., Lekh-Lekha) the sages comment that the word lekh (לֶךְ) can be understood to mean "proceed," as from the starting point of a journey. Spiritually understood, lekh-lekha implies "forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead … pursuing the reward of the upward call of God in Yeshua the Messiah" (Phil. 3:13-14). Therefore "go out for yourself (לֶךְ־לְךָ) -- from your land, your kindred, and your father's house" to discover your inheritance in the "land where the LORD will show you" (Gen. 12:1). As Yeshua counseled us: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33). Amen, as followers of Messiah we have obtained a heavenly inheritance: "If then you have been raised with the Messiah, seek the things that are above, where Messiah is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth" (Col. 3:1-2).
"By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going (καὶ ἐξῆλθεν μὴ ἐπιστάμενος ποῦ ἔρχεται). By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as an outsider (ὡς ἀλλοτρίαν), living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has firm foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God" (Heb. 11:8-10).
The Boundary Crosser...
10.18.18 (Cheshvan 9, 5779) The word "Hebrew" (עִבְרִי) means "boundary crosser" or one who has "passed from beyond" (from the verb avar (עָבַר), to pass or to cross over). The word "Jew" (יְהוּדִי), on the other hand, comes from the root yadah (יָדָה) which means to "thank" or to "praise" (see Gen. 29:35). The Apostle Paul alluded to this by saying that a Jew whose heart has been circumcised by the Spirit is "one who is praised by God" -- not by men (Rom. 2:29). Being a Jew therefore means that you are "chosen" to receive blessings and grace to live in holiness for the glory of God and for the welfare of the world. The performance of various commandments are for the greater purpose of tikkun ha'olam (תיקון העולם), the "repair of the world," in order to reveal God's goodness and love (Eph. 2:8-10). Doing so makes someone a Jew, since his praise comes not from man, but from the LORD. God is the source and the power of what makes a true tzaddik (righteous person). After all, Israel was meant to be a "light to the nations" (Isa. 42:6; Isa. 60:3), and God had always planned for all the families of the earth to come to know Him and give Him glory through Abraham (Gen. 12:3). "Jewishness" is therefore not an end in itself but rather a means to bring healing to the nations... Indeed, the entire redemptive story of the Scriptures centers on the cosmic conflict to deliver humanity from the "curse" by means of the "Seed of the woman" who would come. The gospel is Jewish because it concerns God's great redemptive plan for the whole world (John 4:22-23).
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The Blessing of Affliction...
10.18.18 (Cheshvan 9, 5779) "My eye grows dim through sorrow; every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread out my hands to you... Help me, O LORD my God; save me according to your love" (Psalm 88:9; 109:26). Such words pierce through the clichés and chatter about religion, theology, and so on, voicing the lament of a soul in trouble, desperately crying out to God for help... The language of prayer is often quickened by affliction and trouble, for the heart senses it must find God or die. "The troubles of my heart are enlarged..." (Psalm 25:17). "Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed..." for if you will not help, O Lord, then I will perish; I will be consumed in my grief, I will waste away in the void of darkness... "Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?" (Jer. 15:18). O Lord, "I am poor and needy; my heart is pierced within me" (Psalm 109:22). During hours of pain or mental anguish prayer becomes spontaneous, raw, unscripted and devoid of empty words. Anguish moves us right to the point, bypassing other concerns, distilling the heart's cry for God's help. If you feel overwhelmed, pour out your heart in prayer... It is not the words of the prayer that matter as much as it is the fervor, the intensity of the heart, and the passion that yields itself before God. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4). "The LORD is near to the broken of heart and saves the contrite of spirit" (Psalm 34:18).
קָרוֹב יְהוָה לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵב
וְאֶת־דַּכְּאֵי־רוּחַ יוֹשִׁיעַ
"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit"
(Psalm 34:18)
The Inner Witness...
10.17.18 (Cheshvan 8, 5779) "Because you are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Gal. 4:6). Note here the Spirit does not cry out using "esoteric" or magical names for God, nor does the Spirit refer to one of God's many titles based on the divine attributes, but instead uses a term of intimacy and profound trust. After all, the word "abba" (אַבָּא) is not so much a name for God as it is a claim about who you are -- it is a confession that you belong to the Lord as his beloved child... It has been noted that throughout his ministry Yeshua referred to the LORD simply as his "Father" though he used the intensive address "Abba, Father" (Ἀββᾶ, ὁ πατήρ) just before his arrest and crucifixion, that is, during his intercession at Gethsamane (גַּת שְׁמָנִים), near the olive oil press on the Mount of Olives where the anointing oil for the Temple (שֶׁמֶן הַמִּשְׁחָה) was made, and therefore he called upon "Abba, Father" while in deep suffering and tribulation of heart (Mark 14:36). "Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will..." The mixed dialect of Hebrew and Greek here (i.e., Ἀββᾶ, ὁ πατήρ) may indicate identification with both the Jewish people and the Gentiles who would be united in his passion, as it says, shalom shalom la'rachok vela'karov: "Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near," says the LORD; "and I will heal him" (Isa. 57:19, Eph. 2:15). Knowing God as your "father" is a matter of the heart, an inner cry or groan coming from the miracle of spiritual rebirth. "The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God's children" (Rom. 8:16).
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He Gives Greater Grace...
10.17.18 (Cheshvan 8, 5779) "For though the LORD is exalted, He regards the lowly, but the haughty He knows from afar" (Psalm 138:6). Yea, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). And who are the humble but those keenly aware of their own nothingness - the despised, the needy, and the rejected of men? The LORD justifies the ungodly by faith; He hears their cry for deliverance "from the depths"; he creates them anew yesh me'ayin, "out of nothingness," by making them into a "new creation" (בְּרִיאָה חֲדָשָׁה) through the agency and power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 4:17; 2 Cor. 5:17). O praise Adonai Oseinu, the LORD God our Maker, for he looks upon the lowly, he is near to nishberei lev, the brokenhearted, and he binds up their wounds...
כִּי־רָם יְהוָה וְשָׁפָל יִרְאֶה
וְגָבהַּ מִמֶּרְחָק יְיֵדָע
kee · rahm · Adonai · ve·sha·fahl · yeer·eh
ve·gah·voh'·ha · mee·mer·chak · ye·ei·da'
"For though the LORD is exalted, He regards the lowly,
but the haughty He knows from afar."
(Psalm 138:6)
Hebrew Study Card
Again, just as the LORD made the world yesh me'ayin, "out of nothing," so His creative power continues unchanged. God is able to take a dead heart, a heart of stone, and make it tender and soft through the breath of His Spirit... Therefore His eyes look upon the lowly, the humble, the poor in spirit, but He disregards those who lift themselves up in pride.
Indeed, the LORD resists the proud and repays their scorn with scorn: "With the scorners he is scornful, but to the lowly he gives grace" (Prov. 3:34). Those who mock the idea of sin and arrogantly exalt themselves will be held in derision, but of those who find grace it is written, "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the Torah of the LORD, and in His Torah he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:1-2). Indeed it is a severe mercy, a weighty grace, that is bestowed to us, friends...
אִם־לַלֵּצִים הוּא־יָלִיץ
וְלַעֲנָוִים יִתֶּן־חֵן
eem · la·lei·tzeem · hoo · ya·leetz
ve·la·a·na·veem · yee·ten · chen
"With the scorners He is scornful;
but to the lowly he gives grace."
(Prov. 3:34)
When Yeshua quoted of the Haftarah from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue, saying: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me (רוּחַ אֲדנָי יְהוִה עָלָי), because the LORD has anointed me (מָשַׁח יְהוָה אתִי) to bring good news to the humble (לְבַשֵּׂר עֲנָוִים); he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted (לַחֲבשׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵב), to proclaim to the captives, liberty (לִשְׁבוּיִם דְּרוֹר), and to the bound ones, release from their chains; to proclaim the time of the LORD's favor" (Isa 61:1-2a; see Luke 4:12-13), he did not continue reading the passage to include the "Day of the Vengeance of our God" (i.e., the time of the Great Tribulation, or Yom Adonai) nor the Day of Zion's Comfort (i.e., the time of the final redemption and the establishment of the Messianic kingdom). Messiah's first advent as ben Yosef is to save and extend the time of grace; after this comes the second advent as ben David, when the judgment of the nations takes place and the King of God rules over the earth. The Day of the LORD draws near, friends. May God help us be ready...
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Our Daily Deliverance...
10.16.18 (Cheshvan 7, 5779) Our warfare against evil is now constant, as the world accelerates its insane propaganda just before the Day of Reckoning to come... And just as we ask God for daily bread (לֶחֶם חֻקֵּנוּ), so we ask him for our daily deliverance: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" (Matt 6:13). Note that the term translated "evil" in many translations ("deliver us from evil") is a substantive rather than an adjective: τοῦ πονηροῦ, the evil one... "Give us this day our daily deliverance from the evil one...." Our daily bread and our daily deliverance are connected with our decision to "choose life" (בַּחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים) -- and to always choose life -- even in moments we find difficult, distressing, and even when we might wish that we were no longer living... Choosing life means refusing to escape reality by evading the significance of our choices; it means finding the will to regard life as worthy; it implies that we will eat our bread in trust that the Lord is at work even in the darkest of hours (Passover occurred at midnight)... Choosing life means refusing to eat the fruit of death and to seek Yeshua, the Tree of Life. We live one day at a time; we only have today. We are given daily bread for this hour of our need. Today is the day of your deliverance - if you are willing to walk in it. Therefore, the Spirit of the Living God cries out, "Choose life and live!"
"Do not be grieved (even over yourself), for the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Neh. 8:10). Affirming the love, goodness, faithfulness, compassion, and salvation of God is a powerful way to defeat the enemy of our souls, who regularly seeks to discourage us. King David constantly asked God to help him in his spiritual struggles. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble (בְּקֶרֶב צָרָה), you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me" (Psalm 138:7). "For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled" (Psalm 143:2-3). Despite whatever struggle we may face, "the LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). Indeed, the Lord God is far greater than your heart's sin and will one day entirely deliver you of sin's effect and influence.
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The Unseen Good...
10.16.18 (Cheshvan 7, 5779) From the point of view of the spirit, the outer is not the inner, since the kingdom of heaven is manifest within you. The realm of mere appearance is therefore inherently deceptive and misleading. Faith trusts in the unseen power of God, not by using eyes that look at the shadows of the world and its emptiness. As Yeshua said, "Do not judge by appearances (ὄψις), but judge with right judgment" (John 7:24). The world and its lusts passes away; it is entirely vain and empty: "tohu" (תּהוּ) - confusion and unreality (1 John 2:15-17). And if even an army were to rise up against us, the heart of faith shall not fear, since it discerns that all things that are ultimately real come to us from the Living God, from the One who speaks to the heart and calls us to believe in the unseen good. Adonai ori ve'yishi, mimi ira? The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
יְהוָה אוֹרִי וְיִשְׁעִי מִמִּי אִירָא
יְהוָה מָעוֹז־חַיַּי מִמִּי אֶפְחָד
Adonai · o·ri · ve·yish·i, · mi'mi · i·ra?
Adonai · ma'oz · chay·ai, · mi'mi · ef·chad?
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
(Psalm 27:1)
Hebrew Study Card
Surely our great need is to have heart, to find strength, resolution, and steadfast determination to walk boldly during these heartless and depraved days (2 Tim. 3:1-5). We are not without God's help, of course. Yeshua told us that the Ruach HaKodesh (רוּחַ הַקּדֶשׁ) would be "called alongside" (παράκλητος) to comfort us on the journey. The English verb "comfort" literally means "to give strength" (from com- ["with"] and fortis ["strong"]), an idea similarly expressed by the verb "encourage," that is, to "put heart [i.e., 'core'] within the soul." In Hebrew, the word courage is expressed by the phrase ometz lev (אמֶץ לֵב), meaning "strong of heart," denoting an inner quality of the will rather than of the intellect. Ometz lev means having an inner resolve, a passion, and a direction.
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By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith (Heb. 11:7). "Therefore we do not lose heart (lit., we do not faint in despair). Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Yeshua our Messiah (Phil. 3:14).
Beauty for ashes friends.... Menachem Mendl once wrote that there are three things fitting for us to do: upright kneeling, motionless dancing, and silent screaming... Not everyone will understand the pain that moves us to seek inner healing, but Gods' Presence shines for us all... May God fill you with His peace and comfort, even in the midst of the sometimes stormy struggle to surrender to His perfect love. Be strong and let us be strengthened as we trust in Yeshua, our great LORD and Messiah, the Master of the Storm, our Healer and our Deliverer. Amen.
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Seeing by Faith...
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha.... ]
10.15.18 (Cheshvan 6, 5779) "And the LORD appeared (וַיֵּרָא) to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 12:7). Note that this was the first time God actually appeared to Abram, since earlier he had only "heard" God say to him, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). In other words, it was only later - after Abram had obeyed God's voice by making the move to Canaan - that the LORD appeared to him and an altar was established (Gen. 12:7-8). As long as he remained with his father Terach in the City of Haran (the last outpost of Mesopotamia), he was in a place of delay, unable to behold the Divine Presence. Abram first had to act on what he knew before he was given confirmation by God (John 13:17). Perhaps that is why the very first place Abram came to in the promised land was the "Oak of Moreh" (אֵלוֹן מוֹרֶה), or the "Teaching Tree." Abram was taught to believe in order to understand, not to understand in order to believe....
Notice, however, that Abram was immediately tested once he arrived in the promised land. After building another altar and calling upon the name of the LORD (Gen. 12:8), a severe famine tempted him to look for food in the land of Egypt. After leaving the land of promise, Abram willingly forfeited his identity (i.e., he denied he was Sarai's husband) and found himself powerless as his wife was abducted into Pharaoh's harem. The LORD intervened on his behalf, however, and plagued Pharaoh and his household with great plagues, which surely prefigured the future time of the great Exodus during the time of Moses...
In this connection we further note that the next time the Torah states that the LORD appeared to Abram was after he had returned from Egypt, after rescuing Lot from the kings of the east, when he encountered the mysterious Malki-Tzedek (מַלְכִּי־צֶדֶק) in Salem. After this dramatic encounter, Abram separated his clan from his nephew Lot and returned to the first altar he built in the promised land (Gen. 13:4).
The Meaning of "Hebrew"
[ The following entry is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha.... ]
10.15.18 (Cheshvan 6, 5779) In parashat Lekh Lekha Abram is called ha-ivri (הָעִבְרִי) - "the Hebrew," a term that means "one who has crossed over" (עָבַר) from another place (Gen. 14:3). Rashi identifies this "other place" as Ur of the Chaldees (אוּר כַּשְׂדִים), located east of the Euphrates River, though the midrash (Genesis Rabbah) symbolically identifies it as the realm of idolatry: "The whole world stood on one side, but Abram crossed over to the other." Abram separated himself from a world steeped in idolatry and polytheism by worshiping the One LORD God who is the sole Creator of all things.... Understood in this way, being "Hebrew" means being regarded as an "other," a "stranger," or an "outsider" to idolatrous world culture. Similarly, all those who "cross over" from the realm of death to life because of Yeshua our Savior are rightly called "Hebrews" (John 5:24).
To Abram came to divine invitation: "Lekh-Lekha, go forth ... I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). It was only after Abram made the long journey to the unknown land of Canaan that God appeared to him to him by the Oaks of Mamre saying, "To your offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 18:1). Abram did not believe the promise because he saw God; he was only able to see God after he had walked in faith. First Abram heard the message, and later - after he acted on his faith - was he enabled to see more. This is the deeper meaning of being "Hebrew," one who crosses over from the realm of the dead to the realm of the Living God...
Therefore we note that hearing (shema) is more important than simply seeing... When we hear the truth and accept it into our understanding, it informs our perceptions, not the other way around. Truth is something revealed to the heart first, and only later to the senses.
A disciple said to his teacher: "I wish to become a teacher of the Truth." "Are you prepared to be ridiculed, ignored and starving till you are forty-five?" The disciple replied, "I am. But tell me: what will happen after I am forty-five?" "You will have grown accustomed to it." - DeMello
The Very Heart of Reality…
10.15.18 (Cheshvan 6, 5779) The Scriptures teach us that the most essential truth about life, the "core" of Reality, the very essence of Being itself, is not something objective to be studied (a "what") but Someone intimately to be known (a "Who"), experienced by the revelation of the Heart of God, the Divine Love that is willing to be wounded, to suffer, and even to die for your sake so that you may know that you are beloved, chosen, and treasured of heaven... There are innumerable attributes, names, and titles ascribed to the LORD God in Scripture, but His essence is described as Love itself (1 John 4:16). Indeed, God's heart is the beginning, middle, and end of Reality (אֱמֶת), but if your theology somehow leads you away from this all-encompassing and great truth, you've missed the point of it all...
Crossing Over to Life...
[ The following is related to this week's Torah reading, parashat Lekh-Lekha... ]
10.15.18 (Cheshvan 6, 5779) Our Torah portion this week begins: "Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go (לֶךְ־לְךָ) from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). The Book of Hebrews comments, "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going... for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:8,10). The Sefat Emet says that every person of faith is likewise commanded daily to "lekh-lekha," to "go for yourself" by crossing over from the world and its deadening habits to live as an exile with God. Paradoxically, we find ourselves when we lose ourselves - when we leave behind the labels, roles, and identities this world foists upon us and instead resolve to seek the promise of God's Kingdom. As Yeshua said, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 16:25).
Note: In a sefer Torah (i.e., a handwritten Torah scroll), Hebrew words are written without vowels, so "lekh lekha" (לך־לך), often translated as "go forth," could be read as "go, go!" - emphasizing the importance of the mitzvah: Get moving! Start walking! Begin your journey!
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Parashat Lekh-Leka (with new audio)...
10.14.18 (Cheshvan 5, 5779) Last week's Torah portion (i.e., parashat Noach) introduced us to Abram (אַבְרָם), the descendant of Noah's son Shem, who was the great-grandson of the patriarch Methuselah - a man who who personally knew Adam and Eve and upheld the original promise of redemption given in the Garden of Eden. Just as there were ten generations from Adam to Noah, so there were also ten generations from Noah to Abram (see Gen. 11:10-32). And just as Noah became the father of 70 nations, so Abram (through Shem) would become the father of the Jewish people, through whom the Promised Seed - the Messiah and Savior of the world - would eventually come.
In our Torah portion for this week (Lekh-Lekha), we read that Abram was 75 years old, married to (his half-sister) Sarai, and guardian of his nephew Lot (his deceased brother Haran's son) when he received the promise of divine inheritance: "And the LORD said to Abram, "Go from (i.e., lekh-lekha: לך־לך) your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. In Hebrew, the phrase lekh lekha means "go for yourself" (lit. "walk [הָלַךְ] for yourself [לְךָ]"), though it can be interpreted it to mean "go to yourself," that is, "look within yourself" in order to begin walking out your own journey into the promises. The realm of divine promise is only attained when we venture out in faith. Like our father Abraham, we are called to "cross over," leave everything behind, and take hold of God's glorious promise for our lives.
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Teshuvah of Hope...
10.12.18 (Cheshvan 3, 5779) There are painful moments – dark, gnawing, raw – when you may lose sight of hope, when you might even fear that you have lost your faith – not in God or his promises – but rather in yourself, in your own strength to continue, to stay focused, to keep pressing on "hope against hope..." The remedy here is always the same: to remember that within you – that is, in your flesh - "there is no good thing" and that the miracle of salvation is made secure by God's passion for you, not your own power or desire. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts." We don't trust in ourselves nor in the strength of our inner resolve, but solely in the power of God to make the way. We must turn away from ourselves to regain the message of God's unfailing love; only when we lose sight of ourselves do we find ourselves. God redeems you from your lost estate and touches you in your uncleanness; He clothes himself in your pain so that you may be clothed in his love. That never changes, despite dark moments, and to that we must always return...
Where it says, "I can do all things through Messiah who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13), that includes being healed of the inner pain of rejection, abandonment, and even abuse suffered from childhood. It means being set free from disillusionment, despair, and the oppression of relentless fear. "I can do all things through Messiah" means no longer accepting messages of self-hatred, no longer heeding the malicious whispers that say: "I am of no value," "I am unlovable," "my life is hopeless." No, "I can do all things through Messiah" means learning to be accepted, honored, and esteemed by God; it means opening your heart to God's love and blessing for your life; it means allowing your heart to be made right, to have inner peace... After all, Yeshua's great prayer was that we would know the truth of God's love for us (John 17), and this is the central need our lives...
Reckoning our Days...
10.12.18 (Cheshvan 3, 5779) Moses prayed to God: "teach us to number our days," that is, help us understand how to make our days count for eternity, to have a weight of glory that will shine in the world to come... The sages say on the day of death, one considers one's life as if it had been but a single day... Life goes by so quickly, and we never know when our personal Rosh Hashanah will come. "No one knows the day or hour..." Test yourself by looking at the clock: As each hour passes, ask whether you have accomplished any good for your soul. Where are you going, today? That's why it is so vital to be healed and to turn to God while there is still time. So turn to him today and bacharta ba'chayim (בָּחַרְתָּ בַּחַיִּים) – "choose life!" "For this commandment (of turning to God in teshuvah) is not hidden from you, and it is not far away. It is not in heaven... nor across the sea.... Rather, the matter is very near you - in your mouth and heart - so you can do it" (Deut. 30:11-14; cp. Rom. 10:8-13).
לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע
וְנָבִא לְבַב חָכְמָה
lim·not · ya·me·nu · ken · ho·da
ve·na·vi · le·vav · chokh·mah
"Teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
(Psalm 90:12)
Hebrew Study Card
Despite the frailty and brevity of our days, may it please God to shine the power of His radiance upon us and to establish our works for His praise. May He help us to "number our days" so that we may obtain levav chokhmah (לְבַב חָכְמָה) - a heart of wisdom to live according to His will (James 1:5). Above all else, may the "God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of Glory (אֲבִי הַכָּבוֹד), impart to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the "eyes of your hearts" (ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς καρδίας) enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you" (Eph. 1:17-18). May you be strong, resolute, and fully focused on our LORD, chaverim. Amen.
Hope, despite ourselves...
10.12.18 (Cheshvan 3, 5779) We must give our secret pain to God, even if we don't understand it, and even if it refuses to go away... Our hearts are often vexed; we are a mess of mixed motives; we are strong to be made weak, weak to be made strong. We bless and curse from the same mouth... And yet, despite all this, despite our inner contradictions, the dance between the "old man" and "new," the divided house of our lives - our present sorrows, our troubles, our fears – we must endure ourselves, we must press on, and we must never let go of hope in God's love. Therefore we must not hide ourselves from God's presence, nor pretend to be what we are not. We are invited to come boldly before the Lord to help in our hour of need (Heb. 4:16). O Lord my God, be Thou my healer, the One who makes me whole... "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed."
רְפָאֵנִי יְהוָה וְאֵרָפֵא
הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי וְאִוָּשֵׁעָה
כִּי תְהִלָּתִי אָתָּה
"Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed;
save me and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise."
(Jer. 17:14)
Hebrew Study Card
That God knows the number of hairs on your head means that he knows you better than you know yourself... Your heavenly Father "sees in secret," and that also means that he can and will save you from whatever is hidden within you that still resists his love and touch... We have to trust in God's power to heal us, even when it seems that healing is not forthcoming, even when we still find ourselves divided, troubled, and anxious. We have to believe that God's help is always present for us. Therefore "be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope for the LORD" (Psalm 31:24).
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God sees what He does within us, His "it-is-finished" work, the effect of His great salvation within our hearts, even if at this present hour this may be hidden from our eyes... There is appearance, and there is reality; and only God sees what is ultimately real. We have to trust in His promise to be transformed into the divine nature, even if today we find ourselves sinful, needy, and in disrepair... כּל־יְמֵי צְבָאִי אֲיַחֵל עַד־בּוֹא חֲלִיפָתִי - "All the days of my struggle I will keep hope until my change comes" (Job 14:14). So don't give up, friends. We are saved by hope (ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν, Rom. 8:24), a hope for you today. Believe to see!
Shabbat shalom and may you be strong, full of God's heart, and trusting in the good to soon be revealed in the Messiah Yeshua!
Torah of the Ark...
[ The following entry concerns this week's Torah reading, parashat Noach... ]
10.11.18 (Cheshvan 2, 5779) In our Torah portion for this week (i.e., parashat Noach) we note that Hebrew word translated "ark" is teivah (תֵּבָה), a word that first occurs to name the huge box-shaped vessel that Noah, his family, and the animals entered to escape the judgment of the great flood (Gen. 6:14), though later the word occurs to name to the small vessel ("basket") that Moses' mother made to hide her son among the reeds of the Nile river to escape the wrath of Pharaoh: "And when she (Yocheved) could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket (i.e., teivah) made of reeds (תֵּבַת גּמֶא) and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank" (Exod. 2:3). In both cases, however, we note that what distinguishes a "teivah" (i.e., ark) from a boat or ship (אֳנִיָּה) is the absence of a sail or rudder: there is no way to control its direction, speed, or destination. Spiritually understood, then, an "ark" represents a vessel completely surrendered to God's care, and the "Torah of the Ark" (תּוֹרַת הַתֵּבָה) teaches that we must cast ourselves upon the waters of the Father's great mercy (אֲבִי הָרַחֲמִים) and completely trust that He will guide our passage through the storms of this life (1 Pet. 5:7).
Note: A more common Hebrew word often translated "ark" is aron (אֲרוֹן), a term that means a "chest" (i.e., the Ark of the Covenant) or even a "coffin" (Gen. 50:26).
As the Days of Noah...
10.11.18 (Cheshvan 2, 5779) "For as were the Days of Noah (ימֵי נחַ), so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware (i.e., καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν) until the flood came and swept them all away" (Matt. 24:38-9). Yeshua told us that the "Days of Noah" were marked by people who were asleep, blind, and unaware (i.e., ἔγνωσαν, "agnostic") of spiritual truth. They lived their days oblivious to Reality. They "forgot" who God was, who they were, why they existed, and where they were going. They engaged in deception, violence, theft, and rampant promiscuity. Such is the condition of our world today...
The deadening effects of sin leads to moral and spiritual blindness that leads to corruption and unthinking brutality and violence. Of Noah's generation it was written that "the whole earth was corrupt before God, and filled with violence" (Gen. 6:11). Rashi understood the word "corruption" (shachat) to primarily refer to sexual immorality (i.e., idolatry) and "violence" (chamas) to primarily refer to theft and robbery. In general, however, the sages regarded the word chamas to refer to lawlessness, that is the denial of Torah, and consequently the benighted condition of living without yirat ha-shamayim (awe of heaven). When people are spiritually dead, they are unconscious of the wonder of God; oblivious to what is real; and they are consequently debased into mere animals...
The Eye of the LORD...
10.10.18 (Cheshvan 1, 5779) The "eye of the LORD" (עֵין יְהוָה) is a metaphor for God's omniscience, that is, His intimate and perfect knowledge of all things (יוֹדֵעַ הַכּל). God's understanding is ein mispar (אֵין מִסְפָּר), "infinite" or "beyond reckoning," and is therefore incalculably great (Psalm 147:5; Isa. 40:28; Rom. 11:33). For instance, God both created the universe yesh me'ayin, "out of nothing" but also sustains the entire cosmos at every instant (Heb. 11:3; Rom. 1:20; Col. 1:16-17). Moreover, the LORD (יהוה) transcends all distinctions of space and time so that he comprehends everything with absolute clarity. Poetically, the Scriptures state that God calls all the stars of heaven by name (Psalm 147:4); that he knows the number of hairs upon your head (Matt. 10:30), that he sees in secret (Matt. 6:4), and that he knows the beginning from the end, including every word uttered from your lips as they are spoken (Psalm 139:4). So the LORD God, the Spirit of Truth, eternally knows everything in all possible worlds...
That God is "omniscient," however, may suggest that the Divine Presence is remote and abstract - as if God were an enormous computer "mind," or a repository of all facts and counterfactual conditions of the universe. This is not the Torah's viewpoint, however, since the LORD is absolutely personal, intentional, loving, just, holy, and so on. Moreover, God directly sustains and interacts with creation, upholding his purposes and divine decrees. Therefore while it is true that God comprehends all the providential affairs of the cosmos in general, there is a deeper sense in which God "sees" the soul, a personal way of seeing based on spiritual intimacy, compassion and grace. However, though the eye of God is upon all things in general, as a matter of providence, it is directed with special attention to those who fear him and who trust in his love, as it says: "Behold, the eye of the LORD is toward those who fear Him, toward those who hope in his love" (Psalm 33:18). Therefore ayin Adonai is connected with the idea of blessing, the eye of divine love: "May the LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you his peace" (Num. 6:24-26).
הִנֵּה עֵין יְהוָה אֶל־יְרֵאָיו
לַמְיַחֲלִים לְחַסְדּוֹ
לְהַצִּיל מִמָּוֶת נַפְשָׁם
וּלְחַיּוֹתָם בָּרָעָב
hin·neh · ein · Adonai · el · ye·re·av
lam·ya·cha·lim · le·chas·do
le·hatz·il · mi·ma·vet · naf·sham
ul·chai·yo·tam · ba·ra·av
"Behold, the eye of the LORD is toward those who fear Him,
toward those who hope in his love;
to save from death their souls,
and to keep them alive in famine."
(Psalm 33:18-19)
There is a mutual sense of "seeing" implied in this verse. We are to behold (or see) that God sees those who fear Him, that is, those who reverence the Divine Presence and who hope in his love. This is further implied by the etymological connection between ra'ah (רָאָה), "seeing" and yirah (יִרְאָה), "fearing." We can only behold God by means of reverence...
There are many references of God's intimate understanding of the choices we make in our lives: "He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see? (Psalm 94:9). "The eyes of the LORD (עֵינֵי יְהוָה) are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good" (Prov. 15:3). "The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; from the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works" (Psalm 33:13-15). If you fear the LORD and hope in His love demonstrated in Yeshua, you have great comfort: "The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry" (Psalm 34:15; 1 Pet. 3:12).
Note: For a brief audio commentary on this verse, click here.
Herald of Righteousness...
[ The following entry concerns this week's Torah reading, parashat Noach. Please read the Torah portion to "find your place" here... ]
10.10.18 (Cheshvan 1, 5779) It is astounding to consider that Abraham personally knew the patriarch Noah (Abraham was 58 years old when Noah died), and undoubtedly Noah told him of his father Lamech, who had seen and spoken with Adam, the very first man created by God alone. Later, Abraham's son Isaac knew Shem, Noah's firstborn son, the first high priest of Salem who preserved the message of teshuvah (repentance) and retained the original promise of the coming Redeemer given by God. For this reason the New Testament calls Noah a "herald of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2:5).
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It is said that the righteous have three qualities. First, they are kind and just - "tzaddik" (צדִּיק); second, they are wholehearted and loyal – "tamim" (תָּמִים); and third, they "walk with God," accepting the yoke of heaven and not questioning God's actions. Noah had all three of these qualities, as it says, "Noah was a righteous man (ish tzaddik), blameless (tamim) in his generation: Noah walked with God" (Gen. 6:9).
Noah's righteousness is all the more remarkable because he lived in the midst of an entirely depraved and heartless culture. The "Days of Noah" (יְמֵי־נחַ) were marked by "lawlessness" (anomie), moral anarchy, violence, corruption, and complete disregard of the transcendental truth of God. "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart" (Gen. 6:5-6). Because people denied moral reality and regarded God as unconcerned with their behavior, the LORD brought the flood to prove that He repays both the righteous and the wicked.
Yeshua warned that as it was in the days of Noah (יְמֵי־נחַ), so it would be during the time of his second coming (Matt. 24:38-39). Regarding the character of souls living during the End of Days, the Apostle Paul foresaw that "people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power" (1 Tim 3:1-4). The Apostle Peter calls them "scoffers who walk after their own evil inner urges (1 Pet. 3:3). Note also that "pharmakeia" (φαρμακεία), or drug abuse, would also be rampant (Gal. 5:19; Rev. 9:21, 18:23).
Note: For more on this subject, see "The Days of Noah."
Knowing God's Love...
10.10.18 (Cheshvan 1, 5779) When Yeshua asked him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved ... and replied to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you" (John 21:17). Peter's earlier threefold denial was to be overcome by his threefold affirmation, though note here that Peter now realized that such love was possible only by God's blessing. κύριε, πάντα σὺ οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε. - "Lord, you know all things; therefore you know that I love you." And indeed it is so, for how else can we know love apart from God's help? This, the greatest commandment, to love God with all our being (Deut. 6:5), is simply impossible apart from the miracle of God's disclosure to us... Ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν ὅτι αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς - "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:18), and therefore it is necessary for us to receive that love before we can hope to love in return. It is therefore faith in the LORD God of Israel's love for you given in Messiah Yeshua, and your heart's response to that love, that makes all the difference...
When people "walk in love," they seek ways to mutually respect, affirm, and honor each other, and they are careful not to wound the relationship through selfishness or strife. The fear of losing love evokes a healthy zeal to protect it from loss... The same may be said of God's relationship with us. The gospel represents God's passion for us, the call of his heart, his desire to elevate us to the role of the beloved, and we respond by accepting Him as the Lover of our souls, the ultimate concern of our life. Sin threatens to seduce us away from God's love, to interfere with our relationship, which evokes God's "jealousy" to protect love from loss. It is written that "perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18), but perfect love (τελεία ἀγάπη) must be "perfect," that is, reciprocal, complete, consummated, and alive with passion. In Hebrew, perfect love is "shalem" - that is, whole, healed, and unified (אַהֲבָה שְׁלֵמָה). Perfect love is both given and received... It is not "perfect love" to objectively accept that God loves you in Jesus. No, you must receive this as an inward passion, you must live within it, must embrace it, take possession of it, and let it fill your heart to abundance. This love, this "perfect love," then will cast away your fear of being unwanted, rejected, and abandoned. But to know this love, you have to open your heart and accept it as your own, the essential reality of who you are.
We are told to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου) since the love of God demands no less than our all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Abiding in Him...
10.09.18 (Tishri 30, 5779) Yeshua used the allegory of a vine and its branches to illustrate how we are to be spiritually connected to Him: "I am the true Vine, and you are the branches," he said (John 15:1-6). The purpose of the branch is to be a conduit of the life of the vine. We derive our identity, life and strength from being made part of Yeshua's life, His vision, and His purposes... In Hebrew, this idea is called devakut (דְּבָקוּת) which means "cleaving" to God bekhol-levavkha (בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ), "with all your heart," and bekhol-nafshekha (בְּכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ), "with all your soul," and bekhol-me'odekha (בְּכָל־מְאדֶךָ), "with all your being..." Cleaving to God is the essence of the great commandment to love the Lord given in the Shema. We are able to so cleave to God in Yeshua because God does a miracle and gives us lev chadash, a new heart to serve Him. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Whether Yeshua is living in you (and you are living in Him) is the most important question of your life upon which everything else ultimately depends. He appeals to each heart of faith: "Live in me, and I will live in you" (John 15:4).
The Power of God...
10.09.18 (Tishri 30, 5779) People confuse morality with religion, saying things like, "if I do good, the rest will take care of itself," but Yeshua did not come to simply teach (or reinforce) moral truth, but to die for our sins and to transform our nature. The message of the cross is not that we should reform ourselves with renewed hope, but rather that our old nature must die and be replaced with something far greater... When King David cried out to the Lord, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," he did not use the Hebrew word yatzar (יָצַר), which means to "fashion" or "form" something from pre-existing material (Gen. 2:7), but he instead used the word bara (בָּרָא), a verb exclusively used in the Torah to refer to God's direct creation of the cosmos (Gen. 1:1). In other words, King David understood that no amount of reformation of his character would be enough, and therefore he appealed to that very power of God that alone could create yesh me'ayin, or "out of nothing." Such was the nature of the remedy required that was fulfilled in the cross of Messiah...
לֵב טָהוֹר בְּרָא־לִי אֱלהִים
וְרוּחַ נָכוֹן חַדֵּשׁ בְּקִרְבִּי
lev · ta·hor · be·ra·li · E·lo·him,
ve·ru·ach · na·khon · cha·desh · be·kir·bi
"Create for me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me"
(Psalm 51:10)
Hebrew Study Card
Yeshua taught, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). The Greek word translated "pure" is katharos (καθαρός), sometimes used describe the cleansing of a wound (catharsis), or to describe the unalloyed quality of a substance revealed through refining fire. Metaphorically, then, purity of heart refers to separation from the profane - singleness of vision, wholeheartedness, passion, and focused desire for the sacred. Faith is a great trembling of love: "With this ring I do worship thee..." As we center our affections on Yeshua, we become pure in heart -- i.e., unified, made whole, and healed of our inner fragmentation. We see the Lord both in this world, through his effects, and then panim el panim (פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים), "face to face," in the world to come. Our hope purifies us for that coming great day of full disclosure (1 John 3:2-3; Heb. 12:14).
Eternal life from God is first of all ontological - it is about your being, identity, reality, and so on. If you are "born again" you are briah chadashah (בְּרִיאָה חֲדָשָׁה) - a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). The realm of conscience, law, morality, etc., while valid, is not the ultimate goal of redemption. Sinai was always meant to lead to Zion, which means that salvation ultimately is about who you are as a beloved child of God more than what you do as a moral or religious person... Understand this distinction, chaverim!
Parashat Noach (פרשת נח)
[ The following entry concerns this week's Torah reading, parashat Noach... ]
10.07.18 (Tishri 28, 5779) Last week's Torah portion (Bereshit) showed how the mutiny of Adam and Eve caused humanity to plunge into idolatrous chaos. The subsequent generations lost sight of the LORD and became progressively steeped in moral anarchy and bloodlust, so that "every intention of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). After just nine generations, the LORD had grown so weary of humanity that he "regretted" (i.e., yinchem: יִּנָּחֶם) creating man and "his heart was grieved" (Gen. 6:6). However, God recognized Noach (from the godly line of Seth) as a tzaddik (צַדִּיק), a righteous man of faith, and graciously made provision to save him from the wrath to come....
Noah's father Lamech (לֶמֶךְ, "powerful one") regarded his son as a deliverer who would comfort humanity from the ravages of the original curse (Gen. 5:29). Noach would give rest (נוּחַ) from the toil and vexation of life. Indeed, Noah was a "type" of the Savior to come who would rebirth the world by giving lasting comfort and rest (for more on this, see the page "Noah and Jesus"). In like manner it was prophesied that Yeshua would give us everlasting rest: "His rest shall be glorious" (Isa. 11:10), just as He offers rest to the weary (Matt. 11:28, Heb. 4:9). His sacrifice on the Cross at Moriah undoes the kelalah (curse of work) over the children of Adam. Indeed, His life, sacrifice, and resurrection was like a "magic spell" that "spoke backwards" the sin of the "First Adam" - and by means of His deliverance the power of the curse is forever broken (see Gal. 3:13, John 3:14, 2 Tim.1:10; Heb. 2:14; Heb. 9:27-28; 1 John 3:8, Rev. 22:3). Yeshua is Adam ha-Sheni - the "Second Adam" - the promised Son of Man. By means of His Spirit we are given an everlasting comfort (John 14:16).
Eschatologically, the "days of Noah" present a picture of the idolatrous conditions of the world that will prevail just before the calling up of the followers of Yeshua before the time of Great Tribulation upon the earth: "As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matt. 24:37). The generation of the Flood was said to be "filled with violence" (Gen. 6:13) caused by ignorance -- literally the "state of ignoring" moral and spiritual truth. Because people willingly disregarded God from their midst, they arrogated to themselves divine prerogatives: "every man did what was right in his own eyes." The resulting moral corruption and anarchy led to divine and catastrophic judgment: when God destroyed them with water, they return the world to its original state of tohu vavohu v'choshekh: "confusion and emptiness and darkness" (Gen. 1:2). This is our world today.
The seven day warning given to Noah suggests the seven year tribulation period to come (Daniel's 70th week), and also the "rapture" of the people of God who will be carried above the prophesied worldwide cataclysm. Just as God protected Israel during the time of judgment upon Egypt, so He will protect His people from the wrath of the "great Day of the LORD." But please note that "the LORD shut him in" (Gen. 7:16). Noah's teivah (ark) had God Himself as its designer (Gen. 6:15f), just as salvation in Messiah is by God's design (Jonah 2:9; Eph. 1:9, 1:11). It contained only one door (Gen. 6:16), just as Yeshua is the only door to salvation (John 10:9; 14:6). Noah's ark contained three levels (Gen. 6:16) and salvation has three own experiential levels (2 Cor. 1:10): past, present, and future. In the past (at Moriah) Yeshua delivered us from the penalty of sin; in the present, He is delivering us from the power of sin; and in the future He will deliver us from the very presence of sin. Baruch Hashem - may that day come soon!
Chodesh Cheshvan....
10.07.18 (Tishri 28, 5779) On the Biblical calendar, the month of Cheshvan (חֶשְׁוָן) immediately follows the "holiday month" of Tishri, and begins Friday, October 21st (at sundown) this year. The Torah records that God brought down the Great Flood that destroyed the world on Cheshvan 17 (Gen. 7:10-11), which lasted until Cheshvan 27 (Gen. 8:14) - exactly one calendar year after it began (Rashi notes that the 11-day discrepancy between the 17th and 27th represents the 11-day difference between the solar and lunar calendar year). Because Noah's Flood began and ended during this month, Cheshvan is generally regarded as "mar" - a time of judgment, especially regarding water (rain). Cheshvan always has a two-day Rosh Chodesh. Because rain is central to the health of the spring crops, on the 17th of the month those living in Israel begin requesting rain by adding vetein tal u'matar librakha ("and grant dew and rain for blessing") to the Amidah prayer.
יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֵיךָ יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ וֵאלהֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ
שֶׁתְּחַדֵּשׁ עָלֵינוּ חדֶשׁ טוֹב בַּאֲדנֵינוּ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ אָמֵן
ye·hi · ra·tzon · mil·fa·ne·kha · Adonai · E·lo·hei·nu · ve·lo·hei · a·vo·tei·nu
she·te·cha·desh · a·lei·nu · cho·desh · tov · ba'a·do·nei·nu · Ye·shu·a · ha·ma·shi·ach · A·men
"May it be Your will, LORD our God and God of our fathers,
that you renew for us a good month in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Amen."
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The LORD of Creation....
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) The Torah begins with the declaration, "In the beginning Elohim (God) created" (בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלהִים), where the Hebrew word "Elohim" is written in the grammatical plural form (i.e., אֱלהִים, derived from the singular form אֵל, God), not because there is more than one Creator, of course, since indeed the verb bara (בָּרָא) used in this very declaration is grammatically singular, that is, "He created." Of course the Torah clearly affirms that "God is one" (יְהוָה אֶחָד), though note that the word "one" (i.e., echad: אֶחָד) means something more than mere numerical identity (i.e., yachid: יָחִיד) but instead unity in plurality, a "transcendental" oneness that points to the unfathomable mystery of the Name YHVH and the unity of the Godhead (אֵין סוֹף). Therefore the plural name Elohim is sometimes called "pluralis intensitatis" which denotes in one Person all the powers and influences by which the universe was first created and now is governed and sustained...
כִּי כה אָמַר־יְהוָה בּוֹרֵא הַשָּׁמַיִם
הוּא הָאֱלהִים יצֵר הָאָרֶץ וְעשָׂהּ
הוּא כוֹנְנָהּ לא־תהוּ בְרָאָהּ לָשֶׁבֶת יְצָרָהּ
אֲנִי יְהוָה וְאֵין עוֹד
ki · kho · amar - Adonai · borei · ha·sha·ma·yim
hu · ha'elohim · yotzer · ha·a·retz · ve'osah
hu · khonenah · lo - tohu · ve'ra'ah · la'shevet · yetzarah
ani · Adonai · ve'ein · od
"For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is the God), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited):
'I am the LORD, and there is no other'" (Isa. 45:18)
Both the Torah of Moses and the New Testament attest that Yeshua is Elohim (אֱלהִים) -- the Creator of the cosmos: בְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַדָּבָר / "in the beginning was the Word" (John 1:1,14). The Divine Word and Voice cannot be separated from God any more than the Spirit of God can be separated. Yeshua is the Source of all life in the universe: כָּל־הַמַּעֲשִׂים נִהְיוּ עַל־יָדוֹ / "All things were made by Him (John 1:3). The "Word made flesh" is the "image of the invisible God" and the "radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint (χαρακτήρ, 'character') of his nature" (Col. 1:15). All of creation is being constantly upheld by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3): "All things were created by Him (i.e., Yeshua), and for Him" and in Him all things consist (συνεστηκεν, lit. "stick together") (Col. 1:16-17). As our Creator and Master of the Universe, Yeshua is both our King and our Judge, and therefore our lives center upon him...
Note: By God's grace I've labored another week here to bring you God's truth, friends. I sincerely hope you find this ministry helpful in your walk with God. If you do, please pray for Hebrew for Christians, since things have been challenging for us, and this ministry is upheld by faithful friends who care and intercede for us. Thank you so much and Shabbat Shalom. - John
The First Great Utterance...
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) In the Torah's description of the creation of the world or universe (i.e., בריאת העולם), the Hebrew phrase "and God said" (וַיּאמֶר אֱלהִים) occurs nine times. The traditional sages, however, say that God created the world with ten utterances (Pirkei Avot 5:1), and they therefore account for the tenth by saying that the first declaration: "In the beginning" (בְּרֵאשִׁית) -- that is, the initial creation of heaven and earth -- was done by means of God's Word (דְּבַר־יְהוָה), as it says, בִּדְבַר יְהוָה שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ - bidvar Adonai shamayim na'asu: "By the Word of the LORD the heavens were made."
בִּדְבַר יְהוָה שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ
וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כָּל־צְבָאָם
bi·de·var · Adonai · sha·ma·yim · na·a·su
uv·ru·ach · pin · kol - tze·va·am
"By the Word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and from the breath (ruach) of his mouth were created all their host."
(Psalm 33:6)
Our Good Shepherd...
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) Where it says, "Surely goodness and merciful love (טוֹב וָחֶסֶד) shall follow me all the days of my life" (i.e., Psalm 23:6), note the Hebrew verb translated "shall follow me" (i.e., יִרְדְּפוּנִי) comes from a root (i.e., radaf: רָדַף) that means "to pursue," as a hunter chases after his prey. David was sure that God's faithful love (i.e., chesed) would "hound" him as he made his way through this world - even in the dark places, even in "the valley of the shadow of death" (בְּגֵיא צַלְמָוֶת) - where God's rod and staff would comfort him and direct his way (Psalm 23:4). הִי־חַסְדְּךָ יְהוָה עָלֵינוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר יִחַלְנוּ לָךְ - "May your chesed, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you" (Psalm 33:22).
אַךְ טוֹב וָחֶסֶד יִרְדְּפוּנִי כָּל־יְמֵי חַיָּי
וְשַׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית־יְהוָה לְארֶךְ יָמִים
akh · tov va'che·sed · yir·de·fu·ni · kol · ye·mei · chai·yai
ve'shav·ti · be'vet · Adonai · le'o·rekh · ya·mim
"Surely goodness and merciful love shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever."
(Psalm 23:6)
Hebrew Study Card
"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation (הָאֵל יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ). Selah. Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death." Amen.
Note: Some ministries feel like they always have to say something "new" or "fresh" to be relevant to believers. Well, I disagree and sometimes repeat my entries (as I've done in this case), because often we don't slow down enough to listen to the message the first time. Repeating such matters helps them to become part of our heart... Shalom.
The Gospel in the Garden...
[ Parashat Bereshit is always read on the Sabbath following the holiday of Simchat Torah, and therefore it begins Torah reading for the new Jewish year.... Right at the outset of the narrative of the Torah, then, we will read about the "proto-euangelion," or the "first gospel" message of God's redemption given through the Promised Seed of Eve... ]
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) The very first prophecy of the Torah concerns the promise of the coming "Seed of the woman" who would vanquish the serpent (nachash) that had originally tempted and deceived Eve (Gen. 3:15). This prophecy is sometimes called the proto-euangelion ("first gospel"), since it is the starting point of all subsequent prophecy and redemptive history revealed in the Scriptures. Indeed, since the mystery of the Incarnation of God the Son (the "Son of Man") is foreshadowed here, this prophecy is linked to the original woman, Eve. Just as Eve became a carrier of the corruption of human nature by heeding the voice of the tempter, so she would be the carrier of God Himself for the deliverance of mankind through the advent of the Redeemer. In the tragic aftermath of the transgression of the first man and woman, then, God first announced His unfailing redemptive love for the human race that would culminate in the birth, sacrifice, and resurrection of Yeshua our Savior and Deliverer - "born of a woman, born under the law" (Gal. 4:4).
Our restoration begins with God's love and passion. God's first question to Adam after he broke covenant was: "Where (אַיֶּכָּה) are you?" - the voice of a loving Father in search of his son (Gen. 3:9). Of course God knew exactly how his son was attempting to hide, though He almost acted as if He was unwilling to believe that he would betray his love by disobeying His commandment. Therefore God's poignant question was directed to Adam's heart: "Oh my son, how did you get to this place?" God was giving Adam an opportunity to turn back to Him, to confess the sin, to undergo teshuvah, to become reconciled... This is the necessary prelude to any honest relationship with God.
Recall that the original promise of the coming Savior was given within the context of the curse and judgment upon Satan: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall crush his heel" (Gen. 3:15). That God's promise was first directed to Satan is surely by design, since he "left his first estate" by becoming the "monster in the garden" and was therefore primarily responsible for the transgression of Adam and Eve in the first place (Ezek. 28:13-15,19). The promise delivered to Satan was therefore one of coming retribution and divine judgment: Evil would not have the last word in the matter of mankind, and therefore Satan's schemes would be avenged by God in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4-5). Notice, however, that Adam and Eve were not yet judged for their sin when the LORD God gave the promise of the coming of the Redeemer. Before a word of judgment was directed toward them, God's love and light was already revealed. Indeed, immediately after their judgment was pronounced, "the LORD God made tunics of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them" (Gen. 3:21) - a clear picture of being compassionately "robed in righteousness" imparted by an innocent sacrifice. The very first sacrifice recorded in the Torah - performed by God Himself - prefigured the coming redemption by the "seed of the woman" who would die as a substitutionary sacrifice for their sins, and therefore Yeshua is rightly called "the Lamb slain from the foundation (or beginning) of the world" (Rev. 13:8). This further explains why Eve's son (Abel) offered a blood sacrifice that was accepted by the LORD, whereas Cain's offering the "fruit of the earth" was rejected.
The very first prophecy of Torah therefore describes - in the most succinct form - the coming of the Savior and the great conflict of the ages. First, God declares that He would put enmity (אֵיבָה) between Satan and the woman. This enmity, or "hostile hatred," was based on the memory of Eve's misguided trust she evidenced in the garden. When Eve first sympathetically listened to the lies of the nachash (serpent), she immediately began her descent into exile and became a temptress herself. Her first step toward sin was a gullibility or openness that ultimately resulted in a lack of trust of God (which is part of the reason why we must be saved by trusting, as a "like-for-like" reversal of the original sin). At the very dawn of human history, then, we see that "truth" (אֱמֶת) apart from God (א) leads to death (מֵת). Eve was deceived because of Satan, but Adam deliberately chose to disobey God (2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim 2:14). In response to her teshuvah (repentance), God blessed Eve before He judged her by imparting to her a God-given hatred for Satan and his lies, as well as the promise that she would take part in the birth of the Savior of mankind. The first promise of the gospel, then, focused on the woman and her role in the coming redemption. Notice that Adam later renamed his wife Eve (i.e., Chavah: חַוָּה, the "mother of life") as an expression of his faith that the promised seed would come through her.
It is likely that Eve initially believed that her firstborn son Cain (קַיִן) was the promised Seed himself. After all, the miracle of birth surely came as a great shock to her, and Eve's faith in God's promise that through her seed would come the deliverer was doubtlessly upon her heart at this time. When Eve called her son "Cain" (wordplay from the verb kana (קָנָה), "to get"), she was expressing her faith in God's promise: קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת־יהוה / kaniti ish et-Adonai, "I have gotten a man - namely, the LORD" (Gen. 4:1). Eve's faith was obscured by the translators, however, who rendered the Hebrew as "I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD" (i.e., they inserted the idea of "help" and translated the particle et (את) as "with" rather than as the direct object marker for the verb). The ancient Jewish targums, however, agree with the original Hebrew. For example, Targum Yonatan reads: "I have gotten a man - the Angel of YHVH." Surely Eve, the first mother of humanity, was endowed with great wisdom from God, especially after she turned to Him in repentance after her disobedience. The straightforward reading of her words, then, expressed her hope that the LORD Himself would be made a man....
Despite her hope that Cain was none other than the God-Man and promised Deliverer, Eve's hopes were dashed when it became clear that her son was of the seed of Satan (1 John 3:12). His younger brother Abel (הֶבֶל) was a shepherd who evidenced faith in the promise of the coming redeemer by offering blood sacrifice (Gen. 4:3-5). Abel was persecuted and finally murdered by his brother Cain "because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous." Their spiritual conflict is indicative of the ongoing warfare between the "sons of darkness" and the "sons of light."
The murder of Abel necessitated that the coming seed would descend through another child, and therefore the Torah describes the birth of Seth (שֵׁת, lit. "appointed"), the third son of Adam and Eve. The Scriptures further state that it was the descendants of Seth who "began to call upon the Name of the LORD" (לִקְרא בְּשֵׁם יהוה), indicating that they had faith in God (אֱלהִים) as the Compassionate Covenant Keeper (יהוה) who would redeem humanity by means of the coming seed. Seth called his firstborn son Enosh ("man"), perhaps in the hope that his child would be the promised Savior (interestingly, bar enosh (בַּר אֱנָשׁ), or "Son of Man," is the name for the Savior (Dan 7:13).
To continue reading see: "The Gospel in the Garden: Further thoughts on parashat Bereshit."
Through the Shadows...
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you" (Psalm 73:25). Such is the "exile of hope" we suffer in this world... Torah begins: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was "tohu va'vohu v'choshekh" (תהוּ וָבהוּ וְחשֶׁךְ) - confusion and emptiness and darkness - which the sages interpret to mean that when we truly understand that God created the heavens and the earth, we will realize our earthy desires to be barren, empty and unreal. In their despair over transitory existence, Plato and the early Greek philosophers sought "timeless universals" which they believed disclosed the reality of an "upper world," a heavenly realm of unchanging goodness, beauty, and truth. The world we experience with our senses is a shadowy place of change and decay; but the real world, discerned by clear thinking, is a place of permanence, goodness and illumination. Likewise the righteous soul trusts that despite this fleeting world that turns to dust, there is an eternal realm, a place of abiding love, and a heavenly home. The land of promise is a "foreign land" to this world, but the heart of faith beholds "the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come" (Heb. 13:14). Therefore "we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient (πρόσκαιρος), but the things that are unseen are eternal. For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. 4:18-5:1). In this world we suffer exile, groaning to be with our Savior, the Source of all blessing: "I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you" (Psalm 16:2).
מִי־לִי בַשָּׁמָיִם
וְעִמְּךָ לא־חָפַצְתִּי בָאָרֶץ
כָּלָה שְׁאֵרִי וּלְבָבִי
צוּר־לְבָבִי וְחֶלְקִי אֱלהִים לְעוֹלָם
mi-li · va·sha·ma·yim · ve·im·me·kha · lo-cha·fatz·ti · va·a·retz
kal·lah · she·ei·ri · u·le·va·vi · tzur-le·va·vi · ve·chel·ki · E·lo·him · le·o·lam
"Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
(Psalm 73:25-26)
Hebrew Study Card
The very worst kind of exile is to be unaware that you are in exile, to be so blinded that you do not see that you do not see... As Yeshua said, "If the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" (Matt. 6:23); and "be careful lest the light in you be darkness" (Luke 11:35). Ignorance is the willful "state of ignoring" moral and spiritual truth.. In the end, the world and its blind lusts will pass away, for it is "tohu" (תּהוּ) - confusion and unreality - but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
Those who rely on mere appearances will invariably find themselves confounded. The LORD therefore commissioned the prophet: "Go, and say to this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive'" (Isa. 6:9). Where it is written, "God gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own devices" (Psalm 81:12; Rom. 1:24); and "they went backward and not forward" (Jer. 7:24), we learn there is no place of "neutrality" or indifference toward God. The Lord will give to you according to your faith...
The Spirit cries out, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever" (Isa. 40:8). This verse sets up a great contrast between olam ha-zeh and olam haba – between this present world and the heavenly realm. King David states, "Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you (וְחֶלְדִּי כְאַיִן נֶגְדֶּךָ). Surely all mankind stands as a mere vanity" (Psalm 39:5). Yet we hunger and ache for love that fulfills the infinite depth of our hearts: "My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you (Isa. 26:9). I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you" (Psalm 16:2). Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God, the Eternal, the abiding, and true...
Creation and Faith...
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) The idea that a personal God created the universe "out of nothing" (i.e., yesh me'ayin: יֵשׁ מֵאַיִן ) is a matter of special revelation that is not directly known through the operation of unaided natural reason. Of course human reason may (rightly) infer that since "every effect requires a cause," and since the universe itself is an effect, there must be a cause sufficient for the existence of the universe. Likewise, human reason may again (rightly) infer that the universe itself must have had a beginning, since it is impossible to traverse an infinite number of causes to arrive at a present effect, and therefore there must have been an immensely powerful and transcendental "First Cause" that started the entire chain of causation itself. (This "First Cause" answers the metaphysical question, "Why is there something [at all] rather than nothing?") However, human reason, by itself, can only take us so far, and something more is needed to apprehend the nature of reality.
In philosophical theology, an argument that God is the Cause of the universe is sometimes offered to invoke the possibility that the God of the Jewish Scriptures exists, though strictly speaking this inference is not warranted given the premises and logic of "cosmological" arguments alone. Indeed, the ancient Greek philosophers used this kind of reasoning to justify their own speculations about the cosmos (e.g., Plato's Form of the Good, Aristotle's Unmoved Mover, etc.), and yet their philosophical systems never connected the First Cause with a morally perfect personal Creator (אֱלהִים) who made mankind in His image and who therefore requires loving trust to know Him. The Greek conception of God (θεὸς) was abstract, impersonal, and essentially a theoretical construct employed to make sense of the physical cosmos. Nowhere in their speculations will you find the idea that the First Cause has revealed Himself as the Source of all moral truth in the universe and who therefore functions as mankind's Eternal Judge. And nowhere in their thinking will you find the Covenant-Making God (יהוה) who redeems humanity from sin and judgment by means of the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua on the cross... Beyond the abstract awareness that the universe is the effect of an immensely powerful and transcendental First Cause, unaided human reason has precious little to say. As the French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal once wrote, "The God of the philosophers is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
To the Hebrew mind, reality is the handiwork of a single all-knowing, all-powerful, and morally perfect Creator who has personally revealed Himself to key individuals in the drama of human history. As such, reality is intensely, overwhelmingly, and even hauntingly personal... Truth therefore is a matter of trust -- not abstract knowledge -- whereas "knowledge" is primarily about practical ethics, moral obligation, and cult practices (i.e., Temple worship). For the Hebrew mind, truth is more akin to moral fidelity than it is to propositional correspondence; it is more a matter of the heart than of the head (for more on this, see "Theology and the Greek Mindset").
A Roman emperor once asked Rabbi Joshua if the universe had a ruler. The sage answered, indeed, the LORD is the Creator of all things, as it is written, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The emperor then asked, "Why then is God not like the emperor of Rome, who is seen twice a year so that people may know and worship him?" Rabbi Joshua said that unlike human kings, the LORD was too powerful for people to see; as it is written in the Torah: "No person shall see Me and live." The emperor was skeptical, however, and insisted that unless he could physically see God, he would be unable to believe. Rabbi Joshua then pointed to the sun high in the sky: "Look into the sun and you will see God." The emperor tried to look into the sun, but was forced to cover his eyes to keep them from burning: "I cannot look into the sun," he said. Rabbi Joshua then replied: "Listen to yourself: If you cannot look into the sun which is but one of God's creations, how can you expect to look at God?" (adapted from Sefer HaAggadah)
The New Testament affirms that knowing that the First Cause of the universe is the personal God revealed in the Jewish Scriptures is the result of faith in God's direct revelation: "By faith (בָּאֱמוּנָה) we understand that the universe [lit. "worlds"] were created by the utterance of God (בִּדְבַר אֱלהִים), so that what is seen [i.e., the "effect" of the universe] did not come into being out of existing phenomena [i.e., was made yesh me'ayin - 'out of nothing']" (Heb. 11:3). Again, this is a matter of special revelation directly imparted by God's grace so that the soul may apprehend the Divine Light that preceded the creation of the worlds. Faith "looks not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:18). This "collision" with the world of everydayness creates a restlessness or homesickness for our true home in heaven... (May God help each of us persevere.)
The very first phrase of the Scriptures, "In the beginning God created..." (Gen. 1:1), is therefore the starting point of all true and right thinking about the universe itself. Everything else follows from this revealed truth which natural (i.e., human) reason can merely approximate. God alone can create yesh me'ayin - "out of nothing" (the Hebrew verb bara (בָּרָא) is used exclusively to refer to God's power in this way), and therefore God stands exaltedly apart from the universe as its unique Creator and personal Master. This is the guiding thought that overshadows all that follows in the pages of Scripture. God is holy - separate - and entirely unique. He is the Personal God who loves, wills, speaks, intends, etc., and to whom human beings owe their allegiance and life. The God of Israel is not some indifferent deity that functions as a theoretical construct to explain the universe: He is the Source of all life, the personal Judge and Redeemer of all people.
Creation and Design...
[ We read about the creation of the universe in this week's Torah reading, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.05.18 (Tishri 26, 5779) If you were walking through the woods one day and suddenly found an exquisitely crafted pocket watch lying on the ground, you wouldn't think it had magically "just appeared out of thin air," with no cause or explanation for its presence, much less would you think that the watch was produced by random forces operating in an entirely material universe. On the contrary, as you look closely at the watch and observe its intricacies of design, you marvel over the precisely machined, interlocking gears, calibrated springs, and a beautifully fashioned faceplate that marks motion in meticulous increments. And so it is, with our experience of creation and its complexities and wonders. The existence of a world in all its intricate detail forces a thinking person to recognize the Divine Presence that brought all things into being and sustains them for a greater end. Thus the Kol Dodi rearranges the letters of the word bara (בָּרָא), "to create," to form ba'er (בַּאֵר), "to clarify," since creation clarifies the role of the design and glory of the Creator: "The heavens recount the glory of God, and the canopy of the sky proclaims the work of his hands. Day after day pours out his speech; night after night declares his knowledge."
הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד־אֵל
וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ
יוֹם לְיוֹם יַבִּיעַ אמֶר
וְלַיְלָה לְּלַיְלָה יְחַוֶּה־דָּעַת
ha-sha·ma·yim · me·sa·pe·rim · ke·vod · El,
u·ma·a·seh · ya·dav · mag·gid · ha·ra·ki·a;
yom · le·yom · ya·bi·a · o·mer,
ve·lai·la · le·lai·la · ye·cha·veh · da·at
"The heavens recount the glory of God,
and the canopy of the sky proclaims the work of his hands.
Day after day pours out his speech;
night after night declares his knowledge."
(Psalm 19:1-2)
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All-Surrounding Presence...
10.04.18 (Tishri 25, 5779) The Name of God, YHVH (יהוה), is a play on the Hebrew verb hayah (היה), "to be," as God told Moses, ehyeh asher ehyeh (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה), "I will be what I will be" (or "I am that I am"). YHVH therefore means "Presence" (Exod. 3:13-14), "Breath" (Gen. 2:7; Num. 16:22), "Life" (Deut. 30:20), and "abundant Love and Truth" (Exod. 34:6-7), but it also means the "I-AM-WITH-YOU One" who keeps His promises. The Name YHVH therefore means that "God was (i.e., hayah: היה) and is (i.e., hoveh: הוֶה), and always will be (i.e., veyihyeh: וְיִהְיֶה)," which implies that He is ever present and not restricted by time or space. Moreover, God is called havayah (הֲוָיָה), which means He is continually sustaining creation by the Word of His power: "In Him we live, move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28; Heb. 1:3). As it is poetically expressed in the Psalms, "Behind and before you besiege me; You lay your hand upon me."
אָחוֹר וָקֶדֶם צַרְתָּנִי
וַתָּשֶׁת עָלַי כַּפֶּכָה
a·chor · va·ke·dem · tzar·ta·ni
va·ta·shet · a·lai · ka·pe·khah
"Behind and before You besiege (cover) me;
You lay your hand upon me."
(Psalm 139:5)
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"Behind and before you besiege me." The word "behind" is the preposition achor (אָחוֹר), a word related to the word acharon (אַחֲרוֹן), "west," though it also refers to something later (אַחֲרֵי), such as a later place or time (אַחֲרִית). In Hebrew, the preposition generally means "backward" (לאחור) or "behind" (מאחור). God's got your back, friend... Note further that the word translated "before" is kedem (קֶדֶם), a preposition that means "east" but also refers to the primordial beginning, the dawn. The root verb kadam (קָדַם) means to "meet" in initial contact. God is always present for you, friend, and that includes times and days that lie ahead, in the distant future... As far as the east is from the west, so far does God's compassion and love cover you, surround you, and sustain you (Psalm 103:12).
"You besiege me." The verb tzartani (צַרְתָּנִי) comes from the root tzur (צור) that means to encircle, to press upon, to "pressurize," as by relentlessly attacking a stronghold. The image is that God "hems us in," that is, He surrounds us and shelters us with His Presence – so that we cannot escape: You are under God's supervision and protection, friend... And while the root tzur can imply tzuris (trouble, affliction), in this context it is used to picture the Lord securing our station, preserving, protecting, and defending our way. "You lay your hand upon me." God's personal and providential hand is at work in your life – He is HaMashgiach hagadol (הַמָּשְׁגִיחַ הַגָּדוֹל) - the Great Overseer of the universe, and that means your way is as sure and secure as the very power that God's own will affords. As William Penn once said, "We cannot fall beneath the arms of God. However low we fall, they are underneath us still."
Thank God for His providential and all-pervasive care for your soul. He is the LORD of all time and space, and that means He is an ever-present help to bring you safely back home...
A debate raged among the disciples as to which was the most difficult task of all: To know how to pronounce the sacred Name of God (YHVH) revealed in Scripture, to understand the inner secrets of the sacred name revealed in Scripture, or to properly explain the sacred Name of God to others so they could understood it. Said the Master, when asked his opinion, "I know of a more difficult task than any of those three." "What is it?" "Trying to get you blockheads to see reality as it is."
Design and Substance...
[ The following is related to last week's Torah portion, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.04.18 (Tishri 25, 5779) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was tohu va'vohu - without form and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep..." (Gen. 1:1-2). The sages comment that knowing that God created the heavens and the earth makes us realize that by themselves earthly things are without purpose and substance, since life in the natural world is havel havalim (הֲבֵל הֲבָלִים), "vanity of vanities," apart from the design (form) and the substance of God. Faith in the upper "world" of God, that is, the heavenly realm, therefore evokes a sense of discontent and longing within the soul, and the temporal world and its pleasures will seem distracting and empty. This lack of form and emptiness was part of the original design of creation, however, since it was after God had created the universe that "he saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).
Just as we cannot see light but by means of it we see other things, so with Yeshua, the Light of Life, the Form and Substance of God... By His illumination we are able to see the spiritual reality of God's Presence and invincible love... Yeshua is "the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3). He is the Fountain of Life: by his light we see light (Psalm 36:9). Amen, God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5).
Words in the Garden...
[ The following is related to last week's Torah portion, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.04.18 (Tishri 25, 5779) Adam was created "from the dust" by the hand and breath of God (Gen. 2:4-8). But how did he learn to talk and speak, since words are by nature abstractions from experience of the world? Indeed, since words must be shared to have meaning, God must have taught his son lashon hakodesh (the holy tongue) so they could communicate with each other. Likewise the LORD God taught Adam how to walk, eat, drink, and realize cause and effect. Indeed, Adam is called "the son of God" (Luke 3:38), so he was somewhat like a newborn child in need of his Father. God planted a garden of trees for his son, took him to his new home, and provided him with "living water" that flowed from its midst (Gen. 2:8-10); he spent time teaching him and watching him grow... Adam's role was to serve God (לַעֲבוֹד) and to guard the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, that is, to keep from moral knowledge gained apart from the revelation of his heavenly father, and for this reason we understand Adam's transgression as the rejection of God's word for his life.
In general the sages taught that Adam knew language right "out of the box," so to speak, and the midrash reports his first words as, יהוה מֶלֶךְ עוֹלָם וָעֶד / Adonai malakh olam va'ed: "The LORD is King for ever and ever" (quoting from Exod. 15:18). And while it is true that since words require spirit (breath) to be spoken, and God shared his spirit with Adam, God imparted an innate ability to use language, nonetheless Adam undoubtedly needed to experience life in the garden before his words could have meaning. Therefore we see that Adam named the animals only after he personally encountered each one (Gen. 2:19). The holy language Adam learned came from his communion with his heavenly father...
Note: The "image of God" (i.e., tzelem Elohim: צֶלֶם אֱלהִים) pertains to both your "who-ness" (i.e., your "I am what I am" reality, your "tripartite" being as body/soul/spirit, and your relative presence in space-time [past-present-future, three dimensions, etc.]) as well as the ability to use logic and reason (your ability to partake of the divine Logos (λόγος), or Logic, that pervades all reality... (For more on this topic see: "The Sanctity of our Words").
The Root of Sin and Death...
[ The following is related to last week's Torah portion, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.04.18 (Tishri 25, 5779) The commandment prohibiting eating from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (עֵץ הַדַּעַת טוֹב וָרָע) contained all other Torah commandments by implication (Gen. 2:17). The commandments not to worship idols, not to curse God, not to steal, not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to covet, and to enforce justice all derive from this primary commandment given in the garden. After all, Adam lost awareness of God by focusing on himself (idolatry) and failed to express love and reverence for God (profanity); he took from the Tree what was forbidden (coveting/stealing) which led to his own death (killing) and his own inner promiscuity (adultery). He failed to be vigilant and exercise justice by removing the presence of the tempting snake... Notice how these implications form the basic categories of the Ten Commandments, as well as the 613 commandments given later at Sinai. Looked at the other way, all of the commandments of Torah were concentrated into this single prohibition, since had Adam refrained from eating, he likewise would have refrained from all the other sins derived from this first great transgression. Moreover, since the essence of Torah is to trust God (i.e., "the righteous shall live by his faith"), when Adam sinned, he lost faith and the exile began... The Tree of Knowledge of good and evil is really the tree of the knowledge of sin and death. Just as the law defined sin to reveal our lethal spiritual condition, so the Tree of Knowledge led to the consequence of death and the revelation of our need for healing and deliverance given by Yeshua. "The law of the Spirit of life sets you free in Yeshua the Messiah from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2).
The root of sin and death is found in the desire for "the knowledge of good and evil," that is, by seeking that which what defines sin, or that which is not God's will... It is the attempt to transcend God's authority for something beyond his sovereign good for us, and as such it denies reality and leads to exile and death. In this connection we note that the Hebrew phrase that warns of the consequence of eating from the Tree is mot tamut (מוֹת תָּמוּת), meaning "in dying you will die," which both implies the spiritual nature of death as separation from the divine life, but also the repeated experience of death – the ongoing knowledge of decay, dissolution, and loss...
Mirroring One Another...
10.04.18 (Tishri 25, 5779) The Hebrew phrase "middah keneged middah" means "measure for measure," referring to an ethical/spiritual principle of reciprocity, or the idea that what you do to others is measured back to you (see Luke 6:38; Mark 4:24; 2 Cor. 9:6). The word middah (מִדָּה) means "quality" and keneged (כְּנֶגֶד) means "facing" or "opposite" (i.e., ke-, "as" + neged, "against"), so middah keneged middah (מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה) means the mirroring of qualities, like-for-like (Gal. 6:7). Yeshua appealed to this principle when he said: "Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you use will be measured back to you."
In the Torah we read that Adam was given a companion, called ezer kenegdo (עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ), or a "helper opposite to him." The sages say that Chavah ("Eve") could either function as Adam's helper (ezer) or his adversary (i.e., mitnaged: מִתנַגֵד), depending on his merit. Note that Eve was not created to be in subservience to Adam; on the contrary, she was the "finishing touch" of Adam, a more refined and sensitive counterpart. Chavah would mirror back to Adam the middot (qualities) of himself....
In this connection we note that the Hebrew word for man (i.e., ish: אִישׁ) and the word for woman (i.e., ishah: אִשָּׁה) share the same root word (i.e., esh: אֵשׁ), meaning "fire." The words differ by just two letters - a Yod and a Hey - which together form the Divine Name YAH (יה). If God is present between them, then they will be rightly related as man and woman, but if God is not present (symbolized by the absence of the Yod and Hey, respectively), there will only be a destructive fire (אֵשׁ), chas ve'shalom...
Mystery and Creation...
10.03.18 (Tishri 24, 5779) Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does anything exist at all? These are basic questions about the meaning of life. Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? "God created the universe," you say, yes, but exactly why did He do so? What purpose did he have in mind? In particular, why were you created? What is the purpose of your life? What do you hope to achieve with the limited amount of time you have on this earth? Such questions brood within the soul, even if they are hidden from consciousness by various forms of busyness and distraction. At the outset of serious thinking about anything at all we are confronted with such ultimate questions. What is real? Why are we here? Where are we going? What does God want from us?
"Where am I? Who am I? How did I come to be here? What is this thing called the world? How did I come into the world? Why was I not consulted? And If I am compelled to take part in it, where is the director? I want to see him." - Soren Kierkegaard
The Torah begins: "In the beginning God created..." (Gen. 1:1). No explanation is given, simply the mysterious declaration that God's eternal power is behind the realm of the world of appearances. We only begin to get some idea of God's hidden purposes as he reveals his design in Scripture. There we learn that God chose to create the universe yesh me'ayin, "out of nothing," in order to share his wisdom, glory, and love with other beings He created. "You created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Rev. 4:11). All this was for the sake of the Messiah, who built the world in chesed (חֶסֶד) and who forever reigns as the King of eternal life and love. "For from him and through him and to him are all things" (Rom. 11:36). The purpose of your life is to learn that you are beloved by God, to know and receive the infinite worth you have in his eyes, and to share that love with others. Indeed, you were created to be made part of God's great family, the Kingdom of Love...
For more on this topic see: "Creation and the Kingdom of Love..."
Our Father, Our King...
10.03.18 (Tishri 24, 5779) "Blessed are you, O LORD God of Israel our Father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the beauty and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all" (1 Chron. 29:10-11). Amen, amen. In light of this blessed truth, then, what is it but unbelief that incites us to fear, to become anxious, frustrated, angry, and to seek to control outcomes? Forgive us, O Lord: We sometimes fail to remember your greatness; we lose sight that you indeed reign over all; our fears moves us into exile, our hearts grieve when we find ourselves immersed in the vanity of this world... But "all that is in heaven and earth is thine" (כּל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ לְךָ), and therefore everything is under your ongoing supervision... You sustain and uphold all things by the Word of your Power (נוֹשֵׂא כל בִּדְבַר גְּבוּרָתוֹ); you are our good Shepherd, our loving Father; you watch over our ways; you write our names upon your hands; you show us the path of life (Psalm 16:11). "You are strength and might, and it is in Your power to make anyone great and strong," and therefore help us, O Lord, to revere you; help us to know that nothing is trivial; awaken us to the truth of your Reality and Presence... Teach us to number our days that we might become wise (Psalm 90:12); we are as a breath; our days are like a passing shadow (Psalm 144:4); have mercy upon us and redeem the days appointed for our sojourn.
לְךָ יְהוָה הַגְּדֻלָּה וְהַגְּבוּרָה וְהַתִּפְאֶרֶת
וְהַנֵּצַח וְהַהוֹד כִּי־כל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ
לְךָ יְהוָה הַמַּמְלָכָה וְהַמִּתְנַשֵּׂא לְכל לְראשׁ
le·kha · Adonai · ha·ge·dul·lah · ve'ha·ge·vu·rah · ve'ha·tif·e·ret
ve'han·netz·ach · ve'ha·hod · ki·khol · ba·sha·ma·yim · u'va·a·retz
le·kha · Adonai · ha·mam·la·khah · ve·ham·mit·nas·seh · le·khol · le·rosh
"Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the beauty
and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all."
(1 Chron. 29:11)
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Olam Malei - An Entire World...
10.03.18 (Tishri 24, 5779) God made you entirely unique, and no one else was created for the special role that you have in the overarching plan of Almighty God... Jewish tradition says that God created Adam alone as "olam malei" (עוֹלָם מָלֵא), "an entire world," to teach that each individual is of great value and significance. "Thus anyone who sustains one individual has sustained the world; and anyone who destroys one individual has destroyed an entire world" (Sanhedrin 37a). In addition, God created man as a solitary creation to remind all people that they descend from a common source: No one has a greater or better lineage or "pedigree" than anyone else. Moreover, each of us is created with a radical sense of "aloneness," a built in "hunger" for relationship and especially for God's presence. Therefore the very first commandment to Adam and Eve comes in the form of a blessing: "And God blessed them and said, פְּרוּ וּרְבו / pru urvu: "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1:28). People were created to be in fellowship with others and with God, and when this is lacking, there is a profound soul hunger and need....
Spelling out "Bereshit"...
[ The following is related our Torah portion for this week, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.03.18 (Tishri 24, 5779) The 18th century Torah sage Vilna Gaon taught that the Hebrew word "bereshit" (בְּרֵאשִׁית), which is the very first word of the Bible, may be thought of as an acronym for meaningful spiritual life. The first letter, Bet (בּ), stands for bittachon (בִּטָּחוֹן), a word that means complete trust in God's love for your life; the next letter, Resh (ר), stands for ratzon (רָצוֹן), or the desire to live according to God's will; the central letter Aleph (א) stands for ahavah (אַהֲבָה), which is the love for God and for our fellow man (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18); and the letter Shin (שׁ) is for shetikah (שְׁתִיקָה), or "keeping silent," which is the cardinal virtue of godly self-control and wisdom (James 1:26; 3:1-18; Psalm 34:13; Prov. 13:3, etc.). The letter Yod (י) is for yirah (יִרְאָה), or reverence for God's authority and dignity; and finally, the letter Tav (ת) is for Torah (תּוֹרָה), the study of which brings transformation and sanctity to your life (Psalm 19:7; Psalm 119:105; Prov. 6:23; Matt. 5:17-19; 2 Tim. 2:15-16).
Believing to See...
[ We believe in order to see, not the other way around. Perception is a matter of heart, and therefore we choose to see and hear what we want to see and hear (Isa. 6:10; John 12:40). ]
10.03.18 (Tishri 24, 5779) In the midst of affliction and trouble, King David exclaimed: "I would have fainted if I had not believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13). Despite circumstances that seemed to contradict the promise of God to establish him, David affirmed that he would outlive his anguish to behold the salvation of God. And is this not the common struggle we all face? When we are troubled, when we feel betrayed or heartbroken, or when we become sick, we are tempted to grow weary and even to yield our hearts to the darkness of despair. David understood this. Indeed the Hebrew text for this verse does not include the words "I would have fainted" but instead says, "If I had not believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living..." -- where the thought breaks off in "aposiopesis" (Greek, ἀποσιώπησις, "becoming silent"), suggesting that the consequent implication remains unsaid because it is just too painful to bear. David, however, turns away from this thought and rejects it as unthinkable in light of the love and promises of God, affirming his faith in the unseen good: "Hope to the LORD; be strong and strengthen your heart; and again, hope to the LORD" (Psalm 27:14). There is healing coming "to the land of the living." Note that the "land of the living" (אֶרֶץ חַיִּים) refers both to life in this world, ha'olam ha'zeh (העולם הזה), as well as to life in the world to come, ha'olam ha'ba (העולם הבא), where there is no more suffering and death... You may sometimes experience a painful mismatch between what you believe and how you behave; you may question how you can be a child of God and yet still struggle with sin in your heart; or you may not feel that you are a royal heir to eternal life, but nevertheless you should not let any of this lead you astray because "it is not completely clear what we shall be" (καὶ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα, 1 John 3:2). Despite the various struggles we inevitably face during our journey through this life, may never lose hope in God's promise but rather "believe to see" the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Amen.
In the Beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית)
10.03.18 (Tishri 24, 5779) Our Torah reading for this week (i.e., parashat Bereshit) commences the Bible with these famous words: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ, Gen. 1:1). Notice, however, that the Hebrew word translated as "beginning" (i.e., bereshit: בְּרֵאשִׁיתּ) means "with wisdom," since the word is based on the root idea of rosh (ראשׁ, "head," or "chief"), which suggests what is most important, i.e., "at the head of (all things)," "bechor," etc. Notice further the direct object "marker" (i.e., אֵת) of the verb bara (בָּרָא) in this opening verse. Read literally, it would say "With wisdom (or "within his own mind [i.e., rosh: ראשׁ] or counsel") God created all things - Aleph through Tav (אֵת) - namely, the heavens and the earth." Some have said the direct object marker here refers to Yeshua, and while it is indeed true that He is the "Aleph and Tav" (Rev 1:8), the Direct Object of the Universe -- "the One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" -- in this verse he is Elohim (אֱלהִים), our Creator, which agrees with many other Scriptures such as Col. 1:15-17, Heb. 1:1-3; John 1:1-14; Eph 1:21; Phil. 2:9-11, Rom. 14:11 (with Isa. 45:22-24); Rom. 11:36, etc. Others have said "Aleph-Tav" here refers to the holy alphabet, or the power coming from the Word of God.
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Providential Creation (השגחת השם)
10.02.18 (Tishri 23, 5779) When you feel discouraged or anxious because of difficult times, remember how the LORD God created the world and sustains it for the sake of the revelation of his love for you... You may not understand the present moment, though you can assuredly trust that God's salvation given in the Messiah Yeshua heals you forever and ever. Declare at all times, then: "The world was created for my sake, though I am but dust and ashes." God is faithful, the great Amen of the human heart's cry. Your inner being is redeemed by God for you to experience and know the blessing of eternal life (John 17:3).
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלם
שֶׁהַכּל נִהְיָה בִּדְּבָּרוֹ
ba·rukh · at·tah · Adonai · E·lo·hey·nu · me·lekh · ha·o·lam
she·ha·kol · ni·he·yah · bi·de·va·ro
"Blessed are you LORD our God, King of the Universe,
who brings about everything by His Word."
Because you are made in the image of God, you are mikdash me'at, a small sanctuary or "temple" for the LORD (Luke 17:20-21; Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 6:19).
The Song of Desire...
[ The following is related to our Torah portion for this week, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.02.18 (Tishri 23, 5779) The midrash says that the word "bereshit" (בְּרֵאשִׁית) can be arranged to spell shir te'eiv (שִׁיר תְּאֵב), meaning the "song of desire." This is the holy plea sounded by all of creation to be made whole, healed, and ultimately perfected. As it says in our Scriptures: "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope" (Rom. 8:20). Therefore when we take hold of Yeshua's heart, vision, and mission, we partake in the repair of the world (תיקון עולם) by testifying of God's healing love given in Messiah. We begin and end our journey to life with the "song of desire" on our lips – that is, with our heart awakened to its need for God. As it says: "The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them" (Psalm 145:18-19).
אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְעָלַי תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ
ani · le'do·di · ve·a·lai · te·shu·ka·to
"I am my beloved's and his desire is upon me."
(Song 7:10)
Seedbed of Creation...
[ The following is related to our Torah portion for this week, parashat Bereshit... ]
10.02.18 (Tishri 23, 5779) The Scroll of Genesis (סֵפֶר בְּרֵאשִׁית) is truly the "beginning," the "root," and the "seedbed" of all the subsequent Scriptures - including the message of Yeshua and the revelation of the New Testament. In Genesis we see the creation and ruin of man through sin, but we take hold of the promise of deliverance through the coming Seed of the woman; in the Book of Exodus (שְׁמוֹת) we see God's powerful redemption secured through the blood of the Lamb; in the Book of Leviticus (וַיִּקְרָא) we encounter communion and atonement in the holy sanctuary; in the Book of Numbers (בַּמִדְבַּר) we experience the leading of God through desert places, and in the Book of Deuteronomy (הַדְּבָרִים) we are renewed by God's faithfulness before we take hold of our inheritance. Ultimately, the concluding book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, serves as a climactic "final chapter" of the story begun in Genesis, where the Tree of Life (עֵץ הַחַיִּים) is restored to the midst of the paradise of God, and the presence of sin and death have been forever eradicated....
Everything begins with the foundational truth that Almighty God is our personal Creator (הַבּוֹרֵא). This is the first principle and axiom of all rational thinking: "In the beginning (בְּרֵאשִׁית), God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). Notice that the word "beginning," i.e., bereshit, comes from the word reishit (רֵאשִׁית), meaning first or best (Psalm 111:10), which does not necessarily mean "the beginning" in a temporal sense (הַרִאשׁוֹן), but rather primacy or rulership over all that exists. Indeed, the word includes the root idea of "head" (ראשׁ), which suggests the "head of all things," that is, to the Messiah, the Creative Word of God who is the "head of all beginning and authority" and through Whom and for Whom all things were created (Col. 1:16; 2:10).
Many of the traditional sages state that "in the beginning" (בְּרֵאשִׁית) refers to the wisdom of the Torah. Quoting Proverbs 8:22, these sages actually say that God created the world for the sake of Torah, what they call "reshit darko" (רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ). In other words, wisdom (i.e., chokhmah: חָכְמָה) is personified as the Torah, the Agency of Power that created the universe. In light of the New Testament, we understand the divine wisdom personified as Yeshua our Messiah - the expression of God's will in creation... the manifestation of the "strong arm" of the LORD and his mighty power that created the enormous complexity of the universe yesh ma'ayin, "out of nothing..." Indeed, Yeshua is the Living Torah (i.e., ha'Torah ha'chayim: התורה החיה) and the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world - the One revealed before creation as its source and end. As it says in the New Testament: בְּרֵאשִׁית הָיָה הַדָּבָר - "in the beginning was the Word," וֵאלהִים הָיָה הַדָּבָר - and God was the Word... הַכּל נִהְיָה עַל־יָדוֹ - All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made (John 1:1,3). Followers of the Messiah Yeshua do not worship a book, though the LORD our God is indeed the faithful Lawgiver, the Source of all truth and therefore he can never contradict the perfections of his own inner nature. Only the LORD God Almighty receives the glory of creation forever and ever (Rev. 4:11).
God freely chose to create the universe in order to share his wisdom, glory, and love with other beings he created... All this was for the sake of the Messiah, who built the world in chesed (חֶסֶד) and who forever reigns as the King of eternal life and love.
יְהוָה קָנָנִי רֵאשִׁית דַּרְכּוֹ קֶדֶם מִפְעָלָיו מֵאָז
Adonai · ka·na·ni · re·shit · dar·ko · ke·dem · mif·a·lav · me·az
"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his way,
before his works of old" (Prov. 8:22)
The Book of Genesis itself begins by stating that on the "first day" God created the heavens and the earth:
בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ
be·re·shit · ba·ra · E·lo·him · et · ha·sha·ma·yim · ve·et · ha·a·retz
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth"
(Gen. 1:1)
The term "heavens" here (שָׁמַיִם) refers metaphorically to God's exalted throne that was surrounded by innumerable angels who were present at the time of creation (Job 38:4-7), and the term "earth" (אָרֶץ) refers to a state of watery chaos (from רוּץ, suggesting running water) that was part of the primordial material of creation itself (indeed the word for "heavens," sha- (ש) + mayim (מַיִם), implies a connection with the original waters (mayim) of creation). God then created the divine light and separated it from darkness (Gen. 1:3-5). On the second day, God separated the waters to create the atmosphere (Gen. 1:6-8); on the third day, God separated the earth from the waters and created vegetative life and seeds (Gen. 1:9-13). On the fourth day, the cycle was renewed: God first created the celestial lights (sun, moon, stars) to mark the seasons and time (Gen. 1:14-19). On the fifth day, He brought forth fish from the waters and birds from the atmosphere (Gen. 1:20-23), and on the sixth day, God brought forth living creatures from the earth (Gen. 1:24-25), culminating in the creation of mankind in his image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-31). Of Adam, it was written, "whose father was God" (Luke 3:38), since he bore the divine seed that was to be "planted" and rooted in God's house of creation. The rest of the Bible, in a sense, is the story of the "prodigal son" and how he returns home to his father...
In the account of the creation (בְּרִיאָה) given in Genesis, it is important to understand that the grammar of the text clearly speaks of creation in six literal days... The Hebrew word yom (יוֹם), or "day," always refer to a distinct 24 hour solar day when it is used in reference to evening and morning or when used in reference to a stated number of days. The formula, "it was evening, and it was morning, one day" (וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד), further indicates that day follows night, since light was created (and separated) out of darkness. This explains why we start the Sabbath and festivals at sunset of the night before. The idea of a literal six days of creation is also the foundation for the weekly Sabbath itself: "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exod. 20:11).
The idea that "day" refers to an indefinitely long period of geological time is a modern invention based on Enlightenment ideals of science.... Attempting to reconcile so-called evolutionary theory with the account of creation given in the Torah actually undermines the message of the gospel itself, since it puts death, disease, suffering, etc., before the transgression of Adam and Eve. Moreover, it is evident that Yeshua believed in the literal creation of Adam and Eve (Mark 10:6) and therefore he held to a "young earth" theory, just as he believed in a worldwide (not local) flood during the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-39).
Likewise the so-called "gap theory" (i.e., the idea that there is a "gap" of time between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2 wherein Satan was judged causing God to re-created the earth) is obviously in error since it disregards the testimony of Yeshua regarding the uniqueness of the creation of Adam and Eve "in the beginning," and it furthermore undermines the radical consequence of their sin. Neither does it adequately explain the mystery of evil (i.e., the presence of the "monster in the garden") nor the exile from the garden because of Adam and Eve's disobedience... It is true that later judgments of God allude to the idea of "tohu va'vohu" (e.g., Isa 34:11; Jer 4:23), but it must be stressed that this usage in the prophets should not be "read into" the description of the earth during creation.... There is no mention of a "gap" theory in the Scriptures, so it is an argument from silence, really, though there is a lot of witchcraft and midrash that talk about Lilith, etc. as Adam's first wife, etc. In the Fourth Commandment it is clearly stated that the heavens, the earth, the seas, and all that is in them were created in literally six days (Exod. 20:11). That God created the universe over a six day period (rather than in a single instant) is of course a mystery, though it is attested quite literally by the hand of God Himself (Exod. 24:12; 31:18).
Notice finally that the Divine Light (האור האלוהי) of the first day of creation (Gen 1:3) is not the same as the light of the cosmic spheres. God created the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day to demonstrate that everything in the universe was created through the light of His Word (Gen. 1:14-19). If the sun had been created before everything else (big bang), it could have been said that the world was without beginning, and the earth produced life through the influences of astronomical bodies. The Torah states that plants were created before the sun and moon to indicate that nothing can exist apart from God's sovereign will. Yehi ... Vayhi ... God called everything into being by the Word of His Power (בִּדְבַר גְּבוּרָתוֹ). Therefore we recite the blessing: Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha'olam shehakol niyah bidvaro, translated as: "Blesssed are You, LORD our God, Master of the Universe, who brings forth all things by His Word."
וַיּאמֶר אֱלהִים יְהִי אוֹר וַיְהִי־אוֹר
וַיַּרְא אֱלהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר כִּי־טוֹב
וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחשֶׁךְ
וַיִּקְרָא אֱלהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם וְלַחשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה
וַיְהִי־עֶרֶב וַיְהִי־בקֶר יוֹם אֶחָד
va·yo·mer · E·lo·him · ye·hi · or, · vay·hi · or
va·yar · E·lo·him · et · ha·or · ki · tov
va·yav·del · E·lo·him · ben · ha·or · u·ven · ha·cho·shekh
va·yik·ra · E·lo·him · la·or · yom · ve·la·cho·shekh · ka·ra · lai·lah
vay·hi · e·rev · vay·hi · vo·ker · yom · e·chad
"And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
And God saw that the light was good.
And God separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.
And there was evening and there was morning, the first day."
(Gen. 1:3-5)
Notice that the word "light" appears five times in this passage, which prompted the sages to say there are five kinds of light, each corresponding to a book of the Torah. "Let there be light" (יְהִי אוֹר) refers to the Book of Genesis and the Divine Light of Messiah; "and there was light" (וַיְהִי־אוֹר) refers to the Book of Exodus, when during their deliverance from Egypt Israel had the redemptive light of Messiah within their homes; "God saw the light" (וַיַּרְא אֱלהִים אֶת־הָאוֹר) refers to the Book of Leviticus, which deals with the light of Messiah's sacrifice and atonement - the light of teshuvah; "God separated the light from the darkness" (וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלהִים בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחשֶׁךְ) refers to the Book of Numbers, when God judges evil by the truth of King Messiah; and finally, "God called the light Day" (וַיִּקְרָא אֱלהִים לָאוֹר יוֹם) refers to the Book of Deuteronomy, which enlightens the eyes of the one who loves the Messiah b'khol levavkha, with all of the heart...
Seeing the Unseen...
10.02.18 (Tishri 23, 5779) The Torah begins with the Hebrew letter Bet (בּ), representing the number two, because God created not one world, but two. There is the realm of this world, called olam ha-zeh (עוֹלָם הַזֶּה), and there is the realm of the world to come, called olam ha-ba (עוֹלָם הַבָּא). The letter Bet therefore represents a two-fold house (בַּיִת) - the "house" of physical creation and the "house" of spiritual reality. The letter itself is formed from three Vavs (ו), which add up to 18, the same value for the word chai (חי), or "alive." We are strangers and sojourners here. Life is this present world is likened to a walking a corridor that leads to the next world. Awaken to your eternal end in the world to come: "Know whence you came and to where you are going and before Whom you are destined to give a final accounting" (Pirkei Avot 3:1). Learn to discern "the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world" (Rom. 1:20). "So do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Yeshua our Messiah (Phil. 3:14).
Torah as our Heritage...
10.01.18 (Tishri 22, 5779) Our spiritual inheritance is bound up with the Torah: it is part of our story, our history, and our heritage as follows of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah (Deut. 33:4; Matt. 5:17-19; Gal. 3:7; Rom. 4:16; Luke 24:27). הַיְשׁוּעָה מִן־הַיְּהוּדִים - "Salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). The stories, rituals, and laws of the Torah serve as parables and allegories that inform the deeper meaning of the ministry of Messiah: "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor. 10:11). "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Rom.15:4). Therefore you are no longer a stranger or outsider to the heritage of the LORD (Eph. 2:19). Disciples of Yeshua are called talmidim (תַּלְמִידִים) -- a word that comes from lamad (לָמַד) meaning "to learn." Among other things, then, following the Messiah means becoming a student of the Scriptures He loved and fulfilled (Matt. 5:17-18; Luke 24:44-45). Only after learning from Yeshua as your Teacher will you be equipped to "go to all the nations and teach" others (Matt. 28:19).
You are no longer an "outsider" to the covenants and blessings of Israel, friend (Eph. 2:19; Gal. 3:26; Rom. 2:28-19). The Torah is clearly part of your heritage as a follower of Yeshua, the anointed King (i.e., Messiah) of Israel... Indeed, the first thing Yeshua did after his resurrection was to teach his followers how the Torah, the writings, and the psalms bore prophetic witness of Him (Luke 24:27, 44). Moreover Yeshua told his followers that the true prophets of Israel all bore witness of Him (see Matt. 5:11-12).
The Narrator of Torah...
10.01.18 (Tishri 22, 5779) Since we are about to begin reading the Torah again for another year, it is worthwhile to remind ourselves about how the Torah itself begins... In this connection we note that it speaks from an omniscient, "third person" perspective. When we read, "In the beginning, God (אֱלהִים) created the heavens and the earth," we must ask who exactly is speaking? Who is the narrator of the Torah? The next verse states that the Spirit of God (רוּחַ אֱלהִים) was hovering over the face of the waters (Gen. 1:2), followed by the first "direct quote" of God Himself: i.e., יְהִי אוֹר: "Let there be light" (Gen. 1:3). The creative activity of Elohim (God) and the presence of Ruach Elohim (the Spirit of God) are therefore narrated by an omniscient Voice or "Word of God" (i.e., davar Elohim: דְּבַר הָאֱלהִים). Obviously the Spirit of God is God Himself, just as the Word of God is likewise God Himself, and therefore the first verses of the Torah reveal the nature of the Godhead. God is One in the sense of echdut, "unity," "oneness," and and so on, though not "one" in the monistic sense of a solipsistic mind (νοῦς). God is beyond all theological predications: there can be no sense of "person" apart from relationship, and therefore God's Personhood entirely transcends all our finite conceptions - and yet God forever is One....
One Day at a time...
10.01.18 (Tishri 22, 5779) Instead of inwardly chafing over the tests and struggles we face in this life, we might look for reasons to be grateful, for how else can we come to know that the Lord is with us apart from his ongoing deliverance? We ask the Lord for our daily bread (לֶחֶם חֻקֵּנוּ), but I wonder if we are not starving ourselves with fear of the future... Daily bread cannot be stored or hoarded lest it become spoiled and rotten (Exod. 16:20). We must live today in complete trust before the Lord our God, who is forever faithful and true. He it is who said, "Don't be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow has its own troubles. Live one day at a time" (Matt. 6:34). It makes no sense to worry about the future if the LORD is the Good Shepherd who tenderly watches over your way (Psalm 23:1).
Trust from the Heart...
10.01.18 (Tishri 22, 5779) "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). Note the contrast between trusting and understanding in this familiar verse. Trust is a matter of heart, the decision to let go, whereas understanding is analytical, "objective," a matter of physical seeing. Human reason may help you discern the "what" of faith, but it is powerless to waken the soul, to breath life into heart, and to impart passion to seek God's Presence as your greatest need and your utmost good. That only comes through the painful awareness of your own sinful condition, the inner conviction that you are utterly undone and without hope apart from the real presence of God in your life...
בְּטַח אֶל־יְהוָה בְּכָל־לִבֶּךָ
וְאֶל־בִּינָתְךָ אַל־תִּשָּׁעֵן
be·tach · el · Adonai · be·khol · lib·be·kha
ve·el · bi·na·te·kha · al · tish·sha·ein
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and do not rely on your own understanding"
(Prov. 3:5)
Hebrew Study Card
Most commandments do not test how we comprehend our faith as much as they test the surrender of our heart. The test of faith requires bittachon (בִּטָּחוֹן) - that is, abandoning our need to understand so that we can completely cling to God's wisdom...
"Fear not, for I am with you..." אַל־תִּירָא כִּי עִמְּךָ־אָנִי. What we need most of all is right here, present in this hour, whether we're conscious of it or not. God is with you, even if you feel alone, lost in darkness, unclean, afraid... "Dear Lord Jesus, I don't know who I am, I don't know where I am, and I don't know what I am, but please love me" (prayer of a sufferer from Alzheimer's disease). That's what we need most, to trust that we are safe in God's love, and that's the ultimate message of our atonement in Messiah.
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