Last week’s Torah portion (i.e., parashat Bo) described how the Israelites were finally delivered from their cruel bondage in Egypt after God issued the decisive plague during the time of Passover. In this week’s portion (i.e., parashat Beshalach), the Israelites began their journey home, after 430 years of exile. Instead of leading them along a direct route to the Promised Land, however, the LORD directed them south, toward the desert, where the Glory of God appeared as a Pillar of Cloud by day and as a Pillar of Fire by night to lead them on their way. When Pharaoh heard that the Israelites were at the border of the desert, however, he perversely decided to pursue them and bring them back to Egypt. God then redirected the Israelites to camp near the edge of the Sea of Reeds, where the Egyptian army finally caught up with them. Dramatically, the Israelites were caught between the sea on one side, and Pharaoh’s army on the other…
Though the Scriptures teach that the realm of the demonic exists, we encounter its presence most usually in thoughts and feelings that torment us. That is where the battle begins. In the mind. The monster that tempted Eve in the Garden got into her head before she bit into the fruit from the forbidden tree. And unless we are on guard against insinuations of godless insanity, we are liable to be under its influence as well…
You might think that demonic oppression is something flamboyant or requiring the ministrations of an exorcist, but long before such intervention may be necessary, the mind has been captivated by evil and deranged thinking. Such thinking may have its origins with a demons named “worry,” or “shame,” or “unworthiness” or “envy.” But a common strategy of the devil is to supply plausible ideas that are designed to deceive us and lead us astray.
Everyone is a theologian of sorts. The difference, however, is whether you are a good theologian or one who is swamped with muddled thinking about the issues. As C.S. Lewis once said, “Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered. The cool intellect must work not only against cool intellect on the other side, but against the muddy heathen mysticisms which deny intellect altogether. Most of all, perhaps we need intimate knowledge of the past.”
The devil doesn’t care if it is a “holier-than-thou” theology, a murky mysticism of “absolute tolerance,” or a smarmy disavowal of faith in God altogether — he is equally pleased with the sensualist as well as the atheist, indeed, he is content with any distortion of the truth, for this enables him to “feed” his deluded ego as the “Prince of Darkness.”
In a way, dealing with evil thinking is prosaic and unremarkable. After all, the airwaves of mass media continually disseminate lies, disinformation, and godless thinking in countless formats and through diabolical stratagems. Whenever we encounter the demonic affecting us, then, we should not panic or be scandalized, but must instead reaffirm the truth of God and resolutely submit to his will (James 4:7). Sometimes this means contradicting the lie by quoting Scripture, offering praise to the Lord, and asking your Heavenly Father for deliverance. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to command the evil spirits to silence their blasphemies and to cease their intrusions. If we find ourselves going out of control emotionally, we are giving ground to the devil. The best tactic is to stay calm and re-center our focus on the Lord who is always present. There is shalom – that is, healing, wholeness, and soundness of mind – as we regain awareness of the greatness and the beauty and the glory of our God.
Our Torah reading for this week, called parashat Bo, begins with God commanding Moses “to go” (i.e., bo: בּא) before the Pharaoh to announce further apocalyptic judgments upon Egypt. The purpose of this power encounter was to vindicate God’s justice and redemptive love for his people, that is, his deliverance or salvation, by overthrowing the tyranny of unjust human oppression. Pharaoh’s nightmare of “one little lamb” outweighing all the firstborn of Egypt was about to be fulfilled….
In our Torah for this week (i.e., parashat Va’era), the LORD told Moses that He was about to fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by giving the Israelites the land of Canaan, and that he had heard the “groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians held as slaves” (Exod. 6:5).The LORD (יהוה) was now coming down to earth to fight and save his people! Israel would now know that He alone is their Savior and God. The “showdown” between the LORD (יהוה) and the so-called “gods” of Egypt was imminent, and God therefore encouraged the people with precious promises: “I AM the LORD (אֲנִי יְהוָה) and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgment; and I will take you to me for a people and I will be to you a God” (these are the “four expressions of redemption” we recite during the Passover Seder every year).
Despite these wonderful promises, however, the people were unable to listen because of their “shortness of breath” (מִקּצֶר רוּחַ) on account of their harsh slavery. The LORD then told Moses: “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land,” and the great showdown between the LORD and the gods of Egypt began. However, even after repeatedly witnessing the series of miraculous plagues issued in the Name of the LORD, the despot remained proud and unmoved, thereby setting the stage for the final devastating plagues upon the land of Egypt and the great Passover redemption of Israel.
The Book of Exodus (סֵפֶר שְׁמוֹת) begins directly where the book of Genesis left off, by listing the “names” (shemot) of the descendants of Jacob who came down to Egypt to dwell in the land of Goshen. Over time Jacob’s family flourished and multiplied so greatly that the new king of Egypt – who did not “remember” Joseph – regarded the Israelites as a political threat and decided to enslave them. When the king’s oppression did not curb their growth, however, he commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill all newborn Jewish boys. When the midwives refused to obey, however, the Pharaoh decreed that all newborn boys were to be forcibly drowned in the Nile river.
In this audio summary, I discuss the first portion of the Book of Exodus, parashat Shemot, as well as the significance of the secular New Year and our approach to understanding the holidays in general.
People tend to underestimate the radical nature of their sinful condition, which truly is a “sickness unto death.” However, even the metaphor of lethal sickness itself is not strong enough, since the spiritual condition of the natural man is the state of being spiritually dead… Apart from direct divine intervention on behalf of the individual soul, a person is literally unable to respond to God and receive the gift of eternal life. That is why Yeshua taught that we need a spiritual rebirth in order to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3).
This is the new principle of life from God (i.e., chayim chadashim: חַיִּים חֲדָשִׁים) that operates according to the “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom. 7:23, 8:2). God loves His children with “an everlasting love” (i.e., ahavat olam: אַהֲבַת עוֹלָם) and draws us to Himself in chesed (חֶסֶד, i.e., his faithful love and kindness). As it is written: “I love you with an everlasting love; therefore in chesed I draw you to me” (Jer. 31:3). Note that the word translated “I draw you” comes from the Hebrew word mashakh (מָשַׁךְ), meaning to “seize” or “drag away” (the ancient Greek translation used the verb helko (ἕλκω) to express the same idea). As Yeshua said, “No one is able to come to me unless he is “dragged away” (ἑλκύσῃ, same word) by the Father” (John 6:44). We are chosen from above (John 15:16). God’s chesed seizes us, takes us captive, and leads us to the Savior… Spiritual rebirth is a divine act of creation, “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). God is always preeminent, and the salvation of a particular soul is ultimately His prerogative.
Our Torah reading for this week, parashat Vayechi (ויחי), recounts how the great patriarch Jacob adopted Joseph’s two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) as his own children. When Jacob blessed the boys, however, he intentionally reversed the birth order by putting the younger before the older, signifying that the old struggle he had faced as a child was over, and he now understood things differently. And note Ephraim and Manasseh’s reaction: the older did not envy the younger, nor did the younger boast over the older. The family had apparently learned that blessing from God is for the good of all, and that there is no real blessing apart from genuine humility that esteems the welfare of others.
Following this, Jacob was ready to summon his family to hear his final words. Among other things, he foretold how the Messiah would come from the line of Judah and then instructed his sons to bury him only in the promised land, and not in Egypt (Gen. 49:10-12; 49:29-32).
After his death, Joseph and his brothers, with various dignitaries of Egypt, formed a funeral procession and returned to Canaan to bury Jacob in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. After the funeral, they returned to Egypt, but Joseph’s brothers feared that he would now repay them for their former betrayal and threw themselves on his mercy. Joseph reassured them that they had no reason to fear him and reminded them that God had overruled their earlier intent by intending him to be a blessing to the whole world (Gen. 50:20).
The portion ends with the account of the death of Joseph, who made the sons of Israel promise to take his bones with them when the LORD would bring them back to the land of Canaan (alluding to the great Exodus to come). Joseph’s faith in the Jewish people’s return to the Promised Land is summarized by his statement: “God will surely remember you” (Gen. 50:24). He died at age 110, was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt, full of faith that he would be raised from the dead in the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Among other things, the story of Joseph reveals how God’s hidden hand moves for good in our lives. Despite the terrible betrayal of the pit, the unjust suffering of the prison house, and the sorrow of losing his family, there was light, exaltation, and joy to come forth. God knows how to take our emptiness to yield “storehouses in Egypt…” As Joseph later told his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). Resist the temptation to judge by mere appearances. Forbid your sorrow to blind the eyes of faith. Do not unjustly judge God’s purposes or try to understand His ways; accept that He works all things together (συνεργέω) for good — making even the very wrath of man to praise Him…
In our Torah portion for this week, parashat Vayigash, Benjamin stood before Joseph accused of the theft of a chalice, while Judah “drew near” (vayigash) and vicariously offered to bear the penalty for his brother, pleading with Joseph to spare his father the loss of yet another son. Joseph was so moved by Judah’s act of mesirat nefesh (self-sacrifice) that he decided the time had finally come for him to reveal his identity to his brothers. After clearing the room, he began speaking in Hebrew and said, אֲנִי יוֹסֵף הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי, “I am Joseph, is my father still alive?” When the brothers drew back in shock and dismay, Joseph said, “Draw near to me, please” (from the same verb nagash) and then explained how God providentially brought him to Egypt to save the family’s life….
The revelation of Joseph and his reconciliation with his brothers is a prophetic picture of the acharit hayamim (end of days) when the Jewish people will come to understand that Yeshua is indeed the One seated at the right hand of the majesty on high as Israel’s Deliverer. At that time Yeshua will speak comforting words to His long lost brothers and restore their place of blessing upon the earth. Indeed, the entire story of Joseph is rich in prophetic insight regarding our Lord and Savior. Vayigash (וַיִּגַּשׁ) means “and he drew near,” referring first to Judah’s intercession for the sins of his brothers, and then to Joseph’s reciprocal desire for the brothers to draw near to him (Gen. 44:18, 45:4). Joseph initiated the reconciliation by saying, גְּשׁוּ־נָא אֵלַי / g’shu na elai – “Please draw near to me,” and indeed there is a play on the verb nagash (נָגַשׁ), “draw near,” throughout this story. Yeshua is depicted both in Judah’s intercession (as the greater Son of Judah who interceded on behalf of the sins of Israel) and in Joseph’s role as the exalted Savior of the Jewish people in time of tribulation. When Joseph disclosed himself and asked, “Is my father alive,” we hear Yeshua evoking the confession of faith from the Jewish people: “I am Yeshua: do you now understand that My Father is alive?” Upon His coming revelation, all Israel will confess that indeed God the Father is “alive” and has vindicated the glory of His Son.
At Sinai we heard the voice of God (קוֹל אֱלהִים) speaking from the midst of the Fire (Deut. 4:33), an event that foreshadowed the great advent of the King and Lawgiver Himself, when the Eternal Word (דְבַר־יְהוָה) became flesh and dwelt with us (Phil. 2:6-7; John 1:1,14). Any theology that regards God as entirely transcendent (i.e., God is beyond any analogy with the finite) will have a problem with divine immanence (i.e., God is inherent and involved within the finite), since the highness, holiness, and perfection of God will make Him seem distant, outside of us, far away, and unknown…
Incarnational theology, on the other hand, manifests the magnificent humility and nearness of God to disclose the divine empathy. Indeed, the LORD became Immanuel (עִמָּנוּ אֵל), “God with us,” to share our mortal condition, to know our pain, and to experience what it means to be wounded by sin, to be abandoned, alienated, forsaken. It is God’s own bittul hayesh (בִּטּוּל הַיֵּשׁ) – his self-nullification for the sake of love and truth. The “Eternal made flesh” bridges the gap between the realm of Ein Sof (אין סוף), the infinitely transcendent One, and the finite world of people lost within their sinful frailty. Of course we believe Adonai Echad (יְהוָה אֶחָד) – that the “LORD is One” – both in the sense of being exalted over all things but also in the sense of being compassionately involved in all things (Rom. 11:36). We therefore celebrate the giving of the Torah both at Sinai and especially at Bethlehem with the birth of Messiah. We celebrate that God is indeed the King and Ruler over all, but we further affirm that God’s authority and rule extends to all worlds – including the realm of our finitude and need…
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the climax of Sinai was the revelation of the Sanctuary. The two tablets of the law, summarizing the Ten Commandments, were stored inside the famous Ark of the Covenant (אֲרוֹן בְּרִית־יְהוָה), a sacred “three-in-one” box placed in the innermost chamber of the Tabernacle called the Holy of Holies (קדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים). As such, the Ark served as kisei ha-kavod (כִּסֵּא הַכָּבוֹד), the Throne of Glory itself. Upon the cover (or crown) of the Ark (i.e., the kapporet) were fashioned two cherubim (i.e., angel-like figures) that faced one another (Exod. 25:17-18). According to the Talmud (Succah 5b), each cherub had the face of a child – one boy and one girl – and their wings spread heavenward as their eyes gazed upon the cover (Exod. 25:20). It was here that God’s Voice would be heard during the Yom Kippur service, when sacrificial blood was sprinkled upon the crown to symbolize the atonement of sin secured through Messiah, the Word that became flesh for us… In the very heart of the Sanctuary, then, we see the Word of God and the sacrificial blood.
The LORD God Almighty was clothed with human skin: our flesh, our bones… The miracle of the incarnation is the Absolute Paradox, as Kierkegaard said, wherein the infinite and the finite meet in mystery of the Divine Presence. Here God “touches a leper,” eats with sinners and prostitutes, sheds human tears, and suffers heartache like all other men… The gloriously great God, the very Creator of the cosmos, has “emptied Himself” to come in the form of a lowly servant (δοῦλος) – disguised to the eyes of the proud and hardhearted, but is revealed as High Priest to those who are genuinely broken and in profound need. The LORD God is God over all possible worlds, and that includes both the celestial realms of the heavens but also the world of the fallen, the ashamed, the alienated, and the lost… God’s infinite condescension reveals and augments the majesty of His infinite transcendence. There is no world – nor ever shall there be such – where the LORD God Almighty does not reign and have preeminence.
Do not suppose for a moment that the Torah of Moses does not teach “incarnational” theology. Since God created human beings in his image and likeness, the “anthropomorphic language” of Scripture is meaningful. The LORD reveals himself in human terms – using human language, expressing human emotions, and so on, as it says: Moses spoke to God panim el panim – “face to face” (Deut. 34:10). The Torah always has to take on human form – the Word made flesh – for the sake of human beings who live in flesh and blood reality…
The greatest expression of God’s word is found in the Presence of Yeshua. This is the Word of God that “tabernacles” with us, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Yeshua is the “Living Torah,” Immanuel (עִמָּנוּ אֵל), “God with us,” who enters our world to rescue us from death. Our Scriptures state that “in these last days God has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the Heir of all things, through whom also He created the worlds” (Heb 1:2). Note that the Greek construction for the phrase translated, “by his son” is ἐλάλησεν ἡμῖν ἐν υἱῷ, which literally means “he spoke to us in Son” — that is, in the language or voice of the Son of God Himself… God speaks the language “of Son” from the midst of the fire revealed at Zion. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe (μετὰ αἰδοῦς καὶ εὐλαβείας) – for our God is Esh Okhelah – a Consuming Fire” (Heb. 12:28-29).
Addendum: Consider further the metaphorical and anthropomorphic language of the Scriptures: God “sees,” God “hears,” the “hand of the LORD” saves, etc. Without an implied incarnational theology, there would be no language that we could comprehend about God who is the Infinite One that transcends all things… God gets angry; God feels sorrow; God is jealous; God is a lover, etc. all these metaphors bring the language of heaven into the world of humanity… The Spirit that imparts revelation does so inside a human brain and is translated into human apprehension. Yeshua is the Substance of the shadowy talk of analogical language; he embodies God-life before us…. Yeshua is the Word of God made flesh — able to touch us, know us, share in our suffering, heal us of our sin-sickness, etc.
Last week’s Torah portion (i.e., parashat Bo) described how the Israelites were finally delivered from their cruel bondage in Egypt after God issued the decisive plague during the time of Passover. In this week’s portion (i.e., parashat Beshalach), the Israelites began their journey home, after 430 years of exile. Instead of leading them along a direct route to the Promised Land, however, the LORD directed them south, toward the desert, where the Glory of God appeared as a Pillar of Cloud by day and as a Pillar of Fire by night to lead them on their way. When Pharaoh heard that the Israelites were at the border of the desert, however, he perversely decided to pursue them and bring them back to Egypt. God then redirected the Israelites to camp near the edge of the Sea of Reeds, where the Egyptian army finally caught up with them. Dramatically, the Israelites were caught between the sea on one side, and Pharaoh’s army on the other…
Though the Scriptures teach that the realm of the demonic exists, we encounter its presence most usually in thoughts and feelings that torment us. That is where the battle begins. In the mind. The monster that tempted Eve in the Garden got into her head before she bit into the fruit from the forbidden tree. And unless we are on guard against insinuations of godless insanity, we are liable to be under its influence as well…
Our Torah reading for this week, called 
In our Torah for this week (i.e., 
The 
People tend to underestimate the radical nature of their sinful condition, which truly is a “sickness unto death.” However, even the metaphor of lethal sickness itself is not strong enough, since the spiritual condition of the natural man is the state of being spiritually dead… Apart from direct divine intervention on behalf of the individual soul, a person is literally unable to respond to God and receive the gift of eternal life. That is why Yeshua taught that we need a spiritual rebirth in order to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3).
Our Torah reading for this week, 
Among other things, the story of Joseph reveals how God’s hidden hand moves for good in our lives. Despite the terrible betrayal of the pit, the unjust suffering of the prison house, and the sorrow of losing his family, there was light, exaltation, and joy to come forth. God knows how to take our emptiness to yield “storehouses in Egypt…” As Joseph later told his brothers, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). Resist the temptation to judge by mere appearances. Forbid your sorrow to blind the eyes of faith. Do not unjustly judge God’s purposes or try to understand His ways; accept that He works all things together (συνεργέω) for good — making even the very wrath of man to praise Him…
In our Torah portion for this week, 
