TorahBytes: God's Words - No More, No Less (Re'eh)

Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 13:1 [English 12:32]; ESV)

In the biblical book Mishlei (English: Proverbs) we read:

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Mishlei / Proverbs 30:5,6; ESV)

Whatever God has said is true. Why would we want to add or subtract to what he has revealed? Can we enhance his Word by adding to it? And what would we gain by taking anything away from it? Through the Scriptures God has given us all we need in order to know him and to know our place and purpose in his plan.

Yet for one reason or another, even those of us who claim to accept the Bible as God's written and authoritative Word, add and subtract from it - at times knowingly, at times unknowingly.

Some of the ways we add to God's Word is due to speculation. The Bible doesn't always give us the kind of detail we may prefer or expect. Lack of description in a narrative portion or not being given an explanation as to why God said this or that may lead us to make guesses. Not being satisfied with the information we do have, there is a tendency to elaborate. While giving some time to speculation can be helpful in gaining better understanding of a particular portion, we may read our speculations into the words of the Bible, resulting in our becoming confused over what God has really said.

Legends are stories or concepts that may or may not be historically accurate, but to which we may have sentimental attachment. Similarly, traditions are rarely questioned as to whether they are condoned by the Scriptures. Loyalty to legends and traditions may blind us from accepting that they are actually additions to God's Word.

We may also add to the Bible through how we interpret it. Interpretations may not look like additions, but when they become authoritative we have added our opinions of the Bible to the Bible.

Subtracting from the Bible is something we may do simply because we want to. When certain passages make us uncomfortable, we may choose to reject them. A more subtle way in which we reject portions of God's Word is to ignore them. We might do that by not allowing ourselves to be exposed to certain portions of Scripture or by not taking the time to understand them.

Theological preferences may limit how open we are to the whole Bible. Instead of letting the Bible mold how we think about God and life, our commitment to an interpretive scheme or grid may filter out parts of the Bible.

Another way we subtract from God's Word arises from how we answer the very important question, "What in the Bible applies to us today?" Of course there are significant Bible passages that we are not expected to keep today (for example, I know of no serious Bible scholar who would insist that we follow the Old Covenant sacrificial regulations - not that we cannot learn from such passages). Be that as it may, there is a growing tendency among some to deny the relevancy of Bible passages based on the fact that our current culture is so very different from the cultures of Bible times. This view makes culture the interpretive key rather than the biblical text. If culture becomes the basis of whether or not to follow a directive of God, then we have little basis to follow almost anything in the Bible.

But note what we read from the book of Mishlei:

Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Mishlei / Proverbs 30:5,6; ESV)

There is an intimate connection between our relationship to the words of God and the protection we have in him. Neglecting his words places us in significant danger. To add to his words will result in God's confronting us and in some way showing that we have misrepresented him. It is when we receive, believe, and act upon his every word that the Master of the Universe will be our protection and refuge.

TorahBytes: God's Words (Ekev)

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 8:3; ESV)

As Moses recaps the forty-year journey of the people of Israel through the wilderness, he explains the purpose of the provision of manna. Manna was the food that miraculously appeared on the ground each day, except on the Sabbath. Through this God was teaching the people to rely solely upon him. The statement "man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD" is sometimes taken to mean that our lives depend on not just physical substance, but also upon God. But that is not what this says. What we have here is actually two ways of living. One is "by bread alone"; the other is "by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD". Either we live life dependent on the fulfilling of our basic physical needs or upon God. The people of Israel needed to learn that for life to be lived the way God intended, we need to be dependent upon him alone.

Note that relying upon God is not described in vague terms, but with reference to his words. Moses didn't say that man lives by depending or trusting in God, which would be true, but that "man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD". Living life the way God intends requires strict attention to his every word.

What Moses says is of great importance with regard to our understanding of the inspiration of the Bible. If the Scriptures (Old and New Covenant writings) are inspired by God, then to what extent are the words themselves inspired? Are the Scriptures only inspired in some general sense or did God intend the words themselves to be written the way they were? The New Covenant writings state the latter:

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21)

There has been a growing tendency among Bible believers to think that it is only the meaning of the words and not the words themselves that are inspired by God. Failing to accept that words determine meaning, opens us up to all sorts of concepts that God never intended.

Some Bible scholars belittle the words of Scripture by asserting that these words are only truly relevant to the time and culture in which they were written. They claim that in order for us to effectively understand and apply the teachings of the Bible to our day, it is necessary to separate the words from their intended meaning. Because the Bible writers saw the world so differently from how we do, it's only the eternal truths, which are somehow contained within or behind the words they wrote, that are relevant to us today.

This approach rejects the fact that it is God's words, not just his Word in some general sense, which are inspired. It rejects what Moses said (God through Moses actually) that we are to live by every word that comes from God's mouth. God inspired the writers of Scripture to write the very words through which he has revealed both himself and his will to us.

It is true that there are many differences between the way the writers of Scripture and we today view the world. But perhaps if we lived by every word that came from God's mouth, we would once again view the world the way God does.

TorahBytes: Discipline (Va-Ethannan)

Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. (Devarim / Deuteronomy 4:36; ESV)

Perhaps the oldest misconception about the difference between the Old and New Covenant writings (Old and New Testaments) is that their portrayals of God are opposed to one another. This is commonly expressed as "the Old Covenant God is a god of wrath and the New Covenant God is a god of love". This false dichotomy can only emerge from selective reading. There is no time here for me to demonstrate that the portrayal of the God of Israel is consistent right through the entire Bible. His complex personality as one who regards his human creatures as his children, longs to be in right relationship with them, going to great means to restore such a relationship, yet insisting on strict adherence to his will, a neglect of which means grave consequences, is how the whole Bible portrays him.

I think many people who have any understanding of the God of the Old Covenant, but have never read the New Covenant Scriptures, would be quite surprised at how consistent the God of Yeshua, Paul, and Peter is with the God of Moses, David, and Isaiah.

Few, if any, serious adherents of the New Covenant would think that the Bible refers to two distinct gods. Yet it seems to be common to think that under the New Covenant he has gone through some sort of transformation. It is as if at one time he went around with an angry scowl waiting to strike anyone who stepped out of line. But with the coming of Yeshua, he has morphed into a sort of Santa Claus, taking us on his knee and showering us with presents - the adorable kids we all are. These two caricatures in no way accurately describe the God of the Bible.

This warped view of God would make understanding the reference I read from this week's Torah portion next to impossible. According to Moses the purpose of God's speaking to the people of Israel was to discipline them. Let's not be confused by the word discipline. In this context it is not referred to punishment, but rather to a lifestyle in keeping with God's standards. This is like the discipline an athlete undergoes or the learning of a diligent student, which is another word for disciple.

Readers of the New Covenant should be quite familiar with the term disciple, since it is used so frequently to describe followers of Yeshua. Followers of Yeshua today, therefore, should be quick to note that God's purpose in speaking to his people has not changed throughout all these centuries.

While through Yeshua God has accomplished his goal of reconciliation with people, he still speaks to us in order to discipline us. Human beings naturally desire freedom from all restraint, preferring to live for self. We tend to bristle under the concept of a God to whom we must give an account, and we value personal pleasure over loving and caring for others. In order to be what we were originally designed to be, it is we, not God, who must be transformed - a transformation that only God can provide. Once this occurs we still need clear instruction on how to live out that transformation. Through God's Word and his work in our lives he disciplines us in order to make us all we need to be.

If we have a misinformed perception of God's character, we could easily misinterpret God's discipline. Many seem to not understand that true discipline is an act of love. Confusing love with permissiveness, which is another common misconception in our day, leads to the kind of warped view of God that I was referring to earlier. While a right relationship with God must include his forgiveness and acceptance, it also includes his correction and confrontation. Just look at how Yeshua related to his disciples in the Gospels to see this in action. Just look at how he relates to us today.

TorahBytes: Chosen To Fail (Devarim)

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. (Isaiah 1:4; ESV)

The Bible is primarily the story of God. We learn the story of God through the life experiences of a particular people group: the nation of Israel. While the purpose of the Bible is to make the true God known to all peoples, he is revealed for the most part through this one people. This is summed up in the first book of the Torah, where God says to Abram, "...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Bereshit / Genesis 12:3; ESV).

As the story of the Scriptures unfolds, there are many wonderful accounts of God's magnificence demonstrated through ancient Israel: Moses standing before the world power of his day to lead his people out of slavery; Joshua leading the nation in conquest of the Promised Land; David defeating the giant; Elijah calling down fire from heaven. But these and other shining moments are actually the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, Israel failed in its mission to be God's light to the nations. Isaiah's words that I began with don't only apply to the time in which he spoke. They are rather a reflection of much of Israel's experience right through the Scriptures.

This doesn't mean that Israel did not fulfill its purpose to which it was called. Even though Israel did fail to live up to the standards God set for them, God revealed through them one of the most important truths that we as human beings must learn in order to know God - that on our own we cannot live up to his standards. Hundreds of years after Isaiah indicted Israel for its failure to follow God, another member of the nation of Israel wrote, "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God (Romans 3:19; ESV).

Israel was indeed chosen to reveal God to the world, but a component of that was to make it clear that all people, whatever our background, cannot, on our own, be what we were intended to be. Israel's failure to live up to God's standards is no reason for other nations to point their finger at Israel as if they could have done better. Israel was chosen to demonstrate what we all really are - sinners in need of God's forgiveness and grace.

God's purpose in choosing Israel is only truly fulfilled as we recognize this need. It is when we stop pretending that we are better than we are and accept our dismal human state that we will be in a position to know God. Later in this week's Haftarah, Isaiah says, "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD: 'though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool'" (Isaiah 1:18; ESV). God desires to change us, but unless we recognize our sinful condition, we will never avail ourselves of his offer to do so.

In a day when self focus is expected, self fulfillment is encouraged, self improvement is assumed possible, and personal autonomy is viewed as a right, it is difficult to see ourselves reflected in the failure of ancient Israel. But our refusal to do so doesn't change reality. Until we humble ourselves to accept that we, like Israel of old are "laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly", then that is exactly what we will be.

TorahBytes: True Value (Mattot & Masei)

Thus says the LORD: "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?" (Jeremiah 2:5; ESV)

I recently had a discussion with someone about product price setting. I had thought that at least to some extent prices were set based on the inherent value of a thing, which would include the cost of production and a reasonable profit margin. My friend explained that, at least in an economy such as ours, the only factor that should be used in setting price is what the market would bear. Therefore in order to set a price for something I want to produce, I should ask the question, “What is the highest price that people would pay for it?”

This doesn't mean that just because people are willing to pay a high price for something, then it is a good and beneficial thing. It only means that it is valuable to those who purchase it.

How we value something determines the time, energy, and money we invest in it. There was a time when our society valued the household far more than today. While we may claim that we value family and home, how we spend out time contradicts what we say. The pursuit of career, the accumulation of things, and the love of self have taken over the importance of building strong and healthy families. Just as I don't understand why people would trade so much of their hard earned money on harmful substances such as cigarettes, I don't know why we have chosen to give ourselves over to the busy-ness of business and accumulation of things over and against investing in family life.

Our misconstrued perceptions over what in life is of true value stems from how we perceive God. In this week's Haftarah, God asks the question, "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless? (Jeremiah 2:5; ESV). The people of Israel knew the reality of God, yet they went after other things that they perceived as valuable, but were actually worthless. The picture here is of someone examining something and discovering a flaw, thus rendering the thing worthless as far as they were concerned. But what could that flaw be that God's people would turn from him? Of course, there is no such flaw. It is incomprehensible that anyone who truly knows God would turn from him. But that is exactly what the people did. Not only did they turn away from the Master of the Universe, they went after things of no real value.

I wonder how many people turn from God because of a wrong they perceive in him. This may be due to the way God is misrepresented by others. Other times we may draw wrong conclusions about God based on a misinterpretation of life events. Perhaps who God is offends us, because he doesn't meet our expectations or fulfill our preferences.

Whatever the reason, our inaccurate perceptions of God's value will result in our valuing worthless things. But notice that it doesn't stop there. When we value what is worthless, we ourselves become worthless. Made in God's image, we are of great value. God intended that we would live our lives in service to him and that we would be the reflection of all he is. But if we fail to rightly value he who is of greatest value, we ourselves become worthless, no longer able to fulfill the purpose to which we were made.

Thankfully through what the Messiah Yeshua has done for us, we can be restored to that purpose. It is not too late to realize the worthlessness of the worthless things we value and begin to value those things that are of true value, beginning with God himself.

TorahBytes: Confidence (Pinhas)

But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. (Jeremiah 1:17; ESV)

Jeremiah was called by God to speak messages that were most unpopular in his day. A terrible time in the history of the Jewish people, Jerusalem was on the verge of being destroyed and the people about to be exiled far away to Babylon. Calling the people back to God was something one would expect from a true prophet, but to tell them to submit to the conquest of the Babylonians is something else all together. It doesn't surprise me that the political leaders considered this message treasonous.

Jeremiah must have expected that being entrusted with such a message would put him in a most precarious situation with his people. Moreover, God himself told him that the people would "fight against him" (1:19; ESV). God's promise that they would not prevail against him must have helped, but it would not have necessarily made his job easy.

Regardless of how Jeremiah would have perceived what he was facing, God called him to a high level of confidence. That he was not naturally confident is evident by his initial response to God's call when he said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth" (1:6; ESV). In spite of Jeremiah's hesitancy, God insisted he conduct himself confidently. In fact unless Jeremiah resisted the temptation to be intimidated by the people, he would be undone by fear. In the way God put it to Jeremiah, he was not to be dismayed by the people; otherwise, God would cause him to be dismayed by them.

This is not the same as saying to someone, "Don't be scared, lest you be scared," which would sound so obvious to the point that it would hardly be necessary to say. Saying, "Don't be scared" would be enough. But there is more to this than that. God told Jeremiah that if he feared the people, God himself would cause him to fear them. Jeremiah's fear would not be due to the absence of confidence, but due to God's undermining any remaining confidence and security he may have had.

Perhaps God's dealing with Jeremiah in this way was due to his promises to him: "Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you" (1:8; ESV); "I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (1:10; ESV); "I am watching over my word to perform it" (1:12; ESV). The God who called Jeremiah to deliver the difficult message also committed himself to stand with him through it all. Therefore for Jeremiah not to conduct himself with confidence was to disbelieve God - the foundational wrong that led his people into the tragic situation before them.

If you are familiar with the rest of the story of Jeremiah, you would know that his confidence to faithfully deliver the messages given him didn't keep him from the expected difficulties. The leaders and people were violently against him. He suffered much at their hands. Yet he continued in confidence, never wavering from his God-given calling.

What we see in the life of Jeremiah is that God gives us no neutral ground. It is not as if our choosing to disregard his word allows us to live disconnected from him as if we are free to do our own thing, so to speak. Either we trust him and his promises, resting in the confidence of his being with us in and through everything or we disbelieve him, resulting in his undermining our lives. To not trust God doesn't cast him away, as if we can be free of his presence and influence. Turning our backs on him puts him at odds with us.

Jeremiah's call to confidence doesn't just differentiate believer from non-believer, but is also a warning to those who claim to believe in God. Those of us who say we know him yet refuse to take confidence in him should not be surprised at the intensity of our fear. It's not necessarily that we are weak in faith, but rather our refusal to trust him as we should may be what is resulting in God's causing us to unreasonably fear.

If this be the case, we should not despair. Jeremiah shows us that in spite of our natural inclination to fear, we can take confidence in God. And as we do, even though we must go through very troubling situations at times, God will prove faithful as he has promised.

TorahBytes: Taking Matters into Our Own Hands (Hukkat & Balak)

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them." These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy. (Bemidbar / Numbers 20:12,13; ESV)

One of the central messages of the whole Bible is the reconciliation of God and people. The Torah begins with proclaiming God as creator of the universe, intimately involved at every stage. The culmination of creation is God's special intervention in the making of man and woman in his image. No room for macro-evolutionary theory here.

It isn't long before our first parents take matters into their own hands and turn from God's clear directives, resulting in the predicament into which every human being has found themselves in. Our alienation from God is the primary cause behind sickness, death, suffering, our inability to get along with others, and our failure to properly care for the planet.

The Bible documents God's plan of restoration of his creation and in particular the re-establishment of our relationship with him. The purpose of writing this down is to extend an invitation of reconciliation to all and any who would put their trust in the Messiah.

Sadly, many who have been exposed to the Bible with its promise of God's reality, his love, his forgiveness, and his peace continue to feel far away from God. The claims of Scripture remain simply words. Praying prayers, singing songs, taking courses, and getting involved in various programs have failed to remove a continued sense of alienation.

While I am aware of countless stories of the dramatic internal change God has brought about in the lives of so many followers of Yeshua, is it possible that we have created an expectation that the genuineness of biblical faith is confirmed through our feelings rather than through God's truth? When I first heard about Yeshua I was told that if I believed in him I would be happy for the rest of my life. Thankfully there was so much more to the message I heard that day even though the offer of endless happiness intrigued me. That day I learned how Yeshua fulfilled messianic prophecy, of my need of forgiveness and how Yeshua met that need through his sacrificial death and his rising from the dead. I learned that through turning from my sins and trusting in Yeshua as Messiah, I would be made right with God. All this would become real to me no matter how I might feel emotionally. Still, since then I have had to fight my tendency to focus on my feelings rather than on God's reality.

I get the impression, however, that some people purporting to represent the Bible's teaching would rather I did focus on my feelings. The message of reconciliation with God has been transformed into one of self contentment as if God's goal in sending the Messiah was so that we could all learn to feel good about ourselves.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Over and over again the Bible calls us to turn from ourselves and to submit to the truth and reality of the God of Israel. While he has gone out of his way to restore us into right relationship with him, he doesn't cater to us. He indeed loves us, cares for us, helps us, even serves us, but always on his terms, not ours. When Moses momentarily took matters into his own hands, it disqualified him from entering the Promised Land. His and Aaron's failure to treat God as holy didn't break their relationship with him, but it did result in unnecessary disfavor.

This is a far cry from the "God's children can do no wrong" philosophy that appears to be sweeping the hearts and minds of so many today. I don't know why so many who claim faith in Yeshua struggle as they do, but this struggle will not be resolved by molding the God of the Bible into something more palatable, understandable, and predictable.

In our frustration and disappointments, let us be careful not to take matters into our own hands, but rather let God reveal himself on his own terms according to who he really is.

TorahBytes: Who Directs Your Life? (Shela Lekha)

When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly. And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, "Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned." (Bemidbar / Numbers 14:39,40; ESV)

If we didn't know this story, I wonder what we would think of what I just read. In response to Moses' words, the people had a great change of heart and sought to do what God had told them. What God had told them was to enter the Promised Land. Twelve scouts had spied out the land and brought back a mixed report. They all agreed that it was a wondrously fertile land, but only two of the twelve had any confidence that the people could conquer its residents. The ten others honestly thought Israel would be slaughtered. The influence of these ten won over the hearts of the people. The quote I read is the change of heart of at least some of them.

The problem with this supposed change of heart is that God had already pronounced judgment on their lack of faith. Go and read how they responded to the challenge facing them. They didn't simple struggle with the daunting task before them; they outright rejected God's direction and were preparing to choose a new leader and return to Egypt. It wasn't until after God pronounced judgment on them and the ten rebellious scouts died of a plague, that they expressed themselves as recorded in what I quoted.

That they felt bad and confessed their sin are good things, but taking matters into their own hands by trying to do what God had wanted them to do originally is just more of the same rebellious attitude that got them into trouble in the first place. When they attempted to enter the Land they were slaughtered, since God's protection was no longer with them.

When we read the whole story, the presumption of these people is obvious. Even though God had originally told them to enter the Promised Land, due to their rebellion against him, he pronounced judgment upon them, sending them back to the wilderness to wander for thirty-eight more years. When Moses told this to the people, some of them responded by attempting to fulfill God's original directive. By determining themselves what of God's word they would obey, they demonstrated that they had learned nothing from the sin they confessed. Their phony attempt at obedience was nothing other than the perpetuation of the same sin.

The real problem that these people were not willing to face was that no matter how much they talked about God, no matter how honestly they grieved over their sins, they were nonetheless directing their own lives. They didn't listen to God when he told them to enter the land. They didn't listen to him when he told them they had to return to the wilderness.

No matter how much we invoke God's name, directing our own lives is sin - the same sin our first parents committed in the Garden. True faithfulness to God is about relinquishing control over our lives and obeying his directions on his terms. So when we find ourselves in a predicament due to our own wrongdoing, let us not think we can fix the past by trying to do the right thing after it's too late. Instead let us be attentive to what God is saying to us at that point, letting him and him alone direct our lives.

TorahBytes: Getting Older (Be-Ha'alotkha)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting. And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more. They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties." (Bemidbar / Numbers 8:23-26; ESV)

To date, the most difficult birthday I have ever faced was when I turned fifty a couple of years ago. I always thought of myself as not caring about getting older. Others would bemoan "getting old" at their thirtieth or fortieth birthdays, while I took pride in how I couldn't care less about such superficial matters as age - that is until I approached fifty. There was something about that number that sounded very old to me. I think it is because I was the youngest in my family and always saw my parents, especially my father as old. Even though he was in his forties when I was born, I don't remember him as being any younger than fifty. Fifty to me has always put people in their senior years.

But what's wrong with getting older? I am aware of common fears such as failing health and death, but for me I struggle with a sense of running out of time in the fulfillment of whatever my life is about. My guess is that some of you completely understand what I am talking about, while the rest of you think I am being silly. I thought when people felt this way at twenty, thirty, or forty that they were being silly. It wasn't until I reached fifty that I understood. Maybe you will never feel this way, but don't be surprised if you do one day.

I am encouraged (and corrected) by the Bible's view of aging. Apart from how it clearly honors the elderly (a group that I still don't see myself as a part of regardless of how old I think fifty is), the Scriptures never see people as done with their lives until they are dead - and even then we are not truly done. More than one key Bible character didn't begin to fulfill their calling until well past their fiftieth birthday.

This week's Torah portion illustrates this. The age of fifty was when the Levites were to "withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more." It isn't clear as to why fifty was the age for this, but it was. Yet note that this was not a regulation regarding retirement, but rather a necessary shift in their duties. At fifty they were no longer to perform the other duties of a Levite, but instead they were to "minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard." After performing the other Levitical duties for twenty-five years they were to move into a protective role.

In an age such as ours where youth is so greatly valued, I have wondered what role older people are called to play. The common retirement model of "having worked for forty years, now I can sit back and enjoy life" is disappearing. What it is being replaced with is a pressure for older people to compete with younger folks in order to keep their jobs. Our failure to recognize the special call of God on older people is a recipe for disaster.

As the Levites did, so older people need to move into protective roles. Becoming a supervisor in a company or an elder in a congregation, to name a couple of examples, are not simply rewards for working hard for a number of years. They are special roles given to those who through years of life experience should be best equipped to help guide the younger and less experienced members of our communities. As we get older, we should be growing in wisdom so that we can effectively stand on guard on behalf of those whom we serve.

TorahBytes: Is God Stirring You? (Naso)

And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. (Shoftim / Judges 13:25; ESV)

This week's Haftarah tells the story of the birth of Samson. Samson is a most difficult Bible character, due to the fact that his behavior doesn't seem to always be in line with the divine inspiration under which he apparently operated. His life is an example of a biblical interpretive principle referred to as "descriptive, not prescriptive", meaning that just because something is mentioned in the Scriptures doesn't mean that it is to be taken as an example for us to follow. Samson's foibles are confusing to the reader, but at the same time it reminds us that the reality of God in a person's life doesn't justify their bad behavior. I am mentioning this because I wanted to discuss an aspect of God's reality in Samson's life without justifying everything he did.

God had definite plans for Samson and his role among his people for deliverance from their enemies. God gifted Samson with extraordinary strength and the courage to take on the enemy in great numbers. This week's portion concludes with the statement that at a certain time God's Spirit began to "stir him."

Samson was born with a calling, but there was a point in his life where God began to prod him to begin to do that for which he was called. At times in the Bible we read of people to whom God spoke, giving them specific direction as to a certain course of action. But this is not always the case, as we see here with Samson. Something was going on in his heart that urged him to do something about the dire circumstances of his day. This perhaps is similar to David when he heard Goliath's challenge to Israel and saw the fear prevalent among his own people. Without a specific directive from God, as far as we know, something happened inside of David that motivated him to take on the challenge.

Have you ever been stirred? You were living your normal life and something began to brew inside you? It might have been an all-of-a-sudden thing or it grew over a period of time. But the sense of stirring got to the point that you could in no way ignore it. You knew you had to do something - exactly what it was may not have been clear - but you had to do something. Whatever it was most likely had to do with change - changing the way things were to the way things should be. The thought of things continuing as they were was unbearable.

Of course not all stirrings we experience are of God. We can be stirred by anything from human pity to evil passions. Advertising, for example, depends on our being stirred to action, usually by making a purchase.

How then do we know when it is God who is stirring us? That's a question not always easy to answer. In Samson's case, he was called by God to "save Israel from the hand of the Philistines" (Shoftim / Judges 13:5; ESV). So when God began to prod him to fight against the Philistines, he knew it was in keeping with God's plan. You and I may not have received such a clear blueprint for our lives as did Samson, but the Scriptures are a general blueprint for our lives. As God prods us to confront the sub-standard situations in which we find ourselves, in order to subject them to his rule, we would be well-advised to heed that prodding. As to the exact course of action, we should seek God for wisdom and direction before doing anything. But as God gives that wisdom, we need to begin to act upon his stirrings.

TorahBytes: Depth (Shavuot 2)

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19; ESV)

When I first came to know the reality of God through the Messiah over thirty years ago, it was pretty much me-centered. I was told that if I believed in Yeshua then I would be happy for the rest of my life. There was much more to it at the time. Yet while the person who shared this with me also explained my need of forgiveness before God and how the Hebrew Scriptures pointed to Yeshua as the Messiah, the motive for accepting what was presented to me was for the most part how it would make me happy.

Thankfully, God made himself known to me in spite of this inaccurate information. Don't get me wrong, it is not as if knowing God has no personal benefit. It's that knowing him is not primarily about me, my personal needs and my happiness. I would eventually learn that I would not be happy all the time, even though through Yeshua I have indeed experienced a depth of happiness that I never dreamed possible, but I also have experienced a type of peace and security in the midst of difficulties I never thought possible.

The depth of reality that comes from truly knowing the God of Israel is well-expressed through the words I read from this week's Haftarah. It is striking that this portion is a special reading for the festival of Shavuot (English: Pentecost or Weeks). Shavuot is a harvest festival, a time to rejoice over God's provision. But Habakkuk says that he will rejoice in God even when the harvest produces nothing. This is a difficult concept if we think, as I originally did, that following God is all about what we get out of it.

Habakkuk's words remind me of the Jewish men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who, in exile in Babylon, faced excruciating death due to their unwillingness to commit idolatry. Just before being thrown into the fiery furnace, they said to the king of Bablyon, "...our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Daniel 3:17,18; ESV).

This understanding of God and life went far beyond their own selves, their personal welfare, comfort, and prosperity. They knew that there is a reality of life through knowing God that is far deeper than what many of us normally experience.

Habukkuk could rejoice in God even in the face of starvation. His strength and ability to face dire circumstances was not based on normal material prosperity but in God himself. This is no abstract spirituality detached from the realities of life, but a strength that enables us to live this life in the midst of enormous challenges.

In order to begin to grasp the depths of this reality we need to first turn away from our obsession with self and our desire to please self. It is as we submit ourselves to God and his will for our lives, whatever that may be, that we can find a joy and a strength beyond our wildest dreams.

TorahBytes: Guard the Truth (Bemidbar)

But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony. (Bemidbar / Numbers 1:53; ESV)

The tribe of Levi was set apart by God for the work of the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle) and later in Israel's history, the Temple. The cohanim (English: "priests") were a subset of the tribe of Levi as they were the sons of Aaron, Moses' brother, both of whom themselves were Levites. The cohanim were responsible for the sacrifices, while the rest of the Levites looked after all sorts of other things regarding the Mishkan. One of the Levites' responsibilities was to guard the Mishkan. According to the verse above, the reason for this was "...so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel." The protection of true religion with its priesthood and rituals was for the welfare of the people.

Religious leaders need to stand guard on behalf of the things of God. The preservation of true religion is necessary to ensure that people relate to God according to his reality. Otherwise it is not really God they are encountering. And if it is not really God whom people encounter, they will suffer harm through delusion, demonic influence, and immorality.

In order to effectively stand guard for God's Truth, we must first understand that God isn't the one who needs protecting. God is God and his truth is eternal. He will show himself to be who he is and his truth will prevail. We are the ones who suffer when God's Truth is perverted. We protect God's Truth, not because God needs us to, but rather because people need us to.

Second, religious leaders don't stand guard for God's Truth to protect themselves. Too often religious leaders are threatened by perceived attacks on the things they espouse. But if their motive is to protect self and position, they will not be able to discern the difference between an attack on the Truth or a necessary correction to their own errors,

What does need to be protected is the Truth of God as given to us in the Scriptures. Too many people who otherwise claim to uphold the revelation of God through the Bible have become careless in preserving an accurate understanding of God's Truth. In most cases this carelessness is due to one of three things. The first one is a commitment to one's tradition over and against the Truth of Scripture. In this case what is being protected is something other than the Truth itself. As a result the Truth of God is neglected and/or made inaccessible to others.

The second cause of carelessness stems from an outright denial of God's Truth. These are leaders who remain part of traditions that at one time carefully guarded the things of God, but now have turned their backs on the Truth, purposely redefining it due to their denial of Scripture.

The third cause comes from a desire to make God's reality accessible to as many people as possible. These leaders tend to think of the notion of guarding God's Truth as harmfully restrictive. They fail to see that preserving an accurate revelation of God is necessary for people to truly know the God they are anxious to make known. By not insisting that the God they claim to offer people is in strict accordance to the truth of Scripture, they are actually doing people far more harm than good.

When leaders are careful to stand guard for God's Truth, insisting that he is accurately represented to the world around us, then people will have the opportunity to really know him and be effectively equipped to live life the way God designed us to.

TorahBytes: Are You Well Rooted? (Be-Har & Be-Hukkotai)

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7,8; ESV)

Most of the time you can't tell how people are doing just by looking at them. While some people are better at hiding their struggles than others, it seems that most people are pretty good at it. I continue to be surprised at some of the horrific things people go through in life and the amount of unresolved trauma that haunts them. Perhaps it shouldn't surprise me due to my own hardships, but like many others, I have tended to think that my negative experiences have been unique to me rather than seeing them as the common plight of human beings. I know that not everyone goes through extreme traumatic experiences, but they are far more common than we may admit.

While trouble and trauma are common human experiences, God did not design us to face such things on our own. Rather he has availed himself to us by providing sustenance for those times when our own resources are completely depleted. The picture painted through the prophet Jeremiah is that of a tree whose roots are driven down deep into a fresh water source. Whatever might be going on above ground, the tree's nourishment is derived from that rich underground source. That which determines the health and strength of the tree is hidden from view, yet it is the tree's secure connection to this life source that enables it to withstand the harsh realities above the surface.

So it is for those who trust in God. Trusting in God is not simply fulfilling religious rituals or spouting a creed. It isn't based on your parents' supposed faith or some decision or experience you have had in the past. Trusting in God is a continuous giving of one's life to God in such a way that you accept his forgiveness and salvation through his provision of the Messiah, and allow him to determine the course of your life by following his directives. Trusting in God is not a passive state of non-engagement with the realities of life. On the contrary, it is a cooperation with God as he desires to drive your roots deep down into himself so that you will be able to withstand all that he is leading you to face in life.

The picture of the healthy tree flourishing in the midst of harsh circumstances is contrasted to those who trust in people, whether themselves or others (see 17:5,6). With no connection to a nourishing life source, like a shrub in the desert, this person is blown away when hardships come.

Though we often try, we cannot control our circumstances. Harsh circumstance are common to the human experience. Yet, we were not designed to face these things alone, left to our own meager resources. God intends that we should live our lives dependent on him. Moreover, the person who trusts in God is called "blessed." This is not about mere survival in hard times, it is about flourishing - even being a resource to others - when everything around us seeks to suck us dry.

Access to God's nourishing resources is available to anyone who puts their trust in him through Yeshua the Messiah. But perhaps this is something that you have done, yet you seem to be more like the dry shrub than the flourishing tree. Your willingness to admit it is your first step to effectively connecting with God's life-giving resources. Perhaps you have been trusting in yourself and others more than in him. Ask God to drive your roots down deep until you know his refreshing, life-giving nourishment.

TorahBytes: Holiness Matters (Emor)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name: I am the LORD." (Vayikra / Leviticus 22:1,2; ESV)

I don't imagine that the subject of holiness matters to most people. I would guess that most people don't even know what holiness is. So let's start there. The world "holy" is the English translation of the Hebrew word "kadosh", which has to do with something being set apart from common use and given over to God. The priests, for example, were considered holy, not because there was anything special about them in and of themselves, but rather because their lives were dedicated to God's service. The sacrificial system itself included the use of items such as pots, pans, knives, forks, and so on. And just like the priests, what made these items holy was that they were to be used only for God.

It is interesting that God himself is called holy. This likely refers to God's absolute otherliness in contrast to human beings. When we call God, "holy", we are making a statement that he is completely otherly, absolutely separated unto himself. This is in contrast to the prevailing spirit of paganism that confuses God with his creation.

The third book of the Torah of which we are in the midst deals quite a bit with the subject of holiness. The verses I read at the beginning refer to how the priest had to make sure that they did not handle holy things when they, for one reason or another, were not fit to do so. It was a very serious matter to mistreat holy things. It could have cost someone their life to transgress one of God's holiness directives.

The seriousness of the holiness laws stem from the holiness of God himself, which as I said relates to who he is. To belittle God's holiness is to misrepresent him. To misrepresent God is not just some little inaccuracy that could be easily overlooked. To misrepresent him is to deny him entirely and fabricate a false god.

One of the greatest things that the Messiah accomplished for us through his sacrificial death and resurrection is that he made us holy. Like the priests of old, if we truly entrust our lives to Yeshua, we are set apart to God's service. Like the priests we are not special in and of ourselves, we have been made distinct because we have been dedicated to God.

Since God has made us holy, we need to understand the importance of holiness. Some may think that because our holiness is solely based on what God has done for us through Yeshua, we needn't be concerned about it anymore as if holiness no longer mattered. But since holiness is about who God is, then our holiness, just like that of the ancient priests, is to be a reflection of who God really is.

Holiness requires that God be represented accurately according to his own self-disclosure. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - the one who sent Moses and Aaron to free us from bondage in Egypt. He is the God of Joshua through whom the Promised Land was conquered. He is the God of King David through whom the Kingdom of Israel was established. He is the God of the Hebrew prophets, who prophesied both exile and restoration - a restoration of Israel to God through the Messiah, Yeshua of Nazareth.

God is not just a god of concept and spirituality. While he is indeed a God of love and forgiveness, these are some of his attributes, not the essence of his being. To reformulate God's self disclosure into images contrary to that which he himself has chosen is to misrepresent him; it is to disregard his holiness.

We must avoid the temptation to make the God of Israel more appealing to people. God's revelation of himself may be offensive to some, but recasting the true God into something other than himself is deceptive, which is of no benefit to anyone, not to mention the disdain it shows towards the true God.

As God's holy people we must be the set-apart people we are called to be. For it is only through our commitment to holiness that God will be seen for who he really is.

TorahBytes:Pragmatism Doesn't Work (Aharei Mot & Kedoshim)

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD." (Vayikra / Leviticus 18:1-5; ESV)

I was having a discussion with one of my son's politically savvy friends who was defending pragmatism as a foundational value for society. Merriam-Webster defines pragmatism as "a practical approach to problems and affairs," which commonly is taken to mean making decisions based upon what works rather than upon principle. This carries a subtle or not- so-subtle critique of idealists, who seem to want to stick to a set of ideals whether or not those ideals produce anything.

The pragmatist's criticism of the idealist is at times well warranted. Idealists can tend to so consume themselves with their grand theoretical notions that they don't allow their ideals to be proven in the real world. At the same time the pragmatist's commitment to "what works" tends to suffer from short-sightedness. Their supposed expertise in getting the job done doesn't easily embrace a long-term view. The pragmatist's apparent short-term gain rarely takes into account associated long-term losses.

One of the reasons for the dominance of pragmatism is un-pragmatic idealism. Understandably when a society's ideals don't seem to work, they will be challenged. While this critique of society's ideals is valid, the solution to ineffective ideals is not necessarily the giving up of those ideals. In fact, it is possible that the ineffectiveness of our ideals may have more to do with our failure to truly adhere to them, rather than an inherent weakness in the ideals themselves. There is nothing that renders grand ideals more ineffective than when we who claim to abide by them, actually deny them by our actions. That's called hypocrisy.

What the pragmatist fails to recognize and the hypocrite knows nothing about is that God's ideals are pragmatic; they really work! They may not deliver the kinds of immediate results that many of us prefer. Following God's ways can be inconvenient, difficult, painful, even embarrassing at times, but they produce long-lasting benefits. Note that following God's ways is also exhilarating, joyful, meaningful, and rewarding, but a focus on short-term results can rob us of these blessings even in the shorter term.

Is it that difficult to see that a good part of the reason for the current economic crisis, the breakdown of the family, and the sexually-transmitted-disease epidemic is due to the rejection of God's ideals in favor of short-sighted pragmatism? And yet I wonder how many of us think that this current crisis will be fixed with the very pragmatism that helped create the crisis in the first place. Pragmatism is not really pragmatic. If our so-called solutions just create more problems, they are not solutions. Pragmatism doesn't work.

It is only as we return to God's ways that we as individuals and communities will find real solutions to today's problems. Real commitment to God's ideals is the only thing that will truly work.

TorahBytes: We Cannot Contain God (Tazri'a & Mezorah)

Thus says the LORD: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:1,2; ESV)

One of the themes of the book of the prophet Isaiah is the contrast between the futility of idols and the reality of God. An idol is made by human hands, has no inherent ability, and is simply an object that exists within the normal confines of time and space. God, on the other hand, is the creator of all things, does whatever pleases him, and is not limited nor contained by the material world. In the beginning of the last chapter of Isaiah, God himself speaks of the irony regarding his own temple in Jerusalem. While he decided in some sense to dwell within this man-made structure, did people really think that this was his true home? Did they think that they possessed a building that was actually God's resting place? Did they really think that the God of Israel, the Creator and Master of the Universe, was contained within his temple in the same way idols of the pagan world were contained within theirs?

The answer is obviously "No!" God is beyond our comprehension and control. That he would allow himself to have anything to do with human beings is based solely upon his own self determination. There is nothing we can do to manipulate him into action. Yet throughout history it has been so easy to misinterpret his desire to bless us with the notion that he is putting himself under our control. His presence among us is wrongly taken to mean that we now somehow possess him. His prior blessings become the justification of current wrongdoing. What was meant to represent the reality of God in our midst to remind us to submit to his will becomes a trophy to which we appeal in order to justify our own desires.

The temple was to demonstrate God's desire to dwell among his beloved creatures. He chose Abraham and the nation of Israel as part of his plan to restore our right relationship with him which was lost in the Garden of Eden. That the temple like just about every other token of blessing God bestowed upon us would become our focus instead of God himself served to show our inability to properly relate to God. This was all in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, who, through his sacrificial death and his resurrection, would provide all that was necessary to restore us to God.

Yet, those of us who have come to know God through Yeshua the Messiah repeat the same mistake of God's people of old. We mistakenly confuse his expressions of mercy, kindness, and love to think that he is now under our control. We somehow think we have him under lock and key within our definitions, denominations, and ministries.

Isaiah's words are clear that God does give his attention to people, but to whom exactly? God says through him, "But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." God doesn't dwell within man-made structures, whether they be physical buildings or theological and philosophical ideologies. God regards humble people who fear his every word. This is not to say that physical buildings and theology have no place as some people think. Just because knowing God is first and foremost a matter of the heart doesn't negate the need for the effective use of facilities nor does it undermine the importance of theological truth. For any man-made system, whether they are ancient traditions or post-modern apparently unorganized chat sessions, easily degenerate into idols of human control, unless we remain in a posture of humble submission to God's word.

TorahBytes: Pay Attention to Detail (Shemini)

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. (Vayikra / Leviticus 10:1,2; ESV)

Both this week's Torah and Haftarah portions speak of the dire consequences of neglecting to carefully pay attention to how we relate to God. Following a most dramatic revelation of God to the people in response to their adherence to his word, Aaron's sons offer what the Torah calls "unauthorized fire". Exactly what it was they did, we do not know, but that is not the point. What is clear is that they approached God in a way that was wrong, and it cost them their lives.

I have mentioned on other occasions that there are things I read in the Scriptures that I don't like; this being one of them. That these two men would be burned to death sounds extreme. Perhaps it is, but that's what God did. That's how serious it was. The reader of the story is supposed to understand that. The story is meant to impact us, to shock us, to instill within us the fear of God.

King David should have known this. As a man "after God's own heart", he knew that his directives were meant to be followed. Why he neglected God's word on the occasion of bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, we don't know, but he did. As we read in this week's Haftarah, his neglect resulted in another unnecessary death:

And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:5-7; ESV)

In the case of Nadab and Abihu, we don't know their motive, but in David's case his heart was for God. He and those with him were so happy about restoring the precious Ark to a place of honor. Yet, David failed to do this wonderful thing in the way God had prescribed. Instead of having Levites carry the Ark on their shoulders, they transported it on an ox cart. When this unauthorized mode of transportation malfunctioned, Uzzah did what seemed right to him. He grabbed the Ark and God killed him.

Again, you and I may not like this story. David didn't. Aaron didn't like that God killed his two sons (see Vayikra / Leviticus 10:19). But how we feel about God and his ways is beside the point. God, the Creator of the universe and Lord of all, sees many things very differently from you and me. What we need to accept is that the way life works has nothing to do with how you and I feel about it. We may not like or appreciate how God does things, but seeing that he is God, he may do whatever he wishes.

Neglecting God's directives is killing us today. It may not be as dramatic as these stories, but no less real. Broken relationships, dysfunctional families, disease, lack of purpose and meaning, and addictions are just some of the consequences of our failure to pay careful attention to God's word. That people who have never read the Scriptures don't live according to God's ways is one thing, but that those who claim to know and honor the Scriptures fail to pay attention to its details is another.

We need to learn the lessons of these terrible stories. We need to make sure we know God's directives and follow them carefully. His word may seem to be inconvenient, unreasonable or irrelevant at times. But they are still his ways and to neglect them will result in negative consequences, whereas to abide by them is life.

TorahBytes: Tell the Story (Pesach)

You shall tell your son on that day, "It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt." (Shemot / Exodus 13:8; ESV)

Pesach (English: Passover) starts this year the evening of April 8. At Pesach we gather together for a Seder (pronounced say'-der) - a ceremonial meal designed to retell the story of our deliverance from being slaves in Egypt many centuries ago. For Jewish people Pesach reinforces this crucial part of our history as our defining moment. Our beginnings are in the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but our peoplehood is defined as those whom God himself delivered from bondage in Egypt.

The events of the past, both good and bad, are what shape us as individuals and communities. Knowing our history provides us with understanding of who we are. Today's overemphasis on the individual gives us the impression that we can define ourselves apart from our history, but that is plain nonsense. Just as we cannot define our own genetic code, but have inherited it from our past through our parents, so we enter this life with our historical background pre-defined, setting the stage for whatever part each one of us will play.

Pesach reminds us that we have a story to tell, a story that reaches far back in time. At Pesach we recite these words verbatim to our children: "It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt." Even though we were not literally in Egypt at the time of the deliverance, these words intimately connect us to this past event. We are the children of the Great Deliverance. We are the descendants of the slaves set free. We are the benefactors of God's rescuing power. We tell the story of Pesach so as not to forget. We tell the story so our children would know who they are.

However, to effectively tell the story, we must do more than simply go through the motions. We may recite the Seder much in the same way as our parents and grandparents did, but do we really grasp that this story really is our story? Whether we do or not doesn't change the reality of our past, nor does it change our true identity. Yet failure to effectively tell the story cuts us off from the impact of that reality. We are slaves set free. More than that! We are slaves set free not due to our own ingenuity, strength, or popularity, but rather we are slaves set free by the hand of God. What a story to tell!

But there's more! This story, however wonderful it is, is the backdrop of an even greater story of deliverance. What God did by rescuing us from slavery in Egypt foreshadows our deliverance from slavery to sin and death. What we as a people experienced in Egypt is a taste of what all people may experience through the Messiah.

Just as we need to retell the story of our deliverance from slavery in Egypt, so we need to retell the story of our greater deliverance in the Messiah. It is fitting that Yeshua directed us to do just that when he celebrated his last Pesach with his disciples. The matza (English: unleavened bread), the wine and the other elements of the Seder, which were designed to be part of the retelling of the earlier deliverance, now also retell the story of the greater deliverance.

Through the Messiah these stories of deliverance can become the stories of everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike, who trusts in him. God invites us to make these stories our stories. And once these stories are truly our stories, then we will truly have a story to tell.

TorahBytes: Preparation (Zav)

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (Malachi 3:24 [English 4:5]; ESV)

According to the synagogue calendar, the Sabbath before Passover (Passover this year begins the evening of April 8) is a special Sabbath called "Shabbat Hagadol" (the Great Sabbath). Shabbat Hagadol commemorates God's command four days before the first Passover in which all Israelite households were to take into their homes the lamb they would slaughter.

Effectively fulfilling a task often requires significant preparation. Whether it be a meal, a trip, a test, or a meeting, neglecting sufficient preparation almost certainly guarantees failure. Good preparation, on the other hand, is basic to success. Note that preparation is not just about being aware of the future task. Worry requires awareness, but produces nothing of value. Similarly just busying oneself in the name of preparation doesn't do any good. Effective preparation requires appropriate and thorough attention to whatever might be required in advance of the future task.

The chapter in which this week's special Haftarah reading for Shabbat Hagadol is found speaks of preparation. It tells of how God would send a messenger, Elijah, who will prepare the way before him. This is like when a dignitary or celebrity sends an advance team prior to his arrival to ensure that everything is ready before he arrives, so that when he does arrive he is able to most effectively accomplish the desired outcome.

Effective preparation puts us in a state of readiness. In this passage, God whose way was to be prepared before him, would arrive suddenly. This suggests that even though preparations would be made, God's arrival would still be somewhat unexpected. This makes the preparations that much more important. In order to receive God's coming properly the people would need to be prepared and remain prepared. A picture that comes to mind is of getting a fancy dinner ready for very important guests and then having to wait for their arrival. We know they are coming, but we don't know exactly when. As the minutes go by, we wonder if something may have gone wrong. At that point we have the choice to either keep everything prepared as is, so that everything will be as it should be when they arrive, or we can go on with the dinner without them and risk the embarrassment of their arrival, no longer prepared as we should be. Worse than that, we may give up on waiting altogether and miss their arrival.

Celebrating Passover is the reminder of God's provision of a lamb so that his people could escape his judgment and be set free to journey to the Promised Land. Sufficient preparation was absolutely necessary to ensure the people's participation in their deliverance. Passover is also the reminder of God's provision of another Lamb - the Messiah - whose preparation was spoken of by the prophet. Sadly many were not prepared for his sudden arrival. Now we prepare for his return. The words of the prophet remain relevant, but how long before he returns, we don't know. Yeshua is coming again, let's be prepared.

TorahBytes: Idolatry (Vayikra)

Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, "Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!" And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" (Isaiah 44:16,17; ESV)

In this passage, God through the prophet is mocking the practice of idolatry. The picture is of a person taking a piece of wood, using some of it to meet his personal needs (cooking and heating) and constructing a god from what's left over. It is possible that people in Isaiah's day wouldn't really use the exact same piece of wood for idols, cooking and heating, but rather this may be a humorous way to challenge people to realize that wood is just wood. How could anyone consider worshipping something made with their own hands? That the same material out of which idols are made is also used to meet basic human needs just makes the whole idea appear that much more ridiculous.

I would assume that even people who would consider themselves atheist or agnostic would agree with Bible believers on this one. Bowing before a statue and asking it for help is truly ridiculous. For sophisticated thinkers, we look at such religious practices from an enlightened perspective. Unlike people of old who believed that they had to perform all sorts of rituals to appease the gods in order to prevent disaster and ensure prosperity, we think that we possess the correct understanding of the forces of nature and have learned to effectively manipulate them to our advantage.

The scientifically minded person, especially of the agnostic or atheistic sort, looks at the natural universe and says, "That's all there is!" For these people living life is about interacting with the natural forces and that's all.

Bible believers disagree, since the Bible clearly teaches that there is more to the universe than what can be perceived by our senses. Besides God himself, the Bible speaks of such creatures as angels and demons. Supernatural spiritual forces affect life on earth. The Bible also teaches us how to properly relate to these spiritual forces, not in the manner common in many counterfeit religions, but through the humble service of the God of Israel in the name of the Messiah.

If we accept the Bible's view of life, then the natural universe is not "all there is". In fact, the natural universe is just one part - although a highly significant part - of something of great purpose and meaning. For the atheistic or agnostic naturalist on the other hand, meaning is completely arbitrary based on personal preferences, which is the same as saying there is no meaning at all. Instead of meaning and purpose, material things are all there is.

Since the Bible teaches that material things are only one part of God's plans and purposes in the universe, stuff should be kept in balance with other areas of life and should be regarded as tools in the service of God. Material things should never be our focus.

While we don't literally bow down to material things, once we grasp the reality of God and the true meaning of life, then our obsession with things begins to look as ridiculous as the idol worshipper Isaiah describes. The idol worshipper uses some of his stuff for his basic needs of cooking and heat and then he pleads to the stuff left over for help. Is that so very different from us? Even if we don't actually plead with our stuff to deliver us, in what do we find our security and well being? Are they based on our relationship to God or on material things?

What would Isaiah say to us today? Perhaps something like this: "With some of his income he buys food for himself and his family and pays the heating bill. With the rest he fills his home with all sorts of things to which he gives his heart and soul, saying, 'Thank you for delivering me.'"

TorahBytes: The Manifest Presence of God (Va-Yakhel & Pekudei)

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Shemot / Exodus 40:34,35; ESV)

An important teaching of the Scriptures is the omnipresence of God, which is another way to say that the God of Israel is everywhere. As King David wrote, "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!" (Psalm 139:7,8; ESV)

Even though God is everywhere, that doesn't mean that he makes himself known everywhere in the exact same way. This is what we see at the completion of the Mishkan (English: Tabernacle). The cloud was a visible and powerful expression or manifestation of God. The overwhelming nature of God's presence in the cloud was such that Moses could not enter the Mishkan while the cloud was there. This didn't mean that the Creator of the Universe was exclusively contained within this cloud. It is that this was a special and tangible way in which God revealed himself. This type of expression of God's presence is often called "the manifest presence of God."

Some Bible believers deny that God still manifests himself in this way today. They think that legitimate, biblical spirituality is exclusively conceptual, something of thought and faith only. While it is good to celebrate God's tangible reality among people in ancient times, they think we should be satisfied with the Bible stories alone. When we do this we may not realize that we are denying the very stories we claim to hold dear. The Bible attests that God makes his presence known in various tangible ways. To claim that his manifest presence was a reality in Bible times only is to set an arbitrary limit on what God is free to do.

Other people confuse God's manifest presence with his omnipresence. While we should acknowledge that God is everywhere, his manifest presence is special. Yet for some it seems that their awareness of God must always be highly dramatic, emotional and tangible. But since God's manifest presence is not actually evident to the extent they claim, they unknowingly belittle the very reality they seek to affirm.

Having said that, it appears that God does want to make himself known in very tangible ways far more than most of us realize. Just as the cloud filled the Mishkan, so he fills people individually and corporately today. Yeshua said, referring to both his followers of his day and all who would believe in him later, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them..." (John 17:22). The manifest presence of God that was revealed through the Messiah has been given to his people. Note that he didn't say "The glory that you have given me I will give to them", but rather, "The glory that you have given me I have given to them." Just as the glory of the Lord filled the Mishkan, so the glory of the Lord has filled Yeshua's followers. Therefore the manifest presence of God is to be found in and through Yeshua's followers.

God is indeed everywhere, but he wants to makes himself known through his people in very special ways. The more we realize that his manifest presence lives in us, the more his presence will be manifested through us.

TorahBytes: Free Will (Ki Tissa)

Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, "Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:13,14; ESV)

Some of you may understand this sort of thing better than I, but I was really surprised recently when I heard an atheistic scientist claim that his rejection of God or any other supernatural forces led him to conclude that there was no such thing as human free will. I had thought that if someone didn't believe in God, then objective morality didn't exist, thus giving people freedom to do whatever they liked. But if I understand the scientist correctly, he was saying that since we live in an exclusively naturalistic universe, everything is the product of physical forces. Human activity on Earth may appear to be self determining, but that is only an illusion. The whole universe is like a highly complex arrangement of dominos where the falling of one domino causes another one to fall. The patterns and beauty of life are simply the result of absolute randomization.

Until I heard this I had thought that determinism, that is the concept that all of life's outcomes are preset, required the belief in a supernatural force, who asserts sovereign control of the universe. But now I see with the help of this scientist's statement that the existence of human free will is due to God.

There is a lot of confusion among Bible believers over the issue of free will. For some free will is regarded as absolute as if God never takes the upper hand in human affairs. For others free will is made to be nonsense similar to the way atheists understand it. For these people it only looks as if we have free will, when in fact God is working behind the scenes like a puppeteer controlling our every word and action.

One of the problems with all this is the word, "free". It is obvious that humans don't have free will in an absolute sense. We cannot will to do absolutely anything we want. We are limited by all sorts of factors. While most of us can learn to perform well beyond our perceived limitations, on our own we cannot do anything beyond our actual limitations.

The question that remains is if God has given free will to people, how free are we? I don't know if we can say for sure, but the Bible provides us with significant insight.

Purim (the Festival of Esther; see the Book of Esther for details) is a one-day festival that begins this Monday evening (March 9). Purim commemorates the turning of the tables on the Jewish people's enemies in the face of destruction. The story of Esther is a wonderful weaving together of the sovereign work of God and human free will.

As the story goes, the Jewish people were in trouble yet again. The resolution to their predicament came about by a fascinating set of events and the purposeful actions of Mordecai and Esther. One of the unique features of the book of Esther is that it is the only book of the Bible to not have a single explicit reference to God. God's supposed silence is often legitimately interpreted as an emphasis on how God often works on his people's behalf behind the scenes, so to speak.

The effective, yet hidden, working of God doesn't mean that the people involved had no actual part to play. Mordecai's encouragement to Esther to speak on behalf of their people well expresses the interweaving of God's sovereignty and human free will. Mordecai was certain that God would take care of his people. Esther's refusal to be involved would not prevent God's plan for the Jewish people from succeeding. But her refusal would have dire consequences for her and her own family.

There is no sense in this story that every aspect of the outcome of the situation was preset by God and thus could not be affected by people's decisions. At the same time the overall outcome was not dependant on Esther or any other human being. While Esther was God's chosen instrument to save her people, she was free to decide to accept or refuse the challenge.

To think that the outcome of history is dependent on human decisions is ridiculous. Yet God in his sovereignty created human beings whom he calls to freely respond to his will. While we can never force his hand, let us not expect him to twist our arms before we do what's right.

TorahBytes: Putting It On (Tezavveh & Zakhor)

For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs; and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they bear guilt and die. This shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him. (Shemot / Exodus 28:40-43; ESV)

My wife and I were recently treated to a two-night getaway at a lovely manor in the country. The high-quality restaurant had a dress code for the evening meal. It has always struck me how the putting on of nicer clothes makes such a difference in how we feel about ourselves and our surroundings, as well as on how others relate to us.

Years ago I had a friend who was a taxi driver. The company he worked for didn't impose a particular standard of dress, but when he started wearing suits; his customers began to treat him differently, calling him "Sir" for example.

I don't think that the wearing of nice clothes made my wife and I or my friend different people. Wearing nice clothes or a uniform doesn't transform a person into something he or she is not. At the same time how we present ourselves does communicate something about ourselves. It could be anything from our economic situation, the people group to which we belong, our likes and preferences, or our desires and intentions. Of course it is possible that what we wear may not be consistent with who we really are. If I wore a police uniform in public, I would be giving the false impression that I was a police officer. On the other hand, when a police officer wears a uniform, it not only communicates to others his authority, but reminds him to behave accordingly. The uniform communicates something whether it be true or false.

In the days of the Mishkan and the Temple, the priests were required to wear special clothing whenever they performed their duties. To fail to do so would have resulted in dire circumstances. It is not as if they were priests on the basis of their clothing. Not wearing their priestly garments would not make them less of who they were. Still, their clothing was a necessary part of their performing their priestly duty. Priests not only played a special role in the community, they had to look the part as well. They physically and mentally could have performed their duties in regular clothing, but they could not truly represent their position if they didn't take the time to put on their special priestly clothes.

One of the contrasts between the Old and New Covenants is a shift of emphasis from external forms to internal reality. Under both covenants what God is seeking to communicate both to and through us is very much the same, but how he does so is quite different. With the coming of the Messiah and the loss of the Levitical priesthood due to the destruction of the Temple, the external elements of worship and service to God have been internalized in those who trust and follow the Messiah. What was at one time necessary through things such as clothing and other objects is now experienced in and through the living out of our day-to-day lives.

As the priests had to purposely put on special clothing to fulfill their special role in the world, so we too must do the same, but not literally. Rather we are to purposely apply the elements of a godly lifestyle to our behavior (see Colossians 3:1-17). While it is not our deeds that make us God's children, godly living requires decisive, purposeful actions similar to the putting on of special clothing.

At times purposely putting on godly behavior can feel like play acting - more like a costume than a uniform. Being kind, generous, disciplined, and merciful - to name a few godly traits - may not seem natural to us. But we shouldn't think that just because we possess the inner reality of God's presence in our lives that godly behavior will automatically spring forth without our participation. It is similar to dressing up to eat in a fancy restaurant. If it is something we haven't done before or only done on rare occasions, it could feel quite strange. But it's not about feelings. Once we realize that we, like the priests of old, have a special place in the world, then we also realize that it requires our putting on special behavior.