TorahBytes: When God Changes His Mind (Tezavveh & Zakhor)

The word of the LORD came to Samuel: "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." (1 Samuel 15:10,11; ESV)

These verses refer to God's response to Saul's rebellion against him. Saul, the first king of Israel, began well, but as time went by tended to do things his own way rather that trusting in God and his Word. What God said to the prophet Samuel sounds as if God had second thoughts about making Saul king and that if he would have known that Saul would blow it the way he did, then he would have chosen someone else.

This is the kind of incident that someone might use to show that God is not omniscient. To say that God is omniscient is to say that he knows everything. But if he knows everything, how could he regret his own decision? Even if God purposely chose Saul knowing he would fail (which God did know), then would not his response be something more like "Did I not know that Saul would be unfaithful to me?", rather than something along the lines of "Oh no! What have I done?"

That God is omniscient is a given in the Scriptures. The Bible assumes that he is the Creator and Master of the Universe, who never loses control over his creation. It is on this basis that David, Saul's successor could write "Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether" (Psalm 139:4; ESV).

But if God indeed knows everything in advance, then how could he "regret" that he made Saul king? The Hebrew word, translated here as "regret," is nacham. Interestingly this same word is used later on in this same Haftarah portion, where the prophet Samuel says to Saul, "And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret (1 Samuel 15:29; ESV). It is helpful that this translation uses the exact same English word in each case, even though the Hebrew word may be understood differently in different contexts. It is better that we are left having to struggle with a supposed contradiction, than having the English translators resolve it for us.

The word nacham carries with it the idea of change. It has two primary meanings. The first is "to relent," which is a change of intension whereby one course of action is replaced by another. The other primary meaning is "to comfort" or "to be comforted". Here the change is an emotional one in which someone feels a certain way, usually bad, and is consoled, thus causing their outlook on life to change. An example of this use is found in Psalm 23, where we read, "your rod and your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4; ESV)

So nacham denotes what we might call a change of heart or mind. Our Haftarah portion, which uses the meaning of "relent" tells us that this is something that God both does and does not do. When Samuel says that God "is not a man, that he should have regret", he is saying that he is not fickle. He is absolutely dependable. His Word is true and his character is unchanging. He cannot and will not be manipulated by anyone or anything. Those who cooperate with him, stand in right relationship with him. Those who don't are alienated from him. As long as Saul stayed true to God, God was with him. But once Saul rebelled, God's relationship with him had to change.

When the Bible tells us that God relents or expresses regret, it is not saying that God made a mistake that he wishes he could have prevented. Rather, it is that he is grieved over a situation that necessitates a new course of action. Thankfully, this also works the other way. Saul's rebellious course typifies the state that we all as human beings find ourselves in, but a state in which we need not remain. Through turning from our rebellion and trusting in the Messiah Yeshua, we need not anticipate God's wrathful judgment. If we turn to him, he will relent. We can count on that!

TorahBytes: Particulars (Terumah)

And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle (Hebrew: mishkan), and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. (Shemot / Exodus 25:8,9; ESV)

Many people think that in the Old Covenant knowing God required keeping his rules, rules that no one could actually keep. They contrast this to their understanding of the New Covenant. Under this new system, they say, we can relate to God by grace, which, according to them, is based on God's unconditional love, meaning, because of what Yeshua did for us, then no matter what we do, God accepts us.

While there are smidgens of truth laced through this explanation, it actually misrepresents both Old and New Covenants. If under the Old Covenant, the only way to have a right relationship with God was to fully keep his rules, then no one had such a relationship, which is not the case. All the way through the Old Covenant writings, we find many people who truly knew God, imperfect though they were.

As for the New Covenant, the Messiah himself spoke of the narrow gate and hard way leading to life that few people find (see Matthew 7:14). Paul and the other New Covenant writers are clear that anyone who concludes that God's forgiveness through the Messiah implies that we can doing anything we like, has completely missed the point (See Romans 6 for example).

Our Torah portion describes the particulars of the mishkan (English: tabernacle). The mishkan was a tent-like portable structure that was to be the central place of sacrifice and worship for the people of Israel. It was a precursor to the permanent Temple that Solomon would build many years later. Many people who attempt to read through the Bible get bogged down when they get to passages such as this one, because they find the details uninteresting. It is understandable that people would find the narrative portions more gripping, but that doesn't make them more important. God is very particular when it comes to how we are to relate to him. He didn't tell Moses to make any old structure he wanted or that the people were free to sacrifice however they liked. Far from it! They were to follow God's directions very carefully. Every detail of the mishkan was designed to help the people know who God really was and what he was really like. Failure to stick to his particulars would lead the people to create a god of their own imaginations, instead of knowing the "I am" who revealed himself to Moses (see Shemot / Exodus 3:14).

While there are significant differences between the Old and New Covenants they both are clear in their insistence regarding the need to stick to God's particulars. The ultimate purpose of the mishkan was to prepare Israel for the coming of the Messiah. To then think we can relate to the Messiah any way we wish is to undermine the essence of biblical teaching about God and his ways. Using a metaphor of a vine and its branches, Yeshua said, "If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (John 15:6; ESV). In order to be in right relationship with God, it is absolutely necessary to abide in the Messiah. But how does one abide in him? Yeshua himself tells us when he said, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love" (John 15:10; ESV).

What many don't seem to understand is that under both Old and New Covenants the only way to properly relate to God was through trusting in him. Right standing with God could never be accomplished by our own moral and spiritual uprightness. We all have fallen short of God's standards and deserve judgment. It is only by his grace that people at any time in human history could truly know him. At the same time what trusting in him entails and how to maintain a right relationship with him has always been based on his particulars, whether it be the mishkan and the sacrificial system under the Old Covenant or the Messiah under the New.

TorahBytes: Nevertheless (Mishpatim and Shekalim)

And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all his days, because Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places. (2 Melachim / 2 Kings 12:2,3; ESV)

The books of Melachim (English: Kings) recount the happenings of the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah. Much of what we read centers around the life of the various kings. Our Haftarah recounts the reign of King Joash, also called Jehoash. As is common when the Scriptures introduce us to a king, we are told whether or not he did right in the sight of God. Very few of the approximately forty kings of Israel and Judah are classified as good to any extent, Joash being one of them. How this is described in our reading is interesting in that the writer provides us with this disclaimer of sorts: "Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued to sacrifice and make offerings on the high places."

There were certain kings like Joash, who did what was right for the most part and yet tolerated this significant inappropriate aspect of the life of their nation. The people had been instructed by God to perform his prescribed rituals only at the location God determined. By this time, that place was the temple in Jerusalem. These other locations, called "high places", were sometimes used for pagan worship and other times for the worship of the true God. From the way the kings are assessed by the biblical writers, it sounds as if the issue of the "high places" was secondary, yet nevertheless important. Kings like Joash did what was good. Nevertheless, their reluctance to remove the "high places" to some extent undermined the good they were otherwise seeking to do.

We see by this that God seems to have some toleration for the inaccurate ways in which we relate to him. There are some aspects of inaccurate spirituality that he puts up with. Nevertheless, just because he tolerates them doesn't mean that we shouldn't address them.

Among our "high places" today are all sorts of traditional and cultural expressions of worship that have great importance to us, but were never sanctioned by God. He puts up with them, but, nevertheless, would prefer that we remove them. We preserve our "high places" to our own detriment. We may be technically doing what is right in the sight of God, yet at the same time, there hangs over us a significant "nevertheless." How much better off we would be if we no longer tolerate our "high places" and would not have to hear God say about us, "nevertheless".

TorahBytes: There Is Reason to Fear God (Yitro)

Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." (Shemot / Exodus 20:20; ESV)

Some time ago I did a TorahBytes message on this same verse. At that time I explained how there was a difference between being scared of God and having what we might call a healthy fear of him. When we respect him for who he is, then we don't have to be afraid of him. While that is true, I see now that I downplayed what an appropriate fear of God actually is.

In this week's Torah portion, which includes the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, we read how the people were warned not to get too close to God lest they perish. A serious warning indeed! Not following God's directive would result in death. The consolation of Moses that I quoted at the beginning in no way contradicts this dire warning. Stepping out of bounds regarding God is perilous. Understanding the balance of not being afraid with the need to fear God includes gaining a real grasp on the magnitude of God's power.

This is in contrast to how God is often depicted today. Somehow the master of the universe and judge of the whole world has become the sugar daddy of the religion of extreme tolerance. To say "God loves you" has come to mean that God accepts you regardless of your behavior - a very different thing from the one who commanded strict lifestyle standards through Moses.

There are people who claim to believe the Bible, who say that God has changed since Mt. Sinai. Those were his angry days, but not now. Under the New Covenant they say, he has calmed down. Now he is a kinder, gentler, and accepting god. Strange though that Yeshua said some things that sound very similar to what Moses said in our Torah portion:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:28-33; ESV)

"Don't fear, but fear" - just like Moses. The fact is that God is very scary. He is the greatest power in the universe. The power of a nuclear bomb is nothing compared to the infinite power of God. Yet we tend to treat him so lightly. That we can call God, "Father" should overwhelm us. But instead we treat him like someone whom we can manipulate to suit our fancies. The Creator of the Universe is not to be trifled with. Rather, as he demonstrated through Moses, he is to be obeyed, and obeyed on his terms alone.

The real difference between the Old and New Covenants is that God has provided the way to be fully restored to right relationship with him. Through faith in the Messiah's sacrifice we are made fit to draw near to this awesome God. We should not be afraid to approach him, but never on our terms. Just like at Sinai, God still requires that we approach him on his terms alone. To neglect that is to put ourselves at risk of eternal consequences. As both the Old and New Covenant writings attest, "our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29; ESV, compare Devarim / Deuteronomy 4:24).

TorahBytes: Troubles (Be-Shallah)

And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness (Shemot / Exodus 16:2; ESV)

When we think of the exodus, I wonder if we think of it more as a fairy tale than the historical event it really was - as if after living under oppressive bondage for hundreds of years, God delivered the people of Israel, and then they lived happily ever after. I can think of at least one Hollywood rendition of the exodus story that gives this impression. Once the people got to the other side of the Red Sea, they were trouble free as they headed off to the Promised Land to enjoy their new life.

But that is not what really happened. Even though they truly were a free people, no longer under the bond of slavery, they had a whole new set of challenges to face. In fact between the Red Sea and their arrival at Mt. Sinai alone, they faced dehydration twice, starvation once, and war once. Far from being trouble free, the people went from one set of troubles to another. The difference was that previously they had been facing troubles as slaves to the Egyptians, and now they were facing troubles as servants of God.

Servants of God face ongoing trouble. The source of trouble can be quite varied. Sometimes troubles are of our own making, sometimes they come from the hand of others. At times we find ourselves in hostile natural environments, such as epidemics and disasters. The troubles we face can be of various degrees, from simple dilemmas to nuisances to life-threatening situations.

The trouble faced by the people of Israel during their time in the wilderness had a clear intended purpose. Later in the Torah we read these words:

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 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 8:2,3; ESV)

The troubles encountered by Israel in the wilderness were designed to train them to rely on God in everything. While troubles can come from many sources and for many reasons, in the case of Israel at this time, the challenges they faced were clearly intended by God. I don't know if we can say that is how it works for every instance of trouble we face. But certainly every instance of trouble is an opportunity for us to learn to rely on God rather than upon ourselves.

I don't know about you, but I find myself offended by trouble. I really don't like it. I want my days to go smoothly, I want to get along with everyone, and I want to be successful in everything I do upon my first attempt at doing it. The problem is life is not like that. And at least for now, God doesn't seem to be interested in making it any other way. Far from it! He wants us to learn to face our troubles in him. That means trusting him to make things right in his time in his own way and, for the time being, living life according to his directives no matter what.

TorahBytes: Disaster Relief (Bo)

Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet understand that Egypt is ruined?" (Shemot / Exodus 10:7; ESV)

The world has yet again experienced a great disaster - this time it is the devastating earthquake in Haiti. As it turns out, one of our adult daughters is actually there, and last we heard, she is fine. She is working with a small private school on a Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base in the city of St. Marc. The latest reports from the base director say that it looks as if they were able to open that city's port, and it may become an essential life line to the country.

About 75 years ago, British writer and philosopher G.K. Chesterton wrote, "It isn't that they can't see the solution. It's that they can't see the problem." Chesterton's quote is crucially important for effective disaster relief. In order to help people in need, we must first understand what their needs really are. Otherwise we will find ourselves spending immeasurable time, energy, and money for nothing. Good intentions will accomplish nothing, if they are not based on an accurate assessment of the actual situation.

This week's Torah portion includes the story of another horrible disaster: the ten plagues of Egypt. Due to Pharaoh's obstinacy, his country experienced devastating judgment from the hand of God. Pharaoh's servants understood Chesterton's word centuries before he ever lived. They knew why their country was suffering and they urged Pharaoh to take action accordingly. But it would take two more plagues, including the deaths of the firstborn sons, before Pharaoh would accept the problem for what it was and take appropriate action.

Please note that I am not drawing a parallel between the ten plagues and Haiti, except to say that in order for Haiti to emerge well from this disaster, its leaders and people need to look at their problems with open eyes and honest hearts. That's in addition to the wisdom needed in providing effective and immediate disaster relief.

The need to first discern the problem in order to provide the correct solution is a lesson for us all. I have been struck lately how the Scriptures dedicate far more space dealing with the problem of our alienation from God than it does on God's solution for that problem. It seems that we don't easily accept our need for God. We don't easily understand the depths of human depravity and don't readily accept responsibility for our wrongs. And so the Bible addresses this problem over and over again in so many ways.

Once we accept our problem for what it is, then we are in a place to discover the solution. Once we accept that like Pharaoh we are under God's displeasure due to our wickedness, then we are in a place where we can receive God's disaster relief: the forgiveness for our sins through the sacrificial death of the Messiah.

The human problem is not just a state of mind. Thinking better about ourselves will not automatically cause us to attain a greater standard of existence and behavior. The human problem is our alienation from God due to our rebellion against him. This is our disaster for which repentance and faith in Yeshua is the only relief.

If you wish to know more on how to receive God's solution for your life, please contact me at comments@torahbytes.org.

For regular updates about the relief work through the YWAM mission base in St Marc, Haiti, go to:

http://www.ywamhaiti.org/NewsCenter/2010EarthquakeUpdates/tabid/2326/Default.aspx

TorahBytes: God's Timing (Va-Era)

I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. (Shemot / Exodus 6:4,5; ESV)

I have heard it said that there are two ways that people relate to time. Some people are time oriented. They are the ones who structure their lives by the clock. Their existence seems to thrive on a mission control-type countdown: lunch will be ready in T minus 12 seconds. The starting bell and the ending buzzer are music in the ears of such people. And they just can't understand why others don't love to keep in sync with time as they do. The other group is event oriented. For these people things get done when they get done and then they move onto the next thing. The terms "soon" and "later" appear to have no real meaning to them. "We'll get there when we get there" describes how they relate to just about everything.

Entire cultures have been described as either time oriented or event oriented. That doesn't mean that all individuals in one type or the other relate to time in exactly the same way. But generally speaking various people groups, societies, and countries are more prone to one approach or the other. When two people of these two orientations clash with each other, what often happens is that the time-oriented person confronts the event-oriented person for always being late, while the event-oriented person chides the time-oriented one for caring more about the clock than about people.

The Bible tells us that God relates to time very differently than we do. This is well expressed in the New Covenant writings, with a likely allusion to what Moses wrote in Tehillim / Psalms 90, verse 4:

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:8,9; ESV)

God doesn't relate to time the way we do. This may sound that God is more event oriented than time oriented, but that is not really the point, because whatever type of person you are, whenever we go through hard times, waiting is difficult.

At the start we read that God was aware of the suffering of his people - a suffering that had gone on for hundreds of years. He tells Moses that he remembered his covenant to them. This use of the word "remember" doesn't mean that he had forgotten his covenant and that it just then came to mind. It means that the time had come in which he would take action.

Imagine living through all those years of oppressive slavery, praying to God and seeing no result - generation after generation with the situation going from bad to worse. Had God forgotten? Did God care? Does God exist?

We need to come to grips with the fact that God doesn't conduct his affairs according to our time schedule. God's timing is perfect. While he loves us and cares about us, he doesn’t put the same value on comfort and convenience as we do. He has plans and purposes for us that may include very painful circumstances. He may call us to endure difficulty for long periods of time - longer than what we may prefer, but he does what he does when he does it for reasons far beyond our own understanding and personal sense of time.

Whether we are time oriented or event oriented, if our desire is to walk closely with God, then we would do well to be a lot more God oriented.

TorahBytes: Self Punishment (Va-Yiggash)

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. (Bereshit / Genesis 45:5; ESV)

Some of us, when we realize that we have done something wrong, get very upset with ourselves. The details of the event play over and over again in our minds. We try to think how we could have done it better. We earnestly apologize again and again, but never feel forgiven. Others may feel just as bad, but deal with it differently. Instead, they internalize their sense of guilt and shame and never talk about it, allowing it to fester inside of them.

Joseph was concerned that his brothers would be too hard on themselves for how they had treated him. They certainly had done him wrong. Enraged with jealousy, they wanted to murder him, but in the end sold him into slavery. We can hardly imagine what the subsequent years for Joseph were like. Even with how things turned out in the end for Joseph - after years of slavery and imprisonment, he was promoted to second in command in Egypt - few people would have what it takes to console the very ones who were the cause of their years of suffering. Yet he does console them. Joseph's understanding of what God was doing through his terrible circumstances gave him perspective and the ability to not obsess over his brothers' wrongdoing.

Joseph was not saying that they didn't do wrong. He wasn't saying that they didn't need to face their guilt and deal with it before God. What he was trying to do was share with them a godly perspective to keep them from mishandling their guilt.

When we do wrong, we are guilty. We need to deal with that. How we deal with it is another thing. Punishing ourselves, which is what Joseph was encouraging his brothers not to do, doesn't do anybody any good. It doesn't change what happened or appease the one we have wronged. All we can do for the wronged party is express regret through a sincere apology and make restitution if the situation warrants it.

Self punishment shifts the focus of our wrongs to ourselves, which is most likely how we created the problem in the first place. Wallowing in failure may give the impression that we are taking the situation seriously, but actually prevents us from effectively dealing with our guilt.

Joseph's perspective on his situation is the key to being free from self punishment. Without saying that his brothers were free from any responsibility for their wrongs, he understood that ultimately God was in control of their lives.

Some may think that to accept what Joseph was saying regarding how God used his brothers' wrongdoing for good purposes would lead to their not taking their wrongs seriously enough. Perhaps they would start to think that there is no such thing as evil, since God uses everything - including jealously and murder - for his purposes. This certainly wasn't Joseph's understanding. Later on he would say to them, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Bereshit / Genesis 50:20). The key to freedom from self punishment and from the guilt that spurs it on is to understand the relationship between our actions and the God who rules the universe. Do we really think that we control the destiny of others? Beating ourselves up for our wrongs furthers the lie that somehow we rule over life, when God, the Master of the Universe, is always in control. Once we accept that, then we can face our wrongs properly.

Self punishment completely missed the point. Wrongdoing is fundamentally an affront to our Creator. Apart from apologies and restitution, we can only be free from guilt through the forgiveness of God. So many of our misdeeds can never be resolved through anything we say or do. But God has made provision for our guilt. Through the sacrifice of the Messiah and acknowledging the seriousness of our wrongs, we can be free from guilt. The Messiah was severely punished on our behalf. So, stop beating yourself up!

TorahBytes: Knowing When To Take a Stand (Mi-Kez & Hanukkah 8)

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you." (Bereshit / Genesis 41: 39,40; ESV)

The story of Joseph continues during the celebration of Hanukkah. Last week we looked at how it is necessary at times to take a stand against certain kinds of evil. Joseph's unwillingness to give in to his master's wife's overtures kept him from wrongdoing, but resulted in his being sent to prison. Compromising in that situation was not an option for him.

It would be years before God's plan for Joseph would become evident. Having accurately interpreted dreams for two servants of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Joseph was called upon to interpret a couple of dreams for Pharaoh himself. Joseph's insightful interpretation of the coming seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine along with his wise suggestion of how to prepare for the impending disaster, led to his being appointed as Pharaoh's chief administrator.

Joseph lived the rest of his life in Egyptian government service. His father, brothers, and their families, which were the beginnings of the nation of Israel, all moved to a district of Egypt, where their descendants would remain for over 400 years until the Exodus.

Much of the history of Israel has to do with living among other nations and cultures. God's promises to Abraham included the giving of the Land to his descendants. Israel's relationship to God was intimately connected to whether or not we would be free from foreign rule. As long as we were faithful to God, we lived in peace in our land. But if not, then we would be under the rule and oppression of foreign powers.

Israel's experience in Egypt prior to the Exodus was different from the other times. This was a time of preparation before God gave us the Land. Yet Joseph's experience in Egypt is instructive in how God's people are to live among other cultures.

Being faithful to God and his ways may, from time to time, create tension between us and the prevailing culture in which we live. Pressure may be put on us to conform to the ungodly ways of the people around us. When Joseph's master's wife tempted him to sin, he knew that was something he must not do and took drastic measures in order to stay faithful to God. Last week we saw how this is a good illustration for Hanukkah. There are certain lines we must not cross what ever the cost.

But notice that it wasn't as if Joseph saw himself as constantly being at odds with the prevailing culture. God had called him to be a blessing among foreigners. He knew that he could effectively serve God within the culture. At the same time he had already shown that he could do this while staying faithful to God.

God's people are not called to live at odds with the culture in which we live just because the majority of people within that culture may not believe in Yeshua. Like Joseph, we need to serve God wherever he may lead us. Like Joseph, we should live lives of godliness however others around us might live. As we do this, we, like Joseph, may need to take a stand against the temptation to compromise. Like Joseph, taking such a stand may result in difficult circumstances for us. But, like Joseph, standing for godliness may open doors of service within ungodly cultures in ways beyond our wildest dreams.

TorahBytes: Enough Is Enough! (Va-Yeshev & Hanukkah 1)

How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? (Bereshit / Genesis 39:9)

One of the central themes of Hanukkah (this year from December 12- 19, 2009) is the resisting of society's pressure to turn from God's ways. Hanukkah retells the story of the Jewish revolt against Greco-Syrian control that occurred around 165 years before the coming of Yeshua. The emperor sought to consolidate his rule by forcing his subjects, including his Jewish ones, to adopt Greek customs. Many in Israel submitted themselves to these pagan practices, until a priest by the name of Matitiyahu refused. A small Jewish army led by Matitiyahu's son Judah eventually defeated the large and heavily armed Greco-Syrian force.

People who have sought to please God have often faced pressure to conform to the dominant culture. Hanukkah is an example of when those who desire to stay true to God and his ways need to say "Enough is enough!" and take a stand against the culture. We are in those times again.

It is interesting that the beginning of Hanukkah this year coincides with the Torah portion containing the story of Joseph. Joseph also stood against the pressure of ungodly influence. In his case it was not a cultural thing, but rather a personal situation, where he was tempted to commit adultery with his master's wife. He knew she created a no-win situation for him. To do what she wanted may have provided temporary relief from his circumstances, but would have most likely cost him his life. But to resist her advances, besides being a difficult thing to do, would eventually cause him great trouble, which is in fact what happened. As it turned out she falsely accused him of the very thing she was tempting him to do. What made the difference for Joseph was that to give in to her would have displeased God - something that he was in no way willing to do.

Joseph's predicament illustrates for us what it means to stand against the pressure of a culture that constantly nags us into submission. But I believe we need to be like Joseph and say "Could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?"

I fear that for many it is too late. Just like in the days of Hanukkah, many who claim to be part of the people of God have already given in to the prevailing culture. Having cast off the peculiarities of being people of faith, we have chosen to go after the customs of our day.

Here are a few examples of how we have been taken over by today's ungodly culture:

A growing number of so-called believers are ashamed of the exclusive nature of biblical faith. According to the Bible there is only one God and there is only one way to that God, the Messiah Yeshua. Yet there are those who have invented notions, claiming that there may be exceptions to this rule.

Less and less people regard the Bible's view of family, and children in particular, as God's model for living. Instead we go along with how the culture regards family, thinking that after two thousand years human beings have improved upon the teaching of the Scriptures.

North American affluence has become our preferred standard of living. How very different from the One who had no place to lay his head, who calls us to give up everything to follow him.

What does our obsession with entertainment say about our understanding of the stewardship of our time and money? We prefer to drown ourselves in diversions instead of spending our time in truly productive endeavors. Then, at the same time, we refuse to partake of rest and refreshment God's way.

We have exchanged God's version of love and sexuality for that of the world's. We disregard the sacredness of the marriage covenant, while pursuing relationships with selfish motives.

Perhaps one of the main driving forces behind these and other examples is today's value of being accepted by others. What kept Joseph was his primary commitment to God and his ways. When the temptation came to conduct himself inappropriately, his loyalty to God was the strong foundation from which he could not be moved. What a contrast to our own day where we tend to so easily go along with whatever is perceived as popular, so that we would not be viewed as weird.

Until we can stand up and like Matitiyahu say, "Enough is enough!" we will continue to be swept away by the pull of culture's powerful tide.

TorahBytes: Don't Let Go (Va-Yishlah)

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." (Bereshit / Genesis 32:24-28; ESV)

Last week we discussed how we may confuse acknowledging the existence of God with believing in God. Simply acknowledging his existence doesn't mean that we actually trust him.

The primary reason why Jacob went to the land of his ancestors was to escape the vengeful wrath of his twin brother, Esau. It would be about 20 years before he would have to face him again. As he and his large household were approaching his brother's territory on their way back to the land of Canaan, he heard that Esau, accompanied by 400 men, was on his way to meet him. We read, "Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed" (Bereshit / Genesis 32:7; ESV).

First, Jacob splits up his camp into two in the hope that if Esau attacks one group, the other may escape. The next thing he does is pray, which may have been his first time ever. An interesting prayer it was in that he refers to God as the God of his grandfather and the God of his father, but not his God. Then he organized three large droves of animals as gifts in the hope that this would appease his brother by the time he reached him. Then behind the droves he placed his family. Behind his family with a river in between, was he - as far away from Esau as possible - where he spent the night with his fear, alone. Yet he would not be alone.

It was in that place that God wrestled with him. When God could not prevail against him, he dislocated his hip, which would cause him to limp for the rest of his life. Then God told Jacob to let him go, but Jacob, true to his nature I guess, would not do so until this mysterious wrestler would bless him. And bless him he did with these words: "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed" (Bereshit / Genesis 32:28; ESV).

Jacob was changed. The next day as he saw Esau coming, he went right up to him ahead of his family, the fear and self preservation gone. No more schemes. No more striving. Everything turned out fine and the two brothers parted company. When he arrived in the land of Canaan, he built an altar as a testimony of his new personal trust in God.

Up until the time of Jacob's wrestling with God, Jacob depended on himself. While glad to be the recipient of God's blessings and promises, he determined to run his own life his own way. Perhaps God had tried to get Jacob's attention other times, but Jacob continued in his self reliance. Of course God was the one who was actually directing and caring for Jacob all that time, yet Jacob's heart remained far from God.

But when God came to him this time Jacob would not let him go. It might sound strange to hear of God asking to be released. God could have easily destroyed Jacob, let alone win the wrestling match. With a simple touch he dislocated Jacob's hip. Yet in spite of how painful that must have been, Jacob held on to God until he blessed him. At that point Jacob may not have fully understood what was going on, but God changed his heart.

I wonder how many times God comes to us in our times of need, seeking to engage us, but we ignore him. Or he comes to wrestle with us (however that may be), but we don't hold on to him. We give up too easily. He might hurt us. He might change us.

Until we allow God to have his way in our lives, we may find ourselves acknowledging him, but not really believing in him. It is in the midst of life's circumstances that God gives us the opportunity to really know him. And we will know him if we hold on to him and don't let go no matter what.

TorahBytes: Acknowledgment vs. Faith (Va-Yeze)

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Bereshit / Genesis 28:16,17; ESV)

Jacob's understanding of and relationship with God is fascinating. These days we tend to equate acknowledging God's existence with believing in him. In Jacob's case, he seemed to fully accept the reality of God's existence but didn't really believe in him. Believing in God is not the same as simply believing that he exists. Believing in him means to trust in him. It would be many years before Jacob came to trust in God.

The context of the verse I read is the beginning of Jacob's journey to Mesopotamia, the land of his relatives. His primary reason for this journey was to escape the wrath of his twin brother, Esau. As he set out, he spent the night in the place he would name "Beth-El" (the House of God). It was there that he dreamt he saw a ladder that reached heaven with the angels of God going up and down on it. In the dream God spoke to him, giving to him the promises he originally had given to his grandfather, Abraham. Jacob's response upon awakening was that if God looked after him, then upon his return, in his words, "then the Lord shall be my God" (Bereshit / Genesis 28:21). So we see here that Jacob clearly acknowledged God's existence without trusting him.

Jacob's reaction to God's appearance had nothing to do with the question of God's existence. Rather Jacob said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." What surprised him was that God was there without him realizing it. This sounds as if he thought that God was in Beth-El in a way that he wasn't in other places. Perhaps this is an indication of a lack in Jacob's understanding of God. He didn't know as yet that the God of his father and grandfather was the Master of the Universe and that there was no place where God's presence was not.

That God would appear to Jacob at all didn't seem to faze him. One might think that this experience would motivate him into a life of utter devotion to God, but it didn't. He was just surprised that God was there and he didn't know it.

I wonder if we realize how present God really is. There's a wonderful story in the second book of Melachim (Kings), chapter six, where the army of Syria was surrounding the city where the prophet Elisha was. When Elisha's assistant anxiously reported this to him, Elisha prayed that his assistant would see with his physical eyes the heavenly power that was with them. Elisha was aware of this, while his assistant was not. I cannot say that God's help is with his people to this extent at all times, but certainly God is present and at work everywhere in so many ways that we are not aware of.

How often is the presence of God with us and, like Jacob, we don't know it? If God would open our eyes like Elisha's assistant would we not be surprised to see the heavenly reality that surrounds us? Unlike Jacob we claim to trust in the God who is everywhere, yet we think we are alone. We may not say that God is not with us, but how often do we act as if he is far, far away? Perhaps we don't believe in him as much as we think we do.

We may be more like Jacob than we are willing to admit in that we readily acknowledge God's existence without actually trusting him. We should stop confusing acknowledging his existence with true faith. Accepting God's existence is an essential starting point, but we need to let him take us much deeper - to the place of trust he took Jacob. That's what we will look at next week.

TorahBytes: How Silly We Can Be! (Toledot)

Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. (Bereshit / Genesis 27:15-17; ESV)

In this week's parasha (weekly Torah reading), we read of the stealing of Isaac's blessing. Before he died, Isaac wanted to give a special blessing to his older son, Esau. So Isaac asked Esau to prepare for him a special meal of fresh game after which Isaac would give him the blessing. Isaac passing this blessing on to Esau would make him the carrier of God's purposes for the world. Before Esau and his twin brother, Jacob, were born, God had told their mother, Rebekah, that the younger would have precedence over the older (see Bereshit / Genesis 25:22,23). We don't know if she ever told this prediction to Isaac, but when she heard that Isaac was planning on giving the blessing to Esau, she schemed to deceive her husband into giving it to Jacob instead.

This sets up one of the silliest scenes in the Bible. Although Esau and Jacob were twins, they were different in almost every way. Esau was a hairy, outdoorsy sort-of person; Jacob was a smooth-skinned homebody. Even though Isaac's sight was poor at this stage of his life, tricking him would not be easy. When Jacob comes to him covered in goat's skins, Isaac suspects something is up. He recognizes Jacob's voice and wonders how he could have prepared the meal so quickly. Yet when he calls Jacob over to kiss him, the feel of the goat skin and smell of Esau's garments he was wearing are somehow enough to fool him, and Jacob gets the blessing.

Could you imagine how silly Jacob must have looked wearing that goat skin! What a ridiculous scene of Mom and son scheming to trick Dad like that! The fact that their plan actually worked makes the situation even more absurd. Did Rebekah and Jacob really believe that they could manipulate the situation in order to fulfill God's plan for Jacob? Yet it worked! What is anybody supposed to learn from a story like this!

Could it be that the only reason why this crazy plan worked was because God had determined that Jacob would be the recipient of the blessing anyway? We don't have any direct comment in the text as to whether or not Jacob's actions were right or wrong. Yet as we follow his story, we see how God pursues him until he eventually learns to personally trust God. Until then he strives and strives for prosperity and success.

What we have in Jacob is an unbeliever pursued by God. God had determined to bless him and make him a blessing just like his father and grandfather, but he had no clue personally what that really meant. So while his deceitful scheming appears successful, it is only so because God had determined to use Jacob for his purposes. Jacob's heart would one day be for God, but in the meantime, God was at work towards that end. This in no way justifies Jacob's schemes. On the contrary it makes a mockery of human striving.

I wonder how often we are just like Jacob. We must look pretty silly sometimes as we strive to make life work out in our favor. God determines to bless us and use us, but we think we need to take matters into our own hands. We scheme in our attempt to manipulate life's circumstances for our benefit. Yet God is working behind the scenes, so to speak, to bring events to their determined end for our good. We presume that it's our scheming that makes us successful, when all along God in his love and by his power is seeking to draw us in line with himself. Let's stop being so silly and let God be God.

TorahBytes: Rebekah's Blessing (Hayyei Sarah)

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, "Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!" (Bereshit / Genesis 24:60; ESV)

This week's Torah portion includes the story of the search for a wife for Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham sent his servant back to Mesopotamia, where Abraham was from and his relatives still lived, to find a wife for Isaac. Upon arriving, the servant prayed that God would direct him in finding the right one. When God made it plain that Rebekah was the one, and she was willing to go with Abraham's servant, her family sent her on her way with the words I just read: "Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!"

While it is possible that this was some sort of standard blessing, it is interesting within the context of God's plans and purposes for Rebekah's husband-to-be. Remember that God promised Isaac's father, Abraham, a man with no children, that he would be a great nation of blessing to the whole world. The beginnings of the fulfillment of God's promises, the birth of Isaac, did not happen until Abraham was a hundred years old. God had told him that his descendants would be beyond measure, but he died before seeing even one grandchild be born of the line of promise. Abraham did have other children, Ishmael through Sarah's servant Hagar, and several others through Keturah the woman he married after Sarah died, but none of these children stood in the line of promise as Isaac did. We learn later on in the Torah that Isaac and Rebekah will also have trouble having children. The promise of innumerable descendants did not come about easily.

Unbeknownst to Rebekah's family, they were speaking prophetically. Not only would she indeed become a mother of many descendants, but her offspring would also "possess the gate of those who hate him." The picture here is of an army capturing a city that has great disdain for that army's people. To capture the gate is to take control of the city. Rebekah's family was calling for her descendants to overcome any serious opposition they might face.

Note the use of the pronoun "him" instead of "them". This is due to the use of the word "offspring" (more literally "seed"), a collective noun, which could refer to one or more descendants. Collective nouns function grammatically in the singular, which is why the Hebrew is clearly "hate him." Since the context sounds as if it is referring to the thousands of ten thousands, some translations use "hate them" (New American Standard Bible) or go further and interpret the words, "those who hate him" as to mean simply "enemies" (New International Version), thus removing any confusion arising from the ambiguous use of the singular.

But could it be that the ambiguity is intentional? That since "offspring" could be understood as singular or plural these words may find their fulfillment both in the plural, referring to the nation of Israel, as well as in the singular, Rebekah's key offspring, Yeshua the Messiah.

Whatever their intention Rebekah's blessing certainly foreshadows the Messiah's own statement centuries later when he said, "I will build my Community, and the gates of Sh'ol will not overcome it" (Matthew 16:18; Complete Jewish Bible).

The very gates of death and all that death represents would be overtaken by Rebekah's offspring. Through the development and history of the people of Israel culminating in Yeshua the Messiah, everything that hates God and his people will be done away with. Those who align themselves with God's plans and purposes as revealed in the Messiah walk in Rebekah's blessing. Those who follow Yeshua can be confident that we will possess the gate of those who hate us.

TorahBytes: Assurance of Faith (Va-yera)

But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." (Bereshit / Genesis 22:11,12; ESV).

This story, traditionally known as "The Binding of Isaac" serves as the climax of the Torah's account of the life of Abraham. God had called Abraham (then called "Abram") to leave his homeland and to follow God's leading without being given much in the way of specifics. Abraham was already 75 when God promised to make him a great nation even though he and his wife, Sarah, had no children. Eventually God made it clear to Abraham that he would have descendants more than can be counted. Even though there was still no prospect of having his own children, Abraham believed God. His faith was counted to him as righteousness (see Bereshit / Genesis 15:6). After more years went by and still no children, the two of them took the matter into their own hands by having Abraham seek children through Sarah's servant Hagar. It wasn't until Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 89 that God spoke to Abraham again and told him that his promise would be fulfilled through a child born to Sarah herself which occurred a year later.

After all that, God calls Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, the son of the promise. Apart from the obvious difficulty regarding such a directive, what a thing to call him to do! (At this point you may want to ask the important question, "How could God command Abraham to sacrifice his son?" - a question best answered through the death and resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah, but that is not the focus of this week's message. If you would like to discuss that aspect of this passage, don't hesitate to contact me. For now, I will continue building to my main point.) Isaac is the key to the fulfillment of all that God called Abraham for. He was to inherit the promises given to Abraham, including blessing for the nations (see Genesis / Bereshit 12:1-3). This was not just about Abraham and Isaac. It was about God's plan for the whole world. God was calling Abraham to risk everything in the name of obedience. But Abraham, being the faithful servant of God he was, did it or at least showed his absolute willingness to do it until God stopped him at the very last moment.

God's response to Abraham's obedience, spoken to him through the angel was, "now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." What a curious response. God said, "Now I know". How can that be? Is the Torah teaching that God didn't know what Abraham would do? Was there a chance that Abraham would not have done it? Apart from this particular task, did Abraham not already demonstrate that he feared God? Was God not aware of that fact? There's got to be something more going on than God finally becoming aware that Abraham truly feared him (by the way, if the concept of "fearing God" is unfamiliar to you, it refers to having great respect, the kind of respect that strongly evokes an obedient response).

Abraham's willingness to obey God's unusual and drastic directive outwardly demonstrated the inner reality that had been at work in his life for years. When God says, "Now I know" he is affirming the reality of Abraham's faithfulness. True faith in God proves itself through our actions. Sadly there had been a tendency to divorce the inner reality of faith from faithful deeds. Some have focused on deeds, claiming that the issues of the heart and of truth don't really matter, as long as we do what is right. Others have insisted that spiritual reality is found solely in the inner reality and have so diminished the importance of faithful deeds to the point where they are insignificant. Neither focus is biblical. Certainly a right relationship with God begins with the heart. We come to know God by trusting in the Messiah. But if that trust is real, then it will be expressed through our actions. If our lives do not reflect the inner reality we claim to have, then we have reason to doubt its genuineness. It is as we live out our faith through obedience to God that we receive the assurance of the reality of our faith as Abraham did that day.

TorahBytes: Good News! (Lekh Lekha)

Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Bereshit / Genesis 12:1-3; ESV)

In the New Covenant book of Galatians, Paul refers to this week's Torah portion, when he says,

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." (Galatians 3:8; ESV)

According to Paul, God's promise of blessing to the nations through Abraham (who was called Abram at the time) is the gospel. The word "gospel" comes from the Greek word, "euangelion," meaning "good news" and is most likely in reference to the "good news" passages in Isaiah (40:9, 41:27, 52:7, 60:6, and 61:1). Let me quote one:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns." (Isaiah 52:7; ESV)

According to Isaiah here, the good news has to do with the proclamation of the reign of God. For Israel, the reign of God means release from foreign oppression and spiritual restoration for the nation. Paul may have also had in mind how the Greek word was used in the Roman Empire of his day. A proclamation by Caesar that would bring benefit to the empire was called "euangelion," - "good news." Therefore, for Paul, while "good news" was rooted in Jewish expectation, he also had in mind its world-wide implications as he announced the reign of the true king.

This good news was the objective of God's promises to Abraham. God called him away from his homeland in Mesopotamia to journey to a foreign land, which would one day be called Israel, in order to accomplish his desire to resolve human alienation from God, which began with our first parents in the Garden of Eden.

Paul's reference to this good news finding its origins in Abraham confirms the Bible's teaching that the coming of Yeshua as Messiah is part of God's overall plan and purpose from the beginning. God's choosing of the people of Israel through the forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was the necessary outworking of his plan to make himself known to all nations. God's choosing of Israel was not simply a warm-up to the coming of the Messiah, as if God was biding his time until then. Nor was Israel some sort of "Plan A" that failed when the majority of Israel failed to recognize Yeshua as Messiah. Rather, beginning with Abraham, God worked out his master plan through to its fulfillment in Yeshua.

God chose Israel to reveal himself to the world. His revelation through the Hebrew Scriptures is the basis of what we know of the true God. The nature and personhood of God is provided to us through the prophetic history of Israel. While general things about God as Creator can be known through creation, it is through Israel that we learn about him and his ways. Also, it is the Hebrew Scriptures that provide us with the Messiah's credentials in order to recognize him when he came.

The good news is not just a message of individual salvation. That's included, but more fully it is the grand announcement that the long-awaited Messiah, through whom God would establish his reign, as foretold by the Jewish prophets, has come. In Yeshua the expectation of Abraham is fulfilled, Israel's oppression under foreign control is over, and God's reign as King over all the earth is established.

TorahBytes: The Tower of Babel (No'ah)

And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them." (Bereshit / Genesis 11:6; ESV)

I recently heard a radio interview with futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil (see http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2009/200910/20091013.html). Kurzweil believes that technology has been advancing at a rate much quicker than most of us realize. It is not as if technology has simply been increasing in a linear fashion, but rather exponentially. An example he gives is "The computer I used as a student took up half a building; the computer I carry in my pocket today is a million times cheaper and a thousand times more powerful. That's a billion-fold increase."

There is no doubt that technology has been advancing at an ever increasing rate. What makes this even more interesting is how we seem to take it for granted. It was hardly thirty years ago that many of us were just getting used to fax machines and voice mail. Now we take email and text messaging for granted, we have instant access to a good portion of all human knowledge, and soon the number of cell phones will be equal to the number of people on the planet.

The main subject of the Kurzweil interview was the real possibility that in the near future technology will enable us to live forever. Listening to what he had to say brought what may seem impossible into the realm of the possible.

Whether Kurzweil's predictions prove to be accurate, he may or may not realize that he agrees with God's assessment of human potential at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel: "nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them." The building of the tower at that time was a technological marvel purposefully designed to be an expression of human greatness and preservation. God stepped in to ruin this plan through the confusion of language. By breaking down the lines of communication, he significantly reduced the rate of progress.

The creation of people groups through the diversity of languages and the resulting cultural differences has disrupted our desire to find greatness in our achievements. Instead of the human family working together, we have been at odds with one another. God did this to us on purpose to prevent us from achieving our desired goals.

We were made to be one family. We were designed to be great and to do great things. But our moral condition inherited from our first parents would have destroyed us. So God in his compassion disrupted our plans and slowed down progress in order to give us the opportunity to be restored to him through the Messiah.

Returning to our day, we find ourselves living in the midst of incredible achievements in technology and if Kurzweil is correct, we will soon experience even more incredible leaps in progress beyond most of our wildest imaginations.

The Tower of Babel is being built. It just took a lot longer than planned. It's not a literal tower, but it is designed to serve the same purpose of the original. Technological advancements apart from God seek to preserve, protect and unite human beings on our own terms. The more we progress in this way, the less we are aware of the emptiness and depravity of our lives. Our technological Tower of Babel is a fortress through which we attempt to shelter ourselves from the reality of human need that stems from our alienation from God.

Thinking of our technological advancements as true progress is a big lie. There are a billion undernourished people in the world today, diseases are increasing faster than our ability to cure them, broken families have become the norm, abortion is a world-wide movement, the killing off of the elderly and the infirm is no longer simply the agenda of some fascist regime, and addictions of all kinds affect every level of society.

God's people need to see this technological Tower of Babel for what it is with its empty promises of happiness, greatness, and immortality. It is a sham that seeks to cover up who we really are without God.

As we give ourselves to the understanding of God and his ways as revealed through the Scriptures, we may be called to disengage this exponential development of human achievement as we embrace the eternal life available to us through the Messiah. Unless we build our lives on God's foundation, we will crumble when the technological Tower of Babel falls.

TorahBytes: Science and the Bible (Bereshit)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Bereshit / Genesis 1:1; ESV)

This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. While Darwin didn't develop the theory of evolution, his work on the concept of natural selection greatly contributed to making philosophical and scientific naturalism the predominant world view that it is. Philosophical and scientific naturalism claims that life emerged and developed from natural causes only. It denies the existence of the spiritual and the supernatural, including the very first statement in the Torah which I just read.

There are many people who hold to the basic tenets of naturalism (they may or may not call themselves naturalists), yet find room in their lives for religion and spiritual things. They may even give lip service to the supernatural, but their basic commitment to naturalism casts doubt on the Torah's assertion that the God of Israel is the sole, personal, and intentional creator of the universe. Sadly, we are not always aware that we are doing this.

We may claim to believe the Bible, yet reject the concept of a six-day creation by insisting that it must mean something other than what the Torah clearly teaches. Some say that the sequence of events over the six days of creation is poetical, that it is some sort of song extolling God as creator of the universe. The problem with this view is that God himself doesn't share it. In the second book of the Torah, God gives the Sabbath to the people of Israel as a sign of his creating the world in six days (see Shemot / Exodus 31:17).

Another way people try to retain a commitment to the Bible yet doubt the creation account is by saying that it is based on a primitive, non-scientific world view - that whenever the first chapter of the Bible was written, it expressed the truth of creation through the understanding of people who had no grasp of modern scientific categories. Because of this they expressed Truth via a limited understanding of the universe. Not having at their disposal the knowledge of future generations, we cannot expect them to express these things in precise scientific terms.

I concede that the Torah does not express itself in scientific terms. I also concede that the way of looking at the world has changed a great deal from Bible times until now. Those changes significantly affect how we understand and express ourselves. But when it comes to determining Truth, including the origin of the universe, what will be our basis? On whose terms shall we attempt to reconcile the Bible with science? Science is a man-made attempt to understand the physical world. The Bible claims to be the revelation of the one true God. Science has developed over time as new discoveries are made and as new ways of looking at old discoveries are put forth. The Bible is unchanging. Therefore why should we have to defend the Bible on science's terms? Instead should not science have to defend itself on biblical terms?

It doesn't help that this discussion has often not been between the Bible and science, but instead about people's agendas in the name of the Bible or science. But for those who genuinely yearn to understand the relationship between the Bible and science, it is very important to begin with an acceptance of what each is really all about. The Bible is God's revelation of all of life including the most fundamental of scientific issues, creation. Science is the analysis of God's creation. To think that human beings, creations themselves, can have greater insight into the origins and design of that creation than is contained in God's own revelation, is arrogant. At the same time, students of the Bible are not immune from this arrogance. We need to be careful not to confuse what the Bible says with our assumptions and traditions.

There is a common misconception that just because the Bible was written amidst an ancient culture far removed from our own, it is somehow inferior to ours. Why do we assume that the difference in cultures discounts what the Bible asserts? How we and the people of old look at the world has indeed changed, but does that necessarily mean that the revelation of God through the people of old is inaccurate? Could it be that instead of the culture of biblical times being inadequate to effectively speak truth to us today, it is our culture that obscures the truth that God revealed long ago?

In order to have a truly beneficial discussion about the relationship between the Bible and science, we must be unapologetic about what the Torah itself actually teaches and how it teaches it. Manipulating the Bible to make it acceptable to science, will render it powerless and will rob science and scientists of the essential corrections they need.

TorahBytes: That All Peoples May Know (Sh'mini Atzeret)

Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day. (1 Melachim / 1 Kings 8:59-61; ESV)

Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem includes a reference to the very core of the purpose to which the nation of Israel was called: "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other." This is the essence of God's promise to Abraham: "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Bereshit / Genesis 12:3). God built up a nation through Abraham so that all nations, and not Israel alone, would come to know the one and only true God. So as Solomon prays that the Temple would serve God's purposes for the nation of Israel, he includes this over-riding purpose, that all peoples would know the God of Israel.

God's desire to make himself known to the whole world is understood to be the ultimate blessing for all nations. The early chapters of the Torah describe the tragedy of the human race's falling away from right relationship with God. God's intention was that we would be in intimate relationship with him, to know a quality of life beyond anything we can imagine. But due to the rebellion of our first parents, people became alienated from God and were caused to live with the effects of that alienation. And yet God's original intention was not to be thwarted, which is why he called Abraham and promised that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him and why Solomon prayed that all nations would know the God of Israel as the only true God.

The other day I saw a car bumper sticker that said something like, "God is bigger than any one religion." Many people believe that no one religious group can be correct in thinking that their understanding of God is the only right one. Are not all religions in essence the same anyway? Are not the differences between religious groups simply a matter of perspective, emphasis, and culture? The problem with this approach is that it carries with it a fundamental misconception about the nature of world religions. Even though many religions share some similar values and perspectives, many of the most important differences between them are actually quite vast and irreconcilable.

Note that I am not commenting on denominations and branches within larger religious groups. Historically it is common for those who share similar foundational beliefs and values to differ on secondary issues. The need for these groups to work through these differences is a different topic all together and is beyond the scope of this message.

Solomon's prayer "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other" is not some arrogant narrow opinion that his particular religious view of God is better than anyone else's. It is rather an expression of God's own desire to make himself known to all peoples for their benefit, and that the knowledge of the reality and goodness of the one true God was not to be restricted to Israel alone. To claim to know the one true God and yet not share his desire to broadcast who he is throughout the world is to deny him and stands in the way of God's purpose to bless all nations.

Just as Israel as a nation was created not for itself, but to be a vehicle of blessing to the whole world, so all who follow Israel's God are called to walk in that same purpose: "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other."

TorahBytes: Yom Kippur - God's Provision (Sukkot)

And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9; ESV)

I present this week's message in anticipation of the holy day of Yom Kippur (English: the Day of Atonement), which begins this evening. At the same time the synagogue readings upon which this message is based are for the Feast of Sukkot (English: Feast of Tabernacles or Booths), which begins Friday evening. These two God-ordained occasions are intimately related, being part of the series of holidays of this Jewish month. Ten days ago was what is commonly known as Rosh Hashanah (English: New Year), but referred to in the Torah as Yom Teruah (English: the Day of Blowing [most likely of the shofar]). The blowing of the shofar (English: ram's horn) at Rosh Hashanah reminds us in our busyness not to forget that God is the creator of all things and the one to whom we must give an account. This begins a process of self-examination to make sure that we are in right relationship with both God and other people. The culmination of this process is Yom Kippur, when in ancient times, the Kohen HaGadol (English: the High Priest) would take the blood of a special annual sacrifice into the Kodesh Ha'kedashim (English: Holy of Holies). Contrary to how some may think, the observance of Yom Kippur was not to attain spiritual cleansing and forgiveness from God, but to receive it. Once this process was complete, then we are sufficiently prepared for the week-long festival of thanksgiving and rejoicing, Sukkot, five days later.

According to the prophet Zechariah, the Feast of Sukkot is intimately associated with the restoration of all things and the establishment of the age to come. The culmination of the ages will be marked by this festival of thanksgiving and joy.

Just like in the Torah where Yom Kippur is part of the necessary process on the way to celebrating Sukkot, so there are necessary steps to participating in the Sukkot of God's future reign. Unless we are right with God, we will not be part of this celebration. Being right with God requires that we take our lives very seriously and accept God's standards for cleansing and forgiveness. I don't know how many people attending synagogue for the high holy days understand how much the ritual has strayed from its roots in the Torah. While the essential aspect of humbling oneself before God has been retained, God's provision of cleansing and forgiveness through the blood of the sacrifice has been replaced by the merits of our own actions. The provision of God has been replaced by the deeds of people as if our own efforts could ever make us right with God.

The main reason for this error is our failure as a people to accept God's provision of cleansing and forgiveness, the one that the original Yom Kippur rituals foreshadowed, that is the atoning sacrificial death of the Messiah. While we must play our part in our restoration of right relationship with God, we will never attain to God's standards in this regard as long as we reject his provision of cleansing and forgiveness in the Messiah.

Yeshua the Messiah is the fulfillment of all that Yom Kippur anticipated. It is through him, his death and his resurrection, that we become adequately prepared to participate in the great celebration of Sukkot in the age to come. Yom Kippur reminds us that God's intent for us is to know his cleansing and forgiveness. A great future celebration awaits us if we would receive God's provision though Yeshua now.