High Holidays Meditation, Avinu Malkenu

If you’re not Jewish, you can still appreciate the spirit of the High Holidays: Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. If you drive by any synagogues on Wednesday night, September 12, you will see phenomenon of spiritual hunger. Synagogues easily quadruple their attendance and often more. You’ll also see this on September 13 for the day services of Rosh HaShanah and Friday night, September 21 for Yom Kippur, as well as the 22nd, for the day services of Yom Kippur.

One Conservative Synagogue I have driven past easily had cars double parked for a mile on a narrow road in Northeast Atlanta. You have to drive carefully or you may (God forbid) run over a family walking to services.

That’s a lot of spiritual hunger. Where does it come from?

Let’s face it: the children of Israel today are not walking according to God’s covenant. Idolatry and secularism abound rather than Sabbath and Torah. Israel is scattered to the four corners of the earth and the spiritual reality is not positive. On the other hand . . .

God has preserved amongst the children of Israel a hunger. Some confuse it with Jewish guilt. Others laugh at it — but they still show up like clockwork for Rosh HaShanah at the Shul or the Temple. There is a calling in the heart of every Jew. It rings with history. It resonates with covenants of old, men and women of faith. It is the voice of Abraham and Sarah going to an unknown land. It is the voice of Moses, Joshua, and the first generation, standing at Sinai. It is the song of David and the poetry of Amos, Isaiah, and Habakkuk.

That calling gets stronger at the High Holidays. God is calling his people to worship.

If you share my faith in Yeshua and the New Testament, then I hope you can see that God is working in the children of Israel even though Yeshua is a stranger to most. These are the ones beloved for the sake of the Patriarchs, said Paul. These are the one who often are foils for the good message of Yeshua and yet who have an irrevocable calling (read Romans 11:26-29 if you think I made that up).

Of all the additional prayers and melodies at the High Holidays, my favorite is the Avinu Malkenu (Our Father, Our King). It is in the daily prayers as well, but comes to special prominence at the High Holidays. There is a beautiful melody, which I cannot find a link to give you on this blog. If you can hear the melody, the prayer is even fuller and more moving.

It is a long prayer, a beautiful chorus of pleading and confessing. It begins:

Our Father, our King, our sins are before you.
Our Father, our King, we have no other King but you.

It goes on asking for mercy, for a good year, for pardon and cleansing. But it ends on such a note of high grace. Christians who would caricature Judaism as a religion devoid of grace, take note. It ends with a prayer so perfect in its wording, so true and profound, I have no doubt we will sing it before the Temple of HaShem in the days of Messiah:

Avinu Malkenu, khaneinu v’aneinu, ki ein banu ma’asim;
osei imanu tzedaka v’khesed v’hoshi’einu.
Our Father, our King, be gracious and answer us, though we have no good deeds;
make for us righteousness and grace and save us, we pray.

We have no good deeds. This is what God’s forgiveness is all about. This is a Jewish truth. It is the truth Yeshua lived and died for. If we had good deeds, we wouldn’t have needed a cleansing. We wouldn’t have needed Yeshua. But we have none. Where is our hope? Where is our peace? It’s in our Father, our King, who loved us enough to make a way through his Son.

Save us, we pray.

An Apocryphal Prayer

The history of Israel is told in the Bible until the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The New Testament picks up the story about 480 years later with John the Baptizer. What happened in between?

The answer? A whole lot. In fact, the period in between, which makes up the largest part of the Second Temple Period, was a time of growth in Israel’s worship, doctrine, and practice. As many readers and scholars have discovered, the Second Temple Period is one of the most important for understanding the formation of Judaism and Christianity.

Well, since the Hebrew Bible stops with Ezra and the New Testament starts with John the Baptist, isn’t there a major gap in Jewish literature?

No, there is not. We have quite a few writings from this period. We called them the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, the Hidden Books and the Falsely Ascribed Books. The Apocrypha is a collection of books included in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles but not in Protestant ones (the Orthodox churches have a few more than the Catholic ones). These are books like Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, Additions to Daniel, Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Ben Sira, Naruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, 1, 2,3 and 4 Maccabees, 1 and 2 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasseh, and Psalm 151.

The Pseudepigrapha are too numerous to mention here, but are divided into two categories: Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and New Testament Pseudepigrapha. The most famous Pseudepigrapha are books like Enoch, Jubilees, and Psalms of Solomon. The most famous New Testament Pseudepigrapha include books like the Acts of Paul, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Acts of Peter.

I remember from Bible college the standard Protestant line about the Apocrypha: “They don’t belong in the Bible, but they are good religious writings from their time and worthy of reading.” I remember that no one took the professor’s advice to read these books, nor were we seriously encouraged to. It all seemed just for the academics.

Well, I am still no expert in the 2nd Temple Period Jewish writings, though anyone who reads them at all has a leg up on most of the world. I have read parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls in English. You can too. Just order the Geza Vermes edition, which is popular and readable. I have read from Enoch, Jubilees, and Psalms of Solomon. You can too if you can afford to by James Charlesworth’s two-volume set, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Easiest of all to access and read is the Apocrypha. You can easily get an NRSV Bible with Apocrypha. If you really want to learn about it, I recommend David deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha.

As we approach the High Holidays, it is a time for confessional prayer, soul-searching prayer aimed at rooting out the wicked ways within us. This is a time of year to ask God for power to rid us of our own evil works.

In the foreword to David deSilva’s book, Dr. James Charlesworth, of Princeton University, relates a story. A Baptist minister discovered that the Pulpit Bible at their church included the Apocrypha. He decided to surprise his congregation one morning.

He read to them from the Prayer of Manasseh. Afterwards, several of the congregants remarked about the beauty of the prayer and how they could not find it in their Bibles.

“It’s in our Pulpit Bible,” the minister replied. It was a good way to introduce them to the fact that there are Jewish writings that lead up to the New Testament. In fact, the prayer he read could easily be in the New Testament. The concept of divine grace pervades the prayer.

Charlesworth observes that it would also make a fine Yom Kippur prayer.

Here it is for your edification and perhaps as a prayer you might offer to God:

And now I am bending the knees of my heart before you;
and I am beseeching your kindness.
I have sinned, O Lord, I have sinned;
and I certainly know my sins.
. . .
In me you will manifest all your grace;
and although I am not worthy,
you will save me according to your manifold mercies.
Because of this (salvation) I shall praise you continually
all the days of my life;
because all the hosts of heaven praise you,
and sing to you forever and ever.

33,000 Views in Ten Months!

Thanks all for checking this blog and I do hope it has added something to your life from time to time. Theology and serious reflection on Messianic Jewish, Christian, and Jewish topics is not exactly as popular as Sports Illustrated, but you’ve shown that there are people who like to think. We’re at 33,000 (1/3 of 100,000!) views in the past ten months. The way we’re going, I’m sort of hoping for 50,000 by the time we’re a year old.

Meanwhile, don’t miss today’s post, “Lashon Hara, Part 3.”

Derek

Lashon Hara, Part 3

This topic of Lashon Hara is particularly capturing my heart and attention right now. I want to be better prepared for the High Holidays this year. I want my life to exhibit fruit, to be a good tree bearing good fruit and thus showing that Yeshua is real to me. Those who don’t want to change likely do not know the Master. Those content to remain the same may be fooling themselves if they imagine themselves to have a relationship with HaShem.

When I read about the Jewish ethical traditions surrounding Lashon Hara, I am embarrassed. I have for most of my life accepted that criticizing others is generally justified. I am a rather critical person. Mind you, being critical is not all bad. It is the sharing of critical comments with others that does harm. It is good to see the weaknesses and faults in others. It is especially good to see faulty reasoning and recognize phony ideas. And there are times when we must share our observations with others.

But guarding against Lashon Hara is a matter of valuing human beings as images of God and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

The command of Leviticus 19:18 is the other half of the Shema. The Shema’s call to love God is complemented by the command to love our neighbor. Yeshua put the two together and a recent writer has taken to calling them “the Jesus creed.” It’s not a bad idea, actually, to get people reciting the two greatest commandments frequently, as Jewish tradition already has us saying Shema twice daily. Often repeating ideas puts them into our habitual practice. I know that reciting the Shema frequently helps me remember to enthrone God as king in my actions and thoughts. Repeating the command to love my neighbor frequently could do the same.

While there are legitimate reasons to criticize others, we rarely (I speak for myself) worry about whether our reasons are legitimate. We rarely weight the cost. Is it truly necessary to say this critical thing? If so, what is the least harmful way we can say it? What about our tone? What details must we include?

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, in a book I highly recommend to all (A Code of Jewish Ethics), says this about the relationship between loving our neighbor and avoiding Lashon Hara:

Those who speak negatively about others also violate the Torah commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Since people do not want damaging information about themselves shared with others, gossips cannot claim to have even tried to fulfill this fundamental law.

Gossips also violate the Torah’s Golden Rule by revealing and discussing people’s greatest areas of vulnerability. If we entered a room and heard people talking about us, what aspects of our lives would we least like to hear them discussing? It would probably be our character flaws and the intimate details of our social life. Yet, most of us, when gossiping, focus precisely on these two areas.

I remember an early lesson on the meaning of loving my neighbor. A friend from Bible college explained it this way. If you were traveling and you had no food, water, a place to sleep, or a toothbrush, you would not rest for a moment until you had secured them. In the same way, loving your neighbor as yourself means you would not allow a neighbor to do without a meal and a toothbrush. For some reason, the toothbrush part especially stuck with me.

In the same way, if I had done something embarrassing or wrong, I would hope it would not be repeated in dozens of conversations. If it was being repeated in such a manner, I would angrily confront the people talking and ask them to stop. If I love myself in this way, how can I not love my neighbor in the same way?

Our neighbor is an image of God. Do we really want to hurt them? Would we cut down God? Would we hurt ourselves?

This Lashon Hara is a serious issue. I plan to combat it by adding to my recitation of the Shema. I will not only say, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might . . .” From now on, at the end, I will add, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

May I suggest to all of you, go and do likewise.

Lashon Hara, Part 2

It is Elul and I do hope that, assuming you are observant, you are taking a spiritual inventory. Rosh Hashanah is nearly here and then Yom Kippur. I, for one, find the Bible’s teachings on speech most challenging. Judaism has expanded upon and made crystal clear the meaning of righteous speech and unrighteous speech. We should all be challenged by the topic of Lashon Hara (evil speech).

In the last post about Lashon Hara, I gave a simple definition and few stories to examine the topic. Here is a basic definition:

Lashon Hara is about true statements that in any way damage another’s reputation or cause embarrassment. Lashon Hara could also cause financial damage or simply demean the one we are talking about.

Recently I attended a lecture by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin at the local Jewish Community Center. His books are very popular the luncheon, though it had room for about 250 people, was overflowing (on a weekday!). His topic was Jewish ethics and this is also the topic of his latest book, A Code of Jewish Ethics: Volume 1.

During the lecture, Rabbi Telushkin told a story about the Chofetz Chaim (1838-1933). The Chofetz Chaim was famous for his books on topics of ethics and especially Lashon Hara. He was in the Jewish world a celebrity, but in the time before mass media and before public figures had their pictures posted all over the place. The Chofetz Chaim was known, but few people knew what he looked like.

So, one day the Chofetz Chaim was traveling by train to give a lecture somewhere in Poland. Soon another Orthodox man sitting near him began to speak to him. He was very excited about going to hear a lecture by none other than . . . the Chofetz Chaim!

The man went on and on talking about how great a man the Chofetz Chaim was, at one point even calling him a holy saint.

The Chofetz Chaim did not know what to say. He said something like, “Have you ever met the Chofetz Chaim? I have. I don’t know that I would say he is such a great saint.”

Upon hearing his idol demeaned, the man on the train grew angry and struck the Chofetz Chaim in the face.

The Chofetz Chaim learned from this a lesson: do not commit Lashon Hara, even against yourself!

Sabbath Meditation, Papias and Messiah’s Reign

Shalom, may your home be filled with it this Sabbath and this weekend. If you are Jewish or observant, I pray your table will be a blessing tonight. Spread the cloth, light the candles, pour the wine, and sanctify that Sabbath with your family. When you eat the challah, don’t forget to sprinkle on a little salt, the salt of the covenant.

My subject for this Sabbath Meditation may seem a little weird. So what else is new? I sometimes get rhapsodic about ideas. One of the ideas that frequently transports me to a better place is the coming reign of our Messiah.I get so frustrated by the fact that more than half of the followers of Jesus in this world don’t take that reign literally, nor do they take Israel’s place in it literally.

Oddly, many Jesus-followers share a similar opinion with Origen (c.185-254), the very brainy and very allegorical church father. Origen is widely regarded as one who mixed Christianity with Greek ideas and to the point of abandoning some crucial doctrines. Some of Origen’s views (or those of his followers at least) were condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 545.

In the recent book [which will eventually be the subject of a series of posts here] Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries, Oskar Skarsaune describes Origen’s attitude toward literal views of Messiah’s kingdom: “[Eusebius] had learned from Origen to despise simple Christians who took the biblical promises of salvation in a very concrete, earthly sense. . . . they were simpliciores, simpletons, not on a level with those who were able to interpret these blessings in a spiritual, that is Christian, way.” (p.332).

It is so obvious to us now, though it must have been harder to see in the middle of everything, that Origen was a product of Greek thought. Allegorizing stories was all the rage in his day. Why not allegorize the Bible?

When God gives a promise like the one below, this cannot be about literal Israel or literal grapes and grain:

Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed, the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. Amos 9:13-14.

To Origen it would be unspiritual to care about grapes and a land of Israel. What matters is the spiritual, not the physical. The Greeks, remember, thought the afterlife would be spiritual only, with no bodies. Origen is sort of the anti-Jew, one leading the church away from the Biblical conception of physical resurrection.

And most of the modern church, sadly, agrees with Origen.

So far, this is not very inspiring. Why would I choose this topic for a Sabbath meditation? I saved the inspiring part for last.

Papias is a censored leader from the early church. It is likely due to Eusebius (disciple of Origen) that Papias’ writings are lost to us except for brief excerpts. Eusebius, as Skarsaune explains, needed Papias for his testimony of having met John the Apostle and having been part of the chain of eyewitnesses to the truth of Yeshua’s life and resurrection. Yet Eusebius was embarrassed by Papias’ very Jewish and very literal views of the life to come.

Listen to Eusebius describing Papias’ beliefs about the coming kingdom of our Messiah:

Among [the writings of Papias] he mentions a certain period of a thousand years after the resurrection from the dead when Christ’s kingdom will be established physically on this earth of ours. I [Eusebius] rather suspect he came up with these things through a misrepresentation of the apostolic accounts . . . For he appears to be a man of very little intelligence from his writings.

Yes, that’s right. The very earliest church leaders accepted a very Jewish vision of a literal reign of Messiah and golden age in Israel. How Jewish? Here is one of Papias’ teachings:

Thus the elders who saw John, the disciple of the Lord, recalled having heard from him how the Lord used to teach concerning those times and say: “The days will come when the vineyards will grow ten thousand vines, and on one vine ten thousands branches, and on one branch ten thousand shoots, and on every shoot ten thousand clusters, and on every cluster ten thousand grapes, and every grape when pressed will give twenty-five measures of wine.” (p.329)

Could this be a real saying of Yeshua? Possibly. Papias got it from John who was with Yeshua.

Where did Yeshua get it from (or Papias if you think he made it up)? Skarsaune points out it is a Jewish midrash (a sort of fanciful interpretation) on Genesis 27:28-29, “May God give you . . . an abundance of grain and new wine.” The word for abundance, rov, can be read as ribbo, which means ten thousand. The same midrashic interpretation can be found in early Jewish writing in 2 Baruch 29:5.

I guess this is what excites me:
1. In the modern age, when our belief in a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:4-7 (the thousand-year kingdom of Messiah), is despised by over half of the followers of Jesus in the world, it is good to know that the earliest leaders shared our view.
2. When told that our literalist view is ignorant or beneath the intellectual level of a good interpreter, we can say we are in good company with Papias, John, and dare I say, Yeshua himself.
3. It sparks my imagination to wonder what things Yeshua might have said about his kingdom.
4. It just adds more evidence for my favorite concept: the coming reign of Messiah in Jerusalem.

When so many others have gone the way of Origen, let’s go the way of Papias. Let’s get ready for that great dance that is coming to Mt Zion. Let’s get ready for his feet to touch down on the Mount of Olives and for the kingdom to get under way. Sukkot (Tabernacles) is just around the corner. Let’s live out in the holiday the reality of what is to come, when we tabernacle with our God and our Messiah. It will be heaven on earth!

Lashon Hara, Part 1

The High Holidays are approaching. Every year we think about how to live lives more pleasing to God. This is an annual time to look inside, to look at the results of our choices and attitudes during the previous year, and to look ahead to a year lived more like the image of our Father. I know that one area we need to think seriously about is Lashon Hara, the evil tongue. I offer the following thoughts, largely based on Joseph Telushkin’s A Code of Jewish Ethics

Lashon Hara (the evil tongue) is not slander, which means untrue statements defaming another person. Lashon Hara is about true statements that in any way damage another’s reputation or cause embarrassment. Lashon Hara could also cause financial damage or simply demean the one we are talking about.

Are there some exceptions? Are there times when we must make negative statements about others? Yes, but we too easily excuse ourselves and imagine that we often have a right or a need to speak ill of others. Instead of focusing on exceptions (we’ll discuss them in another post), we need to think about the great harm of Lashon Hara.

Rabbi Telushkin gives some examples of common speech that would be classified as Lashon Hara:
1. “She is only interested in boys and never spends any time studying.”
2. “When he was a boy, he was expelled from school for cheating.”
3. “He’s not very bright; the only reason he got the job is that his father owns the company.”
4. “He cheated on his wife.”
5. “Let me tell you what I really don’t like about her.”

In one of Rabbi Telushkin’s other books, Jewish Wisdom, he tells a classic story. A man spread some negative remarks about the local rabbi and over time, the rabbi found out what the man had said. The man felt guilty and he came to the rabbi. “Can you forgive me?” he asked the rabbi.

The rabbi told the man he would forgive him if he went home, cut up a feather pillow, and scattered the feathers to the wind. The man eagerly went home to do as he was told. When he came back, the man said, “Am I now forgiven?”

“One more thing,” the rabbi said. “Now go and get back all the feathers.”

“But that’s impossible,” the man exclaimed.

“Exactly,” explained the rabbi, “and neither can you get back the things you told to so many others that did harm to my reputation.”

Leviticus 19:16 says that we should not be tale-bearers. The word for tale-bearer is related to the word for a peddler. Some people are, essentially, selling gossip. Instead of money, they get respect for themselves or the pleasure of entertaining others at someone else’s expense. Peddling dirt on other people is a shameful way to gain prestige.

Rabbi Telushkin points out that speaking negatively about others violates the command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Leviticus 19:18). We love ourselves enough not to go around mentioning all our past failures and present flaws. Why do it to someone else?

Rabbi Aryeh Levine used to tell a story about Rabbi Chayim and Rabbi Yitzchak. They made an agreement that whichever one of them died first would agree to appear in the dreams of the surviving one to tell them what the life to come is like. Rabbi Chayim died first and so he appeared in Rabbi Yitzchak’s dream. “Well, what is the life to come like?” asked Rabbi Yitzchak.

Rabbi Chayim said, “The profundity of the Divine judgment is immeasurable. The sins of the tongue are worst. But those who are humble and lowly, forbearing and forgiving, receive special consideration.”

Good Reading on Israeli-Palestinian Issue and Evangelicals

Got one heck of a busy week going on. Sorry for the pitifully small amount of content here this week. Bear with me and there will be more stuff here, I promise. Meanwhile, I will cheat today and give you a link to read something someone else wrote. It’s almost as good as me writing something. John Stackhouse is a writer worth reading, a theologian and one whose ideas show a remarkable ability to think. He comments on the recent open letter by evangelical Christian leaders supporting a sovereign Palestinian state. Never mind that the U.N. offered them one in 1948 or that Israel has offered them one several times. Liberals have a short memory and for some reason find bombings at pizza restaurants more palatable than military strikes that kill civilians. Anyway, I digress…here is John Stackhouse on the evangelical open letter:

http://stackblog.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/overstepping-evangelical-leaders-and-a-palestinian-state/

Some Notes on Acts 15, Pt 3

This is the third and last in a series of notes on Acts 15, a passage which comes up frequently. Acts 15 is a key to understanding Jewish-Gentile relationships to the Torah in the New Covenant.

Acts 15 Notes: Part 3
Derek Leman

Reference:
Leman, Derek. Paul Didn’t Eat Pork. Stone Mountain: Mt Olive Press, 2005.

…That We Not Trouble the Gentiles…
What does James mean? What exactly is it that they are not to trouble the Gentiles to do? At the start of the chapter, we find that certain believers wanted the Gentiles to:

Be circumcised, tantamount to conversion (vs.1).
“Direct them to observe the law of Moses” (vs.5).

When James says that the leaders of the Yeshua-movement should not trouble the Gentiles, then, he means:

They need not be circumcised.
They are not obligated to the whole law of Moses.

So many scriptures teach that not all of the Torah applies to Gentiles that it should be a simple conclusion. For example, the Torah itself says Shabbat is only for Israel (Exod. 31:13), dietary law is only for Israel (Deut. 14:21), and circumcision is only for Israel (Gen. 17). Galatians 5 warns the Gentiles considering conversion that if they allow themselves to be circumcised they will have to keep the whole Torah (Gal. 5:3). Colossians 2:16 tells Gentiles not to let others judge them regarding a Sabbath day. Romans 14:5, discussing differences between Jews and Gentiles, notes that not all follow the Sabbath.

“Abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood”

These four things all had to do with pagan temple life. Meat dedicated to idols was sold in the temples and was a common source of meat. Temple prostitution was widely practiced in Greco-Roman temples, much as it had been in the Ancient Near East. Tim Hegg, in Paul: The Letter Writer, provides evidence of drinking blood and eating strangled (not drained of blood) meat in pagan temples. James was saying, “These Gentiles don’t have to start living as Jews, but they need to immediately cease pagan temple practices.

“For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

Those who believe that the Torah applies equally to Gentiles and Jews attempt to use this verse to prove their point. Here is how they interpret it, “For now the Gentiles need only worry about four major changes in their lifestyle. We can’t expect them to adopt a Torah-lifestyle overnight. Later, they will hear the word preached in synagogue and they will learn Torah and adopt it.”

There are several problems with this interpretation:

1. The followers of Yeshua were ejected from synagogues in many places. In Rome there were riots in the streets over Yeshua earlier than 48 C.E. The trouble in Galatia, most likely involving synagogue leaders threatening to expose Gentile followers of Yeshua as frauds, also occurred quite early and before Acts 15. James would not have assumed that Gentile disciples would be in synagogues.

2. James used the past tense, not the present or future. That is, he did not say, “After all, Moses is being preach in the synagogues.” He said, “Moses has from ancient times been preached in synagogues.”

A more consistent understanding of James’ point has been offered by Rabbi Russ Resnik. He observes that James is using the past tense. His point has something to do with Moses having been preached in the past. Here is a possible answer: James is noting that the law of Moses, which has long been heard by Gentile God-fearers, did not result in a mass turning of Gentiles to God. It is the gospel which has done so. Thus, it is not conversion to a Jewish way of life that the Gentiles need.

Sabbath Meditation, Walking As He Walked

I hope your table will be as joyous as mine tonight. I have new friends and old coming. I have a fresh supply of wine, six bottles (don’t worry, we won’t drink them all tonight). I have my seven kids around the table as well. One of my great joys is seeing my 1 1/2 year old. When Linda gets out the candles, little Miriam puts her tiny hands in front of her eyes, mimicking the traditional posture. May your joy equal or exceed ours and may your home be filled with the Spirit and with Yeshua.

My mind is on the concept of walking as Yeshua walked.

I’ve been greatly moved by several things I’ve read on blogs recently. One is a somewhat technical paper on the Emerging Church movement, by Scot McKnight, a professor at North Park Seminary in Illinois. McKnight is one of the scholars friendly to the Emerging Church conversation (though he has some reservations and cautions). Other than his commentary on Galatians (which I found disappointingly Reformed), I appreciate his scholarship and writings, including a volume on Second Temple Judaism and the practice of proselytizing Gentiles.

The second blog article that drove me to this topic is by Emily Hunter McGowin, a young writer, seminary student, and a bit of a prodigy (she had work published in some reputable places in her early twenties!). She is still quite young (not sure, but twenties still). Her blog is always well worth reading. She has an article today on the meaning of discipleship as Yeshua taught it.

The Issue: What it Means to Follow Yeshua?
This is not, apparently, as simple as it sounds. One great idea for following Yeshua would be to read his words and follow what he says. THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT WHAT THE VAST MAJORITY OF CHURCHES AND PASTORS WOULD TELL YOU TO DO. In fact, it’s thought heresy by many.

You see, we have in modern Christianity an army of gatekeepers who define Christian faith by their denominational traditions. For the most part, their thinking is that following Jesus is all about . . . CONVERSION. Being born again is the height of everything God gave us to do in this world. YES, I’M EXAGGERATING, BUT ONLY SLIGHTLY.

For me, and I hope for many others, reading and practicing the words of Moses, the prophets, the sages and poets, Yeshua, and the apostles, is what the faith is all about. That is, the Bible is our guide and not Christian history, systematic theologies, or religious gatekeepers with clergy posts. (By the way, I’m not meaning to be harsh on pastors — a significant number would agree with me).

Emily Hunter McGowin considers the many statements of Yeshua about following him, such as:
1. Hate your father and mother.
2. Carry your cross.
3. Count the cost before you follow me.
4. Don’t lose your saltiness or you’ll be worthless.
5. Hate your own life.
6. See Luke 14:25-35 for more.

I really like Emily’s summary:

In my opinion, the main idea of Luke 14:25-35 is as follows: To be a disciple of Jesus Christ, one must abandon all of one’s resources, including family heritage, social standing, material possessions, and physical life itself. These resources are ultimately inadequate, and one’s retention of them means one’s exclusion from discipleship and, by implication, the Kingdom of God.

By the way, we’re not talking here about vows of poverty, but, better: a life of simplicity and singular devotion. You don’t have to become a poor friar with nothing but the clothes on your back begging for bread. BUT YESHUA NEVER SAID, “EXPERIENCE CONVERSION AND LIVE LIKE YOU WANT TO AND YOU WILL BE MY DISCIPLE.”

Emerging Theology and Yeshua-Faith

Scot McKnight describes the general tendencies of a group of leaders and a movement of followers in what is known as the Emerging Church. Mostly it is a reaction and like all reactions, the Emerging conversation sometimes goes too far. I am not endorsing the entire movement. BUT NEITHER CAN I ENDORSE THE STATUS-QUO IN CHRISTIANITY AND MESSIANIC JUDAISM REGARDING THE MEANING OF YESHUA-FAITH.

Scot describes the emerging view of what Yeshua-faith means:

Jesus, emerging folk are quite proud to remind us, said that we will be
judged (according to the parable of the sheep and goats) on how we treat the
least of these (Matt. 25:31-46), and that the wise man is one who practices the
words of Jesus (Matt. 7:24-27). On top of this, some are quite fond of reminding
us that Jesus didn’t offer a doctrinal statement but a way of life, and that he
called people to follow him and not just to get their theology right. And they
are not beyond saying that every judgment scene in the Bible is a judgment
based on works, and no judgment scene seems like a theological articulation
test. And they may be willing to say that no one has ever believed
everything just right – not Origen and not Athanasius and not Augustine and
not Aquinas and – to end the little “a” roll here – not Calvin and not Luther
and not Menno Simons or John Wesley.

Walking as Yeshua Walked

This is supposed to be a meditation, not an academic discussion. Yet I showed you Scot and Emily’s thoughts because so many of us reading this are infected with the easy-believism disease of modern American church life:
1. Become born-again.
2. Attend a local church (this one is becoming optional).
3. You’ve graduated.

I have a better idea. Let’s live as Yeshua lived. In community. Loving neighbor. Loving God. Sacrificing his own needs. Seeing others with compassion. Not overlooking the least of these. Befriending sinners. Drawing others to God with winsomeness and not judgment. Laying down his life for his friends.

Let’s consider a new definition of Yeshua-faith. It’s not from a denomination. It’s not what the gatekeepers have been saying. I think you’ll like it:

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2:6.

Good Shabbes, all!

Some Notes on Acts 15, Pt 2

Here is part 2 of some notes I wrote a few years ago on Acts 15. This passage is at the heart of the debate about Gentiles, Torah, and the Yeshua-movement.

Acts 15 Notes: Part 2

Reference:
Luke Timothy Johnson, Acts: Sacra Pagina Vol. 5. Collegeville, MN, The Liturgical Press, 1992.

Recap: In Acts 15, Part 1, we considered that the issue before the apostles was not works versus grace. Although some believing Pharisees had said that Gentiles had to be circumcised in order “to be saved” (vs.1), the apostles did not go on to discuss salvation by faith alone. That discussion occurred in many other places, as evidence in Paul’s letters. Rather, in Acts 15, the issue was how Gentiles were to be included in the new people of God. Were they to become Jews in order to enter? If so, this would mean that Gentiles had to be circumcised and observe the dietary law and Sabbath as well as other laws from Moses.

Acts 15:13-21, James Cites Amos 9
The apostles were careful to cite scripture as a precedent for their actions. They wanted to move ahead with God’s wisdom and not their own. For example, in choosing a disciple to replace Judas, they cited two scriptures in Acts 1:20—Psalm 69:25 and 109:8.

Now, in deciding this issue that they had to see as a turning point in the progress of the Yeshua-movement, they grounded their decision in scripture. James saw the answer in Amos 9, a scripture about Gentiles in the Messianic kingdom. The prophets of Israel, starting with Moses, had a long tradition of speaking of Gentile inclusion in God’s kingdom:

Rejoice, O nations, with His people. (Deut 32:43, “nations” is goyim).
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will worship before You (Psalm 22:27).
Now it will come about that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it (Isa. 2:2).
Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious (Isa. 11:10).
It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth (Isa. 49:6).
I will also take some of them [the nations] for priests and for Levites,” says the Lord (Isa. 66:21).
Naaman said, “If not, please let your servant at least be given two mules’ load of earth; for your servant will no longer offer burnt offering nor will he sacrifice to other gods, but to the Lord.” (2 Kings 5:17).
Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you (1 Kings 17:9).
…and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:26-27).

James sees the principle clearly in Amos 9:11-12. James quotes Amos 9 with a few variations:

Amos 9:11-12 In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David, And wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins And rebuild it as in the days of old; 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by My name,” Declares the LORD who does this.

Acts 15:16-18 AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, 17 SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,’ 18 SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.

Of the variations between James’ citation and the text of Amos 9:11-12, one stands out as major. James says, “That the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,” whereas Amos says, “That they may possess the remnant of Edom.” This variation comes from the Septuagint, the Greek version also called the LXX.

Luke Johnson says it is this variation in the Septuagint that allows James to use this verse “midrashically” (p.265). In other words, James knows that the Hebrew text does not contain this phrase, but uses it as the rationale for citing this verse. James finds a hidden meaning in Amos 9:12 that God wants all mankind, including Gentiles, to seek him.

This view of scriptural authority, however, would not fit the pattern of the apostles. For them the scripture was the word of God. They would not base a doctrine on a difference between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text.

Rather, James cites the Septuagint because that is what he has memorized. Even Jews living in the land read from the Septuagint and found it an easy translation. James’ point does not come from the phrase, “That all mankind may seek the Lord.” Rather his point come from the phrase, “Gentiles who are called by his name.”

Gentiles Called by God’s Name
What occurred to James and brought light to the discussion of the apostles was a simple idea seen in the prophet Amos. In the last days God would take Gentiles to himself and put his name on them. And God said nothing about these Gentiles converting. Rather, God accepted them as Gentiles.

That means they would not need circumcision. They would not need to join Israel, as Caleb, Ruth, and others had done. They are Gentiles called by God’s name, not Gentile converts.

That is to say, God had always been open to accepting Gentiles. Further, it was understood that these Gentiles would not have to go back to their country and live the Jewish calendar and eat the Jewish diet. The Torah called upon Israel to eat a peculiar diet to separate them as holy from the Gentiles. The Torah called upon Israel to keep Shabbat as a sign between God and Israel (Exod 31:13). These Israel-specific practices were not incumbent on Gentiles to have a relationship with God.

With this precedent from scripture as a foundation, James and the apostles would receive Gentiles by faith into the community of Yeshua without circumcision or dietary law or Sabbath observance. Gentiles are welcome as Gentiles and Jews as Jews. The two are one, yet distinct, just as man and woman are one yet distinct.

MORE TO COME . . .

Conversation with an Orthodox Shaliach, Persons and Souls

I had lunch today with an old friend/adversary. Let’s call him Rich. He is a businessman and a family man, but in his spare time (so-called) he runs an organization calling Jews back to Torah, and Jews away from faith in Yeshua. That makes him a shaliach (shuh-LEE-akh), a missionary of sorts to his own people.

Once, he and I clashed like fire and dynamite (sodium and water for those who had fun in chemistry lab). Those were the days when I was a zealous street evangelist, calling for Jews to come to Christ. Now I still call for Jewish people to know Christ, but with a better understanding of Jewish identity and less offensive means of dialogue.

Anyway, there was one topic among many that we talked about, persons and souls. Before I get to that, let me say that we talked about many things. We did a little personal catching up, a little friendlier than days of old. We talked about our differences. “Jesus is a false god,” said Rich, “believing in him is one of the cardinal sins.” Rich and I are certainly far apart, but in some ways closer than we were before.

But this one topic we discussed, persons and souls, I thought would make an interesting blog article. I found in it an unexpected theological connection. Maybe you will too.

Persons and Souls
“So, tell me something,” I said to Rich. “I heard an idea from Rabbi Feldman that I want to know more about. It had to do with reincarnation [the idea that souls come back in the next generation as different people, a sort of recycling view of souls]. I heard Rabbi Feldman say he believes there are only 600,000 Jewish souls and that is all there ever have been or will be.”

“I don’t know much about that,” Rich looked puzzled. “I see a rabbi here who might be able to answer your question.”

Before he could get the rabbi, I said, “After Rabbi Feldman’s talk, I asked him about it. I wondered how, with fifteen million Jewish people in the world today, there could be only 600,000 Jewish souls. Doesn’t every Jew have a complete soul?”

Rich did not know. He went to get the rabbi. I asked him the same question and whether this belief in 600,000 Jewish souls was widespread or just an isolated theory. “No, it is Torah,” he replied, “it is what we all believe.”

As he began to try and answer how 15,000,000 Jewish people could share 600,000 Jewish souls, not to mention previous generations and generations yet to come, his explanations seemed fuzzy. It took a few minutes to get even close to clarity. I said, “This concept of 600,000 Jewish souls must be part of Midrash or Talmud. Do you know where it says that?” He did not know a reference, but thought it was in the Midrash, rabbinic expansions and commentary on the Torah. These are regarded as infallible by many religious Jews.

As we tried to understand how millions of Jews could share a limited supply of souls, I asked things like, “Doesn’t my friend Rich here have a complete soul? If he has a soul that was in someone else before, is he exactly like them?”

Their best explanation was that the 600,000 souls are root souls that split up and divide into all Jews. That seemed to leave Jews with a fraction of a soul, but Rich said maybe it works like seeds. This was still somewhat unclear as this would require the same seeds to be used simultaneously in different people. Yet the interesting part, the part that made a theological connection between Yeshua-faith and Judaism, was about to come.

“Rich has one of the root souls,” the rabbi said, “but that only means he inherits tendencies of that soul. He is not identical to any other possessor of that soul. He receives the tendencies, but then he makes of them what he will. He is still unique.”

The wheels began turning in my head. “This may surprise you,” I said, “but that is like the New Testament doctrine of the Trinity.” They both said they were not surprised that Judaism and Christianity would have things in common. “You see, the concept of the Trinity is that God has one essence or being, but that one essence is expressed in three different persons.”

They didn’t get it. “Don’t you see?” I continued. “Rich has the same soul or essence as many other Jews, since he shares, as you say, one of only 600,000 souls. There are an untold number of people alive today who inherited the same essence as Rich. Who knows how many inherited it before or will in the future? Yet each one expresses that same essence as a different person. In the same way, the Father, Son, and Spirit share one essence, but they are three distinct persons.”

It is not a perfect analogy. I can see problems with it. Certainly the rabbi and Rich would not regard Rich as ONE with the others who share his soul. They would probably see this as more evidence that Christians believe in three Gods (which is untrue, of course).

I think it is definitely a problem for the concept of 600,000 Jewish souls. The idea for this doctrine probably came from some verse like Exodus 12:37 (are there any scholars out there who know the Midrash reference?). I guess an idea like that could be understood allegorically, but not literally. Still, we must be operating with radically different definitions of soul. A soul is mind, will, and emotion (to me). Yet they would not agree that Rich shares the same mind, will, and emotions with numerous other Jews.

Yet the concept is there. An essence can be expressed in multiple persons. Judaism has a precedent for that idea. For whatever it’s worth, I thought I would point out the connection.

Some Notes on Acts 15

Acts 15 has come up quite a bit lately. I thought I would post some notes I wrote some time ago. I know it is not the same as writing something fresh for the blog, but I hope you will get something from the notes anyway.

Acts 15 Notes: Part 1
Derek Leman

Reference:
Luke Timothy Johnson, Acts: Sacra Pagina Vol. 5. Collegeville, MN, The Liturgical Press, 1992.
Derek Leman, Paul Didn’t Eat Pork. Stone Mountain: Mt. Olive Press, 2005.

Note: The following interpretations steer a course between two extremes. On the one side are Torah-obsolete interpretations that the Torah of Moses has been abolished for Jew and Gentile in Messiah. On the other side are one-law interpretations that Jews and Gentiles are equally obligated to Torah. The middle course of this interpretation is that the Torah of Moses is still binding on Jewish believers yet, while applicable, not binding on Gentile believers.

Some Men Came Down from Judea
Anyone going to Jerusalem is said to go up and anyone leaving to go down, regardless of the direction. This story begins in Antioch, far north of Jerusalem and Judea.
The events of Acts 15 happened after the writing of Galatians. Otherwise, Paul would certainly have referenced the decision of the Jerusalem leaders in Galatians. Thus, Paul had dealt extensively with this problem before Acts 15. There are those in the Yeshua movement who did not understand that God was calling Gentiles without conversion.

“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
The issue here is salvation and inclusion in the people of God, not conformity of Gentiles to Torah for other reasons. Thus, Acts 15 need not at all be taken as a blanket condemnation of Gentiles keeping Jewish customs voluntarily.
The thinking of these Judean brothers in Messiah is easy to recognize. They had a theology in which only Israel is to be saved. They saw any hope for Gentiles lying only in converting and joining Israel. There had already been expressed in Judaism other ideas about Gentile inclusion. God-fearers, Gentiles who did not fully convert or keep Torah but who shared monotheistic faith in Israel’s God, had been encouraged for some time.
These Judean brothers were missing a great deal of what the Hebrew Bible has to say about righteous Gentiles. Examples in the Bible such as Naaman the leper and the Syro-Phoenician woman who helped Elijah show that joining Israel was never God’s requirement. Further, in certain prophecies, one of which James alludes to in this chapter, Gentile inclusion in God’s kingdom is envisioned apart from conversion.

“Direct them to observe the Law of Moses.”
A necessary correction to some Messianic Jewish and Torah observant interpretations of Acts 15 needs to be sounded here. The apostles in Jerusalem will not agree that Gentiles must: (1) be circumcised and (2) observe the Law of Moses.
First, regarding circumcision, God had always regarded this as means of inclusion in the Abrahamic covenant as per Genesis 17. Gentiles have a different role in the Abrahamic covenant. Whereas Israel inherits through Abraham the land, the peoplehood, and the role as blesser of the world, the nations inherit something different. The nations are blessed through Abraham’s descendants, not as Abraham’s descendants. Israel is the blesser and the Gentiles of faith are the ones who receive the blessing.
This is why Paul has Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3) but not Titus (Gal 2:3). Timothy’s mother was Jewish but he had not been circumcised because of his Greek father. Titus was a Gentile. Therefore, he had no reason to be circumcised.
Second, the Law of Moses contains numerous commandments that do not apply to Gentiles. Many of the commandments presume Israel living in the land with an active sanctuary and priesthood. A Gentile in Aram, such as Naaman, need not come to worship in Jerusalem. These commandments are not required for him. Likewise a case can be made that not only circumcision, but also Shabbat observance, dietary law, and the wearing of fringes never were intended for anyone but Israel (cf. Leman, Paul Didn’t Eat Pork, pp.93-95). Most of the Torah commandments, however, do have universal application. It is not that Gentiles can ignore the Torah, but that their relationship to it is different than Israel’s.

“A yoke which neither our fathers or we have been able to bear”
Some interpreters have deduced from this saying that Peter was not Torah-observant. Perhaps he had been up until the Cornelius vision in Acts 10 and thereafter began eating unclean meat with Gentiles.
Yet this is not at all what Peter says. Far from being against Torah, Peter is saying it is not the means of salvation. Israel had never successfully as a nation kept the Torah. Nor had any individual kept it perfectly. Even Moses sinned. If keeping Torah had been God’s means of salvation, no one would have made it. Yet these Judean brothers were making it the standard inappropriately. Peter’s words in Acts 15:10-11 can be paraphrased, “Why are you making Torah observance, which we have as a nation never managed to pull off, the requirement for salvation when we know that it is by faith that we are saved?” Torah observance by a Jewish believer, such as Peter, is not for salvation, but is a way of life for a believer. Thus, Gentiles should not be told Torah observance is a prerequisite.

Next: How does James’ quotation of Amos 9 relate to the question at hand? Why do the apostles request four observances from the Gentiles? What is meant by the comment that Gentiles have heard Moses preached from ancient times? Is Torah Observance required of Gentiles in the same way as Jews?

A New Look at Paul, Justification

This is the fifth in a series based on a paper by N.T. Wright about the New Perspective on Paul. There is no one New Perspective, but there is a trend in various scholars (especially E.P. Sanders, James Dunn, and N.T Wright) to take very seriously the historical background of Paul and read him from his own time, not from the time of Augustine or Luther.

Justification. A common explanation in sermons is just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned. A common theological summary of the salvation process is justification, sanctification, and then glorification. Justification is widely regarded as the beginning of the process, or at least in our experience, of salvation.

Yet, N.T. Wright says, this is not how Paul uses the term. Consider a number of “justification” verses in Paul:

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Romans 2:13
…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua… Romans 3:24
It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:26
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Romans 3:28
…Yeshua our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Romans 4:25
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. Romans 5:18
For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10:10

Now here’s the thing about justification. In Paul, it simply does not mean conversion. It is not the beginning point of our experience of salvation. Instead, justification comes in two phases: initial justification and final justification.

Here’s how it works:
1. God’s foreknowledge of the person (his knowing us before we were born, Rom. 8:29-20).
2. God’s marking us out ahead of time (predestination, Rom. 8:29-30).
3. The Call: as N.T. Wright calls it, “the moment when the gospel of Jesus as Lord is announced and people come to believe it and obey its summons.”
4. Justification (initial): God declares that we are (a) right with him/pardoned/declared innocent and (b) we have joined the covenant family of God (Jew and Gentile).
5. Sanctification: the ongoing process of growing in righteousness and good works in the Spirit’s power.
6. Justification (final): God’s final judgment, which is by works. If our works prove our faith, we are finally saved.
7. Glorification: resurrected and made perfect like Yeshua.

Notice that justification is not conversion. Paul refers to that rather as being called (verses like Galatians 1:6). Justification is what God does after we respond to the call. God declares that our pardon is begun, though only in the final judgment is it complete. Nonetheless, the ones in whom God has begun will go to completion (Phil. 1:6).

To be justified by faith means we are initially declared right with God and in the covenant family by believing that Yeshua is Lord. To be justified as a doer of the law (Rom. 2:13) means at the final judgment we will have been found to have been righteous through the Spirit’s work in us making us grow.

Justification is about our Judge declaring us right, including us in the covenant family, and finally, on that Day, declaring our works valid. We are justified by faith initially but by works in the end (see James 2:24 before you stone me, or Romans 2:13).

Sabbath Meditation, Faith Like Rahab

Lay out your fine tablecloth. Prepare your challah and wine. Set up your candles and place settings. Make this a fine Shabbat. Sanctify it and set it apart. Blessings to your family, Jewish on non-Jewish, this weekend. May your worship and family time be a blessing however you spend it.

What little spiritual depth I may have comes from close reading of God’s words. I know many who find their spiritual connection praying or doing deeds of kindness. These can touch my inner places at times, but I confess that the Bible is my Holy of Holies. I see the kavod HaShem (glory of the Lord) in it again and again, always in new places and new ways. I have been brought to tears and prayers of repentance and joy a thousand times reading and contemplating the spiritual truths of Torah, prophets, writings, and apostles.

I’m reading Joshua right now along with my congregation. I love the Biblical narratives. If you learn how to see their purpose and how they reveal God, they are as powerful as any other part of scripture. Many are stories easy enough for children to comprehend and spiritual records powerful enough to bring grown men to repentance and joy.

I was mightily moved today by a close reading of the story of Rahab the harlot and the spies of Israel. It is a story of covenant, a picture of God’s covenant kindness and faithfulness. It is a tale of a lowly woman made righteous when God comes to town. It is a tale of faith in God more than security inside impregnable walls, a choosing of spiritual community over the safety of home and neighbors, country and peoplehood.

The story is in Joshua 2:1-23 and 6:22-25. Don’t miss the scarlet thread in 2:18 or the way that Rahab asks for a covenant of kindness from the spies. What more could we want from God than a covenant of kindness, a scarlet redemption, a salvation on the basis of faith and reverence?

I offer the following reading of Rahab’s story as a meditation for this Shabbat. Read it with your family, with your children, your spouse, a friend, or by yourself. Let the power of Rahab’s faith, her desire for God’s covenant kindness, permeate your life as well. . . .

…………………………
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. 2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. 7 So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

Rahab takes the first step of kindness. Before she has any promise from them, she lays out stalks of flax, sort of like wheat straw, to camouflage them on her thatched roof. She hides them before going to see the king or his messengers. Her intention is already to hide them. We don’t know her reasons yet. Why would she help men who will kill her neighbors and destroy her town?

8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Would that there was faith like this in Israel! From the mouth of a sinful woman and a foreigner comes fear of God. When God comes to town even the lowest can be made righteous. God has a way of reaching out to the least expected. No one has sinned too much for simple faith to reclaim their life. He is God in the heavens above and on earth beneath!

12 Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign 13 that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.” 14 And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.”
15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall. 16 And she said to them, “Go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you, and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.”

This is a classic example of a covenant. Rahab wanted to join with the people of God. She trusted that God was bringing judgment to Canaan and she wanted to be part of Israel. She wished to join the people of God. So she showed a kindness. She took a step toward God (theologians would say that God did something in her heart first). She showed love and kindness and asked the same in return. The Israelite spies understand immediately what is suggested, “Our life for yours even to death!” Covenants are to the death. Covenants require faithful dealing when the time comes to honor them. Rahab desired the God of Israel and the people of God and she made a covenant to get what she so desperately needed. The truth is we need God even more than men being hunted to death by a king need to be rescued.

17 The men said to her, “We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear. 18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. 19 Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. 20 But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath that you have made us swear.” 21 And she said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

A scarlet cord? It was a good symbol for the spies to know the house, since scarlet thread was precious. It was like hanging a gold chain, since scarlet was rare and costly. Yet, is there more to this detail? Scarlet shows up in places like the ashes needed for cleansing impurity (Num. 19:6) and the ceremony to cleanse a leper (Lev. 14:6). Scarlet is the color of the blood that flowed from the sacrifices and brought cleansing. It was the color of the blood on the door at Passover. Scarlet is the color of redemption. Rahab has made a covenant with God to join the covenant people, Israel. She is redeemed.

22 They departed and went into the hills and remained there three days until the pursuers returned, and the pursuers searched all along the way and found nothing. 23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them.

The Israelites take the covenant seriously and tell it all to Joshua. Did you notice something about their spy mission? It was a total failure. They went right away to Rahab’s place and spent three days in hiding. They did not spy out the land as planned. It seems God had another purpose for their mission: Rahab. The God of heaven is seeking those who will believe.

Joshua 6:22 But to the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out from there the woman and all who belong to her, as you swore to her.” 23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel. 24 And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 25 But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Jericho is flattened and all the people are dead. The victory is HaShem’s, just as he said. And the Israelites keep their covenant with Rahab, just as God keeps his covenant with us. The scarlet cord is honored and Rahab is redeemed. At first, they didn’t know what to do with her. They kept her outside the camp of Israel. But in time they learned: Rahab was now one of them, an Israelite too. In fact, little did they know, but she was really none other than one of the mothers in the line of Messiah

Matthew 1:5-6 . . . and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

And Rahab was justified by her good works and brought near to God. Her faith led to service and service is worship. And in the child who was eventually born from her line, she too was saved.

James 2:25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Good Shabbes to you all!