33. B’chukotai- In My Statutes

[alon]

This week is a double reading: 32. Behar- On the Mountain


This reading:

Date of reading- 12 Ma7, 2018/ 27 Iyyar 5778/ 27-2-5778

Name of Par’shah- 33. B’chukotai- In My Statutes

Par’shah- Leviticus 26:3-27:34

Haftara- Jeremiah 16:19-17:14

Brit Chadashah- John 14:15-21, 15:10-12; 1 John


D’rash: Our Renewed Covenant portion contains a lot about love. In Christian theology, love is a “New Testament” thing. The God of the “Old Testament” was angry, vindictive, and gave “Laws” He knew men could not keep just to show us all how evil we really are. But praise the Lord we have a new god, an advocate who stands between the Father and us, freed us from that onerous law, gave us grace we never had and wrapped it all in “love!” Yes folks, you heard right- love is a NT only thing! Well, if the OT God, who is One God Old and New and who does not change- if He did not love mankind enough to give us grace, it all would have ended with Adam and Chava. The Ark would have been sunk because someone complained about having to shovel out the stalls, the Patriarchs surely would have all been smitten in their turn, Moshe would have been swept away and drowned after he smote the rock, Melech Dovid would just have been blinded or worse when he looked at Bat’Sheva, and the nation of Yisroel would never have returned from Babylon, let alone survived the Roman Diaspora to reclaim Ha’Eretz. And most of all, that “vindictive God” would never have given us the warnings He gave us in the par’shah. Those do make Him look vindictive, and He knew He’d be blamed for that by many. But they forget the promises of blessings for doing as He said; you know, following those laws. Blessings from laws; can you believe that? Bah! Well, yeah; sometimes it’s kind of nice to know it is illegal for my neighbor to kill me.

But the church tells us that in this reading we are given a new commandment- to love:

John 15:12 (ESV) “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

They even title it as a “New Commandment” in their translations:

The New Commandment
1 John 2:7-8 (ESV)  Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

However note this starts out saying it is no new commandment, but the old they’ve already heard. At the same time it is new- how can this be? Well, this is another way of saying there is nothing really new in the so called “New Testament.” It is the old made new, made prefect as new light is shed on it. There was always love, and the NT confirms this:

Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV) “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

So there you have it; the whole and the Neviim, and by extension the Kethuvim as well, wrapped in love and delivered to us by the same God that inspired it all in the first place. There was always love. Then why does Leviticus 26:14-46 speak of punishments that bring to mind some of the more gruesome chapters in Revelation? I’m not going to read hem as you should already have. But these were punishments meant to bring us to repentance:

Leviticus 26:23-24(ESV) “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

That is why they got progressively worse if repentance was not forthcoming. That is the act of a loving Father trying to bring His children home and ultimately save them from destruction. We need only look to verses 1-12 to see what it is He truly wants for us.

The church fathers took a popular movement and hijacked it, remaking the God of Yisroel in their image, a god to their own liking. I think the opening line of our haftara will be particularly poignant to these evil men at the judgement:

Jeremiah 16:19-21 (ESV) 
O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,
    my refuge in the day of trouble,
to you shall the nations come
    from the ends of the earth and say:
“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,
    worthless things in which there is no profit.
Can man make for himself gods?
    Such are not gods!”
 “Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.”

But what about Leviticus 27? Can we, or would God place a price on the life of a human being? And is a woman really worth less than a man? This is the same God after all who paid the ultimate price to redeem us. So obviously that is not what this chapter is about.

First off these spontaneous acts of giving were very important to the upkeep of the Temple and the priests. So if your act of thanksgiving involved different members of the family, a monetary value was placed on them, apparently based on size, strength, age and health which translates to the amount of physical labor they were able to perform. That is how the commentator in my TNK sees it, anyhow. But it was not based on any social hierarchy, saying women are worth less as a person than a man.

[alon]

Jeremiah 17:1-4 (ESV) “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars,  while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills,  on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory.  You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

This and a sister text later from Yirmeyahu must be understood in context with each other. Here the sins of the Kingdom of Yehuda are engraved on the hearts of the people. These sins are indelible, and will be remembered. To the ancient Hebrews, the heart and not the mind was the source of thought and remembrance. So to write something on the heart is a euphemism for remembrance or memorization. The horns of their altars metaphorically represent that place in their hearts where they worshiped; the gods they loved and served. Actually, since the Israelites thought emotions resided in the kidneys that would be where the sins were written also. So guys, when we go home tonight, we should look at our wives and tell them “Darlin’, I love you with both my kidneys.” I think that “sin” would be remembered by someone too.

But compare this with the following:

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV) “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

So looking at these two and applying Hillel’s 2nd and 6th rules of exegesis:

Gezerah shawah: Argument from analogy. Biblical passages containing synonyms or homonyms are subject, however much they differ in other respects, to identical definitions and applications.
Ka-yoẓe bo mi-maḳom aḥer: Similarity in content to another Scriptural passage.

And if you don’t know those rules just connect the dots. Any child can do that much! How can anyone say that this “New Covenant” is to be made with anyone other than Yisroel?

And as in our par’shah, grace is applied to the nation once they have paid for their sins. However even after repentance, they still did have to pay. But what of this “New Testament” grace? Is it really saying that now we are free from obedience to the law, now that “we got grace?” We can now sin with impunity? Well, let’s go back to our B’rith Kadashah portion and see:

1 John 2:1-6 (ESV) My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.  Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,  but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:  whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

pro·pi·ti·ate  (prō-pĭsh′ē-āt′) To gain or regain the goodwill or favor of; appease: propitiate the gods with a sacrifice.

G2434 - hilasmos ἱλασμός- atonement, i.e. (concretely) an expiator:—propitiation.

So why not translate this as “atoned” instead of propitiated:

atone (əˈtoʊn) a•toned, a•ton•ing.
1. to make amends, as for an offense or error or for an offender (usu. fol. by for): to atone for one's sins.
2. to become reconciled; agree.
3. to make amends for; expiate.
4. to bring into unity, accord, etc.

So “propitiation,” which just means to try and get back in the favor, to just appease someone (in this case God); or atonement, at-onement, to pay the price and make it right, which Yeshua did for us.

Atonement would seem to be a better word than something that means “to appease the gods.” However the early church fathers were pagans, and they never renounced their paganism. Later church fathers did renounce theirs, but only as far as the Christian understanding of the term; namely anything outside mainstream Christianity. So it was natural that they should do as pagans always do and mix their old religions with that of El Elohe Yisroel and make a new religion more to their liking. And just as naturally, their translations would choose words that reflected back on their roots; not Judaism, but paganism.

And we must always be careful using Christian terms, as “atone” doesn’t really give us all the true meaning of what was done for us. Yeshua acted as our “goel,” a Hebrew word which carries much more meaning and inference, and is much more accurate:

Goel from lig’ol- "to redeem", hence “redeemer. "a next of kin charged with the duty of restoring the rights of another and avenging wrongs done to him.

In the Book of Isaiah, God is called the redeemer of Israel:

Isaiah 41:14b (ESV) I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

Contextually there Israel moves to a stronger position regarding the nations. Her people are provided for, and she “winnows the hills.”

The goel did more than redeem us; he redeemed property rights/our inheritance, as well as our reputation and standing in the community of nations.

Yeshua is our goel; He redeems us, offering Himself as the Paschal Lamb. Understanding the original Hebrew terms frees us from the constraints of trying to understand something that has not only went through several translations, but that has also been intentionally altered in order to present us with a skewed view of the meaning and intent of the text. However if we must use an English term perhaps “redeemer” would be more appropriate:

redeem re·deem  (rĭ-dēm′) tr.v. re·deemed, re·deem·ing, re·deems- REDEEMER
1. To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum:
2. a. To pay off (a promissory note, for example) b. To turn in (coupons, for example) and receive something in exchange c. To convert into cash: redeem stocks
3. To fulfill, a pledge, for example
4. a. To set free, as from slavery or kidnapping, by providing money or other compensation b. To save (a person or soul) from a state of sinfulness and its consequences c. To restore the honor, worth, or reputation of
5. a. To atone for (an error or mistake) b. To serve as compensation for; make up for

Note the idea of atonement is subsumed under redemption as well. Only a small part of the whole of what was done for us at Pesach- past (the exodus), present (from the 1st cen CE to now), and future (the Olam Haba).

Last week in shul we talked about the Samaritans and how they had combined their paganism with worship of the new God of the land they were transplanted into (Israel); how this was an abomination. They too thought they were worshiping the God of Israel. But their offer to help rebuild the Temple on this supposed “common ground” was refused, because they did not really worship the One Eternal God at all. A little paganism, like a little leaven, spreads through the whole lump rather quickly. And these church fathers had more than just a little leaven in their lumpy new religion.

Well, that was fun! It’s been a while since I got after the church fathers like that.

Seriously, it is no fun at all; to look back on how much you were lied to, and how many of the lies you actually believed. Thankfully I am no longer angry and bitter about it, though I do feel a bit of the old anger looking at this through the lens of our readings this week. And thankfully we saw enough to come out of the church, and we recognized enough of the truth in Messianism when we first heard it preached that we stayed on with it. And so I think it appropriate we close with this prayer of Yirmeyahu from our haftara:

Jeremiah 17:14 (ESV)  Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for you are my praise.

alon

Mekorot: JPS Study TNK, Mark Lowry, a few reference books, my own experiences and knowledge base, Rav S, my father and others

[alon]

“Yeshua never atoned for our sins. Atoned means to cover. The blood of bulls and goats covered, His blood washed our sins away.” Rav S

Exodus 29:36 (KJV)  And thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

Leviticus 1:4 (KJV) And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

Numbers 5:8 (KJV) But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the Lord, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.

Strong's H3722 - כפר kaphar, kaw-far'; a primitive root; to cover (specifically with bitumen); figuratively, to expiate or condone, to placate or cancel:—appease, make (an atonement, cleanse, disannul, forgive, be merciful, pacify, pardon, purge (away), put off, (make) reconcile(-liation).

The term “atonement” is improperly used to translate the word כפר kaphar, meaning to cover. So I can see the Rabbis objection to the term used in conjunction with the redeeming work of Yeshua. The word being misused in those and many other passages does impart somewhat of a definition just by common use, since the KJV was read in churches for centuries, often held up as the only true translation!

However the word means what it means, so the concept I was trying to get across in the d’rash is still valid. We must use caution when using words typically used in Christian translations; and atonement is a weak term at best, and at worst carries the wrong meanings through common misuse.

All the ideas present (and a LOT more) in the dictionary definition of “atonement” are present in redemption:
1. to make amends
2. to become reconciled; agree.
3. to expiate.
4. to bring into unity, “at-onement”

However the idea of 'a covering' is not there!

Note too that Strong's, which follows closely with the doctrine of those who transliterated the KJV misinterpreted the word kaphar to include 'atonement.'

So I am not going to change the par’shah. However I think it is important to understand this point as well. The term does carry some connotations which we do not want to apply to our salvation through Yeshua. Redemption is a much better word.

Dan C