Ki Tisa
Exodus 30:11 - 34:35

Our torah portion today recalls one of the most significant departures from faith that Israel has ever experienced. Of course, I am referring to Israel ’s erecting of a golden calf in the wilderness. It is to this event that God speaks when He Says through the prophet Jeremiah, “Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:31-32) According to many Jewish commentators, most notably Rashi, it was the golden calf which caused Israel to ultimately be a nation “with priests rather than a nation of priests”. The reaction of God to this grave sin was initially a desire to destroy the people and start over again with the descendants of Moses! (Ex.32:9-10). However, Moses intercedes for Israel . He prays three times for God to relent for destroying the people. First, Moses “argues” that God should not destroy the people because He already redeemed them out of Egypt . Second he argues that the testimony before the nations would be harmed: “what will the Egyptians think?”. Finally he invokes the names of the patriarchs of Israel , Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is at this point that God responds to Moses and relents from destroying the people. "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel , Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" (Ex. 32:13) What is it about the names of the patriarchs that seems to have moved God to compassion? Two possible choices are offeredⁱ. First is the well known Jewish theological concept of “Zachut Avot”. “The Merits of the Fathers”. This theological concept says that the righteousness of the Patriarchs was so great that it covers the sins of future generations of Jews. (When Ronald Reagan was President I remember calling this the ‘trickle down effect). The righteousness of the Patriarchs “trickle down” to future generations. This view is problematic because we know from the Scriptures that no one - not even the Patriarchs of Israel - achieved a level of righteousness that could effect future generations. It is only in Yeshua the Messiah, whose righteousness is unmatched, who is the “Word made flesh”, that such a claim could be made. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:21). So, if the reminder of the names of the Patriarchs was not in and of itself the decisive statement, what is it that moved God to relent? Perhaps the answer is in the second reason that is often given. In this view, God relented because of the promise that He had made to the Patriarchs. We read it in the second part of Ex. 32:13 quoted above. When Moses invoked the names of the Patriarchs, he did so as a reminder of the promise that God had made to them. That promise was that their descendants would outnumber the stars in heaven and would inherit the land. Since God is not one to break his promise, he relents for the sake of the promise made to the Patriarchs. This sounds very good - except for one detail. Was not Moses part of the promise anyway? If God had destroyed all of the people and started again with Moses could we not say that “technically” the promise was still intact? After all, Mosses was a descendant of Abraham. In our Torah portion God said that he would destroy the people and make out of Moses a great nation. May I suggest that the term great nation infers that it would be a different nation. This means that God would be starting all over again with a new people, headed by Moses. Moses was a man of great humility. (see Num. 12:3). Even though the promise would be technically kept intact, Moses realized that his place was not to be the father of the nation, but rather the “preserver” of the nation. In this passage, the promise made to Abraham withstands even the gravest sins of his descendants. We see here not only the grace of God in action but also the truth that the continuity of the nation continues as well. Thousands of years after this event, another great sin occurred among the Jewish people. That is the rejection of the Messiah. Even here we see that God does not start over again either. Abraham is still considered to be the father of the Jewish people. Yeshua, who is the fulfillment of the “preserver” of Israel , did not come to do away with Israel and start over with a new people. He came to “preserve Israel ” and to be the light of the nations. 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." (Isaiah 49:5-6). Just as Moses interceded and preserved Israel , so Yeshua intercedes and preserves Israel . Also, just as Moses transmitted the Word that brings life to all who believe, so Yeshua is the Word that transforms lives today. In these days of great uncertainty, we can rest assured that God will continue to preserve Israel and continue to be a light to the nations. May the day soon come when Yeshua is siting on His throne in Jerusalem when all of the nations will come to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts. Shabbat Shalom!