Romans 11:26-27
“The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will
banish ungodliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I
take away their sins."
Moses arrives in Goshen and
tells Israel of God’s promises. He tells them that Hashem remembered the
promises He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that intending to make good
on them, He now calls on them to be their God and His people. The Israelites
understand the message. Israel, who presently belongs to Pharaoh, the God of
the world, is now being vied by another lover who says to her, "You are
being abused, I will deliver you. You shall be mine now and I will take care of
you”. Was Israel ready for the fight between two ‘bucks’ vying for the same
female? As far they were concerned, they could be jumping from the frying pan
into the fire!
The text then tells us that because
of their broken spirit and the harsh slavery, the Children of Israel were not enthused
at the message (Exodus 6:6-9). I like how the Hebrew text puts it. It speaks of
Israel’s spiritual condition using the term, ‘ketser ruach’. The expression is
an idiom for ‘despondency’. The literal meaning is ‘shortness of breath or of spirit’.
They were spiritually exhausted. Their cruel bondage stole from them all strength
for faith (Genesis 6:9). Hashem was going to have to do all the hard work!
How much like today. As it
happened with Moses, who is also called in Judaism the ‘First Redeemer’ (thus
making allusion to Messiah the Second Redeemer), we are watching the fulfillment
of the promises God made to the patriarchs and the prophets concerning Israel.
We have seen Him resurrect the country where Messiah is supposed to make His
landing at the time they will all see Him (Zechariah 14). Just as in the times
of the Exodus, Hashem today, spiritually and physically redeems Israel His
people. Someone once told me, “If I were Jewish, I’d take the first plane out
of exile, I’d be exited; why are they not?”
Same problem as with Moses!
After 2,000 years of persecution first by the Romans, then the Catholics and
the Spanish inquisition, followed by Luther’s Protestants, the Germans, Tsarist
and Communist Russia, and now the Muslims who imported anti-Semitism from
Europe, the Jewish people again seem spiritually exhausted on the 'Chosen
People' idea. They seem to complain with Reb Tevieh (Fiddler on the Roof) “Why,
why? I know, I know, because we are the ‘Chosen People … but sometimes couldn’t
You chose somebody else?” Nevertheless God again saves His people with a great
and mighty hand.
It is funny though. There are
some who teach that because of their sins God forsook His people of old and
replaced them with another: the Church. First, this doesn't add up with God's
mathematics of covenant faithfulness, but also, He says that He only remembers
the wickedness of fathers for three or four generations. As far I know, Hashem changes
not and his covenantal promises are irrevocable (Malachi 3:6; Romans 11:29). The
question is: Is our History of disobedience worse than their? And then, why
would He forgive their sins but not ours? He either forgives or He doesn’t. If
He forgives yours, He also forgave mine. But if he doesn’t forgive our
unbelief, neither will He forgive yours! If He replaced us because of our sins,
then he is also apt to replace you because of yours!
The Hebrew word ‘chesed’
translated as 'grace' means ‘covenant-keeping’. Our God is a gracious God.
Unlike mankind, He keeps His covenant and His promises in spite of us. He keeps
them for me, and He keeps them for you!
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