A Different Passover
כתוביות בעברית
Watch the video above about “A Different Passover” and then choose an article below to read and explore further the hope of change in Passover and the Hallel. Be sure to chat with us as well about any questions you have!
•The Hope of the Hallel
The Hope of the Hallel
Are you still awake at the end of the seder when the Hallel (Psalm 113 to 118 with Psalm 136) is read?
We may be tempted to just read through it quickly, as part of our tradition. "Give thanks to the L-RD for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever." (Psalm 118:1) and "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." (Psalm 118:22)
But what is the Hallel actually about?
It is worth waking up and paying attention, because great treasure is to be found in the Hallel – a message full of hope. You can find G-d's steadfast love personally.
How? Where? What is the hope of the Hallel?
The L-RD's forever-praiseworthy name
The Hallel starts by telling us G-d's name is praiseworthy forever! Why? Because while He is enthroned on high (the entire universe cannot contain His glory!), He is also the G-d who looks after people on earth.
He lifts up the needy from the ash heap and makes them sit with the princes of His people. (Psalm 113:1-9)
He is the G-d who took up royal residence among the people of Israel when He brought them up out of Egypt. The sea and the Jordan River fled before His presence. (Psalm 114:1-8)
He is the G-d who makes a way where there seems to be a dead end. He turns a barren woman into a joyous mother and a rock into a spring of water. (Psalm 113:9, 114:8)
That's His Name. This is who G-d is. Therefore, the Hallel is not only a remnant of the past; it also gives us hope for the future.
Hope for death defying blessing
"Not to us, O L-RD, not to us, but to Your name give glory…" Psalm 115 continues.
In other words: "Hope is not in us but in Your amazing greatness and grace O L-RD. L-RD, please glorify Your holy Name again, as You also did in the past."
And then, because G-d is not like the dead idols, there is a well-founded confidence He will do this:
"The L-RD has remembered us; He will bless us
He will bless the house of Israel
He will bless the house of Aaron;
He will bless those who fear the L-RD
both the great and the small." (Psalm 115:12-13)
And what blessing the psalm anticipates! Unlike the silent dead, we will praise the L-RD forever:
"The dead do not praise the L-RD,
nor do any who go down into silence.
But we will bless the L-RD
from this time forth and forever more." (Psalm 115:17-18)
This theme of death-defying blessing is picked up immediately in the next portion, Psalm 116. It is a psalm of thanksgiving. Someone praises G-d for deliverance from the snares and pangs of death. He will walk before the L-RD in the land of the living. He is ready to praise G-d in the house of the L-RD in the midst of Jerusalem. The L-RD does indeed save from death.
The Hallel is about G-d's steadfast love (chesed), His covenanted gracious loyalty to Israel. Psalm 117 and the beginning of Psalm 118 assure us His love and faithfulness endure forever.
That's already quite a message. But wait – there's more! This message doesn't come to us in a vacuum. It actually sparkles as a diamond of hope and promise against a black background.
Reassurance when things look bleak
The Hallel comes after Psalms full of laments and pleas for atonement and restoration because of the judgment of Israel's exile. (e.g., Psalm 74:1-10, Psalm 79, Psalm 80, Psalm 88.) It makes the Hallel not only an assurance of G-d's lovingkindness but also a re-assurance – one that is very much needed.
When the Psalms speak of G-d's steadfast love, there is a strong association with the house of David (Psalm 89:1-4). It especially guarantees G-d's promises to the dynasty of David, promises of worldwide rule and blessings (see Psalm 89:1-37, Psalm 72). Reality, however, provides a stark painful contrast. The Davidic kingship seems to be completely down and out and it all seems to end in death.
"…You have cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your anointed."
…
"How long, O L-RD?
Will You hide Yourself forever?
How long will wrath burn like fire?
Remember how short my time is!
For what vanity You have created all the children of man!
What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
L-RD where is Your steadfast love of old,
which by Your faithfulness you swore to David?" (Psalm 89:38, 46-49)
Against this background the Hallel tells us: It is true, we can't save ourselves from death, but He can! Not to us, not to us O L-RD, but to your name we give glory!
The Hallel re-assures, "G-d's steadfast love does endure forever."
If that's true, the story of the house of David can't be ended yet….
The Return of the King
Enter Psalm 118: Once again someone is speaking about G-d's salvation and about rescue from death. All nations surround him like bees. But in the name of the L-RD he is triumphant. It seems to be a victorious king. He is now entering the temple. A feast of thanksgiving is starting.
After the exile, and after the apparent downfall of the house of David there is again talk about victory! In this context the message of the Psalm is: "There will be a victorious king again." There must be, because the L-RD's steadfast love is forever.
That's at least how the Jewish people understood the words of the Psalm in the last days of the Second Temple.
"Hosia-na! Save us we pray, O L-RD! O L-RD, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the L-RD" (Psalm 118:26)
Those are words full of expectation, welcoming the return of the King. They understood it was a promise of the Messiah.
A failed Messiah?
Forty years before the destruction of the Temple, as Passover approached, the people of Jerusalem welcomed someone with the words of Psalm 118: "Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the L-RD"; "Even the king of Israel" they added. [1]
They also attached the plea for G-d's salvation to him: "Hosanna to the son of David," they shouted aloud.[2] (Matthew 21:9)
He entered Jerusalem on a donkey in accordance with the words of the prophecy of Zechariah:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold your king is coming to you; Righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9)
Before the week was over, the man who was hailed as king cried out the words of another Psalm, "My G-d, My G-d why have you forsaken me" (Psalm 22). He was hanging on a brutal torture device, a Roman cross. The Roman soldiers indeed surrounded him like bees. But he doesn't seem to triumph over them.
What is this? A failed Messiah?
Is he completely defeated by the powers of the world, instead of conquering them?
Victory after all
What really happened was just like what the king said in the Psalm:
"The L-RD has disciplined me severely but has not given me over to death!" (Psalm 118:18)
Yes, it looks like he is given over to death, and He really does die on that cross. He goes down to Sheol But then, there is a great turnaround. He doesn't remain in the realm of death!
G-d does not let His Holy one, see corruption (Psalm 16:10). Death doesn't have the last word. On the third day the L-RD raises him up from the dead!
"The stone that the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone!" (Psalm 118:22)
Yes, he was rejected by the majority of the religious leadership (the builders). They handed him over to the Romans. But what seems to be a mark against him is actually a fulfillment of prophecy!
Yes, he completely entered into the utter humiliation that had come upon the house of David because of sin. But it didn't end there. Something remarkable is going on here.
"The L-RD has disciplined me severely," the king said. But what was that discipline actually? It was not a discipline for his own sins, it was the discipline for our sins:
"He was pierced for our transgressions
crushed for our iniquities
the discipline that gives us peace was upon him
and by his stripes there is healing for us!" (Isaiah 53:5)
Because of what he endured, what seems to be defeat actually becomes complete victory!
And more than merely ruling over this present world, he gifts us with life in the world to come. He said it himself: "I am the resurrection and the life who believes in Me though he die, yet shall he live!" (John 11:25)
He assures us that if we put our faith in him we will share in his victory over sin and death.
All who welcome this king share in his victory!
This king and you
You probably understand by now we are talking about Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth. We believe He is the ultimate davidic king. He is the utter confirmation of G-d's steadfast love and faithfulness to Israel. He is the One in whom the promised blessing of the Hallel is found.
When you get to know Him, the missing puzzle pieces of life fall into place. You will recognize that G-d's steadfast love endures forever indeed and that His gift of life is for you personally.
We would love to talk more with you about this. We wish you His shalom!
To investigate more about the identity of the Messiah see also: The promised redeemer
Footnotes:
[1] John 12:13
[2] Matthew 21:9
•So You Want to Change?
The "How To" manual of Jeremiah
After the year we've just been through, who wouldn't welcome change? Fear of Corona/death; the desire to live free from fear of what others will think of us; the heartfelt longing to be a better person – physically, mentally, spiritually. The list of what we'd like to see dramatically improved is long.
On New Year's or after hearing a motivating TED talk, we start on the path to change, full of enthusiasm! How long does it last? One day, two, three? A week?
Then reality hits us in the face. "Trying harder to do better" is not enough. Change, of the true and lasting kind, is not so easily brought about.
This is not a new challenge. "Can the leopard change his spots?__" the Jewish prophet Jeremiah asked 26 centuries ago.
"Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil" is the reply. (Jeremiah 13:23)
The prophet confronted his contemporaries with a message of cutting realism. They were not able to change! The Jewish society among whom the prophet lived had seen it all and tried it all. But the change they really needed was not to be found.
Connecting the dots
What does Jeremiah's statement have to do with change in my life, you may wonder? How do G-d and morality enter the subject of personal change?
Well, if all the change we're after is how to make a decent cup of Espresso, then sure, G-d is not directly relevant.
But we're talking about change that really matters on the deepest level. A simple glance at the news will remind us that we are moral beings. The issues raised most often involve moral judgments. Our sense of "right" and "wrong" dictates most of our choices, forming the grid by which we interpret reality.
Thinking in moral categories is also the grid by which we generally evaluate personal change.
Some downplay morality as being a mere social construct. However G-d, the Divine Law Giver, is the universal source of morality. It is because of Him that we can speak of some things as objectively wrong, not merely as "not nice" or "wrong for me."
In short – G-d created us and we're moral beings. That makes Him a vital part of the equation.
So how exactly does G-d bring change in our lives?
Isn't that what the Torah is for?
You may say, "We have our Torah!"
Let's look closely at this argument. Many who say that actually mean Torah study, or more precisely, Talmud study.
But how does that work? You study the Talmud tractate Masechet Shekalim and then magically become a better person? Has that happened when you've studied Pesachim or any other Masechet?!
"No, it's about obedience," you may say. "We obey the Torah, we observe Shabbat, we keep kashrut" and so on.
As important as obedience may be, does a perfectly kept Shabbat (whatever that may look like) transform your life in and of itself? Does keeping kosher make you care less about what others think of you? Does putting on tefillin make you act more patiently toward your kids?
If your answer is "no," you are in good company. Neither is it the case for most other Jewish people, or the rest of mankind for that matter.
The broken covenant
In fact, even if keeping the Torah ever was the way to become holy, that path is broken. Just listen to Jeremiah's words on G-d's behalf:
"They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My words.
They have gone after other gods to serve them.
The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant that I made with their fathers." (Jeremiah 11:10)
In the context of this chapter, it is clear the covenant spoken of here is the Sinai covenant. Earlier in the book, G-d uses the marital metaphor as He speaks of Israel's unfaithfulness in graphic terms:
"She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce.
Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore." (Jeremiah 3:8)
For Jeremiah's contemporaries, God's pronouncement was earth-shattering news. The covenant is broken!
The end - and a new beginning?
The immediate consequences for the breaking of the covenant were dramatic: the Jewish nation lost Jerusalem and the Temple; the people were taken captive into Babylon. What a tragedy!
To be clear, the problem with the first covenant was not due to a defect in the Torah. As Saul (a Jewish scholar from the first century) asserts, "So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." .[1]
What is then the problem of the Sinai covenant? Saul explains: For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin…. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.".[2]
But amidst this darkness, G-d shines a glimmer of hope: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the L-RD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah..." (Jeremiah 31:31)
The breaking of the first covenant opened the door for the announcement of the new covenant.
"...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 L-RD. (Jeremiah 31:32)
Good news
If there's any hope for us, G-d must provide us more than just a new set of rules (which we would surely break). The amazing thing is, God offers us an entirely new covenant!
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the L-RD:
I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.
And I will be their G-d, and they shall be my people.
And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the L-RD,'
for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the L-RD. (Jeremiah 31:33-34)
Here G-d makes it clear that He wants to change us – from the inside out! Specifically, He wants to change our hearts!
So we ask again, "How does G-d bring this change in our lives?"
The rest of verse 34 tells us:
"For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jeremiah 31:34b).
The change we need begins with G-d's forgiveness!
The key to change: Not a new Torah but a new me
But what does forgiveness have to do with change in my life? First, let's remember the source of the problem: the sin within us that causes us to turn away from our Creator. G-d described it this way in Jeremiah's generation:
"...for My people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water." (Jeremiah 2:13)
In the same way, we have forsaken G-d to live for other things – perhaps religion, pleasure, material gain, self-promotion, etc. We have tried to find fulfillment in broken cisterns that have nothing to offer us. To find true fulfillment, we need G-d to change our hearts. We must return to God, seeking the forgiveness He offers in the new covenant. True "tikkun atzmi" (repair of myself), isn't our own doing. It is God's gift to us.
So when does this new covenant arrive? How do we attain this forgiveness?
G-d gives us further insight when He speaks of a "heart transplant."
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.
And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey My rules. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
Think of it! The "heart of stone" (which does not desire the things of G-d) is replaced with a "heart of flesh" which does desire to pursue G-d.
And just how does "spiritual heart surgery" take place? In G-d's perfect plan and time, He accomplishes this through the Messiah. Isaiah describes it this way:
He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
And with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned - every one - to his own way;
But the L-RD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
…
By the knowledge of him, my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
…
He poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 53:5-6, 11b, 12b)
This Messiah who bears our sins is none other than Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth.) He is the Messiah who changes our hearts. His sacrifice initiates the New Covenant. Through trusting in Yeshua G-d offers us the complete forgiveness the New Covenant promises.
When by faith we receive G-d's gracious forgiveness, His love is poured out in our hearts. "No condemnation" is our verdict from the Eternal Judge. This personal experience of G-d's love for us makes us people who desire to do God's will, with His Spirit's power enabling us – transforming us from the inside. This is the best change that anyone can hope for and one that won't fade with time. It is an eternal change for the better.
We would love to talk more with you about how to experience this new and transformed life in Messiah.
If you want investigate more about the identity of Messiah see here: The promised redeemer
Footnotes:
[1] As written by Saul (Paul) of Tarsus in Romans 7:12
[2] Romans 7:14, 18-19