Know G-d

Shabbat Shalom, beloved.

Today we're learning from Va’era — pronounced Vi-Air-Rah — which means "I appeared." From Sefer Shemot. The Book of Identity.

Shemot is an amazing book because it is where we finally begin to see the fullness of the identity of the Creator of the universe. Think about that word — identity. Shemot means names. We are learning who G-d actually is. Not just what He does, but who He is.

Throughout Bereishit we're learning about G-d through the forefathers. We encounter Him as El Shaddai — G-d who is enough, guardian of the doors of Israel, G-d who nourishes and sustains. We see the effect that relationship has on the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as they walk with Him. Their lives are shaped by who He is to them.

But in Shemot, the big reveal begins.

G-d says in Exodus 6: I appeared to the fathers as El Shaddai. This doesn't mean they didn't know His name — Genesis 15:7 and 28:13 prove otherwise. It means that what was enough for the fathers is not enough for what is about to happen. The scope is larger now.

Moses had just challenged G-d. He had gone to Pharaoh as commanded, and it made things worse. The Israelites turned on him. Moses goes straight back to G-d and says: this is not working out how I thought it should. And G-d replies — I was enough for the fathers. But you need more. Israel needs more. Egypt needs more. So you get Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. Was, is, and will continue to be. YHVH is a conjunction of the verb to be in its past, present, and future forms.

Shemot starts the way most religions start. The prophet has an experience. He sees a vision. He starts telling people — very charismatically — some believe him, those believers tell others, the movement grows, and if it lasts long enough it becomes a religion.

And that is how Shemot seems to start out as well. The book begins with Moses having an experience.

But then we get to this second portion — Va’era. "I appeared." The major theme is that G-d wants everyone to experience Him. Not just Moses. Not just the elders. Everyone.

Through experience is how we come to know — which is what's commanded in the ten commandments: "And you will know that I am Adonai your Elohim."

Start in the Haftarah

This week I want to start in the haftarah — Ezekiel 28–29. In the haftarah we often see the core message of the Torah portion, sometimes more clearly than within the portion itself.

This haftarah starts in the most beautiful way. It tells us the end at the beginning.

So says the Lord G-d: When I gather in the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they have been scattered, and I have been sanctified through them in the eyes of the nations, then shall they dwell on their land that I gave to My servant, to Jacob. And they shall dwell there confidently, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards and dwell securely when I execute judgments against all those who plunder them from all around them, and they shall know that I am Adonai the Elohim of them.

Ezekiel 28:25–26

That line is repeated five times in the haftarah chapter. We're seeing this happening today. Houses are being built, vineyards planted. Within the land there are many guarding the Torah and living faithfully under the promises — they bear witness to the G-d of Israel. Every day we see more people leave behind the systems of the nations and accept the one true G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We must continue to learn to sanctify G-d in the midst of the nations. We can't worship in the manner of the nations. We can't treat G-d as lightly as the nations treat their gods.

I appreciated Brother Alex's call last week — that we should treat the name of G-d with more respect. Unfortunately we have made it common. You can buy socks and underwear online with the divine name on them. Soap. Bumper stickers. We've turned His set-apart name into a logo.

There's another risk when we call someone by their name. Subconsciously we're treating them as our equal.

This is something I've talked about with at least two of my children. When one of them learns my name, they want to slip it into conversation, and they feel so proud that they know it. They'll say "your name is Matti" and giggle. It's adorable. I don't want to correct them. I understand the compassion in the heart of G-d.

But as their parent, I have to.

"Yes dear, that's my name. Very good. But you don't get to call me that."

They always want to know why. So we have a conversation. I explain when and how they can use my name. We talk about respect and honor. We talk about who their peers are — the people they're equal with and can call by their name. We talk about aunts and uncles, grandparents, professionals who have earned titles. You don't stand before a judge and call them by their first name. Or a police officer. Or a higher rank in the military.

We understand human authority. Most of us respect it.

Why is it so hard to honor G-d?

The Four Who Made Themselves into Gods

As we continue reading in Ezekiel 29, we see G-d does not take lightly those who consider themselves His equal.

Speak and you shall say: So says the Lord G-d: Behold I am against you, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great crocodile that lies down in the midst of its rivers, who said, "My river is my own, and I made myself."

Ezekiel 29:3

Some translations soften this by rendering it as "he made the river himself" — which is already bad, since he'd be claiming to be the creator. But in the Hebrew, G-d is revealing that Pharaoh claims to be self-originating, divine, and the source of creation itself.

To understand why G-d is responding to Pharaoh here, we need to look at what comes just before our haftarah — Ezekiel 28:

Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: So said the Lord G-d: Because your heart is proud, and you said, "I am a god, I have sat in a seat of G-d, in the heart of the seas," but you are a man and not a god, yet you have made your heart like the heart of G-d.

Ezekiel 28:2

Ezekiel 28 — the prince of Tyre declares himself divine. Then the chapter moves into our haftarah, where G-d turns to Pharaoh and says: the same is true of you.

Then in Ezekiel 29:18–20, G-d reveals that Nebuchadnezzar will be used as His instrument against Egypt:

Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, made his army serve a great work against Tyre; every head became bald and every shoulder sore, yet had he no reward, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore, thus says the Lord G-d: Behold I will give Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, the land of Egypt, and he shall carry away its multitude, pillage its spoils, and plunder its booty, and that shall be the reward for his army. For his labor wherewith he worked against it I have given him the land of Egypt, because of what they did to Me, says the Lord G-d.

Ezekiel 29:18–20

This is how G-d works: He uses one arrogant empire to judge another. Nebuchadnezzar humbles Tyre. For that labor, he receives Egypt as his reward.

But then Nebuchadnezzar himself falls into the same trap. Daniel 4:30:

The king spoke and said, Is not this Babylon the Great, that I built for a dwelling of the kingdom by the strength of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?

Daniel 4:30

We know the story. G-d humbles him. Drives him into the wilderness with madness. For seven years Nebuchadnezzar lives as an animal, eating grass.

The Midrash Rabbah — the great commentary that Brother Frank was teaching from several weeks ago — identifies a fourth figure in the Tanakh elevated to G-dhood. This one is unique, because he was a king of Judah, not a foreign king, and the claim was made for him.

Joash, king of Judah. Found in 2 Chronicles 24.

The story of Joash is amazing and sobering. In many ways we can see parallels with Moses. A child designated to die, hidden away, miraculously preserved. Appointed to lead the children of Israel. For 40 years, during the lifetime of the high priest Jehoiada, Joash does what is right in the eyes of the L-rd.

Then verse 17:

After the death of Jehoiada, however, the officials of Judah came and worshipped the king, and he listened to them. They abandoned the house of the L-rd, the G-d of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. So wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs. Nevertheless, the L-rd sent prophets to bring the people back to Him and to testify against them, but they would not listen.

2 Chronicles 24:17–19

Contrast this with Moses. Moses rarely leaves room for the people to worship him — he always turns the focus back to G-d. A few times the people want to deify him. At Sinai they say "you talk to G-d for us, we'll listen to you." Later, when Moses is missing 40 days, they make a golden calf to replace him.

But G-d doesn't leave room for this either. Again and again He makes clear: anything that may have seemed like Moses caused — G-d claims the credit.

Moses doesn't change. Pharaoh was brought low.

Moses is the servant. That is clear. G-d even personally buries Moses in Deuteronomy 34:6 — perhaps so that in death Moses doesn't become a deity.

Anyone who renders himself divine is ultimately exposed, humiliated, and cursed by G-d in public.

The Four "They" Who Will Know

Now, with all of this in mind — that the purpose of Va’era is that "they will know I am Adonai," that Moses is raised up to proclaim the G-d of Israel and by doing so to humiliate the man-god Pharaoh — I want to return to Shemot and ask: who is the they?

There are four of them. And they build on each other.

Go back to last week's Torah portion. Exodus 4:29–31:

So Moses and Aaron went, and they gathered all the elders of the Israelites. Aaron related all the words that G-d had told Moses, and performed the signs in front of the people. The people believed, and when they heard that G-d had taken note of the Israelites and that He had observed their misery, they bowed down and prostrated themselves.

Exodus 4:29–31

The people were believers. They accepted the witness of the prophet.

Then Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh:

"This is what Adonai, the Elohim of Israel, has said: 'Send forth My people, so that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness.'" Pharaoh replied, "Who is Adonai that I should heed His voice and send forth Israel? I do not recognize Adonai, nor will I send Israel forth."

Exodus 5:1–2

Of course Pharaoh believed in gods — he believed himself to be one. And he was aware that the Hebrews had a G-d. What he didn't believe was that one G-d was enough. That one G-d could be the source of all creation. Or that any G-d could override the laws of nature.

The laws of nature stated that Pharaoh owned Israel. So he was their G-d. They served him.

Pharaoh sends them away and increases the Israelites' workload. They won't have time to listen to Moses talk about this Hebrew G-d. And it worked. Exodus 5:21:

They said to them, "May Adonai look upon you and judge you, for you have made us loathsome in the eyes of Pharaoh."

Exodus 5:21

Just a little difficulty and the people's belief was shaken. Moses seems shaken too. He goes straight to G-d: "This isn't working out how I thought it should."

This is an important moment. These people are believers. They accepted the words and the signs. But they couldn't receive it. The text says it plainly — "they did not listen to Moses, for anguish of spirit and harsh service."

You can believe something is true and still be too crushed to receive it. Suffering that deep closes off the ear.

That's why G-d doesn't stop with giving Israel information. He gives them experience.

So here are the four.

What It Means to Know G-d

Every year at Passover we're commanded to relive these events. This isn't history that happened to my forefathers — it happened to me.

Every year I witness the plagues. I'm taken out. I'm rescued from slavery. I'm redeemed with wonders. Every year I work to walk through the Sea. I eat manna. I drink water from the rock. I face attacks from Amalek. I walk 49 days through the wilderness to Sinai. Every year I receive the Torah. Every year G-d takes me to be His own and He is mine.

When you are His — it's like a baby that knows the scent of its mother.

Zechariah 14:9: "And Hashem shall be king over all the earth: on that day Hashem will be echad — the one and only — and His name will be one."

All four "they" converge there. Moses. Israel. Egypt. The whole earth.

I want to close with a prayer from someone who knew G-d, and who taught the knowledge of G-d through the Psalms — King David.

Blessed are You, Adonai Elohim of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Yours, O Adonai, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Adonai, and You are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come from You, and You reign over all; and in Your hand is power and might; and in Your hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our Elohim, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.

1 Chronicles 29:10–13

Amen.