Va'eira: Who Do You Live Under
Transcript(from the video captions)
Let's pray. Bashamay, we bless your name in this house. We thank you for this house that you have made. We thank you for the shaping of our hearts and our minds as we press into you, as we seek knowledge from you, revelation from you, and just really goodness and and your love. And we thank you for that. We thank you that you always take care of us and I pray that that your word would just be your word spoken today and that you would teach us and guide us in all things that we need to know in Yeshua's name. Well, Shabbat shalom everybody. And again, it's good to see all your faces and those of you that are back that were traveling and and also those that are recovering and and are are on the mend or or fully mended. Brook Hashem, it's good to see you. Over the past month or so, and even before that, we've been looking out and we've seen images coming out of Iran, not as headlines, but as human faces, ordinary people crying out for dignity, to be noticed, to be seen, for relief, for justice. And what we have also seen is a response from the regime there that is not listening. And in fact we see force at times, not
dialogue but defiance. And what is striking is not only the suffering that we do see there is the pattern that we see a ruling power that hardens itself and seems unyielding. Cries rise up. Authority doubles down. Power refuses to listen. That pattern feels modern to most people, but it's actually a very ancient pattern. Parish today and he appeared opens up a world like that. A world where cries go unanswered. A world where babies are taken from their homes. A world where a ruler claims divine authority and refuses to yield even though he is confronted by the truth. The Torah is not asking us or saying to us, why do people suffer? Rather, the Torah asks something even more dangerous. What happens when abuse of power refuses to step down? And beneath that question is something that hits even closer to home, a quieter one but unavoidable and that is who do you live under? Now in Judaism we wear a keypa on our head a yamaka in the Yiddish. And the primary symbolic reason for that is because we always remember that God is riding over our heads. us men and God is riding over our heads. Women have the
hair. But the point is that God is riding over my head. But the Torah asks the question, who do you live under? Parro in our Torah portion is not merely cruel. He is theological. In Egyptian cosmology, parro is not just a king. He's actually the son of Rah, Rah's embodied authority of the son god on earth. He claims responsibility for the Nile, fertility, and for order, for light itself. And by the way, rah means evil in Hebrew. To rule is not simply parro's role. It goes beyond that. It's actually parro's identity. That's who he sees himself as. So when Hashem says, "Let my people go." So that they may serve me. It's not a negotiation of labor conditions. [snorts] The word avoda as many of us know means worship. So this is actually a challenge. It's a challenge of worship and kingship itself. Taking on the God of heaven and saying who's the greater authority. Two claims of authority stand off in today's Torah portion. The Torah uses different words, in fact, three different words to to track the progression of Parro's heart. The first is Kazak. Parro strengthens his heart. He strengthens his ego. He asserts
control. The heart saying, "I am still in charge. I am the divine ruler here. That's Then we have Caved. Caved is parro's heart becomes heavy, really heavy, heavy with ego, heavy with pride, heavy with control. And when our hearts are weighed down with this heaviness, in his case, he no longer hears the cries, but rather he crushes them. And that's why Israel is suffering from a broken spirit. And finally, we have Kasha, or we could say Kasha. Rigid, severe, unyielding, not merely unteachable. It just goes beyond that. But this is truly unreational. No relationships. And this is how the Torah describes the progression of Parro's heart. No longer a responsive human heart. Completely un relational. This is the heart of a false god. The sages are very careful here as they describe this progression. Rashi notes at the very beginning, Parro's heart hardens because of his own self-will. Parro hardens his own heart. God does not remove his freedom. Parro has already revealed over and over again who he is. It's actually not until the sixth plague, the boils, that now we start to see something change in the story here.
After the sixth plague, Shaheen, that's when God begins to strengthen the heart that Parro has already formed in of himself. And Parro is going to get one more shot in the seven plague, but then he's going to go back to strengthening his own heart again and after that collapse. This matters because Pyro's downfall is not sudden. It's gradual. It's self-imposed. It's self-willed. It's chosen. He has chosen his way. Because stepping down would mean answering the question that parro refuses to face. And this is the question. Who will I live under? That is the question. Here's the first crack as we move forward. It comes in plague number three and we start to see it the momentum going forward. Kim lice. So there's a moment very early on in before that plague where authority is exposed. Meaning parro's entire kingship and regime is exposed. There's a crack there getting through again. Not by Israel, not by Moshe, but but by Egypt itself that notices this crack. The third plague arrives. Kim, there's lice, lots of them everywhere. Parro's magician now for the first time cannot duplicate it. They fail. And they say
something very astonishing that we need to pay attention to Elohim heave. Espa Elohim heave. This is the finger of God. They don't say this in faith. They say this in defeat. Completely defeated. This is not repentance. It's recognition. They begin to recognize a higher authority has entered into the room. And Pyro hears it. But what does he do? He refuses to yield. This is the time that parro is given an opportunity, a way out before the entire collapse. He could step down right here, but he refuses. He does not because acknowledgment without abdication only hardens what already exists. It's one thing to acknowledge that God is the creator of heaven and earth. We can acknowledge that. But who will we live under is the question. And we start to see the basis, the good news of God shape up here as we look at what true chuva repentance actually looks like. It's more than just acknowledging something. It is much bigger and much deeper than that. It must involve transformation of the heart and a real turning towards God to see that God is the creator of heaven and earth and he stands over me.
So now we get into the cycle, the cycle of illegitimate repentance. Listen to the pattern over and over again. Moshe warns. Parro refuses. God acts. Egypt suffers. Parro asks for asks for intercession. Relief comes. Parro reasserts control. Just like that. This is not repentance. This is manipulation. This is, oh, I'm in trouble. I better act the part. [snorts] Parro is not interested in divine authorship. He only wants the pain to stop. I want the pain to stop. Help me God. Right back into asserting control again. Right after that, soon as the pain is lifted, back into my old ways again. It's the cycle. And the Torah presses really close to us on all this. It comes close. Parro doesn't reject God because the evidence is insufficient. Parro rejects God because acceptance would cost him his throne. Many people do not reject the Besser God because the message itself is unconvincing, but rather they reject it because it threatens authorship of their lives. And this is a question we all have to to face and deal with when we are responding to the good news of God because it requires an acknowledgment
and a turning to know that God is over me. And then we get to last call for capitulation. Plague seven comes fiery hail totally defies any kind of Egyptian cosmology. Fire and hail buried. This time God warns clearly and publicly. Egyptians who fear the word of Hashem, you can step out. You can take refuge. You'll be spared. God cares about the people of the nations. gives gives them an opportunity. The warning signs are there. The choice is still possible. Parro responds with words now that we haven't heard him respond with before.
Adonai, [snorts] I have sinned this time. Hashem is righteous. Well, these are good words, right? I have sinned this time. This this feels like vidi feels like a real confession here. Vani harashim and I and the people are wicked. We have a full-fledged believe I believe here right of vidi happening. Vidwi is really not fake here. The confession is real, but it is insufficient. Completely insufficient. Why? He said it. He confessed it because Pyro's repentance is motivated by pressure. Surrender. He's in trouble. He sees that there's potentially no way out here. I have to admit that God is the most high but only for a moment and really to say that I have sinned this time. Not a full recognition of it. Paul repents to stop the suffering to stabilize stabilize or manipulate the system itself or to preserve control of what he believes he has control over just as any any demigod or false god would believe that they have control over these things. Sephoro our commentary comes in and says that parro vidoui acknowledges guilt but not submission. He doesn't realize that God is riding over his head. The words the formulation
is right but the allegiance does not change. And when relief comes the Torah says this he continued to sin and harden his own heart. This time Torah is explicit. Parro hardens his own heart even after getting some momentary relief. And this is where Rom's commentary becomes very unavoidable. Rambom my my monades. And he says this, "Repeated refusal can reshape the soul itself until repentance is no longer possible. Not because God doesn't grant forgiveness, but because justice allows a person to become what they insist on being." Par would not answer the deeper question before him. Who will you live under when the storm ends? And this is Parro's final opening, the final opportunity to realize who God is and that he must stand in submission to the creator of heaven and earth. The haur repeats this cycle. Centuries later, the prophetzkel, Ezekiel, steps on the stage and prophesies to confront a totally different parro this time, but the same claim. The same parro has returned. Not the same man, but the same divine claim, the same theology, the same cosmology, the same refusal to step down from what
he believes is the throne. Ezekiel is not retelling the Exodus story. He is diagnosing a reoccurring pattern of false kingship. And this is why the language is so extreme. The great dragon, crocodile, dragon, sea monster, whatever it is, it's a metaphor. Who lies in the Nile and says this, "The Nile is mine. I made it." And God says, "I'll put hooks in your jaws like you're a fish and pull you out." This is Exodus pyro language repeated. The cycle repeated again, deliberately restated right here in the ha. And because Pyro refuses to step down, the final three plagues converge into one plague of what we would call unccreation, undoing him completely. We have Arba, locust. Egypt's entire agricultural economic landscape begins to crack. All of their security, everything that they have in their agrarian system begins to collapse under the locust. They eat and devour everything. And then Hosek, we have darkness. This is a darkness that they could feel. It is so thick. This is pointed at that false sun god. Ra goes dark. Notice evil here itself symbolically going dark. Hashem withdraws his light, not rah. Raw is not
light. It is dark. God is unccreating to put things back into created order. And then finally we get to mhat and the death so tragic of the firstborn. The sages tell us that this is mida connect to connected mida measure corresponding to measure. Here parra orders the sons of Israel we could say the son of god Israel to be drowned. Therefore measure to measure Egypt's firstborn must also be given away. We could say be given back to God. Paul refuses to hear the cries when we cried out because of the pain and the suffering of our task masters. And we cried out to parro and his kingdom and also to God to say relent already. He wouldn't hear. In fact, he turned up the heat on us. And because he refuses to hear the cries, God is going to to dismiss the Egyptian cries, those of the nations who will not get out from under this judgment because they have an opportunity here early on. Parro claims authorship over his life and Parro's entire lineage is undone, uncreated. that particular lineage. That is how the three final plagues converge into one of unccreation. When false kingship refuses, abdication,
judgment is no longer corrective, it becomes terminal. This is a very severe warning God is giving us as he steps into creation with the power to create and uncreate. It's all in his hands. Parro confesses his sins, not once, as we said before, but twice, and never steps down from his throne. And that is so that the stronger one must now take the house by force. Centuries later, the same moment happens again. A man is brought to Yeshua. His voice is taken from him. He cannot advocate for himself. Yet his heart is crying out to God. He was silenced. Yeshua speaks a word and the demon comes out. Drives it right out. Suddenly, the man speaks. The crowd gasps. The moment when authority is confronted and allegiance must be decided right on the spot. Because whenever authority shifts like that, we know what is truly exposed. And that's what the crowd sees. the exposure of a false kingship or a false authority. As Hashem comes in to take the house by force here, immediately accusations erupt. He does this by bal. Others say this power comes from a different ruler. even some amongst usi Judeans Jews
and Yeshua responds with this that's what happens when you see authority change hands very clear they are not denying the miracle they were disputing authority pauses and then He says something devastating but very reminiscent of the entire Shimote Exodus story. If I drive out demons by Ezbah Elohim, that is the finger of God. There it is again. Then the kingdom of God has come before you. This is Exodus language at its finest. A higher authority has entered the house. Now we have to decide who will we live under. But then Yeshua pauses again even further and he says when a strong man guards his house, his possessions are secure for a little while. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away his armor and divides the spoil. The adversary has the strong man in this story. He is the current parro in the story. And Hashem through Yeshua, the Messiah who has touched down on earth is now the stronger one. This is not a parable about ideas. This is a declaration of invasion and what it looks like when the stronger one comes in. You are watching a transfer of authority. The strong man is losing his
house. He's being evicted. Another king, a stronger king has arrived. The keys are handed over. Just like that. Who do you live under now is the question. So evocative. Parro is not only an ancient tyrant. Parro is a mirror we have to look into to see what evil really looks like. Some reject God to preserve their independence. They may think the the cost is too high to give that up. Some repent only to escape pain. It's only for a little while and well things are getting better now. Some confess because they refuse abdigation. This is a big one because sometimes it is missed in the Basor, the gospel itself, that a king has come. Yeshua is the messianic king. He has come. Are we going to live under his rule or not? But this is the good news because he's a good king. And so when we think about real repentance or chuva, this is what it really looks like. That forgiveness of sins is really the byproduct. When we when we submit to God fully and give our lives to him, we have forgiveness of sins. As a result of that, God forgives us. Not like a transaction. This is relational. In Jewish thought, this is
all relationally. It's not like we really owed him a debt. That's just legal language that can show you one way of looking at it. But this is relational language of a real God wanting us to come into relationship with him. And that's the key abdication because we all have to ask ourselves that. We don't have to be parro to ask ourselves that. And others they refuse because well quietly they just refuse to step down from their own throne. That's the reality. The Torah does not ask whether God is powerful. We know he's powerful. It asks whether we are willing to relinquish our own authority and submit to God in all of our ways. And Vira leaves us right there. Right on the cusp of redemption. Not quite going into it yet. Before the door opens, before redemption is complete with urgency. We have urgency, but not resolution. We still have to acknowledge and answer the question because the most dangerous moment is not when God is silent, but when God is near. The kingdom of heaven has come before you. It is among you. What will you decide? The best the good news of God demands a response to the question,
who do you live under? Shabbat shalom.