Being the Chosen People is Dangerous
Illustration from the Szyk Haggadah
Parashat Shemini, Leviticus 9:1–11:47
Rachel Wolf, Beth Messiah, Cincinnati
“I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.” (Exodus 29:45)
As the nation in whom God dwells, Israel is in grave danger. (Michael Wyschogrod)
And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the Lord, and many of them perish.” (Exodus 19:21)
God’s Dwelling
For most of Exodus, and thus far in Leviticus, we are reading about a special tent, the tent of meeting, commanded by God to be built by Israel’s most gifted artisans. This is to be God’s dwelling place in the midst of Israel. Because of the presence of the Holy God in the midst of a sinful people, there are many rules and barriers set up to avoid death to those who would venture too close, or improperly, to the Presence of God.
If this is true for Israel as a whole, God’s priestly nation among the nations of the world, how much more for the family of Aaron, chosen to be the priestly family of the priestly people, called to minister at the very altar and dwelling of God’s Presence? The great tragedy in this week’s portion makes the danger of election all too evident.
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. (Lev 10:1–2)
Aaron and his sons, in last week’s portion, had just presented many offerings of consecration for their own appointed roles in the priestly service of the altar and sanctuary. They had, moreover, completed their consecration period, by remaining in their holy garments for seven days at the door of the tent of meeting. Here, they ate only “clean” food specified for them by God.
The Glory of the Lord Will Appear to You
At the beginning of this week’s portion, God directs Moses to bring a final series of consecration offerings - burnt offerings and sin offerings - both for the priests and for the people.
So [the people] brought what Moses commanded before the tabernacle of meeting. And all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.” (Lev 9:5-6)
When all the offerings were completed, thereby officially making Aaron and his sons ready for their priestly duties, Aaron lifted his hands and blessed the people. Aaron and Moses entered the sanctuary. When they came out, they both blessed the people again.
And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. (Lev. 9:24)
This is reminiscent of Elijah on Mount Carmel:
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, he is God! The Lord, he is God!” (1 Kings 18: 38-39)
In both cases, the people were rightly afraid. God is powerful! And dangerous!
Tragically, it seems that two of the four sons of Aaron were acting disrespectfully, or possibly just hastily, by offering “profane fire before the Lord which he had not commanded them.”
Immediately “fire went out from before the Lord and consumed them.” These are the exact same Hebrew words that are written just two verses before, to describe the event Moses referred to as the “glory of the Lord” appearing: “fire went out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering” (9:24).
This danger inherent in closeness to God, whether by physical proximity or spiritual identification, can be seen as two-fold:
First, there is the danger that comes from God Himself. God is Holy. Creatures tainted by death cannot survive in His presence. Julia Blum has written a book (If You Be the Son of God, Come Down from the Cross), in which she beautifully shows, from the Scriptures, how Israel suffers for being the chosen son of God. Her thesis is that the mark of sonship is suffering and sacrifice. She shows how the punishments of God are a necessary element of the relationship that will eventually turn into blessing. Nevertheless, as in the case of Nadav and Avihu, there is a real element of cause and effect when Israel, especially those in Aaron’s line, fails to obey and listen to God.
Second, there is the great danger from the nations of the world. Jewish theologian Michael Wyschogrod uses this language: “Hated on all sides by those who contest Israel’s election . . . expressing hatred for the God of Israel through the crucifixion of Israel’s body.”
Wyschogrod thought deeply about ways in which Judaism could understand the key beliefs of Christianity. He chose these words with intention: “the crucifixion of Israel’s body.” We see in Genesis 12 that God established a nation from Abraham in order to bless his creation that had gone astray. This could be seen as the overarching purpose of Israel’s election. But there have always been nations, tribes, and individuals that cannot bow to the will of God, who prefer to resist him by attempting to annihilate God’s priestly nation.
And yet, the Passover Haggadah reminds us that, though God wants us to overcome our enemies, the complete victory comes from God’s hand alone. In the Seder, year after year, we read, “For not only one enemy has risen up to destroy us, but in every generation do enemies rise up against us, seeking to destroy us. But the Holy One, praised be God, delivers us from their hands.”
Ezekiel Sees Grace Beyond the Danger
Ezekiel has an amazing eschatological vision of God’s great outpouring of grace upon the people of Israel to deliver us from our mortal enemies. Returning to last week’s haftarah reading, Ezekiel 36:16–38, we see a number of things about this grace.
We see that God had been furious with Israel, mainly because of murder and idolatry, and, so, scattered them among the nations. (36:18–19)
We see that by that dispersion, the name of God is profaned by the very fact that the people of Israel are not in their own God-given land. (36:20)
We see that God is concerned about this, and intends to sanctify His own holy Name by gathering His people from all the nations and bringing them back to His land, that He has given them as an inheritance. (36:21–24)
Once God sanctifies his Name in the sight of all the nations of the world by bringing his people back, he does not stop there. Ezekiel’s vision is far-reaching.
In Danger No More
God is about to alter things so completely that his people will no longer be in the mortal danger they have suffered for so many centuries. He determines to sovereignly act so that he will never again have to “pour out his fury” (Ezek 36:18) on his people. Furthermore, they will not again know the violence of the nations: “Nor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the rage of the peoples anymore…” (Ezek 36:15)
In fact, he will change all Israel from the inside. Sovereignly, by his own power.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezek 36:26–28)
Never again to live in the dangerous shadow of chosenness. But to dwell in the presence of God in peace and safety.
Another way we sanctify the holy Name of Hashem is to stand in unity with our people as one. In these dark days of Israel’s suffering, let us continue to stand steadily in prayer for our people; for the war effort, for God to hear and respond to the increasingly loud and lying voices of antisemitism. But most of all, let us, like Moses, intercede for our people, God’s people (as Moses himself reminded God (“These are your people”), praying that he fulfill his promise to put his Spirit within the heart of our people with the prophetic outcome that still speaks to us from Ezekiel.