God’s Do-over - Haftarah Vayikra

Isaiah 43:21-44:23

Deutero-Isaiah is the Isaiah of comfort and compassion while the Israelites are exiled in Bavel. Contrasting to First Isaiah, the prophet of destruction and woe, this guy is a little nicer to listen to.

Since the people are in Bavel, they cannot fulfill their duty to sacrifice. Unlike the Elephantine Jews, they did not build their own temple. God seems to be ok with this reality, however. Though there is not sacrifice for expiation, and though the sins of the people weigh heavily on God, God still wipes their transgressions away and remembers their sins no more, for God’s own sake. (43:25)

What caught my attention, however, is the following verse:

אָבִיךָ הָרִאשׁוֹן, חָטָא; וּמְלִיצֶיךָ, פָּשְׁעוּ בִי.
Your first ancestor sinned, and your spokesman transgressed (rebelled) against me!
44:20

This is theologically difficult. What is God saying here? Is God telling the people through Isaiah that they have no choice but to be sinners, as if they are predestined to sin? Do Jews have an original sin?

Hertz comments: “If even the patriarch and prophet have sinned, how much more the mass of the people. From first to last, Israel had fully deserved the punishment that finally overwhelmed it”

Fishbane comments: “The reference to an ancient sin evokes the sin of Adam (Kimhi).”

Fishbane goes on to say that Ibn Ezra tells us that it might be referring to a sinful ruler of the people.

What is the sin that we are talking about here, though? Plaut translates פשע in our verse as rebelled. This would mean some kind of idol worship, probably. From the first ancestor, the Israelites have worshipped idols. They have not been faithful to God.

Do the Israelites, according to God through Deutero-Isaiah, have an ingrained propensity for idolatry? This appears to be exactly what God is saying, since Isaiah spends a good chunk of this speech proclaiming the ridiculousness of praying to wood.

If the people are predisposed to idolatry, why even bother with them? Tough we are now into the book of Leviticus, we are not so far removed from the Golden Calf episode. The people turn to idols every chance they get, and still God is with them.

The first line of our passage seems to be God teaching the people. God tells them: “This people I have formed so that they would sing my praises.” God creates a living, breathing, praising being. When people create idols, there is nothing of action, nor anything of substance. By juxtaposing the two creation modes, God’s position as creator is reinforced. We may be made in the divine image, but we cannot create like God. We can procreate, but we cannot make a living, breathing sentient being with only the dust of the earth.

In short – I am not God. You are not God. We are not gods. We have limitations to our abilities. Though we tell ourselves we can do anything and be anything we want, there is a limit. God has no limits. God tried to teach us this at the Tower of Babel, but we got so confused, we didn’t know what we were listening to. Also, God didn’t teach us the reason. There was only punishment.

God has a second opportunity here, back in Bavel to teach the people, not just punish.

Chapter 44 verses 9-20 is a brilliant exposé of the emptiness of idolatry. The irony of the image is not lost on the listener. An idol made out of the same wood that is used for fuel. Though the message is one of rebuke in a way, God seems to be willing to help the people change. Like a well structured essay, God gives a thesis and supports it with a relevant example.

God, seemingly different from the God of Sinai ready to destroy the people, has accepted their fault and is trying to work with it for their sake. God knows their mode of thinking and living. God understands where their mind will go. Rather than forcing them to drink a golden calf cocktail, for example, God teaches them the ridiculousness of idol worship.

As we approach our Passover Seder tables, a night where teaching is the first order of business, let us remember the God of this passage who taught us with compassion, remembering our difficulties and learning differences. The God who stopped to show us what it means to be Jews rather than merely telling us. The God who created us in his image.

Though we cannot create beings like God, perhaps we can aim to mold minds in a divine way.