The story of Jonah is left without a conclusion, but with an open question: God says, “Shouldn’t I be concerned about the 120,000 human souls in Nineveh?” The question invites Jonah to share in God’s concern and compassion, and it expands into a question for us.

The Akedah, the narrative of the binding of Isaac found in Genesis 22, forms one of the major themes of the traditional Rosh Hashanah liturgy. The well-known, if unsettling, account follows Abraham as he attempts to obey a divine call to sacrifice his son on the altar.

Our hope is not based on Israel’s ability to hold onto God, but on God’s faithfulness to hold onto Israel. And because he remains faithful, he continues to call us to teshuvah. He calls us to choose life, love Adonai, listen to his voice, and cling to him.

There’s an ancient story that the Romans required bridge builders to stand underneath their completed bridges when the supporting scaffolding was removed. The reason is obvious—it was an incentive for them to show that they had done the job correctly, that they had “skin in the game.” Otherwise there would be some consequences for them. It is clear that God has a lot of skin in the game in the story of our people.

This week’s portion opens with a legal code regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that can seem remote from life today, until we set it against the catalogue of wartime horrors compiled over the past century. Read against that record, the distance collapses.

As we remember our need for restoration during this season of reflection and repentance, we are thankful for the One who stands before God on our behalf. But can we also look beyond our own need for restoration and share in the burden that Messiah Yeshua carries for the restoration of all Israel?

Scripture reminds us that before we ever inherit anything from God, God chose us as his inheritance. He delights in his people. We are our beloved’s inheritance, and he is ours. The One who gives rest. The One who dwells among his people.

Our parasha includes a famous passage: “So you will eat and be full, and you will bless Adonai your God for the good land He has given you” (Deuteronomy 8:10). This verse displays a specific order: we are commanded to eat first, then be satisfied, and then bless the Lord for all the good land, Eretz Yisrael, He has bestowed upon us.

Tisha B’Av (July 22–23 this year) is a day of fasting on which we commemorate the destruction of the two Temples and many other calamities that have befallen our people over the centuries. I am sometimes asked why Messianic Jews should still observe this day since we have the risen Messiah.

Whatever our pasts, whether we leave the depths of Egypt or the heights of Mt. Sinai, we are offered a new beginning of our own – a chance to turn and get moving toward the future God has prepared for us.