Parashat 46 - “Ekev” or “Because”

Debarim/Deut 7:12 -11:25

Yeshayahu/Isa 51:1  “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, seeking יהוה: Look to the rock you were hewn from, and to the hole of the pit you were dug from.

Isa 51:2  “Look to Avraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For he was alone when I called him, and I blessed him and increased him.

Isa 51:3  “For יהוה shall comfort Tsiyon, He shall comfort all her waste places. For He makes her wilderness like Ěḏen, and her desert like the garden of יהוה. Joy and gladness are found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

This prophecy is found in this week’s “haftarah” and gives us extremely important insight as to how we can walk in the fullness of YHVH’s blessing.

“For those who trust YHVH for the promises, the proper order for faith and obedience is set by the sequence in which the covenants were given. In other words, faith must precede obedience. But the kind of faith accepted by YHVH is one, which naturally flows into obedience. True obedience never comes before faith, nor is it an addition to faith. It is always the result of true biblical faith.”  (Lyman)

Avraham believed (first had faith) then he responded in obedience (circumcision).

In other words the evidence of true faith was and will always be that obedience to Torah flows out of a faith in YHVH’s promise to save us.

Blessing for the Torah:

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,

v’natan lanu eht Torah-to.

Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe,

you have selected us from among all the peoples,

and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)

Torah Readings:

1. 7:12 – 8:11

2. 8:12 – 9:3

3. 9:4-29

4. 10:1-11

5. 10:12-22

6. 11:1-9

7. 11:10-25

8. Maftir: 11:22-25

      Haftarah: Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3

Aliyah Rishon 7:12-8:11

Deu 7:12 “And it shall be, because you hear these right-rulings, and shall guard and do them, that יהוה your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the kindness which He swore to your fathers,”

יב וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן, אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה, וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם, אֹתָם--וְשָׁמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ, אֶת-הַבְּרִית וְאֶת-הַחֶסֶד, אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע, לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ.

Note the future tense of the words “it shall be,” “ you will hear,”” you will guard,” “you will do,” then YHVH “will guard” His covenant with you.

The word “eikev” used here in the text as “because” is unusual. The sages say much about this unusual use of the conjunction “because” (a conjunction is a word that joins together words, phrases or sentences)

In the context of this Torah portion “eikev” which means “heel” is used as the conjunction between our keeping YHVH’s Torah and YHVH’s blessing us.

Tzemach Tzeddek (the 3rd Chabad Rebbe) sees it as a reference to ikvata d'meshichah, the generation of "the heels of Moshiach" (the last generation of the Exile is called "the heels of Moshiach" by our sages because: a. they are the spiritually lowest generation, due to the "descent of the generations"; b. it is the generation in which the footsteps of Moshiach can already be heard).

This is the generation that will "hearken to these laws," as Maimonides writes: "The Torah has already promised that the people of Israel will return to YHVH at the end of their exile, and will be immediately redeemed."

The first time the word “ekev” is used is in Ber/ Gen 3:15 “And I put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel”(ekev). This is clearly one of the first prophetic references we have of the coming Messiah in the Torah. It appears that the kind of “walk” the Messiah would have would crush the head of the enemy and the enemy would do everything in his power to hinder that walk. This is true of the followers of Messiah to this day. If we (jointly) walk as Messiah walked we will experience the blessing.

The gematria of “ekev” (ayin, kuph, beit) is 172. The same number of words in the 10 sayings. If we reverse the letters of the word “eikev” we have the word “beka” the weight of the nose ring for a bride as well as the sum required for redemption of the ancient Yisraelites, the half shekel.

The Hebrew word used here for “hear” is “tishme- oon” this is a Hebrew word used with an emphatic emphasis. We see this same verb ending used with several verbs in this portion.

This is not just a casual hearing, it implies a hearing that causes one to obey and do what you have heard with a very serious intensity, in other words you have really, really heard and there is a clear evidence to prove that you have heard.

What must they hear (tishme oon)? Thy must hear the “Mishpatim” or right rulings.

Deu 7:13 and shall love you and bless you and increase you, and shall bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.

Deu 7:14 “Blessed are you above all peoples – there is not going to be a barren man or a barren woman among you or among your livestock.

Deu 7:15 “And יהוה shall turn away from you all sickness and put on you none of the evil diseases of Mitsrayim which you have known, but He shall put them on all those who hate you.

Deu 7:16 “And you shall consume all the peoples whom יהוה your Elohim is delivering over to you – your eye shall not pardon them. And do not serve their mighty ones, for that is a snare to you.

Deu 7:17 “When (even though) you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I, I am unable to drive them out,’

Deu 7:18 do not be afraid of them. Remember well what יהוה your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Mitsrayim,

Deu 7:19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm, by which יהוה your Elohim brought you out. יהוה your Elohim does so to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Deu 7:20 “And יהוה your Elohim also sends the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed.

“A hornet was a badge of Thothmes 3 and his successors, and would thus be a veiled reference to the systematic series of invasions and conquests in Palestine undertaken by that Pharoah. These invasions had reduced the fighting power and resistance of the Canaanites”.

Deu 7:21 “Do not be afraid of them, for יהוה your Elohim, the great and awesome Ěl, is in your midst.

Deu 7:22 “And יהוה your Elohim shall drive out those nations before you, little by little. You are not allowed to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.

This principle gives us an interesting insight into the Messianic realm, where the boarders of Yisrael will be much larger. The implication is that b’nei Yisrael will need to grow in righteousness to the place where they can effectively enjoy their inheritance.

Deu 7:23 “But יהוה your Elohim shall deliver them over to you and destroy them with a great destruction until they are consumed.

Deu 7:24 “And He shall give their sovereigns into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under the heavens. No one is going to be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

Deu 7:25 “The carved images of their mighty ones you are to burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to יהוה your Elohim.

Deu 7:26 “And do not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be accursed like it. Utterly loathe it and utterly hate it, for it is accursed.

Deu 8:1 “Guard to do every command which I command you today, that you might live, and shall increase, and go in, and shall possess the land of which יהוה swore to your fathers.

“every command” – “kol ha mitzvah” Moshe was telling them and us that we cannot choose which commands we would or would not obey.

Deu 8:2 “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not.

Deu 8:3 “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה¹. Footnote: ¹Messiah quotes this in Mt. 4:4 and in Lk. 4:4.

In these last days “manna” (Torah) is once again falling from the heavens, and once again people are calling it strange.

Deu 8:4 “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

Deu 8:5 “Thus you shall know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so יהוה your Elohim disciplines you,

Deu 8:6 therefore you shall guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

Deu 8:7 “For יהוה your Elohim is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills,

Deu 8:8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey,

Deu 8:9 a land in which you eat bread without scarcity, in which you do not lack at all, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you dig copper.

Deu 8:10 “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and shall bless יהוה your Elohim for the good land which He has given you.

          (This instruction is the reason why we should pray after we have enjoyed our meals.)

Deu 8:11 “Be on guard, lest you forget יהוה your Elohim by not guarding His commands, and His right-rulings, and His laws which I command you today,

Aliyah Sheni - 8:12-9:3

We see again and again in the history of YHVH’s people that when they are blessed they tend to forget the source of blessing and to live in a way pleasing to Him. This is not going to happen to the end- time Bride of Messiah.

Deu 8:12 lest you eat and shall be satisfied, and build lovely houses and shall dwell in them,

Deu 8:13 and your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and your gold are increased, and all that you have is increased,

Deu 8:14 that your heart then becomes lifted up, and you forget יהוה your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage,

Deu 8:15 who led you through that great and awesome wilderness – fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst – where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock,

Deu 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and to try you, to do you good in the end,

Deu 8:17 you then shall say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand have made for me this wealth!’

Deu 8:18 “But you shall remember יהוה your Elohim, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is today.

Let us note carefully the reason YHVH gives us increase and wealth – to establish the Torah not to secure a comfortable future for ourselves and our children. It is only when we seek first His Kingdom rule and His righteousness that all things will be added unto us. Matt 6:33

Deu 8:19 “And it shall be, if you by any means forget יהוה your Elohim, and follow other mighty ones, and serve them and bow yourself to them, I have warned you this day that you shall certainly perish.

Deu 8:20 “Like the nations which יהוה is destroying before you, so you are to perish, because (EKEV) you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim.

Deu 9:1 “Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: You are passing over the Yardĕn today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and stronger than yourself, cities great and walled up to the heavens, (a possible reference to their occultic power)

Deu 9:2 a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anaqim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who does stand before the descendants of Anaq?’

Deu 9:3 “And you shall know today that יהוה your Elohim is He who is passing over before you as a consuming fire – He does destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall dispossess them and destroy them quickly, as יהוה has said to you.

Once again we must consider the effectiveness of a unified Torah-observant- people. The gates of hell will not be able to stop them. – Matt 16:18

Aliyah Shlishi 9:4-29

Deu 9:4 “Do not think in your heart, after יהוה your Elohim has driven them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness יהוה has brought me in to possess this land.’ But it is because of the wrong of these nations that יהוה is driving them out from before you.

Deu 9:5 “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wrong of these nations that יהוה your Elohim drives them out from before you, in order to establish the word which יהוה swore to your fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Ya’aqov.

Deu 9:6 “And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

Deu 9:7 “Remember, do not forget how you provoked to wrath יהוה your Elohim in the wilderness. From the day that you came out of the land of Mitsrayim until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against יהוה.

Deu 9:8 “Even in Ḥorĕḇ you made יהוה wroth, so that יהוה was enraged with you, to destroy you.

Deu 9:9 “When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which יהוה made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread nor did I drink water.

Deu 9:10 “Then יהוה gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of Elohim, and on them were all the Words which יהוה had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

Deu 9:11 “And it came to be, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that יהוה gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

Deu 9:12 “Then יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Mitsrayim have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, they have made themselves a moulded image.’

Deu 9:13 “And יהוה spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people.

Deu 9:14 ‘Leave Me alone, so that I destroy them and blot out their name from under the heavens, and make of you a nation stronger and greater than they.’

Deu 9:15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

Deu 9:16 “And I looked and saw that you had sinned against יהוה your Elohim, and had made for yourselves a moulded calf! You had quickly turned aside from the way which יהוה had commanded you.

Deu 9:17 “And I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes,

Deu 9:18 “and I fell down before יהוה, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread and I did not drink water, because of all your sins which you committed in doing evil in the eyes of יהוה, to provoke Him.

Deu 9:19 “For I was afraid of the displeasure and rage with which יהוה was wroth with you, to destroy you. But יהוה listened to me that time once more.

Deu 9:20 “And יהוה was very enraged with Aharon, to destroy him, so I prayed for Aharon at that time also.

Deu 9:21 “And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

Deu 9:22 “And at Taḇ’ĕrah and at Massah and at Qiḇroth Hatta’awah you made יהוה wroth.

Deu 9:23 “And when יהוה sent you from Qaḏĕsh Barnĕa, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the mouth of יהוה your Elohim, and you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice.

Deu 9:24 “You have been rebellious against יהוה from the day that I knew you.

Deu 9:25 “So I fell down before יהוה the forty days and forty nights, for I fell down because יהוה had said He would destroy you.

Deu 9:26 “And I prayed to יהוה, and said, ‘O Master יהוה, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed in Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Mitsrayim with a strong hand.

Deu 9:27 ‘Remember Your servants, Avraham, Yitsḥaq, and Ya’aqov. Do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wrong or on their sin,

Deu 9:28 lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because יהוה was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.”

Deu 9:29 ‘And they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.’

Aliyah Reviee 10:1-11

Deu 10:1 “At that time יהוה said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain. And you shall make yourself an ark of wood,

Deu 10:2 then I write on the tablets the Words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. And you shall put them in the ark.’

Deu 10:3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand.

Deu 10:4 “And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Words, which יהוה had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Then יהוה gave them to me,

Deu 10:5 and I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And they are there, as יהוה commanded me.”

Why two sets of tablets? This possibly refers to the two comings of Messiah – first time as Ben Yosef and the second time as Ben Dawid. The first time Messiah or the Torah in the flesh was broken for our iniquities and sins the second time he comes to meet his bride (unified Yisrael) and rule and reign over the nations for 1000 years.

           Aliyah Chamishi 10:12-22

Deu 10:11 “And יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go before the people, to set out, and let them go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’

Deu 10:12 “And now, Yisra’ĕl, what is יהוה your Elohim asking of you, but to fear יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being,

Deu 10:13 to guard the commands of יהוה and His laws which I command you today for your good?

Deu 10:14 “See, the heavens and the heaven of heavens belong to יהוה your Elohim, also the earth with all that is in it.

Deu 10:15 “יהוה delighted only in your fathers, to love them. And He chose their seed after them, you above all peoples¹, as it is today. Footnote: ¹See also 7:6, 14:2, 26:18, Ps. 135:4 and Amos 3:2.

Deu 10:16 “And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and harden your neck no more.

Deu 10:17 “For יהוה your Elohim is Elohim of mighty ones and Master of masters, the great Ěl, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

Deu 10:18 “He executes right-ruling for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and a garment.