6/12/2015

Parashat 46 Portion 134 Dev/Deut 10:1-11:25 2 Kings 13:22-25 1 Thess 1:8-9


Blessing for the Torah:

Bar’chu et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch ata YHVH
Eloheinu melech ha-olam
asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu eht Torah-to.
Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity. 
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.)                            

      Parashah Eikev begins with “if you will listen…” paradoxically, then, it is hearing, rather than the more riveting experience of seeing, that enables us to commit ourselves wholeheartedly and totally to the pursuit of being conformed into the image of Messiah. If we continue “hearing” and obeying we will begin to “see” and experience the will of YHVH in our lives and on earth – “may Your kingdom come ….on earth as it is in heaven.”
     2Co 5:7  for we walk by belief, not by sight.

We walk according to “the faith” handed down for us from our fathers – Avraham Yitzchak and Yakov – revealed in the Torah and expounded upon in the Nazarene Talmud – Apostolic scriptures.
“Belief” refers to “the faith” and is a noun and not a verb, and “sight” refers to our perception of the faith walk. We are told we cannot walk according to our perception of truth but of YHVH’s as revealed in the Word – Torah.

The next parashah “Re eh” or “seeing” … “Deu 11:26  ‘See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:…….” follows our current parashah which focuses on hearing and obeying.

And so we see that the underlying theme of “sefer devarim” (Deuteronomy) is “teshuvah” “repentance” since we struggle to “shemah” “hear” and obey YHVH because of our often faulty perception of the truth.
And so the sages have rightly stated that this parashah is about what is required to usher in the Messianic era.
The Messiah himself said in Luk 13:35  “See(hineh), your House(Yerushalayim) is left to you laid waste. And truly I say to you, you shall by no means see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who is coming in the Name of יהוה!’ ”
Messiah will only return when the Yahudim(and other believers) “shemah” the truth of the Torah as Messiah teaches and declare with a heart of deep repentance “blessed is he who comes in the name of YHVH”

This week’s Parashah begins:

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,

א  בָּעֵת הַהִוא אָמַר יְהוָה אֵלַי, פְּסָל-לְךָ שְׁנֵי-לוּחֹת אֲבָנִים כָּרִאשֹׁנִים, וַעֲלֵה אֵלַי, הָהָרָה; וְעָשִׂיתָ לְּךָ, אֲרוֹן עֵץ.

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.’

The Torah was always meant to have a resting place. The “Aaron” was the wooden box in which the tablets of the Torah were kept. Today each synagogue has an ‘Aaron Kodesh’ a resting place for the Torah scroll. The wooden box reminds us of a fragile storage space, we can compare this to human beings or human clay vessels.

2Co 4:7  And we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellence of the power might be of Elohim, and not of us –

The Torah found a perfect resting place in a perfect clay vessel called “Emmanuel” or “with us is El”- Mt1:23. Through Yahshua’s presence and life, YHVH’s presence and life was made known.
The Torah in us, remaining in us, will bring us into the perfect presence of the Almighty.

This is why the Torah instructs us again and again to guard, do and hear this Torah and to teach it to our children all the days of our lives.

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.”
Deu 10:6  Now the children of Yisra’ĕl set out from the wells of Benĕi Yaʽaqan to Mosĕrah. Aharon died there, and he was buried there. And Elʽazar his son became priest in his place.
Deu 10:7  From there they set out to Guḏgoḏah, and from Guḏgoḏah to Yotḇathah, a land of rivers of water.
Deu 10:8  At that time יהוה separated the tribe of Lĕwi to bear the ark of the covenant of יהוה, to stand before יהוה, to serve Him, and to bless in His Name, to this day.

עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה

YHVH has not changed His mind concerning the Levites. Anyone called today to stand in a priestly role is merely doing so as a “proxy” until all the temple service and the Levitical priesthood is restored.

Deu 10:9  Therefore Lĕwi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers. יהוה is his inheritance, as יהוה your Elohim promised him.
Deu 10:10  “And I stayed in the mountain for forty days and forty nights. And יהוה heard me at that time also, and יהוה chose not to destroy you.
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?

This has never changed!

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.
Deu 10:19  “And you shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim.
Deu 10:20  “Fear יהוה your Elohim. Serve Him, and cling to Him, and swear by His Name.

To “swear by His Name” possibly implies that we should be true to our word as YHVH is true to His.
Deu 10:21  “He is your praise, and He is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and awesome deeds which your eyes have seen.
Deu 10:22  “Your fathers went down to Mitsrayim with seventy beings, and now יהוה your Elohim has made you as numerous as the stars of the heavens.
Deu 11:1  “And you shall love יהוה your Elohim and guard His Charge1: even His laws, and His right-rulings, and His commands, always. Footnote: 1See Gen. 26:5.
Deu 11:2  “And you shall know today – for it is not your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of יהוה your Elohim, His greatness, His strong hand and His outstretched arm,
Deu 11:3  and His signs, and His works which He had done in the midst of Mitsrayim, to Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and to all his land;
Deu 11:4  and that which He had done to the army of Mitsrayim, to their horses and their chariots, when He made the waters of the Sea of Reeds overflow them as they pursued you, and how יהוה has destroyed them to this day;
Deu 11:5  and what He had done for you in the wilderness till you came to this place;
Deu 11:6  and what He had done to Dathan and Aḇiram the sons of Eliyaḇ, son of Re’uḇĕn, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the living creatures that were in their possession, in the midst of all Yisra’ĕl.
Deu 11:7  “For yours are the eyes that saw all the great work of יהוה, which He did.
Deu 11:8  “And you shall guard every command which I command you today, so that you are strong, and shall go in, and shall possess the land which you are passing over to possess,
Deu 11:9  and to prolong your days in the land which יהוה swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Deu 11:10  “For the land which you are going in to possess is not like the land of Mitsrayim from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden,

Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov would say:
There are two types of fields: an irrigated field, and a field watered by rain.
The scholar's soul is an irrigated field, devotedly developed and nurtured by her farmer. The soul of the simple Jew is a rain-nourished field, surrendering herself to the whims of the heavens, humbly awaiting blessing and stimulation from above.
The irrigated field yields a harvest that is superior, in quantity and quality, to that of her passive sister. But the rain-watered field is a truer, purer reflection on her Heavenly Maker.

Deu 11:11  but the land which you are passing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of the heavens,
Deu 11:12  a land which יהוה your Elohim looks after. The eyes of יהוה your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the latter end of the year.
Deu 11:13  ‘And it shall be that if you diligently obey My commands which I command you today, to love יהוה your Elohim and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your being,

יג  וְהָיָה, אִם-שָׁמֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ אֶל-מִצְוֹתַי, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם, הַיּוֹם--לְאַהֲבָה אֶת-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, וּלְעָבְדוֹ, בְּכָל-לְבַבְכֶם, וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁכֶם.


The remainder of this parashah addresses “you” in the plural. Imagine the impact a messianic community would have on this earth if a group of believers heard and obeyed and guarded the Torah of YHVH.

Deu 11:14  then I shall give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, and you shall gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil.
Deu 11:15  ‘And I shall give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be satisfied.
Deu 11:16  ‘Guard yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other mighty ones and bow down to them.
Deu 11:17  ‘Then the displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you, and He shall shut up the heavens, and there be no rain, and the land not give its increase. And you shall perish quickly from the good land which יהוה is giving you.
Deu 11:18  ‘And you shall lay up these Words1 of Mine in your heart and in your being, and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Footnote: 1See footnote at 5:22.
Deu 11:19  ‘And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up,
Deu 11:20  and shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
Deu 11:21  so that your days and the days of your children are increased on the soil of which יהוה swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens on the earth.
Deu 11:22  ‘For if you diligently guard all these commands which I command you, to do it, to love יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him,
Deu 11:23  then יהוה shall drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess greater and stronger nations than you.
Deu 11:24  ‘Every place on which the sole of your foot treads is yours: from the wilderness, and Leḇanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea is your border.
Deu 11:25  ‘No man shall stand against you. יהוה your Elohim shall put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, as He has spoken to you.

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(Blessed are you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn


Please note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are in no way a final authority on any subject