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.)
Once again this week’s Portion calls us to
observe ‘’re eh’’ the life of Yisrael as they guard and obey all the words of
the Torah and its blessed impact on them and their children forever – see vs
28.
This week’s Torah portion:
Deu 12:20 “When(not if) יהוה your Elohim
enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’
because you long to eat meat, you eat as much meat as your being desires.
Yisrael will not only return to the land but after they
have returned to the land the borders will be enlarged.
Deu 12:21 “When (not
if)the place where יהוה your Elohim
chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you shall slaughter from your
herd and from your flock which יהוה has given you,
as I have commanded you, and you shall eat within your gates as much as your
being desires.
Deu 12:22 “Only,
as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you are to eat of it. The unclean and
the clean alike eat of it. (Refers to a person’s state of cleanness or
uncleanness regarding the Temple altar)
Deu 12:23 “Only, be firm not to eat the blood, for the blood
is the life, do not eat the life with the meat.
Deu 12:24 “Do not
eat it, you pour it on the earth like water.
Deu 12:25 “Do not
eat it, that it might be well with you and your children after you, when you do
what is right in the eyes of יהוה.
Deu 12:26 “Only,
the set-apart gifts which you have, and your vowed offerings, you are to
take up and go to the place which יהוה chooses. (Yerushalayim)
Deu 12:27 “And you
shall make your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of יהוה your Elohim. And the blood of your
offerings is poured out on the altar of יהוה your Elohim,
and you eat the meat.
Deu 12:28 “Guard,
and obey all these words which I command you, that it might be well with you
and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right
in the eyes of יהוה your Elohim.
Deu 12:29 “When יהוה your Elohim does cut off from before you
the nations which you go to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in
their land,
Deu 12:30 guard
yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed
from before you, and that you do not inquire about their mighty ones, saying,
‘How did these nations serve their mighty ones? And let me do so too.’1
Footnote: 1See also 18:9, Lev. 18:3, Jer.10:2, Ezek. 11:12 &
20:32, Eph. 4:17, and 1 Peter 4:3
1Pe 4:3 For we have spent enough of
our past lifetime in doing the desire of the nations, having walked in
indecencies, lusts, drunkenness, orgies, wild parties, and abominable
idolatries,...
Deu 12:31 “Do not
do so to יהוה your Elohim, for every abomination which יהוה hates they have done to their mighty ones,
for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their mighty ones. (abortion)
Deu 12:32 “All the words I am commanding you, guard
to do it – do not add to it nor take away from it.1 Footnote: 1See
also 4:2, Prov. 30:6, Rev. 22:18-19.
Deu 13:1 “When
there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he shall give you
a sign or a wonder,
Deu 13:2 and the sign or the
wonder shall come true, of which he has spoken to you, saying, ‘Let us go after
other mighty ones – which you have not known – and serve them,’
Deu 13:3 do not listen to the
words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for יהוה your Elohim is
trying you to know whether you love יהוה your Elohim
with all your heart and with all your being.
Deu 13:4 “Walk
after יהוה your Elohim and fear Him, and guard His
commands and obey His voice, and serve Him and cling to Him.
ה אַחֲרֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם
תֵּלֵכוּ, וְאֹתוֹ תִירָאוּ; וְאֶת-מִצְוֹתָיו תִּשְׁמֹרוּ וּבְקֹלוֹ
תִשְׁמָעוּ, וְאֹתוֹ תעֲבֹדוּ וּבוֹ תִדְבָּקוּן.
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In the above passuk (verse) are embedded six commands –
six imperfect Hebrew verbs that Yahshua came to make perfect – six verbs that
teach us who we are and how we were called to live.
You shall follow (halach) YHVH and fear (yara) Him, and
you shall keep/guard (shamar) His commandments, listen (shemah) His Voice,
serve (avad) Him, and cling (davak) to Him.
Lets us consider each of these six verbs:
“Halach” lit. the text reads
“after YHVH your Elohim you shall walk” This literally means that you have no
personal agenda in this life that you follow except YHVH’S AGENDA – HIS TORAH-
NOT ACCORDING TO CHRISTIANITY OR JUDAISM.
For this to happen you will lay down your life to enable you to receive His
Life.
Our lives were meant to be lived in no other way. Every other way is wrong
and will lead to loss and destruction. In fact according to the BDB definition
“halach” can also mean “death”- (BDB 1980)
“Yara” – fear – “tiroo” – this
word does not only imply awe and respect but implies a genuine “trembling” and
the frightening prospect of the severe consequences of disobedience and
ignorance of YHVH’s Torah.
“Shemah”- hear, listen and obey - Joh 10:26
“But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to
you.
Joh 10:27
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.1
Footnote: 1Rev. 14:4-5.
Joh 10:28
“And I give them everlasting life, and they shall by no means ever
perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
Joh 10:29
“My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is
able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
Joh 10:30 “I
and My Father are one.”1 Footnote: 1See 17:11, 17:21-23.
Amo 8:11
“See, days are coming,” declares the Master יהוה, “that I shall send a hunger in the land, not a hunger for
bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the Words of יהוה.
Amo 8:12 “And they shall wander from
sea to sea, and from north to east – they shall diligently search, seeking the
Word of יהוה, but they shall not find it1. Footnote: 1Jer.
5:13, Hos. 8:12, Ezek. 34:3-10.
“Avad” serve Him – “avad” in Hebrew
can mean both to serve and to worship.
To understand service and worship to YHVH we need to understand the core
reason for our existence and calling in life.
“Davak” to cling –Act
17:28 For in Him
we live and move and have our being…..
Deu 13:5 “And that
prophet or that dreamer of dreams is put to death, because he has spoken
apostasy against יהוה your Elohim –
who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim and redeemed you from the house of
bondage – to make you stray from the way in which יהוה your Elohim
commanded you to walk. Thus you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Deu 13:6 “When your
brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter, or the wife of
your bosom, or your friend who is as your own being, entices you secretly,
saying, ‘Let us go and serve other mighty ones’– which you have not known,
neither you nor your fathers,
Deu 13:7 of the
mighty ones of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from
you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth –
Deu 13:8 do not
agree with him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pardon him, nor spare him
or conceal him,
Deu 13:9 but you
shall certainly kill him. Your hand is first against him to put him to death,
and afterward the hand of all the people,
Deu 13:10 and you
shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away
from יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the
land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage.
Deu 13:11 “And let
all Yisra’ĕl hear and fear, and not again do any such evil matter as this in
your midst.
Deu 13:12 “When
you hear someone in one of your cities, which יהוה your Elohim
gives you to dwell in, saying,
Deu 13:13 ‘Some
men, sons of Beliyaʽal,(worthlessness, ruin and destruction) have gone out of
you midst and led the inhabitants of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and
serve other mighty ones” ’ – mighty ones whom you have not known –
Deu 13:14 then you
shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And see if the matter is true
and established that this abomination was done in your midst,
Deu 13:15 you
shall certainly smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
putting it under the ban, and all that is in it and its livestock, with the
edge of the sword.
Deu 13:16 “And
gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and completely burn with
fire the city and all its plunder, before יהוה your Elohim.
And it shall be a heap(tel-Josh 8:28) forever, never to be built again. (Tel
Aviv – gay city)
Deu 13:17 “And
none of that which is put under the ban is to cling to your hand, so that יהוה turns from the fierceness of His
displeasure and shall show you compassion, love you and increase you, as He
swore to your fathers, (Ai – Josh 8)
Deu 13:18 when you
obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim,
to guard all His commands which I command you today, to do what is right in the
eyes of יהוה your Elohim.
Deu 14:1 “You are the children of יהוה your Elohim. Do not cut yourselves nor shave the front
of your head for the dead,
Deu 14:2 for you
are a set-apart people to יהוה your Elohim,
and יהוה has chosen you to be a people for Himself,
a treasured possession above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
REPETITION OF THE DIETRY LAWS
Deu 14:3 “Do not eat whatever is abominable.
Deu 14:4 “These
are the living creatures which you do
eat: ox, sheep, and goat,
Deu 14:5 deer, and
gazelle, and roebuck, and wild goat, and mountain goat, and antelope, and
mountain sheep.
Deu 14:6 “And
every beast that has a split hoof
divided in two, chewing the cud, among the beasts, you do eat.
Deu 14:7 “But of those chewing the cud or those
having a split hoof completely divided, you do not eat, such as these: the
camel, and the hare, and the rabbit, for they chew the cud but do not have a
split hoof, they are unclean for you.
Deu 14:8 “And the
pig is unclean for you, because it has a split hoof, but does not chew the cud.
You do not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.
Deu 14:9 “These you do eat of all that are in the waters:
all that have fins and scales you do eat.
Deu 14:10 “And whatever does not have fins and scales you
do not eat, it is unclean for you.
Deu 14:11 “Any clean bird you do eat,
Deu 14:12 but these you do not eat: the eagle,
and the vulture, and the black vulture,
Deu 14:13 and the
red kite, and the falcon, and the buzzard after their kinds,
Deu 14:14 and
every raven after its kind,
Deu 14:15 and the
ostrich, and the nighthawk, and the seagull, and the hawk after their kinds,
Deu 14:16 the
little owl, and the great owl, and the white owl,
Deu 14:17 and the
pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the fisher owl,
Deu 14:18 and the
stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.
Deu 14:19 “And every creeping insect that
flies is unclean for you, they are not eaten.
Deu 14:20 “Any clean
bird you do eat.
Deu 14:21 “Do not eat whatever dies of itself.
Give it to the stranger( Heb -ger) who is within your gates, to eat it, or sell
it to a foreigner. For you are a set-apart people to יהוה your Elohim. Do not cook a young goat in
its mother’s milk.
REPETITION OF TITHE
Deu 14:22 “You shall tithe without fail all the yield
of your grain that the field brings forth year by year.
Deu 14:23 “And you
shall eat before יהוה your Elohim,
in the place where He chooses to make His Name dwell, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and of the firstlings of your herds and your sheep,
so that you learn to fear יהוה your Elohim
always.
Deu 14:24 “But
when the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to bring the tithe,
or when the place where יהוה your Elohim
chooses to put His Name is too far from you, when יהוה your Elohim is
blessing you,
Deu 14:25 then you shall give it in silver, and shall
take the silver in your hand and go to the place which יהוה your Elohim
chooses.
Deu 14:26 “And you
shall use the silver for whatever your being desires: for cattle or sheep, for
wine or strong drink,(Heb – become tipsy) for whatever your being desires. And
you shall eat there before יהוה your Elohim,
and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
Deu 14:27 “And do not forsake the Lĕwite who is
within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.
Deu 14:28 “At the end of every third year you
bring out all the tithe of your increase
of that year and store it up within your gates.
Deu 14:29 “And the
Lĕwite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the sojourner
and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and eat
and be satisfied, so that יהוה your Elohim
does bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
REPETITION OF END OF EVERY SEVEN YEARS
Deu 15:1 “At
the end of every seven years you make a release of debts.
Deu 15:2 “And this is the word of the release: Every
creditor is to release what he has loaned to his neighbour, he does not require
it of his neighbour or his brother, because it is called the release of יהוה.
Deu 15:3 “Of a
foreigner you could require it, but your hand is to release whatever is owed by
your brother.
Deu 15:4 “Only,
there should be no poor among you. For יהוה does greatly
bless you in the land which יהוה your Elohim is
giving you to possess as an inheritance,
Deu 15:5 only if you diligently obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim,
to guard to do all these commands which I am commanding you today.
Deu 15:6 “For יהוה your Elohim
shall bless you as He promised you. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And you
shall rule over many nations, but they do not rule over you.
(Emphasis added)
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 YHVH, 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