Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through His commandments and commanded us to actively study Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May we and our offspring, and the offspring of Your people, the House of Israel, may we all, together, know Your Name and study Your Torah for the sake of fulfilling Your desire. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, Who chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
This week’s parashah “Ekev” begins in last week’s
reading – Dev 7:12. We add vs 12-26 to our current reading of this week’s
parashah.
Deu 7:12 “And it shall be, because(ekev) 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 that covenanted with your fathers.
‘’Formally it's not quite certain where the
noun עקב ('aqeb)
comes from but some scholars suggest from an unused verb that means ‘’to be
protuberant’’ (popping, swollen, bulging). But the meaning of the noun becomes
clear from its applications in the Scriptures. It appears that the basic idea
of this word is anything last of lowest. It may denote the hoofs of horses
(Genesis 49:17) but also a man's buttocks (Jeremiah 13:22). It means the rear
of a troop (Genesis 49:19) or the print of one's foot (Psalm 89:51).’’ Abiram
publications.
The word “eikev” used here in the text as “because”
is unusual (used about seven times in the Torah). 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 blessing us. “Ekev” or “heel” may be a hint as to our “Halacha” or our
walking in the Torah or not walking in the Torah. In other words what kind of “Torah
footprint” are our lives leaving behind us for YHVH and others to see?
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 or halacha” the Messiah would have would crush the head of the enemy and the enemy would do everything in his power to hinder (bruise) that walk. This is true of the followers of Messiah to this day. If we walk as Messiah walked, we will experience the blessing but also the ’’bruising’’ and opposition from the enemy.
The
gematria of “ekev” (ayin, kuph, beit) is 172. The same number of words found 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 Israelites, the half shekel – see Ber/Gen 24.
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 other 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 really want to hear and respond in obedience to
what you have heard.
What must they hear (tishmar oon)? The Mishpatim or
right rulings. Emphasis on really, really hearing.
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 loving-commitment which He swore to your
fathers,
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 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.
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.
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.
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א כָּל-הַמִּצְוָה, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--תִּשְׁמְרוּן
לַעֲשׂוֹת: לְמַעַן תִּחְיוּן וּרְבִיתֶם, וּבָאתֶם וִירִשְׁתֶּם
אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה, לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם |
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“Command” or “mitzvah” is
singular in the above verse. This implies that the commandments are to be
obeyed one by one and we cannot pick and choose what needs to be obeyed and
what needs not be obeyed.
The Nazarene Talmud (New
Testament) agrees with the use of the singular when referring to the
commandments.
Mat 15:3
But He answering, said to them, “Why do you also transgress the command
of Elohim1 because of your tradition? Footnote: 1See Mat.
5:20.
Rom 7:12
So that the Torah truly is set-apart, and the command set-apart, and
righteous, and good.
ובכן התורה היא קדושה והמצוה
קדושה וישרה וטובה׃
The Torah was always meant to be one whole body of instruction to be wholly obeyed. Christianity introduced distinctions such as ceremonial, civil and moral laws of the so-called Old Testament. In doing so they have conveniently chosen what it is relevant and what is not relevant – see Matt 5:17-19.
Jas/Yakov 2:9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, being found
guilty by the Torah as transgressors.
Jas 2:10 For
whoever shall guard all the Torah, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty
of all.
Jas 2:11 For
He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” Exo_20:14 also said, “Do
not murder.” Exo_20:13 Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do
murder, you have become a transgressor of Torah.
Jas 2:12 So
speak and so do as those who are to be judged by a Torah of freedom.a Footnote:
aSee Jas_1:25 and Joh_8:32-36.
Jas 2:13 For
the judgment is without compassion to the one who has shown no compassion. And
compassion boasts over judgment.
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,(to
subject you to uncertainty) prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether
you guard His commands or not.
We find this same anomaly (
something that deviates from what is standard, normal or expected) in the text
of the Torah – the word command singular is used, not ‘’commands’’ plural.
YHVH continues to ‘’prove’’
His children this way. He will often offend our minds to reveal to us what is
in our hearts. (Matt 11:6)
Offended – Gk ‘’skandelon’’ - Luk 7:23 “And blessed is he who shall not stumble (ensnared
or trapped – Gk – skandaldzo) in
Me.”
- same Hebrew word used in Ps 119:165 ‘’kashal’’
Psa 119:165 Great peace
have those loving Your Torah, And for them there is no stumbling-block.
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.
That’s why Shaul says in Rom
8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worth comparing with the esteem that is to be
revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For
the intense longing1 of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing
of the sons of Elohim. Footnote: 1Lit. anxiously looking with
outstretched head.
Rom 8:20 For
the creation was subjected to futility, not from choice, but because of Him who
subjected it, in anticipation,
Rom 8:21
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage to
corruption into the esteemed freedom of the children of Elohim.
Rom 8:22 For
we know that all the creation groans together, and suffers the pains of
childbirth together until now.
Rom 8:23 And
not only so, but even we ourselves who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, we ourselves
also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption
of our body.
Rom 8:28 And
we know that all matters work together for good to those who love
Elohim, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Rom 8:35 Who
shall separate us from the love of the Messiah? Shall pressure, or distress, or
persecution, or scarcity of food, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Rom 8:37 But
in all this we are more than overcomers through Him who loved us.
Rom 8:38
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor messengers nor
principalities nor powers, neither the present nor the future,
Rom 8:39
nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of Elohim which is in Messiah יהושע our Master.
This entire Torah portion
emphasizes once again the absolute authority of the Torah over our lives. Sadly
the church has emphasized the absolute centrality of Yahshua in our lives
WITHOUT THE TORAH. This is not possible – YOU CANNOT SEPARATE YASHUA FROM THE
TORAH. In fact Yahshua came to the world as the Torah in the flesh.
Joh 1:14
And the Word(Torah) became flesh and pitched His tent among us, and we
saw His esteem, esteem as of an only brought-forth of a father, complete in
favour and truth.
Joh 3:19
“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men
loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were wicked.
Joh 3:20
“For everyone who is practising evil matters hates the light and does
not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
Joh 3:21
“But the one doing the truth comes to the light, so that his works are clearly
seen, that they have been wrought in Elohim.
Every
other truth and doctrine of any religion that opposes this fact will come to a
complete end in these last days.
Jer 9:25
“See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “when I shall punish all circumcised with
the uncircumcised
Jer 30:11
‘For I am with you,’ declares יהוה, ‘to save you. Though I make a complete
end of all gentiles1 where I have scattered you, yet I do not make a
complete end of you. But I shall reprove you in judgment, and by no means leave
you unpunished.’ Footnote: 1See 46:28, Isa. 34:2, Isa. 45:17, Dan.
2:44, Amos 9:8, Hag. 2:22.
Jer 30:24
The burning displeasure of יהוה shall not turn back until He has done and
established the purposes of His heart. In the latter days you shall understand
it1. Footnote: 1See 23:20. – translation adds “understand
it perfectly” – in Hebrew – “titbonew’ is a hitpael verb of the root “bin”
implies that you yourself will understand for yourself – used in both verses –
30:24 & 23:20. In fact this verb form is only found in these two verses in
the entire Tenach.
Dan 10:14
“And I have come to make you understand what is to befall your people in
the latter days. For the vision is yet for days to come.”
Dan 12:1 …..And there shall be a time of distress, such as
never was since there was a nation, until that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written
in the book.
Dan 12:7
….And when they have ended scattering the power of the set-apart people,
then all these shall be completed.
End time prophecy can only be understood in the light of
a covenant people repenting for their disobedience to all of the Torah as
taught by Yahshua and his disciples.
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.
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,
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 (lest you say) 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.
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 you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim.
Conclusion:
Eze 6:8
“But I shall leave a remnant, in that some of you shall escape the sword
among the gentiles, when you are scattered throughout the lands.
Eze 6:9
“And those of you who escape shall remember Me among the gentiles where
they have been taken captive, because I have been broken by their adulterous
heart which has turned away from Me, and by their eyes which whored after their
idols. And they shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have done in
all their abominations.
Isa 10:22
For though your people, O Yisra’ĕl, be as the sand of the sea, yet a
remnant of them shall return – a decisive end, overflowing with righteousness.
Isa 10:23
For the Master יהוה of hosts is making a complete end, as decided, in the midst of
all the earth.
YHVH has a word for this remnant.
Isa 45:3
‘And I shall give you the treasures of darkness and hoarded wealth of
secret places, so that you know that I, יהוה, who are calling you by your name, am the
Elohim of Yisra’ĕl.
Isa 45:4
‘For the sake of Yaʽaqoḇ
My servant, and of Yisra’ĕl My chosen, I also call you by your name, I give you
a title, though you have not known Me.
Isa 45:5 ‘I am יהוה, and there is none else – there is no
Elohim besides Me. I gird you, though you have not known Me,
Isa 45:6 so that they know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none but Me. I am יהוה, and there is none else,
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