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