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.)
And so, we see that the
underlying theme of “sefer devarim” (Deuteronomy) is “teshuvah” “repentance”
And so, the sages have rightly
stated that this parashah is about what is required to usher in the Messianic era.
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 prepare ourselves wholeheartedly for the return of
Messiah.
2Co
5:7 for we walk by belief, not by sight.
Rom 10:17 So then belief comes by hearing,
and hearing by the word of Elohim.
Heb 6:12 ….. imitate those who through belief and patience
inherit the promises.
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.
There will be an end time
remnant whose hearts and lives will be prepared to meet the Messiah, because
they have listened, obeyed and done the word 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.’ -
See Stones Chumash p 989. Num 10:33 Stones p 787.
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 Yashua’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(sons of twisting –
S1142) to Mosĕrah.( place of chastisement) 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(a place of cutting) to
Yotḇathah, (pleasantness) 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.
Jer 33:17 “For thus
said יהוה, ‘For Dawiḏ there is not to cease a man to sit on the throne of
the house of Yisra’ěl. – Mat1:1
Jer 33:18 And for
the priests, the Lěwites, there is not to cease a man to offer ascending
offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to slaughter continually.’
”
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! – Mat 5:17-19
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.
This is bridal language – we have His Name – we speak and
live by His Name.
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 11:13-21 (tefillin)
‘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, (language of
intimacy)
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.
1 Cor 10:6-12 The same things that kept Israel out of the
promised land will keep his end time bride out of the land – 1. lusting after
evil or inordinate affections. 2. Idolatry - extreme admiration,
love, or reverence for something or someone. 3.vs 8- Whoring – Gk – to act the
harlot and practice fornication. 4. Tempting Messiah – putting Yahshua on trial,
dictating to him terms and conditions for our deliverance. 5. To murmur or be
ungrateful. 6. Murmuring – Num 16:41 – Discontent and ungrateful.
1Jn 2:16 Because all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of
the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passes away, and the
lust of it, but the one doing the desire of Elohim remains forever. Gen
3:6,7
Because
the church has departed from Torah it has misrepresented the reasons why we
fail to enter YHVH’s promises and promised land. These and all scriptures can
only be properly understood in the light of how they are to be understood from
the instructions given to us from Torah. – Gen 26:4,5
Gen 26:4 “And I shall increase your seed like
the stars of the heavens, and I shall give all these lands to your seed. And in
your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,
ה עֵקֶב,
אֲשֶׁר-שָׁמַע אַבְרָהָם בְּקֹלִי; וַיִּשְׁמֹר, מִשְׁמַרְתִּי, מִצְוֺתַי,
חֻקּוֹתַי וְתוֹרֹתָי.
|
5 because that Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My
charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.'
|
Only a real genuine lasting love for YHVH
can accomplish this - 1Jn 5:3 For this is the love for Elohim, that
we guard His commands,[a] and His commands are not heavy, Footnote: aSee 1Jn_5:2,
2Jn_1:6 and Joh_14:15.
1Jn 4:19 We love
Him because He first loved us.
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