PLEASE NOTE WE ARE NOW FOLLOWING AN ANCIENT TORAH CYCLE USED DURING THE
TEMPLE PERIOD CALLED THE SEPTENNIAL OR SHMITAH CYCLE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfxBQMzcftM
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.)
’Va et chanan’’ ‘Dev 3:23 - Deu 3:23 “And I
pleaded (Heb – ve et chanan) with יהוה at that
time, saying,
‘’At that time’’ after a great military victory –
Moshe thought maybe YHVH would change His mind – vs 21,22.
‘’va et chanan’’ is a ‘’hitpael’’ or reflexive verb –
the root of this verb ‘’chanan’’ means favour or grace. To plead is to appeal
that favour or grace may return to you. It is liking pleading for another
chance.
There lies in this verse a most perplexing condition:
YHVH sometimes denies our pleadings. Moshe pleaded with YHVH to be allowed to
enter the land. YHVH refused Moshe’s request. However, we believe Moshe will
rise again and will finally enter Yisrael to rule and reign with Messiah for
1000 years.
Isa 33:17 Your eyes shall see the Sovereign in
His comeliness, see a land that is far off.
Messiah and our relationship with Messiah remain the
central issue of our lives. Moshe’s sin in striking the rock twice instead of
speaking to the ‘’Rock’’ was a betrayal of Messiah. Yahshua was impaled once
and not ‘’stuck’’ twice for our sin – I Pet 3:18- for our lawlessness, our
Torahlessness and so we cannot continue in lawlessness. If we do, we also show
contempt for our Master and we may never enter the land.
We all have been or remain guilty of the sin of
Moshe. We still have time to repent of all lawlessness.
Tit 2:14 who gave Himself for us, to redeem us
from all lawlessness[b] and to cleanse for Himself a people, His own
possession, ardent for good works.[c] Footnotes: bSee also 1Jn_3:4,.
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were
once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers
of the Set-apart Spirit,
Heb 6:5 and have tasted the good Word of Elohim
and the powers of the age to come,
Heb 6:6 and fall away, to renew them again to
repentance – having impaled for themselves the Son of Elohim again, and put Him
to open shame.[b] Footnote: bSee Heb_10:26-31.
Portion 148:
Deu 4:25 “When you bring
forth children and grandchildren, and shall grow old in the land, and shall do
corruptly (Heb – become corrupt) and make a
carved image in the form of whatever, and shall do what is evil in the eyes of יהוה your Elohim to
provoke Him,
‘’Become corrupt’’ is in the plural. Generally speaking the larger the group,
the more vulnerable it becomes to deception.
‘’and make a carved image in the
form of whatever’’ ‘’temûnâh- BDB Definition: form, image, likeness,
representation, semblance’’ – Corruption inevitably comes about when people,
especially leaders create another version of what is true, right and
acceptable to YHVH. Tragically these leaders receive much support and followers
with another version of YHVH’s truth.
Jer 5:30 “An astounding and
horrible matter has come to be in the land:
Jer 5:31 The prophets have
prophesied falsely,[b] and the priests rule by their own hand, and My people have
loved it so.c And what are you going to do at the end of it? Footnotes: bSee Jer_27:14-15.
c Isa_30:10, 2Ti_4:3.
2Co 11:3 But I am afraid,
lest, as the serpent deceived Chawwah (translated
as Eve in most Bible Versions) by his trickery,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Messiah.
2Co 11:4 For, indeed, if he
who is coming proclaims another יהושע,[a] whom we have not proclaimed, or if you receive a different
spirit which you have not received, or a different Good News which you have not
accepted, you put up with it well enough! Footnote: a Mat_24:5 and Mat_24:23-24,
Joh_5:43.
Those who
have allowed themselves to become corrupt will often make accusations against
the truth (Torah) and those who proclaim the truth – see Ps 109:1-31 – the
consequences can be very serious and bring curse upon curse on those who choose
to wilfully violate YHVH’s Ways.
Psa 109:1 Do not be silent,
O Elohim of my praise!
Psa 109:2 For the mouth of
the wrong And the mouth of the deceiver Have opened against me; They have
spoken against me with a false tongue.
Psa 109:3 They have
surrounded me with words of hatred, And they attack me without a cause.
Psa 109:8 Let his days be
few, Let another take his office.
Psa 109:9 Let his children
be fatherless, And his wife a widow.
Psa 109:10 And let his
children always wander and beg, And seek food out of their ruins.
Psa 109:11 Let the creditor
lay a snare for all that he has, And let strangers plunder his labour.
Psa 109:12 Let him have no
one to extend loving-commitment, Nor any to show favour to his fatherless
children.
Psa 109:13 Let his
descendants be cut off, Their name be blotted out in the next generation.
Once again there is a severe warning to those who want to lie against
the truth and attack the messengers of the truth.
Eph 4:4 one body and one
Spirit, as you also were called in one expectation of your calling,
Eph 4:5 one Master, one
belief, one immersion,
Eph 4:6 one Elohim and
Father of all, who is above all,[a] and through all,
and in you all. Footnote: aSee Mar_12:32, Mar_12:34, 1Co_8:6,
1Ti_2:5, Mar_12:29-34.
Deu 4:26 “I shall call the
heavens and earth to witness against you on that day, that you soon completely
perish from the land which you pass over the Yarděn to possess – you do not
prolong your days in it but are completely destroyed.
Deu 4:27 “And יהוה shall scatter
you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations
where יהוה drives you.
Deu 4:28 “And there you
shall serve mighty ones, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither
see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
Deu 4:29 “But from there you
shall seek יהוה your Elohim, and shall find, when you search for Him with all
your heart[b] and with all your being. Footnote: b Jer_29:13.
Eventually the remnant of Yisrael will find their way back to the ways
of YHVH – Yesh/Is 10:22
Deu 4:30 “In your
distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the latter days, then you
shall return to יהוה your Elohim and shall obey His
voice.
Deu 4:31 “For יהוה your Elohim is a
compassionate Ěl, He does not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant
of your fathers which He swore to them.
Deu 4:32 “For ask now of the
days that are past, which were before you, since the day that Elohim created
man on the earth, and ask from one end of the heavens to the other end of the
heavens, whether there has been a Word as great as this, or has been heard like
it.
Deu 4:33 “Has a people heard
the voice of Elohim speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard,
and live?
Deu 4:34 “Or has Elohim
tried to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of a nation by trials,
and by signs, and by wonders, and by battle, and by a strong hand and an
outstretched arm, and by great fearsome deeds, according to all that יהוה your Elohim did
for you in Mitsrayim before your eyes?
Deu 4:35 “You have been
shown it, to know that יהוה Himself is Elohim; there is no one beside Him.
Deu 4:36 “From the heavens
He let you hear His voice, to instruct you, and on earth He showed you His
great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.
Deu 4:37 “And because He
loved your fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought you
out of Mitsrayim with His Presence, with His great power,
Deu 4:38 to drive out from
before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you in, to give you
their land as an inheritance, as it is today.
Deu 4:39 “And you shall know
today, and shall recall to your heart that יהוה Himself is
Elohim in the heavens above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.
Deu 4:40 “And you shall
guard His laws and His commands which I command you today, so that it is well
with you and with your children after you, and so that you prolong your days on
the soil which יהוה your Elohim is giving you for all time.”
Paul reminds us of how we are connected to our ancient Hebrew roots:
1Co 10:1 For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
1Co 10:2 and all were
immersed into Mosheh in the cloud and in the sea,
1Co 10:3 and all ate the
same spiritual food,
1Co 10:4 and all drank the
same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed, and
the Rock was Messiah.
1Co 10:5 However, with most
of them Elohim was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the
wilderness.
1Co 10:6 And these became
examples for us, so that we should not lust after evil, as those indeed
lusted.
1Co 10:7 And do not become
idolaters as some of them, as it has been written, “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and stood
up to play.” Exo_32:6.
1Co 10:8 Neither should we
commit whoring, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand
fell,
1Co 10:9 neither let us try
Messiah, as some of them also tried, and were destroyed by serpents,
1Co 10:10 neither grumble,
as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 And all these came
upon them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the
ends of the ages have come,
1Co 10:12 so that he who
thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall.
1Co 10:13 No trial has
overtaken you except such as is common to man, and Elohim is trustworthy, who
shall not allow you to be tried beyond what you are able, but with the trial
shall also make the way of escape, enabling you to bear it.
Cities of Refuge
Deu 4:41 Then Mosheh
separated three cities beyond the Yarděn, toward the rising of the sun,
Deu 4:42 for a man-slayer to
flee there, he who unknowingly murdered his neighbour, without having hated him
in time past, and might flee to one of these cities and live:
Deu 4:43 Betser in the
wilderness in the level land for the Re’uḇěnites, and Ramoth in Gil‛aḏ for the
Gaḏites, and Golan in Bashan for the Menashshites.
There is a deeper spiritual significance to cities of refuge. A person
guilty of killing someone by accident could leave a city of refuge at the death
of a high priest -Josh 20:6- Why?
Yahshua is referred to as a great high priest – Heb 4:14 and it was for
our sins that he died – Rom 4:25, we therefore all are guilty of his death.
Added to this offense, anyone who wilfully continued to disobey YHVH’s
commandments – His Torah – was also subject to the death penalty.
Heb 10:28 Anyone who has
disregarded the Torah of Mosheh dies without compassion on the witness of two
or three witnesses.
Therefore,
the title of our current Torah portion ‘’ve et chanan’’ – implies we too need
to plead for YHVH’s mercy and not just assume we are entitled to it.
Mat 7:21 “Not everyone who
says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter into the reign of the heavens, but he
who is doing the desire of My Father in the heavens.
Mat 7:22 “Many shall say to
Me in that day, ‘Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and cast
out demons in Your Name, and done many mighty works in Your Name?’
Mat 7:23 “And then I shall
declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart
from Me, you who work lawlessness! (Torahlessness – people who
claimed to be believers but continued to disobey Torah.
Act 17:30 “Truly, then,
having overlooked these times of ignorance, Elohim now commands all men
everywhere to repent,
Note how
after addressing the matter of the cities of refuge Moshe once again introduces
the Torah.
Deu 4:44 And this is the
Torah which Mosheh set before the children of Yisra’ěl.
Deu 4:45 These are the
witnesses, and the laws, and the right-rulings which Mosheh spoke to the
children of Yisra’ěl after they came out of Mitsrayim,
Deu 4:46 beyond the Yarděn,
in the valley opposite Běyth Pe‛or, in the land of Siḥon sovereign of the
Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon, whom Mosheh and the children of Yisra’ěl had
stricken after they came out of Mitsrayim.
Deu 4:47 And they took
possession of his land and the land of Oḡ sovereign of Bashan, two sovereigns
of the Amorites, who were beyond the Yarděn, toward the rising of the sun,
Deu 4:48 from Aro‛ěr, which
is on the bank of the wadi Arnon, even to Mount Siyon, which is Ḥermon,
Deu 4:49 and all the desert
plain beyond the Yarděn as far as the Sea of the Araḇah, below the slopes of
Pisgah.
Note these lands were outside of Israel’s border. Eventually no hostile
nation or people will be allowed to dwell near Israel.
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