Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, You have set us apart by Your commandments and have commanded us to actively study Your Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May You open our eyes to see marvellous truths from Your Torah. Thank You for calling us who were once gentiles excluded from the citizenship of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no expectation and without Elohim- but now through the blood of Messiah we have gained access into the covenants and have obtained citizenship into the commonwealth of Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
This portion is also known as the “Tochacha”
or solemn warning. “Tochacha” comes from the word “Hochacha” which can mean “rebuke”
The inhabitants of this world are beginning to witness that all their efforts
to create a better world are failing. Instead of repentance and turning to YHVH,
mankind is doubling down and trying harder and harder to make things better.
Instead of getting better things are getting worse. The most severe ‘’rebuke’’
imaginable is about to come upon all mankind because of their defiance of YHVH
and His Messiah.
Jer 17:5 Thus said יהוה, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm,
and whose heart turns away from יהוה.
Jer 17:6 “For he shall
be like a shrub in the desert, and not see when good comes, and shall inhabit
the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land that is not inhabited.
Jer 17:7 “Blessed is the
man who trusts in יהוה, and whose trust is יהוה.
Jer 17:8 “For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and does not see when heat comes. And his leaf shall be green, and in the year of drought he is not anxious, nor does he cease from yielding fruit.
Our haftarah portion
reminds us of the falsehood and futility we have inherited from our fathers.
Jer 16:19 O יהוה, my
strength and my stronghold and my refuge, in the day of distress the gentiles(nations) shall come to You from
the ends of the earth and say, “Our fathers have inherited only falsehood,
futility, and there is no value (benefit) in them.”1 Footnote: 1See
Ps. 147:19, Isa. 2:3, Isa. 60:2-3, John 4:22, Rom. 2:20, Rom. 3:2, Rom. 9:4.
Zech 8:23
אם בחקתי – we must
learn to discern the difference between the ways of man and the ways of YHVH – mans
ways are more than often opposed to YHVH’s ways.
Lev 26:3 ‘If you walk in My laws
and guard My commands, and shall do them,
ג אִם-בְּחֻקֹּתַי, תֵּלֵכוּ; וְאֶת-מִצְוֺתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ, וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם.
Vs 3 in the Hebrew reads: “if in my statutes
(bechukatai) you will walk and my commandments (mitzvoth) you will guard
(shamar) and will do them (asah)
When the Spirit YHVH has ‘’engraved’’ His
sayings (chokim) on our hearts, His eternal purposes become established in our
hearts and clearer to us – Jer 31:33
If (אִם-) the Torah had been internalized in our hearts then we have Lev
26:4-13
Lev 26:4 then I shall give you
rain in its season, and the land shall yield its crops, and the trees of the
field yield their fruit.
Because of mankind’s rejection of the Torah, in the last three and a half years of the end time tribulation there will be no rain on earth - Rev 11:6 These (two witnesses) possess authority to shut the heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy.
Lev 26:5 ‘And your threshing
shall last till the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last
till the time of sowing. And you shall eat your bread until you have enough and
shall dwell in your land safely.
Lev 26:6 ‘And I shall give peace
in the land, and you shall lie down and no one make you afraid. And I shall
clear the land of evil beasts,(‘’chayah rahah’’ – evil spirits) and not let the
sword go through your land.
Lev 26:7 ‘And you shall pursue
your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.
Lev 26:8 ‘And five of you shall
pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you pursue ten thousand. And your enemies
shall fall by the sword before you.
Lev 26:9 ‘And I shall turn to you
and make you bear fruit, and shall increase you, and shall establish My
covenant with you.
Lev 26:10 ‘And you shall eat the
old supply, and clear out the old because of the new.
Lev 26:11 ‘And I shall set My
Dwelling Place in your midst, and My being shall not reject you.
Lev 26:12 ‘And I shall walk in
your midst, and shall be your Elohim, and you shall be My people.
Lev 26:13 ‘I am יהוה your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, from
being their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk
upright.
Most of mankind do not
see the need to obey YHVH’s commandments and many believe they are immune to
the consequences of their disobedience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzavy5cRaDI&t=13s - The coming judgement on Jews
and Christians
Lev 26:14 ‘But if
you do not obey Me, and do not do all these commands,
Lev 26:15 and if
you reject My laws,(be chukatai) or if your being loathes My right-rulings, so
that you do not do all My commands, but break My covenant, (note YHVH is
addressing His people and history is the “tochacha” or the proof)
Lev 26:16 I also do this to you: And I shall appoint
sudden alarm (anxiety) over you, wasting disease (of the lungs) and
inflammation,(auto immune diseases destroying the eyes, and consuming the
life.(our ‘’nefesh’’ or being will pine away – overwhelmed with grief and
stress) And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
(all your life’s work will be in vain – your old age pension will become
worthless)
Lev 26:17 ‘And I shall set My face against you, and you
shall be smitten before your enemies. And those who hate you shall rule over
you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.
Lev 26:18 ‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me,
then I shall punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19 ‘And I shall break the pride of your power,
and shall make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.
Lev 26:20 ‘And your strength shall be spent in vain and
your land not yield its crops, nor the trees of the land yield their fruit.
Lev 26:21 ‘And if you walk contrary to Me, and refuse
to obey Me, I shall bring on you seven times more plagues, according to
your sins,
Lev 26:22 and send wild beasts among you, which shall
bereave you of your children. And I shall cut off your livestock, and make you
few in number, and your highways shall be deserted.
Lev 26:23 ‘And if you are not instructed by Me by
these, but walk contrary to Me,
Lev 26:24 then I also shall walk contrary to you, and I
Myself shall smite you seven times for your sins.
Lev 26:25 ‘And I shall bring against you a sword
executing the vengeance of My covenant, and you shall gather together in your
cities, and I shall send pestilence among you, and you shall be given into the
hand of the enemy.
Lev 26:26 ‘When I have cut off your supply of bread,
ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall bring back to you
your bread by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
Lev 26:27 ‘And if in spite of this, you do not obey Me,
but walk contrary to Me,
Lev 26:28 then I shall walk contrary to you in wrath.
And I Myself shall punish you seven times for your sins.
Lev 26:29 ‘And you shall eat the flesh of your sons,
and eat the flesh of your daughters.
Lev 26:30 ‘And I shall destroy your high places, (church
towers) and cut down your sun-pillars, and put your carcasses on the carcasses
of your idols. And My being shall loathe you.
Lev 26:31 ‘And I shall turn your cities into ruins and
lay your set-apart places waste, and not smell your sweet fragrances.
Lev 26:32 ‘And I shall lay the land waste, and your
enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it.
Lev 26:33 ‘And I shall scatter you among the gentiles
and draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be desert and your cities
ruins,
Lev 26:34 and the land enjoy its Sabbaths as long as it
lies waste and you are in your enemies’ land. Then the land would rest and
enjoy its Sabbaths.
Lev 26:35 ‘As long as it lies waste it rests, for the
time it did not rest on your Sabbaths when you dwelt in it.
Lev 26:36 ‘And as for those of you who are left, I
shall send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, and the
sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee. And they shall flee as though
retreating from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues.
Lev 26:37 ‘And they shall stumble over one another, as
from before a sword, when no one pursues. And you shall be unable to stand
before your enemies.
Lev 26:38 ‘And you shall perish among the gentiles,(nations)
and the land of your enemies shall eat you up,
Lev 26:39 and those of you who are left rot away in
their crookedness in your enemies’ lands, and also in their fathers’
crookednesses rot away with them.
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.
Jer 23:19 See, a storm of יהוה shall go forth
in a rage, a whirling storm! It whirls on the head of the wrong.
Jer 23:20 The 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 it perfectly.1
Footnote: 1See 30:24.
Jer 25:31 “Tumult shall
come to the ends of the earth, for יהוה has a
controversy with the nations. He shall enter into judgment with all flesh. The
wrong He shall give to the sword,’ declares יהוה.”
Jer 25:32 Thus said יהוה of hosts, “See, evil is going forth from nation to nation, and
a great whirlwind is raised up from the farthest parts of the earth.
Jer 25:33 “And in that
day the slain of יהוה shall be from one end of the earth even to the other end of the
earth.[a] They shall not be lamented, or gathered, or buried, for they are dung
on the face of the ground. Footnote: aSee footnote Isa_66:24.
1Pe 4:17 Because it is
time for judgment to begin from the House of Elohim. And if firstly from us,
what is the end of those who do not obey the Good News of Elohim?
1Pe 4:18 And if the
righteous one is scarcely saved, where shall the wicked and the sinner appear?
Pro_11:31.
2Pe 3:11 Seeing all
these are to be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be in
set-apart behaviour and reverence,
2Pe 3:12 looking for and
hastening the coming of the day of Elohim, through which the heavens shall be
destroyed, being set on fire, and the elements melt with intense heat!
We have very little sense of
our own personal liability for the mess we and the world are in. I think this
is more tragic than the mess itself. This is going to result in our severe
chastisement.
We have grieved the Ruach for
so long – How can we find our way back. How do we find ‘’teshuvah’’
What is the answer?
Lev
26:40 ‘But if (Yet) they confess their crookedness and the
crookedness of their fathers, with their trespass in which they trespassed
against Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,
Lev 26:41 and that I also have walked contrary to them
and have brought them into the land of their enemies – if their uncircumcised
heart is then humbled, and they accept the punishment of their crookedness,
Lev 26:42 then I shall remember My covenant with
Yaʽaqoḇ, and also My covenant with Yitsḥaq, and also remember My covenant
with Aḇraham, and remember the land.
Lev 26:43 ‘For the land was abandoned by them, and
enjoying its Sabbaths while lying waste without them, and they were paying for
their crookedness, because they rejected My right-rulings and because their
being loathed My laws.
Lev 26:44 ‘And yet for all this, when they are in the
land of their enemies, I shall not reject them, nor shall I loathe them so as
to destroy them and break My covenant with them. For I am יהוה their Elohim.
Lev 26:45 ‘Then I shall remember for their sake the
covenant of the ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim before
the eyes of the nations to be their Elohim. I am יהוה.’ ”
Lev 26:46 These are the laws and the right-rulings and
the Torot1 which יהוה made between Himself and the children of
Yisra’ĕl on Mount Sinai by the hand of Mosheh. Footnote: 1Torot -
plural of Torah, teaching.
We have no excuse for our dilemma,
Yahshua came 2000 years ago and showed us a way out of our wretched condition because
we all like sheep have gone astray everyone one of us has turned to his own way
– Isa
53:6 And יהוה has laid on Him the crookedness of us
all.
What must happen to save us has
already happened and is continuing to happen - Mat 3:10 “And the axe is already laid to the root of the trees.
Every tree, then, which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into
the fire.
In other words the ‘’axe’’ has severed all of mankind’s efforts to save
himself and establish YHVH’s Kingdom on earth – righteousness peace and joy in
the Set Apart Spirit – Rom 14:17 The
three most scarcest commodities on earth.
Mat 16:18 “…… I shall build My assembly, and the gates of She’olb
shall not overcome it.
Mal 4:4 “Remember the
Torah of Mosheh, My servant, which I commanded him in Ḥorěḇ for all Yisra’ěl –
laws and right-rulings.
Mal 4:5 “See, I am
sending you Ěliyah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day
of יהוה.
Mal 4:6 “And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with utter destruction.”a Footnote: aSee also Zec_14:13.
One of Eliyahu’s/Elijaha’s primary roles was to expose Jezebel and destroy the prophets of Baal. This must first happen before there can be a restoration of the Hebrew Israelite family.
Rev
2:20 “But I hold against you that you allow that woman (Gk – ‘’your
wife’’) Izeḇel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and lead My servants
astray to commit whoring and to eat food offered to idols.
Rev
2:21 “And I gave her time to repent of her whoring, and she did not
repent.
Rev
2:22 “See, I am throwing her into a sickbed, and those who commit
adultery with her into great affliction, unless they repent of their
works.
Rev 2:23 “And I shall slay her children with death. And all the assemblies shall know that I am the One searching the kidneys and hearts. And I shall give to each one of you according to your works.
It is commonly believed that the two end time witnesses will be Moshe and Eliyahu – who will prophecy for the final 1260 days of the great tribulation - Rev 11:3 “And I shall give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clad in sackcloth.”
Righteous Hebrew Israelite women will play a key role in this restoration – they will have the exact opposite spirit to that of Jezebel – they will be like the ‘’glue’’ that binds the Israelite family together - Jer 31:22 “Till when would you turn here and there, O backsliding daughter? For יהוה has created what is new on earth: a woman encompasses a man!”
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 – Amein.