Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through His commandments and commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of the Torah. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah – Amein
והיה אם־שׁמוע
תשׁמע –‘’ it shall be if you obey, if you will really obey.’’ An end
time generation of believers are going to find out the devastating consequences
of disobedience. So, we need to carefully, very carefully listen to what this
Torah portion has to say. (also obedience blessings)
Blessings for Obedience
Deu 28:1 “And it shall be, if you diligently obey
the voice of יהוה your Elohim, to guard to do all His
commands which I command you today, that יהוה
your Elohim shall set you high above all nations of the earth.
Deu 28:2 “And all these blessings shall come upon
you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of יהוה
your Elohim:
Deu 28:3 “Blessed are you in the city, and blessed
are you in the field.
Deu 28:4 “Blessed is the fruit of your body, and
the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your livestock – the increase of your
cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
Deu 28:5 “Blessed is your basket and your kneading
bowl.
Deu 28:6 “Blessed are you when you come in, and
blessed are you when you go out.
Deu 28:7 “יהוה
causes your enemies who rise against you to be smitten before your face – they
come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
Deu 28:8 “יהוה
commands the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set
your hand, and shall bless you in the land which יהוה
your Elohim is giving you.
Deu 28:9 “יהוה
does establish you as a set-apart people to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if
you guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim and walk in His ways.
Deu 28:10 “And all peoples of the earth shall see
that the Name of יהוה is called upon you, and they shall be
afraid of you.
Deu 28:11 “And יהוה
shall make you to have plenty of what is good, in the fruit of your body, in
the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land of
which יהוה swore to your fathers to give you.
Deu 28:12 “יהוה
opens to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in
its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. And you shall lend to many
nations, but you do not borrow.
Deu 28:13 “And יהוה
shall make you the head and not the tail. And you shall be only on top, and not
be beneath, if you obey the commands of יהוה
your Elohim, which I command you today, to guard and do.
Deu 28:14 “And do not turn aside from any of the
Words which I am commanding you today, right or left, to go after other mighty
ones to serve them.
It is troubling to read these blessings because of their
relative absence amongst believers.
What is the reason? DISOBEDIENCE – my disobedience and your
disobedience.
What is extremely concerning about the following curses is that they are addressed to believers.
Isa
40:17 All nations before Him are as a non-entity, and they are reckoned
by Him as less than a speck, and emptiness.
2
Esdras 6
56 As for the other nations
which have descended from Adam, thou hast said that they are nothing, and that
they are like spittle, and thou hast compared their abundance to a drop from a
bucket. 57 And now, O Lord, behold, these nations,
which are reputed as nothing, domineer over us and devour us. 58 But
we thy people, whom thou hast called thy first-born, only begotten, zealous for
thee,[m] and most dear, have
been given into their hands. 59 If the world has
indeed been created for us, why do we not possess our world as an inheritance?
How long will this be so?”
2 Esdras 7
20 Let many perish who are now
living, rather than that the Torah of God which is set before them be
disregarded!
Dan 9:10 “And we have not obeyed the voice of יהוה our Elohim, to walk
in His Torot, which He set before us through His servants the prophets.
Dan 9:11 “And all Yisra’ěl have transgressed
Your Torah, and turned aside, so as not to obey
( שׁמוע/shemah/hear)Your voice. So the curse (oath to curse אלה (aw-law/curse,cursing))
and the oath ( שׁבוּעה /shebu-ah) written in the Torah of Mosheh the servant of
Elohim have been poured out on us, for we have sinned against Him.
Dan 9:12 “And He has confirmed His words, which He
spoke against us and against our rulers who judged us, by bringing upon us
great evil. For under all the heavens there has not been done like what was
done to Yerushalayim. (YHVH is going to ‘’love’’ us into submission)
Dan 9:13 “As it is written in the Torah of Mosheh,
all this evil has come upon us, and we have not entreated (חלה/kaw-lah – become sick or sorry enough to
obey) the face of יהוה our Elohim, to turn
back from our crookednesses, and to study ( שׂכל
/ sachal – common sense
– ‘’seichel’’) Your truth.
Dan 9:14 “Hence יהוה has watched over the
evil and has brought it upon us. For יהוה our Elohim is righteous in all the works which He has done, but
we have not obeyed ( שׁמוע /shama)
His voice.
Dan 9:15 “And now, O יהוה our Elohim, who brought Your people out of the land of Mitsrayim with a strong hand, and made Yourself a Name, as it is this day – we have sinned, we have done wrong! חטאנו רשׁענו ( will be repeated in the second exodus – Jer 16:14-15)
Curses for Disobedience
Deu 28:15 “And it shall be, if you do not obey the
voice of יהוה
your Elohim, to guard to do all His commands and His laws which I command you
today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you: (talking
to His people)
Deu 28:16 "Cursed (to bind and bitterly curse
- אָרַר
) are you in the city, and cursed are you in the field.
Deu 28:17 "Cursed is your basket and your
kneading bowl.
Deu 28:18 "Cursed is the fruit of your body
and the fruit of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of
your flocks.
Deu 28:19 "Cursed are you when you come in, and cursed are you when you go out.
Deu 28:20 “יהוה
sends on you the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke in all that you set your
hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of
the evil of your doings by which you have forsaken Me.
Deu 28:21 “יהוה
makes the plague cling to you until He has consumed you from the land which you
are going to possess.
Deu 28:22 “יהוה
strikes you with wasting disease, and with inflammation, and with burning, and
with extreme heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew. And
they shall pursue you until you perish.
Deu 28:23 “And your heavens which are over your
head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you iron. (rain and
prayers)
Deu 28:24 “יהוה
makes the rain of your land powder and dust; from the heavens it comes down on
you until you are destroyed.
Deu 28:25 “יהוה
causes you to be defeated before your enemies – you go out one way against them
and flee seven ways before them. And you shall become a horror to all the
reigns of the earth.
Deu 28:26 “And your carcasses shall be food for all
the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth, with no one to frighten
them away.
Deu 28:27 “יהוה
shall strike you with the boils of Mitsrayim, with tumours, with the scab, and
with the itch, from which you are unable to be healed.
Deu 28:28 “יהוה
shall strike you with madness and blindness and bewilderment of heart.
Deu 28:29 “And you shall be groping at noon, as a
blind man gropes in darkness, and not prosper in your ways. And you shall be
only oppressed and plundered all the days, with no one to save you.
Deu 28:30 “You become engaged to a wife, but
another man does lie with her. You build a house, but do not dwell in it. You
plant a vineyard, but do not use its fruit.
Deu 28:31 “Your ox is slaughtered before your eyes,
but you do not eat of it. Your donkey is violently taken from before you, and
it is not given back to you. Your sheep are given to your enemies, with no one
to save them. (expropriation without compensation)
Deu 28:32 “Your sons and your daughters are given
to another people, and your eyes look and fail for them all day long, and your
hand powerless.
Deu 28:33 “A people whom you have not known eat the
fruit of your land and all your labours. And you shall be only oppressed and
crushed all the days.
Deu 28:34 “And you shall be maddened (insane -שָׁגַע )because of the sight which your eyes
see.
Deu 28:35 “יהוה
strikes you in the knees and on the legs with evil boils of which you are
unable to be healed, and from the sole of your foot to the top of your
head.
Deu 28:36 “יהוה
brings you and the sovereign whom you set over you to a nation which neither
you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other mighty ones,
wood and stone.
Deu 28:37 “Thus you shall become an astonishment, a
proverb, and a mockery among all the peoples to which יהוה
drives you.
Deu 28:38 “You take much seed out into the field
but gather little in, for the locust consumes it.
Deu 28:39 “You plant vineyards, and shall labour,
but you neither drink of the wine nor gather, for the worm eats it.
Deu 28:40 “You have olive trees in all your border,
but do not anoint with oil, for your olives drop off.
Deu 28:41 “You bring forth sons and daughters, but
they are not with you, for they go into captivity.
Deu 28:42 “Locusts possess all your trees and the
fruit of your ground.
Deu 28:43 “The sojourner who is among you rises
higher and higher above you, but you come down lower and lower.
Deu 28:44 “He lends to you, but you do not lend to
him. He is the head, and you are the tail.
Deu 28:45 “And all these curses shall come upon
you, and they shall pursue and overtake you, until you are destroyed, because
you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim, to guard His commands and His
laws which He commanded you.
Deu 28:46 “And they shall be upon you for a sign
and for a wonder, and on your seed, forever.
Deu 28:47 “Because you did not serve יהוה
your Elohim with joy and gladness of heart for all the plenty,
Deu 28:48 you shall serve your enemies whom יהוה
sends against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in need of
all. And he shall put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed
you.
Deu 28:49 “יהוה
shall bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift
as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you shall not understand,
Deu 28:50 a fierce-looking nation, which shall show
no regard for the elderly nor show favour to the young,
Deu 28:51 and they shall eat the fruit of your
livestock and the fruit of your land, until you are destroyed. They leave you
no grain, nor new wine, nor oil, nor the increase of your cattle or the
offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.
Deu 28:52 “And they shall besiege you at all your
gates till your high and fenced walls, in which you are trusting, come down in
all your land. And they shall besiege you at all your gates in all your land
which יהוה your Elohim has given you.
Deu 28:53 “And you shall eat the fruit of your own
body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom יהוה
your Elohim has given you, in the siege and distress in which your enemies
distress you. Jer 19:9 – (80 year old article – Guardian – Bergen – Belsen
cannibalism)
Deu 28:54 “The man among you who is tender, and who
is very delicate, his eye is evil against his brother, against the wife of his
bosom, and against the rest of his children whom he leaves behind,
Deu 28:55 against giving any of them the flesh of
his children that he eats, because it is all that has been left to him in the
siege and distress with which your enemy distresses you in all your
gates.
Deu 28:56 “The tender and the delicate woman among
you, who has not tried to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her
delicateness and tenderness, her eye is evil against the husband of her bosom,
and against her son, and against her daughter,
Deu 28:57 and against her seed which comes out from
between her feet, and her children whom she bears, for she eats them in secret
for lack of all, in the siege and distress with which your enemy distresses you
in all your gates. (YHVH will love us into submission)
Deu 28:58 “If you do not guard to do all the Words
of this Torah that are written in this book, to fear this esteemed and awesome
Name, יהוה your Elohim,
Deu 28:59 then יהוה
shall bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary plagues, great and
lasting plagues, and grievous and lasting sicknesses.
Deu 28:60 “And He shall bring back on you all the
diseases of Mitsrayim, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to
you,
Deu 28:61 also every sickness and every plague,
which is not written in the book of this Torah, יהוה
does bring upon you until you are destroyed.
Deu 28:62 “And you shall be left with few men,
although you had become as numerous as the stars of the heavens, because you
did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim.
Deu 28:63 “And it shall be, that as יהוה
rejoiced over you to do you good and increase you, so יהוה
does rejoice over you to destroy you and lay you waste. And you shall be
plucked from off the land which you go to possess.
Deu 28:64 “And יהוה
shall scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other,
and there you shall serve other mighty ones, which neither you nor your fathers
have known, wood and stone.
Deu 28:65 “And among those nations you are to find
no rest, nor have a resting place for the sole of your foot. But there יהוה
shall give you a trembling heart, and failing eyes, and sorrow of being.
Deu 28:66 “And your life shall be hanging in
suspense before you, and you shall fear night and day, and not be certain of
your life.
Deu 28:67 “In the morning you say, ‘Oh, that it
were evening!’ And at evening you say, ‘Oh, that it were morning!’ because of
the fear of your heart, with which you fear, and because of the sight which
your eyes see.
Deu 28:68 “And יהוה shall bring you back to Mitsrayim in ships, by a way of which I said to you, ‘You are never to see it again.’ And there you shall be sold to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one to buy.”
The
Covenant Renewed in Moab
Deu
29:1 These
are the words of the covenant which יהוה commanded Mosheh to make with the children
of Yisra’ěl in the land of Mo’aḇ, besides the covenant which He made with them
in Ḥorěḇ.
Deu
29:2 And Mosheh called all Yisra’ěl and said to them, “You yourselves saw
all that יהוה did before your eyes in the
land of Mitsrayim, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his
land.
Deu
29:3 “Your eyes saw the great trials, the signs, and those great
wonders.
Deu
29:4 “But יהוה has not given you a heart to
know and eyes to see and ears to hear, till this day.
Deu
29:5 “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your garments
have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your
feet.
Deu
29:6 “You ate no bread and drank no wine nor strong drink, so that you
might know that I am יהוה your Elohim.
Deu
29:7 “And when you came to this place, Siḥon sovereign of Ḥeshbon and Oḡ sovereign of Bashan came out
against us to battle, and we struck them,
Deu
29:8 and took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Re’uḇěnites, and to the Gaḏites, and to half the tribe of
Menashsheh.
Deu 29:9 “Therefore you shall guard the words of this covenant, and do them, so that you prosper in all that you do.
Deu 5:29 Oh, that they had such a heart in them, to fear Me and to guard all My commands always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever!
Who can escape these judgments? No one!
Jer 30:11 For I am with you,’ declares יהוה, ‘to save you. Though I make a complete end of all nationsa 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: aSee Jer_46:28, Isa_34:2, Isa_45:17, Dan_2:44, Amo_9:8, Hag_2:22.
One way of trying to make sense of these judgments is that YHVH is ‘’spring cleaning’’ His House - 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? See Rom 11:26 all Israel saved the Deliverer will turn away wickedness from Jacob
Midrash on the ‘’stages of judgment’’ until His people repent – Book of Revelation.
There
is nothing nice about YHVH’s judgment - Amo 5:18 Woe to you who are
longing for the day of יהוה! What does the day of יהוה mean to you? It is darkness,
and not light,
Amo 5:19 as when a man flees from a lion, and a bear shall meet him; or entered his house, rested his hand on the wall, and a serpent shall bite him. Amo 5:20 Is not the day of יהוה darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
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. 1Co 10:14 Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry.
"Tochacha" is a Hebrew word
meaning rebuke, chastisement, correction, or admonition. It refers to
the practice of gently and constructively intervening in the wrongdoings of
others, particularly within a Hebrew community. This is a mitzvah
(commandment) based on Leviticus 19:17, which emphasizes the importance of
confronting wrongdoing to help someone avoid further sin. 17 You
shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall admonish, yea
admonish your companion so that you
may not bear sin with him. הוכח תוכיח
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.