mordekhi v yisraela

Torah: Ki Tavo (When you enter in), D’varim (Deuteronomy) 26.1-29.8
Haftorah: Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 60.1-22
Suggested Messianic Writings reading: Luke 24.44-53

Shalom,

Our parashah this week deals with the ultimate in choice – the choice of obedience to the Covenant of ADONAI and being blessed, or disobedience and being cursed. This is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. Or perhaps we could say where the camel’s hoof hits the trail. Israel has by this point chosen to enter into covenant with their Creator, and herein the consequences – good or bad – of being in covenant are explained by Moshe.

In D’varim 27.9, Moshe said to Israel, “שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה נִהְיֵיתָ לְעָם לַיְיָ אֱלֹהֶיךָ  Sh’ma Yisrael, ha-yom ha-zey nee-yey-tah l’ahm l’Adonai Elo-hey-kha; Be quiet; and listen, Israel! Today you have become the people of ADONAI your God”. All of the blessings and the curses outlined in these chapters applied to Israel only after they entered into covenant.

The blessings of ADONAI’s covenant are wonderful. Everyone likes blessings, but there are requirements involved in receiving the blessings of a covenant with the Creator. The essence of the covenant was this: love ADONAI your G-d with all you’ve got, obey Him, and love your neighbor as yourself. Followers of Yeshua should be aware that 1) He is God (John/Yochanan 1.1 & 1.18); 2) He is a part of the mysterious triune Godhead (Isaiah/Yesha’yahu 48.16; 61.1; Luke 4.18-19); and 3) He is continuing to remain being the same always (Hebrews 13.8; Revelation 1.4). If He is our Lord, then we – whether Jewish or Gentile – are included in this ancient covenant with יִשְׂרָאֵל קְהַל K’hal Yisrael (the Assembly of Israel). The blessings from obedience of D’varim 28 will be ours, but so will the curses of disobedience. Some of Yeshua’s final words when He physically left this planet were that we are to obey “all that I have commanded you” (emphasis added, for He is God). Blessings are not to be our goal and purpose, but as our desire for our Messiah and Creator increases, the blessings that come can be enjoyed, and if/when there are hardships, trials and testings, through His grace they are easier to “digest”. And I hope we all realize that someone undergoing a trial is not necessarily being cursed. There is a vast difference.

There are some who say that Gentile believers were not expected to follow Torah, but a seldom-referenced verse, Acts 15.21, convinces me otherwise. In Acts 15, the council of apostles decided that, first of all, Gentiles who accepted Yeshua should be told to remove themselves from anything to do with idolatry. Then in verse 21, “For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat.” As I read it, Gentile converts were to denounce pagan idolatry (they were not told to denounce their “Gentile-ness;” otherwise, passages such as Revelation 7.9 would have no eternal significance), and get into a synagogue and learn from the writings of Moshe.

Once one is entered into a covenant with the Creator, the consequences of disobedience are very strong. In D’varim 21.22-23, preceding this week’s reading, it is noted that one who was hung on a stake was cursed, or despised, by G-d; the Hebrew here for cursed is “קִלְלַת, keel-laht,” which is the weaker of the two instances of curse as found in Genesis/B’resheet 12.3. This word means “lightly esteemed”. Now, as we get into the real depths of the covenant, the English word curse as found in D’varim 27 & 28 is ארר ah-rar, a much stronger curse, meaning, “to bitterly curse, to hem in with obstacles, to render powerless, to resist”. Thus we could read B’resheet 12.3 [the promise to Avraham and his descendents] as, “And the one who makes light of you I will bitterly curse, hem in with obstacles, render powerless, resist.” This subject is dealt with in Hebrews 10:28-31, “Someone who disregards the Torah of Moshe is put to death without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses. Think how much worse will be the punishment deserved by someone who has trampled underfoot the Son of God; who has treated as something common the blood of the covenant which made him holy; and who has insulted the Spirit, giver of God’s grace! For the One we know is the One who said, ‘Vengeance is my responsibility; I will repay,’ and then said, ‘ADONAI will judge his people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (emphasis added).

First Fruits of Zion made a keen observation in a drash, regarding Israel: “All through the book of Deuteronomy, Moses drives home the message: ‘Keep God’s Torah.’ When Israel failed to keep the Torah, God sent prophets warning them to repent and turn back to Torah. When they repented, they were rewarded and blessed. When they did not, they suffered the maledictions threatened in the Torah. God continuously told His people for 1,400 years to walk in His commandments, keep His Torah and His covenant. Does it make sense to imagine that after 1,400 years, God suddenly changed His mind? Yet today many theologians claim that this is what God has done to Israel. The premise of their teaching is that for 1,400 years He punished Israel when they did not keep the Torah; then when Yeshua came, He cancelled the Torah and henceforth punished them for keeping it.” Absurdity of absurdities!

FFOZ continues, “Rather, HaShem is the Unchanging One, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He has not cancelled the words of His Torah. Even today, He longs for His people—all of His people—to repent, turn away from sin and come back to the good and beautiful commandments of His Torah, just as His holy Son, Yeshua, has shown us. In Yeshua His people will find forgiveness for sins, and through His Spirit we find the strength and joy to serve God with gladness.”

The days we are living in are growing darker; they are certainly becoming more spiritually intense. The only real safety is abiding in Covenant with the God of Israel, and walking in the Light of the Son. Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 60, the Haftorah reading for this week, is a chapter of hope. Look at the first two verses: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, the glory of ADONAI has risen over you. For although darkness covers the earth and thick darkness the peoples; on you ADONAI will rise; over you will be seen his glory.” In a sense, you could say that the days we are living could be called “night,” for there is much darkness attempting to cover up the Light. As such, we are living in a night of sin, of punishment, of suffering, and of mourning. But keep your eyes open, ready for the coming of Light. As Tehillim/Psalm 30.5 relates, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

The essence of the covenant once again: love ADONAI your God with all you’ve got, obey Him, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then may the blessings of D’varim 28 be yours. We are currently in the Hebrew month of Elul; in Jewish tradition, this is a month of preparation, of self-examination leading up to the Ten Days of Awe, also known as Aseret Yemey Teshuvah, עֲשֶׂרֶת יְמֵי תְּשׁוּבָה, the Ten Days of Repentance, between Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur. There has been only one Man who remained perfect throughout His entire life on this earth, so we all need to take the time to self-examine and repent of our sinful nature which so often encumbers our walk. But days of repentance need not be fearful, that is, we need not fear the Judge of all the earth if we are abiding in His love. The word Elul (אלול) can be seen as an acrostic formed of four Hebrew words from Song of Songs: “אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי  Anee l’dodee v’dodee lee, I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song 6:3). The days of Elul are not only days of repentance, but they should be seen as well as days of compassion, grace, love, even days of intimacy. Our Creator desires a loving relationship with us.

It is customary in some Jewish circles to blow a blast on the shofar each morning of Elul. It was in the month of Elul that Nehemiah finished rebuilding the Wall around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 6:15). For believers today, this is a time for securing all breaches, all places of vulnerability along our “borders”. Elul is also a period from ancient Hebrew tradition when HaShem, although always near and accessible to us, chooses to make Himself especially available to His people – when the “King comes into the Field” to meet with those who will come out to Him, those who will respond to the inner urging to “seek His face”. In fact, many observant Jews choose to read Psalm 27 (from which that phrase is taken) each day between the First of Elul and the Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Psalm 27.8: “When You said, ‘Seek My face,’ my heart said to You, ‘Your face, O LORD, I shall seek.’”

שַׁאֲלוּ שְׁלוֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָם – Sha’alu shalom Yerushalayim – Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May Israel turn to seek the face of their true Messiah, so that they may reap the blessings in full again.