Behold – Ra’ah - ראה (See) - Audio Podcast Aug 12, 2023
Notes
Transcript
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
REVIEW
This is our forth message from Devarim- Deuteronomy
elle-ha deverim = these are the words
The Torah goes on to recount the 42 stations from the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land.
Picture of Journey
An 11 day journey that lasted 40 years
Reason why the journeys are moments and opportunities to learn
The first generation that came out of Egypt was “thick headed”
they were quiet listening to all the list of mistakes and errors committed during the journey.
It is very difficult to learn is you are not listening
Devarim is like an executive meeting to evaluate where we have been, where we are, and where we need to go.
Maturity/ MATURITE
When somebody is able to do that, they have developed a higher level of maturity - spiritual growth.
They are accepting a rebuke that belongs to someone else.
Then we call them Mature
The mature does not: Fight, Flight, Freeze
Your ability or inability to receive through listening shines your level of maturity - picture
An obedient generation stands and receives the rebuke of the word.
Listens
Pays attention
Understands and obey
Shema in Hebrew:
Verse 5
Shema Yisrael Adonia elo-hei-nu; Adonai echad
Verse 6
ve-a-hav-ta et Adonai
e-lo-hei-cha
be-chol
leva vecha
uve-chol
naf-shecha
uve-chol
mo-o decha
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
What happens when we don’t listen - forget = shakah
Picture of 4 Laws
We have different words for the word law in English
That is a problem because we just generalize things w/o knowing what we are saying
We understand that the word of God is only the moral law of the Decalog
There are 613 laws in the Torah
All have a special function
Law #76- To say the shema twice
Shema
We spoke about listening to the Torah
He has made Himself manifest through the years
He has promised to come back
He has kept the promise through devarim
He has been communicating with us
in a written form
In the form of the Torah
In the voice of the Father
In the thunder, fire and lightening that came from heaven
In the person of the Son
Yeshua Hamashiach
We explained to listen in to obey
The way we demonstrate we love God
We explained how obedience causes God to respond with blessings
How His blessing causes us to respond in obedience
We spoke about Ekev and Akev
We spoke about righteousness
The state of doing what is required within a standard
and wickedness - not only evil
But disagreeable
This brought us to the last generation as the Generation of the Heels of Messiah
We spoke about how to respond if you are of that generation
By keeping the covenant
Going back to the Torah
More on this in this Torah Portion
Introduction
Introduction
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
We will divide this Torah portion in this teaching and the teaching at the table after our meal
In the teaching we will continue to talk about being the generation of the Heels of Messiah
We will speak about the things we need to pay attention to, in order not to:
Backslide
Disobey
Be aware of false doctrine
We will take down one more layer of the portion, a bit deeper than last year’s
I recommend you go back and listen to it= Ra-ah
We will talk about the covenants in the mountains
And End Times prophetic picture
PRESENTATION
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
Chiastic Structure of the Torah Portion:
a. choose blessings or curses—Dt. 11:26, 27
b. on Mt. Gerizim or Mt. Ebal—Dt. 11:29, 30
c. obey chukim and mishpatim—Dt. 11:31–32
c. commands given—Dt. 12:1–26:16
b. renewal at Gerizim & Ebal—Dt. 27:1–8
a. blessings or curses … choose!—Dt. 28:1–68
R’eh (see)! The covenant causes the whole community to walk a path which intensifies blessings in one direction, curses in the opposite direction.
Mediocrity is ruled out!
This is exactly the same what Yeshua is referring to in
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’
34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.
37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
The chiastic nature of the covenant will cause you to be able to choose blessings
If you keep your eyes on the Torah
a. choose blessings or curses—Dt. 11:26, 27
b. on Mt. Gerizim or Mt. Ebal—Dt. 11:29, 30
c. obey chukim and mishpatim—Dt. 11:31–32
c. commands given—Dt. 12:1–26:16
b. renewal at Gerizim & Ebal—Dt. 27:1–8
a. blessings or curses … choose!—Dt. 28:1–68
God’s call for covenant faithfulness takes the form of a typical Hittite Vassal treaty, with minor variations.
Vassal Treaty - A person under the protection of a feudal Lord to whom he has vowed homage and fealty (intense faithfulness) a feudal tenant.
One in a subordinate position
The first six verses of the parashah (Dt. 11:26–32) unfold in great detail over the next 17 chapters of Torah.
In this way, the chiasm sets the stage for choosing blessings, renewing the covenant across generations,
and obeying Torah’s commands in the service a redeemed nation grants her sovereign, the Lord God.
26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
Behold / See
Perception
8011 I. רָאָה (rā·ʾā(h)): v.; ≡ Str 3070, 7200, 7202; TWOT 2095a—1. see, look, view, i.e., use the perception of sight to view objects and make judgments based on the perceptions (Ge 40:6); -be seen (- show, cause to see (2Sa 15:25); (hof) be shown (Ex 25:40; 26:30; Lev 13:49; Dt 4:35+); = look at each other (Ge 42:1+); 2. see vision, i.e., have information clearly known, as a figurative extension of seeing an object (Isa 30:10); (hif) reveal, cause to see (2Ki 8:10); 3. find delight, - find delight (Ps 59:11[EB 10]), 4. consider, formally, see, i.e., think with a careful process (1Sa 12:24); 5. find out, discover, i.e., learn information about a situation or object by testing or by observation (1Sa 23:23); 6. provide, formally, see, i.e., give aid or support by making available whatever supplies are needed, as an extension of appearing on the scene of a situation (Ge 22:14); be provided, seen (Ge 22:14); 7. pay attention, i.e., be ready to learn information about a situation (Ge 39:23); 8. Ah!, Note!, formally, See!, i.e., a marker arousing attention or emphasis (Ge 27:27); 9. be selected, i.e., pertaining to being chosen or preferred from other alternatives, as a process of thought ; 10. be present, i.e., be in a certain spatial position (Lev 13:7, 19; 1Sa 1:22), 11. experience, formally, cause to see, i.e., cause one to be personally involved in an event (Ps 71:20); 12. meet with, formally, look at each other, i.e., have an encounter with a military head just prior to a fight between hostile military parties (2Ki 14:8, 11; 2Ch 25:17, 21+), 13. sexual relations (Intimacy), i.e., the act of physical, heterosexual relations
Can you trust your perception?
Glass or two faces
Can you trust your perception?
Young and old woman
Can you trust your perception?
Duck or Rabbit
Can you trust your perception?
Dice
Our perception can be influenced by the perspective we have= our point of vantage
Our position has a lot to do with the way we see things
Sometimes I need to change my position to see God’s position
When it comes down to believing my eyes, or what God says
We must always choose God
Rabbit Trick
In a paper published this month in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Gustav Kuhn, Alym Amlani and Ronald Rensink argue
that age-old tricks used by magicians can be useful in studying human perception and cognition.
They say that magicians, like scientists, have theories about perception that can be proven wrong if the audience spots the secret,
although Kuhn, himself a practising magician, claimed that, "Magicians are in some ways miles ahead of scientists."
Two observations:
Magic tricks and black magic is as old as mankind
God is way ahead of the magicians
Some tests show that more than half the people seeing the trick can be tricked, by keeping control of eye movement
Three key techniques used:
Misdirection
Illusion
Forcing
Misdirection involves manipulating people's attention to prevent them from seeing how the trick was done
Illusion, which relies on creating a perception based on expectation rather than reality
Forcing involves manipulating people's decisions without their noticing (typically using knowledge about biases and stereotypical responses)
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
The eyes were open to the curse
The were tricked
Deception is very deceiving
So, in Devarim
God addresses this fall of man by means of the subsequent verses in the Torah Portion
26 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today;
28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
29 Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
Mount Gerizim and Ebal
Ebal (e’-bal) = Stone; stony; a heap of ruins; heap of bareness; bare. Heaps of confusion
Gerizim (gher’-iz-im) = Cutters down; fellers; cuttings off. Divisions. (The mount of blessing.)
Verb:
Skin, Hide, Pelt
Verb
to cut
Example:
29 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land,
Picture of Mountains and Shechem
It was in Shechem where Dinah’s incident took place:
1 Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her, and violated her.
3 His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.
4 So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, “Get me this young woman as a wife.”
5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. Now his sons were with his livestock in the field; so Jacob held his peace until they came.
6 Then Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.
7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and very angry, because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing which ought not to be done.
8 But Hamor spoke with them, saying, “The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
9 And make marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves.
10 So you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade in it, and acquire possessions for yourselves in it.”
11 Then Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you say to me I will give.
12 Ask me ever so much dowry and gift, and I will give according to what you say to me; but give me the young woman as a wife.”
13 But the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father, and spoke deceitfully, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
14 And they said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised, for that would be a reproach to us.
15 But on this condition we will consent to you: If you will become as we are, if every male of you is circumcised,
Circumcision is a cut
Cutting a Covenant
The ancient way of establishing a covenant was to “cut a covenant.”
The Hebrew word for “covenant” is “berîyth” and it derives from a root that means “to cut.”
Ancient covenants were established by the cutting, dividing, of animals into two parts.
The contracting parties would then pass between the animal parts.
This was to signify their promise to keep the covenant and that their desire was not to be killed/cut apart by failing to do so.
Cutting a covenant is like the valley between the two mountains
Picture of the covenant and the mountains
The so called new testament is Berit Chadashah
Picture of Berit Chadasha / NT
When we choose to enter in covenant we also cut a covenant and vow to the Lord:
10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety,
11 then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord.
We vow to obey His commandments
32 And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.
4 types of commandments
To obey
the statutes - Chukkim
and judgements - Mishpatim
The chiastic message in this Torah Portion
a. choose blessings or curses—Dt. 11:26, 27
b. on Mt. Gerizim or Mt. Ebal—Dt. 11:29, 30
c. obey chukim and mishpatim—Dt. 11:31–32
c. commands given—Dt. 12:1–26:16
b. renewal at Gerizim & Ebal—Dt. 27:1–8
a. blessings or curses … choose!—Dt. 28:1–68
We entered a covenant of obedience
1 “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.
5 “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
5 only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today.
The love language of God is Obedience
We are commanded to obey the Lord not other idols /gods
We ought to destroy other gods
2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.
4 You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.
But here is the problem of perception again
2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
In verse 2- Adonai explains they need to destroy the places
Which places?
where the nations served their gods
Destroy the places on the high mountains and hills
And UNDER every green tree
It almost sounds like only what the green tree is covering, but
UNDER is
5502 מִתְחָה (miṯ·ḥā(h)): n.fem. [oth 4946 + 9393]; ≡ Str 8478; TWOT 2504—LN 16 spreading out, i.e., extend one’s hands and arms in a non-linear motion (Dt 33:27 cj+)
Jews are believed to be among the first monotheistic nation
but it seems that before they bowed before the one true god,
the ancient Jews also worshipped trees.
Or did they?
I will present two commentaries on this - one commonly used Christian commentary
The second a Hebrew commentary
I will let you be the judge
The first indication that trees were held to be divine, is that two words frequently appearing in the bible, alon (oak) and ela (terebinth - a kind of pistachio tree), apparently derive etymologically from "el" - the Hebrew word for "god."
It is not clear that the ancients distinguished between the two kinds of tree.
Some scholars suspect that in biblical-era Hebrew alon and ela, were synonyms for "large tree".
In any case, the biblical writers seemed to assume that some of these great trees were generally known to all,
and used them as geographical landmarks .
One such landmark was the the alon bekhot - “weeping tree,” under which Rebecca’s nurse Deborah was buried
8 Now Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried below Bethel under the terebinth tree. So the name of it was called Allon Bachuth.
Another is the elon moreh – a tree outside of Nablus, visited by Abraham
6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
The King James version translates "elon moreh" as "the fields of Moreh."
Some other translations turn "elon moreh" into some form of "great tree of Moreh".
Modern scholars however think "moreh" comes from the Hebrew word "to instruct,"
so "elon moreh" would mean "instructing tree."
That would make sense if we assume that the ancients practiced dendrolatry - the worship of trees.
The “instructing tree” outside of Nablus seems to have been the most important of these biblical trees.
There are numerous biblical mentions of a tree outside Nablus (in Israel - 49 km North from Jerusalem), which is most likely to be this same one.
In addition to being visited by Abraham, Jacob buried idols under it (Genesis 35:4),
Abimelech was crowned there(Judges 9:6),
and Joshua assembled the People of Israel by it and placed the written covenant between them and God etched in stone beneath it (Joshua 24:26).
The commonly used Christian explanation goes on to say
From Joshua, we also know that a temple had been built around this "instructing tree".
This in and of itself suggests that the ancients venerated the plant: otherwise, why would they have built a temple around it, and crowned their kings under it?
Ruins on Mount Gerizim, overlooking Nablus, are believed to be the remains of this temple – on which a modern Samaritan Temple has been erected, which has no signs of any tree at its center, holy or otherwise.
The tree was most probably killed when the original temple was destroyed long ago.
Other putatively holy trees are mentioned in the bible too.
King Saul and his sons were buried under the ela in Jabesh (1 Chronicles 10:12), and an angel is said to have delivered the word of god under the “oak which was in Ophrah" (Judges 6:11) (the elaagain!).
The second indication is a prohibition
Generally the treatment of these trees in the bible is positive:
they are where kings get anointed, for example.
But the prophets Hosea and Ezekiel mention trees in a rather different light, which could indicate that ancient Jews held the trees to be holy:
13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery.
The word therefore translated in here should be:
In all HONESTY, your daughters commit harlotry.
It is not the tree, nor the mountain, but committing idolatry is the issue
13 Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols.
Is it every green tree? - No
It is the tree that is dedicated to another God who is not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
As the definition of the green tree affirms the concept that this is a different tree
the Green Tree
2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
The tree this verse is referring to is a pagan tree - Asherah
895 אֲשֵׁרָה (ʾǎšē·rā(h)): n.pr.; ≡ Str 842; TWOT 183h—1. LN 12.23 (pagan goddess) Asherah: pagan goddess (1Ki 18:19; 2Ki 23:4, 7); 2. LN 6.96–6.101 pole of Asherah worship (Ex 34:13); 3. LN 6.96–6.101 an Asherah image for worship (Jdg 3:7)
It is the tree the nations have served under
The nations that do not know Adonai
Trees were called to give fruit
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
The fruit of every tree is known
Yeshua said, you will know them by their fruit
But there is a specific tree that is not going to give fruit
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit.
21 ‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.
The tree that He does not choose will not give fruit
The tree that goes against Him will not produce fruit
What happened?
Does this commonly used Christian commentary provide deeper understanding?
The Hebrew commentary seems to offer a more consistent argument with the Scriptures
2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
The Hebrew commentary sees this act as Abed = (being in bed) with the idols: If you do not destroy them, you will be in bed with the idols
If you do not destroy them, you will inherit them and inherit their gods
The commentary goes on to say:
“Behold, what you have inherited is unnecessary, and another has been written out of place,
putting an end between those whom they served and their gods.
“And it will be seen that the obedience of the Torah is lost,
does not the OT mean abrogation (?) (abrogation = to abolish / annul - to abolish a treaty)
but the OT, and its use for Israel does not mean an abrogation, and in the places for their God you shall use the OT as they inherited and
said that the one who abrogates the OT canceled its use, asMordechai Damiri wrote in the use of the OT by Israel in 75
The places (where this happened) should be destroyed because you are inheriting their gods
And if you do not inherit their gods, you will not use them.
Yeshua said:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Messiah did not break the old covenant in the old testament, but fulfilled it
Deut Chapter 12, verse 2-3 are prophetic of the Lord:
2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.
Compare verse two and the Hebrew commentary with what Yeshua said:
27 And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him.
28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
29 For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’
30 Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’
31 For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
Let’s read the last verse in Young’s Literal Translation
31 for, if in the green tree they do these things—in the dry what may happen?’
This is an example of a verse which is unintelligible in the Greek, but it makes perfect sense when read in the Aramaic or language that Jesus actually spoke.
When translating one must know something about rabbinic methods of Scriptural interpretation.
In a very rabbinic way Jesus is giving a hint into an Old Testament passage found in
47 and say to the forest of the South, ‘Hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree and every dry tree in you; the blazing flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it.
In this prophecy Ezekiel declares that God will send a forest fire, it will sweep through the forest of Negeb.
The heat was so intense that even the green trees were burned up.
Allegorically, the green tree represents the righteous and the dry tree the not so righteous.
Here’s the kicker, the sages also see the Green Tree as a representation of the Messiah.
Now back to Luke.
As Jesus was being led to the cross a company of women followed Jesus weeping.
Jesus turned to them and said:
28 But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
Jesus was making a reference to the coming destruction of Jerusalem.
In other words: “If this is done in the Green Tree (referring to Himself) what will happen to the dry trees, your children who will follow me?”
The Aramaic text reads, “For if they do these things so in the Green Tree, what will be done with dry wood?”
The Greek text in verse 31 literally says:
31 For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
“If they do these things in a Green Tree.” The Aramaic says so in which is an Aramaic idiom meaning to do to someone.
If you do not consider this idiom you can get a little confused when translating this passage.
If we were to understand that Jesus was using a rabbinic form of teaching by hinting at an Old Testament passage then we would see that this passage should be more correctly translated:
“For if he does these things to a Green Tree…” as a reference to Ezekiel 20:47 which was recognized by the sages and the people of that day as a reference to the Messiah in Ezekiel 20:47.
Thus when Jesus referred to Himself as the Green Tree, He was declaring Himself to be the Messiah.
Jesus was also hinting at another Aramaic symbolism.
Green wood was a symbol of innocence where dry wood was symbolic of guilt.
Now you can see clearly
The curse (guilty of lack of obedience) and the blessings (for he who obeys)
Also, If they did this to an innocent man how much more when followers of Christ face who will be forced to live under Roman law which would eventually make it illegal to be a believer.
A greater suffering was about to come for the children of these women who would follow after Jesus.
Green wood burns slowly, but dry wood burns much quicker.
In this Jesus was declaring that He was the Messiah and warned that following him would not be an easy journey.
His followers would also be called upon to pick up their cross daily and share in His sufferings for the sake of bringing His message to a lost world.
Jesus was not using some slick marketing skill promising all sorts of wonderful things like prosperity, restored relationships, constant joy, but instead he was promising a walk on the Calvary road if you choose to follow Him.
Accepting Jesus as your Savior is not to be motivated by getting a bag of goodies and when the goodies run out you run to another God.
Instead it is like a marriage, you marry out of the desire to make a commitment to love someone in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, no matter what happens you want to do it with that person.
So too with God, no matter what happens.
You committed yourself to love God for better or for worse, whatever happens, you want it to happen together with God.
3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place.
But you destroyed it
Our Hebrew commentary continues:
And you broke their altar, etc. The simplicity of the Bible is this according to what was said in Egypt and their gods made judgments and made four judgments:
of broken stones
of wood were burned
of shattered pottery
of molten and cut metal
And he said here and you broke their altar like pottery into small pieces.
And you broke their stone like stones.
And their followers will burn.
This is a tree.
A tree that was planted beginning in the name of God
it is forbidden now (Law?),
cut it down and cut it down in the name of God,
and the changer takes what he changed, put under it God and it was taken, then it is allowed
and God here, and those who are blessed will be burned in the fire.
This is a tree that was planted beginning in the name of God.
As a match to some kind of Asherah, a tree that was planted,
And the idols of their gods are of Israel.
Israel is a statute for the name of God and the changer takes what the changer put under it God and it was taken after all it is permissible
and this is it and you have lost their name that he will take it from there:
19 You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
20 You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
21 “You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the Lord your God.
22 You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
1 “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.
2 “If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the Lord your God, in transgressing His covenant,
3 who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,
Once the Torah has been removed from our perspective, this causes us to Do your own thing. Our perception is skewed
8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—
13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;
29 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land,
30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’
31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it.
Been taken away from the Torah opens the door to deception -
Was there a fast hand trick we did not see?
Consider the following segment
Deuteronomy chapter 13 - false prophet through the eyes too
1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder,
2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’
3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him.
5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
Consider this question:
Is it possible that people are complacent and do nothing against evil because we have been seduced with falsehood in the house of the rock, and rejoice in ignorance?
Does this principle only apply to Israel?
Do we need to be concerned about this in our contemporary Christianity?
Walk away from the Torah, and we will be in trouble
We must stay the course with the Lord
6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers,
7 of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth,
8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him;
9 but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
10 And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
What is the Lord going to do, in the end times about this?
18 “For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.
19 I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.
20 Then they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, on horses and in chariots and in litters, on mules and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.
21 And I will also take some of them for priests and Levites,” says the Lord.
It says in the Torah portion that we consent to it, right now
8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him;
What is the test?
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For 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.
Is your gathering more concerned about the world or about staying in the Torah?
We are also called to keep Clean rather than Unclean in this Torah Portion
3 “You shall not eat any detestable thing.
6 And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals.
8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.
Clean is not a bodily experience Although we need it, but being obediently prepared- knowing how to manage impurities and the flesh to be prepared to take on the flesh of a little child to be ritually clean to live in the garden
CLOSING
We spoke about the importance of this Torah Portion
And the implications for the end times
Chiastic Structure of the Torah Portion:
a. choose blessings or curses—Dt. 11:26, 27
b. on Mt. Gerizim or Mt. Ebal—Dt. 11:29, 30
c. obey chukim and mishpatim—Dt. 11:31–32
c. commands given—Dt. 12:1–26:16
b. renewal at Gerizim & Ebal—Dt. 27:1–8
a. blessings or curses … choose!—Dt. 28:1–68
Behold / See
Perception
How our perception can be skewed with a fast hand
We spoke about how the Hebrew commentaries suggest and seem to support Yeshua’s take of the Old Testament being compared by the trees
31 For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?”
We made a comparison between the mountains (Ebal and Gerizim) and the trees as to how they can lead to blessing or cursing
We mentioned that we need to cut a covenant
And that covenant is the same as Berit - chadasha
We spoke about the warning of moving away from the OT/ Torah
Yeshua, who is the only righteous, is the tree of life
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
We also know that, Yeshua’s mountain is the mount of Olives
1 Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.
2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
3 “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?
4 “Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols,
5 that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.” ’
6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations.
7 For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the Lord will answer him by Myself.
8 I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.
9 “And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the Lord have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
Yeshua is going to cut a covenant for us and Israel again
When He returns
Keep the covenant of the Lord;
Remember His Torah/ Live the Torah/ Teach the Torah
Shabbat Shalom