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Weekly Parsha
Parsha
#44: Deuteronomy [D'varim] (Words) 1:1-3:22
Haftarah:
Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 1:1-27
B’rit
Hadashah: Yochanan (John) 15:1-11; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 3:7-4:11
In
verse 1:1 it is written: "These are the words which Moshe spoke to all
Israel." It was the 40th year of Yisra'el's desert wanderings
when Moshe began to review what they have been through. This, the fifth and
final book of the Torah finds Moshe rebuking Israel for all they have done, and
charges them to keep the Torah in the future.
When
we look at the beginning of the Parsha, it's difficult to understand exactly
what Moshe wants from the nation. He mentions a number of places where the
nation camped, and what we have to learn is the relationship between the people
and these places.
Rashi
says that Moshe is listing all the places where Yisrael sinned, but why didn't
Moshe just admonish the people outright instead of hinting of it by reciting the
names of the places. Apparently Moshe wanted to get his message across to Israel
in a subtle way. The people knew only to well the places where they had sinned
and what sins they had committed. Moshe didn't have to hit them over the head
with it a hint was enough.
When
believing people sin and fall, we too, should not hit them over the head with
it. We should give them a time to repent, to turn away from their sin, and
return to fellowship. If they are to be restored, forgiveness must be total and
non-qualifying.
Moshe
teaches us an important lesson. None of us are perfect. We all sin on occasion
and aggressive confrontation instead of leading to remorse and repentance most
likely will lead to great embarrassment and unhappy consequences. In the
Tractate Gittin (57) there is a story of two people, Kamtza and Bar Kamtza,
which states because Kamtza embarrassed Bar Kamtza in public YHVH ultimately
allowed the Temple to be destroyed. Of course, this is a folk tale but it
illustrates the point that dire consequences may result from our impertinent
acts.
We
also see this approach demonstrated by Nathan who cunningly revealed to David
his great sin. David the king responded not with anger but with remorse and
repentance. We have to think what David's reaction would have been had Nathan
directly confronted David.
The
lesson then is that Moshe only alluded to the sins of the people because that is
the way to successfully help others learn and recover from their mistakes.
B'rit
Chadasha: Yochanan (John) 15:1-11; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 3:7-4:11
15:1
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;
and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you.
8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my
disciples.
9
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have
kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and
that your joy might be full. (KJV)
15:1
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch
that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by
itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain
in me.
5
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I
in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6
If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away
and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given you.
8
This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.
9
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my
love.
10
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have
obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
11
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may
be complete. (NIV)
In
verse 2 we see reference to "fruit" and "pruning." Fruit is
that which grows naturally out of a plant or situation. Here, it refers to
character qualities given to believers. The Greek word "prune"
literally means, "Cleans." In the context of this verse it means to
cleanse from sin. Last week, we learned that YHVH chastises those He loves and
this process actually produces perseverance and more trust unto salvation. If
some of us receive salvation then there are those that do not. They are
"cut off." In this verse we read this term of being "cut
off" in the context that if you do not bear fruit you shall be "cut
off." Daniel who writes of the Messiah being "cut off" meaning
executed may also help to explain "cut off". These passages further
define what "cut off" means in the sense that an unfruitful person
will be cast into the "fire and burned" (a reference to Hell elsewhere
in Scripture). This verse along with so many others teaches against the doctrine
of "eternal security." It
also begs the question: Who shall be saved? Some one who merely professes or one
who professes and is fruitful, and how do we determine what "fruitful"
is in YHVH's eyes? I believe the rest of this portion answers these questions.
In
verse 3 Yahshua states unequivocally " you are clean through the word I
have spoken to you." Does this
mean that by believing some portion of what He has spoken we are saved? If so,
it contradicts His warning of being fruitful and the result of being pruned if
we are not. And what word is He speaking of? Yahshua taught, upheld, and lived
YHVH's Torah. He is the eternally living manifested Word of YHVH. Unfortunately,
many people take this statement out of context applying their own brand of
understanding evolving from their own desires instead of listening to and
obeying Scripture. Yahshua further states in this passage that He obeyed the
Father (YHVH-Torah) and He admonishes us in verse 10 that we are to obey His
commands if we are to remain in His love. Our salvation depends on us remaining
in His love. To be outside that love is to be lost and to assure us of that love
we must obey His commands. What we see in this portion is an intricate weaving
of a person's profession and belief in Yahshua, obedience of Torah, and the
doing of "good works." Trust and obedience leads to 'good works."
Hebrews
3:7-4:11
7
So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice,
8
do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of
testing in the desert,
9
where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I
did.
10
That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts
are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.'
11
So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my
rest.'"
12
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart
that turns away from the living Elohim.
13
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that
none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
14
We have come to share in Messiah if we hold firmly till the end the
confidence we had at first.
15
As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts as you did in the rebellion."
16
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led
out of Egypt?
17
And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who
sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
18
And to whom did YHVH swear that they would never enter his rest if not to
those who disobeyed ?
19
So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
4:1
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be
careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
2
For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the
message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not
combine it with faith.
3
Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as YHVH has said, "So
I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'" And yet
his work has been finished since the creation of the world.
4
For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words:
"And on the seventh day YHVH Elohim rested from all his work."
5
And again in the passage above he says, "They shall never enter my
rest."
6
It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly
had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.
7
Therefore YHVH again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long
time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts."
8
For if Joshua had given them rest, YHVH would not have spoken later about
another day.
9
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of YHVH;
10
for anyone who enters YHVH's rest also rests from his own work, just as
YHVH did from his.
11
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one
will fall by following their example of disobedience. (NIV)
Again
we see in this portion that obedience is tied to salvation in an inextricable
way. There can be no salvation absence of obedience to YHVH's
teaching/instruction (Torah). First, our trust in the Living Torah Yahshua, and
then obedience to the Written Torah of YHVH Elohim. In Christian typology the
"Promised Land" is a type of heaven where believers will find rest.
Think about this as the above passages tell us, YHVH did not allow those
of Israel who sinned to enter into the "Promised Land" Israel, but
assigned them to death in the desert. Think of all the miracles they had
witnessed, the provision that YHVH had given them. What awesome sights they had
witnessed to insure that belief, yet with all that "BELIEF" and
profession of belief, they were condemned to not enter into the "Promised
Land." Why? Because of
disobedience of YHVH's Torah.
Some
other interesting notes to this portion are in verse 12. The Greek word used
here is "apostenai" from which we get the English word
"apostatize" Here it is translated "unbelieving." Ask your
self then if it is possible for "true believer's" to apostatize
(to go away, to desert, stand apart, become apostate)? Can a person fall
away permanently? To fall away into condemnation? Be just
"backslidden?" Or do you define this doctrine in such a way as does
Calvinism, where "believer" is defined "tautologically" in
such a way that no one so defined ever falls away, but then it presents a
problem for no one will ever know if he is a "believer" until his life
ends. If you don't know, it might
be the most important question you'll ever address and your very future depends
upon an answer. So get to work! What are the criteria defining a
" true believer?" Revelation holds that answer.
Halftarah:
Yesha'yahu (Isaiah) 1:1-27
This the third and last of the "prophecies of destruction," which are read during the three weeks between the Fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz and the Fast of the Ninth of AV. This Halftarah is read the Shabbat before the Ninth of Av, the day the first and second Temple were destroyed. This is the most fitting Halftarah for the occasion. The vision Yesha'yahu had clearly shows what was expected of B'nai Yisrael, and to what level they had sunk. In order to save the nation from itself both the Temple and the State were destroyed of necessity. The Halftarah ends by giving us the formula for deliverance: "Zion will be redeemed by justice…" (1:27)
Things to think about:
1.
How could Moshe tell B'nai Yisrael
that they were numerous as the stars? At that time the men counted numbered only
600,000.
Sages Wisdom:
"And YHVH
heard the voice (sound) of your words, and became angry. " (1:34)
When Moshe talks
about YHVH's reaction to the spies' report whey did he add the word
"voice?" To teach us that the words a person utter are not always the
real message. Many times it is the tone of a person's voice that tells us if his
statement is positive or negative. The tone that the spies used, even when
listing the good things about the Land was very negative. YHVH was angry with
them not only because of their words, but because of their "voice" as
well. We should pay as much attention to our motives and attitude as to our
words.
At
the end of the Parsha we come across the death of Og, the king of Bashan? Who
was he? A tale that comes from the Me'am Lopez says that he was the last of the
race of giants who lived during the time of Noah. As the story goes Og during
the flood hung on to the ark and saved himself. Noah gave him food, and Og
became his slave. He was then given to Nimrod, who gave him to Abraham. Abraham
eventually set him free. Og eventually became the King of Emor, and was killed
by Moshe when he decided to fight B'nai Yisrael. Since the Bible states that
many of the giants were the product of a union between fallen angels and
womankind and that the flood was a result of this unG-dly line, who do you think
Og was?
Gamatria:
Aileh Ha'devarim…(1:1)
Theses are the words…"
The
book of Devarim is a collection of speeches that Moshe delivered before he dies.
These speeches lasted for 36 days, from the first of Shevat until the seventh of
Adar. This is hinted to in the words Aileh, "these", which has
the numeric value of 36.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Davis
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