Devarim,(These are the) Words
Deuteronomy 1:1 to 3:22
Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1 to 27
Psalm 15
Apostolic Writings/Newer Testament/B’rit HaChadashah: Luke 10:38 to 42
Here we are again, at the start of the final “Book of Moses” – Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means “2nd Law” and is the name given to this Book in the Septuagint (Septuagint means 70, as there were 70 Jewish scholars who paraphrased the Torah into Koine Greek, the commonly used Greek of the time – around 250 years before Yeshua was born). In Hebrew the name of the Book is “Devarim”; this is because, like many books and passages, it is the first key word.
This book is in some ways a Last Will and Testament of Moshe Rabbenu (Moses our Teacher). In it he restates the things told him by The Almighty. In Rabbinic tradition, the restating began 37 days before his passing.
This passage has, as I have often said, what I consider to be one of the saddest phrases in the entire Torah – “it is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir route.” The next sentence says, “It was in the 40th year, on the 1st day of the 11th month, that Moses addressed the Israelites in accordance with the instructions that The Almighty had given him for them”. With the benefit of hindsight, which always has 20-20 vision, we know that the cause of the delay was sin.
Horeb is the same as Sinai. Sinai is the word used in Exodus. There is a lot of debate as to the reason(s) for the change in the name of the mountain; many scholars say that there were different writers; others say that the original was interpreted and edited differently. What we know for sure is that the principle of Torah Min HaShamayim – Torah is given from Heaven - is as true now as it ever was.
According to Talmud, many of the “places” mentioned are not necessarily real places, but they are allusions to the sins of Israel.
"In the desert" -- the time they complained "if only we would have died in the desert" (Exodus 17:3)
"In the Arava (Plain)" -- their worship of Baal Peor in the Plains of Moab (Numbers 25)
"Opposite Suf" -- the trouble they made at the shores of Yam Suf, the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:11 and Rashi on Exodus 15:22)
"Paran" -- the sin of the Spies, who were dispatched from Paran (as recounted in Numbers 13 and later in our own Parsha)
"Tofel" and "Lavan" (meaning "libel" and "white") -- their libelling the white manna (Numbers 21:5)
"Hazerot" -- where Korach's mutiny against Moses took place.
"Di Zahav" (literally "too much gold") -- the sin of the Golden Calf.
Rashi follows this teaching in his commentary. (A friend of mine asked me what I would do when I completed the Torah cycle; whether I would then look for other areas for teaching. I said that the Torah can never be exhausted!)
Our portion from Isaiah is a sad, poetic prophecy. In it we read that The Almighty is not pleased at the heart attitude of the Jewish people. This passage, and others like it, is used by those who follow a “replacement” or “succession” or “fulfilment” type of thinking. They point out that in it, The Almighty says that He “detests” New Moons festivities and so on; some because they were not Biblically sanctioned. They say that, therefore, He has done away with the Jewish people as the Jewish people and now wants every person to be a Christian. One thing they almost always forget is that the Church has invented dozens of festivities which are not Biblical. They forget that the Church has often been unfaithful, and should therefore also be replaced. . .
The most important omission is that, in verse 18 we read this, “Come let us reason together, says HASHEM;even if your sins are like scarlet they will become as white as snow”.
Our sacrifices, our festivities, our following of Torah commands, no matter how hard we try, will never be enough. Why? Because the Kingdom of Heaven has never been about what we do; it has always been about the Grace and Mercy of The Almighty.
The passage from Luke is often misunderstood as Yeshua saying that meditation is more important than doing. If that were the case then He wouldn’t have said, just a couple of sentences earlier, that showing pity is about “doing”. The people of Israel, at Horeb, said “we will do and we will listen”. The prophet Isaiah said that “right” is better than “rite”.
It’s a little like the difference between a manager and a leader. A manager does things right; a leader does the right thing.
If we merely do things right, then even those “right” things are considered sinful. This poem is not saying that we should therefore abandon those festivities and “rites”, but that we should do the right thing because it is the right thing to do.
Thinking and meditating may well be useful, but only doing gets it done.
This coming week, on Tuesday, is Tisha B’Av. This is one of the saddest days in the Jewish calendar. On the 9th day of Av the following have all happened:
The 12 spies returned from their mission. Their report caused such grief that the day became known for grief.
FirstTempledestroyed – 586BCE (3174 in the Hebrew calendar)
SecondTempledestroyed – 70CE (3830)
The Bar Kochba revolt ended in failure – 135CE (3895)
The siege of Jerusalem culminated in the Romans building a temple in the place of the Most Holy Place
Jews were exiled from England (the first European Country to do this) in 1290
Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492
Treblinka was opened for its satanic business in 1942
It’s easy to see why some commentators believe the Messiah will come on Tisha B’Av, to restore the balance.
Please pray for the Jewish people in a special, more fervent way on Tuesday. Thank you.
Have a Sweet Sabbath