Parashat Nitzavim
(Deuteronomy 29:10 - 30:20)
(CHAPTER 29)
10. [9 in Heb.] "You are established [nitzavim] today--all of you--before YHWH your Elohim: your tribal heads, your elders, your officers, all the men of Israel,
Are established: "stationed", "planted", or "stand as monuments". This is covenant-ratifying language. Officers: or scribes. All the men: i.e., even those who are not tribal heads, elders, or officers. Your: the term is plural throughout this verse. This is a communal path. Everyone is gathered for this purpose.
11. "your toddlers, your wives, your sojourner who is in your camp, from your wood-cutter to the one who draws your water,
It is not just the men. No one, from the youngest to the oldest, is left out of the prosperity He offers. Everyone is to take responsibilities to maintain the covenant, even the wood-cutters and those who draw water. Women usually had the job of drawing water, as we first meet Rivqah, Rakhel, and Tzipporah at wells. A son or a slave would cut wood, which was always needed for cooking. But notice that these “butlers and maids” are not even Israelites. There are already sojourners—people who want to know more about this covenant and become part of it—while still in the wilderness, before the nation enters the Land! What matters is not DNA, but a love for YHWH. Anyone can become an Israelite. Even Kalev, one of the greatest heroes of this era, was not born an Israelite. Y’hoshua looked to this precedent to determine what to do when he found that his oath went against a command YHWH had given him. The Giv'onites (Netanim) were given this task when it became known that they had deceived Israel, and Y'hoshua had already promised to spare their lives. (Y'hoshua 9:21-23) They had to keep the Torah if they wanted to continue living in the Land, and they had to agree to make Israel’s life easier, not harder. Not that these would be the only tasks they would do; these two jobs were idiomatic for “anything that needs to be done that will support the life of the nation”. But wood (the same as tree in Hebrew) often represents men, so "cutters of wood" would represent evangelists, who sever them from their connection to the earth so they can be useful to the Kingdom. "Gatherers of water" would represent prophets who bring YHWH's word (often likened in Scripture to water) to us.
12. "so that you may cross over into covenant with YHWH your Elohim and into His oath, which YHWH is cutting with you today
Cross over: Hirsch, "unitedly pass over". Oath: or curse, which those entering the covenant agree to accept if they do not fulfill their part of the covenant. Cutting: the ritual involved in sealing the covenant.
13. "in order to establish you today as a people for Himself; that is, He Himself will be an Elohim to you, as He has told you and as He promised to your ancestors Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov.
A people, or nations, from a root word meaning "to grow dim, darker, or be eclipsed" like the moon, which wanes in order to wax. Individuals within Israel must decrease so that the whole nation may be "born again". You: masculine singular in this verse, as YHWH is speaking to an Israel united "as one man". Today: Hundreds of years after Avraham, they still were not counted a people until they entered into this stage of the covenant. But hadn’t they already made this commitment at Sinai? Yes, but that was 40 years before. That generation had all but died off, and most of this generation had not been the ones to confirm the commitment. It was not enough that our fathers had done it. Each generation must renew the commitment. We must gather again. We cannot possess the Land individually. Even one whole tribe is having a hard time hanging onto it. Remove the covenant from Israel, and we are no longer a nation, as Hoshea chapter 1 shows. Our ancestors did just that, choosing the curse instead of the covenant, when they stopped keeping Torah or teaching us to keep it. He Himself: not a subordinate like the other nations seem to have.
14. "And not with you alone am I cutting this covenant and this oath;
15. "but with [both] the one who is here with us, standing today in the presence of YHWH our Elohim, as well as the one we do not have standing here with us today--
Not standing here today: Here He closes the loophole by which we could claim we were not present when our ancestors agreed to the covenant. YHWH is the Elohim of the living, not the dead. (Mat. 12:27) This is why He went so far as to say the covenant is not with our ancestors, but with all who are alive. (5:3) Those not standing there today include anyone who lives because of them—their descendants to come and all who become attached to them. It thus includes us, who would hear these words much later in time and indirectly. But while that is where we focus, the covenant also reaches back and includes people like Noakh and Avraham—anyone who ever trusted in YHWH and did his or her part toward bringing this covenant about. The fathers have already done their part, and that is why we are here today. But though they made our shoes, if we do not wear them, how will they benefit us? Each generation has the choice: “Will we enter into this covenant or not?” Moshe knew YHWH would kick His people out, but he also knew there would again be a time when we would need to gather to come back in—not because the U.N. or the current Israeli government says it is okay, but because YHWH wants us back and determines we are ready. Yirmiyahu/Jer. 50:4ff speaks of both houses of Israel coming back to join themselves to YHWH in a perpetual covenant which "will not be forgotten", as it was the first time. Acts 2:38ff calls "those who are afar off" to repent and return. This sets the stage for chapter 30. But we still have to stand up and take our place, not just sit and wait for it all to be given to us magically. What we do now will affect the generations to come. The house we build is what our children will live in. Don’t leave them homeless! Y’hoshua gives us a battle plan. We cannot take care of one another if we are scattered here and there. Gathering will mean the losses of some perceived personal freedoms, but we will gain so much more. Let us do whatever we must do to identify with our ancestors from over 3,000 years ago. How often are we give such a choice? We were unable to stand with Moshe back then, but we can stand with him now.
16. "because you know how we dwelt in the Land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations through which you passed,
17. "and you have seen their filthy abominations--their idols of wood and stone, silver and gold, which were with them,
18. "lest there be among you a man or woman, clan or tribe, whose heart turns away from YHWH our Elohim to go and serve the gods of these nations, lest there be among you a root that bears poisonous fruit and wormwood,
A whole tribe may indeed be the party that turns away because of a "bitter root". Indeed, the tribe of Ephraim led the way into the idolatry that culminated in this scattering to other lands. This chapter is read during the time of year when we especially seek to root out any such things in our lives, as the Day of Atonement approaches. A Renewed Covenant writer warns us to "look diligently lest …any root of bitterness spring up to trouble you, and by it many be contaminated." (Hebrews 12:15) If we have a bitter attitude, we will end up with bitter children as well. So what is that root? It is specifically connected to looking at the idols of the nations around us. (v. 17) It is asking why those who worship Fortune, Security, or the Future (all names of pagan deities) are prospering, and wanting what they have. Do not play with such temptations; look what YHWH did when the Moavite girls invited the Israelite boys to dinner. (B’Midbar/Numbers chapter 25) It is wanting what YHWH has chosen not to give us, whether it is a position or wealth. Yet if we try to get it on our own it will inevitably come back to enslave us and become a curse. We could ask why we do not have a sound marriage when our Christian neighbors do, or why we are not married at all, when the Muslims have multiple wives and children. Or we could even envy Yehudah, who can live in the Land already. But they are only there at the pleasure of the United Nations. There is no true shalom there, because the threat of war is always there. It may be that we have not made the right choices, or it may be because we are not yet ready or equipped to receive His blessing—or simply that this is not the path for you in particular which will best benefit all of Israel. He gathered us all to make us all responsible for one another, so that no one will look over there and want to do things the way the pagans do. We need to pay attention to who we are rather than who we are not. Focus on what we are meant to have—this nation and this covenant, with all its benefits, and what the nations have will no longer matter. Count your blessings. What you do have that YHWH wants you to have is worth so much!
19. "and it turns out that when he hears the words of this curse, he blesses himself in his appetites, saying, 'It will be all right for me, even though I am walking in the stubbornness of my heart for the sake of saturating my thirst.'
Blesses himself: literally, bends the knee to himself; LXX, "flatters himself". Saturating my thirst: Hirsch translates, "so that the watering provides also for what should remain thirsty". I.e., going beyond mere quenching of thirst. This man who has gone after some form of paganism is presuming upon YHWH "making His rain to fall on the just and the unjust" merely due to his proximity to true believers within Israel. A modern parallel would be, “My great-grandfather was in a concentration camp, so I am a Jew; I am all right, though I ignore the Torah.” It is saying you are about this covenant, but actually living for other things—the story of Christianity—and then being angry because they let you down. But will one receive the benefits of the covenant if he does not walk the path? We must not fool ourselves as the Laodikeans did (Rev. 3:15ff), thinking they were all right just because YHWH appeared to be blessing them. Their true condition was quite the opposite. We should be suspicious when things are comfortable; YHWH’s ways are higher and usually scary to our flesh because we have to trust Him because we can’t do what He calls us to do. But He can. We may find it hard to agree with all of His commands, but who are we to disagree? The thought that we can be complete if we go our own way is just an illusion. Yochanan said YHWH was able to make descendants of Avraham out of a pile of stones. If we live like Avraham, we will be treated as he was. His merit may go far, but ultimately, “YHWH has no grandchildren.” Yeshayahu 65:11ff specify that those who remain faithful to YHWH instead of setting a table to the gods celebrated Dec. 24 and 25 will have something to drink even when there is a drought. Psalm 75:8 tells us the wicked will instead drink the dregs of YHWH's wrath. Mammon is like a soft drink that does not really quench thirst, but Yeshayahu/Isa. 55 and Rev. 22:17 remind us that the water of life may be received freely.
20. "YHWH will not forgive him, but the flaring nostrils of YHWH and His jealousy will fume against that man, and all the curses that are written in this document will settle on him, and YHWH will wipe out the memory of his name from under heaven.
Not forgive: this shatters modern stereotypes about His blanket forgiveness, and focuses us on the season of repentance that precedes Yom Kippur, when the gates and the books are closed for another year. This is a season to identify and pursue the right kind of thirst (in contrast with v. 19), for Yahshua says if we do we will be filled. But others will indeed be blotted out of the Book of Life if they are not diligent to "bless ourselves" in YHWH's name instead. (Yesh. 65:16) Settle: or crouch, reminding us immediately of YHWH's warning to Qayin (Cain) about the sin which led him to kill his brother; LXX, "attach to him". I
21. "Moreover, from all the tribes of Israel, YHWH will single him out for trouble, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in the document of this instruction.
Single him out: so as to not trouble the rest of the congregation, though there would be repercussions. One cannot hide and say, “I am a part of the tribes of Israel!” t is not enough to have righteous parents, or that you went to Hebrew school as a child Not just every generation, but every individual must open his eyes. It is unusual for YHWH to speak of individual rather than corporate salvation, but it is clear here that one cannot scrape by merely by being lumped in with a generally-righteous generation. Trouble: adversity or misery. This, not the whole Torah, is what Paul said Yahshua removed from hanging over us. Instruction: Heb., Torah. It is our instruction manual.
22. "And the later generation, your descendants who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, will say when they see the plagues of that land and the grievousness with which YHWH will have diseased it
23. "(the whole land will be burnt with sulfur and salt, nor will it be sown with seed or sprouting up on its own, nor will any herbage come up on it, like the transformation of S'dom and 'Amorah, Admah and Tzevoyim, which YHWH overthrew in his anger and his rage),
This is a warning to every generation to be an example of Torah-keeping to those who come after us. If you have seen the truth and yet do not establish your family in doing it, the next generation will see death and destruction in a place meant for life and prosperity. Dani'el saw his generation fail to see the big picture. Another salient example is Mark Twain's comment that "not even a chicken could scratch out a living" in the Land as it was in his day. Yirmiyahu 33 specifies that this is the Land's condition when Israel returns just before Messiah takes his throne. But though it may no longer sprout on its own, it can be restored by men, and has been, to a great extent, though there is still room for improvement.
24. "indeed, all nations will say, 'Why has YHWH treated this land this way? Why this burning of intense anger?'
If we do not give them an example of Torah to look at, they will never see. This is not speaking of just one man's property, but the whole Land (v. 23), because it spreads like a cancer or a domino effect: if one does not stand and do his part, he will knock the rest down, and the next generation will not even be in the Land. Idolaters are killed so the disease will not spread in Israel, because of how much difference one person's disobedience can make.
25. "Then they will say, 'What it's about is that they forsook the covenant of YHWH, Elohim of their ancestors, which He cut with them when He brought them out from the land of Egypt,
26. "'and they went and served other elohim and bowed down to them--elohim which they were not acquainted with, and which He had not assigned to them.
Not acquainted with: Hirsch, "of whom they had experienced nothing". Had not assigned them: Or, which had not given them any plunder (as He had). This suggests that YHWH does assign various elohim (mighty spiritual beings--or even mighty men) to rule over certain parts of the earth, keeping men's wickedness in check, but sometimes opposing YHWH Himself, possibly exemplified by the Princes of Persia and Greece, about which the messenger told Daniel. But in any case, He assigned no such intermediary to Israel. But serving self, our bank account, or our security is also bowing to other elohim. Though He often treats the nation as a whole, to a limited extent there can be a singling out of those who make an effort to please Him in the midst of a wicked generation (the opposite of verse 21), so that they at least do not receive the full weight of the judgment. Despite the destruction of the Land, a remnant of Yehudah always remained, because they had forsaken (overt, literal) idolatry after the Babylonian captivity.
27. "'Then YHWH's anger was kindled against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this document.
28. "'So YHWH uprooted them from their land in anger, in heat, and in great splintering indignation, and hurled them into another land, as [it is] today.'
Even the Gentiles recognize the curse when Israel does not uphold the Torah.
29. "The concealed things belong to YHWH our Elohim, but those which are open are for us and our sons unto the age, so that we may carry out all the words of this instruction.
Those which are open: the things which belong to the light, the straightforward instructions He gave us. Concentrate on these, not the great mysteries of the world. Daniel was told to leave them alone; though they were even revealed to him to a large extent, they still only confused him. They will be revealed at a certain time, and we may or may not have to deal with them then. But what YHWH said that was very clear is a big enough task. This is what does belong to us, so look at it. The secretive realm belongs with the curses. (28:57) It is His business if He wants to keep some things secret. When He has not, it is your responsibility. This is no secret; Moshe has just revealed it to us! The results of the bitter root are what befell our ancestors; don’t pretend it is not very clear! There are deeper things for which you will need a teacher, but if you do the things He has made obvious, you will probably end up being the teacher. Kingdom things exist in the heavenlies, but are reflected here on earth as we follow His simple instructions. We thus participate in the mysteries somehow, but indirectly: Pay attention to the sound of the shofar, and it will benefit the next generation. Repent in season, and it will be easier for our children to do the same. This is not some mystery religion which only some initiates can experience while others are excluded; we choose how close we want to get to YHWH's presence, for the “secret place of the Most High” (Psalm 91) is His presence (His sanctuary). This is tied to Sukkoth in Psalm 18:11. We seek His presence not through rituals that no one can understand, but by doing what He gives us to do. Sit in a sukkah together, and you will pave the way for the Kingdom. How can we say we love YHWH without loving His people who we can see? (1 Yochanan 4) End-time prophecy is fascinating, but the better way to be prepared when Yahshua returns is to keep the plain commandments. To see beyond the literal to the deeper meaning is only for the purpose of carrying out His intent. By the doing, we are enabled to see into the secret things. E.g., ritual uncleanness represents selfishness, and the applications multiply into every part of life. With this information, we can be certain that we are carrying out what He wants rather than being left to wonder.
CHAPTER 30
1. "But what will take place when all these things (the blessing as well as the curse which I have laid before you) have befallen you is that you will bring them back to your mind among all the nations into which YHWH your Elohim has caused you to be banished,
When we are blessed, we tend to think we can do things our own way. Moshe would not need to be a prophet to recognize, simply based on what he had seen, that Israel is a people that goes back and forth between prioritizing His covenant and ignoring it—sometimes from one day to the next. But when we end up in captivity, he says we must remember—and this is occurring all over the world, though we are slow to come back into community. We need to remember both the blessings and the curses that we have been through, though we would rather not think of the latter. They are scary; we will hear a blowing leaf and think it is a rabid fox chasing us! And one soldier will send 10,000 of us running for cover! We asked for it and we got it. We wanted Him to find our rebellion acceptable, and yet still have access to His promises. But it does not work that way. So He took our heritage away so we would recognize our need for Him and learn to trust that everything He wants to give us will benefit us. He allowed us to be under corrupt shepherds who led us astray (Yirmeyahu 50:6; Y’hezq’el 34:2-10). We must remember the curses so we will fear going our own way and the trouble it brings. The curses are not an evidence of YHWH just waiting to catch us in an error and burn us, but are another evidence of His love. If we do not appreciate Him for His blessings, He will try to get a response from the opposite tactic. If we do not respond properly, it is not a prophecy, but only a missed offer. Too often we are “like the horse or mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.” (Psalm 32:9) Thank Him for using the bit and bridle. If He ever says, “Okay, go ahead and run free”, it means He has given up on us. Banished: or driven away, misled—not because YHWH did His job imperfectly, but because we considered His yoke a burden, He gave us what we wanted—blind shepherds. If we break His covenant, we are essentially agreeing to be misled. Until we admit that we deserved it because we were selfish, we cannot move on from it. When: literally, because. The intent is that they all lead us to turn back to YHWH. He knows that if we do not have the bad side, we will just continue to ignore Him. We need to remember because we are still under the curse; are we back home in the Land, truly possessing it yet? When we have the real thing, it will not be something a prime minister can bargain away. We still suffer the effects of ancient compromises. Because we have prosperity, it is hard to see how enslaved we still are. Not that we should be ungrateful; yet it wants us to remain goats—individualists—when we are meant to be sheep. If we are in a place where everyone is still selfish, we are not Home. To ignore this truth will keep us living on borrowed land and never allow us to do what it takes to overcome this condition. As in Egypt, becoming wealthy and influential is what led to our being enslaved. It was not until most of our choices were taken away that we began to gather at Goshen; may we do better this time and gather before it becomes our only choice. Turning back begins with restoring His instruction to its proper place within us. We cannot return if we do not know where we came from. This is what makes people victims to false teachings. If we continue to think we are Gentiles, all we will do is return to is idolatry. Torah is the mirror that reminds us of who we are. (Yaaqov/James 1:22—from a letter addressed to the twelve scattered tribes!) We cannot fool ourselves in front of a mirror. We must dust off the mirror so we are not seeing through a glass darkly. It shows that we have a covenant with YHWH, and that is what defines who we are. Search the covenants so we can line ourselves up with them. And He says we will do this while still in exile. Don’t try to go to the Land until we have fully accomplished this step. But here we are in the Book! This day is upon us, and we are remembering His Torah while still out among the nations. We cannot wait until the Kingdom to have His Torah written on our hearts; it will be too late to begin then, for responsibilities will already be upon us. If we do not embrace the covenants now, we will never see the Kingdom.
2. "and you will return to YHWH your Elohim and obey His voice--according to all that I am commanding you today--you and your descendants, with all your heart and all your soul.
Return: or repent. Admit that we deserved every curse that has befallen us. As long as we are still outside our Land, and not hearing Yahshua teach us in person, we are still under the effects of the curses, and as long as we follow our own selfish hearts, we will remain there. Obey: or "hear intelligibly". Note the order: after we repent, we will hear His voice. Heart: or mind, understanding--i.e., your whole "inner man". Notice that His voice is equated with all of Moshe's words. The Torah is the "how to" of loving YHWH and loving the fellow members of our flocks as ourselves. This is what YHWH commanded. We do not get to decide how to repent; He has already told us. When we dig it out and start walking in it, YHWH will keep His side of the bargain. And we cannot then sit and relax; our repentance is also dependent on our children. We know we have succeeded when the next generation embraces the fact that they are Israel. They learn to the extent that we embrace our heritage. A tree is known by its fruit. But we already have one new generation since the return of the Northern Kingdom began, so “that time” can begin any time:
3. "At that time YHWH will recover those of yours who were taken captive, and will have compassion on you, and withdraw and assemble you from all the nations into which YHWH your Elohim has dispersed you.
At that time: an idiomatic flag that we are talking about the "latter days". Recover those who were taken away: or, turn back your captivity. We remain beaten as long as we do not realize we are captives. But the next step must be to remove our exile mentality--that we cannot keep all of the Tprah, or do not have to, because we are still in exile. We are not to dwell on mourning what we lost, but rejoice in what we are about to gain, because we are on our way back! If we take full advantage of what we already do have, He will let us have more. Take hold of what He does give, and keep pulling; He will usually let you have the rest of it. Compassion: a direct reversal of the curse of "no mercy" in Hos. 1:6; 2:21-23. His compassion even includes allowing us the freedom to make choices that lead to repentance. When we start to live as His people, showing by our fruit that we are what we say we are, He too will claim us as His own. As we take a step back toward the father, He runs toward His prodigal people, for He still wants us back. We can "come as we are", but must not expect to stay that way. We need to "take a shower" to remove the filth so it will not still surround us when He allows us a hot bath. Assemble: the word is the same root from which we get the modern word "kibbutz" (collective farm), so it implies that, although He may gathere us one by one--"one from a city, two from a family" (Yirmeyahu 3:14), before He returns us to the Land, we will first be formed into a tight-knit community much like the one the apostles had in Yerushalayim in the first years after Yahshua's first coming. But although each of us may realize he is a piece of a once-holy vessel, after we are cleaned up as an archaeologist does, we are still not useful for His purposes until we are all collected into one place and reassembled in the right context. Disengaging us from the nations, though unpleasant at first, is thus also part of His compassion. We no longer have to wait for the sentence to run out; the time is already up. It is our move now; He is waiting for us to do what is right. That is why the Son does not know the time the Father has set. Do not be the one that is holding up the fulfillment of the promise! Yahshua commands us to watch. It means to stay alert, but in Hebrew it also means to be on guard. How can we guard a city we are not even near? When there are enough of us to guard it (and only He knows how many that will take), He will send Yahshua to lead us Home. For now we need to guard one another by loving and serving one another.
4. "If any of your own is banished to the farthest reaches of the sky, [even] from there will YHWH gather you out, and from there He will fetch you away.
Banished: or "thrust outward". Farthest reaches of the sky: i.e., the most distant horizon. But it literally says, “The edges of the heavens”; does this include a manned mission to Mars? Who knows but that there may be an Israelite who is living in the space shuttle or space station at the YHWH calls all Israel back to the Land! But we were also “lost in the heavens” when we made “Heaven”, rather than the Land, our goal. Fetch you away: The term is also used of taking a bride, and once we are gathered that is what we can be for Him. As individuals, none of us can fulfill that role. YHWH says He will bring us, but Yeshayahu 49:22 speaks of nations bringing our sons and daughters who are still left outside the Land back home on their shoulders. So He will do it through them. They are His agents, just as when He said "I will seek My flock like a shepherd" then sent Yahshua to be the shepherd.
5. "Then YHWH your Elohim will bring you into the Land which your ancestors possessed, and you will take possession of it, and He will make you right and enlarge you beyond what your ancestors [had].
Then: After we have assembled. We cannot go back alone, or we will merely be targets for the enemies that still inhabit the Land. The "you" here is not his immediate audience, because their ancestors had not possessed the Land, but only sojourned there. It is to those who returned from Babylon, and to us, whose ancestors did possess the Land once (and in some cases twice). He does not say He will bring us to Heaven; the Promised Land is still actually a land! The Kingdom is still hidden away in the other realm until the time is right for it to be manifested, but it is not somewhere in the clouds. Make you right: or deal well with you, make you glad, do right to you. Enlarge you: There will not be enough room in the Land to hold us all. (Zkh. 10:10) This passage and Ovadyah 19 tell what some of these new borders will include, yet it may go even further, because YHWH promised Avraham all the way to the Ferath (Euphrates) River! But it can also mean "make you more numerous" and "grow you up". Compare 1 Chron. 4:9-10.
6. "And YHWH your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may thrive.
When we repent, we are offering to let Him remove the flesh that has grown over our hearts, and He accepts this if we are truly moving toward Him. Heart: understanding, inclination, appetites. After we are back in our Land, He will take away everything in us that keeps us from understanding and responding as we should. But even then this will not be done by magic. It is the experiences we have been through that change us. He will provide us with the knife, but we must cut away the selfish desires through deciding to love our fellow flock-members as ourselves instead. What we have done in order to come home—walking in Torah and the process of dealing with our own hearts—is what allows them to be made even more sensitive to the word of YHWH. It is painful, but it allows us to become complete. YHWH has been ready and is waiting for Israel to do what is right. As we look back at what we were only a few years ago--thinking we were faithful to Him, yet adamantly insisting that we did not need His Torah--we can rejoice that He has taken away this obstacle and our every excuse has vanished into thin air! As when He said He would write His Torah upon our hearts (Yirm. 31), He meant He will make the whole Torah a joy to us--if only by contrast in retrospect with all the futile things we have practiced and believed in the meantime. Thrive: not just breathing, but being alive and knowing how to live--fruitful even in a drought, since we trust in YHWH, not wealth or anything else. (Yirm. 17:7ff) The Sabbath and festivals revitalize us in this way. When enough of Israel is awake (Yom T’ruah), has repented (Yom Kippur), and is gathered (Sukkoth) so that our hearts all beat as one, He will be able to take us Home.
7. "Moreover, YHWH your Elohim will lay all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you--[those] who persecuted you.
He turns it back on them, like those who first put Daniel in the lions' den. This is stated in many ways: "His mischief will come back on his own head." (Psalm 7:16 et al) "What you sow, you will also reap." (Gal. 6:7) This recalls to mind how YHWH punished Assyria for taking Israel captive once their job was done, even though they were YHWH's own agent of discipline for Israel, since they did it out of selfish motives. (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 10:12) Like Pharaoh, they were just "extras" needed to play out a drama so there could be an antagonist, but they thought it was for their own sakes, and because of their own greatness. Yeshayahu 62:8 says that from this time onward, He will never again give what is ours to others as He did when we rebelled (ch. 28). How does this square with Yahshua's command to love our enemies? He was speaking to Israelites or other Israelites. We still injure and cause grief to one another, but we need to remember that we are brothers and treat one another that way. Having an attitude like David's (e.g., Psalm 69) toward YHWH's enemies--those who persecute His people--is not wrong. His enemies will fall, and those from within Israel who abandon love for one another will be left behind when it comes time to go home, having written themselves out of Israel.
8. "And you will turn back and listen to the voice of YHWH--that is, carry out all His commandments which I am laying upon you today.
You will…carry out: This is how the Renewed Covenant differs from the first. (Yirm. 31)
9. "Then YHWH your Elohim will give you more than enough in every undertaking of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your tilled ground, resulting in prosperity, because YHWH will return afresh to rejoicing over you to better [you], just as He rejoiced over your ancestors,
He will turn back to us, and return to us what He took away when disciplining us. This time we must not squander it by hoarding it, but use it to benefit our fellow Israelites. Children, livestock, a land, and food are the true, solid wealth, unlike the "money" which always changes in value and today is often just a figment of a computer's imagination. But the truest fruitfulness is increasing in our knowledge of YHWH. (Colossians 1:10)
10. "if you listen to YHWH your Elohim in order to keep His commandments and His prescribed customs which are written in this document of instruction, and if you return to YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and all your soul,
If: All of these promises for the latter day still contain a conditional clause, something our Christian shepherds told us was no longer part of the agreement.
11. "because this commandment which I am laying upon you today is not beyond your power to do, nor is it far away.
Contrary to what the corrupt shepherds taught us in order to keep us from the treasure YHWH had for us, the Torah is not impossible to keep, and it is not deadly. Christianity, which says no one can keep it, is partially right; no individual can, but a whole people together can! Moshe has been saying in many ways, "You can do this! It isn't too hard!" 1 Yochanan 5:3--in the Renewed Covenant--agrees that "His commandments are not burdensome." Yahshua compared the "easy yoke" that he "lays upon us" with the heavy burdens the P'rushim (Pharisees) were laying on people (Matt. 11:29-30; 23:4ff). The commandments of men we cannot keep, for they do not line up with reality. Their overextension of the Torah is where the problem lies, not in the Torah itself. What is written in it (v. 10) is all we are responsible to obey. A yoke gives us control over a burden and distributes the weight both over the whole body so it will not be so difficult, and allows more than one beast to share the same burden, making it much lighter on both. His yoke is meant to be shared by all Israel. A community can keep His commandments where individuals cannot. The more we practice it, the more it becomes what we want to do, not what we "have to do". Paul calls this verse the "word of faith" (Rom. 10:5ff)--confidence that we can actually fulfill the Torah. We should not say we do not need to keep it since Yahshua already did; He made it even more possible for us to carry out. Even though His yoke led Him to an execution stake, and He calls us to ollow Him even there, when it is for the sake of all Israel and not just for self, it becomes much less threatening. Not far away: It is even possible to keep our eyes on Yerushalayim from anywhere in the world with the web camera! Knowledge is so easy to acquire compared to past days, but all of this, we must remember, is only compensation for not being able to actually be gathered yet. It may not be necessary then, just as the Ark of the Covenant is a prop that will have one day outlived its usefulness.
12. "It's not in the sky, so that you should say, 'Who could go up into the sky for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we might carry it out?'
Sky: or heaven. Or, in heaven; it is not a mystery religion. There goes more Christian theology out the window. The Kingdom is here on this earth, and the commands have to do with that.
13. "Nor is it beyond the [western] sea, so that you should say, 'Who could cross the sea and fetch it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we might carry it out?'
Even before we get into the Land, we can practice it, if we know how to listen. Exile is no excuse. No one has to bring it from somewhere else.
14. "Rather, the Word is very near to you--[right] in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may carry it out.
It is not complicated, impractical, or unknowable. It is fairly simple, if you bother to read it. When our true neighbors--those of the same flock--are in close proximity, we can practice Torah; how can we obey the commands to restore a borrowed item we have broken or what has gone astray from its owner, if he is nowhere near us to lose it or lend it to us? Right in your mouth: When you learn to speak Hebrew, the Torah becomes much less complicated.
15. "Look! Today I have set in front of you [the choice of] life and benefits or death and harm,
After all those curses, it should be a "no-brainer" which one to choose, yet still we chose death! Truth is stranger than fiction!
16. "even as I order you today to love YHWH your Elohim and guard His orders, His prescribed customs, and His legal procedures, so that you may thrive and increase greatly. Then YHWH your Elohim will cause you to be blessed in the Land to which you are going, in order to inherit it.
He tells us to guard every aspect of the Torah, so there is no room to wiggle out of any of them. It is the choosing (see v. 19) that allows us to have it written on our hearts. It is not our own personal lives we must choose (doing that is what got us into trouble), but the life of Israel.
17. "However, if your heart turns away so that you will not listen, but are drawn away to worship other elohim and serve them,
Turns away: LXX, "changes". Note the progression in how our various members respond: If our heart turns off our hearing, our feet will be pulled away by an outside source. "Drawn away" could also read "compelled". Idolatry is the main issue, because YHWH wants relationship with us more than any of the details, though they all add to it and there is no contradiction between the two. But the big issue is that we are with Him wholeheartedly. He desires obedience more than sacrifices, etc. (1 Shmu'el 15:22) In contrast, if we "guard" His ways, we preserve our ability to hear and live as our true selves, fulfilling the calling for which we were carefully and specifically designed. But the guarding takes an interesting twist, because trying to keep the Torah for its own sake, rather than for YHWH's and Israel's (not one or the other), can make it our elohim. We do not serve the words or the doing, but the purpose. Even if we kept every detail to the letter, if it is for selfish reasons--like personal salvation--our righteousness will not surpass that of the P'rushim Yahshua criticized. It must be kept in the context Yahshua put it back into--the very context verse 20 below tells us it was meant to be a means to: love. Make no mistake; the Torah is the key to our return. But it is a tool, a means to the end, not the end in itself.
18. "then I am making it clear to you today that you will certainly be destroyed, and will not prolong your days on the Land to which you are crossing the Yarden to inherit.
Does it mean that this time, if we turn away from habitual obedience, we will perish altogether, and that there will not be another "doubling of the sentence" (Yirmeyahu 16:18) or "seven times" (Lev. 26:18)? I.e., once we've tasted of the power of the age to come, which is the Torah, is there no hope of forgiveness (as in Hebrews 10:26)? This should deter us indeed, but we must also remember that the Northern Kingdom did completely perish at one time, and yet YHWH has restored it. True repentance is always a "game change".
19. "I summon heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set in front of you [the choice of] life or death, blessing or cursing. So decide in favor of life, so that both you and your descendants may survive
This calling of the most potent witnesses available is a common aspect of a covenant-cutting ceremony. Survive: in order to love Him, not just for its own sake:
20. "in order to love YHWH your Elohim, obey His voice, and hold tightly to Him, because He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may remain settled in the Land that YHWH swore to your ancestors Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov that He would give to them."
This defines what life is and what love is and is not. Hold tightly: the term used of a man "cleaving" to his wife (Gen. 2:24), for Israel is YHWH's bride. Paul prays that by Messiah dwelling in our hearts, we may grasp what is indeed incomprehensible, and be filled with all the fullness of YHWH. (Eph. 3:18) Those who do return and have all the curses that were on our ancestors removed will rebuild the ancient places that were ruined, and be dressed as a bride! (Yeshayahu 61:1-10) He is your life: It is not His provisions per se, but YHWH Himself that sustains us (8:3), and we live only because He chooses to remember us. How can those to whom Yahshua says, "I never knew you", continue to exist? If YHWH expels someone from His memory, where can he be? It would be as if he had never existed. Life is not a qualitative thing that one can measure; we can only see evidence that it is present or departed. The Messiah is also called our life (Col. 3:4), because his redemption of us as kinsmen means we have another occasion to not only rejoin the commonwealth of Israel from which we cut ourselves off. Length of your days: Jewish scholars say that this means that your life will continue in the age to come (the Messianic Kingdom). Look in the mirror and choose life.
