Parashat VaEthkhanan

(Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11)

Begged: This connotes that Moshe lowered himself and let go of every bit of his pride. This is unusual for him, because he rarely asked for anything for himself, so he is probably embarrassed by it. But here he is desperate, pleading for something he has worked toward all his life:

24. "'Master, YHWH, You have [only just] begun to show your servant Your greatness, Your strong hand--who [else] is an El like [You] in the heavens or on earth, who can do the likes of Your works or Your power?

Begun: literally, "opened up". He had seen miracle after miracle, and spoken face to face with YHWH on numerous occasions. He had seen YHWH's afterglow--the most a human being could see and still survive. Yet it was only beginning. Thus far he had done most of these things alone; if the people had also been intent on knowing YHWH instead of doing their own thing, it might have been different. Now Israel was finally proving to be a people compliant with YHWH's wishes, and he wanted to see the fruition of this. He has finally "whipped the people into shape", and uses this as a bargaining piece to ask that YHWH continue His mercy, using this flattering language as well.

Cross over: The same word for being a Hebrew. He had passed through the Reed Sea, but not crossed over into the Land. He had known his affiliation with the Hebrews for eighty years, but he wanted to really BE a Hebrew. "Crossing over" is becoming not just a group of individuals saved out of Egypt, but a people--a nation. It is not enough to be merely Israelites; we must be Hebrews as well. And this requires leaving behind what we were before. It also requires dying to self. That is our responsibility, though we cannot do it alone (see v. 28). Pleasant mountain: by tradition, a reference to Mt. Moryah, where he knew Avraham had sacrificed Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov had seen the gateway to heaven. So he may in essence be saying, "Of what benefit is all that you have brought me through, if I do not get to the Land? My life is not complete." Levanon: in the general sense, the snow-capped mountains north of the city of Dan, full at that time of the equivalent of redwood forests--truly a wonder to behold in itself. But the word means "very white", and the rabbinic writings say this really refers to the dazzling white Temple to be built on Mt. Moryah and its connection to the heavenlies, for Yerushalayim’s palaces and the Temple would indeed be largely built from cedars of Levanon.

Passed over me: Often taken to mean "was enraged with me", but this is extrapolating from other verses. It actually comes from the root word of "Hebrew"--to cross over, the very thing he is asking to do in regard to the Yarden River. He was not being cruel; He was trying to show Moshe where his thinking was off. Moshe did not have the temperament to lead a military campaign tyo take the Land, which is what was needed now. Y’hoshua was a different kind of leader. He was a warrior more than he was a shepherd--and Israel needed this because there would be war for years to come. The season had changed. If Moshe went along, the people might not be able to fully shift their allegiance to Y’hoshua as leader. Y’hoshua might not even be able to learn to hear YHWH for himself, because Moshe was his teacher and he was used to deferring to him, and he might have a hard time taking charge if he were still alive. Or Moshe might end up being a "lame duck" leader when everyone could see that Y’hoshua was the one who was made for this job. So YHWH had to have a reason for taking Moshe out of the way. He does not have to explain Himself to anyone, but with Moshe He did. He tells him to stop asking, because usually Moshe has been able to persuade Him to relent, and He loves Moshe so much that He knows He just might do so again if Moshe persists, and this would not be what was best for Israel at this time. Too much: Yet if the people gave Moshe instead of YHWH the credit for all he had done so far, what would occur if he had brought them across the Yarden too? Even Moshe, YHWH's instrument, was not to be worshiped (echoed in Rev. 19:10; 22:8,9). It was for their benefit that he could not enter the Land, so they would remember who their real leader was. (YHWH did not even let them find the place of his tomb, 34:6.) Yet the phrase can also be taken as "There is much more for you"--just not now. He might get to cross the river in the Kingdom to which he is resurrected--if we hurry to bring it into existence.

Summit: or gap--the way by which they would pass from the plateau to the Yarden plain. Lift up your eyes: includes a sense of seeing in the spirit, for while he could probably see further than we can today with Israel's haze, it is unlikely he could physically see it all--though it is only about 50 to 60 miles from Mt. Nevo to the Mediterranean Sea. What he can see is that someone needs to take the children across the river. He can see what stands in the way. He even looked eastward--away from the Land--because there were still enemies there needing to be defeated, and he could clearly see that Y’hoshua was needed for this job. Moshe was always a man of visions, but practical strategy is what was needed now. He needed to let Israel stay in season. We may be on the same threshold today, but whether or not we are, it is always the season to teach the next generation to be prepared to enter. Y’hoshua was like a son to Moshe. He even renamed him, as if adopting him. They were so inseparable that Moshe says no one went with him up the mountain, yet the next thing we know he is speaking to Y’hoshua! He was starting to realize thatafter all he had done, it was really all about Y’hoshua--not just what Moshe would accomplish, but what he would help someone else accomplish, and it is the same for us. We must live our lives as if the next generation is watching--because they are. The names of the different directions also have spiritual meaning in Hebrew. Westward: toward the sea--perhaps a reminder of where they had come from; north: toward the hidden treasure--the mystery of the remnant who would remain faithful; south: toward the "right hand"--a title for Yahshua, the fullness of the Torah; and eastward: toward the place of "breaking forth" (i.e., sunrise)--the complete birth of the restored Adam, which is still to come. So he could still keep "going up" (ascend) though he was not able to enter the Land. This vision showed him that all he had worked for was not in vain after all. He could not cross "THIS Yarden", but he would cross another threshold and be able to see YHWH after all--in a body that would not be destroyed by His intensity.

Appoint: or, give orders to--a military term, not a gentle request. Tell him what to do--as we must do to the next generation, though they do not want to be told what to do, because they really do not have any idea what to do. Not like robots, but put them in context to make the right decisions; show them how by your own actions. Tell them how to become a people again after so many centuries of individualism. This means we really have to know the right way; woe to those who cause these little ones to stumble. Strengthen him: We cannot make others strong; only experience can do that. But we can teach them the ways of strength, so that their experiences do not kill them, like one who gives a weight-lifter orientation in regard to how to lift and his need of a spotter. The Hebrew word has to do with grabbing hold. Give them a handle. Instruct them in how to do what they need to do. Courageous: from a word for mentally aware and alert--paying attention to his true situation. Bravery comes from an awareness of who one is, what is expected of him, and what is at stake. It makes all the difference to know that we are Israel; without this, we will accomplish nothing, especially when it is time to give no uncertain ultimatum to our enemies. They must know where they are going, because it is uncertainty that breeds fear. Neraly all children have what is now called "attention-deficit disorder." In nearly all cases, what they need is not medication, but discipline that teaches them to concentrate and be mentally engaged. The Torah is not just a legal document; it applies to children as well. Teach them their boundaries; they are likely to act like the one who is teaching them. Here is another reason Moshe could not cross over: he represents the Torah, which is meant to bring us to the border of the Promised Land, but it will have done its job if it does. (See Galatians 3:24) Y'hoshua (the longer version of Yahshua's name) is the only one who can bring us all the way. He has been in the Land before, and knows its dangers, but still wants to go. This is a "son in whom YHWH is well-pleased". He has searched it out and knows his way around. "What the Torah [alone] could not do, weakened as it was due to our flesh, YHWH has done" in sending Yahshua the Messiah (Romans 8:3). He taught us to die to self and become one united people. And he indeed went on "before us", as the firstfruits of the resurrection. (1 Cor. 15:20) Yet notice that Yahshua has to be strengthened (or made brave) by Moshe (i.e., the Torah) as well. When Yahshua was tempted, everything he said was from Moshe. Faith without works is inadequate; without the Torah, Yahshua had no foot to stand on. We need to both keep the commandments and have the Testimony of Yahshua to ultimately conquer. (Rev. 12:17)

This is where they still were, so Moshe’s recounting had to stop here. They were still in a false elohim's territory until Y’hoshua was fully strengthened to finish the job.

CHAPTER 4

This time: Their parents had not listened (or taken heed--a term which includes hearing intelligently, consent, and obedience). Since Moshe will not be going with them to the Land, this is his last occasion to prod them to do better. Acting on what we see in the Torah is a crucial part of such listening. Only that will keep fresh in our memory what we have seen in the "mirror" it gives us with which to examine ourselves. (Yaaqov/James 1:22ff) It shows us specifically who we were--people who both accepted YHWH’s yoke at Sinai and worshipped the golden calf, who both grumbled against Moshe and brought more than was necessary to build the Tent of Appointment. It lets us understand our inclinations in both directions. Listening also means accepting the teaching (literally prodding) that our fathers did not do well enough, so Moshe had to keep setting the mirror back in front of us. We have to remember what we see here. We cannot retain our own outlook, opinion, or habits. We must do more than be able to repeat what we have heard; our ways must change. When we truly learn, we will not need to be constantly reminded. Old dogs might not learn new tricks, but we are to be sheep, not dogs! "This time" applies not just to his own contemporaries, but all of Israel for all time, which means us as well. We are in the same position, needing to get back to our Land. Survive: If Moshe was being kept out of the Land for one infraction, how much more strict would be the expectations once they got into the Land? These are the guard rails and the lines within which we must stay if we want life in Israel to work--whether in the Land itself or in the Israelite communities forming to get us there. We must learn them quickly. They must become second nature to us, because our life--and our children’s--depends on it. Some are obsessed with eternal life; this is what gives Christianity its power. But Yahshua said the way to eternal life is to keep these commandments. (Mat. 19:16ff) Fullness of life not just in "eternity", but now, depends on this. We experience eternity even now through it. It shows us that we--especially the Northern Kingdom--were dead before, and Torah has brought us the way to life--how to do away with selfishness, which others expect to mean death but which really liberates us. But for our situation, it can also be translated "that you may revive". Prescribed boundaries: Limits, rulings, and enactments added to the initial commands He gave at Sinai (see vv. 13-14) for special purposes, when particular instances came up in the wilderness that needed further clarification (Ex. 18:16-23); e.g., the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath (Num. 15:32-35) or gathering a double portion of manna the day before the Sabbath (Ex. 16:22ff). They set a precedent for later rulings where specifics are not given in the Torah but where unity is needed, but the underlying principles should be taught before the problems come up. Legal procedures: verdict between two or more ways of interpreting. He does not even include the Torah in this verse. He is identifying a problem are: we need to listen not just to the Torah but to the rulings made (in accordance with Torah) by our properly-constituted authorities, and Moshe counts this as just as important.

It seems that the commandments that YHWH most ardently warns us to be especially careful about are those that fall by the wayside most frequently! So Moshe says to carry out the rulings in the way that he is telling us, not in the way that makes the most sense to us or that we are most comfortable with. If we fall short of these, we will also almost certainly fall short of YHWH’s commands; this is what guards the others. He is not being redundant or poetic; he is talking about two different things: not just the direct words of YHWH, but his explanation of how to keep it. We cannot add to or change anything Moshe himself has already ruled on. We may not undermine anything that does not sit well with us, or we too will sit out in the wilderness until we have all died off--a terrifying thought. This is what will separate the sheep and the goats--those who will go home and those who want to keep going their own way: we can only enter the Land if we are under authority; otherwise we will defile it so quickly that it will vomit us right back out. (See Prov. 14:11-12; Yeshayahu 65:1ff; Lev. 18:28) Yahshua echoes this warning, reminding us that one who diminishes the Torah will receive a commensurately low position in His Kingdom. (Mat. 5:18-19; see also Rev. 22:18-19 and Prov. 30:5-6) Add: anything more that is said about them should only be to make the meaning clear, not to mandate new requirements. Minor rulings are to be applications of the root principle to a particular case; the "way of walking it out" is open to interpretation and may vary according to the community or tribe, but where a ruling is made, one under that authority is bound by it. So it is imperative that, as in Moshe’s day, people in positions of authority are chosen based on how well they know the Torah, for it sets the parameters for how to interpret any other Scripture. For this reason, we accept many Jewish traditions, because they have been the ones who have built the most fences around Torah, for modern Judaism is based on the P’rushim (Pharisees) who specialized in such fences. Yahshua, however, said our righteousness had to exceed theirs--i.e., their fences were not strong enough, so we need to outdo them, taking rather a strict interpretation that strengthen and undergird the words of Moshe. He is not adding to them, but giving them a firmer foundation, which is what He meant when He said "I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill." (Mat. 5:1-20) Moshe himself tells us that the only way to keep the Torah from being burdensome is to make sure we don’t add to it or take anything away. The former has been the way of the rabbis (as Yahshua often emphasized) and the latter has been the way of Christianity--and they have added in their way as well. But this tells us that if we add to it, we will by necessity diminish some other part, because it already holds the perfect balance when we obey each part in season rather than exaggerating an emphasis on any one part, which leaves us no time or resources to keep some of the other parts. Both the right hand and left are supposed to have healthy work-outs. Ecclesiastes 7:16--possibly tongue-in-cheek, but maybe not--tells us, "Don’t be overly righteous or overly wise, lest you leave yourself desolate." You would think you would want to be as righteous or as wise as possible, as Shlomoh himself taught so much about both, but there are other things afoot in YHWH’s world, to which we also need to pay some attention. This is essentially like the idiom, "All work and no play makes Yaaqov a dull boy."

Here is a concrete example Moshe uses of the types of rulings he is talking about. The reference is to Numbers 25:1-5, when the Midyanite women only invited us to dinner, but it turned out to be dedicated to their elohim, so YHWH saw them as having gotten married to them. The leaders who did not prevent this from going on had to die in a very undignified manner. This command did not come from Sinai, but was based on what did.

Not one was lacking then, and YHWH said this time not one kernel has fallen to the ground and escaped His notice. (Amos 9:9) The whole first generation had died off except Kalev, Y’hoshua, and the Levites, who Stuck close: pursued hard, overtook (with a military connotation--Gen. 31:23; Judges 18:22; 20:42, 45), and clung or adhered to--like a frightened child who runs to his parents and scrambles up into their arms, holding on as tightly as possible. It is not just a stiff literal obedience, but seeking His face, trying hard to know Him, becoming comfortable with all of His commandments. If we return to Him, He will return to us with the same eagerness. They did not have the attitude of "I've got to obey", but of "I get to obey!" Compare Tzefanyah (Zeph.) 3:18, in which those who grieve for the Temple are the ones who will be regathered to the Land. He will not take every member of every family. (Yirm./Jer. 3:14)

Prescribed limits and principles of proper judgment: i.e., the mindset of a Hebrew--parameters, delineations, and frames of reference around which to figure out how the rest applies. Inside the Land: literally, within the inner [nearest] part; i.e., so may get as close to His heart as possible. Inherit: or "take possession". He is giving us access to the Land (which can also be a metaphor for all of the rich blessings that He gives us through the Messiah), but only by following His principles carefully will we be able to harness all of its potential. These prescribed customs were not just so our ancestors could make it through the wilderness or so they could pat themselves on the back for doing so well, but so they would be strong enough to take possession of the Land. These were practice for the Land, so we could become skilled before arriving there and be ready to enter. They could not make new laws once they got into the Land, as Yehudah’s secular government has tried to do. We must uphold these rulings even more so when we get there.

What is meant to "wow" the world is not a lot of people in white robes, but a people with understanding and wisdom. If "even a fool, when he keeps silent will be thought to be wise" (Prov. 17:28), how much more will the one who follows these commands truly be wise, not just look wise! Even fools who walk on the highway of Holiness will not stumble. (Yeshayahu 35:8) Guard and carry out: or, study them carefully (literally, building a hedge around them) so we can accomplish their intended result. They are not meant to simply be done without learning their deeper message; in that case, "the letter kills". But the spirit--the heart of what they are meant to teach us--brings life! As we begin to do things to protect the commandments, they will truly become ours. The more effort we put into guarding them, the more important they will become to us. Wisdom: witty skill. Modern Israel’s enemies are drawing the opposite conclusion as Yehudah, in fear of losing support from its strongest allies, pulls back from territories deeded to them by YHWH and gives hope to the Muslims that they can conquer Israel after all.

8. "And what great nation is there whose customs and rulings compare to this instruction that I am setting before you today?

Just rulings: another example is the case of the daughters of Tz’lafchad, who asked that general principles in the Torah be clarified. (Num. 27)

Be on your guard: "Eternal vigilance is he price of liberty." (Wendell Phillips) Soul: mind, will, emotions, appetites, that which motivates you most deeply. Forget: or "wither away from"--the result of not actively nurturing the memory and keeping it fresh by recounting it to our children and carrying out the memorial ceremonies YHWH put in place for us. But the root word means "to misplace", for when something is out of place and we cannot find it, we eventually become oblivious to it. If you forget the words, the life in you starts to die. They should still be running through our heads long after we hear them, not fading away. Heart: inclination or resolve. Children and grandchildren: Instilling them in the next generation(s) is the way to guard them. The way to not forget is to teach someone else. If we lose the next generation, we lose our own lives, because they are the continuance of our lives. As they learn from us, they help correct us as well when we fall back into old habits that they have never developed because they never lived in the semi-pagan context we inhabited for so long. As they learn Torah from the earliest days, they should be even more Israelite than we are!

If the children do not learn, it will all fall apart in one generation. Teach: train and instruct the unaccustomed; reshape; literally, prod. His intimacy with them would be greatly diminished, as they would be spreading across a whole land and not gathered in one place as one body as they had been. The memory must be preserved even in those who have not seen it as vividly as the generation to whom he speaks.

Beneath (or under): based on the word for "compressed", because like the crossing of the sea, they had to put themselves in a position where they could be crushed by its weight. This is probably the context for Yahshua's comment that if one has faith he can tell "this mountain" to be removed. Was he just speaking in generalities? Or was he referring to the potential curse in the Torah which they were accepting upon themselves here? By trust in him, it becomes not a threat hanging over their heads, but a wedding canopy for the betrothal ceremony between YHWH and Israel, in which the two tablets formed the ketubah (the written contract for the marriage). Yochanan the Immerser, who Yahshua said stood in Eliyahu's office, was called the "Friend of the Bridegroom" (one of the two witnesses). Moshe, here, is the friend of the Bride, who leads her to her Husband. Moshe and Eliyahu were the two who spoke to Yahshua on another mountain, and appear to be the two witnesses of Revelation 11. Velikovsky's theory that the earth was passing through the tail of a comet during the exodus could explain the massive force that it would take to lift the mountain off the ground. The head of the comet would have an extremely strong gravitational pull. (Perhaps it also had something to do with lifting the walls of water up when they passed through the Reed Sea.) The "flashes" (v. 16) may have been the exchange of electrical discharges between the comet and the earth, in a much more violent phenomenon than we usually imagine, to the point that Psalms 18, 29, and 46 could be taken literally. Psalm 77 actually says "the universe [itself] shook". Psalm 68 says "Sinai itself was moved". Psalm 97 says the "mountains melted like wax." Obviously there is something cataclysmic going on, not just an isolated east wind; that only accomplished the rapid drying of the land between the waters for them to cross the sea.

Seeing...a voice: By tradition this took place on Shavuoth, the feast of Weeks, and the voice went out in 70 languages, to correspond with the 70 nations in Genesis 10. The upshot was that 3,000 disobedient to the commands fell in one day. (Ex. 32:28) In Greek the day is called Pentecost (50th). This immediately gives us a basis for the imagery of the "tongues of fire" which were visible above the heads of the "sent ones" as the mighty sound of wind [which is the same word for spirit] again some 1,500 years later, and glad news went out in many languages, and 3,000 obeyed it--a reparation of what took place the previous time. In the Torah, we were bequeathed with words--not videotape--so that we will not stop with the literal level of what went on, but so we will find the deeper meanings in the words as well--the applications to our particular lives, the prophetic and mystical levels, and the connections to other places that use the same words.

The first of the Ten Declarations is "I am YHWH your Elohim." Stone: by tradition, it was sapphire, corresponding with the "plane" on which YHWH's feet stood (Ex. 24:10) and like which His throne appeared (Ezkl. 1:26; 10:1), and the inscription went all the way through the stones so that when held backwards the gaps between the letters spelled something different. This reminds us of the contrast between "the spirit of the Torah" and the letter, the curse and the promises, the choice between life and death that it offers, and the fact that long after sinful world is done away with and recreated and the sin against which it spoke is long forgotten, the Word of YHWH will still endure forever. There is even a tradition that in the Messianic kingdom, the letters of the Torah will rearrange themselves and, though all the letters are still present, it will present a different message for the altered environment to which it will still go one speaking. Moshe wrote the words of the Torah on the slabs after YHWH had carved into them the instructions for building the Tabernacle. (Ex. 34:28)

YHWH gave the initial instructions, but because they were afraid to hear directly from Him, only Moshe heard the rest of what He said, and though they had designated him to be the spokesman for YHWH, they had to trust that He was relaying what YHWH actually said, for to obey YHWH they had to obey Moshe.

Form: likeness, representation of any particular shape. Flames are ever-changing even in their constancy, so that we cannot have any idea that "this is what YHWH looks like". The following verses specify that no animal or planet, man or star, could adequately depict Him. He is not to be defined by any of the things He has made. Like His commandments, they are all here to serve us, not enslave us. ("The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.") We are not to understand Him according to the limitations of any particular creation of His. When they made the golden calf, they called it YHWH. They were not consciously going after other gods, but were putting His name on pagan things. An inscription was later found on an item devoted "to YHWH and His asherah"; it was simply trying to give Him honor in the way the other nations honored their deities. But He does not wish to be worshiped or understood in such a way, but in "spirit and in truth".

The only "image of Elohim" spoken of in Torah is Adam before Chawwah was separated from him, so neither male nor female can adequately depict it, and no one remembers what that "shadow" of an image looked like. This also rules out statues of "Mary and Jesus".

17. "the shape of any beast that is on the earth, the shape of any winged creature that flies through the sky,

The Babylonians worshipped deities symbolized by bulls, lions, and eagles.

It is interesting that the only specific animal he names is the fish, and this is precisely what Christians have identified with the Messiah, whom they worship. The Filistines also worshipped something shaped like a fish.

Anyone can see the heaven;y bodies, but we have heard from YHWH. There is no "hard copy" of Him! If the nations want to draw or carve their elohim, that is their business, but Israel may not. People want something they can identify with, which is what makes the "god-man" concept so attractive, because it makes them think they can be gods too. We can only understand what YHWH allows us to know about Himself, and we cannot control what we cannot comprehend. Apportioned: divided, assigned, distributed; Aramaic, "designated to serve". I.e., He gave them to all the nations and they are common (contrast v. 20). But none of them is to be identified specifically with YHWH. "Armies of heaven" probably also refers to spiritual beings who, though they have a place and indeed have authority over particular nations and are limited to such (e.g., Daniel 10:13ff), are not themselves meant to be worshiped, at least and especially by Israel, who, unlike the others, has access to the highest authority.

Any wood placed into a furnace for smelting iron would be consumed immediately. Egypt completely used them up, while feeding them--like pack animals. Even the products forged of iron there--chariots--were used to kill them. Now they were going to a place that would serve them rather than consuming them. It is interesting that nothing in the Tabernacle was made of iron; YHWH had no use for it at this point. Prized possession: Why throw away such a rare privilege and not rise to the awesomeness of it all, settling instead for something that the nations all stoop to--nations that He considered a mere drop in the bucket in comparison (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 40:15)?

. While admitting his guilt (unlike Adam) and submitting to YHWH’s sentence, he would not lie and say he liked the verdict. He still held some resentment for their parents’ ungratefulness that he blamed for disqualifying him from the goal he had spent 40 unnecessary years preparing them for. He should have arrived there when he was much younger and had time to enjoy it, so he lays this guilt trip on them so they will remember that they owe it to his memory to at least examine themselves and be decent people by walking in the Torah he had brought them. Yahshua could say the same to us: Our sin cost Him His life, so the least we can do is behave according to his explanation of the Torah’s deeper intent. They had to realize they could do something about their parents’ guilt, but this meant that they had to feel that guilt, just as we must admit that our fathers inherited lies. (Yirmeyahu 16:19) They have been dead for 2,700 years, but we are still not back in the Land, for we must take responsibility and fix what they broke, by doing better, being what they were supposed to be.

I.e., "I can’t go, so you had better make the most of the fact that you can! Do with it what I would have done with it! I will not be there to remind you anymore; you must be ready to stand on your own. You do not want to start the delay all over again for another generation." And the same holds true for us today--after over 2,700 years of exile. This is his way of goading us into building better fences around YHWH’s instructions.

24. "because YHWH your Elohim is a consuming fire; He is a jealous El.

25. "When you have begotten children and grandchildren and have remained so long in the Land as to be spoiled, and you make a carved image resembling anything, and do what is evil in the sight of YHWH your Elohim, to provoke Him to anger,

When you have begotten: not "if". They must put away all the Egyptian ideas about elohim. Moshe was a prophet, but as a shepherd he also could read the tendencies of this flock and knew it would not take long for their bad habits to show up again. But in telling them this, he was also challenging him to prove him wrong. Remained so long: or, been lulled to sleep. When we are working to get something, we tend to be diligent, but as soon as we receive it, it loses its appeal, and it is human nature to pay less attention to it. We take it for granted and "doze off" and soon we have lost track even of where it is. We thought the Kingdom would be more magical than farming the Land; we need an emotional fix--something new to spark our interest again! By the time the third generation is in the Land, they may have relaxed and started considering what is now our goal to be merely the place that they live--just their "neighborhood". They become comfortable enough with the lay of the Land that they think they can get away with things YHWH hates. A tradition based on this verse is to judge how effective one is as an Israelite by whether not just his children but his grandchildren keep Torah. Every step of getting there required a price, and to a generation born already in the Land, it could seem mundane--just like any other place, and it would not even matter to them if they stayed there or not. Those who did not experience these miracles firsthand got used to the Land, and it became commonplace for them; they wanted more excitement. If they forget just how much of a treasure it is, they could lose it again. We must impress on them where they came from so that they, too, will cling to it.

I invoke...as witnesses: the traditional covenant style. Note that there are two witnesses, which is by law what it takes to establish a matter in Israel. (17:6) Yet compare Matt. 5:33. If we swear this way, we will be held to it. After making a promise like this, even YHWH could not show pity at first. Though Yehudah has again inhabited the Land, they cannot be said to truly possess it when they can be forced to give parts of it away.

Few: You will always be a minority wherever you go.

Serve elohim: If we become slack and make a carved image, He will turn us over to it. In case we might think we never did something so primitive, we must be reminded that paper money is made from trees and coins are made from mineral stones. Both have images on them. And there are a multitude of other things this applies to. Mental images will also leave us among the Gentiles whose hallmark is worry about tomorrow. Here is Moshe’s litmus test: Can it hear? Can it eat? Can it smell? If not, do not serve it; instead, serve our fellow Israelites who can.

Here we are in the Book of Life if we do this! Seek: includes the idea of searching with strong desire--hunting, inquiring, even prying or demanding: Where is He? Where must we be in order to meet Him? Determination: "heart", including the understanding, memory, knowledge, and conscience--the innermost being. Passion: emotion, self-life, appetites, and active will--almost an addiction.

In your distress: a possible allusion to the "Great Tribulation" of which Yahshua spoke, which may finally force many fence-sitters to finally turn back to the heritage they know is theirs. Voice: Aramaic, "Memra" (living Word). You will return...and obey: this is a prophecy and a promise. It is a lifeline we must cling to so that we can "walk by faith and not by sight." This is the only way the Renewed Covenant should differ from the former: this time it will not be broken. (Yirmiyahu/Jer. 31:32; Heb. 8:9)

Abandon: literally, "let you drop".

Has there ever been? We are commanded to ask, so that we will be sure to hear the negative answer. The "earliest days" are invoked as an additional witness. What can we learn from our past--from Sinai, from the mistakes that made our ancestors lose the Land? How did they live? How can we get back into the same context?

As at the burning bush, the whole nation heard Him through a fire, because a fiery sword stands between us and who we were in the Garden.

We have this history as a precedent, yet something more is needed (Heb. 8:7), and indeed there is a promise that one day there will be something that so far supersedes this when He takes us out of not just one, but many nations (Yirm. 16:14-15; 23:5ff), that the former exodus will hardly even be mentioned in comparison! And already He is beginning to rattle bones that have been dead for over 2,700 years. We can add, where else has a people who for that long had forgotten who they were realized again that they were meant to be a unified nation, and returned to its heritage though every one of them was a citizen of another land? Has a nation ever been reconstituted after so long?

No other people can truthfully make this claim; there has never been anything like Him. He deals with our highs and lows, both our right hand and left hand. He teaches us who we were, and who we are.

Voice: or "thunderous sound". The more paganism we jettison, the more we wonder if there is anything we can trust. But if we hear YHWH’s voice, we can trust that, for like those who made it to the other side of the Reed Sea, none of us would have come as far as we have if He did not bring us there. And returning Efrayim’s experience of YHWH has always been through Yahshua. Though we have to correct many ideas about him, our experience of YHWH cannot exclude him. Instruct: Aramaic, "train".

38. "to dispossess nations greater and more numerous than you from before your face, and to give you their Land as inherited property, as [it is] this day.

39. "So be aware today, and bring it back to mind, that it is YHWH who is Elohim in the heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

Like Yahshua, Moshe does not say that he is the highest authority; though he must remind us of his position to keep us in line, all of his instructions are reminders to be devoted to YHWH. He is already speaking in the context of the latter days, so we need to listen carefully to this.

Extend your days...for all time: literally, "make long days...all the days". If the Land is to be given to us forever, why do we need to prolong our days on it? Because, as he has just reiterated, we will lose it at least once first because of our lack of diligence, but when we are ready to receive it back, His intention is that it will be forever this time. Whether or not it is is up to us.

42. to which a manslayer who had unwittingly killed his fellow could escape (when he had not already hated him beforehand, and, having fled to one of these cities, might survive):

This way he ensured that it would be done before he died. He took responsibility for the part of the Land that he did enter, even if it was not the Land proper. He showed that justice is not a mere idea in one’s head and heart; the guarding of YHWH’s laws for the prolonging of life must be made concrete, so that even those who were allowed to stay on that side of the river would have the same laws and the same expectations placed on them as on those who did cross over. There were only three cities of refuge on the other side; here there was one for each tribe, suggesting that Moshe expected more trouble from those who wanted to do things their own way. What can be done outside the Land, we can start to institute even before we enter, when there is a unification of the Two Houses of Israel.

Plateau: literally, "level land". Golan: This is where the name for today's Golan Heights originated.

45. these are the evidences, the prescribed customs, and the legal procedures that Moshe talked [intensely] about to the descendants of Israel about after they left Egypt

Evidences: or witnesses; the Ark of the Covenant was a specific one, and it housed the Ten Declarations. But even what we witnessed at Sinai was not enough, for we had not clarified how to carry it out or placed a hedge around it to guard it. Loving our neighbor as ourselves is the hedge YHWH gives us to protect our relationship with Himself. These added procedures are not the same as what Yehudah calls "oral torah", though there is much overlap, for much of that came from these very later rulings Moshe is speaking about, rather than right from Mt. Sinai, as many claim for the oral tradition, so much of it is authoritative. No matter how strange, backward, illogical, worn out, or barbaric these boundaries seem to modern people, we need to learn to walk in them again so that we can truly and permanently possess the Land this time.

In front of Beyth-Peor: right where their eye had seen what YHWH did at Baal-Peor (v. 3) He brought them back to a negative place in their history so they would remember to avoid that example.

48. from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon and all the way to Mount Sion (which is Chermon),

49. as well as all the Aravah on the sunrise side of the Yarden all the way to the sea of the Aravah below the slope of the cliffs.

Aravah: i.e., the Rift Valley. Sea of the Aravah: the Dead Sea or Salt Sea. Cliffs: the eastern escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.

CHAPTER 5

Consent: hear intelligently and obey. All of Israel: While some of the laws he was about to present apply only to women or to priests or to Nazirites or lepers, all of Israel is responsible to see that they are carried out properly, so all of Israel is to hear them. If one Israelite misses the target, the whole people of Israel is less than it should be. And when we aim at that goal, it needs to be for the sake of all Israel, not just for ourselves. Attentive: on your guard. Take definite measures to keep yourself away from sin. Everything in the Land can teach us, and Moshe wants the people to be vessels prepared to contain it. Hearing, learning, guarding, and carrying out is the process that elevates us. We cannot guard if we do not learn, and we cannot hear more if we do not carry out what we do know. This is a spiral that continues upward, and each part influences every other part. It can be entered from any point; the important thing is that we are doing all of these things. We must be attentive to learning more all of our lives; the chief rabbis are still students of Torah. The best way to learn something is to teach it to others, but if one stops learning, he can no longer be a teacher or be great in the Kingdom. Studying Torah gives us understanding in other fields as well, and studying other fields gives us insight into the Torah; a scholar learns from everything around him. In your hearing: literally, in your ears. He really wants to make sure he has their full attention, as if grabbing them by their shoulders "Called" not only means "summoned" but "spoke loudly to".

Khorev is Sinai. This covenant was parallel to the one cut with Avraham centuries earlier, but in expanded form, for now Israel is a multitude. His desire is that we benefit from this covenant. If we walk in these words, we will become what He wants us to be--His special treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. (Ex. 19:5-6) There is nothing better in the world that we could aspire to be. Christianity emphasized being priests and holy, but now YHWH is reminding us that we are also to be a literal kingdom and a literal nation as well, for He emphasizes here that the earth is His (not just the heavens). Priests mediate for others, so a "kingdom of priests" means that all of Israel is meant to mediate between YHWH and all other nations, but there is not to be anything between us and YHWH.

YHWH had told the patriarchs that the land would belong not to them, but to their descendants; now He promises it directly to this generation. Many of those to whom he was speaking were not even born yet when their parents indeed received the covenant at Sinai. This shows us clearly that the Hebrew idiom pattern of "not this, but that" does not mean that the first was not true at all, but rather that the emphasis is to be placed on the content of the "but" clause. We do much the same when we say, "I'm not talking about that [usage of the word]; what I really mean is..." Knowing this could have spared the church from such errors as saying, "Keeping the letter of the Torah doesn't matter, only following its spirit", or "We do not have to obey the Torah because Paul says we are not under the Law but under grace!" He did indeed cut a covenant with their fathers, but they dropped the ball, and now we are all that’s left. The same holds true for every generation--any time we can say "those who are alive today". The emphasis is on those who are alive: Psalm 115 emphasizes that it is only those who have breath who can praise YHWH. Yahshua said YHWH is not the Elohim of the dead, but of the living. (Mat. 22:32) In fact, the covenant emphasizes that death is the result of not keeping it. We need to leave an honorable name when we die by making this a better place while we can, so His will can be done on earth as it is in heaven. Whatever our forebears may have done in obedience to the Torah, it is up to us today to carry it on. While the Kingdom will include those who died in faith, our focus for too long has been to wait until death to partake of the covenant. There is something to do now to ensure that the Kingdom comes, for those who died for it will not receive it until those who are still alive finish the job of making it a reality. We are holding up their resurrection! (Rev. 6:10) We can hasten Messiah’s return (2 Kefa/Peter 3:12) by becoming a people that is truly set apart, for individuals cannot be holy alone; we must be a people so there is something to be holy unto, not just set apart from. We are set apart to a special job that only this special treasure can do: heal the entire earth. But we must be unified internally first. If we uphold our end of the covenant, all who come into it will be able to receive their inheritance.

Face to face: or, more literally, face in face, an even more intimate relationship.

You were afraid: Yet it was their parents who were afraid. He does not distinguish between one generation and their seed since they did not go up on the mountain either. They were supposed to be the mediators, but they asked Moshe to stand between them and YHWH. When we receive his words, it will be as if we, too, are face to face with YHWH. This is an introduction to the later part of the chapter; which comes after a reiteration of the "ten words", a slight paraphrase of Exodus chapter 20 after 40 years of refining his description of the nuances thereof:

Brought: or snatched, took (even took as a bride). This is probably His most frequent description of His relationship to Israel. He constantly reminds us that if it were not for Him, we would still be slaves in Egypt--or attached to whatrever else held us in bondage. I am: recognize nothing else as Me. No matter who is His agent, He is the one who brings salvation. Do these things and you will be on the trail to knowing Him. The first command is therefore to recognize who He is to us.

There may indeed be other elohim given jurisdiction over areas of the world to prevent total anarchy (1 Cor. 8:5; Dan. 10:13, etc.), but none are to obscure Him from us; as far as we are concerned, there are no intercessors except Yahshua. If we are given access to the highest court, why should we go through other middlemen? And why should we bring the man who had tried to take us into his harem into the bridal chamber with the one who rescued us and took us as a husband? (The story of Avram, Sarai, and Pharaoh in Gen. 12 is a foreshadowing of what He would do with His whole people.) Mekhilta reminds us that "against My face" also means "in My presence"--i.e., wherever I am, and that is the entire world. So no matter where we are geographically, we are not to regard anything else as mighty to us. Anything to which we pay too much attention is His competitor, whether something physical or just a scenario created in our minds that does not really exist. Fearing things that are not a true threat is one of the curses for not keeping His covenant. (Lev. 26:36)

Carved: or shaped. This is not limited to things made of wood and stone; we shape ideas in our minds and then fear them, which is tantamount to worship. We carve out importance for things that might happen, and put them ahead of YHWH, though they have no real value for the Kingdom and are not Israel’s priorities.

In the "better covenant" (Yirmeyahu 31:29ff), YHWH makes some amendments on His side to strengthen the covenant, and one of these is that this punishment for the fathers’ sins will be rescinded. There are also expanded benefits for Efrayim, which did not remain with the covenant as Yehudah did to some degree (so Efrayim must also be recognizable by that time), and this time we will not break it. But the same actions are required of us on our side of the covenant; we have to know His commands in order for them to be written on our minds. It will not take place magically. Having His commands written on our hearts means we will no longer think of them as burdensome or as something that stands against us, but love them and appreciate them for the freedom they really do grant us as a nation; they may restrict individuals in some ways, but it is for the benefit of us all when we operate as a whole. If we try to operate in Torah as mere individuals, however, they will backfire on us. Another aspect of the renewed covenant is that the city will be rebuilt. Yerushalayim is the capital of a nation, not just a place for individuals to visit YHWH’s House. YHWH’s King will reign there in righteousness. If we walk in covenant, he will take us back into the Land as His namesake was about to do here. A jealous El: A yardstick by which we can determine whether something is worth doing or loving is to ask whether it will make YHWH jealous. Will it require so much of us that it will make us neglect Kingdom duties?

Thousands: that is, of generations, as in v. 9. Some crookedness is so strong that it passes down through generations. We can bequeath it to our children if we do not deal with it. Thus, while this generation was still suffering from some mistakes its parents made (v. 5), they also still benefit from His love for Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov. With such a mixed legacy, we must do all we can to tip the scale toward the latter with each new generation. Love and guard...: Fondness for Him alone does not earn us His mercy.

Wastefully: emptily, worthlessly, for nothing; i.e., making it void. Forbidding the use of His true Name is one way of doing this. To have someone’s name removed from the earth is a sign of judgment. This was not the intent, but it is the result. The other edge of the sword is: Are we who claim to be His (who take His Name upon ourselves) turning out to be of any benefit to Him? Don’t let His investment in you come to nothing. (This is the basis for the parable of the talents.) We have His Name on us; if we are not already truthful, but have to swear by His Name to prove we mean what we say, or if we do things that bring Him dishonor, we have already disobeyed this command. (Mat. 5:33-37) The behavior of any child reflects on his parents, no matter how righteous they may be. Thus this chapter reiterates His three relationships to us: as Father to children, King to subjects, and Husband to wife.

Treasure up: or safeguard. It is our responsibility to build a hedge around the treasure He has given us. Be stricter than you have to, to be sure it is not lost! If we are trying to find loopholes in it, we have not successfully hedged out our own will. There is more written about this command than any of the others, yet it receives the least emphasis today, and what publicity it receives is usually inaccurate. Nothing we do on the Sabbath should be common or profane. It is a gift--made for man, as Yahshua said--but it comes with instructions as to how it to use it most responsibly for the benefit of all--even our animals. (v. 14) It must be used for us (corporately), not for yourself as such. The Sabbath is the commandment that forms a hinge between the commands to love YHWH and the commands to love our neighbors as ourselves. It emphasizes both aspects:

Six days you can be a slave to your employment, and we can often learn much about the Torah through work than we can through study alone.

Sabbath: an intense time of ceasing and desisting. The seventh day we should do as much as possible differently than on other days. Work: business, craftsmanship, occupation, public or political activity, or anything in regard to your own property (other than what is necessary to keep them alive). The term is from a root meaning messenger; it means anything we do as a representative of another. We may not allow others to work for us, which rules out purchasing anything from shops which we are encouraging to remain open if we do so, thus forcing others to work. Anyone who is within Israelite precincts (or under our authority) must also abide by the same regulations, whether or not they recognize any need to do so when they are at home. Visitor: anyone who recognizes YHWH to any extent is also held accountable to observe His day. What may be done is service to the holy community, especially assembling together to build up the spiritual house, for the Sabbath is called a "set-apart calling out". (Guarding it does not mean hoarding it from others. This verse does not forbid the service mentioned in v. 13, unless we are normally slaves, in which case we must be allowed to rest. Slaves of those who live under Torah are members of the household who receive the same benefit. In order to avoid the other kind of work, it helps to occupy ourselves directly in service to one another.) We are more likely to be of service to one another if we come prepard, having studied in advance so we might provide the "missing piece" in our corporate study. What a gloriouis slavehood indeed!

For this reason: It is linked directly to having been slaves, because when we keep the Sabbath, we are truly freed from Egypt, which had enslaved us to the day of the Sun. Under Pharaoh we had to work every day, and we need to remember how wonderful it would have been to have a day off. Additional "prongs" to this juxtaposition remind us that YHWH "redeemed you on the condition that you will be His slave and keep His commandments." (Rashi) He releases us from bondage every seven days as well. The Sabbath is the quintessential opposite of slavery; the more fences we build around it, the more free we will be from anyone else who tries to lay claim to us on this day, for no one but YHWH and Israel have a right to. The less we go into any other public, the less occasion they will have to try to use us for their ends. Put into effect: or prepare, carry out, do, perform, institute, accomplish, even "make" or "produce"--i.e., do not do other forms of work, and by not doing so, do carve out a space in time that is an entity in itself and a picture of the Messianic Kingdom when everything on earth will serve YHWH's purposes. It already exists, but we need to make it effective.

This is the only command that has benefits directly attached to it. (Ephesians 6:2) Honor: respect, give weight to, treat as important, enrich, do not take them lightly. Compare Prov. 1:7-8; 2:1; 6:20-24. Of course it applies to those who literally donated genetic material to our bodies, with some clarification and qualification: remember how Yahshua defines our true parents (Luke 8:20ff). Underlying this command (since it does not say "fathers and mothers") is the reminder not to take lightly what our first parents did that got them banished from the ground they lived on and shortened their days, so that we can avoid the same error. This is the clear context for this command. They wanted to do things their own way, and if we do not remember them, we are very likely to do the same. And YHWH is our common Father as well; since Israel’s sons had four different mothers, Torah (a feminine word) is the common mother of us all.

Murder: The Hebrew term does not include killing in war or by execution, as some have interpreted it. Adultery is being unfaithful to one to whom you have vowed loyalty, and thus includes idolatry against YHWH. We are not to be intimate with anyone or anything that is not joined to YHWH. The term technically always involves having another man’s wife; if a married man takes a woman from a category Torah forbids, that is fornication. YHWH can still have some kind of relationship with Nin’veh or Assyria or Egypt, but we are not to have intimate relations with anyone but YHWH. Stealing can include more than just physical things: someone’s ideas (breaking copyrights or failing to give credit where it is due), someone’s joy, or someone’s reputation (as the last phrase in this verse would cover). Your fellow: literally, "one from your same flock" or "one you graze together with". Since the Samaritan in Yahshua’s parable obeyed the Torah, he proved to be from the same flock as any true Israelite. This is more than just not lying about them. We must not even listen to slander against anyone with whom we walk in Torah. Mere hearsay is never admissible, and if we did not witness a given action, we should never speak as if it were certain. And if there is no profit in repeating something about him, even if it is absolutely true, we should keep our mouths shut; talebearers are to be stoned in Israel. In typical English translations, this verse constitutes four verses, thus giving the chapter 33 verses instead of 30 as the Hebrew version has.

Lust for: or take delight in. Envy: desire, wish for, or prefer over what you already have, with which YHWH calls us to be content (Heb. 13:5), since He knows what is best for each of us. We might say this was Adam and Chawwah’s original sin. Only in Hebraic perspective can we be commanded to not even want these things. YHWH has the right to tell us how to feel, for our desires will cause trouble for our neighbors if we do not control them. Field: This phrase was not in Exodus 20, probably because no one owned land at that time, but now they are getting very close to having the Land distributed as YHWH revealed to be appropriate by lot. If one needs more land, he can purchase it, with the knowledge that it will revert to its original owners every fifty years. Proverbs 6:19-33 ties these commands together in an intimate way.

Everyone heard YHWH speak the words in vv. 6-18. The rest was what they had to trust Moshe alone to have heard from YHWH and accurately relayed. Added no more: Only the ten commands were written on the slabs--and somehow the instructions for the Tabernacle were included.

21. "and said, 'Behold, YHWH has shown us how weighty and magnificent He [is], and we have heard His voice from within the fire, and we have seen that an Elohim can speak with a man, and he can survive.

22. "'But now, why should we die? Because this great fire is consuming us! If we hear any more of YHWH's voice, then we will die!

This makes little sense! They had just admitted that a man could survive. Did they assume that they had simply been spared by some fluke of His mercy the first time, but did not wish to presume that they would continue to be undamaged by His intensity? They had heard enough to be convinced that He existed, but His presence was too convicting. Should they not rather have welcomed it, since they saw they could survive? They could have seen it as comforting since He would terrify their enemies. Or did they think only Moshe would survive--like Kefa, who did not want Yahshua to get too close to him because he was such a sinful man? If we do not trust Him, His words can be death--but death to self is a beneficial thing.

Did they think YHWH was as capricious as other elohim? Did they not recognize what a privilege this was?

We were given the offer of having the face-to-face relationship Moshe had with YHWH, but we "chickened out", so now we had to meet YHWH through the words of Moshe. By asking him to mediate, they gave him authority to speak as YHWH to them. They could no longer say they wanted to obey YHWH, but refuse to obey Moshe. At least they were willing to trust him to tell the truth, and were willing to follow through with what he said. Small comfort to YHWH, who was looking for a bride! It seems that they wanted Moshe alone to be that, for the second "you" in this verse is in the feminine form rather than masculine!

He saw that they did indeed fear Him, and wished this could continue after the fire was gone:

He knew they would not listen to Moshe, but if everyone had listened to Him, there might have been 600,000 versions of the Torah; this way therewas only one. His opinion was now authoritative. Could you imagine anyone starting a rebellion against Moshe or fornicating in the Tabernacle precinct while this was going on? They were trembling at Him, and this is the "beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10) Nothing else seemed important just then. But sadly, this attitude did not remain long. It is easy for us to respect him over 3,000 years later, but few prophets are honored in their own generation, by those who walked with him day in and day out.

He was not angry with them; He had told them to separate from their wives in order to avoid possibly being ritually impure when approaching YHWH, and this showed that they did not kick their wives out of the tents, but left them in the tents and stood around the base of the mountain themselves. Now He tells them to go back to their families. But after such a spiritually-charged experience, they were probably in no hurry to get back to the place of learning. He wanted to know how they would live once they got back to the day-to-day life when the garbage needed to be taken out and the context was not so awe-inspiring and beautiful. What would they do with what they had learned? What did they bring back with them? If they had approached YHWH, they might have speeded the day when He would be one (Zkh. 14:9), melting right into Him, and lost all motivation to go to the Promised Land where they had a job to do.

By telling them this, he was strengthening Y’hoshua, as YHWH had told him to. (3:28)

30. "You must walk in every way that YHWH your Elohim has commanded you, so that you may live and it may go well for you, and you may lengthen your days in the Land of which you will take possession.

This is the same promise given to those who honor father and mother (v. 16), showing that both YHWH and Moshe are to be honored as our fathers, and that obedience constitutes such honor.

CHAPTER 6

The commandment: the main point, what matters most so that we can be set in order to properly inhabit and care for His Land. When one becomes a "son of the commandment" (Bar Mitzvah), it is this to which that refers in particular. Moshe is building up to what that commandment is. The customs and procedures are what provide the fence to guard the actual command. Take possession: The term actually means to seize or conquer, and then to possess or occupy the Land. (Compare the command in Gen. 1:28) No matter how much or how little military might or political connection we have or what existing governments may do, what matters is that YHWH’s people keep His commands and apply the ordinances and rulings; that is how the Land is conquered. Moshe knew this generation needed to understand the importance of guarding these words. They could not afford to be ignorant of who they are and how to be YHWH’s special treasure, because if they failed, they would lose this Land. They are to be carried out for His sake:

The commands that undergird and assure the covenant are not just for one season, but forever. After 2,700 years we can pick up where our ancestors left off. How are your days prolongerd? You may live longer if you obey, but the days of our lives include the days of any of our descendants who walk in Torah, whether for ten or a thousand years. If the chain remains unbroken, we can even "live forever" this way. That was what we were after in Christianity, but the Torah takes such a different approach. Like "heritage seeds" that preserve the original, untampered-with DNA of the fruit, the seed of the righteous can be carried on, and we can be just like the righteous patriarchs. How well we train our children determines if we continue. If we are not passing on to the next generations the respect for YHWH that we had at Sinai, we have failed, no matter how much we personally respect YHWH. Do our actions instill in them an awe for YHWH to such an extent that they fear nothing else? Yahshua says not to worry about tomorrow, but to seek first YHWH’s Kingdom and righteousness (Mat. 6:31ff)--the same thing that is being said here, for the Torah is not about the afterlife, but about what we do with the time we are alive. The Kingdom is accessed through what is here today. If our minds and hearts are on tomorrow, we will miss the open doors that appear today.

What will be best for you: Shlomoh paraphrases this by pointing out that wasting one’s seed among "strange women" will not make you increase, but will actually diminish or scatter your resources. (Prov. 5:9-10) Our increase depends on hearing, guarding, and doing--building this hedge to make sure we are doing what we are expected to. The increase will not always be in numbers, but in depth of root and upward growth. What benefit is it to have a huge flock if all of them are sickly, complaining, and making no progress? YHWH does not accept those on His altar! We might not be wealthy or even healthy (YHWH is no respecter of flesh), but He says it will be well with us. If we seek His Kingdom first, He will take care of what we eat and drink; one could survive a long time on the richness of milk and honey! Our children are our greatest increase. If we get this part right, we will not have to be evicted from His Land. Today we are again on the brink of entering that Land, so we do well to pay close attention to his words:

This is "the" commandment that he has been building up to. (v. 1) Listen: Heb., Sh’ma. Pay attention, hear, and heed. In Hebrew, "commandment" means "what sets us in order." It is a military term. These are our marching orders. This, along with the next several verses, is the heart of the Torah. Only YHWH: or, "YHWH is one (or unified, or all in all)." He is to take first priority in everything, before anything else that is "mighty" in our lives. His commands need to be our first consideration in regard to our actions, opinions, attitudes, and priorities. Actually, He should be the only consideration. Put Him before all our own logic and reasonsing, and we will be able to take the Land and increase.

Long for: or, love--be fully committed to. To love YHWH is to keep His commandments. (Yochanan 14:15) Resolve: literally, heart--the innermost center of our being, where we find our balance--the seat of our motivation, determination, and inclinations. Before embarking on any venture, we must ask how it will put Him first. If it cannot, there is no place for it. "Heart" comes from a root meaning to bake bread. The bread of community (1 Cor. 10:17) must be what is on our hearts. Passion: soul, life-force, or appetite, i.e., what one hungers for. Are we hungry for security, fame, power, respect, attention--or to see His people in their Land? What the wicked hungers for will leave him hungry, but what the righteous "eats" will satisfy him. (Prov. 13:25) When we "chew the cud" of YHWH’s Torah day and night (Y’hoshua 1:8), Resources: the same word used in Hebrew for "very much", i.e., forcefulness, from a root meaning to rake burning coals or embers together. What should burn within us is love for YHWH. How do we love Him with our resources? By giving them away for His use. If we use them wrongly, they will start the wrong kinds of fires and burn us instead. When we have too many resources, they really "have" us instead. We would waste them if we spent them all on ourselves, but if they are in His "account", they last forever. When we give them up, they no longer weigh us down. The yoke is easy when one does not try to carry the weight all by himself. It is impossible anyway, but we are here to bear one another’s burdens. One man cannot bear the Torah; a people can. Yahshua said this verse was the greatest commandment in the Torah. But He said a second was "like it"--that of loving our neighbor as ourselves. (Lev. 19:18) This is because loving those from the same flock--literally, who graze from the same pasture as we do--is a large part of what YHWH wants from us (see Mikha 6:8), so if we do not do this, we will not truly be loving YHWH either. (1 Yochanan 4:20-21)

On your mind: Aramaic, "taken to heart". You are the one who has to determine to accomplish these things. It is not His job to make us inclined toward them; it is ours, so do not ask Him to do what He expects you to do. Of course He will grease the wheels if you do, but rather than feeling sorry for yourself because of your weakness, do something about it!

Bring them to a point for: make sure they understand the "main point", or "teach incisively". Teach them specifically how it relates to them: "This command is about YOU." It means to impress them as a signet would clay, and in the intensive form of the word, it means to pierce them--make sure the words "get inside" them. Our children are called "arrows in a quiver" in Psalm 127:4. This is how we make them most effective. Even if you have no children, we are all responsible for the next generation of Israelites. Speak of: literally, arrange the words. This means we need to know the Scriptures well so we will know which one applies best in each situation. Mystically, we see here the four stages of life: sitting in your house is being in the womb, and we should indeed be speaking Torah to our children while they are still there; walking on the road is living out our lives; we lie down in death (and we must give them a Torah viewpoint on this as well), and arise at the resurrection. Our children need to be versed in all of these things.

What is bound on: or "head-ornaments". Taking this literally does not deter from its figurative meaning, but actually reminds us of it in a very vivid way. There is some sense in which this is allegorical, because Proverbs also tells us to wear them like a crown or necklace as well. If it is nothing but rote, it brings disgrace to the one who made us. If they are just put on the body, so what? But there were times when YHWH told Israel to take off their outward adornment because they were not living out what it meant. (Ex. 33:5) This means it was the norm to wear literal t’fillin as well. Between the eyes is what someone will see most prominently when looking at us; will our Torah see the Torah "written" there?

Doorposts: to let everyone who enters know that this is the rule in this house. Your gates: would seem redundant with doorposts if it did not apply to either the seat of a city's judicial rulings or our own bodily orifices, through which sin often gains entrance. (Gen.4:7; Yaaqov/James 1:26) YHWH gives us beards to guard the eye and nose gates, pe'ot of hair to guard the ear gates, and tzitziyoth, on which are often "written" YHWH's name, near the sexual organs to remind us who we belong to. And all of a community’s dealings, legally binding or otherwise, must be based on the Torah.

11. "houses full of every [kind of] pleasantry, which you did not fill, hewn cisterns which you did not dig out, vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant--and you eat and are satisfied,

Some of our enemies would be chased away so suddenly that they would leave everything behind. (v. 19l Ex. 23:27) That you did not plant: This includes the teachings that others dig out for us as well.

When He "adds all these things" (Mat. 6:33), we must not forget where they came from. All too often this is our tendency! And it is not only the wealth that might make us forget; it is the paraphernalia they leave behind that might fascinate us and wonder about the elohim of those who "gave" us the houses. We are meant to be "fat sheep", enjoyable for YHWH to consumer, but not so fat that we become spoiled, thinking YHWH owes this to us or that we gained all of this ourselves. He is the one who brought us out of bondage into a house with fine fruit. (See 8:10-18.)

By which you will swear: If you fear Him properly, you are allowed to swear by His name, because you will have learned to make appropriate oaths. While no one is required to make an oath (23:22), this is an aspect of the Torah that both Judaism and Christianity have lost, due to a mistranslation of Yahshua’s words in Mat. 5:34 into Greek and the great lengths the Talmud goes to in subverting this command because of a prohibition on using YHWH’s name.Whatever commitments we make must be for His purposes. The phrase could just as well read, "His is the Name in which you will be complete." His Name opens many doors, and there is no need to enter any others. If He is not in our plans, they cannot become complete. We must be so sure that we are doing what He wants that we call on Him to hold us accountable to complete it.

15. "(since a jealous El is [what] YHWH your Elohim [is] in your innermost part), lest the anger of YHWH your Elohim begin to burn against you, and He annihilate you from off the face of the Land.

16. "Do not put YHWH your Elohim to the test, as you tested Him at Massah.

Massah also means "the place of testing". The story can be found in Exodus 12:2-7. There our ancestors "tempted" Him by contending with the man who brought the Torah, doing things their own way, and specifically whining and complaining. We are not permitted to say we trust YHWH but not Moshe. Not trusting either of them opposes the authority of the Torah. Stay clear of things too close to the fence; do not be like child who like to test the limits of how close he can get to disobeying and still get away with it.

Guard…to observe: two forms of the same word in Hebrew, so it means to protect the protection or guard diligently. Make sure we are making sure. But do not build fences through which you cannot see the original command you are guarding, or this will defeat the purpose, as Yahshua oftem showed.

Proper and beneficial: or upright and agreeable. What is the difference? The first emphasizes the overt commands in the Torah, while the latter speaks of maintaining a measure of common human decency, as shown in the parable of the Samaritan: While we mainly focus our benevolence toward fellow Israelites, if we see a man of any nation dying in a ditch, we should not ignore him, for Israel’s job is to repair the whole world, as long as it is done within the manners prescribed in Torah, not as defined by "bleeding heart" political correctness. Here ar some loopholes that might allow for lying to the Nazis during wartime, this is an extreme measure; normally we are to do what improves YHWH’s reputation even in the eyes of the world at large.

When we reach the point in our keeping of Torah that we are truly ready to enter the Land, then it will be time to do this.

This is similar to the questions the children traditionally ask at Passover. These commandments are chiefly for them. (vv. 6-7)

Never forget this,and never let them forget it, so that they do not have to revisit it. This Torah is designed to keep Israel alive.

23. "‘But he brought us out from there in order to bring us in--to give us the Land that He had promised to our ancestors.

He did not deliver us intro a vacuum, or bring us out of slavery in order to be independent loners. He redeemed us so He can take delivery of us one day. We are not fully saved until He brings us home to His Land.

25. "‘and it will serve as righteousness for us if we are careful to carry out all these orders in the presence of YHWH our Elohim, as He directed us.'

It will serve as righteousness for us: LXX, "there will be mercy for us"; Aramaic, "it will be to our merit". This flies in the face of what the Church teaches--"He did it so we don’t have to." This is an example of what Kefa said about the unlearned and unstable twisting Paul’s words. (2 Kefa/Peter 3:16) But Avraham’s faith was counted as righteousness. (Gen. 15:6) In contrast to the too-easily-misunderstood words in Galatians 3, the fact that we can demonstrate our faith only through our actions (Yaaqov/James 2:14ff) does not diminish Yahshua in any way. Obeying the Torah is walking in His righteousness as he did. The truth is, he did it so we can too. We have been paid for but not yet delivered; our righteous acts are the way we are "boxed up for delivery", so we can get all the way Home.

CHAPTER 7

Brings you in: How do we enter the Land today? We begin by awakening to a desire and yearning for Torah and the ancient ways, which leads to honoring the Torah, and strengthening our observance in its every area until we understand that we cannot get any closer without a gathered community so we can practically act for each other’s sake. Cleared away: Hirsch, "rendered without hold". Greater and more powerful: Moshe is giving a pep talk, building the people up with both rebuke and encouragement, but he does not fool them about the fact that the people they are going to displace are not mere pygmies. But YHWH is on our side, and that makes all the difference. We will not overwhelm them with sheer numbers, but being bigger or stronger never guarantees that anyone will win, especially if they have set themselves against YHWH, whether knowingly or not. We do not need a big army, just the right people, an understanding of warfare, and the right weapons. YHWH said He could not use Gid’on’s army while there were too many egos and personalities who might try to take credit for the victory. YHWH does not want us to win our battles by talking others into something or crushing them with a huge army. That diminishes the honor that goes to Him. We will fight, but in YHWH’s way, not our own, and not when we want to, but in the season He chooses. The enemies are greater in number, resources, and influence. They had dynasties in this land long before Avraham came, yet He is divesting Himself of them, so they are only rich on paper, having now only a "cardboard fortress". He has removed His stake in them, as He is again doing today with all but Israel. Politically, the Kanaanites were organized into small principalities centered on the larger towns. Why are the Kanaanites listed as one of the 7, when all of the other peoples, according to Genesis 10, are Kanaanites as well? ("Prizzites" means "dwellers in unwalled villages", always mentioned in conjunction with the Kanaanites, but sometimes all that are listed are "the Kanaanites and the Prizzites", so they may only be associated with the Kanaanites rather than a sub-clan. From one of these passages, Gen. 34:30, we can gather that they inhabited the area close to Sh’khem.) It could be that there was one group that used no other name but "Kanaanites" for some reason, much as "the Americans" refers in particular to citizens of the United States, although Mexicans, Canadians, Peruvians, Brazilians, or Argentinians are Americans as well, but are chiefly known by one of the subcategories. Each lives in its own area and represents a different aspect of our lives that needs to be subdued. The "Kanaanites" as such may be those not defined by one of these other categories, possibly being mixtures of the others. They represent things that may not be blatantly pagan or selfish, but are still not of the Kingdom--"things of the world" in general. Their names align with different aspects of the Church, through which YHWH has worked because of our ignorance while in exile, but which He is now leaving behind like the pillar of cloud left each camping-place behind on the way to the Promised Land. The name of the Chittites means "terror", and the Church has succeeded because it motivated people by the prospect of escaping hellfire. (Terrorism is also why Yehudah has surrendered some of YHWH’s Land.) The meaning of Girgashites is elusive, and the Church also retains power through "mysteries" such as the trinity, which have to be taken on faith with no evidence. Emorites means "prominent speakers" or orators, and Kanaanites those humble or with bended knee. Prizzites means leaders or chiefs. Hiwites means "life-givers" or "those who make known"--a picture of healers or evangelists. Yevusites (who occupied Yerushalayim, near one of the best natural threshing floors) means "threshers"--those who separate the wheat from the chaff. Seven is the number of completeness. Why would YHWH want to divest Himself of these seven that seem so well-balanced? Because though they may have much to offer, they do not line up with the Torah. "Powerful" here is from a root word meaning "tightly bound together like the bones that make up a single body". Doctrines that make no sense are deeply entrenched because so many believe them. They work as one body. But we can overcome them with greater unity. We cannot seize the Land when acting on our own behalf as individuals; we must have community to really possess His Land. We seize the Land by loving YHWH with all we have (as in chapter 6), and that is practicallt carried out by loving our fellows as ourselves. We cannot express love for YHWH except through caring for His people. It does not matter how great their attributes are if they are not the ones YHWH has chosen to inherit it. They may have a lot to offer, and seem far superior on the surface, or more beautiful--as many of the world’s religions do. But selfishness is still their root. That is not the Kingdom, and it is not Israel, so they are in the wrong place. At times, some of them have had a true desire to know YHWH, and He has allowed that, but there is no promise of His continuing presence. No matter how perfect their systems may seem, they have no eternal covenant. So our job is to clear out whatever occupies them--out of ourselves first, then of our communities, and ultimately out of the actual Land of Israel. We can reclaim many aspects of the Torah even now, while we wait to go in, and become so attached to them that no one can take them from usThen we must occupy--that is, hold onto the things He has given us to possess, even this side of the Land. We cannot let them slide after we have conquered them, but must build fences to keep them in and keep those who would rob us of them out.

This was well past the third or fourth generation from Kanaan, when repentance might not have been granted to them. But now each generation was responsible for its own choices. We know from Lev. 26:34 combined with 2 Chron. 36:21 and Yirmeyahu 25:11-12 that this Land can only tolerate abuse for 490 years before the cup is full and crookedness can no longer be overlooked. (Compare Mat. 18:22.) The Kanaanites had now 490 years to repent since Avraham had lived out the truth among them, yet they did not. Until Y’hoshua crossed the river, they could have surrendered and become part of the chosen people, but if they chose to remain part of any other religious, financial, governmental, philosophical, or kinship system, they no longer belonged in YHWH’s land. This is a standing command; it is not just for 3,400 years ago. It is part of the Torah, which is always valid. Those who wrongly occupy the Land will have to be displaced again, rather than our giving in to their demands. But we must start by clearing out our own internal "land", giving no latitude to the enemies within ourselves that have no backing from YHWH, because selfishness--acting as if we were only individuals--is an arch-enemy of Israel (becoming a people who truly operate in unison), and there are many strongholds in "self" to tear down (v. 5). It is like a worm that burrows further down inside when we are trying to pull it out. Have no mercy on your selfishness; make no excuses for it. Anything that conflicts with the Torah, whether pagan (such as the trinity) or simply man-made (like the prohibition of speaking YHWH’s name), must be eradicated as well.

Intermarry with them: literally, "make each other in-laws". This is still a major problem for all of Israel. Esau married Kanaanites (Gen. 26:34-35); we must not follow his example, for it brings bitterness to our Father. Do not give to them or receive from them. No matter how spiritual it sounds, our children must not be allowed to become intimate with anything that disagrees with the Torah. (2 Cor. 6:14) Our priorities are never to be the same as those of the Gentiles. (Mat. 6:31-33) We are not to even have affinity in our hearts for what is off-limits to us. (Mat. 5:27-28)

They: i.e., both of them; the evil one will have the worsening influence on the innocent. YHWH knew the evil inclination is stronger if given the opening, even with all the teachers and prophets He sends us, so we must not even open the door. Those people are "missionaries" for their religion, and you are not strong enough to resist their allures. Even King Shlomoh was not wise enough to avoid this kind of influence. Your child will be considered "plunder" for their deity. If we do not have the mindset of "these things need to die", our swords will become dull and these "friendly enemies" will kill us instead. Against you: the parents are held responsible since they allowed their children to be united with these pagans. It is the father’s decision whom his child will marry; contrary to popular belief today, the child does not belong to himself.

The Kanaanite population was generally agricultural, and therefore worshipped deities associated with fertility and rain. There was no centralized cult; each locality had a Baal, to whom its ground was supposed to belong. Uprights: "standing stones" or makeshift pillars, used as phallic symbols around fertility cult sites. Groves: not merely stands of trees, but those specifically used in pagan fertility rites. For this reason, no grove of trees of any kind is to be planted near an altar to YHWH (16:21), just so no association will even be imagined by those who are used to such things. Yet the tradition of Christmas trees was rooted in this very practice, and many believers still tolerate it. Pagan concepts must be removed from our minds, our homes, our traditions, our vocabulary, and our priorities. Show how worthless their ways are by not even salvaging them for a museum! Let our children see examples of how those who put their jobs before their children to serve money and security wither away.

The "you" here is singular; He sees us as one man. Especially-valued treasure: Hirsch, "belonging exclusively to Himself". (Compare Exodus 19:5; Deut. 14:2 and 26:18; Malakhi 3:17-18) Others may be allowed to slide with such practices--elsewhere in the world--for a time, but not you, not here in My land, and not now! You must be kept cleaner than the rest, polished better than others, and not exposed to filth like some other vessels He had made. The door is open to any who would follow Yahshua by walking in Torah. "Many are called--but few are chosen", for only those who leave behind their former treasures can be YHWH’s treasure. Few end up actually being the elect, because they do not follow the call they hear. Only as part of Israel can you be the elect. Kingdom life cannot be found elsewhere.

He does not love you for the reasons you might think. He does not need big things; indeed, the Holy of Holies is the smallest room in the Temple complex. He wants what is dedicated and committed. He said He would accomplish a victory through Gid’on’s army, but could best show that it was He who was doing it when it was obvious that the ones He used could not. When He wanted to oppose the prophets of Baal, he sent one lone prophet rather than the 7,000 who were in hiding. He spoke to that prophet not in the grand or awe-inspiring storms, but in a gentle whisper. He likes to inhabit what is barely perceptible. When a flame is put inside a large globe, its light is dissipated, but when in a small one, it is intensified. He chooses what this world calls foolish to confound those they call wise.

While He puts up with many of our shortcomings because of His love for our ancestors and the promise He made to His friend Avraham, still this tells us that His love includes us as well.

Recognize: acknowledge, know intimately because of the foregoing facts; rest assured and do not doubt it. Faithful: Aramaic, "trustworthy". Pledge with lovingkindness: Aramaic, "a generous covenant". Love Him and keep His commandments: This is the authoritative basis for Yochanan 14:15.

The ones...his: an apparent reference to how, just as Israel forms "one man" (v. 6), all the haters of YHWH will also be united into "one man" just before they are destroyed. Defer: or "delay", "be too slow", "leave unfinished"; LXX, "be slack". To his face: Aram., "during his lifetime". If you do not keep the Torah, you hate YHWH, no matter how positive your emotions toward Him may be. (Compare Yaaqov.James 4:4.) It has nothing to do with how you feel unless you act on what He has told you He wants.

The command: a reference back to 6:4ff. He repeats the same thing again and again so it will keep ringing in their ears after he dies.