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(CHAPTER 3)
23. "And I begged YHWH to show pity [ethkhanan] at that time, saying,
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?
He had seen miracle after miracle, and spoken face to face with YHWH on numerous occasions—as much as any human being could see and still survive. . But now, for the first time, it seemed, Israel was finally proving to be compliant with YHWH's wishes, and he wanted to see the fruition of this. He felt that YHWH had not finished what he started. He uses this—and some properly-placed flattery--as a bargaining piece to ask that YHWH continue His mercy: “You can do anything you want; surely You can figure out a way to do this for me!”
25. "‘Please let me cross over and see the good Land that is beyond the Yarden--this pleasant mountain and the Levanon!'
This is still our prayer today. Cross over: The same word for being a Hebrew. It is not enough to be merely Israelites; we must be Hebrews as well. "Crossing over" is becoming not just a group of individuals saved out of Egypt, but a people--a nation. And this requires leaving something behind on the other side. This...mountain: probably the place YHWH had chosen to set His Name: Mt. Moryah, where the Temple would later be, and Yitzhaq had been rescued with a promise of another substitution that would also take place at the highest point on that mountain--Gulgol'thah. Levanon: After so many years in desert climes, he seems especially eager to see a very snowy place!
26. "But YHWH passed over me for your sake and would not listen to me, but YHWH told me, ‘[This is too] much [for] you; don't ever say another word to Me about this!'
Passed over me: from the root word of “Hebrew”—to cross over, the very thing he is asking to do in regard to the Yarden River. YHWH was not being cruel; He was trying to show Moshe where his thinking was off track. Moshe did not have the temperament to lead a military campaign to take the Land, which is what was needed now. Israel needed a different kind of leader. Y’hoshua was more a warrior than 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; Moshe might have proven too merciful, and no one could be allowed to continue whining when there were wars to fight. YHWH had to “set him up” somehow, and there was only one event He could find that would disqualify Moshe. Yet this way he could die in honor instead of in disgrace. He had let him live a full life (as defined when He spoke to Noach) with no deterioration. YHWH does not have to explain Himself to anyone, but He tells Moshe 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. (Gibor) Too much: 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?
27. "‘Go up to the head of the summit and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and see [it] with your eyes, because you will not cross over this Yarden.'
YHWH does relent just a little. Moshe at least gets to see the Land he will not set foot in. 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, for that had been appended to the Land as well. 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. They were so inseparable that Moshe says no one went with him up the mountain, yet while on the mountain he spoke to Y’hoshua! He was starting to realize that after all he had done, it was really not just about what Moshe would accomplish, but what he would help someone else accomplish. Still, he must have felt like he was being short-changed. He had been faithful for so long, and YHWH was not going to let him have this? So YHWH says he will not cross “This” Yarden—for there was another to cross. Yeshua said YHWH is the Elohim of the living, not the dead, and he put the patriarchs in this position; certainly Moshe will qualify for whatever the resurrection will entail, and he will be able to cross over in that sense.
28. "‘But appoint Y'hoshua and strengthen him and make him courageous, because he shall cross over before this people and cause them to take possession of the land which you will see.'
Moshe could not do what he had earned the right to do, but YHWH did want him to help someone else do it, like David with the Temple. An ordinary person might have quit at this point. He has to hand off the baton just before he gets to the finish line, and someone else actually gets to carry it across. It is hard to see the justice in this, but who are we to judge YHWH? He loves us, but we do not have Him on a leash. This is fair warning for anyone who wishes to serve YHWH: If you cannot see yourself as part of a line that leads to something, even if you yourself might not get to see the reward, do not sign up to work for Him. No matter how close He is to Moshe, YHWH still has to look at the overall covenant and what will best fulfill the promises He made to the patriarchs. Appoint: or, give orders to—a military term, not a gentle request. Tell him what to do, and put them in context to make the right decisions; show them how by your own actions. We again have to become a unified people after so many centuries of individualism. This means we really have to know the right way. 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 shows a weight-lifter how to lift. The Hebrew word has to do with grabbing hold. I.e., give them a handle on what they need to do. Courageous: from a word meaning “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. They must know where they are going, because it is uncertainty that breeds fear. Y'hoshua 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. He is the right one for that job.
29. "But we remained in the valley in front of Beth-Pe'or.
CHAPTER 4
1. "So this time, Israel, listen to the prescribed boundaries and the proper legal procedures which I am teaching you to carry out, so that you may survive, enter in, and take possession of the Land which YHWH, the Elohim of your ancestors, is giving to you.
What is his reaction to his big letdown? He teaches! He was told to prepare Y’hoshua, and he does this by preparing the people to follow Y’hoshua. Moshe knows that the only way he will get to go into the Land is if his teachings accompany the people there. His request was refused, so he just does what needs to be done for the sake of the covenant. He does not storm out and threaten to go worship Ba’al instead; he increases his successor’s strength. He gives the people a “formula”: If you do this, then, unlike me, you will live, and go in and possess the Land. Their parents had not listened; this is his last occasion to prod them to do better. “Listen” implies attention, intelligent understanding, and the desired response. The term is sh’ma, and it appears 28 times in this Torah portion, so it is pretty important! But we cannot obey if we are not careful to hear exactly what is being said, letting nothing distract us. So Moshe repeated the commands when they were in a more ordinary place, rather than at Mt. Sinai with all of its “special effects”, which would seem surreal. Repetition helps us remember it better. It is a more immediate message this time, because we are about to take the Land. Do we want to stay there once we arrive? We have heard it before, but this time we must really put our hands to it. Only this will keep fresh in our memory what we have seen in the “mirror” the Torah gives us with which to examine ourselves. (Yaaqov/ James 1:22ff) We must do more than be able to repeat what we have heard; our ways must change. If Moshe was being kept out of the Land for one infraction, how much stricter would be the expectations once they got into the Land? These are the lines within which we must stay if we want life in Israel to work. They must become second nature to us, because our life—and our children’s--depends on it. Yeshua 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. Through it we experience eternity even now. Prescribed boundaries: Limits, rulings, and enactments added to the initial commands He gave at Sinai (see vv. 13-14) when particular instances came up in the wilderness that showed they needed further clarification (Ex. 18:16-23). 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. He recognizes the need to make sure the leaders know what is right and wrong, so that they can interpret the smaller matters, and teach the people to govern themselves. Some examples are in Exodus 22-24. Legal procedures: verdict between two or more ways of interpreting. He does not even include the Torah in this verse. One of our biggest obstacles is an inability to listen to what the people in charge say, for to those under their jurisdiction, they are “torah” just as much as Moshe’s own rulings are. The particulars may not turn out to be the same for everyone; what one judge rules will be binding on those under his jurisdiction, but not necessarily his neighbors, though every ruling must be “constitutional”—in agreement with the foundational principles of the Torah. Do not imagine that going back to Israel will be like Disneyland; the return of the lost sheep is only the beginning. It is only one step, as important as it is. We have to take possession, and there are other people who wish to hold onto the Land in the name of another elohim.
2. "Do not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor diminish it in any way, so that you can carefully guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim that I am laying upon you.
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--not just the direct words of YHWH, but Moshe’s explanation of how to keep them--is what guards the others. YHWH added no more to what He said at Sinai (5:22); what came later were clarifications and applications of the original simple commands. So if we want to effectively guard YHWH’s own words, we cannot add to or change anything Moshe himself has already ruled on. Not that we stop thinking or being creative, but stop rebelling. We have to do it his way, because that builds a fence around the real core, to protect it. We may not be comfortable with this, but it is better than our own way, so we must at least learn to appreciate it. Moshe had to trust YHWH, and we have to trust him. The only way to keep the Torah from being burdensome is to make sure we don’t add to it. If we do, 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. Keep it simple, but do not oversimplify it either. “Don’t be overly righteous or overly wise, lest you leave yourself desolate (appalled/disappointed/ruined).” (Eccles. 7:16) 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 attention. It is not complicated, but this means we are expected to know it well, for it is the basis for everything else.
3. "Your own eyes see what YHWH has done to Ba-al-Pe'or, because YHWH your Elohim has exterminated from your midst any man who walked after Ba'al-Pe'or.
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, and a Midyanite woman brought pagan religion right into the sanctuary—definitely adding to Moshe’s words!
4. "But you who stuck close to YHWH your Elohim are alive today--all of you.
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) Stuck close: pursued hard, overtook, and clung to, holding on as tightly as possible. The parallelism tells us clearly that what constitutes sticking close to YHWH is obedience to these rules he is talking about. 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 "I get to obey!"
5. "Observe closely! I have taught you prescribed limits and principles of proper judgment, just as YHWH my Elohim has ordered me [to do], so you may carry them out inside the Land to which you are going in order to inherit it.
Prescribed limits and principles of proper judgment: parameters and frames of reference around which to figure out how the rest applies, for the seeds for any ruling we need are included somewhere in what he has already given. Inherit: or "take possession". He is giving us access to the Land, but only by following YHWH’s principles carefully will we be able to harness all of its potential. If our attitude is, “If YHWH wants me to do these things, He will tell me himself; I don’t need Moshe to tell me what to do!”, it is little wonder that He calls us stiff-necked. The soldiers who think they must hear everything from the general himself will be a losing army. The general does not even know most of the privates; do you think you are so important that he must tell you directly what He has already said to all Israel?
6. "So you must guard them and carry them out, because this [will be] your wisdom and your perceptiveness as the [other] peoples who hear of all these customs will see it, and say, ‘This nation is just [one] learned and intelligent people!'
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! (Yeshayahu 35:8) Study them carefully so we can accomplish their intended result. They are not meant to simply be done without learning their deeper message. 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: skill based on knowledge.
7. "--because which [other] nation is [so] great that their mighty one comes close to them as YHWH our Elohim does whenever we invite Him to?
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’lafkhad, who asked that general principles in the Torah be clarified. (Num. 27)
9. "Only, be on guard for yourself, and keep strict watch over your soul, so that you will not forget the things your eyes have seen, nor will they be taken away from your heart all the days of your life, but instill them in your children and grandchildren!
Be on your guard: “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” (Wendell Phillips) It is far easier to be enslaved again than it was to be released, so maintain your freedom, and this shows how to do so. 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. These words should still be running through our heads long after we hear them, not fading away. Heart: inclination or resolve. Instilling them in the next generation(s) is the way to guard them. The way to not forget is to teach someone else, for to transmit it accurately, we must re-check the details and thus refresh our own memories. If we lose the next generation, we lose our own lives, because they are the continuance of our lives. So YHWH tells us to teach the second generation after us as well as the first. This not only covers us in case our sons turn out to be wicked and uninterested in passing on our heritage, but they, who have not experienced firsthand what we have, may have gaps in their recounting of the story, so when we teach the third, we both fill in the added details and reinforce them in the minds of the second generation as well. As they learn Torah from the earliest days, they should be even more Israelite than we are!
10. "The day on which you stood before YHWH your Elohim in Khorev--when YHWH told me, ‘Assemble the people for Me, and I will let them hear My words, so they might learn to stand in [reverent] awe of Me all the days that they live on the earth, and so they might teach their children.’
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. If the children do not learn, it will all fall apart in one generation. One cannot teach what he does not remember.
11. "So you approached and stood beneath the mountain, with the mountain on fire, burning to the heart of heaven--thick darkness, a cloud mass, and obscuring dimness.
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 Y’shua's comment that if one has faith he can tell "this mountain" to be removed. The Torah which they were accepting upon themselves here 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 of marriage). Moshe leads the Bride to her Husband. 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. (It may have been what lifted 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 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, and the freezing of the water after it was lifted upright.
12. "Then YHWH spoke to you from among the flames; you were hearing the sound of words, but there was no form for you to be seeing, only a voice.
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. 3,000 who were disobedient to the commands fell in one day. (Ex. 32:28) 1,500 years later "tongues of fire" were visible above the heads of the "sent ones" as the mighty sound of wind returned, 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 prophetic and mystical levels, the connections to other places that use the same words, but especially the applications to our lives today.
13. "And He informed you about His covenant, which He commanded you to carry out--[that is], the Ten Declarations, and He engraved them in two slabs of stone.
14. "At that time YHWH also ordered me to teach you prescribed boundaries and the proper legal procedures in order that you may put them into effect in the Land which you will cross over to take possession of.
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.
15. "So keep careful guard over your souls, because you did not see any form on the day YHWH spoke to you at Khorev from the midst of the flames,
Form: likeness, representation of any particular shape. Flames are ever-changing, so that we cannot get the idea that “this is what YHWH looks like”. In the modern world, where we seldom worship idols as such, the guarding our souls (our passions and motivations, v. 15) is where the emphasis should be, because it is often our own ideas, ideals, plans, tastes, and preferences that crowd out what He considers priority, and in that sense we worship them. That is one reason to associate with other Torah-keepers who can keep our own thoughts in check, because when they run unfettered with no feedback from others who can see from a different angle, they often become obsessions that distort the truth.
16. "so that you will not act corruptly by making for yourselves a particular carved image, resembling anything--the shape of a male or female,
The only “image of Elohim” spoken of in Torah is Adam before Hawwah 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. An inscription was later found on an item devoted "to YHWH and His asherah" (a consort-goddess); it was trying to give Him honor in the way the other nations honored their deities. But He does not wish to be worshipped or understood in such a way.
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.
18. "the shape of anything that creeps on the ground, or the shape of any fish that is in the waters below the land;
It is interesting to note that the only specific animal he names is the fish, and this is what the Filistines worshipped.
19. "or lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the armies of heaven, you should be impelled to bow down to them or enslave yourselves to these [things] that YHWH has apportioned to all the nations under the whole heaven;
No animal, man, or star could adequately depict YHWH. Anyone can see the heavenly bodies, but we have heard from YHWH. There is no “hard copy” of Him! 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. 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. 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 limits on how He would be perceived.ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
20. "But YHWH has selected you, and brought you out from the iron furnace--from Egypt--to become His own--for the purpose of being a people [that are His own] prized possession, just as [is the case] today."
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. Nothing in the Tabernacle was made of iron; YHWH had no use for it at this point. Prized possession: How awesome! Why throw away such a rare privilege and settle for something that the nations all stoop to--nations that He considered a mere drop in the bucket in comparison (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 40:15)?
21. "Yet YHWH was angry with me because of your words, and swore that there would be no crossing over the Yarden for me, or entering into the pleasant Land that YHWH is giving you as an inheritance,
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 reminds them 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. They could do something about their parents’ guilt, but they had to feel that guilt first.
22. "because I will die in this land; for me there will be no crossing over the Yarden, but you are crossing over, and have inherited that pleasant Land.
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; be sure you do not start the delay all over again for another generation.”
23. "Be on your guard lest you forget the covenant of YHWH your Elohim, which He has cut with you, and fashion for yourselves a carved image resembling anything about which YHWH your Elohim has given you orders,
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,
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 them to prove him wrong. 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. They become comfortable enough with the lay of the Land that they think they can get away with things YHWH hates. Every step of getting there required a price, but to a generation born already in the Land, it could seem commonplace—just like any other place, and it would not even matter to them if they stayed there or not. If they forget just how much of a treasure it is, they could indeed lose it again. We must impress on them where they came from so that they, too, will cling to it. If He has to, He will provoke us to jealousy by showing favor to other peoples who we may think do not deserve it. (32:21)
26. "I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will completely vanish from the Land into which you are crossing to dispossess it. You will not cause your days to be lengthened on it; rather, you will be utterly overthrown,
I invoke...as witnesses: This is 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) After making a promise like this, even YHWH could not show pity at first. And though Yehudah has again inhabited the Land, they cannot be said to truly possess it as long as they can be forced to give parts of it away. All of Israel needs to come back to make the nation as strong as it could be.
27. "and YHWH will cause you to be fragmented among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations into which YHWH will cause you to be driven.
Few: You will always be a minority wherever you go.
28. "What's more, you will serve elohim made by human hands there--wood and stone, which can neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell!
Serve elohim: If we become slack and make a carved image, He will turn us over to it. In case we might think we have never done 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 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.
29. "Yet if from there you will diligently seek YHWH your Elohim, you will find [Him], whenever you inquire after Him with all your determination and all your passion.
Here we are in the Book of Life if we do this! We are at this point in history. Seek: includes hunting, 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: i.e., “With all you’ve got”.
30. "In your distress and when you have met with all of these things, then in the last days, you will return to YHWH your Elohim, and obey His voice,
31. "because YHWH your Elohim is a compassionate El; He will not abandon you or bring about your ruin, nor will He forget the covenant which He swore with your ancestors.
However strict the commands may seem, this is the context for understanding them: He uses tough measures because He loves us so much and does not want to lose us.
32. "Because--ask, now, the earliest days, which took place before [you existed], from all the way back when Elohim created humanity upon the earth, or from [one] end of the sky to [the other] end of the sky, ‘Has there ever been [any] thing as great as this? Or has [anything] like it [ever] been heard?'
We are commanded to ask these questions, 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 collective past—from Sinai, from the mistakes that made our ancestors lose the Land?
33. "Has a nation ever heard the voice of an elohim speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard--and survived?
As with Moshe 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. Yet it can warm us rather than destroying us if we keep the right distance and stay on the right side of Him.
34. "Or has an elohim [ever] tried to take for himself a nation out of the midst of [another] nation, by proof-tests, by distinguishing signs, by miracles, by war, by a firm hand and an outstretched arm, and by awe-inspiring spectacles such as YHWH your Elohim performed for you in Egypt--before your [very] eyes?
We have this history as a precedent, yet 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! 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?”
35. "You have been shown, so you might know that YHWH is Elohim; apart from Him there is no other.
No other people can truthfully make this claim; there has never been anything like Him.
36. "From out of the heavens He made His voice audible to you, so He might instruct you, and on the earth He made His great fire visible, and you heard His words from within the fire.
Voice: or "thunderous sound". The more paganism we uncover in the heritage that we have received, the more we wonder if there is anything we can trust. But we can trust YHWH’s voice, 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.
37. "Then in transferring the love He had for your ancestors, He chose their descendants after them, and led you out from Egypt with His presence--[Such] great power He had!--
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 Yeshua, 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.
40. "So hear [and obey] His prescribed customs and His orders that I am laying on you today, so that it may go well for you and for your descendants after you, and so that you may extend [your] days on the soil that YHWH your Elohim is giving to you [for] all time."
If the Land is to be given to us forever, why do we need to prolong our days on it? Because we will lose it if we are not diligent, 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.
41. Then Moshe set aside three cities on the sunrise side of the Yarden
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 it.
43. Betzer in the wilderness of the plateau for the Reuvenites, Ramoth in Gil'ad for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Menashites.
44. And this is the instruction that Moshe set before the descendants of Israel;
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 he had not clarified how to carry it out. These added procedures are not the same as what is often called “oral torah”, though there is overlap, for much of that came from these very rulings that came after Sinai, 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.
46. across the Yarden in the valley in front of Beyth-Pe'or in the territory of Sikhon king of the Emorites, who had been living in Heshbon when Moshe and the descendants of Israel attacked while they were leaving Egypt.
In front of Beyth-Pe’or: right where their eye had seen what YHWH did at Baal-Pe’or (v. 3) He brought them back to a negative place in their history so they would remember to avoid that example. While they were leaving: though this is almost 40 years after they actually came out of Mitzrayim, so when the number of years after the Exodus are counted (e.g., 1 Kings 6:1), the starting point could be anywhere during those 40 years. (Jodell Onstott)
47. So they took possession of his territory and the territory of Og the king of Bashan, both kings of the Emorites, which are on the side of the Yarden toward the rising of the sun,
48. from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon and all the way to Mount Sion (which is Hermon),
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: “transitional” land, but specifically referring to the Great Rift Valley. Sea of the Aravah: the Dead Sea (Salt Sea). Cliffs: the eastern escarpment of the Rift.
CHAPTER 5
1. Then Moshe called all of Israel, and told them, "Consent, O Israel, to the prescribed customs and legal procedures that I am discussing in your hearing today, so you may be prodded [to learn] them and attentive to carry them out.
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. If one Israelite misses the target, the whole people of Israel is less than it should be. Attentive: on your guard. Take definite measures to keep yourself away from wrongdoing. Hearing, learning, guarding, and carrying out is the process that elevates us. We cannot guard what we do not learn, and we cannot hear more if we do not carry out what we do know. The best way to learn something is to teach it to others.
2. "YHWH our Elohim cut a covenant with us at Khorev.
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.
3. "Not with our fathers did YHWH cut this covenant, because it is with us--ourselves--these who are here today, all of us who are alive!
Once we hear the words of the covenant, we are counted as having been there at Sinai. The covenant is with the living. It is not a covenant of the grave like Egypt had, or mainly for after death; it is about going Home to a real Land. A covenant is something that is described as being “cut”. It is not something you have, but something you do. Only the living can do anything. Each of Avraham’s descendants is a party to it and is responsible for actively maintaining it. It is never “fulfilled”; it cannot stop, or it is not a covenant anymore. 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. He did cut a covenant with their fathers, but they dropped the ball, and now we are all that is left. The same holds true for every generation—any time we can say “those who are alive today”. Psalm 115 emphasizes that it is only those who have breath who can praise YHWH. Yeshua 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. Whatever our forebears may have done in obedience to the Torah, it is up to us today to carry it on. If our children do not keep doing it after us, the covenant ends. 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.
4. "Face to face YHWH spoke with you at the mountain, from the midst of the fire.
5. ("I myself stood between YHWH and yourselves at that time, to announce the word of YHWH to you, because you were afraid due to the presence of the fire, and did not go up onto the mountain.) [He said,] and I quote:
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 recipients, but they asked Moshe to stand between them and YHWH as mediator. When we receive his words, it will be as if we, too, are face to face with YHWH. What follows is a reiteration of the “ten words”, a slight paraphrase of Exodus chapter 20 after 40 years of refining his description of the nuances thereof:
6. "‘I am YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out from the land of Egypt--from a place of slavery.
He constantly needs to remind us that if it were not for Him, we would still be slaves in Egypt—or attached to whatever else held us in bondage. I am: No matter who is His agent, even the Messiah, He is the one who brings salvation.
7. "‘For you there will be no other elohim against My face."
There may indeed be other elohim given jurisdiction over areas of the world to prevent total anarchy (1 Cor. 8:5; Dan. 10:13), but 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? (Compare Gen. 12.) Mekhilta reminds us that “against My face” also means “in My presence”—i.e., wherever I am, and that is the entire world. 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)
8. "‘Do not make for yourselves a carved image resembling anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth below, or that are in the waters below the land.
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 occur, and put them ahead of YHWH, though they have no real value for the Kingdom and are not Israel’s priorities.
9. "‘You must not bow down to them or serve them, because I--YHWH your Elohim--am a jealous El, bringing the punishment for fathers’ crookedness upon their children to the third and fourth [generation] of those who hate Me,
In the “renewed 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 mitigated. But the same actions are required of us on our side of the covenant; in order for His commands to be written on our minds, we have to know them; 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. If we try to operate in Torah as mere individuals, however, they will backfire on us. 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?
10. "‘but acting with kindness upon thousands of those who love Me and guard My commandments.
Thousands: of generations, as in v. 9. Some crookedness is so strong that it can be passed down 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. And we, too, are within a thousand generations of them! But 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. This is probably whence Yeshua derived the saying, “If you love me, keep my commandments!”
11. "‘Do not take up the name of YHWH your Elohim wastefully, because YHWH will not exempt from punishment such [a one] who takes up His name wastefully.
Wastefully: i.e., making it void. This does not only include using it as a profanity; forbidding the use of His true Name is another way of doing this. To have someone’s name removed from the earth is a sign of judgment. This was not the intent when this practice started, but it is the result. The other edge of the sword is: Are we 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. The behavior of any child reflects on his parents, no matter how righteous they may be.
12. "‘Treasure up the Sabbath day in order to observe it as set apart, as YHWH your Elohim has commanded.
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. Be careful not to treat it as common. It is a gift--made for man, as Yeshua 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) This is the commandment that forms a hinge between the commands about loving YHWH and the commands about loving our neighbors as ourselves. It emphasizes both aspects:
13. "‘Six days you may [both] serve [others] and carry out your [own] business,
Six days you can be a slave to your employment, and we can often learn more about the Torah through work than we can through study alone.
14. "‘but the seventh day is a Sabbath belonging to YHWH your Elohim; you may do no work--[neither] you nor your son nor daughter nor your male or female servant, nor your bull, nor your donkey, nor any of your animals, nor the visitor who is within your gates, so that your male or female servant may rest just as you do.
Sabbath: an intense time of ceasing and desisting. The seventh day we should do as much as possible differently than on other days. Work: from a root meaning “messenger”; thus it means anything we do as a representative of another. We may not allow others to work for us, which means that we should avoid any non-emergency purchase, which we are encouraging to remain open if we do so, helping to perpetuate a demand that others may feel they need to supply when they need a rest too. Anyone who is within Israelite precincts must also abide by the same regulations, whether or not they do so when they are in their own land. Anyone who recognizes YHWH to any extent is held accountable to observe the day which He made sacred at the very time of creation. 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”. 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 if we come prepared, having studied in advance so we might provide a “missing piece” in our corporate study. (Gibor)
15. "‘Also, remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your Elohim brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. For this reason YHWH your Elohim has commanded you to put the Sabbath day into effect.
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. By not doing other types of work, we can carve out a space in time that is a foretaste of the Kingdom when everything on earth will serve YHWH's purposes.
16. "‘Honor your father and your mother, as YHWH your Elohim has commanded you, so that your days may be extended, and so that it may go well for you on the ground that YHWH your Elohim is giving to you.
This is the only command that has benefits directly attached to it. (Ephesians 6:2) Honor: respect, give weight to, treat as important, 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, but Yeshua defines our true parents as those who do YHWH’s will (Luke 8:20ff). Since it does not say “fathers and mothers”, it is a reminder not to take lightly what our first parents—those we all share—did that got them banished from the ground they lived on and shortened their days, so that we can avoid the same error. 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.
17. "‘You must not commit murder, nor may you commit adultery, nor steal, nor respond to false testimony against your fellow,
Murder: The Hebrew term does not include killing in war or by execution, as some have interpreted it. Adultery technically always involves having another man’s wife; if a married man takes a woman from a category Torah forbids, that is fornication. But adultery is being unfaithful to one to whom you have vowed loyalty, and thus includes idolatry against 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 Y’shua’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; 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.)
18. "‘nor may you lust for your fellow's wife, nor may you envy your fellow's house, his field, or his male or female servant, his bull or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your fellow.'
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. YHWH has the right to tell us what not to want or 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 someone 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.
19. "YHWH spoke these words to your whole assembly at the mountain from within the fire, the thundercloud, and the heavy darkness with a loud voice, and He added no more, but wrote them on two slabs of stone and delivered them to me.
Everyone heard YHWH speak the words in verses 6-18. The rest was what they had to trust Moshe alone to have heard from YHWH and accurately relayed. Added no more: He says nothing about an oral Torah, except the vision he was shown of the Tabernacle and its implements, which he did describe in words that were written down as well.
20. "But what transpired was that, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, with the mountain burning in fire, you (all the heads of your tribes and your elders) approached me
21. "and said, ‘Indeed, 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!
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. They could have seen it as comforting to have someone so threatening on their side, since He would terrify their enemies.
23. "‘For who of all flesh has heard the voice of a living Elohim speaking from within a fire as we have, and survived?
Did they think YHWH was as capricious as other elohim? Did they not recognize what a privilege this was?
24. "‘You [go] approach and hear all that YHWH our Elohim may say, then you can tell us all that YHWH our Elohim tells you, and we will follow through.'
We were offered a face-to-face relationship 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, yet refuse to obey Moshe. At least they were willing to trust him to tell the truth and follow through with what he said. Small comfort to YHWH, who was looking for a bride!
25. "When YHWH listened to the tone of your words when you spoke to me, YHWH told me, ‘I have heard the tone of the words this people have spoken. All they have said was appropriate.
He saw that they did indeed fear Him, and wished this could continue after the fire was gone:
26. "'Who could grant that this attitude of theirs would always be to respect Me and to observe all My commands, so that it would go well for them and for their descendants forever?
Can 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. Few prophets are honored in their own generation, by those who walk with them day in and day out.
27. "‘Go and tell them, "You [may] return to your tents."
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 left them in the tents and stood around the base of the mountain themselves. Now He tells them to go back to their families. After such a spiritually-charged experience, 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?
28. “‘But you, stand here by Me, and I will declare to you each command, and the prescribed customs and the legal procedures which you shall teach them, so they may carry them out in the Land that I myself am giving to them to take possession of.'
By telling them this, he was strengthening Y’hoshua, as YHWH had told him to. (3:28)
29. "So you must be careful to act according to what YHWH your Elohim has commanded you; you must not turn aside to the right or to the left.
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
1. "Now this is the commandment--the prescribed customs, and the legal procedures--which YHWH has ordered that [I] teach you, to carry out in the Land into which you are crossing to take possession of,
The commandment (singular): the main point, what matters most so that we can be set in order to properly inhabit and care for His Land. Moshe is building up to what that commandment is. The customs and procedures are what provide the fences to guard the actual command.
2. "so that you might reverence YHWH your Elohim and observe all His prescribed customs and His commands [about] which I am giving you orders--you, your son, and your grandson all the days of your life, and so that your days may be extended.
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 prolonged? Obeying our parents (Ex. 20:12) should, if they are wise, give us better advice to live by so we will not endanger ourselves. The Torah’s commands also give us a head start at what others have to learn by trial and error, and its psychological effects (giving us ways to deal concretely with guilt feelings and the rest and rejoicing that it commands at certain intervals) deal with both our physical and metaphorical hearts. Individuals may thus live longer if they obey, but the days of our lives also 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. 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, no matter how much we personally respect YHWH. The Torah is not about the afterlife, but about what we do with the time we are alive, though what our actions will create for tomorrow (the legacy we leave for our posterity) should guide which ones we choose to carry out and how.
3. "So you must listen, Israel, and be careful to do what will be best for you, and what will [make] you increase greatly, just as YHWH the Elohim of your ancestors has promised you--a Land gushing with milk and honey.
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 (for the flesh must come to an end at some point), but He says it will be well with us, so we must trust Him. Our children are our greatest increase. If we get this part right, we will not have to be evicted from His Land.
4. "Listen, Israel! YHWH is our Elohim! Only YHWH!
This is “the” commandment that he has been building up to. (v. 1) Listen: Heb., Sh’ma. The word covers this whole range of meaning: “Pay attention, hear intelligently, and follow through”. In Hebrew, “commandment” means “that which 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, all in all)." His commands need to be our first consideration in regard to our actions, opinions, attitudes, and priorities. Ultimately, He should be the only consideration. Elohim: mighty judge. No one else’s opinion counts if He has vindicated us, though of course He constitutes “under-rulers” to reflect His authority and carry out the justice He prescribes.
5. "And you shall be committed to YHWH your Elohim with all of your resolve, with all of your passion, and with all of your resources.
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. 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. I.e., “give Him all you’ve got”. How do we love Him with our resources? By using them to help one another. If we use them wrongly, they will start the wrong kinds of fires and burn us instead. Yeshua said this verse was the greatest commandment in the Torah. But he said a second was “like it”: 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 most of what YHWH wants from us (Mikha 6:8), so if we do not do this, we cannot say we love YHWH. (1 Yochanan 4:20-21)
6. "And these words that I am commanding you today shall be on your mind,
On your mind: Aramaic, "taken to heart". You are the one who has to determine that you will accomplish these things. It is not His job to make us inclined toward them; 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!
7. "and you shall bring them to a point for your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, while you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.
Bring them to a point for: Our children are called “arrows in a quiver” in Psalm 127:4. This is how we make them most effective. 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 make an impression on them as a signet would on clay, and in the intensive form, it means to pierce them—make sure the words “get inside” them. Mystically, we see here the four stages of life: sitting in your house is being in the womb, and we even speak 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 to join the Kingdom at the resurrection.
8. "And you shall tie them on your hand as a visible reminder, and they shall serve as what is bound on between your eyes.
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, as long as it is not done merely by rote; that accomplishes nothing. Between the eyes is what someone will see most prominently when looking at us; will our children see the Torah “written” there, guiding even what we look at?
9. "You shall even write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates.
Doorposts: to let everyone who enters know that this is the rule in this house. Your gates: This would seem redundant with doorposts, but it can also apply to the seat of a city's judicial rulings. All of a community’s dealings, legally binding or otherwise, must be based on the Torah. It can also refer to our bodily orifices, through which sin often gains entrance. (Gen.4:7; Yaaqov/James 1:26) YHWH gives us beards to “guard” the mouth and nose gates, pe'oth 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 and our seed belong to.
10. "Then when YHWH your Elohim brings you into the Land, as He promised your ancestors Avraham, Yitzhaq, and Yaaqov that He would give you large and flourishing cities which you did not build,
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. 19; Ex. 23:27)
12. "be on guard for yourselves lest your forget YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt--out of the slave-quarters.
When He gives us all these “bonuses”, we must not forget where they came from. 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”, thriving and prospering, but not so fat that we become spoiled, thinking YHWH owes this to us or that we gained it all by ourselves.
13. "YHWH your Elohim [is the one] you shall stand in awe of. He [is the one] you serve, and His is the Name 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 Y’shua’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. We must be so sure that we are doing what He wants that we call on Him to hold us accountable to complete it.
14. "You must not go after other elohim, from the elohim of the peoples who are around you,
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 even 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 whining. 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.
17. "You must guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim to observe them, along with His evidences, and His prescribed customs about which He has given you orders.
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.
18. "And you must do what is proper and beneficial in the eyes of YHWH, so that it may go well for you and you may go in and take over the pleasant Land which YHWH promised to your ancestors:
Proper and beneficial: What is the difference? The first (which literally means something unbent or not twisted) emphasizes the overt commands in the Torah, while the latter speaks of maintaining a measure of common human decency: 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 in the ways prescribed in Torah, not as defined by “bleeding heart” political correctness. In an extreme case we might lie to foreigners--think Nazis--but normally we are to do what improves YHWH’s reputation even in the eyes of the world at large.
19. "that is, drive out all your enemies from before you, as YHWH has said.
When we reach the point in our keeping of Torah where we are really set-apart enough to enter the Land, then it will be time to do this.
20. "In time to come, when your son asks you, ‘What are the evidences and the customs and the legal procedures that YHWH our Elohim has commanded you?',
21. "then say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but YHWH brought us out from Egypt with a firm hand,
Never forget this, and never let your son forget it, so that he will not have to revisit it. This Torah is designed to keep Israel alive.
22. "‘and YHWH provided distinguishing signs and tokens--intense and severe--upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon his whole household, before our [very] eyes!
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 into a vacuum, or bring us out of slavery 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. 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.
24. "‘Then YHWH ordered us to carry out all these customs to honor YHWH our Elohim, for our benefit, to sustain our life as it is this day,
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.'
This flies in the face of what the Church teaches—“He did it so we don’t have to.” This is an example of the unlearned and unstable twisting Paul’s words. (2 Kefa/Peter 3:16) Avraham’s faith was counted as righteousness. (Gen. 15:6) But we can demonstrate our faith only through our actions (Yaaqov/James 2:14ff). Yeshua did it so that we can too, blazing the trail as “firstborn among many brothers”.
CHAPTER 7
1. "When YHWH your Elohim brings you into the Land into which you are going in order to take it over, and He has cleared away many nations from before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Emorites, the Kanaanites, the Prizzites, the Hiwites, and the Y'vusites--seven nations greater and more powerful than you--
How do we enter the Land today? We begin by awakening to a desire and yearning for 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 the whole nation gathered. Greater and more powerful: Moshe is giving a pep talk, 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. Being bigger or stronger never guarantees that anyone will win, especially if they have set themselves against YHWH. We do not need a big army, just the right people, an understanding of strategy, 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. We will fight, but in YHWH’s way, not our own, and only 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 now they are past their prime. YHWH has removed His stake in them. Why are the Kanaanites listed as one of the 7, when all of these 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 being a sub-clan.) 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 its subcategories. Each lives in its own area and represents a different aspect of our lives that needs to be subdued. The name Hittites means “terrorizers”, and the Church has succeeded because it motivated people by the prospect of escaping hellfire. Emorites means “prominent speakers” or orators, and Kanaanites, “those humbled or with bent knees”. Girgashites appears to mean “thieves who fondle their loot”. Prizzites means “leaders” or “chiefs”, and we must often come into conflict with earthly authorities to accomplish YHWH’s agenda. Hiwites means “life-givers”, but sometimes our own lives are the biggest roadblock to becoming a unified people. Yevusites (who occupied Yerushalayim) means “threshers”—those who separate the wheat from the chaff, and indeed there was an excellent threshing floor just outside their city (where the Temple later stood). Seven is the number of completeness or perfection. “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 a greater unity. The first order of business is to clear out the enemies that occupy our own hearts and minds.
2. "and YHWH your Elohim delivers them up before you, then you must strike them down, and turn them over to destruction; you must not cut a covenant with them, nor show them any favor,
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 had 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 the Kanaanite religion and culture, they no longer belonged in YHWH’s land. This is part of the Torah, so it is always valid. 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).
3. "nor may you intermarry with them: you must not give your daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for your son,
Intermarry with them: 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. 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)
4. "because he will cause your child to turn away from following Me, so they will serve other elohim, and YHWH's anger will be ignited against you, and He will let you be destroyed swiftly.
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. Your child will be considered "plunder" for their deity. Even wise King Shlomoh was not strong enough to avoid this kind of result when he intermarried for political reasons. Against you: the parents are held responsible since they allowed their children to unite with these pagans. In Torah, they are under authority and cannot always make their own decisions, as much as they want to.
5. "Rather, this is what you must do to them: tear down their altars, and shatter their uprights! Chop down their groves, and burn their carved images with fire,
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 trees are to be planted near an altar to YHWH (16:21), so no such association will even be imagined by those who are used to such things. Yet the traditions of both Christmas trees and steeples were rooted in this very practice, and many still tolerate it. Pagan concepts must be removed from our minds, our homes, our traditions, our vocabulary, and our priorities.
6. "because you are a people set apart to your Elohim; you are the nation YHWH your Elohim has chosen to be an especially-valued treasure out of all the nations that are on the face of the earth.
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, and not here in His Land! You must be kept cleaner than the rest, polished better than others, and not exposed to filth like some other vessels He had made. “Many are called—but few are chosen”, for only those who go the distance can be YHWH’s special treasure.
7. "YHWH did not delight in you or choose you because of your being more numerous than all [other] nations, because you were [actually] the smallest of any nation.
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, because He could best show that it was He who was doing it when it was obvious that the ones He was using 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 light is put inside a large room, it dissipates, but when in a small one, it is intensified.
8. "Rather, [it is] because of YHWH's love for you, and because He kept the oath that He swore to your ancestors, [that] YHWH has brought you out with a firm hand rescued your from the slave-quarters--from the hand of Pharaoh, the sovereign of Egypt.
9. "So recognize that YHWH is your Elohim; He is the Elohim--the faithful El--who keeps the pledge with lovingkindness toward those who love Him and keep His commandments--to [the] thousand[th] generation,
Recognize: rest assured and do not doubt it. 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, He still also loves each of us.
10. "but pays back in full the ones who hate Him (to his face, to his destruction). He will not defer to the one who hates Him; He will repay him in full to his face!
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, for in it He has told us what He really wants. (Compare Yaaqov/James 4:4.)
11. "So be careful to carry out the command, the prescribed customs, and the legal procedures [about] which I myself am giving you orders today!"
The (singular) command: a reference back to 6:4ff. He repeats the same thing over and over so it will keep ringing in their ears after he dies.
TORAH PORTION
VaEthkhanan
(Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11)
INTRODUCTION: Moshe begins by recounting how he begged YHWH to let him cross into the Land—even if just to end his life there, we might surmise. But Moshe does not seem to see it that way. He says, “I have only just begun to know you…” as if his death would be a waste of all that he had learned. Yes, he ensures that it won’t be, by passing it all on to Israel, and Israel to Y’hoshua, for safekeeping, but it seems he is not aware that, as Yeshua put it, YHWH is not the Elohim of the dead but of the living (Mark 12:27), and that one who has begun to know Him will not cease to exist when his fallen body expires. No, indeed; Yeshua, having received more revelation about such things, says that to know YHWH is eternal life. (Yoch. 17:3) If we have indeed begun to know Him, we will go on to know Him further, as Moshe asked to do. That wish was granted, and it is hinted at in the oblique wording of YHWH’s reply to him: “You are not permitted to cross THIS Yarden”—as if there is another Yarden to cross, and a Land more real than this one, for “the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal”. (2 Corinthians 4:18) Those who visit the Land today, though blessed beyond description, still come away feeling a little disappointed if they expect it to be a “magic kingdom”. It is still part of the fallen physical world. YHWH didn’t want Moshe to experience that, but took him directly to the Land of which it is merely a shadow.
And that theme continues in a different vein later in this portion, which (4:9-12, 15-20) gives us a lengthier description of why YHWH does not like idols—even (or especially) of Himself, for that is indeed what the golden calf was supposed to be. When YHWH “appeared”, no form was seen, because none of His creations—not a calf, not a fish, not a bird, not a star, and especially not in a still, silent form—can adequately describe Him. The only image He has permitted of Himself is us—human beings, though the image is truncated. It is to be a living image, not a lifeless one. Even the one who bore the full, undiminished image of Elohim could not remain dead any longer than was necessary “to fulfill all righteousness”. And we do not worship the image, but only the One of Whom it is still but a shadow. So remember, He says, what you saw—and what you didn’t see.
This portion is the heart of the Torah. In addition to the reiteration of the ten commands that summarize all the rest (chapter 5), our “credo” or “manifesto” is here in its most succinct form: “Listen, O Israel, YHWH is our Elohim; YHWH is one…” (6:4-9) “Listen” alerts us that what is being said here is not something we want to miss. “YHWH is one”—the remedy given in advance for a hard-to-overcome teaching that got engrained in so many even of us who are hearing the call back to our ancient covenant, because we did not listen well enough. Yes, Yeshua is something—and much more than we are, at least until we receive our originally-intended bodies and spirits back—but he is not “the part of YHWH that could be seen”, for as even the New Testament says, no one has seen YHWH at any time! Listen well!
That emphasis on listening crops up several times in this part of the Torah. Moshe emphasizes, “This time, Israel, listen…” (4:1) Don’t do what your parents did and hear, but forget what you have heard. Be “doers of the word, not hearers only”, or you will forget what you heard and the life-giving message it carries. (See Yaaqov/James 1:22ff)
And the next verse is all-important: Don’t add to these words or take away from them, so that you CAN keep them.” If we had obeyed just this one command, we would not have so many different religions, cults, or denominations based on the same book, because every one of them gets its foothold by emphasizing just one part or a few parts and pretty much ignoring or sidelining the others. That is a sure way to get out of balance, and to ensure that they will become burdensome, cumbersome, and as impossible to obey as the Church later said they were—though YHWH Himself said His commands were NOT too hard to keep, and even the New Testament says “His commandments are not burdensome”! (1 Yochanan 5:3) Yeshua said that if we follow the Torah through the method or technique he taught, those who are overburdened will find them an easy yoke and quite restful to our souls. (Mat. 11:29) Nothing could better describe what the Torah was meant to be when understood properly.
Preserving the Gains
No less than 18 times in this Torah portion is one variant or another of the Hebrew word shomer used. Many times it is translated “keep” as in “keep the commandments”. That’s fine if you understand “keep” not so much in the sense of “obey” (for that is implied in the “do” part, but in the more common way we use the word “keep”—hang onto something that you have.
Over and over Moshe tells Israel to “keep” what YHWH (through him) has given us, because already he has seen just how easy it is to lose it all. This is such a great treasure, he says: What other nation has an Elohim that relates to them personally, who dwells right nearby, and actually lets us hear Him speak? (Deut. 4:7) This is a big deal! And it’s just another reason we don’t need images and icons; we have the real thing right here!
And the laws He gave are incomparable. (4:8) Obey them, and you are less likely to die! (45:40) No one else has anything that works so well in preserving order, settling disputes peacefully, making sure justice is done, and quenching violence before it escalates. Why would you let something that valuable slip away?
Most of us wouldn’t do so intentionally, but we can all very easily get distracted and stop paying attention to it. That’s why he repeats it over and over: Shomer! The most basic sense of the word is “guard” in the specific sense of “building a defense around it”. Moshe highlights the need even more by emphasizing that he is not going to be able to accompany our ancestors into the Land (4:21-23), so there won’t be someone to do the thinking for them. They would be all the more responsible to pay attention to the many potential ways they could be enticed to stop being watchful. He strengthened his successor (3:28), but if we don’t also strengthen ours—our children and grandchildren (4:9), this will fall apart quickly.
So he gives us some keys. He repeats the ten commandments, with one little tweak. It’s these little anomalies that should stand out and make us take notice. Instead of saying, “Remember the Sabbath” this time, he says, “Guard the Sabbath”—yes, that too! When we work hard, we appreciate the respite it gives us. If we look at it as something we get to do, we are less likely to look at it as something we have to do. But if life gets too busy, we might make little compromises here and there. It is so easy to start down a slippery slope once we start letting it slide in little ways. So fence it off, he says, so you won’t get past a certain point if you start to lose your footing.
Another anomaly in the ten commandments is the very last one. (5:21) The rest are about things you do or don’t do, and are fairly measurable. But this one is about how you think! Don’t even let yourself want something that belongs to someone else, and you will not only short-circuit many of the other “thou shalt nots”; you will save yourself much heartache, discontent, and psychological stress. The flip side of it is, “Be thankful for what you do have, because YHWH has given you exactly what you need and as much as He knows you can handle."
Just this week I heard the story of someone who decided to not just rent a time-share vacation home, but actually buy it. After all, if it’s nice to take a break, wouldn’t it be better to take a break more of the time? But it has started to not seem like a vacation place anymore, but just one more thing they have to take care of with all the upkeep that requires, because they invested in it. After all, the Sabbath comes only one day in seven; we appreciate it more that way. Less can be more; we maximize the potential in the few things we focus on if our interests are not dissipated.
And Moshe says essentially that about the Torah: Don’t add to it. He wrote down everything YHWH told him on the mountain and added no more (5:22). Sure, he may have been shown a few pictures so he would know the “how-to” of some things, but he said that if we add to it or take away from these few things, we won’t be able to keep His commands. (4:2) Yes, build fences, but remember they aren’t the rules themselves, and transgressing the fences is not always a bad thing, if we need to do so to rescue someone. And the more fences we build, the more ground we lose that we might need for something else important. The more fences we build, the more we lose sight of the simple commands themselves, and they might get lost in the busyness of it all. That’s the story of our history; don’t repeat the mistake!
And don’t take away from it. Just because we may not be able at a certain point in history to carry out every command in its fullness, that doesn’t mean it’s not important. Study all you can and learn the lesson behind it all the same.
One of the best ways to guard our treasure of a heritage is to, from the very start, remove the influences that are likely to lure us away from it. (7:1-6) And never forget who gave it to you. (6:12) The Passover is one of the ways He built into the calendar as a tool to teach and pass on our heritage (6:20-25), but that should be just one of many ways we do so; talk about it in every kind of setting, because His truth belongs in and addresses every context. (6:7)
“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” Someone always wants to take it away from us. Be on your guard. Oh, and don’t forget the rest of the command: “Guard these commands—and DO them!”
Study questions:
1. After 120 years—40 of them in intense connection with YHWH--Moshe feels that he has only begun to know Him. (Deut. 3:24) If we feel otherwise, what does it say about us? How did Moshe reflect his thoughts about this and the shortness of life in Psalm 90?
2. Why was YHWH angry with Moshe? (3:26) What does this tell you about His view of responsibility for others? What does it say about our choices today, even after a lifetime of faithfulness?
3. YHWH told Moshe he would not get to cross over THIS Yarden. (3:27) Why do you think He phrased it that way? Is there another Yarden? Would Moshe have been treated justly, considering all of his labor for YHWH,if he did not get to cross over THAT one? How does this give us hope in our own disappointments?
4. How was Y’hoshua the right man to lead Israel at this next stage in our history? (3:28)
5. If you knew this was the last time you would get to speak to someone important to you, what would be foremost on your heart as you spoke to them? How is this reflected in Moshe’s words to Israel? (Chapter 4) How does this compare with 2 Kefa/Peter 1:10-15 (a book that alludes strongly to Moshe’s Psalm 90)? With 2 Timothy 4:5-8?
6. How does keeping YHWH’s commandments enable us to live? (4:1)
7. How would adding to or taking away from His commandments not allow you to keep them all? (4:2) In which direction do you most often err? How would keeping only His commandments rather than the doctrines invented by men as well enable you to make corrections in this regard?
8. How might keeping YHWH’s commandments make you appear wiser than you might otherwise be? (4:6) How are His commandments a “shortcut” or “fast track” where others have to learn by trial and error? After two and a half millennia, can you answer Moshe’s question in 4:7-8 without including the nations that have been most heavily influenced by Moshe and his direct successors? What about his question in 4:32-34?
9. How does Moshe keep us from letting the words of 4:7-8 go to our heads? (4:9) What solution does he give to the possibility that all of this greatness could be lost? (4:9, 10, 15)
10. What do you think it means that Israel stood “under the mountain” while YHWH made the covenant with us? (4:11) How do you think this might have been physically possible? In what smaller-scale covenant do we stand under something? How might these two ideas relate?
11. How does he specifically say that Israel is different from other nations? (4:19-20) What are the implications of such a privilege? What are the biggest dangers that come with such high ground? (4:23-26)
12. How has 4:27 been very precisely fulfilled? What remedy does YHWH give for this? How does the fact that you are reading this right now relate to His promise in 4:29-31? What conditions does He put on its being completely fulfilled? How is this a challenge in the particular situations you are now facing? How does it provide you with hope? What provision(s) has YHWH given us to make this degree of commitment possible?
13. What is the reason YHWH tells us that He does miracles (extraordinary signs)? (4:35) How does this bring your view of His amazing acts to a practical focus?
14. How does Moshe set an example in 4:41-43 of what he tells Israel to do in 19:9?
15. What orientation does 4:46 exemplify when it speaks of the area they were still in as “beyond the Yarden”?
16. What does Moshe means when he says the covenant was NOT made with their ancestors, but only with the present generation? (5:3) How does Mat. 22:32 make the answer clearer? How does it also show a different side of this idea? How does the “us” in 5:2 apply today?
17. What do verses 13-14 of chapter 5 say is the main purpose of the Sabbath? How was this a revolutionary concept in that day?
18. What phrase does Moshe add in this retelling of the fifth commandment (5:15) that was not in Exodus 20:12? Why might this have been necessary? How does this strengthen the hearers’ motivation to obey it?
19. Which commandment deals with the underlying reason that makes several of the others necessary?
20. How was the tone of their words (5:24) different from the tone of their parents’ (1:34)? Why did YHWH concede that they had a point and that a mediator might be appropriate? What was it that made Him say, “I wish they were always this way”?
21. YHWH boils all His commandments down to one (6:1ff); what is it?
22. What are some nuances of the word shema'? (6:3, 4) I.e., what does it include?
23. Aside from the obvious literal meanings and methods, how can you carry out 6:6-9 in your situation today?
24. To what do the “gates” of 6:9 refer in an ancient context? What would a modern parallel be?
25. When we are especially blessed, what temptation seems to always accompany it because of our fallen nature? (5:11-12)
26. Which of His commandments at that time was the hardest to fulfill, to the point that YHWH had to emphasize that it was “right and appropriate”? (6:17-19) Why is that the case? (7:1-6)
27. What is the chief and most effective way to keep the covenant alive? (6:7, 20-21)
28. What is not a reason YHWH chose Israel as His special treasure? (7:7-8) How does knowing this help you to realign your values so that they match up with His?
Companion Passage:
The Sidewalk
for Kids
Do you want to be known as somebody who’s smart? This Torah portion tells us how we can be. Moshe told us that if we keep YHWH’s commands, other people will look at us and be amazed at how smart we are. (D’varim/Deuteronomy 4:5-6)
It’s NOT smart, he says, to make idols. As teh prophets tell us, they can’t see or hear anything we might pray to them. They can’t answer our prayers. They can’t do anything to help us. And even if the things some nations worship are real, they are demons—mean, nasty, and they change their minds easily, so we can’t trust them to keep their promises. They are scary things to be around; no wonder people made such awful sacrifices to try to keep them away. But YHWH is not like that:
“What other nation has an Elohim that is so close to it as YHWH is to us if we invite Him to be?” (4:7)
He wants to be close to His people. That’s why He tells us how to be clean so He can stand to be near us. You know how you want to get away from something stinky; well, He wants us nice to be around, and the Torah tells us how.
“And what nation has laws that come anywhere close to what YHWH has given us?” (4:8) Other nations have had to keep testing their ideas about how to do justice and seeing if they really work, and if not, they have to start all over. YHWH gave us a head start. He told us ahead of time what would work. He gave us a shortcut, and we need to show Him how much we appreciate that by not worshipping other things.
But idols aren’t always something we can see so easily. You pretty much only see them in some parts of Asia today, and in other places, though people won’t always admit they are idols. But He’s not just talking about carvings or statues. There are other kinds of images we pay too much attention to, including our self-image. We “idolize” movie stars or pop singers, even calling them “idols” again these days.
But really, anything that you consider more important than keeping YHWH’s commandments--whatever you make everything else wait for—is what you are making most important in your life, and that is what worship really is. You might even believe in YHWH, but if you don’t put Him first when it comes to making choices, you really are worshipping something else.
So as Moshe knows he is about to leave the people of Israel, what he says over and over is “Be on your guard!” (4:2, 6, 9, 15, 23) It is not an easy thing to avoid temptation, and he knew there would be temptation, so we be prepared with a mind to expect it.
Moshe knew we would not do a good enough job at this, but would end up being thrown out of YHWH’s Land, and, since we wanted to worship something else, our punishment would be that we would be forced to worship other things. (4:25-28) But still, Moshe knew that even then, if we turned back around, YHWH would be eager to receive us back, like the Prodigal Son in the story Yeshua told:
“Yet if from there you will really search for YHWH your Elohim, you will find (Him), if you push hard to find Him with all your determination and all your energy.” (4:29)
If we do that, He will let us find Him, because He will not abandon His promise to our ancestors, and He will not abandon someone who truly wants to know Him. (4:30-31)
And that is where we are right now, so the next thing he says is particularly for us to pay attention to: Is there anyone else like Him? (4:32-40)
The book of Bel and the Dragon, which some ancient manuscripts include as part of the book of Daniel, tells a story that makes fun of people who believe that idols actually eat the offerings people make to them.
A king asks Daniel, "You don’t think Bel is a living god? Don’t you see how much he eats and drinks every day?” But Daniel points out that the idol is made of clay covered by metal, so it can’t eat or drink. The king is upset and demands that the priests of Bel show him who eats the offerings made to the idol. The priests then challenge the king to set out the offerings as they did every day (including 40 sheep!) and then seal the entrance to the temple. If the idol does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; but if it does, Daniel will be killed!
But he exposes their trick (by scattering ashes all over the floor of the temple while the king watches, after the priests have left) and shows that the "sacred" meal of Bel is actually eaten every night by the priests and their wives and children, who get in through a secret door after the temple's doors are locked. The next morning, Daniel shows the king the footprints on the temple floor, so the priests of Bel are arrested.
Moshe says YHWH is different. He is real! Has there ever been another Elohim that really did so many good things for His people? (4:) Moshe challenges us to find one. We won’t, and if you are smart, you won’t waste your whole life trying to find one, because He has shown Himself to the generations before us, and if we listen well to what they learned, again, we will have a head start at making our lives really count.
Part of Bashan near Golan
The Renewal of
VA-ETHKHANAN
The title of this portion speaks of Moshe “begging YHWH for favor” in regard to going over to see the Land to whose brink he had led the people for 40 years. But he was refused. He was not permitted to rest on his laurels, for “from those to whom much is given, much is required.” (Luke 12:48)
And this did not change with the renewal of the covenant: “Don’t you realize that those who run on a race-course all run, but [only] one receives the prize? In this same way, run in such a way as to apprehend [it]… So I run in this way as not without a particular goal; I fight in this way, so as not to be boxing at [mere] air. Rather, what I batter is my body, bringing it into servitude [to me], not in a way that, [after] having proclaimed it to others, I myself might be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)
Now a “loophole” of mercy may be suggested in the precise wording of what YHWH told him, though: “You will not cross over THIS Yarden.” (Deut. 3:27) It is not certain whether the mountain where Yeshua was transfigured and Moshe and Eliyahu joined him was within the borders of the Promised Land (I suspect it was Mt. Sinai or this same Mt. Nevo), but if King David will be present in the Kingdom (Ezek. 34:23; 37:25), then Moshe will undoubtedly be there too. He may not have been taking into account the fact that though his days were numbered (per Psalm 90, which he wrote), the life he was then at the end of is not the only life for one who knows YHWH. There would be another Yarden—in the Kingdom, and this one he would be able to cross over. “We don’t [just] look at the things that we can see…, for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18)
Moshe goes on to tell Israel, "Do not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor diminish it in any way, so that you can carefully guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim that I am laying upon you.” (Deut. 4:2) The exact wording is crucial. “So that you can…” YHWH told Israel that the commandments are not beyond our reach. (30:12) But that depends on our leaving them in the condition in which He gave them to us. If we tamper with them, they may no longer be so possible. If we add new obligations, we may not be able to fulfill all those we already have. The delicate balance is easily upset: “Laying aside the commandment of Elohim, you hold to the tradition of men… For Moshe said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and, ‘Whoever curses father or mother, let him die the death’, but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever you might be profited by me is a qorban (an offering)”, [he shall be clear of his obligation], and you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, nullifying the effect of the word of Elohim through your tradition.” (Mark 7:8-11)
And at the very end of Yochanan’s vision, the last Scripture that we have, this same warning is reiterated, this time with a penalty: “If anyone should add to these things, Elohim will add to him the plagues that have been described in this book. And if anyone should take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, Elohim will take away his share in the Tree of Life and [his allotment] from within the holy city, of those who have been enrolled into this book.” (Rev. 22:18-19)
Moshe reiterated that there were penalties for not obeying, yet pointed out that those who stuck with YHWH had remained intact. This is why it is so important to “guard and carry out [His laws and principles of court-ruling], because this [will be] your wisdom and your perceptiveness as the [other] peoples who hear of all these customs will see it, and say, ‘Wow! This nation is [one] learned and intelligent people!'--because which [other] nation is [so] great that their mighty one comes close to them as YHWH our Elohim does whenever we invite Him to? And what great nation is there whose customs and rulings compare to this instruction that I am setting before you today?” (Deut. 4:6-8)
As David put it, “I am wiser than my teachers when I meditate on Your testimonies.” (Psalm 119:99) They are a way to avoid all the trial-and-error that uses up half of everyone else’s life.
Yeshua himself did not have to make any claims for how superior his teachings were to anything else that competed with them, even when some of the things he said were hard to swallow. They spoke for themselves to people who were used to the alternatives: “To whom [else] can we go? You have the words of eternal life!” (Yochanan 6:68)
But, as Thomas Jefferson said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” It is so easy to lose the exquisite things we have inherited, in the face of all those who would love to take advantage of us and deceive us into thinking their glitzy ideas are better, so they can put their yoke on us. 90% of people in history have not lived as free men, and that may be an underestimate. So Moshe warns us to hold tightly to what we have received and not believe the serpents that would again beguile those who have escaped their grip:
“Only, be on guard for yourself, and keep strict watch over your soul, so that you will not forget the things your eyes have seen, nor will they be taken away from your heart all the days of your life, but instill them in your children and grandchildren!” (Deut. 4:9)
Kefa, Yeshua’s disciple, when approaching the end of his earthly life, did the same thing Moshe was doing: “I consider it the right [thing to do], for as long as I am [still] in this tent, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my temporary dwelling is swiftly impending, as indeed our master Yeshua the Messiah has made clear to me. So I, too, will be diligent to produce a lasting reminder so that after my departure you may at all times have something [to hold in your hands], for when we made our master Yeshua the Messiah known to you, we … had been [direct] eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 3:13-16)
There cannot be a more reliable testimonial than that; all else is either hearsay or theory. So YHWH gave all Israel a vivid display of His power. But He was careful to remind us that “you were hearing the sound of words… You did not see any form on the day YHWH spoke to you at Khorev from the midst of the flames.” The closest they could come to a “shape” of YHWH was a flame, which constantly changes form. There was a very deliberate reason for this: “…so that you will not act corruptly by making for yourselves a particular carved image, resembling anything” in the earth or sky. (Deut. 4:12-19)
YHWH is no common deity, and He wants a unique relationship with His people: “Has there ever been anything as great as this? Or has [anything] like it [ever] been heard? Has a nation ever heard the voice of an Elohim speaking out of the midst of the fire as you have heard--and survived?” (Deut. 4:32-33)
When the prophet like Moshe arrived with YHWH’s words in his mouth and YHWH’s authorization to be heard (18:18), the people’s response was similar: “No one ever spoke like this man!” (Yochanan 7:46)
In chapter 5 we see the first renewing of the covenant—with the next generation, the first to enter the Land, so it stood until Yehudah came back from exile, then again until it was time to start bringing exiles back from the Northern Kingdom. The renewal we are now under (with a few allowances made for our non-ideal situation) is in place until we all come back and unite again under one head. (Hoshea 1:11) Then I suspect it will be renewed again, under slightly different terms than the current one, since the Kingdom will be a very different time with unique circumstances.
But it will still be the spirit of the same Torah as written, not as reimagined by mere men, who have no right to add to or take away from it. And the shema’ (6:4-9) will still be its centerpiece.
View from
Mt. Nevo
Don't Lose These Unbelievable Treasures!
The land in which I was born and have lived most of my life is undergoing one of the greatest times of internal strain in its history. The founding fathers knew what a treasure we had—“if you can keep it”, as Ben Franklin wryly commented. Today we have seemed to reach a tipping point where its value is not being allowed to be taught to the next generation, and that is when we most stand to lose this good gift.
Moshe, who had experienced being an insider in the most powerful nation of his day, yet knew its flaws and had seen how easily it could fall, recognized how much greater was the culture he had been allowed to help bring about, and he did not want the generation that he knew would outlive him to miss it:
“Which [other] nation is [so] great that their mighty one comes close to them as YHWH our Elohim does whenever we invite Him to? And what great nation is there whose customs and rulings compare to this instruction…?” (4:7-8, compare 4:33-34; 5:22) As much as we love the lands of our birth, none of them compares to Israel, which was YHWH’s own idea, and its laws and culture were designed by Him.
They are in such a perfect balance that nothing needs to be added. (4:2) If we do add to them, He says we won’t be able to obey them all. If you add on one side, to obey the extra commandments of men, you’ll have to diminish obedience somewhere else, for you will no longer have the resources to give adequate heed to them all. That is the only way His commands get out of reach. (Compare 30:11-14)
Our laws today, in contrast, as much as they may be based on His, are still man-made and cannot endure forever. All that can be shaken will be shaken. (Heb. 12:27, based on Haggai 2:7, 21 and Yeshayahu 13:13) Can we salvage our nations from the ruin to which we see them heading?
We should certainly try. During the Babylonian captivity, Yirmeyahu told us to “seek the welfare of your place of exile, for in its welfare you yourself will find well-being.” (29:7) So don’t write off such good things as lost causes too quickly. But their fading away might galvanize the regathering of Israel so we can do an even better job of demonstrating YHWH’s intended culture than we did before, having a perfect leader this time around.
Our exile is living proof of His less-pleasant promises (4:25-28), which therefore gives us confidence that the more positive ones that follow them (4:29-31) will also be fulfilled, and they are indeed beginning to become evident already. This Torah is for today as much as it was for Moshe’s day.
Over and over YHWH told us He wanted us to succeed and enjoy the great things He was giving us, but we can only do so if we’re extremely careful to do exactly as He said. One U.S. founding father said, “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” How much more when given a more perfect freedom? Because we have a more “ancient foe” who “seeks to work us woe”.
What Israel has let slide most often is that “YHWH is Elohim; there is no other.” (4:39; 6:4) Idolatry was one way we lost sight of it, so he emphasized that YHWH has no shape we could replicate by which to define or limit Him. (4:12, 15-18) Only a voice (words). Later the tendency was to equate another with Him. He does have a man who is His associate (Zkh. 13:7), who manifests Him perfectly (Yoch. 1:18), but though they are one (united), they are not the same. (Yoch. 10:30) Honoring the representative does honor his Sender (Phil. 2:11), but Yeshua made it clear that the Father is greater than he. (Yoch. 14:28)
Moshe had an uncanny grasp of human tendencies. So he ensured that some safeguards were anchored while he was still alive. But he knew he could not be there for the next generation, so he harped on us to never forget what he said.
These principles make us wise; don’t ever let them slip away! (4:6-9, 23)
Guardians of a
Great Privilege
About 45 years ago Phil Keaggy sang, “When everything else is falling apart and crumbling to the ground, there’s a Kingdom emerging…” How much more is it falling apart now than when he wrote that. But we also now have more information about the character of that Kingdom: It is the restoration of Israel, the nation that was just in its incipient stage when Moshe warned us to guard it with everything that we have. How much more must we guard it now, as its foundations are again being threatened even as it is being reconstituted.
But how do we guard it?
First, don’t change it. (Deut. 4:2) Many tried to redefine the Kingdom when it got put on hold, rather than preserving whatever we could keep intact in the face of the destruction of its focal point and the scattering of its guardians. (4:27) They thought this must mean the hopes the Torah held out would never be fulfilled, rather than just being deferred until our violations of it were remedied. It is “hard-wired” to bounce back when the right conditions are met. (4:29) They are being met now, and the form He gave it in is what we need.
So don’t be ashamed of it, because its superiority is self-evident (4:6) when held up against such bizarre and mindless laws as are being made today due to pressure from deluded masses who think their pipe dreams are reality. Call the bluff of those who trust in things that can’t be trusted since they don’t really exist. (4:23, 25, 28)
Thrive on the advantages His way gives us, rather than cowering before those who would accuse you of being wrongly “privileged”. It is indeed a privilege to know Him so directly rather than being several steps removed from Him as other nations are. (4:32-34) But that’s something to celebrate, not to be sorry for. The truth is that anyone who wants the same privilege Israel has is invited to participate in it; this kind of privilege takes nothing away from anyone else. Maintaining it (4:9) is what allows it to spread so that the only ones who “have not” are those who don’t ask for what is available. (Yaaqov/James 4:2) Taking it away from its guardians would guarantee that no one would have anything, because in the hands of those who don’t see how valuable it is, it will be lost to all and replaced by cheap, common substitutes that hold no water at all. (4:15-19)
He has made us free (4:20), so “do not become entangled again with a yoke of slavery”. (Galatians 5:1) His rules are designed to keep us, not necessarily happy, but truly joyful, fruitful, flourishing, and increasing. (4:40; 6:3) They offer protection when we need it most. (4:41ff) They are equitable in the relief they offer from life’s burdens. (5:13) They allow us to live in security without the fear of many ills that plague other societies (5:16-17), and even offer some reprieve from the sweat of our brow (6:10-11). Why would we throw this away for something that only oppresses us? Because we end up serving whatever we worship (5:8), and the qualitative difference between serving YHWH and serving any alternative is as radical as it gets.
But success of this type requires removing what would impede it (7:2-5), just as maximum fruitfulness in a garden requires removal of the weeds. YHWH knows which kinds of thorns and soils will frustrate the growth of what He plants in His Land, and so gives us detailed instructions as to which conditions they can be best cultivated in. A holy people (7:6) requires a wall around its garden to keep the thieves and foxes out. He doesn’t want His “prize plants” (7:7-8) trampled or devoured by those who could never appreciate them. But slackness and neglect on the part of the groundskeepers can be just as destructive (7:9-11), and the responsibility for both of these protective measures rests squarely on us. On this we can never compromise, or the treasures He entrusted to us to keep intact for the generations that follow us will indeed be compromised.
Close to 20 years after the song cited above, Phil Keaggy wrote another song called, “Let Everything Else Go”. It was about meeting the visible representative of the King face to face—for the Kingdom is primarily about the King, and no one but He can rightly rule the Kingdom He designed. There’s nothing else like it in the universe. It is irreplaceable. That’s why Yeshua said to “sell” everything else to acquire it (Mat. 13:45-46), and why Moshe said to keep it well-guarded at any cost. (Deut. 7:2) Do not let it be compromised on your watch!
Why We Shouldn’t
Add or Take Away
If to love YHWH (Deut. 6:5) and our neighbors (Lev. 19:18) are the two pegs on which the whole Torah hangs (Mat. 22:40), another verse here is a key to how it works together: “You must not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, so that you may keep the commandments of YHWH your Elohim.” (Deut. 4:2)
This pivotal verse tells us clearly that we cannot keep the commands that He has already given if we make up new commands of our own, for His are so perfectly tuned and balanced that to add to one side of the scale will certainly diminish another aspect of His word. If we put too much emphasis on one part of His truth, we will put too little on another that is equally true, that He equally wants done—and vice versa. We need it all, in the proportions He gave it.
He knew we would get it wrong and suffer the consequences, so He built into it a path back to the right balance.
After Judah went astray, this haftarah says, “Comfort, console My people! … Speak to Yerushalayim’s heart; call out to her that the time she has done for what she bent out of shape has been accepted. She has received from YHWH’s hand double on all of her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)
He then says to level off a highway for our Elohim. (40:3-4)
That same Isaiah—for there is no “deutero-Isaiah”, if you at all consider Yeshua to be an authority on the subject (see Yochanan/John 12:38-39)—had already said that when YHWH turns a desert back into a lush garden, there will be a “highway of holiness” where no one can go wrong if he simply stays on it, for there will be nothing unclean on it. (35:8) He’ll build the highway, but we have to maintain it, straightening what has become uneven.
Her time should have been done by the time the second major part of Yeshayahu (which begins here in chapter 40) points to—when the iniquity was paid off, when YHWH’s “Arm”, the Messiah, was revealed. (53:1—the first of Yeshua’s quotes from Isaiah in John 12; the other is from chapter 6.) But he saw they were not ready to receive it; he told Yerushalayim, “If you had only known the things that belong to your peace… but for now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Luke 19:42)
Judah had added so much to YHWH’s words that they could no longer tell the difference between His word and men’s commands. (Mat. 15:9) They had stressed the details of the Torah, but “not seen the forest for the trees”, failing to recognize in its patterns the underlying principles (Mat. 23:23) which make these details so full of life (6:3, 18) to those who keep them for the right reasons. This misplaced emphasis actually prevented others from finding the Kingdom that the right balance would have pointed them to. (23:13)
So they had to go into the “Plan B” mode that Yirmeyahu said would also later come on the other part of Israel (Jer. 16:18), the Northern Kingdom: “receiv[ing] double on…her sins”, having to wait longer before the consolation could come, for though the iniquity was indeed paid off, most did not utilize the provision YHWH had made.
We, that Northern Kingdom, on the other hand, though we have sometimes also added to His words (defining morality more legalistically than He does), have more often been guilty of taking away from His words—saying some of them are no longer important. Case in point: Yeshua said, “Keep my commandments…as I have kept my Father’s commandments…” (John 15:10) We deduced that if he kept those commandments fully, we no longer needed to! He gave us new commandments—easier ones, right?
But that would have violated the order to not add to YHWH’s commands. No, he himself very quickly precluded that interpretation, explaining, “All things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” (15:15) His commands were no different from the Father’s; he just clarified how to apply them to other situations, going to the heart of the matter. So just as Judah needs to remove the “doctrine” (literally, instruction—in Hebrew, Torah) label from some human commands, we “northerners” need to restore the parts of His word that we have diminished, and help restore the balance.
We’ve been scattered, as He said we would be if we were to defile His Land, as we did. Many accepted His offer of provision in the Messiah and have experienced YHWH being a “mini-sanctuary” in our exile. (Ezek. 11:16)
But now we are in a position to take up even more provision, seeking after Him with our whole heart and soul, returning to Him and hearkening (shema’) to His voice (Deut. 4:29-31). He listens for the tone of our words when we respond. (5:24) If it’s genuine and sincere, He will recognize where our hearts are. (5:25) He wished they’d have always been so willing to obey; but this time we have already been given the power it takes, so let’s not disappoint Him!
Plain Directions
for a Clear Path
Moshe is in the final stretch of his life, so his main purpose now is to make what he says as memorable as possible in the ears of those he’s leaving behind, so they’ll never forget what he says. One way he’ll do this later in the discourse that makes up what we now know as the book of D’varim is by singing it in a melody that would stick in their minds.
The haftarah is the point where Isaiah is making a transition from predictions of the “gloom and doom” that echo what Moshe said would later befall Israel (4:25-28) to the bright hope that awaits them when they come back around, as Moshe also predicts that they eventually will (4:29-31), after they wear themselves out trying to have their own way and are finally ready to admit YHWH had a better plan.
In contrast to the rough road they chose for themselves, he gives the order, “Clear YHWH’s path! Level off a highway for our Elohim! … When every dip is raised up, when every bump is flattened down, when the steep parts are leveled and the impassable places made smooth, then all mortals together will see just how important YHWH is!” (Isa. 40:3-5) That word “important” here literally means “carrying the most weight”. The One who made the stars has no equal! (40:25-26) The Torah portion says the same thing. (Deut. 4:32-35) No one else comes close to comparing with Him, especially not lower-level angelic beings that He posted over the other nations (4:19), who often act too big for their robes (Ezek. 28:15) and fight with each other.
The language here is reminiscent of those roadbuilders who blast gaps in the mountains with dynamite so the way is not hard to traverse. This is meant to be navigable by young children. (6:20) Isaiah had talked about this highway earlier, and he said it has to be such that even a fool can’t go wrong on it. (35:8)
How do we do that? Streamline it! Make it a road He doesn’t have to slow down to navigate! It also needs to be one easily traveled by the weakest and most frail (Gen. 33:13), for He is bringing them along too in the way a gentle Shepherd eases the expectant mothers and their newborns along the trek. (Isa. 40:11) Another way Moshe describes this streamlining of YHWH’s words is usually translated “teach them diligently” (Deut. 6:7), but it really means “bring them to a point for your children”, i.e., sharpen them, polish away any barbs that would cause a snag in their understanding. Make them go straight to the bull’s eye like a well-honed arrow. The same sentiment is expressed in different terms by Havaqquq (Habakkuk):
“Write down the vision, make it clear, so that someone who is proclaiming it can read it quickly.” (2:2)
Simple, distinct, large-lettered signs that are easy to see when driving at high speed! This is not a time for complicating excess baggage. Keep it to just what He said and no more. (Deut. 4:2) Use the broad brush, for this is a message for the masses. It is an integral part of “the Gospel of the Kingdom” about which Yeshua spoke so often. He got his authority for it from prophecies like these. The message must be plain enough for anyone of any intelligence level to follow.
The Shema’ is just that. There are signposts all over this Torah portion pointing out that the main idea is coming up (e.g., 6:1-3): “YHWH is our Elohim; YHWH alone!” There is no other. (4:39)
We only need one Elohim; it doesn’t get any simpler than that, no matter how intricate His knowledge had to be to create stars—or DNA. That all comes later, as the apostles noted when they said to keep the entry rules minimal since the message had to be uncomplicated enough to go out to all nations; the rest, the details, can be learned at whatever pace one can handle. (Acts 15:19-21)
He says, remember what you saw—and didn’t see! There was no shape to this Elohim. (4:12) Anything people claim is a depiction of Him is an idol (4:15-18), and Paul says that what idolaters really worship is not that image, but a demon “behind it”. (1 Cor. 10:20, based on Deut. 32:17) Usually there was one for sun, one for rain, etc.
That we can be free from those demonic overlords that call themselves gods and have a direct line to Heaven when we need to call on Him (4:7) certainly is good news (Gospel)! No more oppression from those who deliberately keep us from being wise and understanding, dumbing us down so they can lead us down a dead-end alley without our even knowing it. (4:6)
The only image He permitted of Himself is us—human beings. (Gen. 1:27) Though the image is truncated (Gen. 5:3), it is a living image, not a lifeless idol. And the one unsullied original pattern, the Messiah (Col. 1:15), is called “our life” (Col. 3:4), for he triumphed even over death. That simplified things even more—and that is tremendously good news!
