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Elul 9, 5763 / September 6, 2003
Elul 9, 5766 / September
2, 2006
Elul 9, 5769 /
August 29, 2009
Elul
7, 5772 /
August 25, 2012
Elul
7, 5775 /
August 22, 2015
Alleh Hadvarim
/ These are the Words
SCRIPTURES should be read first
We have just
completed Psalm 119. In twenty-two paragraphs from Aleph to Tav,
we followed our spiritual journey toward maturing in this life. Psalm 120 begins
the fifteen “Psalms of Ascent” to the hill of God. Now we should be ready to
enter the Promised Land. It is necessary for us to learn how to deal with this
world, in order to be prepared for the world to come.
When first
approached, Moses said before God, “I am not a man of words” (Exodus
4:10). Now, near the end of his life, it is written of what Moses said, “These
are the words” (Deuteronomy 1:1). Devarim means words, and is related
to devorim – a swarm of bees: to its keepers, a source of honey; to its
enemies, a sting of death. David said that God’s Word is “sweeter than honey”
(Psalm 119:103).
In the Epistle
to the Hebrews we learn, that to enter into “His rest” requires faith (Hebrews
3:19) that produces fruit / works that are in accordance with His Word
(v.17-18).
___________
Israel has wandered for thirty-nine years and ten-and-a half months (since the
middle of the first month of the year – Nisan): it is the first day of the
twelfth month – Adar, and Moses is speaking before Israel crosses the Jordan.
This is a new generation, the previous one having died out. Since he will not be
entering the Land, he is giving a history lesson for instruction in following
God and determining future leadership.
During Moses’
time of leading Israel through the wilderness, the people lived by miracles,
from eating Bread from Heaven (which they derisively called manna –
What’s this stuff?), to water from a rock; from crossing a sea on dry land, to
armies falling before them. In the new Land, they would live from the abundance
of the land. Moses was a prophetic type of Yeshua, and following his time,
benches of judges were to make major decisions: there would be no single direct
representative of God like Moses or Yeshua. This is the same situation that we
could have today, following Yeshua’s time on earth.
Consider that
(while God can do anything at any time He pleases) in Moses time and in Yeshua’s
time on earth, God worked by many obvious miracles, while in other times,
obvious miracles were not commonplace. Obvious miracles are usually associated
with God giving evidence to a significant institution, such as the nation of
Israel, the priesthood and Temple system, or Messiah and His apostles.
(V.5) Moses
undertook to expound the Torah: In Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, we
repeatedly read, “Yahweh spoke to Moses”; in Deuteronomy, we read (v.1):
“Moses spoke to all Israel”. From all of the Torah that he was given
before, Moses is now speaking as a prophet, instructing Israel for their
imminent life in the Promised Land. In other words, Moses previously spoke as a
direct mouthpiece for God, but is now instructing the people according to God’s
prior Word, as a prophet does.
V.6-18)
"Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb (Mountain of Esau), saying, 'You
have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and set your journey, . . . See,
I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore
to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their
descendants after them.' And I spoke to you at that time, saying, 'I am not able
to bear the burden of you alone. . . .Choose wise and discerning and experienced
men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.' . . . So I took
the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and appointed them heads
over you, leaders of thousands, and of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and
officers for your tribes. Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear
the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge righteously between a man
and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him. You shall not show
partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall
not fear man, for the judgment is God's. And the case that is too hard for you,
you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.' And I commanded you at that time all
the things that you should do.
Halacha:
May one who is appointed judge of a community administer justice alone? Do not
judge alone, for there is one who judges alone, as it is said, “But He is at one
with Himself, and who can turn Him (Job 23:13)?” God both judges and seals the
verdict alone, and the seal is truth (emet, composed of the first, middle, and
last letters of the alephbet). Moses said, “I am not able to bear you myself
alone (Deut 1:9).”
The seven
qualities to seek for a judge: wise men (Deut 1:13), with understanding, full of
knowledge; able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain (Ex
18:21). If such are not available, select men with four of these, else three,
else one (Midrash).
Does any one
of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the
unrighteous, and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will
judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to
constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we shall judge angels?
How much more, matters of this life? If then you have law courts dealing with
matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in
the church? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among
you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother
goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? Actually, then, it is
already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not
rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves
wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. (1 Corinthians 6:1-8)
Hebrews 3
Now, as for the rest of Moses’ speech
concerning Torah (v.7-13): “The Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His
voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of
trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My
works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said,
“They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways”; as I
swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.” ’ Take care, brethren, lest
there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away
from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is
still called ‘Today,’ lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin.”
Readings:
Reader 1* Amen These are the
words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in
the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and
Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to
Kadesh-barnea. 3 And it came about in the fortieth year, on the first day of the
eleventh month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all
that Yahweh had commanded him to give to them, 4 after he had defeated Sihon the
king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived
in Ashtaroth and Edrei. 5 Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook
to expound this torah, saying,
Reader 2* Amen 6 "Yahweh our
God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
7 Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to
all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in
the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far
as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 See, I have placed the land before
you; go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.' 9
And I spoke to you at that time, saying, 'I am not able to bear the burden of
you alone. 10 Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day
as the stars of heaven for multitude. 11 May Yahweh, the God of your fathers,
increase you a thousand-fold more than you are, and bless you, just as He has
promised you!
Reader 3* Amen 12 How can I
alone bear the load and burden of you and your strife? 13 Choose wise and
discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your
heads.' 14 And you answered me and said, 'The thing which you have said to do is
good.' 15 "So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and experienced men, and
appointed them heads over you, leaders of thousands, and of hundreds, of fifties
and of tens, and officers for your tribes. 16 "Then I charged your judges at
that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen, and judge
righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with
him. 17 'You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and
the great alike. You shall not fear man, for the judgment is God's. And the case
that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.' 18 "And I
commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.
Reader 4* Amen 19 "Then we
set out from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness
which you saw, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, just as Yahweh
our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea. 20 "And I said to you,
'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites which Yahweh our God is about
to give us. 21 'See, Yahweh your God has placed the land before you; go up, take
possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear
or be dismayed.' 22 "Then all of you approached me and said, 'Let us send men
before us, that they may search out the land for us, and bring back to us word
of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we shall enter.' 23
"And the thing pleased me and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe.
24 "And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of
Eshcol, and spied it out.
Reader 5* Amen 25 "Then they
took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us; and
they brought us back a report and said, 'It is a good land which Yahweh our God
is about to give us.' 26 "Yet you were not willing to go up, but rebelled
against the command of Yahweh your God; 27 and you grumbled in your tents and
said, 'Because Yahweh hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to
deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 'Where can we go up?
Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are bigger and
taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we
saw the sons of the Anakim there."' 29 "Then I said to you, 'Do not be shocked,
nor fear them. 30 ' Yahweh your God who goes before you will Himself fight on
your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the
wilderness where you saw how Yahweh your God carried you, just as a man carries
his son, in all the way which you have walked, until you came to this place.'
Reader 6* Amen 32 "But for
all this, you did not trust Yahweh your God, 33 who goes before you on your way,
to seek out a place for you to encamp, in fire by night and cloud by day, to
show you the way in which you should go. 34 "Then Yahweh heard the sound of your
words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying, 35 'Not one of these men, this
evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, 36
except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him and to his sons I
will give the land on which he has set foot, because he has followed Yahweh
fully.' 37 " Yahweh was angry with me also on your account, saying, 'Not even
you shall enter there. 38 'Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he
shall enter there; encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39
'Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who
this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give
it to them, and they shall possess it. 40 'But as for you, turn around and set
out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.'
Reader 7* Amen 41 "Then you
answered and said to me, 'We have sinned against Yahweh; we will indeed go up
and fight, just as Yahweh our God commanded us.' And every man of you girded on
his weapons of war, and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. 42
"And Yahweh said to me, 'Say to them, "Do not go up, nor fight, for I am not
among you; lest you be defeated before your enemies."' 43 "So I spoke to you,
but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of Yahweh,
and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. 44 "And the Amorites
who lived in that hill country came out against you, and chased you as bees do,
and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. 45 "Then you returned and wept before
Yahweh; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice, nor give ear to you. 46 "So you
remained in Kadesh many days, the days that you spent there.
Jeremiah 30:4
Now these are the words which Yahweh spoke
concerning Israel and concerning Judah . . .
Amos 2:9-10
Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite
before them, though his height was like the height of cedars and he was strong
as the oaks; I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below. 10 "And it was
I who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness
forty years that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
Psalm 120 A
Song of Ascents.
1 In my trouble I cried to Yahweh, and He
answered me. 2 Deliver my soul, O Yahweh, from lying lips, from a deceitful
tongue. 3 What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you
deceitful tongue? 4 Sharp arrows of the warrior, with the burning coals of the
broom tree. 5 Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech, for I dwell among the tents
of Kedar! 6 Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. 7 I
am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.
Hebrews 3 – 4
3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling,
consider Yeshua, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. 2 He was
faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all his house. 3 For He
has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder
of the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by
someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all
his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken
later; 6 but Messiah was faithful as a Son over His house, whose house we are,
if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. 7
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice, 8 do not
harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the
wilderness, 9 where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for
forty years. 10 "Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, 'They
always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways'; 11 as I swore
in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" 12 Take care, brethren, lest there
should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the
living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still
called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14
For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our
assurance firm until the end; 15 while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me." 16 For who provoked Him
when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by
Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who
sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that
they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 And so we
see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
4:1 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of
entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. 2 For
indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word
they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who
heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I
swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest," although His works were
finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has thus said somewhere
concerning the seventh day, "And God rested on the seventh day from all His
works"; 5 and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My rest." 6 Since
therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news
preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a
certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been
said before, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if
Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one
who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from
His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall
through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is
living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as
the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge
the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden
from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with
whom we have to do. 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Yeshua the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15
For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but
One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us
therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.
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