Commentary - Year 3 Sabbath 45

Deuteronomy 28:1 - 29:9   -   Isaiah 55:2   -   Psalm 142   -   John 14:1-31

Shevat 15, 5764 / February 7, 2004

Shevat 15, 5767 / February 3, 2007

Shevat 15, 5770 / January 30, 2010 

Shevat 15, 5773 / January 26, 2013     -     New Year for Trees / Arbor Day

Shevat 13, 5776 / January 23, 2016

Shevat 13, 5779 / January 19, 2019

Shevat 13, 5782 / January 15, 2022

Im-Shamoa / If You Hearken   SCRIPTURES should be read first

While this Torah portion had a literal application to the ancient nation of Israel, it also has a prophetic application for God’s people. Our redemption is dependent upon Yeshua's work for us, but our position is determined by how we learn obedience. These ten blessings with ten corresponding curses relate tp national issues.

The reason given for the curses is: (v.47-48) “Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things”.

Haftarah means completion of the Torah portion. Today’s Prophet brings the fitting question to follow Deuteronomy 28.

Isaiah 55:2 – Yahweh says, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.”

John 14

(V.2-3) Yeshua said that He was going away to prepare a place for His disciples, a place where there were many dwelling places. He also said that He would return to receive them to Himself. (V.6) And He said that He was the way to get there.

This was hard for the disciples then to understand, and it seems much misunderstood today.

In Revelation 21:2 we read, using the same term, of this “prepared” place, coming down from the heavens, coming to an Earth renewed by fire. It will come down after the Sabbath Millennium – the thousand year reign of Yeshua on this Earth. Then we read (v.7), “He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son”.

But, prior to this, there will be a judgment for the righteous, where each ones position will be determined. Some will have great reward, and some will suffer loss. (This has nothing to do with the judgment of the wicked.)

(1 Corinthians 3:11-15) For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Yeshua the Messiah. Now if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire.

Many of us prepare for many years, such as through college, for a profession to make the short remainder of life more bountiful. How much more should we be diligent in preparing for the life to come?

Then Yeshua said, (v.14-15) “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” These two sentences are not unrelated. To ask in Yeshua’s Name is to ask in His stead. It means to ask for that which He would desire in order to fulfill His Father’s work. It means that we are diligently seeking to fulfill God’s commandments! It is the way of blessing! It is the way of fulfilled prayers!

To pray for fulfillment of our selfish desires, then tack on words such as “in Jesus name” (regardless of language), is not a way to answered prayer. It is using His Name in vain. It is the way to receive the curses listed in the Torah portion, (Deut 28:47) “because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and a glad heart”.

In the spirit of Deuteronomy 28, Yeshua further said, (v.21) “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.”

David ended Psalm 142 with “the righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountifully with me.”

"Serve Yahweh with gladness!" (Psalm 100:2)

Readings:

Reader 1* Amen ¹ "Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey Yahweh your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, Yahweh your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you will obey Yahweh your God. ³ "Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. ⁴ "Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. ⁵ "Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ⁶ "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. ⁷ "Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way and shall flee before you seven ways. ⁸ "Yahweh will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. ⁹ "Yahweh will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you will keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ "So all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yahweh; and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹ "And Yahweh will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² "Yahweh will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ "And Yahweh shall make you the head and not the tail, and you only shall be above, and you shall not be underneath, if you will listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, ¹⁴ and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Reader 2* Amen ¹⁵ "But it shall come about, if you will not obey Yahweh your God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. ¹⁶ "Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. ¹⁷ "Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ¹⁸ "Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. ¹⁹ "Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. ²⁰ "Yahweh will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. ²¹ "Yahweh will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land, where you are entering to possess it. ²² "Yahweh will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ "And the heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. ²⁴ "Yahweh will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

Reader 3* Amen ²⁵ "Yahweh will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them, but you shall flee seven ways before them, and you shall be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ "And your carcasses shall be food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. ²⁷ "Yahweh will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. ²⁸ "Yahweh will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; ²⁹ and you shall grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you. ³⁰ "You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall violate her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not use its fruit. ³¹ "Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have none to save you. ³² "Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes shall look on and yearn for them continually; but there shall be nothing you can do. ³³ "A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you shall never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually.

Reader 4* Amen ³⁴ "And you shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see. ³⁵ "Yahweh will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. ³⁶ "Yahweh will bring you and your king, whom you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. ³⁷ "And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where Yahweh will drive you. ³⁸ "You shall bring out much seed to the field but you shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹ "You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall devour them. ⁴⁰ "You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹ "You shall have sons and daughters but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² "The cricket shall possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. ⁴³ "The alien who is among you shall rise above you higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ "He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.

Reader 5* Amen ⁴⁵ "So all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey Yahweh your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. ⁴⁶ "And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ "Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things; ⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you. ⁴⁹ "Yahweh will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, ⁵⁰ a nation of fierce countenance who shall have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. ⁵¹ "Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. ⁵² "And it shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which Yahweh your God has given you. ⁵³ "Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom Yahweh your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you.

Reader 6* Amen ⁵⁴ "The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, ⁵⁵ so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he shall eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you in all your towns. ⁵⁶ "The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground for delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, ⁵⁷ and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she shall eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy shall oppress you in your towns. ⁵⁸ "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. ⁶⁰ "And He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you. ⁶¹ "Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, Yahweh will bring on you until you are destroyed. ⁶² "Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because you did not obey Yahweh your God. ⁶³ "And it shall come about that as Yahweh delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so Yahweh will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you shall be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. ⁶⁴ "Moreover, Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. ⁶⁵ "And among those nations you shall find no rest, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there Yahweh will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. ⁶⁶ "So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. ⁶⁷ "In the morning you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see. ⁶⁸ "And Yahweh will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer."

Reader 7* Amen 29:¹ These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb. ² And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; ³ the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. ⁴ "Yet to this day Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. ⁵ "And I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. ⁶ "You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am Yahweh your God. ⁷ "When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them; ⁸ and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹ "So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

Isaiah 55:2

“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.”

Psalm 142    (To be sung.) 

A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer.

1.     To You, Yahweh, I lift my voice; I supplication make,

Pour out my plaint before Yahweh, to Him my trouble take.

2.     E’en when my soul is overwhelmed, You know so well my way.

Within the way in which I walk A snare for me they lay.

3.     Upon my right hand look and see; There’s none to know me there.

All refuge fails me, and no one Has for my soul a care.

4.     To You I cried, Yahweh, and said: My refuge sure You are,

And in the land of those that live, The portion of my heart.

5.     Since I am brought exceeding low, Attend upon my cry;

Save me from persecuting foes Who stronger are than I.

6.     From prison bring my soul, that I With thanks Your Name may bless;

When You are bountiful to me The just shall round me press.

¹ I Cry aloud with my voice to Yahweh; I make supplication with my voice to Yahweh. ² I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. ³ When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. ⁴ Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul. ⁵ I cried out to You, O Yahweh; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. ⁶ "Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. ⁷ "Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your Name; the righteous will surround me, for You will deal bountifully with me.”

John 14

¹ "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. ² "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. ³ "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ "And you know the way where I am going." ⁵ Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" ⁶ Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me. ⁷ "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." ⁸ Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." ⁹ Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father '? ¹⁰ "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. ¹¹ "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. ¹² "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. ¹³ "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. ¹⁵ "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. ¹⁶ "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you, and will be in you. ¹⁸ "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ "After a little while the world will behold Me no more; but you will behold Me; because I live, you shall live also. ²⁰ "In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ "He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him." ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?" ²³ Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. ²⁴ "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me. ²⁵ "These things I have spoken to you, while abiding with you. ²⁶ "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. ²⁷ "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. ²⁸ "You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ "And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass, you may believe. ³⁰ "I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; ³¹ but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

© 2004  Beikvot HaMashiach
(Followers of the Messiah)