Re’eh: Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26-16:17

Shalom! Welcome to the first study on the Hungry for Torah blog.This portion contains my second favorite set of verses in the Torah:

See! I set before you today a blessing and a curse: a blessing if you hear the commandments of Yehovah your Elohim (God) which I command you today; and a curse if you will not hear the commandments of Yehovah your Elohim, but will turn aside out of the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

The name of our portion this week comes from the first word in the portion, see, re’eh. The Hebrew word translated as ‘hear’ is the word shema. It does mean to hear, as in receiving sound in your ear, but it goes beyond to mean to obey as well. Yeshua used this idea when he told His followers “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Really Listening Can Keep Us Out of Trouble

One danger of not listening to the commandments is that without knowing the truth in the Torah, that truth which sets us free from sin and error, we are susceptible to being deceived into following after false gods and doctrine. Those teachings and arguments are designed to sound like truth and to be convincing, pleasing and desirable. (What kind of temptation would it be if they weren’t?)

This hearkens back to the serpent’s offer of the fruit of the tree the knowledge of good and evil to Chava (Eve). Remember what she thought?  

1. The fruit was good for food. (But it wasn’t. Elohim did not provide it for food for Adam or Chava to eat.)  
2. It was pleasant to the eyes. (It looked good. How could something that looked so good be bad, or be forbidden? How could it hurt, it’s so pleasant to look at.) 
3.  It was desired to make one wise. (Chava didn’t know good and evil. It’s the same type of argument used today against people who believe in the Scriptures rather than accepting anti-God explanations. Believers are called ignorant when in fact they just don’t blindly accept pseudo-scientific explanations that are contrary to what the Scriptures teach.)

When we are educated in the Scriptures, we are much less susceptible to lies, whether they come in the guise of science, philosophy, politics, psychology, religion, or any other discipline. As believers, hungry for Torah, we measure all other ideas by the standard of the Torah. If it doesn’t measure up, we take the New Testament counsel and “Let God be true and every man a liar.”

Left Without Excuse

Dev. 11:29-30

As Israel enters the land, the blessings and the curses are announced to the whole congregation so that no one can claim ignorance. Considering the distance each person would have to walk from one end of Ebal and Gerizim to the other, and the amount of time it would take to repeat the blessings and curses, each person may have heard them more than once. They were left without excuse.

Take Possession - Not Sit Around

The Israelites are instructed to possess the land, in Hebrew l’rashta. I have heard teachers put this possess alongside the promise that Elohim will go before you and fight your battles, and come to the conclusion that all we have to do is “Stand still and see the salvation of Yehovah” and let Elohim do all the work while you just do nothing and have faith

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The problem with this idea is that the root of the Hebrew word translated as possess is yarash (Strong’s #H6423) and it is the sense of occupy, expel, seize upon. It is an active taking, not a passive standing around waiting. More of the sense of standing on your principles. As we read of the battles Israel engaged in to occupy the land given to them, it is obvious that while Elohim fights for them and “the battle is Yehovah’s” each Israelite soldier had to wield sword and spear to defeat the enemies of the nation. Elohim did give them victory, the end was in Elohim’s hand, but the sword and shield were in the hands of the soldiers, they had to go toe-to-toe and fight.

Tough Love

Elohim’s instruction goes beyond defeating the armies that occupied the land. He instructs Israel in Dev. 12:1-3 to obliterate all of the idols, shrines, altars and symbols of the pagan worship prevalent in the land. To us the idea of such religious intolerance may seem offensive. Why would Elohim tell his people to act so unloving toward other people just because they worshipped different gods or had other forms of worship? Because Elohim loves His people.

1.  Israel – the people and the land – are to be set apart from the things of the world, including worshipping false gods – Yehovah is the Creator and Israel is to worship Him alone. If Israel did not destroy all of the religious iconography of the gods worshipped by the inhabitants it would only be a matter of time until they started wondering about and dabbling in the religious practices of those false gods. Which leads us to; 
2.  The religious practices of the inhabitants are an abomination to Yehovah. They sacrifice their children to their gods in the name of prosperity and used the blood in their rituals. Sexual sins were rampant and the pervasiveness of their multitude of sins caused Elohim to declare they are ripe in iniquity and need to be destroyed. The religion of the land was steeped in death and perversion. Elohim did not want His people perverted by the worship practices of the land’s inhabitants.

In verse 12:4 Moshe (Moses) warns Israel “Do not do so to Yehovah your Elohim.”

When we look at the history of Israel and the Israelites, verse 12:10 gives us cause to ponder: What happened to this promise that “He will give you rest and you will dwell securely in the land.”? Since this is in the category of a blessing, we may conclude that we are still waiting for the time that Israel as a people shemas – listens and obeys the commandments of Yehovah. This verse transcends into a prophecy of a future time when the people will receive a fulfillment of the blessing.

The Dreamer and the Prophet

Dev. 13:2-6

This is what we discussed at the beginning of this study. If we understand what Elohim is telling us here, we will be less likely to be deceived by charlatans, or a false prophet. Remember that in Luke 21:8 Yeshua warns us not to be deceived. 

If someone comes along and says, “I’ve had a dream...” or “God told me...” or someone prophesies, even if what they say comes true! – If they try to convince you to follow other gods or doctrines that you don’t know from the Torah, don’t believe them. Elohim sent them to test you to see if you really love Him. Here again, Elohim ties loving Him inextricably with keeping His commandments. 

In the following verses, we are warned not to listen to these false teachers no matter who they are, even if they are our close relatives. As the prophet Isaiah said, “To the Torah and the Testimony, if they don’t speak according to this word (the Torah), there is no light in them.” Considering there is no wasted word in the Torah, and the amount of space devoted to the issue of being careful not to be led away from the Torah, it seems Elohim is serious and concerned about the problem. Today we see so many who have turned away from Torah, we get a sense of why He places so much emphasis on this.

Food and Garbage - There's Still a Difference

On the heels of the cautions against following other gods, in Dev 14:4-20 Elohim instructs His people what animals are clean and may be eaten, and what animals are unclean and may not. At the end of the listing, He gives the reason for the instruction. “You are a holy people unto Yehovah your Elohim.”

That designation is repeated in Eph 1:4, Col. 1:22 Tit. 1:8, and 1Pet. 1:16. If the purpose of these food laws of clean and unclean animals is because we are a holy people, then isn’t it reasonable to connect the obedience to the food instructions with the state of being holy today as much as in the time of Moshe, and Messiah Yeshua? What was food then is food now, what was garbage then is garbage now.

Come on up to the Festivals

The last area I want to discuss this week is the enumeration of the pilgrimage festivals. In Dev. 16:1, we are told to guard the month of the abib and keep the Pesach (Passover). [For any who are new to Torah and my studies, abib is a specific stage during the maturing of the barley crop. The new year is set by the combination of the occurrence of a new moon and the barley being in the abib state.]

I want to emphasize that we need to guard the month of abib. It too, along with Torah has fallen into disuse, replaced by numerous other methods of determining the date of the Biblical new year and the Pesach.

The final verses of the portion Re’eh explain that three times a year all males are required to appear before Yehovah during the festival of Matzot (unleavened bread), Shavuot (weeks), and Sukkot (tabernacles). All three are connected to agricultural harvests. I see a connection between these appearances where the males are told not to come empty handed, and the New Testament observation that, “Faith without works is dead.” (Jam. 2:20) The Hebrew concept of faith is linked to faithfulness, that’s why Ya’akov (James) precedes his statement of faith with “I’ll show you my faith by my works.” The Hebrew word translated as faith is emunah. Here is an example of faith.

“And the hands of Moses became heavy. And they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one from this and one from that side. And his hands were steady (emunah) until the going of the sun.” (Exodus 17:12)

May we follow in the Scriptural path laid out by Elohim through His words, His prophets and His Son Yeshua our Messiah. Until next week, when we will discuss portion Shoftim, Devarim 16:8-21:9, shavua tov (a good week) and shalom.