HaBerachah (The Blessing) Devarim 33:1-34:12

“And this is the blessing that Moshe the man of Elohim blessed the Children of Israel before he died.” If you are hungry for Torah, you are really going to want to know what Moshe’s final blessing to Israel is.

He has led Israel through the wilderness for forty years. He has been with them day and night. Suffered when they suffered...and when they rebelled, he rejoiced when they rejoiced.

The Good News and the Bad

Imagine, the reason Moshe was sent to lead Israel, was because of Elohim’s commitment to the children of Jacob. Moshe had the opportunity to experience all of the things he saw because of the Israelites. He stood on Sinai and saw Elohim pass by. He had regular face to face encounters with Elohim. He saw miracles...and was the instrument Elohim used to make them happen. All because he was chosen to lead Israel.

“Because of you.” Moshe blamed the children of Israel for not being able to enter the Promised Land, but it was also because of them that he was so intimate with Elohim for so many years. It seems to me like a good news/bad news situation. ‘Hey, I can’t enter the land, but what a ride it’s been these past forty years.’

Remember What You Saw

Moshe begins his blessing with a brief recitation of what Israel experienced in receiving the Torah.

“And he said, Yehovah came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of holy ones: from his right hand went a fiery law (dat) for them. You loved the people; all holy ones are in your hand: and they sat down at your feet; every one shall receive of your words.” (Devarim 33:2-3)

Now and Later

I see two sides to this statement. A fulfilled and a prophetic. Yehovah did come to the Children of Israel in the wilderness at Sinai and give them a law from the midst of fire and smoke. He gave them the ten words. The prophetic side is keyed to the statement, “from his right hand.”

In many places in the Psalms, David refers to Yehovah’s right hand in a manner that makes it clear it refers to Yeshua. Devarim 33:2-3 may be saying that it was Yeshua who brought the law to Israel, and it may show that one day Israel would sit at the feet of Yeshua in the flesh and receive His words. We have record of a partial fulfillment of this in the Gospels.

Elohim warned Israel through Moshe, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” (Devarim 18:18-19)

You probably recognize this passage refers to Yeshua. Peter attached this prophecy to Yeshua;

“And he shall send Yeshua haMashiach, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which Elohim has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moshe truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall Yehovah your Elohim raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." (Acts 3:20-24)

The Law, The Torah, and Yeshua

So we have Yeshua giving the law at Sinai, and being the prophet like Moshe that we better listen to and do what he says. Then Moshe says something that may seem curious to some new students of the Torah.

“Moshe commanded us a Torah, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.” (Devarim 33:4)

Notice the shifts here. Moshe doesn’t call the recipients Israel, he calls them the ‘congregation of Jacob’, and he calls the Torah, the 'inheritance,' not the ‘law,’ as in the previous verses.

Inheritance and Heritage

Some rabbinic commentary explain that while the Hebrew word morasha is translated here as inheritance, it is translated in Shemot (Exodus) as heritage;

“And I will bring you into the land, concerning which I swore to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for an heritage: I am Yehovah.” (Exodus 6:8)

The commentary explains the difference between inheritance and heritage as this. An heir has the right to spend, waste, and leave nothing behind of an inheritance. But a heritage is for the use of the direct heir, and the heir must maintain the heritage for the future generation intact, whole and pure for their use as well. The future generations must also preserve the heritage to pass on to their future generations in perpetuity.

The shift from Israel to Jacob shows the expansion of the heirs from the born descendants of Israelite parents to any who are grafted in and accept the covenant of Yehovah Elohim. If you have come into covenant with Elohim by accepting His offer, the Torah is your heritage, to listen to, to obey and to pass on pure and unchanged.

This is for You

Your responsibility becomes clearer as you read the words of the Shema. “These words which I command you today shall be on your heart, teach them diligently to your children, speak of them when you lie down and rise up, when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road.”

“...And he was king in Yeshurun, in the gathering of the heads of the people together with the tribes of Israel.” (Devarim 33:5 my modification to the text based on the Hebrew)

Allow us to take a short rabbi trail-

If the “heads of the people” refers to the people of the seventy nations, and they are gathered together with the tribes of Israel, then we are looking at a time in the future when the blessings invoked on the tribes of Israel will come to pass. As we look at the blessings, we can’t look back and see them fulfilled at any time so far. So we may be looking at a prophecy tied to Yeshua’s return, and perhaps to the time when all the nations of the earth must come up to Jerusalem for the feast of Sukkoth or they will receive no rain.

“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, Yehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, Yehovah of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” (Zechariah 14:16-17)

Which, prophetically enough, we are celebrating the feast of tabernacles (Sukkoth) as you read this.

Yeshurun?

Who is Yeshurun? By definition, it is the straight or upright ones. The root is the word yasher, straight. If you question the honesty of a person and you ask “Is it yasher?”, you are implying you don’t trust them and you want to know if they are being honest. It is currently a somewhat offensive way of asking, but perhaps that demonstrates the moral decline of society that someone would be offended by being asked if they are dealing honestly.

Look around.

Is Yehovah Elohim the king of everyone?

No. But He is King of those who honestly accept Him as their Sovereign and willingly come under His covenant to live the Torah with all their heart all their mind and with all their strength. For the rest of the world, He is not King. Many who don’t believe in Him and follow Him actively oppose Him. Others are passively opposed to Him.

If you are reading this, especially if you have been here at Hungry for Torah before and came back, I imagine you have a desire to follow Yehovah, Elohim of Israel. If you have accepted His Kingship, then you have also obligated yourself to obey His Torah and pass it on to the next generation as your heritage and theirs. Take this responsibility seriously, He does.

This is Serious

If you have any doubt about how seriously Elohim takes your responsibility, look at the warnings He enumerates in our last portion, in the Song of Moshe, Devarim chapter 32:1-44. As a born or grafted-in member of the congregation of Jacob, these warnings are all for you.

As Moshe cautioned us at the end of the song;

“Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this Torah. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither you go over Jordan to possess it.” (Devarim 32:46-47)

May you have a blessed festival of Sukkoth. Remember, this is an appointed time, and Elohim will keep His appointment. If you are celebrating this time with Him, listen intently to hear what He will share with you this year. Keep the festival with the expectation that He will show you something. Why else set up an appointment?

Please take a few moments to share in the comments box below what Elohim gives you this year. As we share together our pieces of the puzzle, we grow in our understanding of Elohim's overall plan. And come back again next week hungry for Torah.

Chag sameach Sukkoth (Rejoice in the festival of Sukkoth), Shalom.