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The Significance of this Parashah

This portion of Torah includes some of the most fundament texts of the Jewish Scriptures, including the Ten Commandments, the Shema (the duty to love God and study His Torah), and the commandments of tefillin and mezuzot. Please see the links for each of these vital topics in the commentary below.  In addition, this portion includes Moses' prediction of the galut (exile) and the eventual redemption of the Jewish people in acharit hayamim (the latter days).

The Plea of Moses

Moses continued his speech by telling the people that after Sihon and Og were conquered, he pled with the LORD to let him enter the Promised Land to “finish the job” against the seven nations of Canaan, despite his sin at Meribah.  According to Jewish tradition, Moses begged the LORD in 515 different ways to be given an exemption for his sin (this number is from the gematria of the word vaetchanan), but the LORD refused each time.  No, Moses would die with the men of his generation in the wilderness. However, he was given the opportunity to see the land of promise from the top of Mount Nebo (also called Pisgah, from pasak, meaning to pass between). Apart from this glimpse, however, Moses was forbidden to cross the Jordan. Yehoshua, the type of Mashiach Yeshua, would be the one to bring the people into the land of promise.

The Call to Obedience

Since the Israelites were about to take possession of the land without him, Moses called on them to earnestly keep the commandments of the LORD: “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you” (Deut 4:1).  It is forbidden to add to or “beautify” the commandments of the Torah (or even to add “fences” - gezeirot - to the Torah).  Adding to the Torah commandments will inevitably lead to a distortion of their original intent, and therefore to eventual disobedience to God’s clear instructions. The keeping and doing of the commandments will impart wisdom (chokhmah) and understanding (binah) to the people - and this will glorify the LORD before all the nations.

Face to Face at Sinai

Rak hashamer lekha u'shemor nafshekha me'od pen-tishkach et-hadevarim asher-ra'u.... “Take utmost care and watch yourselves scrupulously, lest you forget the things you have seen...” We must never forget matan Torah, and each of us is to regard ourselves as personally having participated in the dramatic events at Sinai. “You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven (ad lev hashamayim), wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.” “You heard His voice.” Out of the fire and smoke the Voice of the LORD declared His covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone:

And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform,
that is, the Ten Commandments,
and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. (4:13)

God spoke panim el panim (face to face) with those gathered before Moses, and not only with their fathers (5:1-5). In addition to the Ten Commandments, Moses was commanded to instruct the people various chukkim u’mishpatim - “statutes and judgments” that were to be observed in the land that the LORD was giving to Israel.

Idolatry of any kind, therefore, was forbidden to the people. The LORD is absolutely unique and without peer in the universe. He cannot be represented with any sort of graven image or artwork. He is not to be identified with the physical universe but stands in relation to it as Creator and LORD.

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (4:24)

YHVH here identifies Himself as El Kana, the Jealous God (a designation repeated elsewhere in Scripture (Ex. 34:14, Deut. 5:9; 6:15; 1 Kings 19:10, 14)) in memory of the “marriage ceremony” between Israel and God.  A Jew who engages in idolatry is like a spouse who willfully engages in adultery (indeed, idolatry is a form of spiritual adultery). The LORD watches over Israel lovingly and closely, like a faithful and passionate husband watches over his beloved wife.

Consequences of Avodah Zarah

Moses prophesied that if the Jews later forgot the LORD and served idols, they would perish from the promised land and be put to exile (galut). However, if they would turn to the LORD and do teshuvah with all their hearts and all their souls, Adonai would have mercy upon them:

When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days (acharit hayamim), you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.
For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. (4:30-31)

Notice that Moses relied on the LORD’s covenantal promise given to Avraham Avinu as the basis for God’s ultimate mercy and restoration of Israel in the “latter days” (acharit haymaim). Notice further that this restoration of Israel from her long exile will be accomplished only b’tzar lekha, when they are in tribulation.... This agrees with the words of the Mashiach Yeshua who foretold of the coming tsuris of Israel in the latter days (Matt 24:21).  Only after Israel cries out, Baruch haba b’shem Adonai in reference to Yeshua will they be delivered during the 70 birth pangs of the Messiah (otherwise called chevlei Mashiach or the Time of Jacob’s Trouble).

v’Zot HaTorah - This is the Torah

Moses then designated three Arei Miklat (Cities of Refuge) east of Jordan, repeated the Ten Commandments, expounded the greatest commandment of the Torah, the Shema, instructed that tefillin ("phylacteries") be used as a "sign" upon one's hand/forehead, and commanded that Israelite door posts be marked with mezuzot.

Moses further warned the Israelites not to forget the LORD after they entered the land and were established as a prosperous people. They were to avoid assimilation and to always remember that they were am segulah - God's "treasured people."

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (7:6)

Haftarah Reading Snapshot:

The Haftarah for Parashat Va'etchanan (Isaiah 40:1-26) is called the "First Haftarah of Consolation," so named because of the opening words: Nachamu, Nachamu, Ami, "Be Comforted, Be Comforted, My People." According to Chaz’l (the Jewish sages), this is the first of the Seven Haftarot of Consolation that were spoken to the Jewish People by the LORD.  Rashi says that this Haftarah refers mainly to the Messianic future, when the Jewish People will be comforted after all the exiles and punishments of history are over.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

During Tishah B’Av, the book of Lamentations is chanted during the minchah (afternoon) service. The exiles had mourned that they lacked anyone to comfort them (Lam 1:2, 9, 16, 21), but here we read, Nachamu, Nachamu, Ami, "Be Comforted, Be Comforted, My People," marking a significant shift in perspective.

In that coming day, Jerusalem will be exalted and the people of God regathered and comforted. The suffering of the exiles will have been completed, and all Israel will be saved from her enemies. (May it happen speedily, and in our day.)

As Messianic believers in our LORD Yeshua the Mashiach, we believe that the ultimate comfort coming to the Jewish people will finally be realized when the Lord Jesus returns to set up His kingdom at the time of the Second Coming. Indeed, He is coming soon to Zion and His reign will have no end.  Amen.

Brit Chadashah Snapshot:

Matthew 23:31-9 provides us a glimpse of the LORD’ jealous heart for Jerusalem. Zion is the symbol of God’s rule over all the earth, representing the consummation of His love for mankind. Called the city of the great King (Matt 5:35), the place of Malki-Tzedek, the restoration of paradise lost, Zion is the goal of God’s redemptive work in human history.

In this passage Jesus denounces the religious leaders of Israel for rejecting Him - and thereby hindering the ultimate restoration of Jerusalem. Poignantly He cries,  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!  See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' (baruch haba b’shem Adonai). In other words, Zion will remain without comfort until the Messiah Jesus is received by Israel as the rightful King (may that day come soon!)

In the reading from Mark, the LORD Jesus was asked which of the mitzvot of the Torah is the most important of all? Or, to put it another way, what is it that God requires of us? What is the purpose of our lives, and how can we fulfill that purpose?

Jesus answered this question by reciting the Shema (with the v’ahavta) as the greatest commandment and added the commandment from Leviticus 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” as the second great commandment:

Jesus answered, "The most important (commandment) is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

Va'etchanan means “I pleaded,” which we may now understand as God’s plea that we:

1. Love Him as the Source of all our real and abiding good
2. Love one another as we love ourselves

The love of God and others! Think of it! The greatest commandment is not found in the knowledge of Torah, regardless of how edifying or noble; nor in external observances, regardless of how scrupulously or beautifully observed; nor in the practice of Jewish minhagim (customs), regardless of how much they might make us feel identified with God’s Chosen People. No.  Jesus' answer is that the greatest duty of our lives is to love God with every bit of our passion, inwardness, and strength, and to extend that same love we instinctively feel toward ourselves to others around us.

When we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is produced within us, we will not find ourselves walking contrary to the way of the Torah (Gal. 5:22-23), and the inward motivation of the Torah will be written upon our hearts
(Jer. 31:33). As Rav Sha’ul (Paul) wrote in Romans 13:10, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.”

May it please the LORD to give us a heart that can love in the truth.  Amen.



Blessing:

An Elul Meditation

Repent one day before you die...

In this week’s Torah reading, the LORD commanded that the firstfruits (bikkurim) of crops be brought to the priests in the central sanctuary in a prescribed ritual. This celebration later was associated with the festival of Shavuot (“Pentecost”).



Each family would go up to Jerusalem to present a basket of their finest fruits to a kohen (priest), who then would wave it in seven directions (tenufah) and set it before the altar. The worshipper would then recite a ceremonial vidui (confession) before the priest that began, “A wandering Aramean was my father.”  Some of the sages understand this opening phrase to mean: “An Aramean destroyed my father,” based on the the verb oved (אבד) that alludes to devastation (the word Abaddon comes from the same root). So understood, this confession thanks God not only for Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt, but also from the evil designs of Laban who sought to kill Jacob when he left for the Promised Land. The sages reasoned that “Uncle Laban” was at heart an enemy of God who literally sought to kidnap the sons of Israel (Gen. 31:43).

Though this portion begins with a joyful subject that celebrates God’s faithfulness, it also includes a litany of curses (kelalot) proclaimed for those who stray away from the truth of Torah. The frightening list of curses is summed up in Deut. 28:45-48:

All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
 

Notice something profoundly important here:  All the varied and distressing curses enumerated in this Torah portion would come upon those who refused to serve the LORD “with joy (simchah, שִׂמְחָה) and gladness of heart.” In other words, living a discontented and ungrateful life leads to greater and greater rebellion. Genuine joy is heartfelt appreciation at the wonder and grace of God. Indeed, the Greek word for joy (χαρα) is related to the word for grace (χαρις), so there is a deep inner connection between grace and joy (Phil. 4:4). The joy of the LORD is our strength (Neh. 8:10).

The sages connect the joy of offering first fruits with the study of Torah, since the phrase “You shall take from the first” (Deut. 26:2) alludes to the Torah, the first part of our wisdom (Psalm 111:10). In the world to come, the first thing you will be asked is if you had learned the wisdom and truth of Torah.... “Blessed (“happy”) is the man who...delights in the Torah of the LORD and meditates upon it day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2). If you find studying and living the truth of Scripture joyless, then be careful that you don’t drift into spiritual exile.

Why is this portion of Torah always read during the Season of Teshuvah?  Because the blessings and curses are intended to awaken us to perform “soul searching (cheshbon ha-nefesh, חֶשְׁבּוֹן הַנֶּפֶשׁ) and teshuvah.  The Talmud says, “Repent one day before you die.” But who knows the day of one’s death in advance? Therefore live each day as if it were to be your last, and live it with joy.

Shuva! Return to the LORD and serve Him with gladness (Psalm 100:2). Come in joy of what Yeshua, our Firstfruit of the LORD (1 Cor. 15:20), has done for you: “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Pet. 1:8-9).

based on the Torah portion

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