דְּבָרִים

Devarim

Deuteronomy1:1-3; 22: Discourse of Moshe;

Haphtarah: Isaiah 1:1-27: the great accusation

These are the words, hadevarim  הדְּבָרִים  Moshe spoke to all Isra’el on the far side of the Yarden River, in the desert, in the ‘Aravah across from Suf , between Pa’ran and Tofel, Lavan, Hatzerot and Di-Zahav. Deuteronomy 1:1

We are now starting the last book of the Torah which is a discourse of Moshe to the generation that is preparing to enter the Promised Land; 40 years have passed, the balance is made and the lessons learned are now displayed by the great Jewish leader who, as it is written, will never enter this long awaited land.

Bereshit (Genesis):

The Book of the Messianic vision; the foundations of the Creation and of the Jewish people.

Shemot (Exodus):

This Book concerns the first part of the plan of redemption by the departure from the land of Egypt and the gift of the Torah.

Vayikkra (Leviticus):

This is the Book in which He calls His people to sanctity, the description of the way to worship G-d. and to become a nation of priests.

Bemidbar (Numbers):

This Book calls the people together to form a united army, obedient and faithful, and the reasons why the people did not enter the Promised Land.

Devarim (Deuteronomy):

Within this Book are the last recommendations and the laws needed to enter into the Promised Land. It is also a reminder and a repetition of the conditions to serve Him as He desires and as a consequence, to be blessed.

Moshe is going to die; only Joshua and Caleb remain from the old generation. The Book of Devarim is also called Mishnei Torah, which means “the repetition of the Torah,” but it is not just a repetition of commandments that had already been given; a great deal of the commandments appears for the first time in this book. This book rather, is meant to bring them in, to repeat these commandments again and again so that they can be engraved deeply into our hearts in accordance with the command of the famous Jewish prayer repeated for centuries in every Jewish home:

Sh’ma Yisra’el ! Adonai Eloheimu, Adonai echad [Hear Isra’el ! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your bveing and all your resources. These words, whch I am ordering you today, are to ve on y our heart, and you are to teach them carefully vei  shenantam  וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are travelling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them on your head as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, and write them; on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6 :4-9

שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל:  יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ, יְהוָה אֶחָד.  וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכָל-לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁךָ, וּבְכָל-מְאֹדֶךָ.  וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם--עַל-לְבָבֶךָ.  וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ.  וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת, עַל-יָדֶךָ; וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת, בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ.  וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל-מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ, וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ. 

The word « teach », shenantam, comes from the same word as Mishnei quoted earlier and which means: to repeat again and again, to make a deep incision.

The book Devarim is called Mishnei in this sense that it is meant to be repeated again and again so that it will be deeply engraved into the hearts and spirits of the people whose G-d is the L-rd of Hosts and the Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel. It concerns the renewing of our mind, which has to be bathed in the Word, modelled and imprinted in a way that cannot be erased. In this way, we are also asked to teach our children; constantly repeating commandments and biblical principles.

Thus, Moshe decides to teach, for the last time these mitzvot, the commandments, albeit his time has come to return to the Father. These same commandments will also be repeated on Mount Ebal after they crossed the Jordan River and again, every seven years when the people gather for the Sabbatical year:

Then Moshe wrote this Torah, and gave it to the cohanim, the descendants of Levi who carried the ark with the covenant of Adonai, and to all the leaders of Isra’el. Moshe gave them these orders. « At the end of every seven years, during the festival of Sukkot in the year of sh’mittah, when all Isra’el have come to appear in the presence of Adonai at the place he will choose, you are to read this Torah before all Isra’el, that they may hear it. Assemble the people – the men, the women, the little ones and the foreigners you have in your towns – so that they can hear, learn, fear Adonai your God and take care to obey all the words of this Torah, and so that their children, who have not known, can hear and learn to fear Adonai your God, for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Yarden to possess. Deuteronomy 31:9-13

This Parasha is read each year during the week of the 9th of Av, which is a fatal date in the history of the Jewish people.

Here are some of the events that took place:

-         On the 9^th of Av, the explorers came back from the Promised Land and as a consequence of their bad report; they wandered during forty years in the desert.  (1312 BC)

-         The first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians; 100.000 Jews were slaughtered and the others sent amass. to exile (586 BC)

-         The second Temple destroyed by Titus. More than two million Jews died and one million was sent to exile (70 BC)

-         The revolt of Bar Kochba has been crushed down by Hadrian. The city of Beitar has been captured. More that 100.000 Jews were slaughtered (135 AD)

-         The ground surrounding the Temple has been ploughed by the Roman general Rufus and Jerusalem has been rebuilt as a pagan city and renamed Aelia Capitolina. Its access was forbidden to Jews.

-         The Spanish Inquisition ordered the expulsion of the Jews on the 9th of Av, 1492

-         World War I begun the day before the 9th of Av, 1914 when Germany declared war on Russia. This war laid the foundation of the slaughter of the Shoah during World War II.

-         The day before the 9th of Av, 1942 began the massive deportation of Jews from the ghetto of Warsaw to Treblinka Concentration Camp.

-         We will add to history that in Israel, 8000 Jewish families were sent out from their homes by their own brothers through the official order to leave the Gush Katif starting on the 9^th of Av, 2005….and that a war with Gaza and Lebanon started during this period of time…

The Parasha is read so that men will comprehend that exile and suffering are the consequences of disobedience to the Covenant on Mount Sinai.

G-d wants to teach us the fear of His Name and the first words of each of the five books of the Torah confirm it.

Respectively, they are as follows: 

Bereshit, in the beginning, בְּרֵאשִׁית

Veielei, and see, וְאֵלֶּה

Vayikra, and he called, וַיִּקְרָא

Vayeidaber, and he said, וַיְדַבֵּר

Elei, These are, אֵלֶּה

The numeric value of the 5 last letters of these words,ת ה א ר ה is 611 which is comparable to the word «fear», yir’at like in the expression yir’at Adonai, fear of the L-rd:

The fear yir’at  יִרְאַת of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ;

רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה יִרְאַת יְהוָה

It also has the same value as the word Torah, תּוֹרָה 611:

The concept of the fear of the L-rd is linked with the study of His Torah!

Moshe gives the last recommendations to the new generation. He will give them the keys for a blessed and fruitful life, where G-d will be honoured and his children showered with blessings to overflowing.

Consequently, the book of Deuteronomy is a discourse in four parts:

-         Part one is an introduction: Moshe relates the facts: Chapters 1-4

-         Part two is the main discourse and the longest: Chapters 5-26

-         Part three is the warning, called Tochacha in Hebrew and which is a kind of rebuke or warning: Chapters 27-28

-    Part four is the repentance: Chapters 29-30

In the introductory message, Moshe will remind them of the forty years spent in the desert and that the reasons why the first generation has remained in this desert was in order to teach the new generation, not to commit the same mistakes.

He mentions the giants Og and Sichon, who were watchmen in Canaan. Rashi tells us “all the kings of Canaan paid them a tribute to have them keep the watch and protect the way from the enemies”.

Moshe explains how G-d has delivered these mighty giants into their hands by destroying first (according to Rashi) their brilliant guardianship. This is an interesting commentary because it is enlightened by other verses describing those celestial powers who will also be handed over:

When that day comes, Adonai will punish the armies of the high heaven on high, and the kings of the earth here on earth. They will be assembled like prisoners in a dungeon and shut up in prison to be punished many years. Isaiah 24:21-22

But immediately following the trouble of those times,

The sun will grow dark

The moon will stop shining,

The stars will fall from the sky,

And the powers in heaven will be shaken. Matthew 24:29

Next I saw an angel coming down from heaven, who had the key to the Abyss and a great chain in his hand. HE seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan [the Adversary], and chained him up for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, locked it and sealed it over him; so that he could not deceive the nations any more until the thousand years were over. After that, he has to be set free for a little while. Revelation 20:1-3

 Then suddenly, there is the question about the judges and the elders. Moshe underlines this event because the people will have to choose their own judges and elders in the land Canaan. The choice of the judges and of the elders of the people is important because their task will be to guard the honour and respect and the teaching of these commands once in the Promised Land. 

Centuries later, Saul (Paul), will teach Titus to follow the same example and to name elders as guardian of the flock and of the sound teaching:

The reason I left you in Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and appoint congregation leaders in each city – those were my instructions……….He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message that agrees with the doctrine, so that by his sound teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those who speak against it. Titus 1:5 ; 8

This thought was constantly in Moshe’s mind, because we find again this recommendation at the end of his discourse:

Then Moshe and all the leaders of Isra’el gave orders to the people. They said, « Observe all the mitzvot I am giving you today.

Deuteronomy 27:1

Chapter two relates the story with the children of Esav. It was forbidden to provoke them because they were circumcised and belonged to the family of Yaakov.

The description of the different journeys of the people of Israel before their arrival in the Land of Israel is, according to a traditional interpretation, similar to the flight followed by the Jewish people through history when in exile among the nations. Esav, that is Edom, and Edom are the nations of the world.

Edom is also the ancestor of Rome, according to Jewish tradition and the interpretation of verse 8 is quite surprising. In fact, in the original text, this verse is cut right in the middle:

So we went on past our kinsmen the descendants of Ésav living in Se’ir, left the road through the ‘Aravah from Eila and ‘Etsyon–Gever,

(Cut in the original text)

and turned to pass along the road through the desert of Mo’av. Deuteronomy 2:8

ח וַנַּעֲבֹר מֵאֵת אַחֵינוּ בְנֵי-עֵשָׂו, הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּשֵׂעִיר, מִדֶּרֶךְ הָעֲרָבָה, מֵאֵילַת וּמֵעֶצְיֹן גָּבֶר;  {ס}  וַנֵּפֶן, וַנַּעֲבֹר, דֶּרֶךְ, מִדְבַּר מוֹאָב

This cutting is assimilated to…… the figure of the Messiah!

“On the way we perceived the figure of the Messiah, who is the son of David and descendant of Ruth the Moabite. That is why this verse is cut in the middle, as an expression that through all our wanderings the figure of Messiah is present before our eyes. “ [1]

What a wonderful picture, the figure of Messiah outlined in Torah!

Romans tells us that the aim of the gift of the Torah is to reveal Mashiach Yeshua, our Saviour and Redeemer:

For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts. Romans 10:4

And that is what Moshe will teach to the new generation who gives us an image of the new birth. Here they are, ready to possess the Promised Land and the condition to serve G-d there in whole holiness and to receive the promised blessings to enjoy an abundant life is the one enclosed in these words, these devarim. The word devarim means things and also bees, when we change the vowels and the words. Those showers of words resemble a swarm of bees, sweet as honey, but also biting through their sting. That is the plural of the word Davar דבר.

And Davar is the Word of G-d. This Word is the one given on Mount Sinai, manifested through the Torah and this Word has been made alive in Yeshua and has come to live among us in the flesh:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things came through him, and without him nothing made had being.

The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh’khinah, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-3 ;14

The circle in now closed; to come into the Promised Land and receive abundant life, we must obey His commandments.

This last book of the Torah seems like the book of the last covenant between G-d and Israel, with all its suite of blessings to bring back the people into His presence and to chastise them when they go astray.

Yeshua will give back the keys for the blessing, giving them new life through a renewed Covenant, where these mitzvot or commandments will be engraved on renewed hearts ready to follow the King in a new love:

Whoever has my commands mitsvot and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him. John 14:21

I am giving you a new kainos, command (mitzva): that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. John 13:34

It is interesting to notice that the word “new”, kainos in Greek, means “new, fresh” and also “ not used, not strained, not worn, unforeseen, different from what has happened until now “.

Yeshua has not come to teach something that is completely different from what he had given on Mount Sinai to Israel, but to renew His Word by engraving it on hearts that are repentant and submissive through the working of His Spirit. This is what he taught when he walked through the Promised Land, giving back the keys of the way to serve the Father and of the blessings following.

Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah  - not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so, will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim (who taught the Torah [2] ), you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Matthew 5:17-20

We are called to be the living proof of the Renewed Covenant ratified by the blood of the living Lamb. Yeshua will command us to surpass the traditional teachers of the Torah by our obedience to His Torah in the power of His Spirit and no more under the yoke of a legalism imposed by men:

The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim, he said « sit in the seat of Moshe. So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don’t do what they do, because they talk but don’t act! They tie heavy loads onto people’s shoulders but won’t lift a finger to help carry them. Matthew 23:2-4

 Yeshua, Himself the Author of this Torah, kept it and put it into practice, being the perfect model and the example to follow:

Just as my Father has loved me, I too have loved you; so stay in my love. If you keep my commands (mitzvot), you will stay in my love – just as I have kept my Father’s commands and stay in his love. John 15:9-10

And in this way, the remnant of Israel, joined to the nations converted to the G-d of Israel through Yeshua, will then be united in their joint obedience to the same doctrine, and will provoke the jealousy of the Jewish people as did Saul (Paul):

But, I say, isn’t it rather that Isra’el didn’t understand?

“I will provoke you to jealousy over a non-nation, over a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.” (Deuteronomy 32 :21) Romans 10 :19

However, to those of you who are Gentiles, I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them!  Romans 11:13-14

In the Haftarah of the week, G-d, through the mouth of the prophet rebukes and corrects Israel, because in spite of the recommendations of Moshe, the people have not kept the covenant of Sinai and have had to suffer exile; but this Haphtarah is also the third and last one and is called the « chastisements».

The coming weeks will give way to the Haftarot called the “consolations “, wherein G-d will promise to His people that He will bring them back to His Land and will change their hearts so that through the Torah, they will no more discern only a silhouette of the Messiah, but the living and majestic stature of His Saviour, Yeshua HaMashiach Ben David.

His Word, His Torah will be taught again …

I will restore your judges as at first and your advisers as at the beginning. After that, you will be called the City of Righteousness, Faithful City. Tziyon will be redeemed by justice, and in those who repent, by righteousness. Isaiah 1:26-27