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Commentary - Year 3 Sabbath 26

Deuteronomy 4:1-49  -   Isaiah 40:1-25   -   Psalm 123   -   Luke 3:1-20

 

Tishrei 1, 5764 / September 27, 2003 

Tishrei 1, 5767 / September 23, 2006

Tishrei 1, 5770 / September 19, 2009

Tishrei 6, 5773 / September 22, 2012

Elul    28, 5776 / September 12, 2012

 

Yisrael, Sh'ma / Israel, Listen   SCRIPTURES should be read first

 

It may be noted that today's readings are instructions concerning entering the Promised Land - fitting for the time in which we rehearse the return of Messiah Yeshua.

 

To repeat an explanation here:

 

The basic commandments of God, from Adam until now, are to love Yahweh our God, and to love our neighbor who is created in God’s image. The first five of the Ten Commandments detail how we are to love Yahweh our God (they all contain God’s sacred Name), and the next five detail how we are to love our neighbor (none of them contain God’s Name). There are 613 commandments in the Torah that further detail these ten.

 

The 613 commandments are Biblically divided into three categories. They are (mishpatim) judgments, (edot) ordinances, and (huqqim) statutes.

 

The judgments are what we usually call the moral and ethical laws. They are the most obvious to our consciences, like forbidding murder and stealing.

 

The ordinances – and these are the “ordinances of the church” (1 corinthians 11:2) since the “church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), are those traditions from God that we observe in order to keep His spiritual understandings before us. They include Yahweh’s Feasts (commonly translated “the Lord’s Supper”, and usually misunderstood), and (miqvah) baptism, among many others.

 

The statutes are those commandments for which God has not given us obvious reason, but their observance brings us closer to Him. An example is (kashrut) the commandments concerning what is kosher for eating – those things God has given us for food.

 

(V.1) Moses here exhorts God’s people to obey all of the Torah. He instructs them to obey (sh’ma) the statutes (hukim) – the least obvious, and the judgments (mishpatim) – the most obvious moral laws; this implies the ordinances (edot) also, making all of the Torah.

 

He says, “that you may live and go in and take possession of the land”. Only those who are purified will live, and go in and take possession of the Renewed Earth. There will be no sin there: “nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life” – Revelation 21:27.

 

When we are purified, God’s Torah will be written on our hearts, and we will keep it wholeheartedly (Jeremiah 31:31).

 

(V.2) We are forbidden to add to or take away from the words of the Torah. They are not situational ethics, and they do not change. We should understand, however, that there are commandments that take precedence over others: an obvious example would be that the preservation of life and health takes precedence over forbidden work on the Sabbath or fasting on the Day of the Atonements. There are also, ordained by God, halachic rulings concerning how we should walk (act) in various situations in order to fulfill Torah.

 

(V.6) These things were written for our wisdom and understanding, to make us a great nation, above all others.

 

(V.25) God, who knows the end from the beginning, clearly said: “When” (not if) “you have remained long in the land, and act corruptly . . . Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations . . . But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.” But when we are perfected, and enter the Promised Land, we will not again forsake God, and will never be cast out.

 

(V.10 & 35) We should be in awe of our Holy God. He sent His Torah with great wondrous signs: “To you it was shown that you might know that Yahweh, He is God; there is no other besides Him . . . Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

 

Isaiah prophesies of the still future coming of Messiah and the restoration. “1 ‘Comfort, O comfort My people,’ says your God. 2 ‘Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins.’ 3 A voice is calling, ‘Clear the way for Yahweh in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’

 

Moses says, “39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.” And Isaiah says, “25To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?’ says the Holy One.”

 

John the baptizer came preaching repentance. His baptism was “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3) – the baptism that had long been performed during this forty days of repentance leading up to the Day of the Atonements (today being the thirtieth day). To those who were proudly religious, John said, (v.7) “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” He was pointedly contrasting the repentant with those who were facing wrath to come.

 

When asked who he was, John spoke of Messiah who would follow him (v.16-17), who would “baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” He would “gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Baptism with fire relates to the wicked! The Holy Spirit itself is not Biblically symbolized by fire. [In Acts 2:3, “tongues as of fire” were words that burned! See v.19, 23, & 36-37.]

 

The wicked are warned to flee the fire to come. We are instructed on how to love our savior and our neighbor.

Readings:

"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King of the Universe,

Who chose us from among all peoples by giving us Your Torah.

Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the Torah."

 

Reader 1*  Amen.  1 "Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 "You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you. 3 "Your eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you. 4 "But you who held fast to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you. 5 "See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. 6 "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

Reader 2*  Amen.   7 "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him? 8 "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? 9 "Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. 10 "Remember the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.' 11 "You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom. 12 "Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form-- only a voice. 13 "So 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. 14 "Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

Reader 3*  Amen.  15 "So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16 so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. 19 "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 "But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today.

Reader 4*  Amen.  21 "Now Yahweh was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 "For I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land. 23 "So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which Yahweh your God has commanded you. 24 "For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25 "When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God so as to provoke Him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 "Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh drives you. 28 "There you will serve gods, the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

Reader 5*  Amen.   29 "But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 "When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to Yahweh your God and listen to His voice. 31 "For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them. 32 "Indeed, ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and inquire from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? 33 "Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? 34 "Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Reader 6*  Amen.  35 "To you it was shown that you might know that Yahweh, He is God; there is no other besides Him. 36 "Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 37 "Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, 38 driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. 39 "Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that Yahweh, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. 40 "So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which Yahweh your God is giving you for all time."

Reader 7*  Amen.   41 Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east, 42 that a manslayer might flee there, who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. 44 Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; 45 these are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out from Egypt, 46 across the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel defeated when they came out from Egypt. 47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east, 48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), 49 with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

 

"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King of the Universe,

Who in giving us Yeshua, the Living Torah, has planted everlasting life in our midst.

Blessed are You, Yahweh, giver of the Torah."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King of the Universe,

Who selected good prophets, delighting in their words which were spoken truthfully.

Blessed are You, Yahweh, Who chose the Torah, Your servant Moses, Your people Israel,

and the prophets of truth and righteousness."

 

Isaiah 40:1-25

Reader 8*  Amen.  1 "Comfort, O comfort My people," says your God. 2 "Speak kindly to Jerusalem; and call out to her, that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of Yahweh's hand double for all her sins." 3 A voice is calling, "Clear the way for Yahweh in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 "Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain a broad valley; 5 then the glory of Yahweh will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."

 Reader 9*  Amen.  6 A voice says, "Call out." Then he answered, "What shall I call out?" All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of Yahweh blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. 9 Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 Behold, Lord Yahweh will come with might, with His arm ruling for Him. Behold, His reward is with Him and His recompense before Him. 11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

Reader 10*  Amen.  12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance and the hills in a pair of scales? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or as His counselor has informed Him? 14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding? And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge and informed Him of the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales; behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust. 16 even Lebanon is not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless. 18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

Reader 11*  Amen.   19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it, a goldsmith plates it with gold, and a silversmith fashions chains of silver. 20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering selects a tree that does not rot; He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman to prepare an idol that will not totter. 21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. 24 Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble. 25 "To whom then will you liken Me That I would be his equal?" says the Holy One.

 

Psalm 123   (To be sung.)   A Song of Ascents

1 To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens! 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to Yahweh our God, until He is gracious to us. 3 Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us, for we are greatly filled with contempt. 4 Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

 

Luke 3:1-20

Reader 12*  Amen.  1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. 5 'Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low; the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth; 6 and all flesh will see the salvation of God.'"

Reader 13*  Amen.   7 So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 9 "Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." 10 And the crowds were questioning him, saying, "Then what shall we do?" 11 And he would answer and say to them, "The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise." 12 And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" 13 And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to." 14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, "And what about us, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages."

Reader 14*  Amen.   15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Messiah, 16 John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 "His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18 So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. 19 But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, 20 Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

 

"Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, King of the Universe,

Rock of Ages, righteous throughout all generations.

You are the faithful God, promising and then performing, speaking and then fulfilling,

for all Your words are true and righteous.

Faithful are You, Yahweh our God, and faithful are Your words,

for no word of Yours shall remain unfulfilled;

You are a faithful and merciful God and King.

Blessed are You, Yahweh our God, Who are faithful in fulfilling all Your words."

 


© 2006  Beikvot HaMashiach
(Followers of the Messiah)