Parasha: "Ki Tavo" (When you enter in ) DEUT 26: 1- 29:9

[Ben Avraham]

PARASHA: "KI TAVO" (when you enter in)

DEUT 26:1-29:9......... ISAIAH 60:1-22................ ACTS 7:30-36

We are nearing the end of Moshe's discourse to his people. He is giving instructions to be carried out once they are "in the promised land" the very first thing is the "tithe" of the crops of the land. As we know, Israel was a community of agriculture and livestock, the crops of the field and the animals were their "income" so 10% or "first fruits" were to be given, to the Levites, who managed the Mishkan (Tabernacle) and later on, the temple.

We see this as a way of supporting the work they did, offering the sacrifices on behalf of the people, we do the same today, following the example of the Israelites. We bring our tithes and offerings to where "YHVH has chosen to put His name". be it in a synagogue or church, we support our rabbis and pastors, through our tithes and offerings. We do this through our paychecks from our jobs. For those who have gardens, or farms, this would apply also, bring the actual "produce" to our church/synagogue leaders to enjoy.

We must also remember that we are "strangers" in this land, like the Israelites, who were descendants of the "Arameans" we are here just temporarily, our permanent home is the "New Jerusalem" ALL the land belongs to YHVH, He is just allowing us to use it and enjoy it, we may "think" we own it, but just as He has given us "material possessions" He can also "taken them away" All He has to do is "move the air and the waters" (Katrina, Ike, Andrew, etc)

We see the "blessings and the curses" announced, the people all agree, they are all tied into either "obeying or disobeying" YHVH's commandments. Can we seeing anything different today? we are living under the same value system, but we are seeing those in leadership ignoring many commandments, evening allowing "same sex marriages" which is a "slap in the face of God" If the USA is not judged for this sin, then YHVH will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorra for playing "favorites" When we read the list of "curses" and "blessings" we can see that they make perfect sense, not only then, but now-a-days as well.

"Shema Israel" WE are HIS people, and as HIS people, should we not obey HiS instructions? His ?
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ISAIAH 60
Israel will be the LIGHT to the GENTILES. (HaOr l'ha'goyim) the word "goyim" meant those who were pagans, worshiping false dieties, today, the word is misused, and is used to describe those believers that come from other than Jewish descent, that was NOT the case in the beginning. Many of those pagans, once hearing the through the mouths of the prophets, through Paul, John, Peter, etc, rejected their idols and became part of the community of Israel, through adoption, or as we know it, through being , "grafted in" . Isaiah is speaking of the coming Millennium, when "Israel" will be the "focal point" of all the earth, We can just imagine that time, so NOW is the time to support Israel, it will pay dividends in the future.
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ACTS 7:30-36

Moshe has been called! YHVH has spoken, and has commissioned Moshe for a great task, to return to Egypt to take HIS people out of Egypt, to the New land of promise, to be a "united people and a united Nation" no more just a "bunch of undisciplined slaves" but now a "nation of priests" . We have the same calling of Moshe, to "take the lost from the grips of HaSatan, and introduce them to Yeshua, through His Word, and afterwards, teach them the Way of YHVH , this comes through Bible study
in church/synagogue, and at home, Is our calling any different than Moshe's? is the "Great Commission" just a suggestion? or is it a ...COMMAND?

SHABBAT SHALOM.......Rabbi Ben Avraham

[alon]

Ki Tavo (When You Enter) Deuteronomy 26:1–29:9

Deuteronomy 26:1-2 (ESV) “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there.

Ki Tavo, “When You Enter”: God instructs Israel that after they have entered the land, they are to bring the first-ripened fruits (bikkurim) to the central sanctuary, thanking God for the land’s bounty. This was done annually during Shavu’ot, which was one of the Shelosh Regalim (Pilgrimage Festivals).

In Hebrew the root word for both a Hebrew and for the Hebrew language, “Ivrit,” is “ivri” (ayin, vav, resh), which means to cross over. Spiritually anyone who has “crossed over” to the Kingdom of God is “Ivri.” “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” (Romans 2:29 ESV) Paul was not negating circumcision; rather he was saying that being Jewish is more having a circumcised heart than circumcised flesh. Crossing over to the Kingdom of God requires an inward change.

Our lives obviously are filled with highs and lows, times of good fortune and times when things just seem to go wrong. “The wilderness experience was so challenging and defining that future rabbinic texts consider any physical or spiritual desert as an enemy to be overcome. Our challenge is to walk through the times of wilderness in our lives and be transformed so that we can enter the Promised Land.” (Messianic Bible Project). We are in all to walk in obedience, which Ki Tavo promises will be rewarded. Conversely disobedience and rebellion result in punishment. There are listed 98 consequences taking up half of this par’sha. Parasha Ki Tavo is called “the warning chapter.” The portion is normally chanted, however the recital of curses here is rushed through in a hushed, fearful tone.

A couple of interesting things in this par’shah: first off the Jewish people do not ask just for a blessing on themselves, but for the entire community. “Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 26:15 ESV). If we think about it, extending the blessing to the community has great benefits, as a strong, vibrant community is insurance against all manner of calamities. Further, the rain does not fall just on your field; and God is as able to bless a thousand as easily as one.

Second is that blessings Come from being a blessing. One of the first commanded acts of obedience is to bring the first-fruits, our tithe, to be given to the Lord’s servants, as well as to the poor. “Then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.” (Deuteronomy 26:13 ESV). In tithing the holy (kadosh) portion of our income, absolutely renouncing claim to it and yielding control of it to God’s servants, we act in both obedience and trust. My Dad used to tell of a famous preacher (whose name I forget) who was asked “Do I tithe on my gross income, or my net?” (Obviously hoping for the answer to be “net”). The preacher replied “That depends; do you want gross blessings or net?”

In Judaism, tzedakah (charity) is such an important mitzvah that to not fulfill it would bring your lineage into question. Giving to the poor is a duty that cannot be forsaken even by those who are themselves in need. Some sages say tzedakah is the highest commandment, equal to all the commandments combined. Anyone not performing tzedakah is equivalent to an idolater. This principle is also stressed in the B’rit Chadashah: “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17 ESV) Also Matthew 22:36-40 (ESV) “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Proverbs 19:17 (ESV) Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

It is interesting that the word for the curses listed in 27:15-26 differs from the word used in 28:15-68:

H779 ארר 'ârar A primitive root; to execrate: - X bitterly curse.
H7045 קללה qelâlâh From H7043; vilification: - (ac-) curse (-d, -ing).

In ch. 27 no punishments are listed; only the agreement of the twelve tribes (corresponding to the twelve curses) as they say in unison “Omein,” (H543 אמן 'âmên … sure; abstractly faithfulness; adverbially truly: - Amen, so be it, truth). However in ch. 28 the curses are definitely meant as punishment. Ch 28:15-68 is, if thoughtfully read, a kind of “anti-”; reversing all the terms of the covenants and replacing blessings with curses. It is one of the most fearful segments in all scripture, Revelation included.

Dan C

Sources: JPS Study TNK, Messianic Prophecy Bible Project, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Rav Stanley, my father, e-sword, The Concise Book of Mitzvoth.