Post by alon on Aug 2, 2015 18:55:09 GMT -8
Moderator note: this is an older post I am moving to it's proper place. Mistakes happen, even to staff ... 
The
portion for this week is Va’etchanan, “I pleaded”
Deuteronomy 3:23 (ESV) “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,”
Moshe pleads to be allowed to enter the Promised Land despite God’s having said he would not. The request is not granted, although the Jewish sages teach that it almost was answered. There are however many lessons about prayer here. Va’etchanan, “I pleaded,” is only used this once in the entire TNK. The root of va'etchanan is the word “chen,” meaning “grace.” The name Chana (Hannah) is the Hebrew proper name “Grace.” Samuel’s mother Hannah is also a person whose life teaches us about prayer (I Samuel 1:10& 20). Moshe prayed as though asking a favor of God. With no sense of entitlement or anger, he was asking God for grace. This wasn’t something he thought he deserved, though he easily could have made a case for this. He prayed with humility and trusted God for the answer. He left the answer to God, and accepted what he was given.
Deuteronomy 4:1-10 (ESV) “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. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
The above passage focuses on obedience, contrasting obedience vs. disobedience, remembering vs. forgetting, YHVH vs. other gods, vs. laws of other nations, and the God of Israel vs. idols. Images, whether of God, gods, or natural phenomena should never be part of our worship. Idolatry here is presented as the sole reason for Israel’s exile from the land (ch 4 vss 25-31), whereas in most instances failure to heed God’s is given as the reason for exile. From this a d’rash might be made that idolatry is the root cause of disobedience to . In fact, in vss 8-9 above, we see Israel is distinguished from all others by its’ God and by its’ law. Idolatry undermines both of these.
There is an injunction here to “Make [these things] known to your children and your children's children” so that the past becomes their present reality. They know of these things just as though they had witnessed it themselves. It becomes a source of identity to and for them. “Your eyes have seen” and “you stood” already makes use of this imagery, as this generation was not alive when these things occurred. Yet as sure as their forefathers were there, they were also.
Deuteronomy 4:39 (ESV) know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
“Know therefore” and “lay it to your heart”; head knowledge is not the same as knowing it in our hearts. Both are important, but the truth taken to heart can dramatically impact our lives. I’ve heard it said that the longest 18” in the world is measured from our heads to our hearts. “Today,” meaning in the remez sense Moshe wasn’t just speaking to those at that time and place; he spoke to all people of all times! So we are to know, then, now, and for all time, there is no God but God!
Ch 5 revisits the Ten Commandments. While it is distinctive in Near-Eastern politics and theology in that it combines both theophany and law, there is also much controversy on the topic I don’t want to get into here. In fact, I find most of the controversy to support my assertion that we have the wrong 10 anyhow. There are however a few salient points; so ignoring the ten words, I’ll focus on these.
Deuteronomy 5:3 (ESV) Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
Again, the generation who actually was there when the covenant was made has died off. This verse makes the covenant relevant and binding on all who are called by God’s name. And God’s law was more than just whatever list of ten things you want to honor by picturing them on two tablets down at the courthouse (unless the ACLU has been to yours). His law, His instructions for living, is the entire!
That picture of a scalloped tablet with ten laws on it is bogus anyhow. The two tablets followed near-Eastern legal custom of making two identical copies of a legal agreement, each side retaining a copy. Just like we do today- and for good reason. Now God didn’t need to have a copy to either remember what was said or to enforce the terms of the agreement. But we needed to know He had a copy. Rocks from heaven- usually worked to get me back on the straight and narrow!
The Temple Scroll from Qumran, as well as the pseudepigraphic (basically means they lied about its authorship and time of writing) book of Jubilees (Jubilee is the worst word to describe the Heb yovel- a hint this book is a fake- however there are things we can learn from it historically) present Jewish sectarian law as having come down from Sinai. In the early rabbinic movement (70-300 CE) the tradition of the Oral having also come down from Sinai follows this model. Most Jewish scholars follow the more realistic idea that Moshe was given the commission to “write” the at Sinai. However it is actually a compilation of other works extant at the time, with some scribal additions (most under the supervision of Moshe), some priestly additions (under the supervision of no one), and even the entire book of Deuteronomy being written after his death.
Devarim 6:4-5 (OJB) Shema Yisroel Adonoi Eloheinu Adonoi Echad. And thou shalt love Hashem Eloheicha b’chol l’vavcha u’vchol nafshcha uvechol modecha.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
The Shema, the central passage summarizing the Jewish and Messianic faiths. Yet Deuteronomy gives no indication that this passage is important either theologically or liturgically. Contemporary reading of this passage understands this to be an assertion of monotheism. To the ancient Israelites this was a public proclamation of loyalty to YHVH as the only sovereign Lord of Yisro'el. As this prayer was made part of the Synagogue service, it also became legally binding; an oath to carry out God’s. These verses were cited by Yeshua in Mark 12:29-30 as the most important commandment. But to truly understand what is said, we must go to the Hebrew. The NJPS translation says “Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” This is an implication of loyalty, as said earlier. Most Bibles today say “the Lord is One.” Either or both of these translations are correct, since Biblical Hebrew has no punctuation and most meanings of words depends on context- meaning there is more than one meaning. So I am not arguing against what we’ve all been told; just saying we may need to broaden our understanding a bit here as the two meanings are far from exclusive- they are in fact supportive, even dependant!
According to my JPS TNK, regarding the use of echad for either “One” or “Alone”: “Nor is it likely that the verse intends to clarify that there is only one YHVH, as opposed to many YHVHs, since there was no difficulty in recognizing that many manifestations of a divinity could derive from a single god.” Sounds a lot like a good argument for Yeshua as God ... but then, I'm not Jewish so I'm sure I missed the code in there somewhere.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
This kind of covenantal love does not refer to an internal sentiment or emotion (as we are mostly taught) but rather loyalty to God and actions towards others. It is difficult to command emotions, but actions we are responsible for before God. Rabbinic interpretation of the term “with all your soul” is that one should be willing to lay down his life for God. "Might" is translated from the word me’od, which means “very” or “exceedingly.” If you asked an Isreali how he was doing, he’d likely reply “Tov me’od!” “Very good.” However only here and in 2 Kings 23:25 it is used as noun. In the 2 Kings reference it is used to describe King Josiah as a paragon of observance. Here, it speaks of loving God wholeheartedly. Again a d’rash is made, this time between loving God and obedience to .
While we are on the subject of languages, in 6:8 we have the commandment to bind the law on our hand and on our forehead; from which we get the Jewish custom of binding tefillin. The Greek translation is the word “phylacterion” from which we get “phylacteries.” This actually means “amulet,” which suggests a connection with magic. Do not tell me nothing is lost when the things of God are presented in detestably pagan Greek instead of Hebrew, the language God Himself chose.
Dan C
Primary resources: Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and my JPS Study TNK
The
portion for this week is Va’etchanan, “I pleaded”Deuteronomy 3:23 (ESV) “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,”
Moshe pleads to be allowed to enter the Promised Land despite God’s having said he would not. The request is not granted, although the Jewish sages teach that it almost was answered. There are however many lessons about prayer here. Va’etchanan, “I pleaded,” is only used this once in the entire TNK. The root of va'etchanan is the word “chen,” meaning “grace.” The name Chana (Hannah) is the Hebrew proper name “Grace.” Samuel’s mother Hannah is also a person whose life teaches us about prayer (I Samuel 1:10& 20). Moshe prayed as though asking a favor of God. With no sense of entitlement or anger, he was asking God for grace. This wasn’t something he thought he deserved, though he easily could have made a case for this. He prayed with humility and trusted God for the answer. He left the answer to God, and accepted what he was given.
Deuteronomy 4:1-10 (ESV) “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. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’
The above passage focuses on obedience, contrasting obedience vs. disobedience, remembering vs. forgetting, YHVH vs. other gods,
vs. laws of other nations, and the God of Israel vs. idols. Images, whether of God, gods, or natural phenomena should never be part of our worship. Idolatry here is presented as the sole reason for Israel’s exile from the land (ch 4 vss 25-31), whereas in most instances failure to heed God’s is given as the reason for exile. From this a d’rash might be made that idolatry is the root cause of disobedience to . In fact, in vss 8-9 above, we see Israel is distinguished from all others by its’ God and by its’ law. Idolatry undermines both of these.There is an injunction here to “Make [these things] known to your children and your children's children” so that the past becomes their present reality. They know of these things just as though they had witnessed it themselves. It becomes a source of identity to and for them. “Your eyes have seen” and “you stood” already makes use of this imagery, as this generation was not alive when these things occurred. Yet as sure as their forefathers were there, they were also.
Deuteronomy 4:39 (ESV) know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
“Know therefore” and “lay it to your heart”; head knowledge is not the same as knowing it in our hearts. Both are important, but the truth taken to heart can dramatically impact our lives. I’ve heard it said that the longest 18” in the world is measured from our heads to our hearts. “Today,” meaning in the remez sense Moshe wasn’t just speaking to those at that time and place; he spoke to all people of all times! So we are to know, then, now, and for all time, there is no God but God!
Ch 5 revisits the Ten Commandments. While it is distinctive in Near-Eastern politics and theology in that it combines both theophany and law, there is also much controversy on the topic I don’t want to get into here. In fact, I find most of the controversy to support my assertion that we have the wrong 10 anyhow. There are however a few salient points; so ignoring the ten words, I’ll focus on these.
Deuteronomy 5:3 (ESV) Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
Again, the generation who actually was there when the covenant was made has died off. This verse makes the covenant relevant and binding on all who are called by God’s name. And God’s law was more than just whatever list of ten things you want to honor by picturing them on two tablets down at the courthouse (unless the ACLU has been to yours). His law, His instructions for living, is the entire
! That picture of a scalloped tablet with ten laws on it is bogus anyhow. The two tablets followed near-Eastern legal custom of making two identical copies of a legal agreement, each side retaining a copy. Just like we do today- and for good reason. Now God didn’t need to have a copy to either remember what was said or to enforce the terms of the agreement. But we needed to know He had a copy. Rocks from heaven- usually worked to get me back on the straight and narrow!
The Temple Scroll from Qumran, as well as the pseudepigraphic (basically means they lied about its authorship and time of writing) book of Jubilees (Jubilee is the worst word to describe the Heb yovel- a hint this book is a fake- however there are things we can learn from it historically) present Jewish sectarian law as having come down from Sinai. In the early rabbinic movement (70-300 CE) the tradition of the Oral
having also come down from Sinai follows this model. Most Jewish scholars follow the more realistic idea that Moshe was given the commission to “write” the at Sinai. However it is actually a compilation of other works extant at the time, with some scribal additions (most under the supervision of Moshe), some priestly additions (under the supervision of no one), and even the entire book of Deuteronomy being written after his death.Devarim 6:4-5 (OJB) Shema Yisroel Adonoi Eloheinu Adonoi Echad. And thou shalt love Hashem Eloheicha b’chol l’vavcha u’vchol nafshcha uvechol modecha.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (ESV) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
The Shema, the central passage summarizing the Jewish and Messianic faiths. Yet Deuteronomy gives no indication that this passage is important either theologically or liturgically. Contemporary reading of this passage understands this to be an assertion of monotheism. To the ancient Israelites this was a public proclamation of loyalty to YHVH as the only sovereign Lord of Yisro'el. As this prayer was made part of the Synagogue service, it also became legally binding; an oath to carry out God’s
. These verses were cited by Yeshua in Mark 12:29-30 as the most important commandment. But to truly understand what is said, we must go to the Hebrew. The NJPS translation says “Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” This is an implication of loyalty, as said earlier. Most Bibles today say “the Lord is One.” Either or both of these translations are correct, since Biblical Hebrew has no punctuation and most meanings of words depends on context- meaning there is more than one meaning. So I am not arguing against what we’ve all been told; just saying we may need to broaden our understanding a bit here as the two meanings are far from exclusive- they are in fact supportive, even dependant!According to my JPS TNK, regarding the use of echad for either “One” or “Alone”: “Nor is it likely that the verse intends to clarify that there is only one YHVH, as opposed to many YHVHs, since there was no difficulty in recognizing that many manifestations of a divinity could derive from a single god.” Sounds a lot like a good argument for Yeshua as God ... but then, I'm not Jewish so I'm sure I missed the code in there somewhere.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
This kind of covenantal love does not refer to an internal sentiment or emotion (as we are mostly taught) but rather loyalty to God and actions towards others. It is difficult to command emotions, but actions we are responsible for before God. Rabbinic interpretation of the term “with all your soul” is that one should be willing to lay down his life for God. "Might" is translated from the word me’od, which means “very” or “exceedingly.” If you asked an Isreali how he was doing, he’d likely reply “Tov me’od!” “Very good.” However only here and in 2 Kings 23:25 it is used as noun. In the 2 Kings reference it is used to describe King Josiah as a paragon of
observance. Here, it speaks of loving God wholeheartedly. Again a d’rash is made, this time between loving God and obedience to .While we are on the subject of languages, in 6:8 we have the commandment to bind the law on our hand and on our forehead; from which we get the Jewish custom of binding tefillin. The Greek translation is the word “phylacterion” from which we get “phylacteries.” This actually means “amulet,” which suggests a connection with magic. Do not tell me nothing is lost when the things of God are presented in detestably pagan Greek instead of Hebrew, the language God Himself chose.
Dan C
Primary resources: Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and my JPS Study TNK
