Post by alon on Aug 11, 2018 19:23:34 GMT -8
This week’s readings:
Date of reading- Aug 11, 2018/ 30 Av/5-30-5778
Name of Par’shah- 47. Re’eh; See
Par’shah- Deu 11:26 – 16:17
Haftara- Isaiah 54:11-55:5
Brit Chadashah- 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 John 4:1-6
D’rash: Our par’shah starts out with and admonition:
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God … ; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
This is clear- obey and be blessed, or disobey and be accursed. However one of the biggest problems we face in making converts today is Christianity has remade God into a strange god. However the God of the first century Nots’rim is to our friends, family and acquaintances the strange God. So learning the lessons of these par’shot and Rabbis teachings is important. If we don’t know our stuff inside and out, we’ll never be able to show them the truth.
Deuteronomy 12:2-5 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, … And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images … and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
Whenever I read this, I think about that abominable Dome of the Rock which dominates Yerushalayim and sits where God chose His Temple to be. However there is another, more insidious type of alter that needs to be destroyed; the ones we build in our hearts:
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 I wrote to you … not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, … But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those … outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
We are to judge who we will fellowship with; and judge any who want to fellowship with us.
Deuteronomy 12:29-30 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, …, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’
This is not saying do not understand other religions. If we are going to spot their doctrines creeping in we absolutely must understand them. This is part of how we make sound judgements. The warning here is that we do not “do likewise.” It refers to the practice of following the gods of the land instead of Ro’eh Yisroel, the Shepherd Of Israel.
Pagan beliefs were that gods stayed with the land, and so when you came into a new land you worship the god of that land. In practice what usually happened is that some of the old religious practices were mixed with the worship of the new gods. But the end result was your worship was not the same, nor for the same god. However Elohe Yeshuathi, the God of My Salvation wants us to know the truth, and that is that He is with us always, wherever we are, as long as we are with Him. And our worship nor His
ever changes, wherever we are. The truth is the pagans are lied to. Even their ‘gods’ were assigned to peoples, not just to places:
Daniel 10:13a But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days;
1 Kings 20:23, 28 Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. … Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: … I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”
Our God is God, whether in the high places or the lowlands. It was wrong thinking for the Syrians to assume the “gods” were battling for the land. As always it is a battle between good and evil; a battle for hearts and minds, not just territory.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 “If there arises among you a prophet …, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen …, for the Lord your God is testing you … You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, …, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
This one often used against us. “We left Christianity for “another god.”” However understanding history, it was the church fathers who left the faith of El Eleohe Yisroel.
Deuteronomy 13:6-11 “If your brother, … who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ … you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, … So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
These instructions continue in this vein, saying anyone who tries to entice us away from our Elohim is to be put to death. Now we cannot kill people today just because they are trying to entice us to follow other gods. However if some people are adamant about reconverting you, then they should be as dead to you.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
This is the major theme of our readings. Use judgement, test the spirits, and when you find one which is in contention with the word; one which would pull you away from the truth, then you are no longer to associate with those of that spirit, following them into apostasy.
We then move on to laws concerning Improper Mourning:
Deuteronomy 14:1-2a “You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God,
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (CJB) Now, brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died; otherwise, you might become
the way other people do who have nothing to hope for. For since we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, we also believe that in the same way God, through Yeshua, will take with him those who have died.
We are set apart, a holy people. YHWH-m’Kaddesh, God Who Sanctifies demands that as such we do not act like the pagans around us. The rest of this par’shah is a list of things we do differently. And for each, just as above, there is a reason. The things mentioned are: laws of kashrut, ma’aser (tithing), the yovel, tzedekah, the laws concerning avadim (bondservants), and a review of the shalosh regalim. There is an interesting point concerning bondservants however:
Deuteronomy 15:16-17 (NKJV) And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever.
This is the making of a blood covenant similar to that at the first Pesach when the blood was spread on the doorposts and lintel. Though still a servant, this person is now a permanent member of the household. And to all who would make this covenant, becoming permanent members of the household of El Elohay Yisroel, the Lord God of Israel He makes this promise to us and gives to us the following purpose:
Isaiah55:1, 5 (NKJV) “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. … Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”
All our needs will be met by Him, and we shall draw others to Him.
Dan C
Mekorot: quotes are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted, JPS Study TNK, The Green Interlinear Bible, Rav S, my father and others
Date of reading- Aug 11, 2018/ 30 Av/5-30-5778
Name of Par’shah- 47. Re’eh; See
Par’shah- Deu 11:26 – 16:17
Haftara- Isaiah 54:11-55:5
Brit Chadashah- 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 John 4:1-6
D’rash: Our par’shah starts out with and admonition:
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God … ; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.
This is clear- obey and be blessed, or disobey and be accursed. However one of the biggest problems we face in making converts today is Christianity has remade God into a strange god. However the God of the first century Nots’rim is to our friends, family and acquaintances the strange God. So learning the lessons of these par’shot and Rabbis teachings is important. If we don’t know our stuff inside and out, we’ll never be able to show them the truth.
Deuteronomy 12:2-5 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, … And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images … and destroy their names from that place. You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things. “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go.
Whenever I read this, I think about that abominable Dome of the Rock which dominates Yerushalayim and sits where God chose His Temple to be. However there is another, more insidious type of alter that needs to be destroyed; the ones we build in our hearts:
1 Corinthians 5:9-13 I wrote to you … not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, … But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those … outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
We are to judge who we will fellowship with; and judge any who want to fellowship with us.
Deuteronomy 12:29-30 “When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, …, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’
This is not saying do not understand other religions. If we are going to spot their doctrines creeping in we absolutely must understand them. This is part of how we make sound judgements. The warning here is that we do not “do likewise.” It refers to the practice of following the gods of the land instead of Ro’eh Yisroel, the Shepherd Of Israel.
Pagan beliefs were that gods stayed with the land, and so when you came into a new land you worship the god of that land. In practice what usually happened is that some of the old religious practices were mixed with the worship of the new gods. But the end result was your worship was not the same, nor for the same god. However Elohe Yeshuathi, the God of My Salvation wants us to know the truth, and that is that He is with us always, wherever we are, as long as we are with Him. And our worship nor His
ever changes, wherever we are. The truth is the pagans are lied to. Even their ‘gods’ were assigned to peoples, not just to places:Daniel 10:13a But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days;
1 Kings 20:23, 28 Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they. … Then a man of God came and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, “Thus says the Lord: … I will deliver all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ ”
Our God is God, whether in the high places or the lowlands. It was wrong thinking for the Syrians to assume the “gods” were battling for the land. As always it is a battle between good and evil; a battle for hearts and minds, not just territory.
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 “If there arises among you a prophet …, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen …, for the Lord your God is testing you … You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, …, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst.
This one often used against us. “We left Christianity for “another god.”” However understanding history, it was the church fathers who left the faith of El Eleohe Yisroel.
Deuteronomy 13:6-11 “If your brother, … who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ … you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, … So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.
These instructions continue in this vein, saying anyone who tries to entice us away from our Elohim is to be put to death. Now we cannot kill people today just because they are trying to entice us to follow other gods. However if some people are adamant about reconverting you, then they should be as dead to you.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
This is the major theme of our readings. Use judgement, test the spirits, and when you find one which is in contention with the word; one which would pull you away from the truth, then you are no longer to associate with those of that spirit, following them into apostasy.
We then move on to laws concerning Improper Mourning:
Deuteronomy 14:1-2a “You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God,
1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (CJB) Now, brothers, we want you to know the truth about those who have died; otherwise, you might become
the way other people do who have nothing to hope for. For since we believe that Yeshua died and rose again, we also believe that in the same way God, through Yeshua, will take with him those who have died.We are set apart, a holy people. YHWH-m’Kaddesh, God Who Sanctifies demands that as such we do not act like the pagans around us. The rest of this par’shah is a list of things we do differently. And for each, just as above, there is a reason. The things mentioned are: laws of kashrut, ma’aser (tithing), the yovel, tzedekah, the laws concerning avadim (bondservants), and a review of the shalosh regalim. There is an interesting point concerning bondservants however:
Deuteronomy 15:16-17 (NKJV) And if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever.
This is the making of a blood covenant similar to that at the first Pesach when the blood was spread on the doorposts and lintel. Though still a servant, this person is now a permanent member of the household. And to all who would make this covenant, becoming permanent members of the household of El Elohay Yisroel, the Lord God of Israel He makes this promise to us and gives to us the following purpose:
Isaiah55:1, 5 (NKJV) “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. … Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.”
All our needs will be met by Him, and we shall draw others to Him.
Dan C
Mekorot: quotes are from the New King James Bible unless otherwise noted, JPS Study TNK, The Green Interlinear Bible, Rav S, my father and others
