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THE MESSIANIC PROPHECY BIBLE PROJECT
http://www.messianicbible.com
HEAR O ISRAEL
www.hearoisrael.org
SHEEPFOLD GLEANINGS WRITTEN BY JULIE PARKER
www.sheepfoldgleanings.com
MESSIANIC ISRAEL ALLIANCE
http://www.messianicisrael.com
AZAMRA TORAH FOR OUR TIME – RABBI AVRAHAM
GREENBAUM
http://www.azamra.org
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TORAH: Deuteronomy 29:10-30:20
HAFTORAH: Isaiah 61:10-63:9
B’RIT CHADASHAH: Romans 10:1-12
All references: The Scripture 1998+ unless otherwise noted
“All of you are standing today before ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim: your leaders,
your tribes, your elders and your officers, all the men of Yisra’ĕl, your
little ones, your wives, and your sojourner who is in the midst of your
camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your
water, so that you should enter into covenant with ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim,
and into His oath, which ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim makes with you today, in
order to establish you today as a people for Himself, and He Himself be
your Elohim, as He has spoken to you, and as He has sworn to your
fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ. “And not with you
alone I am making this covenant and this oath, but with him who
stands here with us today before ‫ יהוה‬our Elohim, as well as with him
who is not here with us today. (Deuteronomy 29:10-15)
Atem Nitzavim” (All of you are standing) has the connotation of being
“grounded” or “standing firm”.
“
“Nitzavim” is not the typical word translated as stand “amad”. Instead,
nitzavim speaks of the fortitude and courage that comes from a Torah
knowledge that has been internalized. As the Israelites “stand” at the
end of their journey to the Promised Land, they are much wiser than
they were at the beginning of their journey. Moses is asking them to
“stand”, reflect on how far they’ve come and on what they’ve learned
along the way.
In like manner, those who remain “standing” at the end of time are in
a position to look back over the entire span of history, as far back as
the Garden of Eden. This final generation becomes a witness to the
truth of Scripture. They will be able to testify of everything that was
foretold in the Torah and the prophecies, including the loss of the
Promised Land, the resultant exiles, the return of the land, and the
restoration movement. There will be no doubt in their minds that
shalom (peace) in the land of Israel will only come through the
embracing of ‫’יהוה‬s Covenant and His Torah.
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As Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum writes; “This is the stability and
fortitude that comes from the knowledge of the Torah that we
internalize in our hearts. Here, as we stand at the end of the Torah, we
ought to be much wiser than we were at the beginning. Shortly, we will
be “entering the Land”, starting all over again from the beginning,
B’reishith. Just before we “enter the Land”, and this New Year, Moshe
tells us to stand and reflect on the lessons we have learned so far, in
order to be able to start over again on a better footing.”
“Only be strong and very courageous, to guard to do according to all
the Torah which Mosheh My servant commanded you. Do not turn
from it right or left, so that you act wisely wherever you go.
(Joshua 1:7)
This “Covenant” indeed applies to all; from the greatest to the least,
and the reason for this “Covenant” is “in order to establish you today
as a people for Himself…”
The Hebrew word used here for “establish” is “quwm” (kuf-yud-mem),
Strong’s #6965; which also means “to arise in strength”.
And when it rested, he said, “Return, O ‫יהוה‬, to the countless thousands
of Yisra’ĕl.” (Numbers 10:36)
“Quwm” also means “to stand”, “to build” and “to fulfil”.
So, not only did ‫“ יהוה‬choose” B’nei Yisra’el for His people as “For you
are a set-apart people to ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim. ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim has
chosen you to be a people for Himself, a treasured possession above all
the peoples on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 7:6)
He raised us up as a people for Himself, and established us through
Torah, His Word, His Covenant, in “fulfilment” of His promise to
Avraham, Yitzaq and Ya’aqob.
... from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water,
so that you should enter into covenant with ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim, and into
His oath, which ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim makes with you today,
(Deuteronomy 29:11-12)
Each individual member of the community will be involved in the
ceremony of re-establishing His covenant. In fact, this covenant also
includes those Israelites from the past, present and the future (29:1314). Since ‫ יהוה‬is eternal, it makes perfect sense that He would enter
into a covenant with all generations. So is it with us:
But one and the same Spirit works all these, distributing to each one
individually as He intends. For as the body is one and has many
members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body, so also is the Messiah. (1 Corinthians 12:11-12)
Now could there be any special significance to the “one who cuts your
wood” and the “one who draws your water”?
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CHOPPED WOOD: The first patriarch and the father of our faith is also
one who “chopped wood” when he was commanded by ‫ יהוה‬to bring
his most beloved son, Isaac, up on the mountain to be a burnt offering.
And Aḇraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and
took two of his young men with him, and Yitsḥaq his son. And he split
the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place which
Elohim had commanded him. (Genesis 22:3)
DRAWS WATER: Elijah the prophet is also associated with the one who
“draws the water” as he challenged the prophets of Baal on top of
Mount Carmel:
And he arranged the wood, and cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the
wood, and said, “Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt
offering and on the wood.” (1 Kings 18:33)
Elijah is known as the one who will herald in the Messianic times:
“See, I am sending you Ěliyah the prophet before the coming of the
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great and awesome day of ‫יהוה‬. (Malachi 4:5)
It is pointed out by Jewish commentators that Abraham was the first
Hebrew (he is also the father of our faith), and Elijah will be the last
Hebrew who will be committed to world redemption before the
coming of Messiah. We also note that ‫יהושע‬, the King of redemption,
was associated with the wood of the tree that He carried and was
nailed on to become the sacrifice. And His very first miracle was about
“pouring the water”:
... And there were six stone water-jugs standing there, according to the
mode of cleansing of the Yehuḏim, each holding two or three
measures. ‫ יהושע‬said to them, “Fill the water-jugs with water.” And
they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Now draw out
and take it to the master of the feast.” .. (John 2:2-9)
CONNECTING THE FEAST TO COME: And in this mountain ‫ יהוה‬of hosts
shall make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of old wines,
of choice pieces with marrow, of old wines, well-refined. . “See, this is
our Elohim. We have waited for Him, and He saves us. This is ‫יהוה‬, we
have waited for Him, let us be glad and rejoice in His deliverance.”
(Isaiah 25:6-9)
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The numeric value of “quwm” is 150 which equals “Qahloo” (“My
voice”), “hama aleh” (“that raised you up”), “L’ami” (“my people”) and
“la mo’ed” (“at the appointed time”). ‫ יהוה‬is “establishing” His people
in “fulfilment” of His Word, by through this “Covenant”, whether
“native born” Israelite or “sojourners”. By His voice, He is raising us up,
at the appointed time and establishing us as His people.
“And not with you alone I am making this covenant and this oath, but
with him who stands here with us today before ‫ יהוה‬our Elohim, as well
as with him who is not here with us today.
(Deuteronomy 29:14-15)
You see Elohim not only made this “Covenant” with all Israel “native
born” and “sojourner”; but, He made it, and ratified it, with all, “past,
present and future”.
“For you know how we dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim and how we
passed through the nations which you passed through, and you saw
their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold,
which were with them, lest there should be among you a man or
woman or clan or tribe, whose heart turns away today from ‫ יהוה‬our
Elohim, to go and serve the mighty ones of these nations, lest there
should be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood. “And it
shall be, when he hears the words of this curse, that he should bless
himself in his heart, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the
stubbornness of my heart,’ in order to add drunkenness to thirst.
(Deuteronomy 29:16-19)
The phrase translated as “a root bearing bitterness or wormwood” is
“sheresh parah ro’sh v’la’anah”. We have evidence that this is in fact
true when we read of the story of Achan (Joshua 7:1) who just a few
weeks later would violate the instructions of battle. Not only did Achan
lose his life as a result, but the lives of many others were lost in the
battle at Ai.
“Sheresh” is “root” or “something planted” or “something
foundational”.
“Parah” is “fruit-bearing” or “bringing forth”.
“Ro’sh” is “bitter” or “poison”, but also “head” or “beginning”.
“V’la’anah” translates as “and bitterness” or “and noxious”.
“V’la’anah” is an herb that has been used for millennia as an
insecticide and gets the nickname “wormwood” because of its use as a
de-wormer in animals and humans.
We see in verse 18 that, in serving the mighty ones of the nations (of
the world), it’s not just idolatry; but, it brings forth foundational
teachings who's fruits are thoughts and ideas that are bitter, noxious
and poison to us.
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The individual of verse 19 has heard the words of the curse, the
consequences for not obeying the Torah, and he is not intimidated. He
begins to rationalize his own position. The English translation indicates
that he “blesses himself”. This is a very rare form of the familiar
Hebrew verb, barak (to bless). In the midst of the promises for the
blessings for obedience, this individual chooses to “bless himself”?!!
Rabbi Yaakov Bieler points out that in this Hebrew word the Torah has
“perfectly captured the mindset of a resolute and unrepentant sinner
upon being confronted with the dire consequences that are threatened
to result from his sins. Not only does s/he deny that any harm will come
to him/her as a result of continuing transgression; s/he determines that
the Covenant will ultimately prove to be beneficial to his/her
situation.”
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Other commentaries suggest that this individual bases his confidence
in managing to live both a blessed and sinful life simultaneously, upon
a statistical calculation. This person believes that because he is a part
of the larger community who adheres to the Torah that he also will be
able to reap the benefits as well. Was not ‫ יהוה‬willing to spare Sodom
and Gomorrah as long as even ten righteous individuals could be found
there? Then it just seems reasonable to assume that evil will not come
upon a group whose majority is striving to serve the Almighty with all
their heart.
Does ‫ יהוה‬only deal with collective Israel, allowing individuals to slip
between the cracks? The famous sage Ramban teaches that when the
people as a whole were asked to acknowledge their acceptance of the
Covenant, this scheming person remained silent, thereby thinking that
he had successfully excluded himself from making the commitment and
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potentially suffering any consequences.
“The secret matters belong to ‫ יהוה‬our Elohim, but what is revealed
belongs to us and to our children forever, to do all the Words of this
Torah. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
The individual who outwardly appeared to be a follower of the Torah,
but inwardly he was filled with bitterness, stubbornness, and a lack of
the fear of Yah is in danger because of the secret matter of the heart.
“If you do not hear, and if you do not take it to heart, to give esteem to
My Name,” said ‫ יהוה‬of hosts, “I shall send a curse upon you, and I shall
curse your blessings. And indeed, I have cursed them, because you do
not take it to heart. (Malachi 2:2)
The idea of what is in your heart is very important to Yeshua:
“Blessed are the clean in heart, because they shall see Elohim.
(Matthew 5:8)
“But I say to you that everyone looking at a woman to lust for her has
already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28)
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The Word of the Almighty is the best way for us to judge our own
hearts:
For the Word of Elohim is living, and working, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, cutting through even to the dividing of being and
spirit, and of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight,
but all are naked and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom is
our account. (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The book of Romans tells us when the secrets of the heart will be
finally judged:
But according to your hardness and your unrepentant heart you are
treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of
the righteous judgment of Elohim, (Romans 2:5)
NOTE: The Torah teaches us that we are to obey in what Elohim asks
us to “get up and do” in this world, without looking at what others may
or may not be doing.
In the words of the rabbis; "If you say, „What is in our hands to do? You
punish the many because of the wicked thoughts of the individual…
Surely no man knows what is in the hidden depths of his friend?‟
Elohim answers: „I do not punish you over what is concealed, which
matters 'belong to HaShem‟. And, He will exact payment from that
individual. It is what is revealed that belongs to us and our children -to eradicate the evil from within us, and if justice is not carried out on
them (for known wrong-doing) the many will suffer."
One of the things we need to remember in these last days is that the
Children of Israel never left Mitzrayim of their own accord. For many
years they could have simply “got up and left”? They did nothing, life
was pretty good.
One day unable to leave, they were slaves in bitter bondage. They
experienced the first three plagues brought on Mitzrayim by ‫יהוה‬, in
order for them to see and fear Elohim. How are we any different, like
our forefathers, we in exile. In fact, it’s only been relatively recently
that we discovered that we’re in exile. We’ve established ourselves
and our families here.
We may want to go, eventually; but, our families don’t even think like
we do. They’ll never leave. Maybe I’m called to stay behind and help
them find a “safe zone”. heard that there are “safe zones” all over the
place, where folks can ride out the evil that lies ahead, until Mashiach
gathers us back to the Land. He’s going to do it by some big miracle.
However, that’s not what Scripture tells us. There’s a process in our
awakening and returning to our inheritance.
“And I shall bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the
lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an
outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out. “And I shall bring you
into the wilderness of the peoples, and shall enter into judgment with
you face to face there. “As I entered into judgment with your fathers in
the wilderness of the land of Mitsrayim, so I shall enter into judgment
with you,” declares the Master ‫יהוה‬. “And I shall make you pass under
the rod, and shall bring you into the bond of the covenant, and purge
the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me.
From the land where they sojourn I bring them out, but they shall not
come into the land of Yisra’ĕl. And you shall know that I am ‫יהוה‬.
(Ezekiel 20:34-38)
“And it shall be, when he hears the words of this curse, that he should
bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the
stubbornness of my heart,’ in order to add drunkenness to thirst. “‫יהוה‬
would not forgive him, but rather, the displeasure of ‫ יהוה‬and His
jealousy shall burn against that man, and every curse that is written in
this book shall settle on him, and ‫ יהוה‬shall blot out his name from
under the heavens. “And ‫ יהוה‬shall separate him for evil, out of all the
tribes of Yisra’ĕl, according to all the curses of the covenant that are
written in this Book of the Torah. (Deuteronomy 29:19-21)
Revelation confirm this:
And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne, and
books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book
of Life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the books,
according to their works. (Revelation 20:12)
“And the generation to come of your children who rise up after you,
and the foreigner who comes from a far land, shall say when they see
the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which ‫ יהוה‬has sent into it:
‘All its land is sulphur, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear,
nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Seḏom and
Amorah, Aḏmah and Tseḇoyim, which ‫ יהוה‬overthrew in His displeasure
and His wrath.’ “And all nations shall say, ‘Why has ‫ יהוה‬done so to this
land? What does the heat of this great displeasure mean?’ “And it shall
be said, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of ‫ יהוה‬Elohim of
their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of
the land of Mitsrayim. (Deuteronomy 29:22-25)
The term “generation to come” is in Hebrew, “dowr acharown” which
translates literally as “the generation that is last”. These verses are
indeed to the last generation. This is the generation that faces the
curses and consequences of centuries of abandoning of the Covenant,
the anger and concealment of ‫’יהוה‬s Face and the many judgments
and evils.
The “last generation” will see what the plagues and judgments for
idolatry have done to this land. They will see the picture Moshe speaks
of with even more contrast and clarity. This is the generation, that
we’ll see in a bit, that will say in Deuteronomy 31:17; “Is it not because
our Elohim is not in our midst that these evils have come upon us?”
Now, since Yehudah has returned, a fair portion has begun to truly
blossom and beauty has begun to return to Israel. Those standing at
the end of time are in a position to look over the entire span of history
all the way back to the beginning. Then they can testify that everything
foretold thousands of years ago in these Torah portions, including the
loss of the Land, the tribulations of exile, the "hiding" of ‫’יהוה‬s Face
from the world, the return to the Land and the teshuva of today, have
all come, or are coming, to pass.
In this “last generation” Yah will use a time of distress known as
“Ya’aqob’s Trouble” to bring about judgment on the nations and
governments; and the re-gathering of the exiles to the mountains of
Israel. We’ve seen that there is a lot of fear out there regarding what’s
about to take place; and, rightly so. It’s called Ya’aqob’s Trouble for a
reason...... and we’re Ya’aqob.
Will ‫ יהוה‬judge the righteous along with the wicked?
Did ‫ יהוה‬kill Lot?
No, He delivered him and two of his daughters. It was his wife who was
concerned about what, or who, she left behind; and, as a result, she
died. The question for us is, “Do we go and come out of the world like
Abraham, without haste and with all our stuff; or, do we flee as Lot did,
and maybe lose some loved ones?”
The Torah portion that we are reading this week, Nitzavim, is always
read on the Shabbat before Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets, Rosh
HaShanah) according to the traditional torah cycle. When our thoughts
should be directed towards repentance or teshuvah .
The root of teshuvah is shuv meaning to “return” or “restore”. Shuv is
the topic of Devarim 30:1-10 and is found in one form or another
seven times (underlined). Also notice the numerous references to the
“heart”:
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“And it shall be, when all these words come upon you, the blessing and
the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to
your heart among all the gentiles where ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim drives you,
and shall turn back to ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim and obey His voice, according
to all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your
being, you and your children, then ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim shall turn back
your captivity, and shall have compassion on you, and He shall turn
back and gather you from all the peoples where ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim has
scattered you. “If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under
the heavens, from there ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim does gather you, and from
there He does take you. “And ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim shall bring you to the
land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And He
shall do good to you, and increase you more than your fathers.
(Deuteronomy 30:1-5)
“And ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim shall circumcise your heart and the heart of
your seed, to love ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim with all your heart and with all
your being, so that you might live, and ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim shall put all
these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who
persecuted you. “And you shall turn back and obey the voice of ‫יהוה‬
and do all His commands which I command you today. “And ‫ יהוה‬your
Elohim shall make you have excess in all the work of your hand, in the
fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of
your ground for good. For ‫ יהוה‬turns back to rejoice over you for good
as He rejoiced over your fathers, if you obey the voice of ‫ יהוה‬your
Elohim, to guard His commands and His laws which are written in this
Book of the Torah, if you turn back to ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim with all your
heart and with all your being.
(Deuteronomy 30:6-10)
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if you obey the voice of ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim, to guard His commands and
His laws which are written in this Book of the Torah, if you turn back to
‫ יהוה‬your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being.
(Deuteronomy 30:10)
If we repent and turn “fully” to Him, He will regather us from wherever
He has scattered us and bring us back to the Land. He will curse our
enemies and all who persecute us. If we love Him and turn back and
obey and do all of His commands, then ‫ יהוה‬will rejoice over us and
bless us. Do you know what it means when ‫ יהוה‬rejoices over you?
This word “rejoice”, which in the Hebrew is “soos”; carries the
connotation of music; instruments, singing and especially dancing.
When you repent and return to ‫ יהוה‬and His Torah, He promises to
regather you back to the Land…. And, He will rejoice over you, as He
rejoiced over our forefathers.
“For this command which I am commanding you today, it is not too
hard for you, nor is it far off. (Deuteronomy 30:11)
The question that jumps out at us, what commandment is He
referring to?
Ancient Hebrew commentators say that it is the commandment of
teshuvah (repentance). We saw in the text of Devarim 30:1-10 the
different forms this verbal root (shuv) takes on – bring them back (to
your heart), return (to obey), bring you back (from captivity), and turn
(to ‫)יהוה‬. When the Torah repeats a word like this, it is pointing to its
significance within the text.
So in this context, what is the importance of “returning”?
Sin alienates us from the Almighty. We become distanced from His
Presence. We must “return”. So here in our passage from
Deuteronomy 30, we read of both the physical and the spiritual
dimension of “returning”. When we are ready to physically return to
the land, it comes about because we have spiritually returned through
the process of repentance! It points to a double homecoming!
The order of events is neatly laid out for us in these Deuteronomy
verses:
1. Return (repent) to ‫יהוה‬
2. Obey (shema) Torah
3. Brought out of captivity by being gathered together
4. Taken to the Promised Land
Where are we in this order of events? We are very familiar with the
words of John the Immerser and ‫ יהושע‬as they both taught the first
necessary step of returning:
And in those days Yoḥanan the Immerser came proclaiming in the
wilderness of Yehuḏah, and saying, “Repent, for the reign of the
heavens has come near!” (Matthew 3:1-2)
From that time ‫ יהושע‬began to proclaim and to say, “Repent, for the
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reign of the heavens has drawn near.” (Matthew 4:17)
The result of slavery to sin is death; but when we “repent” of our sins,
it makes us a slave of the Almighty and leads to the second
point….obedience (shema). Paul explains this in Romans:
Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves servants for
obedience, you are servants of the one whom you obey, whether of sin
to death, or of obedience to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
From obedience, we go to the third point of being brought out of
captivity. Once we begin to obey the Torah, we realize that we are a
captive to this world’s system. ‫ יהושע‬had a mission of gathering out of
the world all of the tribes of the lost sheep of the house of Israel:
And He answering, said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the
house of Yisra’ĕl.” (Matthew 15:24)
‫ יהושע‬spoke prophetically as He told of His sheep all coming to the
point of hearing (shema) His voice and “returning” to become one
flock. The Hebrew word for gathering (Deuteronomy 30:3-4) is the
word from which we get the modern Hebrew word “kibbutz”, meaning
a tightly knit community much like the first believers in Jerusalem after
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the resurrection.
Even more amazing, we can find this concept in the prophetic
blessings of Jacob over his children:
And Yaʽaqoḇ called his sons and said, “Gather together, so that I
declare to you what is to befall you in the last days: “Gather together
and hear, you sons of Yaʽaqoḇ, and listen to Yisra’ĕl your father.
(Genesis 49:1-2)
• Verse 1 – gather – this is the Hebrew root of “Joseph”
• Verse 1 – last days – term used for “latter days” in several prophecies
(Isaiah 2:2)
• Verse 2 – gather – Hebrew root of “kibbutz”
These verses, which in context precede the blessings over the sons of
Jacob, are also prophetic in foretelling the gathering together of
“Joseph” in the “latter days” in “kibbutz-like” communities. When we
take another look at Bereshith 49:1, it appears that the information
regarding the “days to come”, will not be revealed until we are
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“gathered together”.
“If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under the heavens,
from there ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim does gather you, and from there He does
take you. (Deuteronomy 30:4)
The KJV translates the end of the verse – “from there He will fetch
you.” This same Hebrew word (laqach) is also used of taking a bride;
once we are gathered, that is what we will be to Him. As individuals,
we can not fulfil the role of the bride of Messiah. We need to become
that unified “one flock”! What is spoken of in Deuteronomy 30:4 is
prophetic of the second coming of ‫ יהושע‬and of what has been termed
the “rapture”? “And immediately after the distress of those days the
sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give its light, and the
stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken. “And then the sign of the Son of Aḏam shall appear in the
heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall
see the Son of Aḏam coming on the clouds of the heaven with power
and much esteem. “And He shall send His messengers with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His chosen ones
from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
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(Matthew 24:29-31)
For this we say to you by the word of the Master, that we, the living
who are left over at the coming of the Master shall in no way go before
those who are asleep. Because the Master Himself shall come down
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of a chief messenger, and
with the trumpet of Elohim, and the dead in Messiah shall rise first.
Then we, the living who are left over, shall be caught away together
with them in the clouds to meet the Master in the air – and so we shall
always be with the Master. So, then, encourage one another with these
words. (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)
It seems that the return of ‫יהושע‬, the rapture, and the resurrection of
the dead in Messiah are all linked with the return of Israel to her land
and all of this has been predicted in this prophetic book of
Deuteronomy. The ekklesia, or what has wrongly been translated as
“the church” refers to the assembly of Israel to which the believers
have been grafted into. The return of the Jews to their land, which
began in 1948, will be concluded with the supernatural gathering of all
of the lost tribes. This ushers in the Messianic age, the 7th millennium.
We get a glimpse of that time period every week when we keep
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Shabbat.
And to Him who is able to establish you according to my Good News
and the preaching of ‫ יהושע‬Messiah, according to the revelation of the
secret which was kept silent since times of old, but now has been made
manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all
nations, according to the command of the everlasting Elohim, for
belief-obedience. To Elohim, wise alone, be the esteem, through ‫יהושע‬
Messiah forever. Amĕn. (Romans 16:25-27)
having made known to us the secret of His desire, according to His
good pleasure which He purposed in Him, to administer at the
completion of time, to gather together in one all in Messiah, both
which are in the heavens and which are on earth, in Him, in whom also
we did obtain an inheritance, being previously ordained according to
the purpose of Him working all matters according to the counsel of His
desire, (Ephesians 1:9-11)
There is much that we still do not understand concerning the regathering process. The Jews in the 1st century missed the coming of
the Messiah because of their preconceived ideas of how that event
would transpire. We run that same risk if we are not flexible to the
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receiving of new information as revealed through the Scriptures.
We know that we will be told everything we need to know when we
need to know it:
For the Master ‫ יהוה‬does no matter unless He reveals His secret to His
servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)
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“And ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your
seed, to love ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim with all your heart and with all your
being, so that you might live, (Deuteronomy 30:6)
In the above verse, Elohim is the one who will “circumcise your heart”.
Compare this with what was said earlier in Devarim:
“And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and harden your
neck no more. (Deuteronomy 10:16)
In Devarim 10, the people are told to circumcise their own hearts; later
as they return (shuv) to ‫ יהוה‬their Elohim, they are told that He will be
the one to circumcise their hearts. ‫ יהוה‬asks us to cut away anything of
the world that keeps us from wholehearted devotion to Him. This has
already been accomplished to a certain extent. Once, when we came
into a relationship with ‫ ;יהושע‬then more cutting occurred when we
discovered that loving Him meant keeping His Torah. The circumcision
continues, however, for our hearts need to be prepared for properly
loving Him once we arrive in the Promised Land. At the point of final
redemption of a unified Israel, He will complete the circumcision.
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“It is not in the heavens, to say, ‘Who shall ascend into the heavens for
us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we do it?’ “Nor is
it beyond the sea, to say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it
to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we do it?’ “For the Word is very
near you, in your mouth and in your heart – to do it .. (Deuteronomy
30:11-14)
The torah is perfect and is also the perfect guideline for all:
But he that looked into the perfect Torah, that of freedom, and
continues in it, not becoming a hearer that forgets, but a doer of work,
this one shall be blessed in his doing of the Torah. (James 1:25)
“Therefore, be perfect, as your Father in the heavens is perfect.
(Matthew 5:48)
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“See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil, in
that I am commanding you today to love ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim, to walk in
His ways, and to guard His commands, and His laws, and His rightrulings. And you shall live and increase, and ‫ יהוה‬your Elohim shall bless
you in the land which you go to possess. “But if your heart turns away,
and you do not obey, and shall be drawn away, and shall bow down to
other mighty ones and serve them, “I have declared to you today that
you shall certainly perish, you shall not prolong your days in the land
which you are passing over the Yardĕn to enter and possess. “I have
called the heavens and the earth as witnesses today against you: I have
set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore you
shall choose life, so that you live, both you and your seed, to love ‫יהוה‬
your Elohim, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him – for He is your life
and the length of your days – to dwell in the land which ‫ יהוה‬swore to
your fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ, to give them.”
(Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
‫ יהושע‬is near all who confess with true repentance. For our beloved
Jewish brethren, He is closer than they think. He is within reach. It is as
simple as looking into their own houses. To illustrate this, I’ll close with
an old Jewish folktale:
The tale is told about Reb Chaikel, a poor tailor from Lodz, who had
the same recurring dreams. Each night his father would appear to him
and tell him about a secret fortune. All Reb Chaikel had to do was
travel to Vienna and go to the royal palace. Exactly fifty yards from the
palace, his father said, was an old oak tree. Under that tree, his father
told him, lays a great treasure. All Reb Chaikel had to do was dig under
the tree, and all his financial problems would be solved.
At first, Reb Chaikel ignored the dreams, but they recurred night after
night. And so, he decided to go to Vienna and seek his fortune. He
camped out near the palace and waited for an opportune time to
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begin digging for the fortune.
At midnight on a moonless night, he stealthily crept up to the tree and
began to dig. His shovel had not even had a chance to strike dirt when
he felt a rough hand squeeze the back of his neck.
“Jew!” shouted the palace guard. “What on earth are you doing at
midnight, fifty yards from the palace gates, shovelling dirt?”
Reb Chaikel had no choice but to tell the story of his dreams about the
great fortune that lay beneath the oak tree that he was about to dig
up. He even offered to split the booty if the guard would let him go.
“You idiot!” laughed the guard. “Everyone has dreams. In fact, I myself
dreamed that if I were to go to the city of Lodz in Poland and dig in the
basement of some Jewish tailor named Chaikel, I, too, would find a
fortune! Hah! Now get lost!”
Legend has it that Reb Chaikel returned to Lodz and, after a little
digging in the basement of his own home, became a very wealthy
man.
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