Beth Elohim Messianic Synagogue
Parashah #50: Ki Tavo (When you come) D’varim (Deuteronomy) 26:1-29:9
Haftarah: Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 60:1-22
B’rit Chadashah: Acts 28:17-31
Now that the rights and obligations for a holy people in a new land have been described in detail, this week we are given another step to take in our ascending relationship to G-d. Moshe instructed the people in the specifics of the liturgies of two confessions and a reminder of the covenant. The love of G-d is to be expressed through obedience to the commands/rulings/instructions which are demonstrated through behavior. That is we are obligated to express our love for and adherence to G-d’s Torah through our lifestyle. A conscious effort to keep G-d at the forefront of our hearts and minds is accomplished through confessions, worship, and dedication; again, a lifestyle rather than isolated acts of false piety.
The first confession (26:1-11) is to be made with the offering of first fruits (Ex.23:19; 34:26; Num.18:12-17). Making this confession keeps the giver focus on the fact that G-d is our redeemer and sustainer and that as our King, He deserves the very best of all we have. It is a reminder that we would have nothing if He were to withhold His kindness and mercy for even a second.
When offering the first fruits, the individual making the offering presented his firstfruits to the priest while also acknowledging that he was now living in the land promised to his fathers (26:3). The priest then placed the basket before the altar of the L-rd.
The confession that follows is a reminder that G-d is our sustainer and redeemer by making a verbal reference to Jacob as a “wandering Aramean.” This confession encompasses much more than a simple statement, recalling Jacob’s testings when overtaken by Laban at one point, and the prospect of suffering Esau’s wrath. Later Jacob would find it necessary to migrate to Egypt due to a famine. The Israelites were oppressed by the Egyptians until G-d heard the prayers of His people and miraculously delivered them out of Egypt. Only through G-d’s grace and power were the Israelites able to conquer a land previously occupied by their enemies. Thus offering the first fruits was and is a way of acknowledging G-d’s goodness, righteousness, and continued intervention in the lives of His people throughout their generations.
The second confession (26:12-15) is related to the tithe required every third year for the poor and needy. This tithe was distributed to the Levite, the immigrant, orphans and widows within the community. Loving obedience to this command provided a tangible, material way for the giver to show compassion and concern for his neighbor. Following this mitzvah, the giver would come to make a confession before G-d. This would have occurred at the end of harvest season, most likely during the Feast of Tabernacles. This would make perfect sense as this is the time of year Yahshua was born which added another dimension to G-d’s provision and protection; construction of the booths as shelter with roofs from which the sky (heavens) may be observed, and G-d’s provision and protection through the Messiah, Yahshua.
Also in this second confession, the Israelite publicly acknowledges before G-d that he did his fair share by contributing the tithe of his income according to the command. Practices that prevailed in the surrounding pagan cultures had no part in the process of tithing according to G-d’s instructions. This included tithes/offerings for defilement, uncleanliness, or the dead were deliberately and carefully avoided (Lev. 22:3; Num. 19:11). Confessing that the individual had acted in accordance with G-d’s instructions, the giver now expanded his prayers to include a petition to G-d for his blessing on the people and the ground which G-d had given them according to the oath G-d gave to their forefathers (26:13-15). In this way the Israelite confessed his continued dependence upon G-d and expectation that G-d would continue to bless His people and the land.
Although the basic stipulation for the Sinaitic covenant were inscribed on stone tablets, when the Israelites arrived in the land, they were instructed to erect large stone pillars, cover them with plaster, then inscribe the words of the covenantal agreement. These stones provided a constant witness to their relationship with G-d, making it public for everyone to see. Having these stones in public view provided future generations with a constant witness to the relationship between the Israelites and their G-d. How different American society operates today, taking any monuments, signs, or other depictions of the 10 commands out of the public eye and out of academic curricula.
The altar was to be erected at the foot of Mount Ebal, near the huge stones that contained the law. Unhewn stone was to be used as had been the case at Mount Sinai (Ex. 20:25). What is eerily important is the fact that in contemporary culture, heathen altars were hewn out of a rock outcropping or built with cut stones decorated with idols. Recall after September 2001 that several prominent politicians including President George Bush made almost identical vows that America would rebuild bigger and better buildings and place them at the site of the previous twin towers.
In the book of Isaiah (9:10) the same arrogance and disregard for even the possibility that national sin was the cause of the Temple’s destruction then and the September 2001 disaster was displayed by the Jews living just before the destruction of the Temple around 586 BCE, and in recent history by America’s leaders including then President George Bush, and even prominent evangelists who either failed to make the connection or chose to remain silent. As just one of at least nine similarities between the words spoken in Isaiah and identical symbols described in the scripture and the events surrounding September 11,2001is G-d’s instructions to the Israelites that they do not conform to the heathen practice of carving out altars from rock outcroppings known as Gazit stones. Rather, they were to construct the altar as G-d directed. The Israelites were to recognize the altar as a place of G-d’s revelation, as a place where G-d and man would connect.
A Gazit stone is a stone that is carved out in a rectangular shape. The Israelites obtained these stones from a local mountain. America did the same thing when they carved 20 tons of Adirondack granite from the mountains in New York to create the Freedom Stone that was to be placed as the cornerstone of a new development at Ground Zero.
However, G-d thwarted the plans of an America who would not repent and follow His ways. According to David W. Dunlap of the New York Times written on June 23, 2006, “The 20-ton cornerstone of the Freedom Tower was carted off from the World Trade Center site early today, nearly two years after it was ceremoniously set in place on July 4, with its slivered, chiseled letters as a “tribute to the enduring spirit of freedom.”
“No one made a speech this morning. No one sang “G-d bless America.” No one read the Declaration of Independence.
“Instead, the cornerstone was placed on a truck and returned to Innovative Stone in Hauppauge, N.Y., where it will remain for as long as two years until it returns to ground zero….”
“Its absence carries a couple of meanings. Obviously, it is an acknowledgement that much of what passed for progress at ground zero to date has been longer on symbolism than substance…”
There is more to this article than I am including because the point I want to make is that even in the last sentence in what I have provided today, we do not see a hint of the possibility that national sin may have contributed to all that happened on September 11, 2001, and continued defiance and rejection of G-d’s commands is reflected in the curses for such rebelliousness in Deuteronomy Chapter 28.
According to an NBC News story August 27,2014, the stone lays in a “grassy front yard of a stone manufacturing plant in an industrial precinct in the Long Island hamlet of Yaphank.”
The importance of following G-d’s instructions cannot be overstated. Rebellious and arrogant behaviors and attitudes overtly demonstrated and promoted will not succeed. G-d will not be mocked. Unless there is national repentance and a unified commitment to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, offending nations will be destroyed (Deut. 28:61).
Haftarah: Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 60:1-22
There will be a day when the created sun and moon are no longer needed to light G-d’s city, Jerusalem! YHVH/Yahshua will be the Source of Light. Yahshua returns as Savior and Redeemer. Wealth coming from every nation flows to Jerusalem; gold and silver replace copper and iron. Jerusalem will no longer be barren but will bring forth her children without travail (Is. 60:4,9;66:7-9). The citizens of Jerusalem are righteous ones who inherit the Land forever. Her walls will be called Y’shua (G-d saves) and her gates will be called T’hillah (praise). Imagine; praise Yahshua! The future will bring in everlasting glory. G-d promises “ani Adonai b’itahh achishenah (I am the L-rd, in its time I will quicken it) (Is. 60:22). May it be in our lifetime.
B’rit Chadashah: Acts 28:17-31
This narrative echoes our parashah and the spiritual deafness and blindness that exists today with our Orthodox brethren Jewish sects, and the Goyim. In this narrative, it is the Jewish leaders who are persecuting Sha’ul. The Romans had found no grounds to keep Sha’ul as a prisoner, but the Jewish leaders. Sha’ul was very responsive to the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) and understood he needed to discuss Yahshua and His resurrection (Messianic Judaism) thoroughly witnessing the Kingdom of G-d through us of the Torah of Moshe and the Prophets to persuade them about Yahshua. Some were convinced, but others were not. The Jewish leaders left in disagreement among themselves after Sha’ul made a final statement. This added “salt to the wound” and certainly did not endear him to the rabbinic Jews. Sha’ul said “ The Ruach HaKodesh spoke well in saying to your fathers through Yesha’yahu the prophet, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will keep on hearing but never understand, and you will keep on seeing but never perceive, because the heart of this people has grown think- with their ears they barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, for fear that they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and do t’shuvah, so that I could heal them.’” Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of G-d has been sent to the Goyim and they will listen!”
Sha’ul rented a place there for two years and openly proclaimed the Kingdom of G-d to anyone who would listen. He taught them about Yahshua as Messiah. May we develop that sense of confidence and trust in our Messiah as well.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Tamah Davis-Hart