Commentary - Year 3 Sabbath 25

Deuteronomy 3:23-29  -   Jeremiah 32:1-44   -   Psalm 122   -   Romans 2:1 - 3:31

Elul 23, 5763 / September 20, 2003 

Elul 23, 5766 / September 16, 2006

Elul 23, 5769 / September 12, 2009

Elul 28, 5772 / September 15, 2012  

Elul 21, 5775 / September 5, 2015

V’Ethannan / And I Besought   SCRIPTURES should be read first

Many years ago, we were delivered from Egypt – dwelling in sin. (We must have been born again!)

John 3: ⁵ Yeshua answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ "Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' ⁸ "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." ⁹ Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?" ¹⁰ Yeshua answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?

We are approaching Yom Teruah, when Yeshua will return for his bride! (We must have overcome.)

Galatians 5: ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Deut 3:29 "So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-Peor (where Moses was buried – v.34:6).

We dwell in the valley by the House of the Idol (Beit Peor), where Moses could go no farther.

1 Corinthians 13:12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Jeremiah 32:16  "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch (Blessed) the son of NeriYah (Lamp of Yahweh), then I prayed to Yahweh . . . "

The deed has been given to Blessed one (Baruch), the son of the Yahweh’s Lamp (NeriYah).

Revelation 5: ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. ¹⁰ "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth."

Psalm 122:1 I Was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the House of Yahweh.

They are about to say to us, “Let us to go up to the House of Yahweh” (Psalm 122:1).

God created Eden in perfection, giving instruction (Torah) to Adam. Then Adam sinned, transgressing God's instruction. But God promised a redeemer through Eve.

In like manner, and in further example for us, God chose out Israel, and gave them instruction (Torah). Even after living with daily obvious miracles, they continued to transgress God's instruction. But, as we see in today's readings, God promised a redeemer, and He promised to put His spirit in His people, and finally place them in the Promised Land, where they will dwell in righteousness.

We dwell in the land of idolatry. We have been given God's covenant. Though we sin, we have an advocate, and God will ultimately fully cleanse us. We are about to rehearse the second coming of Messiah Yeshua, and our resurrection to righteousness.

______________________________

Jeremiah 31:

³¹ "Behold, days are coming," declares Yahweh, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, ³² not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares Yahweh. ³³ "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares Yahweh, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ "They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know Yahweh,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares Yahweh, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Jeremiah 32:

³⁷ "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. ³⁸ "They shall be My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹ and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. ⁴¹ "I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

If we look at the definition of “New Covenant” from the Bible, we can see assuredly that it is future, when everyone will know God, and there is no more need to evangelize. The division of the Bible into two sections, called “Old Testament” and “New Testament,” is an idea of only the last few hundred years; it has vastly corrupted the understanding of God’s Holy Word.

1.  God has not changed from judgmental to gracious. He has always been the God of judgment (Elohim) and the God of grace (Yahweh). [See ‘Use of God’s Names’]

2.  There have not been not two means of salvation, one before the crucifixion and the other after; salvation has been by grace through faith in a promised redeemer since Adam. Today’s believers do not uniquely possess the Holy Spirit.

Job, in all his affliction, did not say: “Yahweh gives and Yahweh takes away (Job 1:21-22), and “I know that my redeemer lives, and at last He will take His stand on the earth” (Job 19:25), except by the Holy Spirit.

Abraham - x

David - x

Long after the crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost, Paul was at Corinth, where some disciples had not “received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2).

The promise of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; Acts 1:5-9, 2:33) was to certify the apostles, and Yeshua’s truth: nothing indicates that aspect was to be a continuing situation.

3.  There is no gentile “New Testament” church that contrasts to the Hebrew synagogue, and “pastors” are not Biblical heads of churches. [See ‘Synagogue / Church’]

4.  Sabbath has not changed from the seventh day to Sunday. [See ‘Sabbath is Messianic’}

5.  There are not different ordinances now than before the crucifixion (e.g., baptism, Lord’s supper). [See ‘Mikvah / Baptism’ and ‘Festival Explanations’]

* Commentary installation incomplete*

Readings: 

(V.1-22 go with previous week)

Reader 1*  Amen.  ¹ "Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with all his people came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² "But Yahweh said to me, 'Do not fear him, for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.' ³ "So Yahweh our God delivered Og also, king of Bashan, with all his people into our hand, and we smote them until no survivor was left.

Reader 2*  Amen.  ⁴ "We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ "All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates and bars, besides a great many unwalled towns. ⁶ "We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women and children of every city. ⁷ "But all the animals and the spoil of the cities we took as our booty.

Reader 3*  Amen.  ⁸ "Thus we took the land at that time from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir): ¹⁰ all the cities of the plateau and all Gilead and all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was an iron bedstead; it is in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits and its width four cubits by ordinary cubit.)

Reader 4*  Amen.  ¹² "So we took possession of this land at that time. From Aroer, which is by the valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. ¹³ "The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob (concerning all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. ¹⁴ Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called it, that is, Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.)

Reader 5*  Amen.  ¹⁵ "To Machir I gave Gilead. ¹⁶ "To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the valley of Arnon, the middle of the valley as a border and as far as the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; ¹⁷ the Arabah also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

Reader 6*  Amen.  ¹⁸ "Then I commanded you at that time, saying, 'Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess it; all you valiant men shall cross over armed before your brothers, the sons of Israel. ¹⁹ 'But your wives and your little ones and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you, ²⁰ until Yahweh gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also possess the land which Yahweh your God will give them beyond the Jordan. Then you may return every man to his possession which I have given you.' ²¹ "I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. ²² 'Do not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one fighting for you.'

Reader 7*  Amen.  ²³ "I also pleaded with Yahweh at that time, saying, ²⁴ 'O Lord Yahweh, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? ²⁵ 'Let me, I pray, cross over and see the fair land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.' ²⁶ "But Yahweh was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; and Yahweh said to me, 'Enough! Speak to Me no more of this matter. ²⁷ 'Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes to the west and north and south and east, and see it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ²⁸ 'But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.' ²⁹ "So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Jeremiah 32:1-44

Reader 8*  Amen.  ¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ² Now at that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the house of the king of Judah, ³ because Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, "Why do you prophesy, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will take it; ⁴ and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye; ⁵ and he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him," declares Yahweh. "If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed "'?" ⁶ And Jeremiah said, "The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ⁷ 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you, saying, "Buy for yourself my field which is at Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it."' ⁸ "Then Hanamel my uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Yahweh and said to me, 'Buy my field, please, that is at Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right of possession and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of Yahweh.

Reader 9*  Amen.  ⁹ "I bought the field which was at Anathoth from Hanamel my uncle's son, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ "I signed and sealed the deed, and called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales. ¹¹ "Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; ¹² and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³ "And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴ 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time." ¹⁵ 'For thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, "Houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land."'

Reader 10*  Amen.  ¹⁶ "After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, then I prayed to Yahweh, saying, ¹⁷ 'Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You, ¹⁸ who shows lovingkindness to thousands, but repays the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of their children after them, O great and mighty God. Yahweh of hosts is His name; ¹⁹ great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds; ²⁰ who has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and even to this day both in Israel and among mankind; and You have made a name for Yourself, as at this day. ²¹ 'You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror; ²² and gave them this land, which You swore to their forefathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³ 'They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law; they have done nothing of all that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made all this calamity come upon them. ²⁴ 'Behold, the siege ramps have reached the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the pestilence; and what You have spoken has come to pass; and behold, You see it. ²⁵ 'You have said to me, O Lord Yahweh, "Buy for yourself the field with money and call in witnesses "-- although the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.'"

Reader 11*  Amen.  ²⁶ Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷ "Behold, I am Yahweh, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?" ²⁸ Therefore thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it. ²⁹ "The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and set this city on fire and burn it, with the houses where people have offered incense to Baal on their roofs and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger. ³⁰ "Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands," declares Yahweh. ³¹ "Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath from the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from before My face, ³² because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger-- they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³ "They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction. ³⁴ "But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³⁵ "They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Reader 12*  Amen.  ³⁶ "Now therefore thus says Yahweh God of Israel concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine and by pestilence.' ³⁷ "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. ³⁸ "They shall be My people, and I will be their God; ³⁹ and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ "I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. ⁴¹ "I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. ⁴² "For thus says Yahweh, 'Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them. ⁴³ 'Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, "It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans." ⁴⁴ 'Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore their fortunes,' declares Yahweh."

Psalm 122    (To be sung.)    A Song of Ascents, of David.

¹ I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of Yahweh." ² Our feet are standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem, ³ Jerusalem, that is built As a city that is compact together; ⁴ To which the tribes go up, even the tribes of Yahweh-- An ordinance for Israel-- To give thanks to the name of Yahweh. ⁵ For there thrones were set for judgment, The thrones of the house of David. ⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you. ⁷ "May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces." ⁸ For the sake of my brothers and my friends, I will now say, "May peace be within you." ⁹ For the sake of the house of Yahweh our God, I will seek your good.

Romans 2:1 – 3:31

Reader 13*  Amen.  ¹ Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. ² And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. ³ But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ⁶ who will render to each person according to his deeds: ⁷ to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; ⁸ but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.

Reader 14*  Amen.  ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹¹ For there is no partiality with God. ¹² For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; ¹³ for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, ¹⁶ on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.

Reader 15*  Amen.  ¹⁷ But if you bear the name "Jew " and rely upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, ²¹ you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²² You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³ You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For "the Name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you," just as it is written. ²⁵ For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶ So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law? ²⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

Reader 16*  Amen.  3:¹ Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? ² Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³ What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? ⁴ May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "that You may be justified in Your words, and prevail when You are judged." ⁵ But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) ⁶ May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? ⁷ But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? ⁸ And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come "? Their condemnation is just.

Reader 17*  Amen.  ⁹ What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; ¹⁰ as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; ¹¹ there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; ¹² all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one." ¹³ "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving," "the poison of asps is under their lips"; ¹⁴ "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness"; ¹⁵ "their feet are swift to shed blood, ¹⁶ destruction and misery are in their paths, ¹⁷ and the path of peace they have not known." ¹⁸ "There is no fear of God before their eyes." ¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.

Reader 18*  Amen.  This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. ²⁷ Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. ³¹ Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

© 2006  Beikvot HaMashiach
(Followers of the Messiah)