Devarim Slides (pdf)
Devarim Notes (pdf)
Overview of Devarim (“Words”) Deuteronomy 1:1 – 3:22
Israel ended her Wilderness Journey last week with the end of Book of Numbers; the action and the narrative ended with last week’s Portion. This week’s Portion starts the Book of Deuteronomy – in Greek, the “Second Telling of the Law.” The Hebrew name for this Book is Devarim which means “words. The Book starts with: Ha’elle had-varim – “these are the words” which Moses spoke to all Israel. Incidentally, in the Hebrew text, the first four books of Torah are all connected with the word “and” – which implies, in God’s eyes, they are all one Book. The Book of Deuteronomy does not start with “and”.
The entire generation that departed from Egypt 40 years earlier was dead (except for Joshua, Caleb, and Moses – for the time being), and in this Book, Moses gave “The Law” to this Second Generation. The Holy Spirit structured this final Book of Torah as a series of three messages that Moses gave to this Next Generation:
- A Review of Israel’s History (1:6 – 4:40). This generation was not yet born (or too young to remember) the events from the beginning of the Wilderness Journey, so Moses was retelling them here.
- The Foundations of the Covenant/”Law” that Yehovah has already established with Israel (4:41 – 26:19). This is the bulk of the Book.
- The Benefits of Obedience & the Consequences of Disobedience (27:1 – 30:20).
The Book ends with Moses writing all of Yehovah’s words into the Book of the Law and placing it outside of the Ark of the Covenant (Deuteronomy 31:24-27). He had previously written the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 24:4-7) and placed it inside the Ark; and “The Law” was to be placed outside the Ark.
Yhovah gave Israel the opportunity to be His Bride and to be a Kingdom of Priests at Mt. Sinai, but they committed spiritual adultery by worshipping the Golden Calf. Therefore He added “The Law” to the original Covenant conditions (Galatians 3:19); it is all of these “laws” that are given at the end of Deuteronomy as a new conditional covenant with Israel. This new covenant is not like the original one (in Exodus 19-23): it is not that obedience would keep them as a Kingdom of Priests (the original covenant)…but rather, obedience would allow them to continue to occupy The Land that Yehovah gave to them. Possessing the Land is unconditional (Genesis 12:1-3) – occupying The Land is conditional upon obeying Yehovah’s covenant given at the end of Deuteronomy; this is a concept that the World today does not understand!
This entire Book takes place in Moab as Israel is camped east of the Jordan River, directly across from Jericho. It opens on the 1st day of the 11th month in the 40th year (Deuteronomy 1:3), and it closes just before Joshua crosses the Jordan to enter the Promised Land on the 10th day of the 1st month of the 41st year … about 10 weeks later.
Chapter 1 – A History Lesson: Sinai to Kadesh
Moses starts his history lesson not with the noteworthy events that we all remember happened at Sinai (Yehovah appearing on the mountain, the giving of Torah, the Sin of the Golden Calf, etc.); but rather He chose some rather obscure events that aren’t nearly as glamorous as these. He chose to talk about the selection of the 70 judges of Israel; the reports (good and bad) of the 12 spies; the necessity to avoid conflicts with Edom and Moab; and the defeat of the Kings Sihon & Og. Why would he choose these relatively insignificant events to relay to this Second Generation? Well….even though they were too young to remember (or not even born yet), they were certainly aware of all of the “major” events. Sitting around the campfires at night, these “major event” stories would have been passed down from father to son in great detail; and they would remember them just as though they had been there. So in this first chapter, Moses tells them of the need to select judges to assist him in administering all of the people. He said, “Take you wise men, and understanding, and knowledgeable among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” The Hebrew words for “wise”, “understanding”, and “knowledgeable” form the acrostic Chabad (see the notes). Chabad Lubavitch is the most well known of the Orthodox Jewish groups and can be found in every Jewish community today. Moses retold this story to emphasize the need for a tiered judicial system that has become the foundation of all courts in the free world today.
He then continued with the report of the spies sent to scout the Promised Land. Yehovah allowed Moses to send them for the purpose of determining how to go in to take the Land; unfortunately, the ten spies came back with the report on if they should enter The Land…not at all what Yehovah had asked. This is a lesson to us today: Yehovah speaks to us not to get our opinion on what He said…but rather to see our obedience. It is only by our obedience that we receive Yehovah’s blessing! Because of that bad report and, more importantly, the fact that the 10 spies convinced all the people not to enter the Land, Yehovah “sentenced” Israel to wander in the Wilderness for 40 years until that first generation of unbelievers was all dead.
Chapter 2 – A History Lesson: The Remaining Years in the Wilderness
In the first chapter we saw Israel’s reward for their doubt, fear and rebellion: 40 years of wandering and death of the First Generation. In these next two chapters we see her reward for repentance and obedience of the Second Generation: Victory to enter The Land.
Moses reminds them that they were to not engage Edom in warfare because they were (literally) their cousins (descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother). He also reminded them to not engage Moab because they were the descendants of Lot (Abram’s nephew). Even though they both were antagonistic to Israel, Yehovah prevented Israel from retaliating. And today, His desire is that all would be saved…even the most murderous elements of Islam…for they are descendants of Ishmael, Abram’s son. This is our test today. The most powerful nations of the Earth seem to be headed straight into world-wide war. Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with the evil spirits behind them. We must be operating in the Spirit to accomplish the things that the Spirit wants us to accomplish – that’s Yehovah’s plan and we must not let our flesh get in the way of it! This is Yehovah’s plan for Abram’s descendants.
The chapter ends with Moses telling of the defeat of Sihon, the Nephilim King of Heshbon. This is Yehovah’s plan for His enemies (in this case, the Nation of Heshbon). This entire area east of the Jordan was infested with the descendants of the Nephilim, the Fallen Angels of Genesis 6. They were not part of Yehovah’s creation and in fact, were part of Satan’s plan. (The Book of Enoch tells us that the Fallen Angels descended onto Mt Hermon immediately to the north of this area). Even though they were physically larger than the men of Israel – even as tall as a cedar tree (Amos 2:9), Yehovah was able to deliver them all into Israel’s hands. And this is another lesson to us today: those who oppose us may be physically bigger than we, but Yehovah is able to deliver them into our hands!
Chapter 3 A History Lesson from Moab
This chapter continues with the story of the defeat of Og, the Nephilim King of Bashan. He was the last of the Nephilim kings, and Yehovah’s victory over him cleared the way for Joshua to cross the Jordan to start Israel’s conquest of The Land.
The chapter and the Portion end with the early distribution of the land east to the Jordan to the Tribes of Reuben and Gad and part of the Tribe of Manasseh. These were the lands formerly controlled by Sihon, Og, and Midian, and now they were available for settling. Even though they were east of the Jordan, this land still fell into the greater boundaries of The Land that Yehovah had promised to Abram’s descendants back in Genesis 15. Moses took this request to Yehovah and He agreed to it…as long as all of the fighting men of these three Tribes participated with their brothers in the conquest of The Land west of the Jordan.
Haftarah Reading (Isaiah 1:1–27.)
This week’s Haftarah is the last of three “haftarot of affliction” read during the Three Weeks of Mourning for Jerusalem, between the 17th of Tammuz & the 9th of Av.
on the Rabbinic calendar). We read of Isaiah’s vision from God (today is also called Shabbat Hazan – the Shabbat of the Vision). In this vision Isaiah chastised the residents of Judah and Jerusalem for their rebellion against God, and he criticized them for repeating their errors and not turning from their sinful ways — even after having been reprimanded and punished. We read first from Isaiah 1:2-4:
“Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; the ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider.” Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward.….. “
The Portion continues with Isaiah’s vision of God’s chastisement of Israel; but God’s tone changed to words of encouragement at the end. We read the conclusion of this prophetic vision in verses 24-27:
“…Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, “Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, and take vengeance on My enemies. I will turn My hand against you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy. I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.” Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness.”
Brit Chadashah (Matthew 13:10-17)
The Brit Chadashah follows the theme of this week’s Torah Portion, namely “words”. The Torah Portion began Moses’ words to the Next Generation who will enter the Promised Land; and we see in the Brit Chadashah Yeshua’s explanation to his Disciples about His choice of words that He used in His Parables. Pay close attention to whom Yeshua is speaking (His Believing Disciples) and whom He is speaking about (those who are unbelievers). We read the Words of Yeshua from Matthew 13:10-17:
“And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”