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Devarim (Deuteronomy)
re'eh 12:1-16:17 |
Meaning
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Day Two
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Haftarah
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B'rit Hadashah
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Blessed art Thou, L-rd our G-d
King of the Universe, who has sanctified
Us with Thy commandments, and
Commanded us to study the Torah.
King of the Universe, who has sanctified
Us with Thy commandments, and
Commanded us to study the Torah.
Deuteronomy 14:1-21 NASB (1)
29 "When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?' 31 "You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 "Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it. 13 1 "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 "You shall follow the LORD your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you. 6 "If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods ' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 "But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 "So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 "Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you. 12 "If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that
13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods ' (whom you have not known), 14 then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. 16 “Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. 17 “Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, 18 if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.
13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods ' (whom you have not known), 14 then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. 16 “Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. 17 “Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, 18 if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.
It’s another gorgeous day, Mishpochah, as we climb into our time machine and settle in to listen to the pleadings of Moses in this fourth week of readings in Devarim—the words. Moses beseeches the next generation that they don’t even think about following the ways of those who were put out of the land. How much sense would that make for Israel to destroy these peoples who sacrifice their children only to wind up doing the very same things as the ones who had received the judgment of God in the first place? It would make no sense at all. And here is a most interesting verse that has a mirror verse from the B’rit Hadashah: 32 "Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it. Here is the same thought as taken from Proverbs, chapter thirty: 5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. And here is another mirror verse or “witness” in the B’rit Hadashah: 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation 22:18, 19. Don’t mess with the Words of God in any way whether it is to add or remove. And not only is there a great responsibility to stay clear away from the ways of other nations, but there was also an equal responsibility to eradicate the wayward voices that might come from within the very framework of Israel. 5 "But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the LORD your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. Attacks will come from without AND within! 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. Matthew 24:24, 25. Indeed! He has told Israel AND He has told us as well! And WHY has He told Israel and us before?
So you shall purge the evil from among you. It was the responsibility of Israel to clear out the evil amongst them. And it comes to us who attach ourselves to the God of Israel to remember to do the same as we can in this day and age and in those days to come. It wouldn’t be a good idea to purge the evil from amongst us now by stoning certain people (or shooting abortion doctors as has occurred) but we do have the—and here is that word again today--responsibility to purge the evil out of our dwellings where we do have pretty much control over everything in them. And we can go further inward than our homes and purge the evil from out of our minds. Do not be ensnared and purge the evil. Two good things to keep in mind as we walk through our own desert adventure!
So you shall purge the evil from among you. It was the responsibility of Israel to clear out the evil amongst them. And it comes to us who attach ourselves to the God of Israel to remember to do the same as we can in this day and age and in those days to come. It wouldn’t be a good idea to purge the evil from amongst us now by stoning certain people (or shooting abortion doctors as has occurred) but we do have the—and here is that word again today--responsibility to purge the evil out of our dwellings where we do have pretty much control over everything in them. And we can go further inward than our homes and purge the evil from out of our minds. Do not be ensnared and purge the evil. Two good things to keep in mind as we walk through our own desert adventure!
Blessed art thou, L-rd our G-d,
King of the universe, who has chosen
us from all peoples and given us thy Torah.
Blessed art thou, O L-rd, Giver of the Torah.
King of the universe, who has chosen
us from all peoples and given us thy Torah.
Blessed art thou, O L-rd, Giver of the Torah.
(1) NASB www.lockman.org for daily reading (and KJV in commentary) unless otherwise specified