Deuteronomy (Messianic) Vol. I - The Harvest Torah Teacher Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy

Welcome to a most wonderful book in Moshe's set of five: Deuteronomy, or D'varim ("D-var-eem") as we say in Hebrew! The literal word "d'varim" is the plural form of the word "d'var", which means, "word". I won't go into each detail of this parashah, which actually serves as a recap of the major events of B'midbar, much like the last parashah of B'midbar (please recall Parashat Masa’ei). The title of the first portion takes its name from the title of the book, just like every other opening parashah of the Torah. This first parashah will function primarily as an introduction to this fifth book Moshe. First, some historical background behind this book, as quoted by modern rabbis. This initial portion will be very light, so take a break from the scholarly approach and enjoy the fascinating insights! Rabbi Aaron Tendler and Project Genesis (http://www.torah.org) explain, "In the first four books G-d spoke directly to Moshe and Moshe repeated G-d's words to the Jews while he was still within the context of receiving G-d's prophecy. "It was as if G-d was speaking to the Jewish nation through the throat of Moshe." In the last book, G-d also spoke to Moshe; however, Moshe repeated G-d's words to the nation some time after receiving the directive from G-d. At the time of Moshe's delivery G-d's presence had already withdrawn from Moshe and he was no longer within the context of receiving the prophecy. "In this regard, Divarim was heard by the nation in the same manner that all other subsequent prophecies were heard. The prophet would receive a vision. After awakening from the trance, the Prophet would decipher G-d's message and then sometime later deliver the "message" to the people." Now whether or not I agree with the entirety of his comments concerning the reception of revelation of Moshe, we scholars must certainly agree to the pinpointed change of voices (first, second, third) in the previous writings, and Moshe's recall here in D'varim. Consider Rabbi Menachem Leibtag's comments (website http://www.tanach.org): "In contrast to these four books where the story (and/or mitzvot) are presented in THIRD person, the style of Sefer Devarim is very different for it is written almost entirely in FIRST person. The reason for this is quite simple: Sefer Devarim consists of a collection of speeches delivered by Moshe Rabeinu before his death. Therefore, to understand Sefer Devarim, we must first determine the purpose of these speeches and how they relate to one another. To do so should be quite simple, as we need only to identify each speech and then read what it's about. "To do so is a bit complicated, for to identify each speech we must read through the entire Sefer and note the changes from third person (i.e. the regular 'narrator mode' of Chumash) to first person (i.e. the direct quote of Moshe Rabeinu). "If you have ample time (and a Tanach Koren handy), I highly recommend that you try this on your own. If you are short on time, you can 'cheat' by reading at least 1:1-7, 4:40-5:2, 26:16-27:2, 28:69-29:2, & 30:19-32:1, noting the transition from third person to first person, and hence where and how each speech begins." How does all of this information help you and me the average readers? By understanding the historical, linguistic, and stylistic approach to any given book or text, we can begin to understand its message in a more theologically correct way. In some cases, a misunderstanding of any of these important areas will cause us to misunderstand the author's true intent behind any given text.

This week's portion contains two of the most fundamental concepts in Judaism: the Asarat HaD'varim (the Ten Words, also known as the Ten Commandments), and the "Shema". This is Parashat Va'etchanan. Moshe is still outlining some familiar reminders of Isra'el's disobedience and the awesome fact that HaShem nevertheless has brought them this far! In fact, they are right at the eastern side of the Yarden (Jordan) River! Call to Greatness Chapter four contains what I like to call the "Jewish Great Commission". Here in verses 1-14 Moshe carefully instructs the community to live out the Torah in such a way that the surrounding nations will see and learn about the unique and awesome mercy of the One and Only True God. Because of its significance, I want to quote some of this passage at length: "See! I have taught you rules and laws as God my Lord has commanded me, so [that you] will be able to keep them in the land to which you are coming and which you will be occupying. Safeguard and keep [these rules], since this is your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the nations. They will hear all these rules and say, "This great nation is certainly a wise and understanding people." What nation is so great that they have God close to it, as God our Lord is, whenever we call Him? What nation is so great that they have such righteous rules and laws, like this entire Torah that I am presenting before you today? Only take heed and watch yourself very carefully, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes saw. Do not let [this memory] leave your hearts, all the days of your lives. Teach your children and children's children about the day you stood before God your Lord at Horeb. It was then that God said to me, "Congregate the people for Me, and I will let them hear My words. This will teach them to be in awe of Me as long as they live on earth, and they will also teach their children." You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was burning with a fire reaching the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud and mist. Then God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no image; there was only a voice. He announced to you His covenant, instructing you to keep the Ten Commandments, and He wrote them on two stone tablets. At that time, God commanded me to teach you rules and laws, so that you will keep them in the land which you are crossing [the Jordan] to occupy." (D'varim 4:5-14, Pentateuch) What makes this passage stand out is Isra'el's position and influence among the surrounding people groups! Such a legacy—to be the vessels to share the precious Word of HaShem with those who have not heard! Doesn’t this remind you of the intents and purposes of the Great Commission? In the TaNaKH the Torah “emanated” from Isra'el for the entire world to see; in the Apostolic Scriptures Yeshua’s talmidim actually took the Torah to the world! Indeed, it is the very same good news that is contained within the Torah, the message of the mercy and grace of an all-loving, all-forgiving God, who is intimately interested in the well-being of his created subjects, both Jew and non-Jew!

The most notable feature of this week's portion is the Shema. The word "shema" means "hear", "listen intently". It is a Hebrew imperative that carries the notion of an action-oriented command. In other words, "Now that you have heard, go and do something about it!" My commentary on the Shema will introduce the difficult concept of the "tri-unity" of our unexplainable God. The ancients called HaShem "Eyn-Sof", a term which quite literally means "without borders". Our God is infinitely unknowable. Yet because of our finite minds, he has chosen to express himself in ways that we can perceive. However we shall have to wait to gain a fuller perception of him, once we put off this corruptible flesh and our eyes are able to see through this mirror clearly instead of darkly. I want to share with you what I believe the “Shema” (basically a quote from Deuteronomy 6:4) can be hinting at, using the typical Jewish answer first, and then going on to explain how a non-Jewish believer can better “defend” himself against such an answer. This is simply an exercise designed to explain to some why many Jewish People are unwilling to give up their monotheism. This commentary set is not to be used as a standard witnessing technique among my people, but if the material proves helpful in explaining the difficult topic to unbelievers and anti-missionaries, then the commentary will have served its purposes. “God is ONE. There is no other god (or God) worthy of worship aside from YHVH.” This is a typical, monotheistic answer, based on a traditional Jewish view of Deut. 6:4, a.k.a., the Shema. This subject will continue to baffle many Jews and Christians alike: how can God be "One" and yet somehow "three". The matter is really made clear when Christians explain that correct Christianity does not believe in three gods! We believe in ONE God who expresses himself in a "unity of three". God is indeed one! The Shema affirms this. The characters of the Scriptures, both “Old and New Testaments” confirm this. The Shema is the "watchword of Jewish monotheism". The Shema is foundation! The "trinity" is a doctrine that has long been characterized by misunderstanding, both among my people, as well as a few Christians. I believe that most of the confusion actually stems from the language that we choose to use when describing the unified nature of our somewhat incomprehensible God. However, the Torah does not expect us to label God and stuff him in box. Nor are we so smart that our systematic theological viewpoints of him will ever fully describe his wonderful glory. Yet the revelation that has been graciously granted to us is a complete one, in that, all that we need to know to maintain a right-standing relationship with HaShem is found within the pages of his Word, and most specifically, in the person of his only and unique Son Yeshua our Messiah. Let us first read the actual pasuk (verse) itself: "Sh’ma Yisra’el, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear, Isra’el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]." Anyone with some knowledge of the Hebrew text will realize that the word translated ADONAI is the four-letter name for HaShem, YHVH, also known as the "Tetragrammaton." The Jewish people use this name only in a very sacred and personal way. To be sure, today Torah-observant Jews, in reverential fear of misuse never speak it. Because of the understanding that the Shema "defines" the oneness of YHVH (which is what the Hebrew word echad implies), many Jews are fiercely monotheistic. After all, is this not what the plain sense (p’shat) of the verse in Deuteronomy is teaching? The word "echad" teaches us that God is the ONLY God that we are to serve. To be sure, some translations render this verse as, "Hear Isra'el, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone." This is the primary meaning conveyed by the use of this word "echad". That God is our only God is paramount to correctly understanding any revelation of him in his Word.

"Blurring the Lines" According to some scholars every instance when a mortal encountered the divine God they were in some way beholding Yeshua! In this understanding Yeshua is the common factor in every single revelation of God in the Scriptures. To be sure, they declare that "No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father's side," (read John 1:18). Yet Yeshua is also uniquely the Son of Man. Yeshua is NOT the Father, nor is God Yeshua. Rather, and I'm stretching human language to its limits to explain this, Yeshua is the Word made flesh, the Word which was WITH God, and the Word which WAS God! It is not as if Yeshua became God somehow. It is rather that God the Word became a human being and we beheld such glory in the person and work of the Messiah named Yeshua. Such profundity! So, by understanding what the B’rit Chadashah (New Covenant) teaches believers about the unity of Yeshua and the Father (John 10:30), we are given the ability to interpret the Shema in a more theologically correct light. ADONAI is echad…. Yet, according to Yeshua’s own testimony, He and the Father also constitute an echad. Is HaShem more than one?! No! Is Yeshua "meshugga" (Yiddish for "crazy")? Of course not! This relationship of the Father to the Son has long since been a problem for my people to grasp. It also continues to baffle anyone attempting to put God in a neat, theological box. Do we believe in three gods? No. That is the heresy called "Tritheism". Do we believe in one God who simply wears three different "masks" to interact with mankind? No. That is the heresy called "Modalism". What we believe in is ONE God who expresses his existence in a "unity of three". The mystery is that each expression is uniquely God and yet uniquely single. Ontology is defined as: "a branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature and relations of being; a particular theory about the nature of being or the kinds of existents". The ontological implications of the very words, names, and "titles" used in the Scriptures help us to relate to God himself. Observe: All of what the word "God" implies is not exhausted in the use of the words "his Son"; all of what the name "Yeshua" implies is not exhausted in the term "the Father"; all of what the term "Ruach HaKodesh" implies is not exhausted in "the Man Yeshua" and so on and so forth. We cannot logically collapse each name, phrase, and title into the others without doing damage to the import of the Scriptural references. Indeed to attempt to do so is to approach the Scriptures from an incorrect mindset. Historically, the Hebraists thought of God in concepts of "this" and "that"; conversely, the historic Greek mindset approached God in concepts of "this’ or "that". Some scholars refer to this as "Hebrew tension". Yeshua is God veiled in flesh and the Spirit of God is God himself. The matter of authority comes into play when I examine some of the roles of each deity. The role of God is as head over Yeshua and the role of the Ruach is as witness to Yeshua. Yet the role of Yeshua is as witness of the Father and the role of the Spirit is as active agent of the Father as well. Obviously this list is not exhaustive. The part that brings it all together is when we remember that true worship belongs to God and God alone! As such, whenever Yeshua or the Ruach is also worshipped we catch a glimpse of the "oneness" of the "three-ness" of God.

Conclusions: Is Yeshua God? The Torah is the final Word on this important subject matter. In my personal opinion as a mere human in scrutiny of God, I must believe and accept what it teaches about God as a composite UNITY from Genesis to Revelation, or I must throw ALL of it out in desperation and conclusion that no such being called God can exist within the scope of human existence, a God who is defined in such Scriptures as a "Unity of Three". Does our understanding of HaShem and Yeshua as echad have salvific implications for us as believers? I believe that it does. Again let us turn to a few Scriptural examples. Observe the fascinating interaction between HaShem, the Son, and the Name: YHVH: Joel 2:32: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the YHVH shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the YHVH hath said, and in the remnant whom the YHVH shall call. YESHUA: Act 4:12: There is salvation in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved. Rom 10:9-13: that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Yeshua, and believe in your heart that GOD raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed." For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on Him. For, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." 1Co 1:2: to the assembly of GOD which is at Corinth; those who are sanctified in Messiah Yeshua, called to be holy ones, with all who call on the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah in every place, both theirs and ours. We cannot have it both ways. Either the TaNaKH agrees with the B’rit Chadashah that YHVH is LORD (as is Yeshua) or the B’rit Chadashah is wrong in its portrayal of Yeshua as LORD (a title formerly reserved exclusively in the TaNaKH for YHVH). I shall close with a "trinity" of quotes: a quote from the book written specifically to the Ivrim (Hebrews), one from Philippians, and finally a significant one from the TaNaKH itself: Hebrews 1:1-3…In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (NIV) Philippians 2:8-11…And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NIV) Isaiah 45:21-23: ... there is no GOD else beside Me; a just GOD and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am GOD, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. (JPS) The Name that is above every name is the name YHVH. HaShem granted Yeshua of Nazareth the right to use The Name for himself so that he may speak for HaShem, he may speak as HaShem, and he may receive worship as HaShem just as mystics describe the "fictional character" Metatron doing in ancient times. Refusal to worship and serve Yeshua as Almighty God insults the True God, and shows a gross lack of respect for The Name.

8:1 - "You must safeguard and keep the entire mandate that I am prescribing to you today. You will then survive, flourish, and come to occupy the land that God swore to your fathers. 8:2 - Remember the entire path along which God your Lord led you these forty years in the desert. He sent hardships to test you, to determine what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 8:3 - He made life difficult for you, letting you go hungry, and then He fed you the Manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had ever experienced. This was to teach you that it is not by bread alone that man lives, but by all that comes out of God's mouth. 8:4 - The clothing you wore did not become tattered, and your feet did not become bruised these forty years. 8:5 - You must thus meditate on the fact that just as a man might chastise his child, so God your Lord is chastising you. 8:6 - Safeguard the commandments of God your Lord, so that you will walk in His ways and remain in awe of Him. 8:7 - God your Lord is bringing you to a good land - a land with flowing streams, and underground springs gushing out in valley and mountain. 8:8 - It is a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates - a land of oil-olives and honey-[dates]. 8:9 - It is a land where you will not eat rationed bread, and you will not lack anything - a land whose stones are iron, and from whose mountains you will quarry copper. 8:10 - When you eat and are satisfied, you must therefore bless God your Lord for the good land that He has given you." (D'varim 8:1-10, Pentateuch) Now I am quite at a loss of understanding as to how anyone could misconstrue the intent of the promises here. Clearly these are words of blessing, based on obedience. Moreover, they do not spell out the terms of salvation for an individual, based on such obedience. No, they speak to the well being of a member of God's family once he has already become a member (recall that the Torah was given to a group of freed people!). What brings about confusion is the oft forgotten idea that the Torah speaks about forensic righteousness, the kind we inherit from God's gracious provision, i.e., Messiah Yeshua, and behavioral righteousness, the kind we gain by becoming submissive to the Torah of HaShem. Because of our new life in Messiah, we have inherited the holiness that HaShem intended for us to posses all along. When we place our trusting faithfulness in the perfect Man of God, our holiness (or lack thereof) becomes the holiness of the Father! Our constitution changes and we are no longer deemed ‘unholy’, for his riches in glory—which includes his holy standard of being—are transferred to our account! We must grasp this central truth and begin to live according to it! We are holy because Yeshua has made us holy! Just as unrighteous Avraham became righteous when he placed his complete faith in HaShem, so we too inherit the righteousness and holiness of the Holy One when we place our unreserved trust in his Son. But holiness is also a duty.