Re'eh 2023

Re’eh ~ See ~ רְאֵה

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 LEB

26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but rather you turn from the way that I am commanding you today to go after other gods that you have not known.

Joshua 8:30–32 LEB

30 Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, 31 as Moses Yahweh’s servant commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses: “an altar of unhewn stones on which no one has wielded an iron implement.” And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 And there Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written, in the presence of the Israelites.

Right off the bat we see that YHVH gives the Israelites options. As with everything in life, there’s a duality of polar opposites. But they aren’t exactly isolates and don’t always work against each other. There is good and there is evil. But there is also good that is evil and there is also evil that is good. In linear thinking, this makes absolutely no sense. How can something good be evil? And how can something evil be good? What do you think? Can 1 act be both good and evil? And yet that is the case as we see God setting before the people both a blessing and a curse. Not a blessing OR a curse. This is evidence of at least 2 things. 1, that at the very least, we are indeed “sovereign” beings, both blessed and cursed with choice, the gift of free will. And 2, that our choices are multi-layered. What we may perceive as good, another may experience as evil and what we may perceive as evil, others may see as good. But in any case, we have the ability to choose both what is good and what is evil. We are free to choose but we aren’t free of the consequences of our choices. If we make the right choice, we get blessings and if we make the wrong choice, we get the curse associated with the wrong choice. So we must exercise foresight and discnerment.

Let's look at the current environment. The people of Israel are standing at the base of the mountains G’rizim and ‘Eival. There’s an idea that this is the place where the marriage covenant between YHVH and the people of Israel is officially struck. The terms of the contract are written on the altar, into the limestone, (which we know to be Torah) as well as the blessings and curses we just read about. What’s interesting is that the altar was made with uncut stones. Why? The stones represent us and when we do true repentance, we are a clean slate, not formed or carved by the ideas of the world or man. As 1 Peter 2 says, we are living stones that are being built up by God and for God. This is also evidence of power in numbers. 10 will chase 100 but 100 will chase 10,000. And then after the altar was built, it was coated in limestone. Any ideas why? Limestone is soft. This way, Joshua is able to impress on them a copy of the law of Moses as we read in Joshua. This is prophetic. It reminds me of Jeremiah 31:31-34

Jeremiah 31:31–34 LEB

31 Look, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day of my grasping them by their hand, bringing them out from the land of Egypt, my covenant that they themselves broke, though I myself was a master over them,” declares Yahweh. 33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts I will write it, and I will be to them God, and they themselves will be to me people. 34 And they will no longer teach each one his neighbor, or each one his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for all of them will know me, from their smallest and up to their greatest,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will no longer remember.”

This is a clear messianic prophecy! “I will put my law in their inward parts and on their hearts I will write it”. This is what the limestone is, a representation of our hearts. And Joshua son of Nun (Salvation son of Life), a foreshadow of Yeshua, writes the law on limestone of these uncut stones just as Yeshua writes the law on the hearts of His living stones.

And finally, after all is said and done, and the people of Israel proclaim the terms of the marriage covenant, they pass between these 2 mountains, thus accepting and entering into the covenant. Remember, covenants are solidified by the passing between. Like when God passes between the 2 sides of the offering, the people pass between these 2 mountains. It was a consummation of their marriage, like a man and a woman on their wedding night.

In chapter 12, YHVH tells them to Coexist right? Wrong. As harsh as this may sound, YHVH is telling them to do the complete opposite. To destroy any and all traces of idolatry and its evil practices. Just for the record, evil is anything that isn’t good. And we know that YHVH’s instructions, His Torah, is, not only, good but the standard of what is good and therefore what goes against Torah is by default evil. With that said, there are lots of pagan practices that made their way into “Christianity and Judaism”. People go to great lengths to justify why those practices are incorporated and why they’re neither good nor “not bad” and with a lack of context and discernment, it becomes very easy to be deceived. This is one of the very major reasons why scriptures constantly urges us to have discernment. But to have discernment we must have context. What is the base of this context? Torah. The last verse of Deuteronomy 11 says, “And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.” The phrase “take care” means to be in a constant state/cycle of reminding yourself and checking yourself against the standard. Not only is it a standard, it’s also the terms to the marriage contract with the Creator. If you love your spouse, you take care to follow all of the laws of the relationship. Likewise, Yeshua tells us in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep My commandments.” Many argue that those commandments are to love your God with all of your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. And they aren’t wrong, they’re just lacking context. For those of us that don’t already know, Yeshua says in John 10:30 that “I and My Father are One.” With that context, if we dig deeper into what the 2 commandments that all of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on are, we will come to the realization that all of the instructions in Torah are about how to love YHVH and how to love your neighbor, which can be summarized in the 10 commandments, the first 5 of which are how to love YHVH and the next 5, how to love your neighbor as yourself. So in essence, when Yeshua is asked which is the most important, He says all of them. Loving YVHV comes first but if you don’t love your neighbor, can you really say that you love YHVH? Deuteronomy 12:4

Deuteronomy 12:4 (LEB)

4 You shall not worship YHVH your God like this.

In american english that means don’t worship YHVH in the manner of the heathens. Do Bible things in Bible ways. It’s okay to have safeguards, especially for those that need them, but we must know the difference between a safeguard and a commandment.

YHVH tells us to come to a designated place and be in fellowship with Him and the other people that are called Israel. Here is an interesting example of how to love YHVH and your neighbor at the same time. YHVH tells us to bring our tithes and offerings to the designated place and offer them up to Him and then eat and share them and rejoice and fellowship in His presence. Some people have this weird image of offerings to YHVH being wasteful. But when you look at the details, what’s not a burnt offering, YHVH shares with the people and allows them to partake and enjoy it as well. YHVH wants His people together, physically. There are definitely perks to being able to watch a live stream but if you do have the ability to physically show up and be in fellowship, the way I see it, that’s what YHVH wants you to do. There is power in numbers. Just like the altar. The altar is made up of a fellowship of stones all working together in unity. Think of each individual as a cell in a battery. The more cells the higher the power output. And in fact, we are a type of battery. Hence all of the regulations regarding our physical selves, from food and clothing to speech and even thought. I don’t know about you but every time we worship together, I get this overwhelming joy in my inner being and the more people there is worshipping together, the stronger the feelings become. This unity is further expressed in verse 17 “You are not to eat on your own property the tenth..” God wants us together, physically but also spiritually. Chapter 12 closes with the same warning given in the beginning. “Be careful,... not to be trapped into following them.” A little bit of leaven, leavens the whole batch as it says in 1 Corinthians 5, therefore, we must be diligent in learning and living the Torah lifestyle and in identifying and destroying the evil and the sin within the community as well as building each other up.

The very last verse of chapter 12 is crucial in this regard. Deuteronomy 12:32

Deuteronomy 12:32 LEB

32 All of the things that I am commanding you, you must diligently observe; you shall not add to it, and you shall not take away from it.”

Which brings us back to safeguards. They are great for those that need them. But they can also become a sin. What I mean by this is if you’re knew and don’t really understand what a commandment is saying and are afraid of accidentally transgressing it, there are plenty of guidelines of how to protect yourself. But we mustn’t mistake a guideline for a commandment of God, especially to the extent of condemning someone of sin, when there isn’t one present. A prime series of examples of this is the interactions between Yeshua and the Pharisees. They were well versed in their guidelines and held them to such a high level that even put them above what is actually written in Torah. Time and time again they tried to accuse Yeshua of a violation of Torah when in reality, there was no violation of Torah. He simply didn’t need their religious guidelines because He had the knowledge and discernment. And He would rebuke them. As I always say, Yeshua didn’t teach religion. He taught a way of life. What started off as a good and proper safeguard, over time became enmity and divisiveness.

This is confirmed in Ephesians 2:14-16

Ephesians 2:14–16 LEB

14 For he himself is our peace, who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the partition, the enmity, in his flesh, 15 invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances, in order that he might create the two in himself into one new man, thus making peace, 16 and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, killing the enmity in himself.

Many people try to use this passage to justify lawlessness. “Invalidating the law”, they yell! However, let’s take a deeper look. It says invalidating the law of commandments in ordinances. One may argue that the law of commandments is the layer of laws that are summarized by the general 10 commandments. And these laws were carried out in ordinances ,religious rites/rituals, like the different holidays and sacrifices and priestly services. Sure, that’s logical. However, there’s another factor in this equation, “the dividing wall of partition, the enmity”.

Enmity is defined as “a state or feeling of active opposition or hostility.” God’s law and commandments and ordinances didn’t cause hostility or division. On the contrary, they were established to bring the community closer to each other and in turn, closer to Him. And since the beginning, all were welcome to join themselves with Israel. This is not a NT concept like people claim. “Now that Christ came and died for us, we can finally come to God and become spiritual Israel!” That could not be further from the truth.

What I think it actually going on here is, because of the adding to and taking away from scripture, there was constant opposition from the institutionalized religious order towards those that didn’t dogmatically follow their traditions and practices, what we call “Jewish Law”. We see this with the Pharisees towards Yeshua. “He violated Shabbat!” But in reality no such violation happened, He simply wasn’t adhering to the traditions of man. And He would rebuke them with what scriptures actually said. This doesn’t mean that traditions are bad. He was simply making a point. But in any case, these laws although originally having good intentions ended up causing division and hostility among the different populations.

And to further support my claim, let’s read the words of Yeshua Himself. Matthew 5:17-20

Matthew 5:17–20 LEB

17 “Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one tiny letter or one stroke of a letter will pass away from the law until all takes place. 19 Therefore whoever abolishes one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever keeps them and teaches them, this person will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness greatly surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter into the kingdom of heaven.

There’s a few things that I want to expound on here. Firstly, going back to the marriage covenant established at Mt. G’rizim and ‘Eival, when Yeshua says that He came to complete/fulfill the law and Prophets, one of the things that He is completing is the law of marriage. YHVH, being the just God that He is, cannot and will not go against His own laws and standards. According to the laws of marriage that He gave, after divorcing Israel due to their adultery in idolatry, He cannot remarry them unless there is a complete nullification/completion of the contract. The only way to nullify or ultimately complete a marriage contract, there must be a death of either participating party. That gives us 2 options. Either He dies, or all of Israel dies. Being a faithful God, He established a system of checks and balances for Himself in the form of covenants. And the covenant that prohibited Him from destroying Israel is the covenant with Abraham and Jacob. Also, being the loving and merciful God that He is, He chose the John 3:16 method. He came down in the flesh and took the sin and guilt and curses associated with the sin and drank the bitter waters of the adulterous wife and died, thus bringing into completion the original marriage contract established at Mt. G’rizim and ‘Eival. Now that the contract is fulfilled, we can again be His bride and He our Bridegroom. It’s amazing how YHVH works. Another thing in this passage that I wanted to expound on is the concept of being the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. Often times, people think that as long as you make it to heaven, you’re good, whether you’re the least of the greatest and so they twist the part that says “whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven.” to justify lawlessness. Jesus fulfilled it so we don’t have to and at worst, we’ll just be the least in Heaven and that’s still a win! Except they missed the punchline. “unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” Even in the modern Oxford dictionary, righteousness is translated as “the quality of being morally right or justifiable.” We know that YHVH defines what is morally right and wrong in Torah. So by definition, if your obedience to YHVH’s instructions (Torah) isn’t far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim, you won’t even make it to heaven, not even as the least. In regards to Torah-teachers and P’rushim, it’s one thing to teach, it's another to practice what you teach. We see Yeshua tell us this many times. Another thing regarding Pharisees is hypocrisy *remember, Yeshua tells us to do what the Pharisees say but not do what they do because they teach correctly but they don’t do what they preach* and another is the incorporation of another set of laws as I explained earlier. Which brings us to the another passage.

And the second is Galatians 1:6-9 “6 I am astounded that you are so quick to remove yourselves from me, the one who called you by the Messiah’s grace, and turn to some other supposedly “Good News,” 7 which is not good news at all! What is really happening is that certain people are pestering you and trying to pervert the genuine Good News of the Messiah. 8 But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! 9 We said it before, and I say it again: if anyone announces “Good News” contrary to what you received, let him be under a curse forever!”

This is another blatant example of adding or taking away from that which YHVH has established. In modern, mainstream Christianity, that would be doctrines that teach lawlessness. That the law is done away with. As we examined just in those few passages, of many, from Yeshua Himself, that is not the case. That is a false “Good News” which in essence is not good news at all. Violation of YHVH’s will always ends in curses and ultimately, eternal damnation. This theory of “Done away with” just tickles the ears of those that want to avoid their responsibility of being accountable before YHVH for themselves. All of Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches responsibility and accountability. Just as Faith without works is dead, so are works without faith. This is where the false doctrines of Judaism come in. I, very often, come across people that are trying to be “more Jewish” because, after all, Yeshua was a Jew. Unfortunately, lots get lost in the sauce and start to follow other doctrines of man. There is this concept of Oral Torah and Talmud and Kabbalah which all “try” to explain Torah. There is definitely a lot of good information there that can supplement Torah observance as long as first and foremost, written Torah takes precedence and is the ultimate authority in your life. However, in the pursuit to be “more Jewish” people forget that and hyperfocus on the additional texts, which sometimes do go against what written Torah says and become stumbling blocks. Again, we must take care to keep YHVH’s commandments. Additional text, both from the christian and the jewish aisles, are fine as long as you eat the meat and spit out the bones. There are so many restricted things on both sides which aren’t in fact restricted by Torah. Likewise, there are restricted things in Torah which are allowed in these other texts. I’ve been having the passage “know the truth and the truth will set you free” float around in my mind for the last few weeks and this is part of what I think it means. YHVH’s instructions offer us freedom. There is freedom in order. And when you learn and study and come to know THE truth, not your truth, then THE truth will set you free. It will free your mind and body from the constraints of religious institutions and it’ll free your soul from the bondage of sin. So let’s continue to return back to the basics and work together in unity before God. Divisiveness is of the adversary and a result of self-seeking pride. But when we attach ourselves to God’s eternal covenant of Love, there is no room for self-seeking pride and divisiveness. So to wrap up this Torah portion, Re’eh, See,

Matthew 6:19–24 (LEB)

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and consuming insect destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor consuming insect destroy and where thieves do not break in or steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. Therefore if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

24 “No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.

Let us continue to diligent learn and obey God’s will so that our eye may be single, with a common purpose of being united together with Him and for Him and not fall prey to the snares of darkness. Let us continue to see, to Re’eh, and not walk around blind.

Galatians 5:22–23 (LEB): 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.