Nitzavim-Vayelech - (נצבים - וליך ) - Standing -He went Sept 9, 2023

Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good.

– American Humanist Association

Orthodoxy attempted to preserve OT.

Martin Luther (1483–1546) accepted the unity of the Bible.

But humanism continued, and continues to be prevalent in most of Christianity

In the seventeenth century rationalists such as Hobbes (1588–1679) and Spinoza (1632–1677) sought a more humanistic approach to the Bible.

3 Kinds of strangers/ sojourner

1- Ger - a stranger who wants to enter the covenant of God - Cornelious

2- Goy - Goyim - nations - no Israelite by birth (as in Gen chp 10- v5)

3- Nakri - an alien/ foreigner (less preferable to use)

No so close association to Israel

Ruth (who called herself Nakri - Rut chap 2-v10)

Lastly we spoke of the Fatherless, Widow and stranger as part of the Law of God, rather than pure humanism

Introduction

Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

Road Map

So far in devarim, we have spoken about chukkim, by faith, and mishpatim - as referring to others: family members, members of our community

In the teaching we will continue to talk about being the generation of the Heels of Messiah

We will speak about righteous judgement, regarding these people

Need to know the Torah

We will introduce the two Torah portions for Today:

We will present the first one: Nitzavim -Standing in the presentation

And the second one: Vayelech - He went in the closing

Introduction

Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30

Today’s Torah portion is a double Torah Portion:

The first is an invitation to enter the Covenant

and a prophesy of Israel having to face the consequences of disobedience and going to exile.

The second portion is the promise of the Lord that He will not forget to find a dwelling place for Himself among His people.

The first Torah portion is a dire warning

The second a Kingdom promise

But He also includes in the subsequent Torah portion that they will return to the Land of Israel.

Then, He will bless them and comfort them.

We will first cover the dire warning

Then we will close with the promise of the Kingdom Reign

This Torah portion starts in the middle of the covenant.

The last verse of last week’s Torah portion explains that (this is the previous verse)

Deuteronomy 29:9 NKJV

9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

We took the time to explain in Bo (Come/Go), last week, that the Lord causes everything to happen:

the blessing and the curse - as a consequence of obedience of disobedience to the covenant

He gave the promise to Israel.

He became the Father -to the fatherless

The husband to the widow

The King to the stranger

Picture - fatherless, widow and stranger

The whole idea of the fatherless, the widow and the stranger has to do with obeying the Torah.

We spoke about the Fruit is attained with consistency

The consistency got interrupted by Greek philosophy

The ways of other gods/ nations

We highlighted how permeated secular Christianity is of these philosophies = gnosticism and humanism

Me centerness

Pursue of happiness

Ethical morality - w/o God

We also included the issue of the humanistic approach to the Bible - very prominent even today.

The law was given as a description of the covenant of God

That we may be able to distinguish the covenant of God from philosophies of man.

We explained that both Yeshua and Paul had to contend with this rebellion

We also explained that the rise of the Gentiles is part of the Plan of God

Deuteronomy 28:43 NKJV

43 “The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.

Gentiles must remember the widow is Israel

PRESENTATION

The Torah Portion

All this works and builds on today’s Torah portion

We will stand before the Lord (the same as Israel) to enter into His covenant.

Deuteronomy 29:10–11 NKJV

Upside down Kingdom - Picture

The leaders, the tribes, the elders and officers will have to give an account.

Going down from the top

But the Levite, the stranger (poor), the widow and the fatherless are in God’s heart first.

Inverted Organigram Picture

There is a story of a son of Levi

He fell ill and was at the brink of death when his father’s prayers brought him back to life.

When he came to, his father asked him: “My son, what did you see (in heaven)?”

He replied: “I saw an upside-down world.

Those who are on top here are on the bottom there; and those who are here regarded as lowly are exalted in heaven.”

That the leader or the sage is superior to the wood-hewer or the water-carrier is only from our earthbound perspective, which sees a “hierarchy” of roles.

But when “you all stand before God,” there is no higher and lower—what seems “low” here is no less lofty and significant in God’s eyes.

We have been talking about the Levite, who is supposed to be humble, serving as part the other three important groups of people to the Lord:

Deuteronomy 26:12 NKJV

12 “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled,

This is very consistent with Yeshua’s take of the kingdom of God:

It is the Kingdom where the last will be first and the first last

Matthew 20:16 NKJV

16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

Where the humble will inherit the earth

Matthew 5:5 NKJV

5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

Where the rich are sent away empty

Luke 1:53 NKJV

53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.

Picture of Upside Down first and last

The whole idea of the rich has nothing to do with money per se.

It has to do how you satisfy your HUNGER - how you get filled.

Deuteronomy 29:10–15 NKJV

10 “All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today

You stand upright this day, all of you, before the Lord your God (29:9)

“This day” is a reference to Rosh Hashanah

the day on which we all stand in judgment before God. (The Torah reading of Nitzavim is always read on the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah.) - Day of Atonement

Guess what day is next Shabbat - Sept 16?

On that day = atonement we will have to stand:

5893 I. נָצַב‎ (nā·ṣǎḇ):

v.; ≡ Str 5324; TWOT 1398—1. LN 17.1–17.11 (nif) stand, i.e., be in a standing position

2. solid, rigid, 3. healthy

Verb. As the survey of the ancient versions has shown, little semantic variation is to be expected in the verbal realm...

The semantic analysis best begins with the causative and factitive hiphil.

The Hiphil stem (in Hebrew) is generally used to express causative action in active voice.

In many cases the noun derived from the same root is the object or result of the hiphil verb associated with that root.

For example, the Hiphil verb הִמְטִיר means “to cause to rain down”; the noun מָטָר means “rain”.

It is the Lord who causes the rain, the blessings, the trials, the tests, the Salvation, the Sanctification, everything

He will also cause us to STAND in His Salvation

Picture of standing in Salvation - Today

As you keep the covenant

As you obey His Torah

As you serve

As you care for His people - the ones dear to His heart

He will cause us to do it today

He will establish you

According to His promise- to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob

Deuteronomy 29:15 NKJV

15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today

vs 15 = stand here Today - is not Nitzavim

“Those present here today”

and includes the ones who will stand in the Future - you / me

Moses then reminds Israel (and it is applicable to us as well) where they came from, and the darkness they saw in other nations

Deuteronomy 29:16–19 NKJV

16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

It is a matter of the heart “turning away” from God and turning to other gods.

But we do this by “serving” other gods.

This is why the picture of the Levite (servant) is so important.

He called us to be a especial people if we are grafted in

1 Peter 2:9–12 NKJV

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. 11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Moses also warns of the consequences of Israel’s failure to remain faithful to their covenant with God:

the devastation of the land and the people’s banishment from it into galut (exile).

If we do not keep obedient to His commandments devastation comes

But the worst part of this is what the false doctrine says:

Deuteronomy 29:19 NKJV

19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

And so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying,

‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’

Cannot rejoice in your own peace. Peace comes from Yeshua

Many preach humanism: “follow your heart”

If it “feels good, and you are satisfied (happy) with what you are doing, do it” - Eudaimonia - Aristotle

How can someone be blessed when following the dictates of their heart?

- biological needs,

emotional needs,

knowledge and obedience by reason.

Or as Plato put it, "harmony in the soul:

“Reason, spirit and appetite”

This brings me to the second part of the verse:

—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

Drunkard

7302. רָוֶה rāweh: An adjective meaning watered, well-watered. It refers to a condition of saturation or of having sufficient water or rain ;

especially a garden, a figure of a renewed people of God

Isaiah 58:11 NKJV

11 The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.

It is used figuratively, e.g., of being satiated with dishonour, shame

Job 10:15 NKJV

15 If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery!

In other words: satisfied

As I said before:

The whole idea of the rich has nothing to do with money per se.

It has to do how you satisfy your HUNGER - how you get filled.

Deuteronomy 29:19 NKJV

Then we have the word:

(the drunkard could be) Included

5595. סָפָה sāp̱āh: A verb meaning to scrape or sweep away, to destroy, to perish, to be captured. away of people

(included with the) Sober

6771. צָמֵא ṣāmēʾ: An adjective meaning thirsty. It indicated a state of needing water, being dried out. It is used to describe a thirsty land, a dried-out land needing water

Isaiah 44:3 NKJV

3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;

A people suffering from lack of water in desert heat

Hunger and thirst are often mentioned together (Ps. 107:5).

A thirsty enemy should be given water

Isaiah 55:1 NKJV

1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

Deuteronomy 29:19 CJB

18 If there is such a person, when he hears the words of this curse, he will bless himself secretly, saying to himself, ‘I will be all right, even though I will stubbornly keep doing whatever I feel like doing; so that I, although “dry,” [sinful,] will be added to the “watered” [righteous].’

If there is such a person, when he hears the words of this curse, he will bless himself secretly, saying to himself:

‘I will be all right, even though I will stubbornly keep doing whatever I feel like doing;

so that I, although “dry,” [sinful,] will be added to the “watered” [righteous].’

Deuteronomy 29:20–21 NKJV

20 “The Lord would not spare him; for then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law,

Part of the covenant includes curses

Not as a punishment but as a consequence

These are listed in the Law - last Torah Portion

Deuteronomy 29:21–23 NKJV

21 And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, 22 so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it: 23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

For more than 1500 years, Israel was in exile (galut)

The land was desolate (Jerusalem picture)

The land was brimstone, salt and burning

Not being sown

Not bearing

Just like Sodom and Gomorrah

Remember Abraham, regarding Sodom and Gomorrah?

Genesis 18:23–24 NKJV

23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?

And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy <5595 - sapah- sweep away> the righteous with the wicked?

Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy <5595 - sapah-sweep away> the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?

Destroy

5595. סָפָה sāp̱āh: A verb meaning to scrape or sweep away

Conclusion:

The man who follows the dictates of his heart finds peace (perhaps his own peace), thinking he will be swept along with the righteous (watered as the righteous).

He is wrong.

Remember what the Lord said:

Deuteronomy 29:20 NKJV

“The LORD would not spare him; for then the anger of the LORD and

His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him

and the LORD would blot out his name from under heaven.

Let us go back to

Deuteronomy 29:23 NKJV

23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’

There is also a word play. Or should I say, a play in the city named: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim

4 Cities

Sodom (sod’-om) = Flaming; burning; (root = to burn). Mystery; their secret; (root = to hide).

Gomorrah (go-mor’-rah) = People of fear; fear of the people; a rebellious people; (roots = [1] a people; [2] to be fearful; to tremble). Depression; (root = to bind; to subdue). Bondage.

Admah (ad’-mah) = Same as Adamah = Earthy; red earth.

Zeboiim (ze-boy’-im) = Gathering of troops of soldiers; i.e., a military city.

Those who are burning like flames in the secret, who are earthy, red (like Edom), gather people on the basis of fear, in rebellion, as troops and soldiers of bondage.

This makes the city/ community/ gathering unsafe.

Deuteronomy 29:24–26 NKJV

24 All nations would say, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ 25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them.

This is part of the prophecy:

The goyim will say: why has God punished Israel

What is the meaning of God’s anger?

They will point to Israel, not accepting: Berith - covenant

Picture of NT or Berit Chadasha

Is it possible that this is referring to Israel not accepting: Berit Chadasha?

For many orthodox Jews,

Christianity is idol worship,

contention and conquest - a punishment

towards Israel,

especially when there is a complete disregard of the Law of God.

Deuteronomy 29:27 NKJV

27 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.

Another translation says: God rooted them out of their land in anger, in wrath and in great rage

It is written in the title of Ps ch 79, verse 1:

A Psalm (song) of Asaph (this is descendant of a Levi - a musician)

Psalm 79:1 NKJV

1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

The Goyim have come into our inheritance

The Holy temple is defiled

This speaking of the conquest, exile, rebellion against Israel

The temple was first destroyed in 586 BC

Babylon conquered Israel in 586 BC

332 - Alexander the Great - Hellenistic Period

Hellenistic period goes from 332-141 BC

Hasomean Period - 141-37 BC

Herodian Period 37 BC to 70 AD

Roman Period starts with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD

Back to scripture:

Psalm 79:1 NKJV

1 O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps.

Ps chapter 79 verse 1 should not read:

“A weeping by Asaf,”

“a wail by Asaf,”

“a lament by Asaf”?

Why does it say “A song by Asaf”?

But this is similar to a king who built a nuptial home for his son, and had it beautifully ornamented, and decorated.

Then this son strayed off to an evil life.

So the king came to the nuptial canopy, tore down the tapestries and broke the rails (picture of Jerusalem).

Upon which the prince’s tutor took a flute and began to play.

Those who saw him asked: “The king is overturning the nuptial canopy of his son, and you sit and sing?”

He said to them: “I am singing because the king overturned his son’s nuptial canopy, and did not vent his wrath upon his son.”

So, too, was asked of Asaf: “God destroyed the Temple and the Sanctuary, and you sit and sing?”

He replied: “I am singing because God vented His wrath upon wood and stone, and did not vent his wrath upon Israel.”

But just because Israel had to face the consequences of rebellion, does not mean, we as Gentiles are off the hook.

It has been told by many that we are under grace, and that Israel needed to be punish - but not us.

John 1:11 NKJV

11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Romans 11:13–21 NKJV

13 For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.

2 Peter 2:4 NKJV

4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

2 Peter 2:9–15 NKJV

9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption, 13 and will receive the wages of unrighteousness, as those who count it pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, 14 having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in covetous practices, and are accursed children. 15 They have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

2 Thessalonians 1:3–9 NKJV

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, 4 so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, 5 which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer; 6 since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, 7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

All these are from the Brit Chadasha

Back to the Torah Portion:

Remember:

Genesis 18:23–24 NKJV

destroy <5595 - sapah- sweep away>

the righteous with the wicked?

Destroy

5595. סָפָה sāp̱āh: A verb meaning to scrape or sweep away

Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

So Abraham’s request of sparing the city was not simply aimed at Lot and his family but asking that time would be granted that the righteous might have an influence on that city.

But the man who follows the dictates of his heart also might have an influence on that city.

Galatians 5:9 NKJV

9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

So then,

Deuteronomy 29:29 NKJV

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Means that the sin that goes on within the camp falls into two categories:

1- What the neighbour knows and

2- what the neighbour does not know.

The sin that is revealed belongs to us while the secret sin is God’s responsibility.

So it does not mean that God keeps back revelation from us and some things He reveals to us.

To keep the context of this portion it is speaking of our responsibility to respond within the assembly is to keep the assembly clean.

To keep it clean - we follow the Torah

Addressing things

Passing righteous judgements to build each other up

Righteous Judgement picture

But together with the dire warning comes the promise

Deuteronomy 30:1–2 NKJV

1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,

The prophecy of Israel being scattered among the nations

As they remember God from among the Goyim

Where God has put Israel

And Israel RETURNS to the Lord (shuva)

שׁוב (šwb)

שׁוב (šwb), vb. turn back, return. Greek equiv. שׁוּב (Repentance), שׁוּב (Apostasy), שׁוּב (Regeneration)

Then, God

Deuteronomy 30:3 NKJV

3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.

The Hebrew word used here for “he will return” is not veheishiv—which means “he will bring back”—but veshav, which literally means “he will come back.”

The sages learned from this that the Divine Presence resides among Israel,

as it were, in all the misery of their exile,

and when the Jews are redeemed,

God speaks of it as His own redemption— He Himself returns along with Israel’s exiles.

(Rashi)

Another interpretation: The day on which Israel’s exiles will be gathered is so monumental and difficult, that it is as though God Himself must literally take each individual Jew with His very hands out of his place.

Therefore, the verse says

Isaiah 27:12 NKJV

12 And it shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will thresh, From the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; And you will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel.

We find this also regarding the exiles from the other nations, as the verse says, “I shall return the exiles of Egypt”

Ezekiel 29:14 NKJV

14 I will bring back the captives of Egypt and cause them to return to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom.

Upside Down Kingdom

It is kindness that God did to Israel, that He scattered them amongst the nations. . . . Does a person then sow a measure of grain, if not to harvest many measures?

So too, the people of Israel were exiled amongst the nations only so that converts be added to them . . .

The “converts” refers not only to the non-Jews who joined the community of Israel in the course of their exile,

but also to the “sparks of holiness” contained within the physical creation, which are redeemed when a Hebrew utilizes the resources he or she comes in contact with, in every part of the world, towards a good and Godly purpose.

Deuteronomy 30:4–6 NKJV

4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

From the time of the creation of the universe, man had the choice to be righteous or wicked.

So it was for the entire duration of the Torah, in order that there be merit for us in choosing good and punishment for desiring evil.

But in the days of Moshiach choosing good will be in our nature, and the heart will not lust for that which is not proper for it, and will have no desire for it at all.

This is the “circumcision” spoken of here, as lust is a “foreskin” blocking the heart, and the “circumcision of the heart” is the removal of lust.

In those times man will return to what he was before Adam’s sin, when he naturally did what is proper to do, and there were no conflicts and contradictions in his will .

This same meaning is found in:

Ecclesiastes 12:1 NKJV

1 Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”:

These are the days of Moshiach, in which there is neither merit nor guilt”

For in the days of Moshiach there will be no desire [of evil], and therefore, no merit or guilt—since merit and guilt are both the products of a free will.

Romans 2:25–29 NKJV

25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code 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 of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

The Challenge of the Mosaic Torah in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Guldo Baltes presents the following summary:

It has often been claimed that a major difference between “Jewish Christianity” and “Pauline Christianity” was the continuation or discontinuation of male genital circumcision.

Evidence for the abandonment of physical circumcision within “Pauline” circles has been drawn from Paul’s opposition against gentile circumcision in the letters to the Galatians and Corinthians, as well from his imagery of “circumcision of the heart” in the book of Rom chapter 2

However, a closer examination of the metaphor of “circumcision of the heart” and other images of “inward circumcision” in biblical, early Jewish and post-Pauline

Christian texts shows that the Pauline use of the image stands closer to the early Jewish understanding, in which “inward” and “outward” circumcision complement each other,

than to later Christian readings, in which the “inward” circumcision replaces or denigrates the “outward”.

The Pauline metaphor of “heart circumcision” is therefore not an image of Tora abandonment,

but rather of Tora obedience and can be placed well within the possible spectrum of other contemporary Jewish understandings of the metaphor.

Because Moshiach has not established His Kingdom on earth as it should be in the Millennial reign,

we are given a choice because we continue to contend with our carnality.

When Moshiac establishes His Millennial reign we will have a Shabbat Rest

Curious note:

If you were born between 1981 and 1996, you are a millennial. Anyone born after that is in a different generation. Millennials are the "most racially and ethnically diverse adult generation in the nation's history."

We have been given a choice:

Deuteronomy 30:15–16 NKJV

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

Picture of Choosing Life or Death

. חַי‎ (ḥǎy): n.masc.; ≡ Str 2416; 1. life

People can have the same parents, live in the same house and be raised by the same belief, but one can still be away from the Lord and the other a preacher.

So, you can’t say it was how somebody was raised, but it is the decisions You choose to make

CLOSING

The dire warning comes the promise:

Nitzavim is the warning with a promise for now

Vayelech is the promise of eternal rest

The section of Vayelech, and the next two Parshiot of describes the events and words spoken on the last day of Moses’ life:

Deuteronomy 31:1–2 NKJV

1 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’

2143 הָלַךְ‎ (hā·lǎḵ): v.; ≡ Str 1. go, travel, i.e., make linear motion to another place, with any form of transportation

2- walk

Moses entrusts the leadership of Israel to Joshua.

Nonetheless, God makes sure Israel understands (and all of us grafted into Israel,

that He is the one who will do what needs doing

Deuteronomy 31:3 NKJV

3 The Lord your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the Lord has said.

Deuteronomy 31:5 NKJV

5 The Lord will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you.

He puts the Torah into writing, and commands them the mitzvah of Hakhel (“gathering”):

every seven years, on the Sukkot festival following the Shemittah year,

“Gather the people together, men, women and babies, and your stranger that is within your gates”; the king shall then read from the Torah to them, “that they may hear and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this Torah.”

Deuteronomy 31:11–13 NKJV

11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. 12 Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, 13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

The Lord prophesies that “this people” will play the harlot

Deuteronomy 31:16 NKJV

16 And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

Who are this people?

Deuteronomy 29:19 CJB

Those who are burning like flames in the secret, who are earthy, red (like Edom), gather people on the basis of fear, in rebellion, as troops and soldiers of bondage.

Moses again warns of the hiding of the divine face which shall occur when the people abandon the Torah;

indeed, God Himself predicts that this will be the case.

Deuteronomy 31:17–18 NKJV

17 Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ 18 And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

There are times when God hides His face.

But then there are times when God hides His face and we don’t even realize that His face is hidden; we dwell in darkness, and think it is light.

This is a double galut (exile), a concealment within a concealment.

Deuteronomy 31:19 NKJV

19 “Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 31:21 NKJV

21 Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

“This song” must therefore serve as an everlasting testimony to ensure Israel’s eventual return and rapprochement with their God.

Therefore, the prediction that the people of Israel will abandon the Torah and will be punished for their sins

serves as a “witness” (testimony) to all: the people of God, the Goyim and to God.

For the people, that they have been forewarned of the consequences of their deeds.

And for God, that He should not be too harsh on them,

since He Himself foresaw it all and said,

“For I know their inclination, and what they do, even now, before I have brought them into the land of which I promised . . .”

Deuteronomy 31:20 NKJV

20 When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.

God is not surprised

Part of the plan

Remember His Torah/ Live the Torah/ Teach the Torah

Shabbat Shalom

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