Parasha Nitzvim-Vayelekh 5784
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This week we read a double parasha, Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh, Deuteronomy 29:9-31:30, which is the culmination of the Blessings and Curses section of Devarim. The entirety of Nitzavim is Moses reminding the second generation of Israel that they are standing before HaShem as a people in covenant relationship with Him. Moses prophecies that both the Blessings and Curses will befall Israel at some point, but that after this Israel will make T’shuvah and return back to Adonai in faithfulness and will experience the circumcision of the heart. But ultimately we see three major themes in Parasha Nitzavim that serves the greatest summary of the Parasha. Those themes are a call for unity, a promise of redemption, and the reality that God allows us the freedom of choice to serve Him or to not, and His hope and heart is clearly for us to choose Him. What’s really powerful is that the three primary themes we see in Nitzavim are also ultimately the message of the Besorah, the Good News of Messiah Redemption, redemption, unity, and the hope for creation to choose the Lord.
This very reality is at the core of Parasha Nitzavim. Keep in mind, this parasha is the closing of the Blessings and Curses of Deuteronomy in which the Lord tells Israel if you walk faithfully with me you I will bless you and provide for all your needs. And if Israel walked contrary to the Word of God then there would be a series of curses which were for the purpose of getting Israel’s attention, like when I have to punish my kids, so that they’d correct path. The goal of the Blessings and Curses wasn’t at all to punish for the sake of punishment, it was solely for the purpose of drawing Israel back in T’shuvah, and the Blessings and Curses show us that God’s patience for the repentance of Israel was never ending.
As for Parasha Vayeilech, the JPS Commentary on Deuteronomy notes that Parasha Vayeilech is the beginning of the epilogue of Deuteronomy and consists of eight sections. The first three are (1) Moses’ announcement of his departure and identification of Joshua as his successor (v 1-6), (2) his appointment of Joshua as the new leader of Israel (v 7-8), and (3) his writing down the Teachings of Torah and giving it to the priests and elders with instructions for its public reading (v 9-13). Before Moses continues with instructions about storing the text, the narrative unexpectedly digresses: (4) God summons Moses and Joshua so that He Himself may appoint Joshua (v 14-15); after Moses and Joshua appear before Him, (5) God tells Moses that the Israelites are sure to betray Him in the future and be punished severely and He commands Moses to teach the people a poem that will serve as a witness, putting them on notice about their punishment and what will cause it (v 16-22); and then (6) God appoints Joshua (v 23). After these digressions, (7) Moses tells the Levites where to store the Teaching, which he also characterizes as a witness in the event of Israel’s future rebellion (v 24-26); and (8) he summons his audience to hear the poem (v 28-30).
(Me Story: Ever got a ticket? Been pulled over twice in the last two years and got warnings both times… deserved a ticket, but received grace and mercy instead.)
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Principle: G-d knew we would have moments of failure, and those moments do not negate His promise of, nor His desire for our redemption.
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Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
1 “Now when all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart in all the nations where Adonai your God has banished you,
2 and you return to Adonai your God and listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you today—you and your children—with all your heart and with all your soul,
3 then Adonai your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples where Adonai your God has scattered you.
4 Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the heavens, from there Adonai your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
5 Adonai your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers.
6 Also Adonai your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants—to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
3 then Adonai your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples where Adonai your God has scattered you.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
Rashi suggests: The Hebrew word used here for “he will return” is not Vaheishiv—which means “he will bring back”—but rather Veshav—which literally means “he will come back.” Our sages learned from this that the Shechinah (Divine Presence) resides among Israel, as it were, in all misery of their exile, and when the Jews are redeemed, G-d speaks of it as His own redemption—He Himself returns along with Israel’s exiles.
Principle: G-d knew we would have moments of failure, and those moments do not negate His promise of, nor His desire for our redemption.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out brightly, and her salvation as a blazing torch.
2 Nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You will be called by a new name, which Adonai’s mouth will bestow.
3 You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Adonai, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 No longer will you be termed “Forsaken”, no longer your land termed “Desolate”. Instead you will be called, “My Delight is in Her” and your land, “Married”. For Adonai delights in you, and your land will be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
6 On your walls, Jerusalem, I have set watchmen. All day and all night, they will never hold their peace. “You who remind Adonai, take no rest for yourselves,
7 And give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
10 Go through, go through the gates. Clear the way for the people! Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Lift up a banner over the peoples.
11 Behold, Adonai has proclaimed to the end of the earth: Say to the Daughter of Zion, “Behold, your salvation comes! See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.”
12 Then they will call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of Adonai, and you will be called, Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
7 I will remember the lovingkindnesses of Adonai, the praises of Adonai, according to all that Adonai has granted us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has granted them according to His compassion, and according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.
8 For He said, “Surely they are My people, children who will not deal falsely.” So He became their Savior.
9 In all their affliction He was afflicted. So the angel of His presence saved them. In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, then He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
Principle: G-d knew we would have moments of failure, and those moments do not negate His promise of, nor His desire for our redemption.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
1 The Torah has a shadow of the good things to come—not the form itself of the realities. For this reason it can never, by means of the same sacrifices they offer constantly year after year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers—cleansed once and for all—would no longer have consciousness of sins?
3 But in these sacrifices is a reminder of sins year after year—
4 for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 So when Messiah comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me.
6 In whole burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not delight.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I come to do Your will, O God (in the scroll of the book it is written of Me).’ ”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (those which are offered according to Torah),
9 then He said, “Behold, I come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.
10 By His will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Messiah Yeshua once for all.
11 Indeed, every kohen stands day by day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.
12 But on the other hand, when this One offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God—
13 waiting from then on, until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet.
14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those being made holy.
15 The Ruach ha-Kodesh also testifies to us—for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will cut with them: ‘After those days,’ says Adonai, ‘I will put My Torah upon their hearts, and upon their minds I will write it,’ ” then He says,
17 “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have boldness to enter into the Holies by the blood of Yeshua.
20 He inaugurated a new and living way for us through the curtain—that is, His flesh.
21 We also have a Kohen Gadol over God’s household.
22 So let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and body washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the unwavering confession of hope, for He who promised is faithful.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
Principle: G-d knew we would have moments of failure, and those moments do not negate His promise of, nor His desire for our redemption.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, and death and evil.
16 What I am commanding you today is to love Adonai your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His mitzvot, statutes and ordinances. Then you will live and multiply, and Adonai your God will bless you in the land you are going in to possess.
Parasha Nitzavim-Vayelekh
Principle: G-d knew we would have moments of failure, and those moments do not negate His promise of, nor His desire for our redemption.
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(Call up worship team and unmute)
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