Eikev
Notes
Transcript
Torah Portion
Torah Portion
“Then it will happen, as a result of your listening to these ordinances, when you keep and do them, that Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant kindness that He swore to your fathers.
The parasha starts with ‘eikev’ - AS A RESULT OF your listening. “It” will happen “because” you shema. What is the “it”? The ‘it’ is that God will keep the covenant faithfulness that he promised. If Israel were to experience the coveneant blessings promised, they would need to obey. When the nation obeyed they experienced the blessings of the convent. They didn’t get into the covenant by obeying. They were already in the covenant - God had sworn to their fathers. The previous verses describes God having set His love on them before they even existed. God is telling Israel that when they obey, they will experience all the good blessings of the covenant.
What we need to see here is that a life of trust is inseparable from obedience. To trust is to obey. Many today teach that faith is separate from obedience. That’s not true. Sure, we must first have the mindset of belief before we can action anything. But that is not how the Bible defines faith. Biblical faith is steadfastness. Or in other words covenant faithfulness stemming from a covenant relationship. Or in other words, we agree to Love God and obey Him - and then we do it. That is Biblical faith. That is why James said - even the demons mentally accept that there is only one God and are fear Him - but they don’t trust in him. Faith is allegience to God by committing to His son Yeshua as our Lord, and really putting it into practice in our daily lives.
Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see.
A life of trust means not being afraid of doing the Lord’s command. God gave our people a command to go in and take the land from the wicked nations in it.
Suppose you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I—how can I drive them out?’
God says a life of trust is not to be afraid of them. But how can we not be afraid if they are so numerous? How can we not be afraid?
You are not to be afraid of them. You are to be sure to remember what Adonai your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:
We are commanded to remember. Remember the miracles and signs and wonders God did to the Egyptians. Where are Pharoah’s Egyptians now? They are in the bottom of the sea. We are to remember past defeated enemies and times when God fought for us. This is true for you today. When God has given you a command, go and do it, do not be afraid and remember what God has done in the past. Just please ensure it is a command and not a feeling. Commands are found in the Bible or the Holy Spirit has spoken it to you audibly, not the “feeling or calling” you sense.
And as you remember what God has done and you commit to Him to move forward in obedient faith, know that God is already fighting the battles you can’t see.
“Moreover, Adonai your God will send the hornet against them, until the survivors and those in hiding perish before you.
God sent the hornet ahead to begin the work before Israel even got there. The enemy was slowly weakened and ready for the taking. Israel couldn’t see that, but they were called to trust it. Trust that the Lord had prepared their way for victory. So it is with us. God gives us commands to move forward trusting that He has taken care of the things we can’t see.
And even if we are concerned about hurting others when we carry out the Lord’s command, ‘your eye shall not pity them’ it says and our feelings should not compromise our task. And the mercy of God is seen here - these nations in the land were wicked since the time of Abraham, but God delayed judgement over 400 years - the wickedness of the Amorites is not yet full God told Abraham. And here He sends the hornet which is a slow process giving even more time to repent, and they still didn’t. Except for Rahab.
A life of trust destroys the snares that exist in our life. Burn their graven images God tells Israel. For us idoaltry and graven images aren’t an issue, but for many in Africa and other countries this is a real problem. Believers still fear the ancestral gods and spirits even after becoming a believer and so they cover their bases by keeping a side worship. Ancient israel faced similar cultural issues. For us, what pastors usually call idols are not idols but better referred to as the trappings of life - job, fame, lust, money, TikTok, Fox News, etc. They are not idols but they can take the priority over God if we are not careful.
You are to be careful to do this whole command. What will help you with that? More remembrance. 8 verse 2.
You are to remember the 40 years where God showed you the lessons of faith. Where he let you hunger in the wilderness so that you would cry out and then he said will send bread from heaven to feed you. God puts these moments in our lives so that we absorb the lesson and learnings. He wants us to remember the experiences.
“Knowledge” is a funny thing and you might know something in concept but not in experience. Experiencing something brings a different type of knowledge, one that isn’t simply in the mind but it’s in the body - deep in the bones so to speak. God puts us in the wilderness in ORDER THAT WE SHOULD KNOW THAY MAN DOESNT LOVE BY BREAD ALONE BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF GOD’S MOUTH. The word of God gives us life - what does that mean? It was God’s verbal command for Manna to come down that made it come down and we ate. The command of God is life.
This is why when the rich young man asks what good shall he do to inherit eternal life, Yeshua said to the rich young man - if you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Yeshua is saying that the command of God is life. But the young man had done everything in his mind — but he didn’t realize his faith was lacking because when Yeshua said sell everything and follow me - he disobeyed and went away - this means he disobeyed the command of God in that moment. The command of God is to obey and honour the Son. The trappings of life took presence over the command to obey the Son.
May God make us the people who observe this whole command.
