This week’s discussion will be on the contents of the 132nd parashah of our 3-year Torah Reading cycle. The contents of our discussion today is found in Deuteronomy/Devarim 8.1-20. It is part of the broader annual reading cycle’s “Ekev” (aka Because) that most Messianic and Jewish brethren will be reading this Shabbat. I’ve chosen to entitle this post simply: Learning to Forget Yehovah — Thoughts and Reflections on Torah Reading 132.
Diligently Remembering Yehovah and His Ways
In 8.1, Moshe admonishes us to diligently observe all the commandments that he is conveying to us so that we may live, prosper/multiply, and take possession of the Promised Land. He tells us in 8.2 that we are to keep in mind (i.e. remember; in the Hebrew “shamar”; to guard) all the lessons that our 40-years of desert wandering have taught us. We are admonished to remember the many trials and tribulations we endured during our 40-years of wilderness wandering. Those trials and tribulations were meant to (1) humble us (aka “‘an-not”, which means to be wretched or emaciated; to reduce someone in rank, character, or status). And (2) those trials and tribulations were meant to test or prove us (aka “nas-sot'”, which means to put to the test in order to find out the nature of something, including the existence of imperfections, faults, or other qualities; to show our willingness so that Yah may know whether we would be willing) to obey Him as He commanded us. The knowing that Yehovah is interested in is “da-at”, which means to know (experientially) or to have some knowledge about someone or something. This “knowing” comes from Yehovah observing how we behave and react to the situations or testings that He places us in (e.g. Avraham and Yitschaq). Yah said to Avraham when he showed His faithfulness and obedience to Yah’s instruction to offer his son Isaac/Yitschaq unto Him: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me” (Gen 22.12; KJV).
In order for us to make it into the Land, yea, even the Kingdom of God, Yah must know us. Yeshua will reject those who approach Him about entering His Kingdom whom He has not known.
(22) many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy Name? And in thy Name have cast out devils? And in thy Name done many wonderful works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KEW YOU: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity (Mat 7; KJV).
Today, with all that is transpiring around us in this crazy world, Yah is humbling and testing His people. Some may describe this testing as a “sifting.”
Yah wants to know if He can trust us to walk in His ways and obey His instructions. Yah requires us to remember the lessons learned throughout our journey to the Kingdom. When we learn to remember our failures, how Yah corrected us, and how we overcame the various testings/trials and tribulations humble us and put us on a right road to fulfilling our purpose in Yeshua Messiah. When we cannot learn from our past, we will fail in our efforts to make it into the Kingdom and we will not fulfill our purpose and calling. We are not only required to remember (aka “shamar”) of individual, personal journeys but also to learn from the instructions given to our forefathers and learn from their stories (2 The 3.9; 1.6; 2 Pet 2.6). For the Tanach (aka the Old Testament) are meant as an example for us, such that we learn to not repeat the mistakes of the ancients, but walk in Yah’s set-apart ways.
The LXX offers: “And you shall remember all the way that the Lord your God led you in the wilderness that He might afflict you and test you and to discern in your heart (to test our mettle) whether you will keep His commands or not.” We see here that the LXX translation adds the element of affliction to that which we, as Yah’s people, must endure in order to receive His stamp of approval. (There are no free lunches when it comes to walking in Yah’s set-apart ways.) Let’s be clear that Yah doesn’t indiscriminately afflict His people, such that they become oppressed by Him (Lam 3.33). However, in order to test or try us, He will from time-to-time allow us to go through some stuff. In another couple of verses, we see that the work Yehovah was performing in us as we wandered in the wilderness, extended to His correction, with Yah invoking punishment, correction, or judgment upon us when we refused or failed to obey Him. In such cases, Yah will not hesitate to invoke correction upon His chosen ones when He assesses that correction is necessary (Psa 39.11; 94.10; Jer 2.19; 10.24; 30.11; 46.28). Of this truth, the Hebraist wrote: “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (12.6; KJV). Testing and correction are essential elements of our journey, even our sanctification journey.
Yah Tests our Commitment to Him and Corrects us Because He Loves Us — The Faith Element
Moshe revealed to us in 8.3 that our testing and humiliation involved our going hungry (and thirsty) for a period. This depravation of food and water was intended to teach us the essential principle that we must learn to not place our existence solely in physical food. But we also learn that our very existence, especially as His chosen ones, comes only by His spoken Words. It was Yehovah alone who provided us food in the form of manna as we journeyed through the unforgiving desert. He provided us with water from the most unexpected sources. Such as from a split rock.
This concept of Yah’s Words being our source of life means that when we give ourselves fully over to Yehovah and walk only in His prescribed ways, He provides for our physical needs. As long as we heeded His instructions, Yah provided us manna for our sustenance (Exo 16; Deu 8.3).
On this very issue, Master Yeshua instructed us: (31) Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? Or, What shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. (Mat 6:31-34 KJV) So then, to seek first Yehovah’s kingdom (aka the Promised Land with our ancient cousins) is to live by every Word that goes out of the mouth of the Almighty. This is where trusting faith comes in. For all that we’ve been discussing up to this point comes down to trusting in Yehovah to have our best interest in heart and that He will provide for our every need.
In 8.4 Moshe reminded us that Yah’s provision extended beyond His provision of manna to sustain our physical bodies during those 40 years of wilderness wandering. He kept our clothing from wearing out and our feet from swelling up (i.e. Yah kept us in good physical health).
Then, in 8.5, Moshe reveals to us that Yah sees us as His children. And like our own children, throughout their young lives, we must discipline/correct them from time-to-time. So does Yah to us who are His chosen ones. As mentioned previously, Yah corrects or disciplines us to bring us back into a right relationship with Him and prevent us from being destroyed because of our foolishness. Unfortunately, too many of us, feeling that we’ve arrived, refuse to accept correction from Abba Yah. (The same situation happened over and over with certain ones of our ancient cousins.) It behooves us to recognize when Yah corrects us and take the correction for what it’s worth. If we cannot straighten up and fly right, eventually Yah will leave us to our own devices (Rom 1.28). And we don’t want that to happen.
Of this, Torah teacher and Messianic author Tim Hegg, of Torah Resources, wrote:
“The reason that God chastened Israel is because he loves Israel and has chosen them for Himself. A parent who thinks he or she is loving their child by withholding correction is self-deceived. The example of the Almighty is that He discipled Israel because he delighted in them” (Studies in the Torah-Deuteronomy; p.67-68).
Ultimately, according to Moshe, it is important for us to keep Yah’s commandments. To keep in the Hebrew is “sa-mar-ta” which is to conform one’s life to Yah’s prescribed ways. We must learn to walk in His ways. To walk in the Hebrew is “le-ket“, which means to live and behave in accordance to Abba Yah’s prescribed ways.
The Hebrew Concept of Halachah
When we hear talk of halachah in Messianic/Hebrew Roots circles, we’re essentially talking about walking out our Faith in accordance to Yehovah’s instructions in righteousness or imitating our Master Yeshua haMashiyach. Halachah, then, is a prescribed manner of living.
Now, the problem as it often relates to halachahic practices within Messianic and Rabbinic circles is that we are too often led towalk in ways that may not be of Yah’s or Yeshua’s prescribed manner. Sometimes, we Messianics/Netsarim allow ourselves to be led by ways that fall within Judaistic practices. Such Judaistic practices are referred to in scripture as “the traditions of the fathers” or “of the elders” (cf Gal 1.14). Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with enjoying and engaging in certain Jewish traditions, when those traditions impinge upon the primacy of Torah, then we have a problem. Such traditions and practices have the potential to nullify or diminish Yah’s Torah. Yeshua came to correct this diminution of His Father’s halachah.
(1) Then there came to Yeshua scribes and Pharisees from Yerushalayim, saying, (2) Why do your taught ones transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” (3) But He (Yeshua) answering, said to them, “Why do you also transgress the command of Elohim because of your tradition? (Mat 15; The Scriptures, ISR). And from there, Yeshua goes on to innumerate several traditions of the elders that He saw were problematic: problematic from the standpoint that they diminished the primacy of the commandments of Yehovah. Yah’s Word stands alone, and it needs no help from us in the form of a contrived fence around it to ensure that we’re obeying it. Yah commanded us: “Do NOT add to the Word which I command you, and do not take away from it, so as to guard the commands of Yehovah your Elohim” (Deu 4.2; The Scriptures, ISR).
On this very issue, Yeshua declared to His Pharisaic challengers,
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Mat 15:7-9 KJV). When the traditions of men supersede the instructions, commands, and halachah of Yehovah, they diminish and even nullify Yah’s Torah and His expectations for His chosen ones. Abba Yah instructed us to neither add to nor take away from His eternal words of life (Deu 12.32). So, it behooves us, as Yah’s set-apart people, to always question what and why we do the things we do throughout of faith walk. Did Yah instruct us to do that thing we are questioning? If Yah did not instruct us to do that thing, why then are we doing it? Is doing that questionable thing that did not come from Yehovah causing us to err in our Torah-honoring walk? It comes down to determining who we belong to and who we are to obey. The Rabbis or sages or elders? Or Yehovah and His Son, Yeshua Messiah?
Learning to Fear Yehovah and Walk in His Ways
In 8.6, Moshe then tells this second-generation to keep Yah’s commandments by (1) walking in His ways, and (2) by fearing him. (I posted a discussion on what it means biblically to fear Yehovah back on 2/9/24 entitled, “Learning to Fear God and Receive His Peace-Israel’s Inextricable Link to our Salvation Part 4.” In that discussion, I went into detail what it means to biblically fear the Great I Am. I would humbly encourage you to either read or listen to that post if you’ve not already done so.). Indeed, the whole duty of man, according to Solomon, is to (1) Fear God, and (2) keep His commandments (Ecc 12.13). And so, if we can do these two things throughout our lives, of course with the leading, guiding, and correction of Yah’s Holy Spirit, then we cannot help but make it into the Kingdom of Yehovah (aka the Malchut Elohim).
What’s at Stake: Nothing Short of The Kingdom
In 8.7-10 Moshe reminds this second generation of what they were pursuing: they were pursuing their version of the Kingdom of Yah—the commonwealth of Israel flourishing in the Promised Land. The Promised Land was everything that they could imagine, and more. And Moshe wanted to make sure that they did not foul up their chance to make it into and remain prosperous in the Land.
Learning to Forget Yehovah and His Ways
We find in 8.11-17 a third admonishment from Moshe that we diligently keep or take care for ourselves (i.e. “shamar,” to keep/guard) in our keeping of Yah’s commandments, His regulations, and His statutes. We were told not to forget Yehovah our God (i.e., “pen-tis-kah” Yehovah Elo-he. Not that one should somehow not remember Yehovah and all the things He has done for us and His instructions. But more so that one will not dismiss from our heart, mind, and soul the wonderful, awesome, and fearful things of Yehovah; to cast Him and His ways aside as though they mean nothing to us). It then behooves the child of the Most High to always keep Yehovah and His ways at “top of mind,” to borrow a popular saying these days.
I’ve found that it is so easy to allow the cares of life to cloud over my day-to-day thoughts of Yah and His ways. It’s more of being too busy to pay Yah any mind during any given day. And so, it becomes a tug-o-war, so to speak, to resist the influences that everyday life brings in opposition to our intimate covenant relationship with Yehovah. But Yah has gifted us His Holy Spirit to help us overcome the world. He also advised us to “lay up His words in our hearts and in our souls, and bind them for a sign upon our hand (in everything that we do), that they may be as frontlets between our eyes (that we constantly think about Yah and His ways). That we teach them to our children. That we speak of Yehovah and His ways when we’re relaxing in our homes; when we’re out and about doing our daily chores and tasks; the last thing we do before we close our eyes at night; and the first things we think about when we wake-up in the morning should be Yehovah and His Ways. We are to write about Him and His ways on the doorposts of our homes and upon the entrances to our properties (Deu 11.18-20). Modern day Jews and Messianic Jews attach mezuzahs to the doorposts of their homes and to the doorposts of various rooms in their home in their keeping of this mitzvah. We’ve installed mezuzahs in our homes for years to establish for ourselves and any who may come into our home what is the most important thing to us in our home: Yehovah and His Ways.
The other thing that Moshe attempts to get across to His young listeners is that the land in which they were poised to take possession of was so good, and the life they would live in the land would be so wonderful, that they may “forget” or overlook their past and attribute their prosperity to their own strength and wherewithal. If this were to happen once they’ve settled in the land, Moshe knew that they would run the risk of “forgetting” (aka “tis-kah) all that Yehovah had done for them, and all that Yehovah continues to do for them. Yah declared through Moshe: “But thou shalt remember YHVH thy Elohim: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth...” (Deu 8.18; KJV). This applies to each of us today. With all the modern conveniences most of us have at our disposal these days, it is very easy to lose sight of Yehovah’s keeping and provision. This then becomes a perpetual battle of the flesh for the child of God, whereby he/she must learn to keep at the forefront of their minds that Yehovah is their everlasting portion and He has and continues to provide for all their needs according to His riches in glory.
But Moshe warns that if we “forget” (aka “tis-kah”) Yehovah our God, and we pursue other gods, we will perish (Deu 8.19-20). And indeed, our ancient cousins did that very thing and they suffered grievously for their neglect and foolishness.
For us today, we may not go into idol worship and serving hasatan directly when we overlook Yehovah and His ways (i.e. backslide to use a popular Christian descriptor of turning away from Yah). But, we will invariably worship, one way or another, the things of this world and the tugs and pulls of our flesh will invariably cause us to “tis-kah” Yehovah. Our minds will be moved away from Yehovah and on to ourselves and the cares of this life. And that can lead only to our destruction (i.e. spiritual and even physical destruction) if not corrected in time. And so, it behooves us to remember Yehovah and His ways at all times. Whatever it takes for us to accomplish that, we must do. And that’s why, according to Hegg, that we must be careful to not only obey Yehovah and His Ways, but to guard them (i.e. “shamar” them) as well. If the world causes us not to guard the things of Yah — hold them as sacrosanct in our lives — “we may render ourselves unable to perform what God commands. Therefore, guarding the commandments is equally important with doing them. The one proceeds to the other” (ibid., p. 65).
Ladies and gentlemen: I’m convinced the reason that so many of us are going through such difficult times these days is because the lives we live have conditioned us to forget – “tis-kah” – Yehovah. We’re either not fearing Yehovah and not keeping His instructions in righteousness, or we’ve convinced ourselves that we’ve arrived and have no need of Yah and His ways in our lives. And as I alluded to earlier in this discussion: It’s easy to forget Yehovah, especially when life throws us curve balls that have the tendency to take our eyes, hearts, and minds off of the Almighty. And when we take our eyes, hearts, and minds off the Almighty and cast them instead on others, or upon our situations, we place ourselves in both physical and spiritual harm’s way.
Moshe taught that we are not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Yehovah (Mat 4.4; Luk 4.4). Furthermore, we must learn to place Yah in the forefront of our hearts, souls, and minds so that we not “tis-kah”/forget Him and His ways. That means rehearsing the glorious things He has done and continues to do for us. And that’s why it’s so important to honor the weekly Torah Readings and not forsake the assembling of ourselves one with another (Heb 10.25). The weekly Torah Readings teach and remind us of the glorious things Yehovah has done and is currently doing for us. They are, as Paul reminded his protégé Timothy, “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instructions in righteousness; such that we may be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3.16-17). When we assemble ourselves together each Sabbath and throughout the week in our various assemblies and fellowships, we exhort one another and we are empowered to effectively take on the days of the week that are ahead of us. Just these two things alone go a long way towards combating our forgetfulness towards Yehovah. It all comes down to “seeking first the kingdom of Yehovah and His righteousness” (Mat 6.33). When we put Yehovah and His glorious kingdom first and foremost in our day-to-day walk in Messiah, our Master promised that His Father — our Father — will take care of the things in our lives that need taking care of.
Beloved, it’s more than not working on the Sabbaths, making a half-hearted acknowledgment of the annual feast days, and maintaining a relatively clean-kosher diet. It’s about fully immersing ourselves in Yah and His ways. It is about keeping Him at the top of our minds continuously throughout each day of our lives and keeping all the commandments that apply to us as individuals. And it’s about imitating our Master Yeshua Messiah on every conceivable level. Yahoshua is our example; our hope; our goal; our north star if you will. And He has gifted us His Father’s Spirit to help us not forget Yehovah and His ways. If we feel that we don’t have Yah’s indwelling Spirit in sufficient quantities to help us make it through our days, all we have to do is ask the Master for it. One of the many reasons, according to Master Yeshua, that we fail in having the abundant life that Yeshua promised us is that we don’t ask Him for that which we desire and need: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him” (Luk 11.13; KJV)?
I know that none of what I’m telling you here today is new and earth-shattering. It’s stuff we all already know. But from time-to-time, especially in these perilous times, it is extremely important that we remind ourselves of them. And I pray, beloved, that you take these admonishments with that spirit in mind. We’re focused on the Kingdom and what it’s going to take for us to make it in, just as our ancient Hebrew cousins were focusing on the promised land and what Yah was requiring of them in order for them to receive and remain in the promised land.
And with that, beloved, we will bring this installment of TMTO to a close. I pray this teaching blessed you. I would encourage you to go on over to our website, themessianictorahobserver.org, access the transcript of this teaching which will aid you in conducting your own study of this reading as you are so led. Until next time, may you have a blessed day of rest and an overcoming week in Messiah.
And above all, may you be most blessed, fellow saints in training. Shalom.