Picking up from the previous section of Deuteronomy 7:12-8:10:
7:12–there is a 3-part requirement related to Torah observance: (1) listen (i.e., to shama or to hear); (2) keep (i.e., to watch and preserve); and (3) obey (i.e., to do them). What we have here is a causal clause–because a, b, c…then d, e, f… Thus, as it is implied here, because the Children of Promise listen, keep and obey Torah, then the covenant that was made with Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya’akov will carry on with them.
I’ve been struggling, as many of you know, with the naysayers who rail against our Faith, labelling us as heretics, liars and everything other than Children of the Most High. Their issue is deeper than just a disregard for Torah; their anger and disdain for those of us who embrace Torah as our own is really against Yehovah. To me, taking such a vociferous position against believers in Messiah who’ve elected to keep Torah is not unlike the Islamist who takes and interprets portions of his/her Koran, insisting that one is commanded to murder all who refuse to adopt Islam as their Faith, when in reality no such command is contained in the Koran. The fundamentalist, like the radical Islamist, reads and understands their Scriptures from an entirely extra-contextual perspective (that is, understanding their Bibles without proper context). Both groups have come to accept a form of their respective Faiths that best fits in with their chosen perspectives on the world around them. For the Christian, the onus can never be on one’s world view as the foundation for determining whether or not Torah remains a viable or required thing for every believer. It’s actually the other way around. The believer must develop a world view through the lenses of Torah, imitating Yeshua HaMaschiyach’s example of how to live Torah.
Recall that old saying if you will, that “the proof is in the pudding.” If Torah is (as the fundamentalists contend it is) a curse, why would a loving God foist upon His chosen people such a thing? Why would Shaul suggest such a thing–if in fact he actually wrote it or meant it as many in churchianity have come to accept and teach. Fast forward to today: for those of us who have kept Torah for any length of time, have we personally realized the blessings promised to the Children of Israel as sort of a proof positive that Torah is for us as it was and remains for the nation of Israel and the Jew? I for one have realized such blessings, although not in as powerful a manifestation as I would have liked to be honest. I still struggle, not so much in the living Torah each day, for I love Torah beyond my capacity to describe, but more so it is the faith aspect of living Torah that I’m working hard to correct. The one aspect of living Torah that I believe many of us struggle with is that faith aspect that is inconspicuously tied to obedience to Torah. The Children of Promise did not require a lot of proof that Yehovah would and could do all the things that He promised them in His Torah. Many of the individuals who were listening to Moshe in this passage had first hand knowledge of the power and might of Yehovah as He protected and guided them throughout their 40-year jaunt through the Sinai desert. For us living in the 21st-century (or in the year 6015 F.C. per the Creator’s Calendar), to read these same promises requires us to have true faith. This passage requires us to make a conscious decision whether or not to obey Torah–all the applicable portions–and if we chose to obey Torah, believe that by us remaining resolute and obedient (even in the midst of persecution and ridicule from the fundamentalists) we will realize the same blessings that were afforded and enjoyed and realized by the Children of promise over 3,200-years prior (by some estimations).
I guess it comes down to each of us asking the question of ourselves: why do I; why should I; why must I observe and obey Torah? Today dear brother and sister of the True Faith once delivered, ask yourself, as I ask myself, why obey Torah. And if we come up with a true answer, determine whether or not we believe in the blessings to follow us as we obey Torah.