46 'EIKEV (Because); Deut. 7:12-11:25, Acts 6 & 7

[Bruce Bertram]

Among the first words of each of the first four verses of this section in the NASB we can see an outline of the basics of God’s intentions for Israel.

if you listen… (verse 12)
He will love you… (verse 13)
you shall be blessed… (verse 14)
The Lord will remove sickness… (verse 15)

This happens a lot in the Word. Try reading like this every once in a while to get a different perspective.

Anyway, Moses here is going over repeated admonitions to love God by listening to Him and doing what He says. He will love in return by blessing, which translates to abundant fruitfulness in health and growing and peace. Mixed in are helpful tidbits of understanding, such as not to be afraid of the nations; He will clear away the nations a little at a time so the land won’t return to wasteland; and make sure to destroy the false gods, not even bringing them into your house.

Chapter 8 starts off by describing the trials in the wilderness as a ‘humbling’ and a ‘testing.’ God seemingly wants to know His people will follow His voice all the time without question.

3“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3 NASB95)

This is also what Jesus used to respond to the Deceiver during His temptation in the wilderness, which gives sort of a cross-picture of both times in the wilderness – the 40 days of Jesus being equivalent to the 40 years of Israel. The example Jesus models should’ve been the pattern followed by Israel as they where tested.

5“Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. (Deuteronomy 8:5-6 NASB95)

Moses also speaks of the bounty that will follow loving obedience to God, and not to forget God after the blessings have been given. His people should remember that it is by God’s hand that these things are given, and always continue in loving obedience to His commands, statutes, and rulings. If they do forget God and follow the ways of the nations, then God will cause them to end up like those nations as well.

Chapter 9 opens with another interesting tidbit it would be well for us all to remember.

5“It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:5 NASB95)

We should all remember that God acts on behalf of His people because of His love and not because of our righteousness. Moses in this chapter goes on to review what happened when he went up on the mountain to receive the first two tablets, and that he wasn’t gone long when Israel degenerated into idolatry and debauchery. When he comes back down he breaks the tablets into smithereens then destroys the idol and puts it in the stream they drink from. Israel is reminded that they were supposed to go into the land to possess it and refused, so Moses had to intercede with God to plead for Israel not to be destroyed, which God tells Moses He won’t do after all.

Chapter 10 retells the making of new tablets of stone, and the making of the Ark to put them in. Aaron’s death is recounted also. Moses says that because God didn’t destroy Israel and has blessed them so richly and protected them so thoroughly, in spite of their refusal to obey, that they change their hearts and steadfastly follow Him.

16“So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. (Deuteronomy 10:16 NASB95)

Doing what God says always is the way to return the love He has lavished on His people, according to Chapter 11. The love that He showed when He rescued them from Egypt, and destroyed the people of Korah’s rebellion. Doing what He says is also the way to stay strong and abide with Him, and to prolong the days of living. If Israel follows like they should, they will have rain in its season instead of having to irrigate, which is also a specific euphemism for being blessed. God’s commands should be such a part of the lives of His people that they are spoken of all the time, and reminders are posted everywhere on houses and people and in yards (gates).

Acts 6 tells of the creation of new positions in the Jerusalem congregation for overseeing the distribution of money for needs. One of the seven appointed is Stephen, who apparently is so powerful in his testimony that adversaries cannot withstand him, so they falsify testimony to get him arrested by the Sanhedrin. As he begins to testify in front of them, he goes over some of the events of the creation of Israel and their move into the promised Land. He is actually setting them up for his ending statements, which contribute to his execution.

51“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52“Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51-53 NASB95)

Stephen sees heaven opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the Father, which infuriates the ruling authorities so much that they drive him outside of the city and stone him (remember, it was against Roman law for the Jews to institute capital punishment themselves). A young man by the name of Saul, also known as Paul, is witness to Stephen’s stoning.

Shalom

[Cindy in Wisconsin]

As I read this Parasha this morning, the one thing that seemed to stand out to me over and over is that if we love God, then we need to walk in obedience to His commands. There were so many verses that I have highlighted, but here were a few that I don't want to forget:

Deu 8:1-3 (AMP) ALL THE commandments which I command you this day you shall be watchful to do, that you may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers.
And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Deu 10:12-13 (AMP) And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you but [reverently] to fear the Lord your God, [that is] to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being, To keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?

Deu 11:1 (AMP) THEREFORE YOU shall love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His precepts, and His commandments always.

Deu 11:13-15 (AMP) And if you will diligently heed My commandments which I command you this day--to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being--I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be full.

Deu 11:18-23 (AMP) Therefore you shall lay up these My words in your [minds and] hearts and in your [entire] being, and bind them for a sign upon your hands and as forehead bands between your eyes. And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates, That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. For if you diligently keep all this commandment which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him--Then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

The pathway of obedience is the pathway of blessing. That is not to say that the pathway of obedience will always be easy or popular or convenient, but it will result in knowing the blessings of the LORD and having His shalom. May my heart always be inclined to obey Him, in all my ways. Amen!

Take care and may the grace of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah be with you!
Love in our Messiah,
Cindy in Wisconsin

[Bruce Bertram]

Amen, Cindy. Obedience is simply stated, over and over, but just as simply ignored so many times. Yet it is the path to abiding in His love and blessing. We cannot abide in Him and refuse to do what He says.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Eikev; Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25; Isaiah 49:14 – 51:8+; Acts 6 and 7

4“Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you. 5“It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6“Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. (Deuteronomy 9:4-6 NASB95)

Very clearly, Moses tells us in the above passages from our portion this week that God was not giving the Promised Land to Israel because of any righteousness on their part. I wonder why he had to make this point. Could it be that, like people everywhere, Israel might’ve been getting a big head about how God was taking care of them?

Moses gives two reasons for the giving of the land to Israel: one is that God is punishing the wickedness of the nations already in the land, and the other is because He gave His word to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He very pointedly says (three times, 9:4-6) that it most definitely not because of Israel’s righteousness that they are being rewarded. Not when it is so patently obvious that they have rebelled against God at every turn.

We all have a tendency to think that when good things happen to us it is because we deserve them. Good things should happen to good people, and bad things to bad people. Of course, we also know that this isn’t a hard and fast rule, either, because the opposite seems to happen quite a bit. We also generally think that when bad things happen to us we don’t deserve them (in general) because we see ourselves as good people. So if Israel is really thinking that they are getting the Land because they’ve been good boys and girls, it’s not something to criticize. It’s something to cause us to check ourselves and see if we aren’t doing the same thing. We should reflect on the fact that pretty much everything we’ve been given is not due to some wonderful righteousness on our own part, but because of His rich goodness and mercy.

There are two kinds of righteousness, one of which isn’t really righteousness at all. There is God’s righteousness, and our righteousness. God’s righteousness is through faith, which is to say trusting obedience to God. This righteousness is God activated and God centered. Our righteousness on the other hand is an attempt to appear right in and of ourselves, without reference to God, except as some sort of cosmic paymaster to reward us when we think we should receive something for our efforts.

God’s righteousness is forever (Isaiah 51:6,8), and to seek righteousness is to seek the Lord and His Word (Isaiah 51:1,7). God’s Law is righteousness, and this law is embodied in His Son, the Messiah Jesus. One does not exclude the other; they are both the same thing. A love for God’s Word, which is to say seeking it and doing everything one can to do it, translates to a love for God’s Son, and vice-versa. God’s law is not a list of do’s and don’ts, it is a testimony of love that resides in our hearts and teaches us what righteousness really is. So the two kinds of righteousness can also be described in terms of a ‘love’ relationship and a ‘legal’ relationship. The love relationship sees every Word God speaks as love and life, while the legal relationship (our righteousness) sees in the Law a kind of reward system. In other words, “If I do those things, then I am owed a reward.” This is why Israel could not keep the Land. They saw it as a reward for what they thought of as their righteous behavior. They tried to establish their own righteousness by following some rules in a legal relationship, but this righteousness is not enough.

3For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. (Romans 10:3 NASB95)

Stephen in Acts chapter 7 tells everyone who will listen that Israel did not, in fact, follow God at all. He gives a summary of Israel’s disobedience, summing it up in three verses at the end.

51“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52“Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51-53 NASB95)

This was the sum of Israel’s righteousness, but of course it is not confined to Israel alone. We all have participated to some extent in the same sort of stiff necked rebellion, and accepted the Word as if ordained by angels yet do not keep it. So let’s not hammer Israel too much or we end up hammering ourselves as well. Israel did not accept or submit to God’s righteousness, and neither do people in general. We have a tendency (a very strong tendency) to try to ‘work our way to heaven.’ However, it simply cannot be done. What is needed is the application of God’s righteousness, which is not awarded like some sort of legal due, but by believing God and doing what He says.

4Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, 6just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7“BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. 8“BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.” (Romans 4:4-8 NASB95, verses 7 & 8 quoted from Psalm 32:1-2)

Jesus is the pinnacle of God’s righteousness, a reward not given by earning, but by grace.

21But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 NASB95)

God grants us righteousness and the good things that come with it not on the basis of owing it to us because we are so wonderfully righteous in ourselves, but on the basis of loving Him and making His ways our own (faith). We all sin and come short of God’s glory if we depend on our own efforts or righteousness. Thank Him that He has lovingly and graciously provided righteousness through His Son that we don’t have to earn by legal means but is simply given to us by returning His love in faith.

Shalom