52 VAYELEKH (He Went); Deut. 31:1-30, Acts 21-23

[Bruce Bertram]

Here Moses encourages the people not to be afraid of the people already in the Land, and to go in and take possession of it anyway. He won’t be going with them, but the angel of the Lord and Joshua will go across the Jordan ahead of them.

8“The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:8 NASB95)

Moses hands over the books that he wrote to the priests, and tells the people that at the end of every seventh year during the feast of Tabernacles the whole thing is to be read to the people, so that they and their descendants would learn to fear the Lord. God tells Moses to get Joshua and come to the Tent, where He appears to them in the form of a cloud. God tells them that the people will turn from Him and play the harlot after they get into the land and are prosperous, and that He will in turn forsake them and hide His face from them. God instructs Moses in a song to teach the people, so it will testify against them and remind them where they should really be. The book that Moses wrote is to stay by the Ark of the Covenant also as a testimony. Moses commissions and encourages Joshua to be strong and courageous as he leads the people to do what God says. Moses tells the people that he knows they will be rebellious and stubborn when he is gone since they were that way when he was around. They will do evil and corrupt things and worship the work of their hands. So he gets ready to teach them the song.

Paul and the disciples in Acts 21 set sail for Tyre passing Cyprus on the way and spending a week in the Syrian city before setting out for Jerusalem. The disciples in Tyre warn Paul through the Spirit not to go to Jerusalem but Paul is determined. Sailing from Tyre they spend a day in Ptolemais encouraging the disciples there then sail on to Caesarea where they catch up to Phillip the evangelist (one of the seven) whose four daughters are prophetesses. A prophet named Agabus gives a prophetic warning to Paul that he will be bound by the Jews in Jerusalem and handed over to the Gentiles, and the disciples beg him not to go but he won’t be dissuaded. They arrive in Jerusalem and go to James and the elders and give a report of what they’ve been doing all this time. After glorifying God for the works He was doing, Paul is told that there are a lot of believers who are zealous for the law but have heard Paul is teaching people to ignore the customs. So they come up with a plan for Paul to pay the expenses of four men who are finishing a vow, then help them complete it at the Temple. When the time for the vow is almost complete, Paul is in the Temple with them when a riot starts by some Jews from Asia (remember those?) and they drag him out. Roman soldiers are dispatched to quell the disturbance, and they arrive and stop the beating of Paul and arrest him, but they can’t get any facts straight because of the trouble and start back to the barracks. Paul asks leave to address the crowd, and Chapter 21 is basically a recount of Paul’s experiences with his conversion. The crowd listens to him, up to the point that he says this:

21“And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” 22They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!” (Acts 22:21-22 NASB95)

It is the Gentiles being included in the kingdom that is the source of anger for these Jews. After this second eruption the commander of the Roman cohort in the city is about to have Paul flogged when he finds out that Paul is a Roman citizen. Then he decides to call a meeting of the Jewish Sanhedrin (council) and takes Paul down there to see if he can’t sort this out. Paul addresses the council and says his conscience is clear but is struck in the face at the command of the high priest. Paul calls the high priest a whitewashed wall because Paul was struck in violation of the Law, but repents a little when he finds out the guy is the high priest. So Paul, perceiving that there are both Sadducees (who believe in no resurrection) and Pharisees )who believe in a resurrection) present decides to cry out that he is on trial for the hope of the resurrection. This throws the meeting into turmoil, with some Pharisees saying they can find no wrong in Paul. But the confusion is too great and the commander removes Paul for his safety. The next night God encourages Paul, telling him he must witness in Jerusalem and also in Rome. Later, 40 Jews take an oath not to eat until they kill Paul, and get some of the Council members to call another meeting with Paul so they can murder him. However, Paul’s nephew learns of the plot and has him report it to the commander of the cohort. Instead, the commander takes a large number of troops as guards of Paul and sends them to Caesarea to Felix the governor. The commander says he could find nothing that Paul did wrong, but the issue causing his arrest was in relation to questions of Jewish law so he sent Paul to Felix to sort it out. Felix says he will have a hearing as soon as Paul’s accusers get there.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Many people seem to want to be more 'Jewish' than the Jews, in their thinking so that they can make the Jews jealous. This then is supposed to impress the Jews so the Jews will convert to following Jesus. However, we can see from this section of Acts (21-23) that this is simply not the case. Jealousy was causing the Jews from Asia to make trouble for Paul wherever he went. Jealousy was causing people such as Stephen to be murdered, as well as various beatings and stonings including the one in Lystra where Paul was left for dead (Acts 14). Paul here was trying to be as 'Jewish' as possible, paying the expenses of four men when he probably didn't have a lot of money anyway, yet it wasn't enough. Compounding this was a plot to kill Paul in violation of Torah, by people who were allegedly 'jealous' of Torah.

This also is where we can see the so-called 'split between synagogue and church.' The split is actually between believers and non-believers, whether they are in a synagogue or a church.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Vayelekh; Deuteronomy 31:1-30; Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20; Acts 21 through 23

3“It is the LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken. 6“Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:3, 6 NASB95)

As Moses wraps up some last minute details before going to his rest, he tells Israel that the Lord goes ahead of them into the promised Land, to destroy their enemies and plant His people. The people follow, to take what they want in the way of blessings; yet God knows they will turn away from Him as soon as they are fat, dumb and happy. Israel will follow, sort of, yet will not follow truly in submission to all of His Words. They will take what they want, and depart from God when they are full.

Examples of this ‘follow but not’ attitude are evident with Paul in our Acts section, as he is jumped in Jerusalem and accused of not following the Law of God. But the problem is that in the accusations the Law is broken many times by the accusers. How many times, you ask? Well here’s the start of a list for your review.

16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16 NASB95, see also Deut. 5:20)

14“If, however, a man acts presumptuously toward his neighbor, so as to kill him craftily, you are to take him even from My altar, that he may die. (Exodus 21:14 NASB95)

15‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. 16‘You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the LORD. 17‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:15-18 NASB95)

24‘Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 25‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ 26‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ (Deuteronomy 27:24-26 NASB95)

By my count there are at least six criminal charges that could be brought against the crowd and the leaders, every one much more egregious than anything Paul was accused of. These don’t count some others I could name, such as the requirement for a thorough investigation and the prohibition against taking the law into our own hands.

The situation in Acts is just like many former situations, when Israel follows God with anything less than a whole heart. Here Paul is accused of breaking the Law, when there is no law he has broken, while the accusers are obviously not intent on upholding the Law at all. They just have a thing against Gentiles, which is another series of laws broken. (Notice the crowd blows up only when Paul mentions the Gentiles!)

21“You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 22:21 NASB95)

9“You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 23:9 NASB95)

33‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34 NASB95)

22‘There shall be one standard for you; it shall be for the stranger as well as the native, for I am the LORD your God.’ ” (Leviticus 24:22 NASB95)

To treat others as you want to be treated, or treat foreigners the same as Jews, wouldn’t it make sense to take the Word of God to them? And wouldn’t that include giving them access to all the blessings that belong to you because you follow God’s Word whole heartedly? So Paul is actually following the Law!

Now, before we get our panties in a bunch and go off breaking laws in our own right by attacking people who we think have done wrong (like Jews), we need to realize Israel behaves no differently than people in general. How many times do Christians treat others in a way they would not want to be treated? (Answer: yes we do, with gusto, on many occasions.) Do you think we would crucify the Christ again if He chose to walk among us in human form a second time? (Answer: yes we would because we are no strangers to pride ourselves.) Could it be that if Paul were here today, criticizing our practices because we say we follow God but discard any of His Words that are inconvenient for us, we would, in our turn, break many laws to persecute him and attempt to murder him? (Answer: yes we would. As a matter of fact people have turned up who attempt this very thing, and are treated by the rest of us just like Paul was treated by the Jewish leadership.)

Extra care needs to be practiced whenever accusing any one of disobeying God, that in our accusing we are not disobedient ourselves. It’s a good thing to learn the Word and teach it. It is sometimes necessary to take measures, if we can, against someone who falsely teaches or practices. But we better make darn sure we are following God in every way first, else we will be in danger of the same condemnation we heap on others.

Shalom