It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.

As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.

Torah Portion Name and Readings-

Ekev is the Hebrew word for “because”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Book of Deuteronomy starting in chapter 7 verse 12 and going through chapter 11 verse 25.

Prophets and New Testament-

It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Isaiah in chapter 49 verse 14 through chapter 51 verse 3.

The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of Matthew in chapter 16 with verses 13 through 20.

Torah Portion Overview-

This week’s Torah portion brings us an interesting command, the command to “circumcise the foreskins of our hearts”!

Deuteronomy 10:12-19 (ESV)

“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”

The command here implies that Israel, although circumcised, has an uncircumcised heart! But what is an uncircumcised heart? This reference implies that an uncircumcised heart is one that is stubborn. Other verses imply that an uncircumcised heart is perhaps either disobedient or the source of disobedience (Jeremiah 4:4) and that a circumcised heart is humble (Leviticus 26:41) and loves God (Deuteronomy 30:6). In other words, a circumcised heart is submitted to God and loves Him!

How can we circumcise our heart? It seems from Scripture that Israel never circumcised their heart (Jeremiah 9:26). Yet it was prophesied that God Himself would perform this!

Deuteronomy 30:1-6 (ESV)

“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Compare that verse with Ezekiel 11 and it becomes clear that He will circumcise our heart by taking out our heart of stone and giving us a new heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 11:17-20 (ESV) (also see Ezekiel 36:24-28)

Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

We can see this new heart causes us to love and obey Him. When we speak of the heart we mean how we think and act, in other words, when we say heart we also mean mind. Our new mind loves God and wants to obey Him. Previously we could not obey Him because our mind was an enemy of God and His law!

Romans 8:7 (ESV)

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”

The new mind/heart allowed us to love and submit to Christ! This is why it says the law is written on our hearts. Previously the law was weak because of humans nature to sin.

Romans 8:3 (ESV)

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,”

However when we were saved we received the new heart and the desire to know Him and obey Him. The law then is different this time, for it has been written on our hearts instead of stone!

2 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV)

“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

It is the Holy Spirit that writes the law on our hearts! And so we can see that with salvation comes the Holy Spirit who gives us a new heart of love and obedience, and writes the spiritual law on our heart! It is the work of the Holy Spirit that circumcises our heart. Previously we were unable to do so, but now we have the great work of God and our hearts are circumcised!

Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-

• Deuteronomy 7:12 The blessings of covenantal faithfulness and the destruction of the inhabitants of Canaan

• Deuteronomy 8:1 Remember to keep all the commands and remember where Israel came from

• Deuteronomy 9:1 Israel receives promised land not because of how great they are but because the nations are being judged

• Deuteronomy 9:8 Review of Israel’s rebellion with the golden calf and Moses’ intercession

• Deuteronomy 10:1 The two new tablets and the ark are created

• Deuteronomy 10:8 Levi is set apart

• Deuteronomy 10:12 What Yahweh desires from His people

• Deuteronomy 11:1 Love Yahweh and obey Him and don’t worship other gods and Israel will receive blessing but remember rebellion and that God punishes it

Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-

• Isaiah 49:14 Yahweh will not forget Jerusalem and will restore the Jewish people

• Isaiah 50:1 Israel was divorced but God remembers the faithful and will comfort them

Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-

• Matthew 16:13 Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah and son of God

Bibliography

• Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5 of Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 437–438.

• Peter C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 205–206.

• J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5 of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1974), 166.

• S. R. Driver, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy, 3rd ed., International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1902), 125.

• Martin H. Manser, Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies (London: Martin Manser, 2009), #7336.

To Watch an overview of this week’s Torah Portion CLICK HERE