Va’Etchanan “and I besought”
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-
Va’Etchanan is the Hebrew word for “and I besought” and is the name of the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Deuteronomy starting in chapter 3 verse 23 and going through chapter 7 and verse 11.
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 40 verse 1 through verse 26.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of Luke in chapter 3 with verses 2 through verse 15.
Torah Portion Overview-
In this torah portion we see Moses further preparing the children of Israel to enter into the land without him. This is of great value, for we can see his heart! Moses did get to see the promised land, but was not able to enter in. I can’t imagine the disappointment he must have faced. Moses instructed Israel to obey the Lord’s commandments. Moses commands Israel to make no idols or images and Moses is not going with Israel so they should not forget the covenant. The first generation had to be reminded over and over by Moses, so we can see here that He reminds this generation one last time. And now we see the reason that heaven and earth must pass away before the Torah does. For Moses called heaven and earth as a witness against Israel if they disobey and break the covenant. He believed they would (he was a prophet after all), but he did explain that if they do they can repent and return to the Lord. We see the love that Moses had for God and Israel as he expounded on the fact that there is no other God like Yahweh and no other nation that God has chosen like Israel. Justice is important, and so is keeping the land clean. The cities of refuge were named east of the Jordan. Then we get a preamble to the remembrance of the 10 commandments followed by the 10 commandments of the covenant. Israel was afraid of God because of the lightning, thunder, and fire, and asked Moses to be the mediator of the covenant and God agreed. Next we get a great prayer, the Shema, the Greatest Commandment. Moses warned Israel not to forget the Lord when they enter the land or serve other gods or break His laws. Israel was to remind their children to keep the commandments and be faithful to God. Israel was to be set apart and not to mix with the nations that they were dispossessing, but they were to destroy their objects of worship. Israel was (and is) a special people, chosen by God.
Today I want to talk about the Shema. We are commanded to Love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and might! Israel was commanded to place this law within their heart.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NRSVue)
However, they failed, they did not bring the commandments into their heart and so they broke His law and worshipped other gods. Just like us today, they were not faithful to the covenant. Because of this Israel was divorced and sent into exile.
“The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree and prostituted herself there? And I thought, “After she has done all this she will return to me,” but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce, yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she also went and prostituted herself. Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart but only in pretense, says the LORD. Then the LORD said to me: Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: Return, faithless Israel, says the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the LORD; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD. Return, O faithless children, says the LORD, for I am your husband; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
Jeremiah 3:6-15 (NRSVue)
We know that God promised that He would have mercy on Israel and bring them back. Yet we too are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength!
“When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSVue)
How can we do this? If Israel failed, who had the prophets, and saw such mighty works, how can we succeed? We can succeed because whereas Israel had the law on tablets of stone, we are promised that God Himself will write His law on our hearts!
“The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (NRSVue)
He will do this by giving us a new heart!
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.”
Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NRSVue)
The law was weak because of our flesh.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 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 to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:1-4 (NRSVue)
But in the new covenant God does not rely on human flesh, in the new covenant, the Holy Spirit works in us!
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed, it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
Romans 8:5-9 (NRSVue)
Therefore, unlike Israel, who was destined to disobey because of their flesh, we are destined for obedience because of the work of the Holy Spirit! We have His law in our heart, and we have the ability to obey Jesus! We walk not in the flesh, but in the spirit, that is, we walk with the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. We do not rely on our own strength, but we rely on Him. When we are not, He is “I AM”. When we are weak, He is strong.
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:13 (NRSVue)
Therefore we must not look to ourselves, or even trust ourselves, our own righteousness, but instead we must look to Him, the author of our faith, and believe that He is able to bring us to the end. That is why we walk by faith and not by sight. We do not trust in ourselves, we do not trust in the world, we trust in Him.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NRSVue)
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Deuteronomy 3:23 Moses got to see the Promised Land but could not enter in.
Deuteronomy 4:1 Moses commands Israel to obey the Lord’s commandments.
Deuteronomy 4:15 Moses commands Israel to make no idols or images and Moses is not going with Israel so they should not forget the covenant.
Deuteronomy 4:25 Moses calls heaven and earth as a witness against Israel if they disobey and break the covenant but they can repent and return to the Lord.
Deuteronomy 4:32 There is no other God like Yahweh and no other nation that God has chosen like Israel.
Deuteronomy 4:41 The cities of refuge are named east of the Jordan.
Deuteronomy 4:44 Preamble to the remembrance of the 10 commandments.
Deuteronomy 5:1 The 10 commandments of the covenant.
Deuteronomy 5:22 Israel asks Moses to be the mediator of the covenant and God agrees.
Deuteronomy 6:1 The Shema, the Greatest Commandment.
Deuteronomy 6:10 Moses warns Israel not to forget the Lord when they enter the land or serve other gods or break His laws.
Deuteronomy 6:20 Israel shall remind their children to keep the commandments and be faithful to God.
Deuteronomy 7:1 Israel is not to mix with the nations that they are dispossessing, but they are to destroy their objects of worship.
Deuteronomy 7:6 Israel is a special people, chosen by God.
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Isaiah 40:1 God’s people will be comforted with a voice crying in the wilderness.
Isaiah 40:9 The voice cries about the greatness of God.
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
Luke 3:2 John preaches the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
To Watch an overview of this week’s Torah Portion CLICK HERE