D’Varim (Deut.) 1:1-3:22 Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 1:1-27
1.In Deut. 1:42 Moshe was retelling the story of the bad report the spies gave. In Numbers 14:42 we read almost the same wording in the recounting of the event that happened years before except in Hebrew there is one small difference. In Numbers 14:42 it says, “Do not go up…” The Hebrew for do not is “al” It can be translated as a request or a command to not do something. In Deut. 1:42 the English translation also says, “Do not go up…” but in Hebrew it is a different word. The word “lo” is used. It can only be used as a command. It is a much stronger statement. It is a small change in the wording but why do you think Moses would make that change as he is recounting their history?
In using the stronger word in Deut. Moses wanted the people to grasp the seriousness of what happened.
It reflected a serious problem the people had.
It is a problem we sometimes experience ourselves.
Moshe’s point
G-d did not want them to go up and fight because He was not with them.
They had already rejected His word.
They ignored Moshe and went up in their own strength.
The outcome was their defeat and forty years of wandering in the desert.
The Israelites sinned and then tried to fix the situation by sinning again.
They paid little attention to what G-d said.
They thought they could succeed After all, they were the chosen people And G-d, in the end, would deliver them.
They rushed ahead in their own strength and failed.
Do we ever run ahead of G-d instead of following His direction?
Do we ever feel G-d will surely follow our plans because we are believers, we are special? Here we see the result of not waiting on G-d.
When we sin we should repent and accept the consequences
Instead of trying to fix the situation by sinning again.
They did not realize they had left G-d behind
They pushed on in their own strength.
The only criteria for their success and for ours is for G-d to be with us.
We must be moving in His direction not our own.
We don’t choose a direction and then presume G-d will bless it.
2.What evidence can we see in this week’s Torah portion that proves Moses was a great leader? How would you describe his style of leadership? What characteristics should we find in a great leader?
Imagine the following scenario.
You are 120 years old.
The end of your life is in sight.
G-d says you will not enter the land
You have been leading your people toward that land for forty years.
You have been repeatedly criticized by the people you have led.
Your sister and brother have died.
You know that neither of your children, Gershom and Eliezer, will succeed you.
What would you do if you were Moses?
You could sink into sadness,
Spend your time going over what might-have-been
You could continue begging G-d to change His mind
You could retreat into memories of the good ole days:
when the people sang a song at the Red Sea,
when they built the Tabernacle.
Moses did none of these things
What he did instead helped change the course of Jewish history.
Moses did an amazing thing.
At 120 He changed careers.
He went from liberator, lawgiver, worker of miracles to teacher.
Moses became, in the last month of his life, the master educator.
He spent a month preparing them to enter the Land,
He was teaching them how to be an example to other nations around them.
He gave them a vision of what it was to be a holy people dedicated to G-d.
Moses understood that, he would not be physically with the people when they entered the Promised Land,
but he could inspire them with teachings that would go with them into the future.
When someone exercises power over us, they diminish us when someone teaches us, they help us grow.
A poet, Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
If we can inspire in others a hunger for G-d we will have changed the world for that person. Teaching rules and regulations is not enough. We must guide a person to see how much G-d loves them and what He created them to be.
Moses showed us that a truly great leader always puts the good of the people first before self. The book of Deut. was his legacy to the people.
3.D’Varim/Deut. 1:30 says, “The L-rd your G-d, Who is going over before you, He will fight for you like everything He did with you in Egypt before your eyes.” Right away this seems strange. Most of these people were not slaves in Egypt. The few who might have been alive then would have been children. So what is Moses telling them?
Moshe was speaking to the second generation of Israelites
They were gathered in the plains of Moab about to cross over into the Promised Land.
Deut. 1:30 is Moshe’s encouragement to the people.
He was reminding them, the same G-d who fought for your parents when they came out of Egypt is still here with you today and will fight for you too.
He is saying this new generation is still G-d’s chosen people.
The promises of G-d made to their parents still applied to them.
The G-d of Israel would fight for them.
He would go before them when they entered the Land.
The walls of Jericho would fall before them.
The miracles G-d would do for them would be no less than the miracles He did for their fathers.
So the words G-d spoke were still true for them as they were when spoken to the earlier generation in Exodus 14:13-14, 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid.Stand firm and you will seethe deliverance theL-rdwill bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never seeagain. 14 TheL-rdwill fightfor you; you need only to be still.”
Moshe was reminding the people
G-d was able to bring them into the land with the same power
He demonstrated when he brought their parents out of Egypt.
It is an easy thing to do, to forget.
When difficulties come it is not easy to stand our ground as G-d’s people.
It is not easy to keep our eyes on Him
It is not easy to rest in the knowledge that He will bring us through.
I encourage you to remember from where G-d has brought you and rest in Him.
4.Our Haftarah reading this week is Isaiah 1:1-27. It speaks of Isaiah’s vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It is a heavy passage to read but it ends with a promise of redemption for Israel. Verse 8 says, “So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, As a hut in a garden of cucumbers.” What do you think this verse is saying?
Isaiah 1:1-27 is always read on the Sabbath before Tisha B’Av.
It is a prophecy concerning the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem.
Verse 8 says the remnant that will be left as a booth in a vineyard or a hut in a garden.
In Israel these booths or huts are called a “shomera”.
For centuries farmers have built small booths near their field
It is a watchman’s booth.
During harvest time the owner of the field stays in the shomera to guard his crops
He is Protecting them from thieves.
It was also a place of refuge for him from the sun, heat or rain.
Verse 8 describes the righteous remnant that will be left
Verses 24-27 give us a picture of what that time will be.
Proof that G-d will never abandon His people.
Isaiah 1:24-27, “Therefore the L-rd, the L-rd Almighty, the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foes and avenge myself on my enemies. 25 I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities. 26 I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”27 Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.
A Shomera or watchman’s booth
More questions and answers to ponder
How do we know Peter was a rich fisherman? John 21:10-11
By his net income.
What do they call pastors in Germany?
German Shepherds.
Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible? Judges 16:30
Samson. He brought the house down at his last gig.
Who is the greatest babysitter mentioned in the Bible? I Samuel 17:48-49
David. He rocked Goliath to sleep.
What kind of man was Boaz before he got married?
Ruth-less.
Who was the first drug addict in the Bible? Daniel 4:31-32
Nebuchadnezzar. He was on grass for seven years.
Who was the shortest man in the bible? Matt 26:40
Bildad the Shuhite, Job 2:11 but it wasn’t. It was Peter. He slept on his watch! Matt 26:40
Interesting article written by Joe Shulam July 31, 2025, Lebanon, Tennessee
Yes, the developments in the Middle East are extremely troubling. France, England, Holland, Norway, Germany, Canada, are all gearing up to recognize a Palestinian state in Gaza and all the West Bank. This is the code word for the last War – the War called Gog and Magog, and it is described in all the major prophets of the Bible, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Zechariah 12, and I could go on through to the book of Revelation.
This War will not be only against the land of Israel. It is a war led by the forces that are against the G-d who created this blue ball called Earth. I hope that by September, G-d will find a solution, and the Israeli government will accept G-d’s solution with wisdom. Yes, I hope this and pray that it will happen.
Still, on the other hand, the state of Israel under the leadership of a profoundly corrupt government led by a deeply corrupt cabinet and the one that is seated on top of it all, has made the wrong decisions one after the other. We used to say this about Yasser Arafat, that he was a master at choosing the wrong way every time. Now, I say this about the whole cabinet of our government. All Christians that have any sense of history and even a little moral fiber in them must raise on their back legs and publicly express their faith in G-d’s Word and G-d’s promises and state that they stand with the Biblical legitimacy of the Jewish people returning to their Biblical homeland and preparing for the return of the Son of G-d, Yeshua the Messiah of the whole world. Because it should be clear that if Israel is destroyed and the Jewish people living in Israel are massacred, it will ruin the entire set of G-d’s promises for the whole world.
Yeshua is not going to land on the Mount of Olives in a state that is not Jewish because the first thing that the Muslims will do is kill him again. They hate Yeshua, and they hate the Christians. There is no two ways here, dear brothers and sisters all around the world. Now it is the time and the hour for Christians all around the world to demonstrate in mass in favor of G-d’s promises to the world, not only to Israel.
Christian leaders wake up and understand that the only historical legitimacy for Christianity’s existence is the word of G-d and the promises in the Word of G-d, both the Old and New Testaments. Messiah is going to return to Zion and establish His Kingdom for all disciples around the world, united under a new order where Messiah is seated on the throne and the nations are coming to Zion // Jerusalem to worship the King of Kings who died for the salvation of the whole world.
I don’t know how, and I don’t know when. Still, I do know that if you and I believe and trust every word that is written in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, we must mobilize an army without weapons and B-2 jet fighters and tanks and rockets, but with the NAME of our L-RD and KING Yeshua the son of David and the son of Abraham. This is the day and the hour, and it must happen before September 1, 2025.
Please share and spread this message and information. It is alarming, but it is all real. When Israel’s best friends and partners in the world are threatening to cut diplomatic relationships and to sanction Israel if they don’t give up and establish an Enemy State whose leadership is against Israel, they ask not only for the West Bank and Gaza, but all of Israel from North to South. The elimination of a Jewish State in the land given by G-d over 20 times in the Bible, promised by G-d’s word and the Holy Spirit, is also the end of all of Christianity and a license to kill and burn churches and their worshippers inside, which has happened in history up to now in the Arab countries and this is what is going to happen if the whole Christian World doesn’t wake up and stand on G-d’s promises in the Bible, in The Words of G-d and the Holy Sprit both in the Old and New Testament.
Now is the time, and the urgency is 1000% for the sake of Israel and the Christian world. Stand up for Yeshua and be counted. He sacrificed for all of humanity, and now we, His disciples, must sacrifice for Him and His Kingdom down here on this blue ball called Earth.