Ki Tavo (When You Come) Deut. 26
Torah Portion: Ki Tavo (When You Come) (Deut.) 26:1-29:8
HafTorah: Isaiah 60:1-22
NT Matt. 13:1-23; Luke 21:1-4; Acts 28:17-31; Romans 11:1-15
Today before we go on to Ki Tavo I would like to go back to last week’s Torah section to cover something I overlooked. In D’Varim (Deut.) 23 we read you should not abhor or hate an Edomite. You should not abhor an Egyptian. Now think for a minute about this verse. What had the Egyptians done to Israel? Read Shemot (Exodus) 1:22. Yet here we see Moses speaking as if this had never happened, almost saying Israel owed them a debt of gratitude. On the other hand they were to recite the story of Exodus each year commemorated with bitter herbs and unleavened bread so their children would never forget. What is Moses talking about here? To be free you have to let go of hate. If not, Moses might take them out of Egypt but would not be able to take Egypt out of them. Mentally and emotionally they would still be slaves, still in chains – chains of their mind and emotions. We must live with the past but not in the past. If we let our past define who we are we are not truly free of it. Moses tells the people over and over to remember the past not for revenge but so that they would remember to not treat others the way they were treated. They should give to the poor, leave some of their crops in the field to share with others and share their lives with others. Our memory of the past is not to preserve hate but to conquer it and to recall how it felt to be a victim. Remember: not to live in the past but to prevent a repetition of it.
Matot (Tribes) Masaei (Journeys) Num 30
Torah Portion: Matot (Tribes) & Masa’ei (Journeys) Numbers (B’Midbar) 30:2-36:13
HafTorah: Jeremiah 1:1-2:28
NT Matthew 5:33-37; James 4:1-12
This week we read a double Torah section, the first Matot is given to the heads of the tribes of Israel and covers some very important material, especially for us as grafted in believers. It begins with a teaching on vows and also the responsibility of the husband in the matter of vows, not only for his own but of special importance to us, also those of his wife. Why should this be of any interest to us? Yeshua is the head or husband of the assembly. (Eph. 5:22-33) Given this, these verses in B’Midbar can give us insight into how Yeshua freed us from our sins and took them upon Himself.