Torah Reading: Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 54:11-55:5 5 Brit Chadashah Reading: I John  4:1-6

This week we are reading Parsha Re'eh, which is found in Deuteronomy 11:26. The first word in this verse in both Hebrew and English is "Re'eh" of "See". This word is different from "Henay" of which is translated "behold" or "pay attention to." This word is the physical seeing or viewing as if we are commanded to look directly at something rather than an idea or thought. For instance, we are told to "behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Can we really see unity, or do we actually see the expression of unity? With the word "Re'eh", we are in fact seeing the choice offered as if G-D was presenting a written contract for use to view and choose to enter the agreement or not to. In these verses, Israel was in fact presented a covenant opportunity they were to choose either blessings or curses. However, the part I wanted us to focus on this week is the end of verse 28 which many times is overlooked because of the powerful words of verse 26. The end of verse 28 says whom you have not experienced.

26 See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: 27 blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; 28 and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced.

The Children of Israel were being offered a covenant contract with two options, two choices, either the G-D of the Torah or "other gods." The end of verse 28 should have made this choice easy for them because they had only experienced G-D, up until now. This experience has always shown G-D to be faithful and powerful. Truthfully, we today are presented daily with this same choice. We are offered the opportunity to walk in blessings or to experience curses. We have all known, felt and experienced the goodness of Ad-nai! This choice should be so easy for all of us, but, somehow the unknown seems to tempt us. This week I really want us to review the faithfulness of Ad-nai in our lives; renew our commitment to obey His Torah; and walk in His blessings. The old saying "what you don't know can't hurt you" is not true. Spiritually, what we have not known cannot only hurt us, but it can bring curses into our lives!

This week we read Parsha Vaetchanan, which starts with Deuteronomy 3:23:

23 I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, 24 "O Lord God, You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness and Your mighty hand, You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal!

Of all the interactions between Moshe and Ad-nai this conversation is one of those that we can all relate to. Some conversations between Moshe and Ad-nai seem to be above our level so to speak. However, I know of very few believers that have not at some point tried to convince Ad-nai to change His mind about something in our life. In this text, Moshe is pleading with Ad-nai hoping that Ad-nai would change His mind and rescind the punishment that Moshe had received for disobedience. As we remember Moshe was told to speak to the rock and because of Moshe's anger and frustration, he beat the rock. This resulted in Ad-nai telling Moshe he would not lead Israel into the promised land. Now as Moshe is about to turn over leadership to Yehoshua, he pleads to have a reprieve of punishment. Like the rest of us when he speaks to Ad-nai he tries buttering Him up with nice words and praise. The reality is that Ad-nai could not change His mind because He made a direct statement of what would happen and as with all of Ad-nai's statements that is truth, and a change would cause Him to become a liar whom He cannot be. For thousands of years, men have been disobeying Ad-nai and then trying this same tactic to reverse the repercussions of our bad choices. We need, however, to understand that the promises of Ad-nai are always sure, and we can always depend on Him doing everything that He promises to us. The real question becomes-- Can He trust us to do the same.

This week we begin to read the last book of the Torah, Devarim or Deuteronomy. This book is the closing words of Moshe's life as he is about to turn over leadership of Israel to Joshua.  The Children of Israel had journeyed for forty years together on their way to the land, on the promise that Ad-nai had made to Avraham. This information is important for us to know as we begin to read the words from Deuteronomy 1:8-10 which are posted below.

8 See, I place the land at your disposal. Go, take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to assign to them and to their heirs after them. 9 Thereupon I said to you, "I cannot bear the burden of you by myself. 10 The Lord your God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars in the sky.

As we read these words, we can miss some of the context or some of the content if we do not keep them in the correct perspective. As these words are being said to Israel through Moshe, Ad-nai is re-enforcing his promises to Israel by reminding them of His promise to Avraham in a way that was designed to increase their faith. First, he tells them to take possession of the land which was promised or sworn to Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He does not tell them they have to do anything other than possess it. Then it goes on to remind them of the promise that the Children of Avraham would be as many as the stars in the sky. These words which we read today had to have brought them a burst of faith as a new generation was arising to enter the land. For us today, it should also increase our faith as we see example after example of Ad-nai keeping His promises in His word because every promise we see kept only assures us that He will keep His promises today.

This week we are reading through Parsha Pinchas the first verses are posted below.

10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying , 11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Wherefore say , Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:

I wanted to point out a couple of things from this text. First, Pinchas (Phinehas) was zealous for Ad-nai's sake and as a result of his zealousness, he acted to protect Israel from the sin that had entered the Nation. The second thing we notice is that the actions of Israel had caused Ad-nai to become jealous. The third thing we notice is the resulted blessing Pinchas received was a covenant of peace from Ad-nai. The reason I wanted to point out these three things are because a pattern is presented that is consistent for those who serve Ad-nail. The pattern is this, when Israel strays from Torah, Ad-nai will raise up someone who is zealous for Torah for Ad-nai's sake and when this happens Ad-nai blesses that person with peace. Now in order to qualify, the reason for the actions must be zealousness for Ad-nai and not for our own benefit or notoriety. The resultant peace will not only be peace in the way we think, but rather wholeness or completeness. The question for this week is, "As we are zealous for Ad-nai's sake and when we see the way the people of Ad-nai have strayed from Torah, what are we going to do about it?"