By Joseph Shulam.
As the Hebrew Calendar approaches the end of the Hebrew year, we are also approaching the end of the book of Deuteronomy and looking forward to starting over again at Genesis 1 and continuing the cycle of reading the Word of God every Shabbat. We read from the Torah and from the prophets (The Haftarah), and also as disciples of Rabbi Yeshua, we read from the New Testament, complementary portions to the reading of the Torah and the Prophets.
This Shabbat’s reading from the Torah is from Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8.
The reading of the Haftarah is from Isaiah 60:1-22.
The reading from the New Testament is from Matthew 4:13-24.
THE TORAH READING FOR THIS SHABBAT STARTS WITH THE HEBREW WORD KI-TAVO.
Deuteronomy 26:1
“And it shall be, when you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and you possess it and dwell in it, 2 that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground, which you shall bring from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. 3 And you shall go to the one who is priest in those days, and say to him, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the country which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.”
Ki TAVO translates to English as “when you come into…”, hinting at what is about to happen soon in the story of the Exodus. The wandering in the Sinai Desert for the children of Israel is about to end, and so is the career of Moses as the leader of the children of Israel and as the liberator of the enslaved Hebrew people from Egypt into God’s freedom and their own God given land. According to tradition, the land of Canaan was given to Abraham and his descendants as their inheritance.
The first thing that Deuteronomy 26 instructs Moses and the children of Israel is to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. Pentecost is a celebration of the fertility of the land, the end of spring, and the beginning of Summer. The fields are ready for harvest, the trees are full of fruit, and the honeybees are zooming around collecting the pollen to make honey.
Entering into the land, the first thing that you have to prepare is the first fruits of your fields. Then travel to the place that God has chosen, i.e., come to Jerusalem to the temple and dedicate your harvest and first fruits for presenting them to the Lord. I must say, this is one way that the Torah prescribes to us how to say thank you to the Lord for his grace and mercy—bringing the first fruits of your labor and dedicating them to the Lord in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.
One of the most interesting things in our Torah part is the following verse:
“Then the priest shall take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. And you shall answer and say before the LORD your God: “My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.” But the Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard bondage on us. Then we cried out to the LORD God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression. So, the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, “a land flowing with milk and honey”; and now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me.’ “Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God. So, you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you. “When you have finished laying aside all the tithe of your increase in the third year—the year of tithing—and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God: “I have removed the holy tithe from my house, and also have given them to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed Your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. I have not eaten any of it when in mourning, nor have I removed any of it for an unclean use, nor given any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God and have done according to all that You have commanded me.” (Deuteronomy 26:4-14 NKJV)
Notice that after the worshipper prepares the basket of fruit and gives it to the priest, the worshiper turns and says: “My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.”
These words are demeaning. This worshipper just brought this fabulous basket of the best of the best of the Land of Canaan, and he gives the basket to the priest as an offering of his work to the Lord”. At this point, the worshipper confesses that in effect he is a man without a significant pedigree and from a foreign Syrian father about to perish. From that point on, the worshiper presents his gift for the Lord and confesses that he did everything in accordance with God’s commands. The humility of the worshiper and his confession should put all of us Jews today in a position to need more humility and simplicity in our worship and our walk with God. We need to restore our humility and the simplicity of our faith. The grace of God is the only real cure and salvation of our flesh in this world and our souls for eternity.
From our reading of the Torah portion, we can glean some of the following essential principles and points that will help us reconnect with the ancient traditions that existed when there was an Israelite temple and a kosher priesthood in Jerusalem.
Deuteronomy 26:4-14 discusses several key elements related to offerings, acknowledgment of God’s blessings, and the proper attitude of gratitude towards Him.
1. The presentation of the offering has to be with humility, confession, and acknowledgement of our humble origins and our indebtedness to the Lord for all his goodness and blessings. Our gifts to the Lord have to be symbols of gratitude and recognition of God’s care and provision. We must remember that the God who created the world doesn’t need anything physical from us humans. The Apostle Paul stated this truth in Acts 17 – God doesn’t need our gifts of Gold or Silver. We need to show our gratitude and generosity by responding with humility to our obligation to give those gifts of appreciation for God’s blessing on the land and his people.
2. Our relationship with God has to be based on our acknowledgement of God’s supreme control of history. As Israelites, we are reminded to recount our history and God’s faithfulness, including their journey from oppression in Egypt to the gracious gift of the Promised Land.
3. Every disciple of Yeshua testifies to God’s Goodness, grace, and mercy: In presenting our offerings, we declare God’s blessings and acknowledge our dependence on Him.
4. The Importance of Community. Our holidays and participation in care for our brothers and sisters are acts as individuals that represent the community – those who are a community of the redeemed who honour God and Yeshua our Messiah.
The challenges that we face in our modern internet-connected community are how to bring our relationship with Yeshua, our Messiah, to the place where Yeshua is not only our Saviour, but He is our partner. We are his messengers’ representatives in this world.
Here are two more texts from the book of Deuteronomy that I would like to share with you:
1. Deuteronomy 4:9-10:
“Only be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” This passage emphasises the importance of remembering what God has done and actively teaching these truths to future generations.
2. Deuteronomy 6:4-9:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.“
This text from the Torah is the holiest text to religious Jews. The majority of the religious Jews in the world repeat these words every day and sometimes even more than once per day. These words of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 are considered the only creed that Jewish people have. This prayer is called in Hebrew THE SHEMA. The first word of this most holy of all prayers commanded in God’s Word is the one that Jews died with on their lips in the time of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition (14th to 17th Century A.D.) and during World War II in Europe. It is a proclamation of the central truth of the whole Bible: “GOD IS ONE!”
Here are the times in the Scripture that state this truth clearly and loudly: With the aid of AI 0.5 in just two seconds, I received the following list:
### Old Testament
1. **Deuteronomy 6:4**:
– **Text**: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!”
– **Key Point**: This verse, known as the Shema, declares the oneness of God and is foundational to Jewish belief.
2. **Isaiah 44:6**:
– **Text**: “This is what the Lord says— Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.”
– **Key Point**: It emphasizes that there are no other gods besides the Lord.
3. **Isaiah 45:5**:
– **Text**: “I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.”
– **Key Point**: Reinforces the exclusivity of God’s divinity.
4. **Malachi 2:10**:
– **Text**: “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?”
– **Key Point**: Suggests that all humanity shares a common Creator.
### New Testament
1. **Mark 12:29**:
– **Text**: “The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.’”
– **Key Point**: Jesus reaffirms the Shema as the greatest commandment, asserting the oneness of God.
2. **John 17:3**:
– **Text**: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
– **Key Point**: Jesus identifies the Father as the “only true God.”
3. **1 Corinthians 8:4-6**:
– **Text**: “So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is but one God, the Father…”
– **Key Point**: Paul emphasizes the existence of one true God.
4. **Ephesians 4:5-6**:
– **Text**: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
– **Key Point**: It highlights the unity of believers under one God.
5. **James 2:19**:
– **Text**: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
– **Key Point**: Acknowledges the belief in one God, even among demonic forces.
These passages from both the Old and New Testaments collectively affirm the belief in one God and serve as a reminder of monotheism throughout biblical texts.
Don’t ever think or imagine that I or the leadership of Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry deny or disbelieve the Biblical truth of the divinity of the Messiah Yeshua. Here are the Biblical texts that affirm the divinity of our Messiah Yeshua. On purpose, I am using AI to help quickly with these critical questions about the divinity of the Messiah. I am bringing here what the AI machine gathered to let some of my Jewish and Christian brothers know that even a blind artificial machine-like AI can discover God’s truth in just seconds and come to the correct conclusion, not only faster but better than some of the top Christian Theologians.
The concept of God having a Son and the divinity of that Son is explored throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Here are key passages that refer to the Son of God and convey his divine nature, including the ones you mentioned:
Old Testament
1. Isaiah 9:6:
– Text: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
– Key Point: This prophecy about the Messiah explicitly calls him “Mighty God.”
2. Jeremiah 23:5-6:
– Text: “The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior.”
– Key Point: This passage signifies the coming of a ruler (the Messiah) who possesses divine attributes.
3. Proverbs 30:4:
– Text: “Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!”
– Key Point: This verse implies a relationship between God and a Son, hinting at the Son’s significance.
4. Micah 5:2:
– Text: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”
– Key Point: This foreshadows the birth of the Messiah, conveying a preexisting, divine nature.
New Testament
1. Matthew 3:17:
– Text: “And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’”
– Key Point: God affirms Jesus as His Son during His baptism, emphasizing their relationship.
2. Matthew 16:16:
– Text: “Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’”
– Key Point: Peter recognizes Jesus as the divine Son of God.
3. John 1:1-14:
– Text: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
– Key Point*: This passage establishes the divinity of Christ as the Word.
4. John 10:30:
– Text: “I and the Father are one.”
– Key Point: Jesus asserts his divine unity with God the Father.
5. John 5:18:
– Text: “For this reason, they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
– Key Point: This emphasizes the perceived divine status of Jesus.
6. Colossians 1:15-16:
– Text: “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created…”
– Key Point: This passage affirms the divine nature of the Son and His role in creation.
7. Hebrews 1:1-3:
– Text: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.”
– Key Point: This underlines the divinity of the Son as the exact representation of God.
These texts from both the Old and New Testaments illustrate the belief in God having a Son and affirm the Son’s divine nature, aligning with the prophecies and teachings about the Messiah.
My conclusion is simple: I don’t need a decision made by drunk and murderous priests in the year 333 after the crucifixion of The Messiah in Jerusalem in the town of Nicea in Turkey to tell me who my Messiah and savior is. (The bishops who didn’t agree with the majority of these pagan “Christian Priests” were ordered to be poisoned and killed because they disagreed with the leadership of the Nicene Council.) In the year 335, the same council of Nicea met a second time. It affirmed the same pagan doctrine, and again, after their decision, the priest who disagreed with the council’s decision was taken from his church in the middle of midnight mass in Alexandria, Egypt. He was cut into pieces and paraded after midnight through the streets of Alexandria.
I believe in ONE GOD and ONE Messiah, Yeshua, the Messiah, the King of the Jews, the Saviour of the world, who was and is from the beginning and with whom the Father had this conversation:
Genesis 1:26,
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” There is also the same Hebrew phrase in Genesis 11, where God is speaking in the plural voice and again says “Let Us” in relation to the destruction of the tower of Babylon. This point is repeated in the first chapter of the book of Hebrews.
Please don’t forget to pray for Israel and the Middle East. The whole situation is in deep trouble and needs divine intervention to make peace that would be a blessing to both Israel and its Arab neighbors.
I also have a personal prayer request: My dear wife and dearest friend, Marcia, left this earth 35 days ago. I am alone in our home near Jerusalem. Even our beloved sister and helper at home, Ema, is not here – she is in Ethiopia for some months. I need help from God and healing for the four distinct locations of NHF – Lymphomas in my body. Please pray for me for healing and strength to keep serving full-time God and His Kingdom and stand firm and clear against the biggest twisted lie of history that has already harvested millions of Jewish and non-Jewish lives in the 20th Century, it is called Antisemitism.
Vain and false hate of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. No nation in the history of God’s World has contributed more to every human endeavor than the Jewish nation. Yes, Satan is using the false lies of the terrorist organizations that just happened to be the majority from Muslim countries to destroy the Jewish nation and turn the rest of the blind and deaf world against God’s people, the nation of Israel.
Christians wake up to this false and evil use of religious hate to change God’s plan for the salvation and redemption of His world.
This is not the first attempt; even in the Bible, this program was tried more than once:
1) Pharaoh in Egypt in the days of Moses!
2) Haman and Artaxerxes, the Persian King from the Book of Ester, who wanted to kill all the Jews in his vast empire.
3) The Catholic Church during the Inquisition (Between 1303 and 1823) tried every cruelty possible by humans to destroy and delete the Jewish nation from God’s map of the world.
4) The Hamas Palestinian terrorist organization has put its own existence in jeopardy to kill Jews and destroy the state of Israel.
All of the above shows you that behind this war in Gaza and with our Arab neighbors, there is only one scheme, and that is to prevent the return of the Messiah to Jerusalem and to prevent the fulfillment of God’s promises to the world. Please help me and our brothers in Netivyah and in Netivyah International to fight these false forces and well-organized terrorists from achieving their hopes and intentions. The return of the Jewish people to their God given inheritance of the land that was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s descendants to fulfill God’s promises of a new order and world based in Zion – Jerusalem, where the Messiah Yeshua will return and sit on the throne of King David.