RSEA.D. Week 126

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Week 126

Read
Aloud together to hear the Word (Leviticus 23:1-3; Nehemiah 8:1-4; Luke 4:16-17)

  • Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 1:1-46
  • Prophets (P): Jeremiah 30:4-11
  • Apostolic (A): Hebrews 3:1-19
  • Additional (ADD): Sirach 44:1-23

Summary
Context and coherence (Nehemiah 8:8)

  1. “Devarim” is the name of the concluding book in the Hebrew Bible. Devarim means “words” from the opening statement of the book, “And these are the words,” following the way all books of the Hebrew Bible are named.
    1. The name Deuteronomy comes from the Septuagint’s Greek title for the book, to deuteronomion, meaning “second law” or “repeated law.”
    2. “The title Deuteronomy, derived from Greek, thus means a “copy,” or a “repetition,” of the law rather than “second law,” as the word’s etymology seems to suggest. Although Deuteronomy is presented as an address by Moses, scholars generally agree that it dates from a much later period of Israelite history.” – Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Deuteronomy”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Deuteronomy. Accessed 6 April 2024.
    3. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, Hilkiah the High Priest (who lived from 641-609 B.C.) found the original scroll of the Torah that was dictated to Moses, from which all later Torah scrolls were copied. (2 Kings 22:8; 2 Chronicles 34:14-15). Moses lived from either 1527-1407 B.C. (or 1391-1271 B.C. according to Jewish tradition as calculated by the Seder Olam Rabbah), so this original scroll (or book) of the Torah would have been 600-800 years old when Hilkiah found it.
  2. 1:1 These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the desert plain, in front of [Yam](LXX) Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. 2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.
  3. 1:3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that YHWH had given him in commandment to them, (cf. Exodus 20:19) 4 after he had struck Sihon the king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan who lived in Ashtaroth, [and](mss)(LXX) at Edrei. 5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this Torah, saying, 6 “YHWH our Elohim spoke to us in Horeb, saying, ‘You have lived long enough at this mountain. 7 Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there: in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the South, by the seashore, in the land of the Canaanites, and in Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. 8 Look, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which [I](SP)(LXX) swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their seed after them.’ ”
    1. Genesis 15:13-16; “He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your seed will live as strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; 15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
      1. This was 430 years from the time YHWH spoke to Abraham and not 430 years in slavery to the Egyptians (cf. Galatians 3:16-17). Slavery in Egypt was roughly 215 years of this 430.
      2. Abram is already somewhere between 75 and 85 years old in Genesis 15.
      3. A Biblical generation during this time would have been ~100 years since the lifespan was about that long from Abraham until after the death of Moses. According to Joshua 24:29, Joshua died at the age of 110. David, in contrast, died at ~70 years old (cf. 2 Samuel 5:4; 1 Kings 2:10).
        1. Abraham
        2. Isaac
        3. Jacob (Israel)
        4. Joseph and Brothers (Sons of Israel)
          1. Exodus 1:5-6; All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy[-five](LXX) souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already. 6 Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.
        5. Qohath (son of Levi)
        6. Amram (son of Kehat)
        7. Moses (son of Amram)
          1. Slavery in Egypt and the arrival of a new Canaanite king in Egypt who did not know Joseph (cf. Exodus 1:8; Jubilees 46:11; Week 46 Torah Study) caused these generations to be shortened and the prophecy of 4 generations to fulfill.
      4. However, the previous generation of males 20 years old and above halted a ~400 year old prophecy and almost prevented an entire generation from entering the Promised Land if not for Joshua and Caleb (cf. Deuteronomy 1:36-38; Numbers 14:6-9; Numbers 14:38).
        1. Akin to Noaḥ and his family being saved from the Flood. (cf. Genesis 6:18; Genesis 7:1; Genesis 8:16; 1 Peter 3:20)
  4. Reminder to establish rulers of Israel as community judges and officers among the tribes;
    1. 1:9 I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able to bear you myself alone. 10 YHWH your Elohim has multiplied you, and behold, you are today as the stars of the heavens for multitude. 11 May YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you, as he has promised you! 12 How can I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife? 13 Take wise men of understanding who are respected among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” 14 You answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to do.” 15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. 16 I commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner who is living with him. 17 You will not show partiality in judgment; you will hear the small and the great alike. You will not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is Elohim’s. The case that is too hard for you, you will bring to me, and I will hear it.” 18 I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do.
  5. Reminder that they, not Moses, originally wanted to send spies of which Moses agreed;
    1. 1:19 We traveled from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as YHWH our Elohim commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea. 20 I said to you, “You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which YHWH our Elohim gives to us. 21 Behold, YHWH your Elohim has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as YHWH the Elohim of your fathers has spoken to you. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed.” 22 You came near to me, everyone of you, and said, “Let’s send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we will come.” 23 The thing pleased me well. I took twelve of your men, one man for every tribe. 24 They turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied out [the land].(DSS) 25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, “It is a good land which YHWH our Elohim gives to us.”
    2. Reminder that the people refused to go up into the Promised Land; 1:26 Yet you wouldn’t go up, but rebelled against the commandment of YHWH your Elohim. 27 You murmured in your tents, and said, “Because YHWH hated us, he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart melt, saying, ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to the heavens. Moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there!’ ” 29 Then I said to you, “Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them. 30 YHWH your Elohim, who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you have seen how that YHWH your Elohim carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.” 32 Yet in this thing you didn’t believe YHWH your Elohim, 33 who went before you on the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in fire by night, to show you by what way you should go, and in the cloud by day. 34 YHWH heard the voice of your words and was angry, and swore, saying, 35 “Surely not one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land which I swore to give to your fathers, 36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give the land that he has trodden on to him and to his sons, because he has wholly followed YHWH.” 37 Also YHWH was angry with me for your sakes, saying, “You also will not go [to](DSS) there. 38 Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, will go in there. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, your sons, who today do not know good or evil, will go in there. I will give it to them, and they will possess it. 40 But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Reeds.”
    3. Reminder that the people tried to go up and possess the land without YHWH; 1:41 Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against YHWH [our Elohim].(LXX) We will go up and fight, according to all that YHWH our Elohim commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and readied to go up into the hill country. 42 YHWH said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go up and don’t fight; for I am not among you, lest you be struck before your enemies.’ ” 43 So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of YHWH, and [forced your way],(LXX) and went up into the hill country. 44 The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you and chased you as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to [the](DSS) Hormah. 45 You returned and wept before YHWH, but YHWH didn’t listen to your voice, nor turn his ear to you. 46 So you stayed in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained.

Exhortation
Counsel, comfort, and encouragement (Acts 13:14-15)

  1. Psalms 95:6-11; Oh come, let’s worship and bow down. Let’s kneel before YHWH, our Maker, 7 for he is our Elohim. We are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care. Today if you will hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers tested me, tested me, and saw my work. 10 Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “They are a people who err in their heart. They have not known my ways.” 11 Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”
  2. Jeremiah 30:7-11; Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he will be saved out of it. 8 It will come to pass in that day, says YHWH of Armies, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their bondservants; 9 but they will serve YHWH their Elohim, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. 10 Therefore don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant, says YHWH. Don’t be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will save you from afar, and save your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. 11 For I am with you, says YHWH, to save you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
  3. Hebrews 3:1-19; Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Emissary and High Priest of our confession: Yeshua, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house. (cf. Numbers 12:7) 3 For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is Elohim. 5 Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a witness of those things which were afterward to be spoken, 6 but Messiah is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.(mss) 7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your heart as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness, (cf. Psalms 95:8) 9 where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. 10 Therefore I was displeased with [that](mss) generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ” (cf. Psalms 95:7-11) 12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living Elohim; 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Messiah, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, 15 while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” (cf. Psalms 95:7-8) 16 For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.
  4. Deuteronomy 18:15-19; YHWH your Elohim will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You will listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you desired of YHWH your Elohim in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again YHWH my Elohim’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.” (cf. Exodus 20:19) 17 YHWH said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I will command him. 19 It will happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he will speak in my name, I will require it of him.

Application
Living the Word and following Yeshua (Acts 2:37; Romans 2:13)

Romans 2:13 For it isn’t the hearers of the Torah who are righteous before Elohim, but the doers of the Torah will be justified.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.

  1. “What other Scriptures come to mind as you studied this week or heard today’s Summary or Exhortation?”
  2. “What situations or application came up during your family’s discussion of this week’s Torah Study?”
  3. Have you ever experienced something from this study or something related to it?
  4. “What will you need to change in your life after studying this week’s Torah or hearing today’s Exhortation?”

Discussion
Questions, input, and sharpening (Proverbs 27:17; Luke 2:46)

  1. What other thoughts or questions came up in your study of this portion?