RSEA.D. Week 132 | The Cord

Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 8:1-20
Prophets (P): Prophets (P): Jeremiah 9:22-26
Apostolic (A): Apostolic (A): Matthew 4:1-11; John 15:1-11
Additional (ADD): Additional (ADD): Sirach 27:1-30

Deuteronomy 8:1; You will guard to do all the commandments which I command you today that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which YHWH swore to your fathers

8:1 You will guard to do all the commandments which I command you today
1. We again see Mosheh use the term הַיּוֹם hayom (H3117) which literally means “the day” and is equivalent to the Greek word σήμερον sēmeron (G4594) which means this (very) day or what has happened today. Mosheh has this term at least 10 times in the first 7 chapter of Devarim alone.
2. This again shows how much, if not all, of the book of Devarim (commonly called Deuteronomy) was given in a single day or over the course of a few days.
8:1 …that you may live, and multiply (Genesis 1:28), and go in and possess the land which YHWH swore to your fathers.
1. For this command to be heard by the next generation of males 20 years old and above whose fathers said they’d become plunder to the Canaanites, shows both the faithfulness and righteous judgment of YHWH.
  1. Deuteronomy 1:39 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.

Deuteronomy 8:2-5; You will remember all the way which YHWH your Elohim has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might afflict you, to test you, [and]^(DSS) to know what was in your heart, whether you would guard his commandments or not. 3 He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every [word]^(LXX) that proceeds out of the mouth of [Elohim].^(LXX) 4 Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 5 You will know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, [so]^(DSS) YHWH your Elohim disciplines you.

8:2 You will remember all the way which YHWH your Elohim has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might afflict you, to test you, [and]^(DSS) to know what was in your heart, whether you would guard his commandments or not.
1. Afflict (humbled); עָנָה anah (H6031) means “to be brought low” and is equivalent to the Greek word κακόω kakoō (G2559) which means to oppress, afflict, harm, or maltreat. To be humbled means to be brought low by enduring unjust treatment without feelings of resentment.
  1. English definition of humbled is not the same as the Hebrew or Greek; (adj.) made less proud, especially by awe or admiration, or by gratitude for help received, an undeserved advantage or honor, etc.
2. Test (tried); נָסָה nasah (H5254) means “to test to prove one is deserved of being lifted up” and comes from the root word נָסָ nas which means to lift up. נָסָה nasah is equivalent to the Greek word πειράζω peirazō (G3985) means to try, make trial of, or test for the purpose of ascertaining his quality, or what he thinks, or how he will behave himself.
3. To know what was in your heart, whether you would guard his commandments or not
8:3 He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every [word]^(LXX) that proceeds out of the mouth of [Elohim].^(LXX) 4 Your clothing didn’t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 5 You will know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, [so]^(DSS) YHWH your Elohim disciplines you.
1. Deuteronomy 6:6-19; For you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim. YHWH your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the land. 7 YHWH didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; 8 but because YHWH loves you, and because he desires to guard the oath which he swore to your fathers, YHWH has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that YHWH your Elohim himself is Elohim, the faithful El, who guards covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and guard his commandments, 10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You will therefore guard the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to do them. 12 It will happen, because you listen to these judgments and guard and do them, that YHWH your Elohim will guard with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. 13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. 15 YHWH will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, [which you have seen and which](DSS) you have known, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. 16 You shall consume all the peoples whom YHWH your Elohim shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their elohim; for that would be a snare to you. 17 If you will say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” 18 you will not be afraid of them. You will remember well what YHWH your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which YHWH your Elohim brought you out. So will YHWH your Elohim do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
8:6 You will guard the commandments of YHWH your Elohim, to walk in [all]^(DSS) his ways, and to [love]^(DSS) him. 7 For YHWH your Elohim brings you into a good [and spacious]^(DSS)(LXX) land, a land of brooks of water, of springs, and underground water flowing into valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, [and]^(DSS)(LXX) you will not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. 10 You will eat and be full, and you will bless YHWH your Elohim for the good land which he has given you.
8:11 Beware lest you forget YHWH your Elohim, in not guarding his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes, which I command you today; 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived [in them];^(DSS)(LXX) 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget YHWH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15 who led you through the great and fearful wilderness, with saraph nachash and scorpion, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know, that he might afflict you, and that he might test you, to do you good at your latter end; 17 and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” 18 But you will remember YHWH your Elohim, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers[, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob],^(DSS) as it is today. 19 It will be, if you will forget YHWH your Elohim, and walk after other elohim, and serve them and worship them, I call [the heavens and the earth]^(LXX) to witness against you today, that you will surely perish. 20 As the nations that YHWH makes to perish before you, so you will perish, because you wouldn’t listen to YHWH your Elohim’s voice.

Deuteronomy chapters 7 through 8 represent a true, tangible picture of the grace of YHWH
1. Grace is usually defined as undeserved (or unmerited) favor or getting what you don’t deserve. As taught within the mainstream, grace cannot be earned; it is something that is freely given. This definition is partially true but doesn’t fully define what grace actually means.
  1. Ephesians 2:3-9; We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Messiah—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Messiah Yeshua, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua; 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast.
  2. Faith in the blood of the lamb is, and always has been, the only way to be saved (cf. Genesis 22:8; Exodus 12:13; John 1:29) and YHWH’s grace. Nowhere in Scripture do we see YHWH or any prophet before Yeshua promoting the idea that one can be saved or receive YHWH’s grace by obedience to the Torah alone.
    1. Genesis 22:8; Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.
    2. John 1:29; The next day, he (John) saw Yeshua coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
    3. Exodus 12:13; The blood shall be to you for a sign on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will [shelter]^(LXX) you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
      1. Most translations say, ” I will pass over you,” but, as evidenced by the Septuagint’s translation from the original Hebrew, the original understanding was that YHWH would shelter those who put the blood on their doorposts. To shelter is the very definition of grace.
  3. Definition of grace; חָנַן chanan (H2603) means to provide protection, rescue, or give help to another; to treat as valuable. חָנַן chanan comes from the root word חן chan which means to camp and concretely represented by an actual camp of tents. In ancient nomadic encampments (חָנָה chanah or תַּחֲנָה tachanah cf. Exodus 13:20; Exodus 19:2; 2 Kings 6:8), the tents were placed in a circular formation to create one continuous wall surrounding the camp (חָנָה chanah cf. Genesis 26:17; Numbers 1:51-53). Within the wall of the camp was a place of protection, beauty (חִין chin cf. Job 41:12), favor and grace (חֵן chen cf. Genesis 6:8; Genesis 18:3; Genesis 39:21) living freely without paying or receiving payment (חִנָּם chinam cf. Genesis 29:15; Exodus 21:2; Exodus 21:10-11; Numbers 11:5), and a place to ask someone urgently and fervently to do something, i.e. beseech or supplication (תְּחִנָּה techinah cf. Psalms 6:9; Psalms 119:170; 1 Kings 8:30). The Hebrew name John is actually יְהוֹחָנָן Yehochanan (H3076 or H3110) and means “YHWH is gracious” (cf. 1 Chronicles 26:3; Luke 1:60-63) חָנַן chanan is equivalent to the Greek word χάρις charis (G5485) which means “that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness.”
The Wilderness
1. The wilderness is when His people are fed manna (cf. Deuteronomy 8:16)
2. The wilderness is when His people are pastured (cf. Numbers 14:33)
  1. Number 14:33; Your sons will be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness.
    1. Wander = רָעָה ra’ah (H7462) which means to pasture, tend, graze, or feed
3. The wilderness is where YHWH speaks tenderly to His people (cf. Hosea 2:14)
4. The Holy Spirit leads His people into the wilderness to be tested
  1. Matthew 4:1-11; Then Yeshua was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The one testing came and said to him, “If you are the Son of Elohim, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of Elohim’s mouth.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 8:3) 5 Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of Elohim, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’ ” (cf. Psalms 91:11-12) 7 Yeshua said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You will not test YHWH your Elohim.’ ”(cf. Deuteronomy 6:16) 8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the reigns of the world and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Yeshua said to him, “Go away,^(NU-Text) Satan! For it is written, ‘You will worship YHWH your Elohim, and you will serve him only.’ ” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:13) 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.
    1. Manna is the bread of angels (Psalm 78:25; Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.)
  2. “Repent and be immersed, every one of you, in the name of Yeshua the Messiah for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…”
    1. We should not rely on formulas but the way to the promised land is clearly spelled out in Scripture: Faith in the Blood of the Lamb > Repent and Turn Away from Sins > Immersed (Baptized) in the Name of Yeshua > Receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit > Sojourn in Wilderness as Foreigners and Pilgrims > Inherit Promised Land and Eat from the Tree of Life
      1. Philippians 2:12-13; So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
      2. 1 Peter 2:11; Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul
5. How we respond to the command of the Manna is the afflicting and testing to know what is in our heart and whether we will guard his commandments or not
  1. Numbers 21:5; The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, there is no water, and our soul loathes this disgusting food!”
  2. Exodus 16:19-30; Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, so it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. 21 They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is that which YHWH has spoken, ‘Tomorrow is a rest, a Sabbath holy to YHWH. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’ ” 24 They laid it up until the morning, as Moses ordered, and it didn’t become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to YHWH. Today you shall not find him in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather him, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. He will not exist in him.” 27 On the seventh day, [certain ones]^(LXX) of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 YHWH said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to guard my commandments and my Torot? 29 Behold, because YHWH has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone sit in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people ceased on the seventh day.
  3. Exodus 16:14-15; When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground. 15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “what is he?” For they didn’t know what he was. Moses said to them, “He is the bread which YHWH has given you to eat…”
  4. John 6:31-36; Our fathers ate the Manna in the wilderness. As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of the heavens to eat.’ 32 Yeshua therefore said to them, “Amen, amen, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave you the bread out of the heavens, but my Father gives you the true bread out of the heavens. 33 For the bread of Elohim is that which comes down out of the heavens and gives life to the world.” 34 They said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” 35 Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.
  5. John 20:29; Yeshua said to him (Thomas), “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
The manna ceased after the Israel ate of the produce of the promised land
1. Joshua 5:12; The manna ceased on the next day, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. The sons of Israel didn’t have manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
2. John 14:1-7; “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also. 4 You know where I go, and you know the way.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.”
3. Revelation 2:7; He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.
4. Revelation 22:14; Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.
The possession of the promised land is equivalent to entering into YHWH’s rest
1. Hebrews 3:5-7; Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony 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. 7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today (G4594) if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness…
  1. Hebrews 3:7 don’t harden your hearts
    1. The same today is applied to the hearing of YHWH’s voice to be received by an unhardened, circumcised heart of flesh (cf. Deuteronomy 10:16; Deuteronomy 30:6; Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Ezekiel 44:9).
    2. Deuteronomy 30:6; YHWH your Elohim will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live (Deuteronomy 8:2).
    3. Mark 8:17-18; Yeshua, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet or understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?
    4. John 12:40; Isaiah 6:10; “He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”
    5. Luke 10:23; Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see, 24 for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.”
  2. Hebrews 3:9-11; where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years. 10 Therefore I was displeased with that 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)
  3. Hebrews 3:12-15; Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 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.”
  4. Hebrews 3:8-11; For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. 9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. 11 Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
    1. “Give diligence” is σπουδάζω spoudazō (G4704) and literally means “I am studying” in Greek from the root σπουδή spoudē (G4710) which means “to study”
      1. 2 Timothy 2:15; Give diligence (study) to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.

If we, as Believers and followers of Messiah, read of the physical promised land and do not think of YHWH’s eternal Shabbat rest, we are not looking to the full promise as the overwhelming majority of us will never physically inherit the promised land in these bodies.

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2 Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ~~you will~~^(mss) ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. 8 In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. 9 Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you guard my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.”