RSEA.D. Week 134

Torah Study Notes for Week 134 of the Torah Reading Cycle

thecord.life/notes/week134

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

  • Torah (T): Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:1 – 11:25
  • Prophets (P): 2 Kings 13:22-25
  • Apostolic (A): 2 Corinthians 3:1-18
  • Additional (ADD): 2 Esdras 14:13-48

Summary
Context and coherence (Nehemiah 8:8)

  1. Chapter 10 of Deuteronomy shows the Justice Arm and Mercy of YHWH as sovereign over His Kingdom
    1. Deuteronomy 10:15; “Only YHWH had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.”
      1. Deuteronomy 10:15 from Jerusalem Targum; “Only the Lord had pleasure in your fathers, and because He would love you, He hath had favor to their children after them, as you, above all the nations upon the face of the land, at the time of this day.
      2. Deuteronomy 10:17; For YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim of Elohim and Lord of lords, the great Elohim, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t lift up faces or take bribes.
  2. Deuteronomy 11 shows YHWH’s special care for the Land
    1. The land of promise is a special place appointed for His people to flourish by actively living, and thriving, in harmony with Him thereby declaring to the forces of darkness the Glory of His Kingdom-on earth. Satan has [had] dominion over the earth. In Matt. 16:18-19, I believe Yeshua validates this understanding as he states, “And I say unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this, the rock, I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatever you should have bound upon the earth, it shall be have been bound in the heavens; and whatever you should have untied upon the earth, it shall have been untied in the heavens.”
    2. YHWH’s oversight and special care of this land reveals its importance in the architecture of His Kingdom. Before the Fall of Man, Adam flourished in Paradise as he actively lived out Torah, enjoying perfect fellowship with YHWH. Paradise was the epicenter of the Spiritual dwelling place where Elohim met-in fellowship-with Mankind who embodied the physical. That bond was broken by the transgression and thus separated mankind (the physical realm), from flourishing in that promised land otherwise known as paradise. Paradise was a set apart place. The amount of care and devotion YHWH shows towards the promised land in Deuteronomy 11:10-12 is a strong indicator that the land of promise is paradise; or more likely the location it once occupied and possibly will again in the future. Nonetheless, it is important to YHWH in relationship to how He cares for the land, and that its purpose is for His people to dwell in amongst Him. An additional component to His intentions for His people is that of its purpose. I believe the people are to be refined in the Land. That refinement as stated earlier is for the purpose of measuring the obedience of the people-of promise, described in Genesis 15, within His civil, spiritual, and right-just society. The end goal of the sanctification process is to write the Torah on the hearts of the converted; those who proclaim repentance and remission of sins, by the repetitious application of His words.
  3. A further breakdown of Deuteronomy 10:1-5
      1. Deuteronomy 10:1 At that time YHWH said to me, “Chisel for yourself two stone tablets like the first, and come up to me onto the mountain, and make an ark of wood. 2 I will write on the tablets the words [of YHWH](DSS) that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you will put them in the ark.” 3 So I made an ark of shittim wood, and chiseled two stone tablets like the first, and went up onto the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. 4 He wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten words, which YHWH spoke to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly; and YHWH gave them to me. 5 I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they are as YHWH commanded me.
          1. This statement is a reference to Exodus 34:1-35 when Mosheh chiseled two stone tablets like the first tablets which YHWH made, not man:
            1. Exodus 32:15-16; Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other. 16 The tablets were the work of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim, engraved on the tablets…19 As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mountain.
          2. A further reading of Exodus 32:30-35 speaks of the great sin of the people of Israel in breaking the covenant of YHWH before the first tablets were ever given to Israel:
            1. Exodus 32:30 On the next day, Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. Now I will go up to [Elohim].(LXX) Perhaps (maybe, peradventure) I shall make atonement for your sin.” 31 Moses returned to YHWH, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made themselves elohim of gold. 32 Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.” 33 YHWH said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book. 34 Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” 35 YHWH struck the people, because of what they did with the calf, which Aaron made.
          3. The covenant YHWH cut with Israel was irreparably broken through this great sin. The sacrificial system of the Levitical priesthood would allow for individual forgiveness of sin (cf. Leviticus 4:20; Leviticus 5:13; Leviticus 6:7; Leviticus 19:22). However, it appears clear that the people of Israel as an entire community would only receive atonement once per year during Yom Kippur, not forgiveness for their great sign and breaking of the covenant of YHWH:
            1. Leviticus 16:34 “…This will be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the sons of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.”
            2. Hebrews 10:1-13; For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. 4 For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. 5 Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, “You didn’t desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. 6 You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me to do your will.’ ” (cf. Psalms 40:6-8) 8 Previously saying, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn’t desire, neither had pleasure in them,” those which are offered according to the law, 9 then he has said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, 10 by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Yeshua Messiah once for all. 11 Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and offering often the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, 12 but [this one],(mss) when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. 14 For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
          4. It is clearly shown in Scripture that the new, or better “renewed,” covenant would go beyond atoning sins with no cleansing of the conscience and provide forgiveness of sins along with the cleansing of conscience.
            1. Jeremiah 31:31-34; “Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them [and I disregarded them],”(LXX)(cf. Hebrews 8:9) says YHWH. 33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says YHWH: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (cf. Hebrews 8:8-12)
              1. Because forgiveness and no remembrance of sins is promised with the renewed covenant, it was imperative that there would have to be a sacrifice that could take away sins.
                1. Micah 7:19-20; He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
            2. Hebrews 9:11-14; But Messiah having come as a high priest of the coming good things, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, 12 nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
              1. “not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation” compare to “chisel for yourself two stone tablets like the first” compare to “The (first) tablets were the work of Elohim”
                1. Exodus 32:19 from the Jerusalem Targum; “the wrath of Mosheh was suddenly kindled, and he cast the tables from his hands, and brake them at the foot of the mountain;- the holy writing that was on them, however, flew, and was carried away into the air of the heavens”
          5. YHWH cut another covenant with Israel once Mosheh chiseled the new tablets himself and provided the necessary words along with the cutting of this covenant:
            1. Exodus 34:10; He (YHWH) said, “Behold, I cut a covenant…
            2. Exodus 34:27-28; YHWH said to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel 28 He was there with YHWH forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, ten of the words.
            3. Deuteronomy 10:10-11; I stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights; and YHWH listened to me that time also [and](DSS) YHWH would  not destroy you. 11 YHWH said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people; and they will go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give to them.”
            4. A set of words agreed upon by one or both parties were required for all biblical covenants followed by death of an animal or the one cutting the covenant.
              1. Genesis 15:12-21; Genesis 31:44-54; Hebrews 9:16-20
          6. Mosheh’s appearance altered significantly during his second 40 days and 40 nights of fasting without food and water:
            1. Exodus 34:29-35; When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face [was horned](MTT) by reason of his speaking with him. 30 When Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face [was horned];(MTT) and they were afraid to come near him. 31 Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that YHWH had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33 When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before YHWH to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 The sons of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face [was horned];(MTT) so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
              1. The Hebrew phrase קָרַן עוֹר פָּנָיו (qaran or panaw) literally means “the skin of his face was horned.” Though most Bibles translate qaran (H7160) in Exodus 34 to figuratively mean “rays of light” came from his face or that his face “shone,” the Hebrew word קָרַן qaran and קֶ֣רֶן qeren are most always used literally to mean actual horns.
          7. The context of this intentional veiling of the face of Moses is critical to understanding 2 Corinthians 3:1-18
            1. Hebrews 8:13; In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first obsolete. But that which is becoming obsolete and grows aged is near to vanishing away.
            2. 2 Corinthians 3:11-15; For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory. 12 Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, 13 and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the sons of Israel wouldn’t look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away. 14 But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Messiah it passes away. 15 But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

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

  1. Common Understanding:
    1. “Paul is contrasting the Old and the New Covenants, the letter and the Spirit, Law and Grace, Moses and Christ”.
      1. Underlying Assumption: “One is good, the other is bad. At best, the Law was in place to get Israel through until Christ. At worst, it was a punishment or a mark to show how future any attempt at self-righteousness is. So, we need to abandon the Old and embrace the New”.
  1. Benson Commentary (1857) on 2 Corinthians 3:7:
    1. “If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones” –That is, the Mosaic dispensation…which proved a ministration of death to those who preferred it to the gospel, and which still subjects such to death, pronouncing an awful curse upon all that in any respect violate it”.
  2. MHC: “The gospel so much exceeds the law in glory, that it eclipses the glory of the legal dispensation”.
  1. “Dispensationalism is a theological movement that originated in the post-Reformation period, largely due to the work of 19th century theologian and Plymouth Brethren minister J. N. Darby”.
    1. Dispensationalists believe that Israel is an ethnic nation of Hebrews, beginning with Abraham, and that there is a historic and demographic difference between Israel and the Christian church.

KEY POINT: Dispensationalism has created a false dichotomy (1. : a division into two especially mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or entities) that causes the Law/Torah to be misunderstood and approached with a negative bias and eisegesis (i.e. putting meaning into the text that isn’t there).

  1. A more correct historical doctrine (though not perfect) is Covenant Theology which argues that “God has one people throughout redemptive history, called ‘Israel’ under the Old Testament, and called ‘the church’ under the New. God has one saving purpose for them, and that purpose is to redeem sinners from every tribe, tongue, nation, and race through the blood of Jesus Christ. And that purpose is worked out in a series of covenants (ReformTheologicalSeminary.edu).
    1. The continuing issue with Reform theologians is how New Covenant Believers are to relate to the “Mosaic Covenant”.
  2. Exegesis of 2 Cor. 3:1-19:
    1. Main Subject:
    2. Paul’s ministry or service; specifically, questions about his credibility.
      1. Direct and indirect challenges from false teachers
      2. “What external evidence substantiates and qualifies you and your ministry? “
    3. Paul’s Defense — 2 Cor. 2:17 – “as from sincerity (Gr. eilikrineia — uncontaminated, unalloyed, pure), as from God, in Messiah, in the sight of God”
    4. Key Point: The Corinthians are looking in the natural, the physical. Paul is directing them to the spiritual.
  3. What is Paul’s ministry?
    1. To care for the “letter of Christ” that the Spirit of the Living God is writing on the hearts of the people. (vs. 3)
    2. To serve or minister (i.e. priesthood) God’s new (Lit. “renewed”) covenant to the people (vs. 6).
    3. The Letters in Corinth ARE the former pagan Gentiles who were condemned in their sin — depraved, blind, lost — unwilling and unable to obey God’s authority and live according to His Law which is righteous standard of a perfect and holy God for all mankind.
    4. The Law was external to them so all it could do was decree to them how they were dead in their sin and without hope.
  4. What was Moses ministry?
    1. “A Ministry/Service of Death (vs. 7) and Condemnation (vs. 9)”
      1. Romans 7:5-6 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter”.
        1. Same language — in the flesh (i.e. unredeemed), oldness of the letter (e.g. Law only external, condemning)
      2. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:3-4).
  5. Now, the Corinthians have been SAVED!
    1. Salvation by faith in the Good News of the Cross of Messiah
    2. Born from above — a new creation — crucified with Christ
  6. What is the promise of the Renewed Covenant?
    1. Jeremiah 31:31-34; “Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, [and I disregarded them],”(LXX)(cf. Hebrews 8:9) says YHWH. 33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says YHWH: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (cf. Hebrews 8:8-12)
      1. “The Law within them” — a new nature, the indwelling Spirit, alive to Christ, sharing in His resurrection. “Slaves to righteousness” (Rom. 6:18)
      2. “The Law written on their heart” — the righteous teaching and instructions of God written onto their heart. Knowledge of the perfect standard as revealed in His Word and the Spirit-directed wisdom to apply it to all of life.
      3. KEY POINT: The Ministry/Service of Paul IS the writing of God’s Torah on the heart of the Believers in Corinth!
  7. The ministry of the early church was an extension of the Levitical Priesthood:
    1. #1 — To lead people into covenant membership (e.g. salvation/justification) by preaching the Gospel, (“Law Within Them”).
    2. #2 – To lead new converts into covenant faithfulness (i.e. sanctification) by teaching them Torah (“Law Written on Their Hearts”).
    3. KEY POINT: Paul was teaching the new converts the Torah because that’s what discipleship has always been and always will be!
  8. Making Disciples meaning teaching them all that Messiah commanded (Mt. 28:18-20) which is the Torah fulfilled (i.e. properly understood and applied through the Spirit; see Mt. 5-6)
    1. Romans 6:17 – “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed”.
    2. Romans 1:5 – “Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake”.
    3. Romans 16:25 – “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Yeshua Messiah, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandments of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith;
    4. 2 Timothy 3:14 — You (Timothy), however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Messiah Yeshua. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness”.

Does anyone have specific questions or need any clarification from what was said during the Summary or Exhortation?

Application & Discussion
Living the Word and following Yeshua (Acts 2:37; Romans 2:13)
Questions, input, and sharpening (Proverbs 27:17; Luke 2:46)

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 questions or comments came up during your family’s discussion of this week’s study?
    2. “What other related Scriptures did you find during your study of this week’s portion?”
    3. Have you ever experienced something from this study or something related to it?
    4. “What changes do you need to make in your life to align with what you learned during this week’s Torah Study?”

More Notes from Week 134

Deuteronomy 10

  1. 10:8 At that time YHWH set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of YHWH’s covenant, [and](DSS) to stand before YHWH to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. (cf. Numbers 6:22-27) 9 Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers; YHWH is his inheritance, according as YHWH your Elohim spoke to him.
  2. 10:12 Now, Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim ask of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to guard the commandments of YHWH [your Elohim](LXX)(SP) and his statutes, which I command you today for your good?
  3. 10:14 Behold, to YHWH your Elohim belongs the heavens, the heavens of the heavens, and the land, with all that is therein. 15 Only YHWH had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.
  4. 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart (cf. Deuteronomy 30:6), and be no more stiff-necked.
  5. 10:17 For YHWH your Elohim, he is Elohim of Elohim and Lord of lords, the great Elohim, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t lift up faces or take bribes. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and widow (cf. James 1:27) and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing (cf. Romans 12:20). 19 Therefore love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
    1. James 1:27; Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
    2. Romans 12:20; Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” (cf. Proverbs 25:21-22)
  6. 10:20 You will fear YHWH your Elohim. You will serve him. You will cling to him, and you will swear by his name. 21 He is your praise, and he is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy souls; and now YHWH your Elohim has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

Deuteronomy 11

  1. 11:1 Therefore you will love YHWH your Elohim, and guard his instructions, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments, always.
  2. 11:2 Know this day—for I don’t speak with your sons who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of YHWH your Elohim, his greatness, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm, 3 his signs, and his works, which he did in the middle of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Sea of Reeds to overflow them as they pursued you, and how YHWH has destroyed them to this day; 5 and what he did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place; 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben—how the land opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, [from](DSS) the middle of all Israel; 7 but your eyes have seen all of YHWH’s great [works](DSS) which he did.
  3. 11:8 Therefore you will guard all the commandment [and the statutes and the judgments](DSS) which I command you today, that you may be strong [and multiply],(DSS) and go in and possess the land that you go over [the Jordan](DSS) to possess; 9 and that you may prolong your days in the land which YHWH swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
  4. 11:10 For the land, where you came to possess [her],(DSS) [she](DSS) isn’t like the land of Egypt that you went out from, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your [feet],(DSS) as the vegetable garden; 11 but the land that you go over to possess is a land of hills and valleys which drinks water from the rain of the heavens, 12 a land which YHWH your Elohim cares for. YHWH your Elohim’s eyes are always on it, from the beginning of [a](DSS) year even to the end of the year.
  5. 11:13 It will happen, if you will listen diligently to my commandments which I command you today, to love YHWH your Elohim, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 that I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15 I will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be full.
  6. 11:16 Be careful, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn away to serve other elohim and worship them; 17 and YHWH’s anger be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and the land doesn’t yield its fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which YHWH gives you.
  7. 11:18 Therefore you will lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. You will bind them for a sign on your hand, and they will be for frontlets between your eyes. 19 You will teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 You will write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates; 21 that your days and your sons’ days may be multiplied in the land which YHWH swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the land.
  8. The Dead Sea Scrolls reading of Deuteronomy 11 included this section from Exodus 12:43-51;
    1. [YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Pesach. No son of a stranger will eat of it, but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then will he eat of it. A sojourner and a hired-servant will not eat of it. It must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel will do it. When a sojourner sojourns with you, and would like to do the Pesach to YHWH, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and do it. He will be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person will eat of it. One Torah will be to him who is born at home, and to the sojourner who sojourns among you.” All the sons of Israel did so. As YHWH commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. That same day, YHWH brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.”] (cf. Exodus 12:43-51)(DSS)
  9. 11:22 For if you will diligently guard all these commandments which I command you—to do them [this day],(LXX)(SP) to love YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him— 23 then YHWH will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads will be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the western sea will be your border. 25 No man will be able to stand before you. YHWH your Elohim will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you.

YHWH’s special care for the Land.

    • 1 Enoch 60:12-15 – The abode of the ruach of dew is in the extremities of heaven, in connection with the receptacle of rain; and its progress is in winter and in summer. The cloud produced by it, and the cloud of the mist, become united; one gives to the other; and when the ruach of rain is in motion from its receptacle, angels come, and opening its receptacle, bring it forth. When likewise, it is sprinkled over all the earth, it forms a union with every kind of water on the ground; for the waters remain on the ground, as nourishment to the earth from El Elyon, who is in heaven. Upon this account therefore there is a regulation in the quantity of rain which the angels receive. These things I saw; all of them, even paradise. – CHANOK (ENOCH) 60:12-15 את CEPHER
    • 2 Baruch 4:1-6 – AND Yahuah said unto me: This city shall be delivered up for a time; and the people shall be chastened during a time; and the world will not be given over to oblivion. Do you think that this is that city of which I said: On the palms of my hands have I graven you? This building now built in your midst is not that which is revealed with me, that which was prepared beforehand here from the time when I took counsel to make Paradise, and showed it to A’dam before he sinned, but when he transgressed the commandment, it was removed from him, as also Paradise. And after these things I showed it to my servant Avraham by night among the portions of the victims. And again, also I showed it to Mosheh on Mount Ciynai when I showed to him the likeness of the Tabernacle and all its vessels. And now, behold, it is preserved with me, as also Paradise. Go, therefore, and do as I command you. – BARUK SHENIY (2 BARUK) 4:1-6 את CEPHER
    • 2 Es 3:4-6 O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the beginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that thyself alone, and commandedst the people, And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe into him the breath of life, and he was made living before thee. And thou leadest him into paradise, which thy right hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward (KJVA). 
    • Where YHWH desires to dwell with His people.
      • Exodus 25:8 – “And they shall make Me a Set-apart Place, and I shall dwell in their midst. 
      • Jeremiah 32:38-41 – They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul (NIV).
      • Revelation 21:3 – And I heard [2voice 1a great] from out of the heaven, saying, Behold, the tent   of God is with the men, and he shall pitch a tent with them, and they [2his people 1will be], and God himself will be with them (ABEn).
    • YHWH’S purpose for His people.
      • 1 Enoch 41:1 – AFTER this I beheld the secrets of the heavens and of paradise, according to its divisions; and of the action of mankind, as they weight it there in balances. I saw the habitations of the elect, and the habitations of the holy. And there my eyes beheld all the sinners, who denied Yahuah of glory, and whom they were expelling from there, and dragging away, as they stood there; no punishment proceeding against them from Yahuah Tseva’oth. CHANOK (ENOCH) 41:1 את CEPHER
        • 1 Sa 2:3 – Boast not, and utter not high things; let not high-sounding words come out of your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and God prepares his own designs (Brenton). 
        • Job 6:1 – But Job answered and said, Oh that one would indeed weigh the wrath that is upon me, and take up my griefs in a balance together! And verily they would be heavier than the sand by the seashore: but, as it seems, my words are vain (Brenton). 
        • Rev. 19:7-8 – Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure” for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints (RSVCE).
      • 2 Es 3:7-8 – And unto him thou gavest commandment to love thy way: which he transgressed, and immediately thou appointedst death in him and in his generations, of whom came nations, tribes, people, and kindreds, out of number. And every people walked after their own will, and did wonderful things before thee, and despised thy commandments (KJVA). 

Paradise is where we will dwell with Him and Messiah in His kingdom

  1. Luke 23:39-43; One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, “If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us!” 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 He said to Yeshua, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” 43 Yeshua said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
  2. 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.

APOSTOLIC TIES­

How His purpose for His people to dwell with Him and Messiah in His kingdom happens

Jeremiah 31:31-34; “Behold, the days come,” says YHWH, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, [and I disregarded them],”(LXX)(cf. Hebrews 8:9) says YHWH. 33 “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says YHWH: “I will put my law in their inward parts, and I will write it in their heart. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (cf. Hebrews 8:8-12)

    • 2 Cor. 3:1-3 – Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men, being revealed that you are a letter of Messiah, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living Elohim; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh (NIV).
  • Sha’ ul [Paul] is comparing the tablets Mosheh wielded versus the tablets he himself has been tasked to wield, by the authority of, and example of Yeshua; that is, YHWH’s written word: one-written on stone and the other-written on hearts!
      • Heb. 10:15-18 – The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

    “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary (NIV).