The Parable of the Sower is one of the most memorable of the Gospel teachings of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus). The personal lessons of the four types of soil seem far removed from the sobering blessings and warnings for ancient Israel in Torah reading כִּי־תָבוֹא Ki Tavo (“when you come in,” Deut. 26:1–29:8). This study unearths the powerful insights just below the surface in both passages.
There is no freedom in a society without a baseline of laws that help people balance their rights and responsibilities to themselves and to their neighbor. There’s also no freedom in a place where people do not consider each other as brothers and sisters. At Mt. Sinai, God made all those who left Egypt kinsman under the law. At Pentecost, Yeshua made all those who believe in Him heirs of Abraham and the freedom and responsibility that comes with being sons and daughters of God.
Instead of facing their fears about the “giants” in the Land, the spies ancient Israel sent into Canaan after the long journey from captivity in Mitsraim (Egypt) cowered and backed away and encouraged most of the people to do likewise. They lost their prize when they refused to walk forward where God told them to walk. The same is true today: We will lose out on many blessings if we don’t move forward when God tells us to.
When the Israelites doubted God’s word and refused to enter the Land, He took the blessing away from the majority of that generation of forever. They never entered into the promise. But for Caleb and Joshua, the promise was delayed to them for 40 years. Joshua and Caleb paid a price for the cowardice and unbelief of their peers.
Ya’akob (Jacob) blessed pharaoh of Mitsraim (Egypt) upon arrival there. Ya’akob blessed the sons of Yosef (Joseph), Ephraim and Manasseh, as if they were his own elder sons. As we have noticed in past studies of the account of Yosef in Genesis, there are parallels between the roles of pharaoh, Yosef and Yisra’el (Israel), f.k.a. Ya’akob, and those of the Father, the Son and a people called Yisra’el.
Why has the birthright and blessing due Esau but passed to Ya’akov (Jacob) been a persistent factor in world history, even to our day and the future Day of the Lord? Is there a connection between the delusion Ya’akov gave his father, Yitzkhak (Isaac), to gain Esau’s blessing and the “strong delusion” God has planned for the Day of the Lord?
1st Kings 9 and its parallel in 2nd Chronicles 8 read like reports on building projects, yet God is communicating something extremely important that would ring true over thousands of years to our day: Something that is a great blessing — Israel and the Temple — could become a curse, yet something cursed can become a blessing.
The last two chapters of Deuteronomy contain Moses’ final blessings and prophecies for the 12 tribes of Israel then a description of his death, a passage he didn’t write. There are no curses here. God, through Moshe, is uplifting the people.