Tag: Deuteronomy 04

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Fearing the Almighty: Balancing reverence and love in our walk with Messiah (Deuteronomy 3–4; Isaiah 40)

"Fearing the Almighty: Balancing reverence and love in our walk with Messiah (Deuteronomy 3-4; Isaiah 40)." Adobe Firefly AI image of a man standing on a mountain overlooking a valley and mountains while holding a large balance in each hand from an outstretched arms.

This study on the Torah portion Vaetchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11) challenges our understanding of God’s glory and how we approach Him in prayer. It reveals that God’s glory is not found in miracles or creation, but in His very words. Altering or disregarding these words is akin to idolatry.

The discussion explores the delicate balance of fearing and loving God, and the sobering reality that even Moses’ prayers were rejected. Referencing Isaiah 40, Matthew 23 and other passages, this study urges us to humbly submit to God’s instructions, lest our prayers become an abomination. The way we handle God’s word has eternal consequences.

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Torah readings

Torah reading Va’etchanan (ואתחנן): Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

Studies in Torah

Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) said several times during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, “You’ve heard it said …, but I tell you ….” Many of the corrections He provided to what God originally intended were similar to the lengthy explanation of the Ten Commandments by Moshe (Moses) in Deuteronomy. This week’s Torah reading, וָאֶתְחַנַּן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deut. 3:23-7:11), includes the beginning of Moshe’s elucidation.

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Torah

Heaven won’t let go as you are delivered from bondage to freedom (Deuteronomy 4)

Heaven won't let go as you are delivered from bondage to freedom (Deuteronomy 4). A hand from above grips a hand from below.

Ancient Israel’s path from bondage in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land was a decades-long, multigenerational journey. Our journey from our “house of bondage” (what held us captive to a life apart from the Creator) to freedom in Heaven’s Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus) also spans a lifetime. A key passage in Torah reading וָאֶתְחַנַּן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deut. 3:23–7:11) gives us hope that Heaven won’t let go of us when we’re holding up our arms for help from the only true Source.

Also addressed in detail in this Bible study is the point of the Law, as expressed by apostle Paul in Rom. 10:4 (NASB): “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

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Apostolic Writings Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Take comfort that Heaven will deliver us from things worse than death (Isaiah 40)

Take comfort that Heaven will deliver us from things worse than death (Isaiah 40): Shabbat Nachamu (Sabbath of Comfort)

When we think about living in a tumultuous time, when things seem to be coming apart at the seams, nationally or personally, take heart in the comfort that God has carried His people through all sorts of challenges and terrible things. That’s the message we can glean from Isaiah 40, a special parallel reading for the Torah reading ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) about mourning what has been lost and hoping in what lies ahead.

No matter what we are facing personally or how bad we think the situation of the country or world, we must remember that there are many who have gone before us who have faced and endures far worse than this. For those who believed in God, they made it through by depending on God, regardless of whether they would make it through or succumb. They learned — and we must too — that there is something worse than death.

Many in the United States and elsewhere have forgotten that there are things worse than death. They have willingly given up basic freedoms — of speech, worship and assembly — for the false hope that they might extend their lives on Earth by doing so.

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Discussions Torah

How to pass on a long-lasting legacy of the New Covenant (Deuteronomy 3–7)

How to pass on a long-lasting legacy of the New Covenant (Deut. 3:23-7:11)

There’s a lot of misinformation in the Body of the Messiah about the role of God’s Law in “the gospel” — and whether it can or should have any role at all. But in the Torah reading ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11), we see that a heart connection between Heaven and Earth is as much a central message of the 10 Commandments given to Israel by Moshe (Moses) as in the Sermon on the Mount given to Israel by Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus).

Our legacy — what will outlive us — is our impact on the culture by Heaven’s changing our “heart of stone” that weighs us down to the dead-end deeds of this world into a heart that beats in time with the footsteps of Yeshua.

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Discussions Prophets and Writings Torah

Deuteronomy 4; Isaiah 40: Cling to your Savior as He takes you into the Kingdom

Don't fall off: Like a tram clings to the cable as it ascends the mountain, so too Moses appeals to the second generation of Israel to cleave to God, Who took them out of slavery in Egypt (Deuteronomy 4:4).
Just as this tram rides the cable from the Alyeska Resort hotel to the top of the mountain in Girdwood, Alaska, so too we cling to the LORD, Who takes us from our house of bondage, our old way of life, to a second birth as a new creation of the Kingdom of God. (photo by Jeff of Hallel Fellowship, May 2018)

Imagine life’s journey as a cable car. We are trams, and what we ultimately depend on in life is the cable. Moshe (Moses) in the Torah reading ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deut. 3:23–7:11) appealed to the second generation post-Exodus to remember the One Who carried them patiently from their life in bondage to freedom. Moshe called born-again Israel to forsake all the pretender gods of the Promised Land, to learn the love the LORD has for them and to leave a legacy so their descendants will turn back from foolishness apart from God — even enslaved again in exile.

This same message of faith, grace and mercy communicated through the Torah is what Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) proclaim with power and bring to ultimate reality.

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Discussions Torah

Why the best teachers are teachable (Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11)

Why does God judge the leadership and “shepherds” of Israel more strictly than the followers, the “sheep.”

Torah reading ואתחנן Va’etchanan (“and I pleaded,” Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11), we discover why community leaders — at any level, from the nation to the assembly of believers — bear a huge responsibility when they get it wrong. The errors of leadership can cause great harm to the community and split it apart, even more so if their pride precludes them from gathering back into the fold those sheep they have scattered.