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Beloved, here we are at the beginning of 5772! Below are (2) parasha for the end of the year" Ha'azinu and Vezot Ha'Bracha. At the end of Ha'azinu is a complete listing of the 613 as complied by Rashi. At the end of Vezot Ha'Bracha is a paper that we wrote back in 2003 comparing the Torah to a landmine map - it is only 2-pages long but it speaks to the heart of the matter. Both commentaries are less than 10-pages each! Someone out there is saying: "Baruch atah Adonai." Everyone at HisTorah4u prays that you have a blessed year and that you and your family and friends are blessed during the High Holy Days. Shalom!
Parashat Ha’azinu “give ear!”
Deuteronomy 32:1-52
1 October 2011 / 3 Tishrei 5772
By Rabbi David Miller
www.HisTorah4u.com
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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard, (NASV), © 1977, published by The Lockman Foundation.
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FYI: COMPLETE Listing of 613 Commandments at end – in order of to whom they apply.
COMMENT: This week the television soap opera “All My Children” went off the air, it had been continuously broadcast since 1970 (41 years). One can imagine that there are some people who have watched it nearly every day since 1970. When the show ended last Friday for many people it was like losing a piece of themselves: friends albeit electronic ones who are gone. Read Psalm 17:14 - “From men with Thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life; and whose belly Thou dost fill with Thy treasure; they are satisfied with children, and leave their abundance to their babes.”
There are people who worship their children and their families: “Child Idolatry” and “Family Idolatry.” There are people who worship their countries: “National Idolatry.” There is “Military Idolatry,” “Political Ideology,” “Philosophical Idolatry.” Within Judeo-Christianity there is “Denominational Idolatry,” and even “Sect Idolatry.” What happens to people’s self-identity, their self-worth, and their faith in the God of the Universe – when “whatever” they had elevated to a position of supreme importance – evaporates? It may also just simply be out-of-kilter in its importance in one’s life?
We may be in the last days of the Last Days. We may just be in a titanic shift of world Empires and power. Already we are seeing people in the Western Democracies who thought they had their retirements fully funded…and now they are seeing their retirements evaporate. People have worked for companies for their entire lives…and now they see those evaporate. I have an Uncle who retired from the US Army as a “full-bird” Colonel after 35-years: he has many, many men and women who are in the same boat from many militaries from many countries – they are now watching as their countries teeter on the edge of financial collapse. The Space Shuttle program came to an end after 30 years.[1] If the things of this world are your life and they define your experiences and time spent upon this planet – what happens when they are taken away? If your self-identity is being a doctor, a dentist, a fireman, a teacher, a farmer – what happens when you can no longer be that?
For the Judeo-Christian Believer your home is on an Earth yet to be remade (Revelation 21:21). Your house is in New Jerusalem yet to be seen (Revelation 21:2). Your real family is in Christ (Matthew 12:46-50). Your self-identity and will always be in Christ/Messiah (Colossians 2:4-15).
The message of the ha’azinu is to BE CAREFUL of who and what we listen to and by what we order our lives and to who we are loyal: COME OUT OF EGYPT. It is the final message from a great man to a great people. We need in these last days of the Last Days to pay attention.
DEUTERONOMY 32:1-52
1"Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 "Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb.
3 "For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.
5 "They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 "Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
7 "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.
8 "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 "For the LORD's portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 "He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11 "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
12 "The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.
13 "He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And He made him suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat-- And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.
15 "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- You are grown fat, thick, and sleek-- Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16 "They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 "You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 "And the LORD saw this, and spurned them Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 "Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 'They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 'I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them.
24 'They shall be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 'Outside the sword shall bereave, And inside terror-- Both young man and virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair.
26 'I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men,"
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misjudge, Lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, And the LORD has not done all this."'
28 "For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them.
29 "Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future!
30 "How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?
31 "Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.
32 "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter.
33 "Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras.
34 'Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.'
36 "For the LORD will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants; When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 "And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 'Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their libation? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place!
39 'See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal; And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 'Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,
41 If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 'I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.'
43 "Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people."
44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun.
45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.
47 "For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."
48 And the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,
49 "Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.
50 "Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
51 because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.
52 "For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel."
THE SONG OF MOSES
Moses is about to die. On this Earth he will not see another day. But he will be resurrected in bodily form at the end, he will breathe again, he will walk again, and he will live forever and ever upon a New Earth and he will live within the city of New Jerusalem. So too shall everyone who place their faith and trust in The LORD God of the Universe and His Son.
“For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." – I Peter 2:6
MESSIAH AND TIME
Messiah when He walked the Earth in due time to fulfill His mission to sacrifice Himself for us – told many parables. One is the parable of the seeds: “On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea. And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. "And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. "And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. "He who has ears, let him hear." – Matthew 13:1-9
Moses is speaking to the People of Physical Israel but he is also speaking to us – throughout the centuries. Moses is saying that his WORDS are water. And the WORDS he spoke are recorded to us as Scripture – they are Inspired. He is also telling all of us the following: We are to BE CAREFUL, we are to COME OUT OF EGYPT. We are to grow in wisdom and understanding, we are to walk out our lives in spirit and in truth. And all of this takes time. Moses cautions us to seek the ancient ways and to consult our Elders as to “how” to live for God. Does a toddler think about ancient ways? Does a toddler even think about last week? Does a child ask his grandfather “how shall I live?” What is the meaning of life? I’ve met adults who don’t ask that question. Verse 7: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.”
People generally do not become aware of the passage of time and its implications until later in life. So why do we think that we can possess ALL of deep spiritual and scriptural knowledge and wisdom and understanding after attending a weekend retreat?
I do not believe that the disciple making process takes a long-time. As I read the Gospels and the Apostolic Writings I have the impression that a large portion of the process took somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 years. Not 30-50+ years as seems to be the case in modern times. And yet just as a seed is planted and germinates and sprouts and appears to be grown in a short span of time – it must remain at that “almost” stage for a while longer to mature and for the fruit to ripen. A stalk of corn shoots up fairly rapidly – but then it grows a bit more slowly in stature as the corn ripens. Verse 10-11: "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.” "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.”
So with us. Joshua the son of Nun, began his journey with Israel as a physical child, now in this passage of Scripture he is considerably older. He probably knew all or most all of the basics of the faith by the time he was in his late teens or early twenties. But he still had to mature, he had to try them out in real life, he had to have success and failure, he had to live life well…and to fail in sin (he is still human: it doesn’t excuse sin, but we are still human beings with warring natures), Joshua still had to experience heartbreak and joy. Like a Cheetah on the plains of Africa, it may look full-grown, but if it still has long fur on the back of its neck – he or she needs to continue to grow, to forage, to be wary, to be discerning.
WHAT IS THE BASIS OF A SCAM?
How did Bernie Madoff convince smart people to part with billions of dollars over a lifetime? How does a huckster come into a retirement center and con people out of their life savings? The core to any successful con – is the idea that “it” must be done quickly…and, “it” will bring about a large and overabundant return out of proportion to what would normally be expected. The basis of any really good scam is greed.
In the late 1990’s many, many people took a hard hit to their portfolios at the end of the “Tech Bubble.” They had become accustomed to 20%, 25%, 30% or more in returns! Forgetting the old time wisdom that a return of 5%, 8%, and maybe 10% were good (were great) if one could achieve it. People began to think that double-digit returns were normal…, and they began to expect it. If you lived on a block in an affluent suburb of Connecticut and you were happy with a 7% return, your neighbors looked at you askew and then ran to check their latest double-digit return. But we all know what happened. The Tech Bubble burst and many, many, many people were hurt badly. Many Believers were hurt badly.
IS RELIGION ANY DIFFERENT?
Way back in November 2010, in parasha Va-yetzei, page 4, I wrote this...
WHAT WAS THE LADDER?“One more warning about “mysticism.” Why am I so wary about things like Jewish Mysticism and Christian Mysticism and things like “contemplative prayer” “theophostic prayer” “word of faith” “emergent church” “latter rain” and the list goes on-and-on-and-on. It can all be lumped together as false doctrine. Why? What is wrong with all of these?”
“I have witnessed with my own eyes, I have seen people I know get lured into these things – and they ALL turn inward unto themselves. These theories turn people into self-centered believers – they begin to focus only on their own spiritual journey and they soon forget about being Salt & Light to their family, friends, community, and world. Everything I see and read in Scripture is that the genuine experiences of God turn people outward to others. If you look at people who define themselves as “mystic” where do a significant number of the full-timers live? Monasteries and Convents, retreats and camps – they don’t work for 3M or Monsanto as research chemists and interact every day with plain ol’ folks. They hide away and they concentrate on themselves and their own spiritual journey.”
“Why take the time to discuss this? Because this whole passage of “The Ladder” is preoccupied by people who are into the hidden, the mystical, and the transcendental things. Just like the “Wheel within the Wheel,” or the “Transfiguration of Jesus,” people obsess over these singular events – and they miss out, ignore, or gloss over the really BIG THEMES in Scripture that God takes the time to instruct us in time-and-time again and over-and-over-and-over.”
Now I’ll explain a little bit what I mean. The message of Moses, of Jeremiah, of Ezra, of Nehemiah, of Messiah and His Apostles is consistent. STAY THE COURSE. We are all on a journey. “Love Me and keep my Commandments.” And Messiah even condensed it for us into two overarching basics: 1). Love God, 2). Love your neighbor. The writer of Ecclesiastes even summed it up for us: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13.
This is the work of a lifetime. We are Saved in an instant and declared by God to be Righteous in an instant when we are 5, 7, 10, 14, 20, 35, 58, etc., but we become righteous over a lifetime – however long or short that may be. So why do so many people get sucked into philosophies and movements such as Theophostic Prayer, Latter Rain, the hysterical laughing thing, the Prosperity Gospel? And even hundreds of years ago they had their movements which grew quickly and then faded away.
It is a kind of spiritual greed. It is sold as a way to accelerate ones spiritual growth by giving oneself over to it – these things are hyped that a person will reap spiritual rewards far in excess of what one would normally expect and at a far faster pace than…a lifetime. And even though they may require extensive week long retreats and mounds of Scripture memorization – the goal is always inward to the self, the ego, the pride. In the +40-years I have been a Believer in Messiah as my Savior – almost every time I have seen a friend or acquaintance become involved in something mystical, transcendental, and “new” in regards to some undiscovered secret that has been revealed to a Svengali personality – it turns out that in reality their spiritual growth stops (faux-spiritual growth). They turn inward. The old saying is this: “so spiritually minded they become no earthly good.” The “con” is to make people believe that we can shortcut the process of time that he or she needs to continue to grow, to learn, to be wise, and to become discerning.
WHEN WE TURN INWARD
Verse 15-18: "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- you are grown fat, thick, and sleek--then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock of his Salvation.” "They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.” "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.” "You neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth.”
Suddenly we begin to think our spiritual growth begins and ends with what we DO for our growth, our prayers, our knowledge, our “whatever.” “If” we devote ourselves to “centering prayer.” “If” we laugh hysterically – the Holy Spirit can take us over. “If” we memorize 1000 verses of Scripture we will be more spiritual. If we learn what every paleo Hebrew letter picture and meaning is about – we will KNOW more.
But the Holy Spirit can’t take us over – more - if we are not willing to yield our will to His Will
But we can’t grow through more prayer if we don’t honestly want to yield our will to His Will.
But we can’t become more spiritual by memorizing if we don’t let Scripture supplant our will for His Will.
What good is knowing more – if we never feed a hungry person and show them the love of God?
Earlier in the year I made reference to when I was an active airline pilot and I knew guys who could literally tell you how many rivets were on the wing of Boeing 727, or they could give a 7-hour talk on the battery system. Fine, but how does that help you at V1 and the #3 fire warning light illuminates? I am sure that there are truck drivers out on the road that can probably make a diesel engine out of raw metal stock and a well-equipped machine shop. But how does that help you when you are driving on ice and you feel that the back end of your rig wants to meet your front end?
Similarly if you know the word picture of the Hebrew word “echad” and you can talk for an hour about the mystical and transcendental implications of the word – does that help you to help a young married couple that is having problems right now and one of the spouses has their bags packed right now? Does “centering prayer” help you simply explain the Gospel to a 58-year old blue collar worker who has been unemployed for 2-years? Does Theophostic prayer help you to walk him through a simple prayer to ask God to wash away his sins and to become his LORD and Savior? Does laughing hysterically, being purpose driven, or being “emergent” in your outlook – help you to feed the hungry, visit the shut-in, or have a heart to raise $100 to buy Vitamin A capsules?
I can say that I see people like Arvo in Visalia, CA who fought from the Aleutian Islands to North Africa, to Italy, to D-Day and all across Europe: who wouldn’t know what I was talking about if I told him the Holy Spirit could improve his life by laughing hysterically. Arvo has been clipping coupons for +20-years and every week he buys hundreds of dollars of groceries for pennies and he gives them to the homeless and hungry and the poor and needy. I am sure Arvo sleeps well at night and is prepared to meet His LORD and Savior. Arvo knows he is a servant.
My mother is 87-years old, she knits hats, gloves, and blankets for the homeless shelters. She makes similar items for the Make-A-Wish summer camps for children that people often forget. She leads the shut-in ministry for her local church and just took a singing group (“The Remnant”) out this last weekend to perform for her shut-ins. She also donates time to the local cat shelter. My mother would not understand “Theophostic Prayer” or see much need for it – all she knows is that she has a personnel relationship with her Savior and she is content with whatever time she has left on Earth: although she worries for her grand-children and her great-grandchildren and the state of the world her generation is leaving behind. My mother knows she is a servant.
Servants do not enrich themselves. They enrich their Master. Their Master takes upon himself the responsibility to enrich his servants. "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.” "And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.” – Deuteronomy 15:12-13. We need to be about BEing and DOing what servants are expected to BE and DO. Our enrichment comes from that service to God and to others. For the spiritual servant we enrich our Master (God) by enriching others and enabling them to praise God and give Him glory and honor (Matthew 5:16 among many other verses).
WHAT IS THE FUNDAMENTAL “TRAP” OF PROGRAMS?
Remember when you rode a tricycle for the first time? How exciting it was! But soon you wanted a 2-wheeler with training wheels. Why? Because the tricycle got “old” it got boring. Now, perhaps, you have a Porsche Boxster and your eye is on the new 918 Spyder or BMW i8? Why upgrade? Because the Boxster has become old and familiar.
The same is true for the Purpose Driven church, or the any other “new” thing. The previous “thing” has gotten stale and now the leaders need to find something “new” to keep the church “fresh” and “relevant.” The TV Evangelist I spoke of last week said in his ABC Nightline interview that if Jesus were on Earth today His ministry would have “good production” and good production values. Beloved, these leaders DO NOT know what they are talking about! Recently I received a new catalog for the local Berean Bookstore in our area, if you get one you should look at it. The books that are the newest and the hot sellers now - that tell you “how to” increase your prayer effectiveness, grow your church, manage your family, lose weight for God, etc., will be replaced in 6-months by newer books talking about the same subjects with a brand new approach. And every year new programs make their rounds across the nation and around the world – bringing around a new approach to solving last year’s problems. The amazing thing is this – the problems that affected Jacob and his family 3,800 years ago – are still our problems today. And the solution has always been there since Adam and Eve first left the Garden. The Word of God.
FROM: http://christianfutures.com/snyderbook.shtml “What major trends will shape the church's life and witness over the next fifty years? Out of curiosity, we decided to find out by polling a number of knowledgeable church leaders as to their perceptions. Using an initial survey and a follow-up, we elicited "trends perceptions" from more than fifty denominational leaders, evangelists, educators, missionaries, writers, and others. Our sample represents a spectrum of theological and ecclesiastical perspectives and gives their perceptions and ranking of major trends in the church, or trends in the world affecting the church. Most respondents were North Americans, but we chose people with a broad knowledge of the international scene.”
“While this methodology is somewhat impressionistic, still it gives a fascinating and useful reading on perceived trends and on the issues with which church leaders will be dealing. We compiled the ten leading trends, researched them, and did sense analysis in light of the church's life and mission. The results have been published in Foresight: Ten Major Trends That Will Dramatically Affect the Future of Christians and the Church. This article condenses the major points from the book. We have defined the ten major trends as follows:”
1. From regional churches to world Church.
2. From scattered growth to broad revival.
3. From Communist China to Christian China.
4. From institutional tradition to kingdom theology.
5. From clergy/laity to community of ministers.
6. From male leadership to male-female partnership.
7. From secularization to religious relativism.
8. From nuclear family to family diversity.
9. From church/state separation to Christian political activism.
10. From safe planet to threatened planet.”
Beloved, do you see on the list: “Spread the Gospel, make people aware that they are sinners and in need of a personal Savior. Introduce them to Jesus/Yahshua/Yeshua as the world’s Savior and their personal Savior. Disciple them according to the whole Word of God. Teach people to Love God and to Keep His Commandments.” Do you see that anywhere? Protestant? Evangelical? Messianic? Sabbatarian? Anywhere?[2] The website listed above is for one segment of the “Church,” I am sure you could go to other websites that serve other segments and find the same old “new” stuff.
REMEMBER
"Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.”– Deuteronomy 32:7
Does this make sense to you? We hear the soft whispering of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) in the ears of our heart and soul. We listen to the presentation of the Gospel – and through the Holy Spirit we understand it and comprehend it. We then have a choice to make: accept or decline. If we accept our sins are washed away, we are declared to be Righteous, we are regenerated into a New man or a New Woman. Then we have another choice to make: do we sit like a potted plant in a Church or a Synagogue for the rest of our lives: or, do we devote ourselves to being a Disciple and allow God through His Word to let us be His hands, His feet, His voice in changing the lives of other people.
After we make our (2) decisions we may live minutes more or decades more. But during the time allotted to us – we grow, and grow, and grow, and we mature. If we live long enough we begin to produce fruit.
"Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” – Matthew 3:8-9
The Life of a True Believer is a simple one. It isn’t too high for us, it isn’t too far for us, it isn’t too complicated for us, it isn’t too intellectual for us. It is within our grasp – and how do we take hold of something? We have to reach for it and take hold. We have to DO. We have to believe, believing is faith, faith is acting, faith is DOing. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17. And what “words” did Messiah give to us? ALL OF IT.
And what is the Word of God good for? “You, 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 Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” – II Timothy 3:14-17.
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16
ONE MORE WARNING
"They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.” "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread.” – Deuteronomy 32:16-17
Beloved, I have visited Purpose Driven churches where the audience brought their manuals to church and not their Bibles. I have been to churches where there wasn’t a single verse of Scripture given, referenced, or talked about during the 19 minute and 30 second sermon. Beloved, if you do your homework, if you examine these programs: 99% of them have some kind of a pagan basis or pagan thought process running through them. “Centering Prayer,” “Theophostic Prayer,” they have transcendental meditation techniques running throughout. There are more meditation programs coming into the Body of Christ for the past 20-30 years and they are rapidly increasing: in them Believers are taught to “empty their minds:” Beloved, that is very dangerous spiritually. Almost every New Age program running rampant through our churches and synagogues has some Eastern faux-religious thought running through it. Even tenets of Islam are showing up in Protestant and Evangelical churches and seminaries.
Biblical meditation is about meditating upon Scripture, the Word of God: His Word is what you fill your mind with – not emptiness! If you create a vacuum in your mind and soul, are you sure what “it” is that rushes in to fill that vacuum? There are many, many faithful men and women within the Body of Christ/Messiah who see the dangers and they are warning us every day. We need to pay attention. And Moses was warning us +3,000 years ago. We need to pay attention.
MOSES
“When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. "For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess." – Deuteronomy 32:45-47
BE CAREFUL
COME OUT OF EGYPT
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” – I John 4:1-6.
Your Servant,
Rabbi David Miller
Luke 24:44-45
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program
[2] I think of the scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” “Beuller…Beuller…? Ferris Beuller? Has anyone seen Ferris Beuller?” What if Roll Call was being taken among the Churches and God-Fearing Synagogues? “Gospel…Gospel…? Gospel of Christ? Has anyone seen the Gospel of Christ?” Has anyone really seen the WHOLE Gospel of our LORD and Savior lately?
THE TORAH
&
The 613 Instructions
Y…Y Of The “Old” Testament …Y…
(“The part that most Christians and Jews don’t read anymore”)
N = Negative Laws i.e., “Don’t do this…”
P = Positive Laws i.e., “Do this…” **Matthew 5:17-20**
1999 – Boatrockers Ministries. 2005 - www.Historah4u.com
248 Positive Mitzvos – YHWH Commands us to do these things, we have a duty to do them. REMEMBER that TORAH in Hebrew means INSTRUCTION.
INSTRUCTION to do what? To hit the mark. What mark? To live a righteous life.
Torah About Our Relationship To the LORD God
P 1 Exodus 20:2 To Believe In God
P 2 Deuteronomy 6:4 To acknowledge the Unity of God
P 3 Deuteronomy 6:5 To love God
P 4 Deuteronomy 6:13 To fear God
P 5 Exodus 23:25, To worship and serve God (Deuteronomy 11:13, 13:5)
P 6 Deuteronomy 10:20 To cleave to God
P 7 Deuteronomy 10:20 Taking an oath by God’s Name
P 8 Deuteronomy 28:9 Walking in God’s ways
P 9 Leviticus 22:32 Sanctifying God’s Name
Torah About TORAH(For Messianic Believers TORAH Is Genesis to Revelation)
P 10 Deuteronomy 6:7 Reading the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 6:4) twice daily (morning/evening)
P 11 Deuteronomy 6:7 Studying and teaching Torah
P 12 Deuteronomy 6:8 Wearing Tefillin of the head
P 13 Deuteronomy 6:8 Wearing Tefillin of the hand
P 14 Numbers 15:38 To make Tzitzit with blue thread on garments corners
P 15 Deuteronomy 6:9 To affix a Mezuzah to our doorposts and gates
P 16 Deuteronomy 31:12 Israel and aliens to assemble each 7th year to hear the Torah read
P 17 Deuteronomy 17:18 A king should write a copy of the Torah for himself
P 18 Deuteronomy 31:19 Everyone should have a Torah scroll for himself
P 19 Deuteronomy 8:10 Praise God after eating, Grace after meals
Torah About The TEMPLE And The PRIESTS
P 20 Exodus 25:8 Building a Temple/Tabernacle/Sanctuary for God
P 21 Leviticus 19:30 Revering the Sanctuary (Beis Hamikdosh)
P 22 Numbers 18:4 Guarding the Sanctuary (Mikdosh)
P 23 Numbers 18:23 Levitical services in the Tabernacle (Mikdosh)
P 24 Exodus 30:19 Kohanim (Cohanim) washing hands and feet before entering Temple
P 25 Exodus 27:21 Kindling the Menorah by the Kohanim (Priests)
P 26 Numbers 6:23 Kohanim blessing Israel
P 27 Exodus 25:30 The Showbread before the Ark
P 28 Exodus 30:7 Burning the Incense on the Golden Alter twice daily
P 29 Leviticus 6:6 The perpetual fire on the Altar
P 30 Leviticus 6:3 Removing the ashes from the Altar
P 31 Numbers 5:2 Removing tameh (unclean) persons from the camp
P 32 Leviticus 21:8 Honoring the Kohanim (Priests)
P 33 Exodus 28:2 The Priestly garments
P 34 Numbers 7:9 Kohanim bearing the Ark on their shoulders
P 35 Exodus 30:31 The holy oil of the Annointment
P 36 Deuteronomy 18:6-8 Kohanim (Priest’s) ministering in rotation/watches
P 37 Leviticus 21:2-3 Kohanim (Priest’s) being defiled for deceased relatives
P 38 Leviticus 21:13 Kohein haGadol (High Priest) may only marry a virgin
Torah About SACRIFICES
P 39 Numbers 28:3 Twice daily - burnt, tamid offerings
P 40 Leviticus 6:13 Kohein Gadol’s (High Priest) twice daily meal Offerings
P 41 Numbers 28:9 The Shabbat (Sabbath) additional musaf offering
P 42 Numbers 28:11 The New Moon, Rosh Chodesh, additional offering
P 43 Leviticus 23:36 The Pesach (Passover) additional offering
P 44 Leviticus 23:10 Second day of Pesach, meal offering of the Omer
P 45 Numbers 28:26 The Shavuot additional, musaf, offering
P 46 Leviticus 29:1-2 Bring Two Loaves of bread for Wave offering on Shavout
P 47 Numbers 29:1-2 The Rosh HaShannah additional offering
P 48 Numbers 29:7-8 The Yom Kippur additional offering
P 49 Leviticus 16 The Service of Yom Kippur, Avodah
P 50 Numbers 29:13 The Sukkot, musaf, Offering
P 51 Numbers 29:36 The Shemini Atzeret additional offering
P 52 Exodus 23:14 The three annual Festival pilgrimages to the Temple
P 53 Exodus 34:23 Appearing before YHWH during the Festivals (Deuteronomy 16:16)
P 54 Deuteronomy 16:14 Rejoicing on the Festivals
P 55 Exodus 12:6 Slaughtering the Pesach (Passover) lamb on the 14th of Nisan
P 56 Exodus 12:8 On the evening of 14 Nisan, eating the roasted Pesach lamb
P 57 Numbers 9:11 Slaughtering the Pesach Sheini, Iyyar 14, offering
P 58 Numbers 9:11 Eating the Pesach Sheini lamb with Matzah and Maror
P 59 Numbers 10:9-10 Trumpets for Feast sacrifices brought and for tribulation
P 60 Leviticus 22:27 Minimum age of cattle to be offered
P 61 Leviticus 22:21 Offering only unblemished sacrifices
P 62 Leviticus 2:13 Bringing salt with every offering
P 63 Leviticus 1:2 The Burnt–Offering
P 64 Leviticus 6:18 The Sin-Offering
P 65 Leviticus 7:1 The Guilt-Offering
P 66 Leviticus 3:1 The Peace-Offering
P 67 Leviticus 2:1 The Meal-Offering
P 68 Leviticus 4:13 Offerings of a Court (Sanhedrin) that has erred
P 69 Leviticus 4:27 The Fixed Sin-Offering, by unknowingly breaking a karet
P 70 Leviticus 5:17 The Suspensive Guilt-Offering, if doubt of breaking a karet
P 71 Leviticus 5:15 The Unconditional Guilt-Offering, for stealing, etc.
P 72 Leviticus 5:1-11 The Offering of a Higher or Lower Value, according to one’s means
P 73 Numbers 5:6-7 To confess one’s sins before God and repent for them
P 74 Leviticus 15:13 Offering brought by a zav (man with a discharge)
P 75 Leviticus 15:28 Offering brought by a zavah (woman with a discharge)
P 76 Leviticus 12:6 Offering of a woman after childbirth
P 77 Leviticus 14:10 Offering brought by a leper after being cleansed
P 78 Leviticus 27:32 Tithe of one’s cattle
P 79 Exodus 13:2 Sacrificing the First-born of clean (permitted) cattle
P 80 Exodus 22:28 Redeeming the First-born of man, Pidyon ha-ben
P 81 Exodus 34:20 Redeeming the firstling of a donkey, if not…
P 82 Exodus 13:13 …breaking the neck of the firstling of a donkey
P 83 Deuteronomy 12:5-6 Bringing due offerings to Jerusalem without delay
P 84 Deuteronomy 12:14 All offerings to be brought only to the Sanctuary
P 85 Deuteronomy 12:36 Bring all offerings due from outside Eretz-Yisroel (Israel) to Sanctuary
P 86 Deuteronomy 12:15 Redeeming blemished sanctified animal offerings
P 87 Leviticus 27:33 The holiness of substituted animal offerings
P 88 Leviticus 6:9 Kohanim (Priests) eating the remainder of the Meal Offerings
P 89 Exodus 29:33 Kohanim eating the meat of the Sin and Guilt Offerings
P 90 Leviticus 7:19 To burn Consecrated Offerings that have become tameh (unclean)
P 91 Leviticus 7:17 To burn the remnant of the Consecrated Offerings not eaten in time
Torah About VOWS
P 92 Numbers 6:5 The Nazir letting his hair grow during his separation
P 93 Numbers 6:18 Nazirite completing his vow shaves his head and brings sacrifice
P 94 Deuteronomy 23:24 A man must honor his oral vows and oaths
P 95 Numbers 30:3 A judge can annul vows, only according to Torah
Torah About RITUAL PURITY
P 96 Leviticus 11:8 Defilement through touching certain carcasses of animals
P 97 Leviticus 11:29 Defilement through carcasses of eight creeping creatures
P 98 Leviticus 11:34 Defilement of food and drink, if contacting unclean thing
P 99 Leviticus 15:19 Tumah of a menstruant woman
P 100 Leviticus 12:2 Tumah of a woman after childbirth
P 101 Leviticus 13:3 Tumah of a leper
P 102 Leviticus 13:51 Garments contaminated by a leper
P 103 Leviticus 14:44 A leprous house
P 104 Leviticus 15:2 Tumah of a zav (man with a running issue)
P 105 Leviticus 15:6 Tumah of semen
P 106 Leviticus 15:19 Tumah of a zavah (woman suffering from a running issue)
P 107 Numbers 19:14 Tumah of a human corpse
P 108 Numbers 19:13 The law of the purification water of sprinkling, mei niddah
P 109 Leviticus 15:16 Immersing in a mikveh to become ritually clean
P 110 Leviticus 14:2 The specified procedure of cleansing from leprosy
P 111 Leviticus 14:9 A leper must shave his head
P 112 Leviticus 13:45 The leper must be made easily distinguishable
P 113 Numbers 19:2-9 Ashes of the Red Heifer, used in ritual purification
Torah About DONATIONS TO THE TEMPLE
P 114 Leviticus 27:2-8 Valuation of for a person himself to the Temple
P 115 Leviticus 27:11 Valuation for an unclean beast to the Temple
P 116 Leviticus 27:14 Valuation of a house as a donation to the Temple
P 117 Leviticus 27:16 Valuation of a field as a donation to the Temple
P 118 Leviticus 5:16 Restitution plus 1/5th if benefit for Temple property
P 119 Leviticus 19:24 The fruits of the trees fourth-year’s growth
P 120 Leviticus 19:9 To leave the corners (Peah) of fields for the poor
P 121 Leviticus 19:9 To leave gleanings of the field for the poor
P 122 Deuteronomy 24:19 To leave the forgotten sheaf for the poor
P 123 Leviticus 19:19 To leave defective/misformed grape clusters for the poor
P 124 Leviticus 19:10 To leave grape gleanings for the poor
P 125 Exodus 23:19 To separate and bring First-Fruits to the Sanctuary
P 126 Deuteronomy 18:4 To separate the great Heave-offering (terumah)
P 127 Leviticus 27:30 To set aside the first tithe to the Levites
P 128 Deuteronomy 14:22 To set aside the second tithe, eaten only in Jerusalem
P 129 Numbers 18:26 The Levites’ giving tenth of their tithe to the Kohanim (Priest’s)
P 130 Deuteronomy 14:28 To set aside the poor-man’s tithe in the third and sixth year
P 131 Deuteronomy 26:13 A declaration made when separating the various tithes
P 132 Deuteronomy 26:5 Recital on bringing the First-fruits to the Temple
P 133 Numbers 15:20 To set aside the first portion of the Challah given to the Kohein
Torah About THE SABBATICAL YEAR
P 134 Exodu 23:11 Renouncing as ownerless produce of the Sabbatical year (shemittah
P 135 Exodus 34:21 Resting the land on the Sabbatical year
P 136 Leviticus 25:10 Sanctifying the Jubilee (50th) year
P 137 Leviticus 25:9 Blowing the Shofar on Yom Kippur in the Jubilee year & slaves freed
P 138 Leviticus 25:24 Reversion of the land to ancestral owners in the Jubilee year
P 139 Leviticus 25:24 Redemption of a house within a year of the sale
P 140 Leviticus 25:8 Counting and announcing the years till the Jubilee year
P 141 Deuteronomy 15:3 All debts are annulled in the Sabbatical year, but…
P 142 Deuteronomy 15:3 …one may exact a debt owed by a foreigner/idolator
Torah About ANIMALS FOR CONSUMPTION
P 143 Deuteronomy 18:3 The Kohein’s due in the slaughter of every clean animal
P 144 Deuteronomy 18:4 The first of the fleece to be given to the Kohein
P 145 Leviticus 27:21 (Cherem vow) one devoted thing to God, other to the Kohein
P 146 Deuteronomy 12:21 Slaughtering animals, according to Torah, before eating them
P 147 Leviticus 17:13 Covering with earth the blood of slain birds and animals
P 148 Deuteronomy 22:7 Setting free the mother bird before taking the nest
P 149 Leviticus 11:2 Searching for the prescribed signs in cattle and animals, for eating
P 150 Deuteronomy 14:11 Searching for the prescribed signs in birds, for eating
P 151 Leviticus 11:21 Searching for the prescribed signs in locusts, for eating
P 152 Leviticus 11:9 Searching for the prescribed signs in fishes, for eating
Torah About FESTIVALS
P 153 Exodus 12:2 Sanhedrin to sanctify the New Moon, & reckon years & seasons
P 153 Deuteronomy 16:1 Sanhedrin to sanctify the New Moon, & reckon years & seasons
P 154 Exodus 23:12 Resting on the Shabbat (Sabbath=7th day of week)
P 155 Exodus 20:8 Proclaiming the sanctity (holiness) of Shabbos (Sabbath)…
P 155 Exodus 20:8 …at its onset and at its termination
P 156 Exodus 12:15 Removal of the chometz, leaven (yeast) on (Nisan 14) Pesach
P 157 Exodus 13:8 Recounting Exodus from Egypt on first night of Pesach (Nisan 15)
P 158 Exodus 12:18 Eating Matzah of the first night of Pesach (Nisan 15)
P 159 Exodus 12:16 Resting on the first day of Pesach (Passover)
P 160 Exodus 12:16 Resting on the seventh day of Pesach
P 161 Leviticus 23:16 Count the Omer 50 days from day of the first sheaf (Nisan 16)
P 162 Leviticus 23 Resting on Shavous
P 163 Leviticus 23:24-25 Resting on Rosh Hashana
P 164 Leviticus 16:29 Fasting on Yom Kippur
P 165 Leviticus 16:29 Resting on Yom Kippur
P 166 Leviticus 23:35 Resting on the first day of Sukkot
P 167 Leviticus 23:36 Resting on (the 8th day) Shemini Atzeres (Atzeret)
P 168 Leviticus 23:42 Dwelling in a Sukkah (booth) for seven days
P 169 Leviticus 23:40 Taking a Lulav (the four species) on Sukkot
P 170 Numbers 29:1 Hearing the sound of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana
Torah About COMMUNITY
P 171 Exodus 30:12 Every male giving half a shekel annually to the Temple
P 172 Deuteronomy 18:15 Heeding the Prophets
P 173 Deuteronomy 17:15 Appointing a king
P 174 Deuteronomy 17:11 Obeying the Great Court (Sanhedrin)
P 175 Exodus 23:2 In a case of division, abiding by a majority decision
P 176 Deuteronomy 16:18 Appointing Judges and Officers of the Court in every town
P 177 Leviticus 19:15 Treating litigants equally/impartially before the law
P 178 Leviticus 5:1 Anyone aware of evidence must come and testify in Court
P 179 Deuteronomy 13:15 The testimony of witnesses shall be examined thoroughly
P 180 Deuteronomy 19:19 Condemning witnesses who testify falsely…
P 180 Deuteronomy 19:19 …false witnesses punished, as they intended upon the accused
P 181 Deuteronomy 21:4 On Eglah Arufah, on the heifer when murderer unknown
P 182 Deuteronomy 19:3 Establishing Six Cities of Refuge
P 183 Numbers 35:2 Giving cities to the Leviaim (Levites) – who’ve no ancestral land share
P 184 Deuteronomy 22:8 Building fences on roof; and…
P 184 Deuteronomy 22:8 …removing sources of danger from our dwellings
Torah About IDOLATRY
P 185 Deuteronomy 12:2 Destroying all idol-worship and its appurtenances
P 186 Deuteronomy 13:17 The law of the apostate/perverted city
P 187 Deuteronomy 20:17 The law about destroying the Seven Canaanite Nations
P 188 Deuteronomy 25:19 The extinction of the seed of Amalek
P 189 Deuteronomy 25:17 Remembering the nefarious deeds of Amalek to Israel
Torah About WAR
P 190 Deuteronomy 20:11 Regulations for wars other than ones commanded in Torah
P 191 Deuteronomy 20:2 Appoint a Kohein to speak to the people going to war and…
P 191 Deuteronomy 20:2 …send back any man unfit for battle
P 192 Deuteronomy 23:14 Preparing a place beyond the camp, so to keep sanitary and…
P 193 Deuteronomy 23:15 …including a digging tool among war implements
Torah About SOCIAL
P 194 Leviticus 5:23 A robber to restore the stolen artifacts to the owner
P 195 Deuteronomy 15:8 To give charity to the poor (Leviticus 25:35-36)
P 196 Deuteronomy 15:14 Lavishing gifts on a Hebrew bondman upon his freedom
P 197 Exodus 22;24 Lending money to the poor without interest
P 198 Deuteronomy 23:21 Lending money to the heathen/foreigner with interest
P 199 Deuteronomy 24:13 Restoring a pledge to a needy owner (Exodus 22:25)
P 200 Deuteronomy 24:15 Paying wages to your workers on time
P 201 Deuteronomy 23:25 An employee is allowed to eat the produce he’s working in
P 202 Exodus 23:5 On helping to unload (when necessary) a tired animal
P 203 Deuteronomy 22:4 Assisting the owner in loading his beast with its burden
P 204 Deuteronomy 22:1 Lost property must be returned to its owner (Exodus 23:4)
P 205 Leviticus 19:7 Being required to rebuke the sinner
P 206 Leviticus 19:18 Loving your neighbor as yourself
P 207 Deuteronomy 10:19 Being commanded to love the convert/proselyte
P 208 Leviticus 19:36 The law of accurate weights and measures
Torah About FAMILY
P 209 Leviticus 19:32 Honoring the old (and wise)
P 210 Exodus 20:12 Honoring parents
P 211 Leviticus 19:3 Fearing parents
P 212 Genesis 1:28 Be fruitful and multiply
P 213 Deuteronomy 24:1 The law of marriage
P 214 Deuteronomy 24:5 Bridegroom devotes himself to his wife for one year
P 215 Genesis 17:10 Circumcising one’s son (Leviticus 12:3)
P 216 Deuteronomy 25:5 Law of the Levirite Marriage, if a man dies childless his brother must…
P 217 Deuteronomy 25:9 …his widow or release her/the-widow, Law of Chalitzah
P 218 Deuteronomy 22:29 A violator must marry the virgin/maiden he has violated
P 219 Deuteronomy 22:18 The defamer of his bride is flogged and may never divorce
P 220 Exodus 22:15 The seducer must be punished according to the Law
P 221 Deuteronomy 21:11 Captive women treated according to special regulations
P 222 Deuteronomy 24:1 The law of divorce, only by means of written document
P 223 Numbers 5:15 A suspected adulteress has to submit to the required test
Torah About JUDICIAL
P 224 Deuteronomy 25:2 Whipping transgressors of certain commandments
P 225 Numbers 35:25 Exile to city of refuge for unintentional manslaughter
P 226 Exodus 21:20 Beheading transgressors of certain commandments
P 227 Exodus 21:16 Strangling transgressors of certain commandments
P 228 Leviticus 20:14 Burning transgressors of certain commandments
P 229 Deuteronomy 22:24 Stoning transgressors of certain commandments
P 230 Deuteronomy 21:22 Hanging after execution, transgressors of certain commandments
P 231 Deuteronomy 21:23 Burial on the day of execution
Torah About SLAVES
P 232 Exodus 21:2 The special laws of treating the Hebrew bondman
P 233 Exodus 21:8 Hebrew bondmaid to be married by her master to his son, or…
P 234 Exodus 21:8 …allow the redemption of a Hebrew bondmaid
P 235 Leviticus 25:46 The laws for treating an alien bondman
Torah About TORTS
P 236 Exodus 21:18 Penalty for a person inflicting injury
P 237 Exodus 21:28 The law of injuries caused by an animal
P 238 Exodus 21:33 The law of injuries caused by a pit
P 239 Exodus 21:37 The law of punishment of theft
P 240 Exodus 22:4 The law of a judgement for damage caused by a beast
P 241 Exodus 22:5 The law of a judgement for damage caused by a fire
P 242 Exodus 22:6 The law of an unpaid guardian
P 243 Exodus 22:9 The law of a paid guardian
P 244 Exodus 22:13 The law of a borrower
P 245 Leviticus 25:14 The law of buying and selling
P 246 Exodus 22:8 The law of litigants
P 247 Deuteronomy 25:12 Saving the life of the pursued, even if need – kill oppressor
P 248 Numbers 27:8 The law of inheritance
Y…Y End of248 Positive Mitzvos …Y…
Note: These listings are hundreds of years old. The first such list is attributed to Rabbi Rashi in the middle ages - this list is the compiling that he came up with. There are 248 positive Mitzvos (commandments) because that is the number of bones in the human body. The ancient Rabbi’s were trying to make a point that if we kept these we would be healthy, etc. 365 negative Mitzzvos are the number of days in the year. If we don’t do these things we would live a long life.
There may be more than 613 “commandments” in the “Old” Testament, there may be a few less. This is why we each have to study the Scriptures for ourselves. And if we are on the right track – someone else will have already discovered it. I am constantly amazed that I will discover some truth that I never knew before, then weeks, months, or years later I will read several articles or books that were written before or after my “discovery” and they found the same things to be true! The Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) is amazing – if we search with an open mind and heart – He will lead us to the truth.
In the Brit HaDasha (“New” Testament) is has been said that there are 389 commandments and I have heard other people say there are over 1,000. I have just started cataloging and I am up to the 12th chapter of Matthew. So far I have 65 negative and 37 positive instructions. Many well-meaning ministers and pastors have been telling people that the “Old” Testament is full of LAW and brutality, harshness and despair. But the “New” Testament is full of love and freedom. How can this be when the same G-d wrote all of it form Genesis to Revelation? How can this be when He says that He does not change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8)? This is a question that you must answer in your own heart. (Hint: Abraham was saved by faith Gen 15:6)
The Torah
365 Negative Mitzvos
YHWH instructs us not to do these things, we have a duty to not do them.
Torah About IDOLATRY and RELATED PRACTICES
N 1 Exodus 20:3 Not believing in any other god except the One God
N 2 Exodus 20:4 Not to make images for the purpose of worship
N 3 Leviticus 19:4 Not to make an idol (even for others) to worship
N 4 Exodus 20:20 Not to make figures of human beings
N 5 Exodus 20:5 Not to bow down to an idol
N 6 Exodus 20:5 Not to worship idols
N 7 Leviticus 18:21 Not to hand over any children to Moloch
N 8 Leviticus 19:31 Not to practice sorcery of the ov, necromancy
N 9 Leviticus 19:31 Not to practice sorcery of the yidde’oni, familiar spirits
N 10 Leviticus 19:4 Not to study idolatrous practices
N 11 Deuteronomy 16:22 Not to erect a pillar which people will assemble to honor
N 12 Leviticus 20:1 Not to make figured stones (dias) on which to prostrate ourselves
N 13 Leviticus 16:21 Not to plant trees in the Sanctuary/Temple
N 14 Exodus 23:13 Not to swear by an idol or instigate an idolater to do so
N 15 Exodus 23:13 Not to divert any non-Jew to idolatry
N 16 Deuteronomy 13:12 Not to try to pursuade an Israelite or Jew to worship idols
N 17 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to love someone who seeks to mislead you to idols
N 18 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to relax one’s aversion to the misleader to idols
N 19 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to save the life of a misleader to idols
N 20 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to plead for (defend) the misleader to idols
N 21 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to oppress evidence unfavorable to the misleader
N 22 Deuteronomy 7:25 No benefit from ornaments which have adorned an idol
N 23 Deuteronomy 13:17 Not rebuilding an apostate city destroyed as punishment for idolatry
N 24 Deuteronomy 13:18 Not deriving benefit from property of an apostate city
N 25 Deuteronomy 7:26 Not increasing wealth from, or using anything connected with idolatry
N 26 Deuteronomy 18:20 Not prophesying in the name of an idol
N 27 Deuteronomy 18:20 Not prophesying falsely in the Name of God (YHWH)
N 28 Deuteronomy 13:3-4 Not to listen to the prophesy made in the name of an idol (or the one)
N 29 Deuteronomy 18:22 Not fearing or refraining from killing a false prophet
N 30 Leviticus 20:23 Not adopting/imitating the habits/ways and customs of unbelievers
N 31 Leviticus 19:26 Not practicing divination (Deuteronomy 18:10)
N 32 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not regulating one’s conduct by the stars (not practicing soothsaying)
N 33 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not practicing the art of a soothsayer (not practicing enchanting)
N 34 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not practicing sorcery
N 35 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not practicing the art of the charmer
N 36 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not consulting a necromancer who uses the ov
N 37 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not consulting a sorcerer who uses the ydo’a
N 38 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not to seek information from the dead, necromancy
N 39 Deuteronomy 22:5 Women not to wear men’s clothes or adornments
N 40 Deuteronomy 22:5 Men not wearing women’s clothes or adornments
N 41 Leviticus 19:28 Not imprinting/tatooing any marks on our bodies, as idolaters do
N 42 Deuteronomy 22;11 Not wearing Shatnes (Mixture of wool and linen)
N 43 Leviticus 19:27 Not shaving the temples/sides of your head
N 44 Leviticus 19:27 Not shaving your beard
N 45 Deuteronomy 16;1 Not making cuttings in our flesh over your dead
Torah About PROHIBITIONS RESULTING FROM HISTORICAL EVENTS
N 46 Deuteronomy 17:16 Not settling in the land of Egypt to reside there permanently
N 47 Numbers 15:39 Not to follow one’s heart or eyes, straying to impurity
N 48 Deuteronomy 7:2 Not to make a covenant with the Seven Nations of Canaan (Ex. 23:32)
N 49 Deuteronomy 20:16 Not to spare the life of the Seven Canaanite Nations
N 50 Deuteronomy 7:2 Not to show mercy to idolators
N 51 Exodus 23:33 Not to allow idolators to settle in our land (Eretz-Israel)
N 52 Deuteronomy 7:3 Not to intermarry with a heretic (one serving false gods)
N 53 Deuteronomy 23:4 Not to intermarry at all with a male from Ammon or Moav
N 54 Deuteronomy 23:8 Exclude not marrying descendants of Esav (Esau) if a proselyte
N 55 Deuteronomy 23:8 Not to exclude marrying an Egyptian who is a proselyte
N 56 Deuteronomy 23:7 Not permitted to offer peace to Ammon or Moav nations
N 57 Deuteronomy 20:19 Not destroying fruit trees, even in time of siege/war
N 58 Deuteronomy 7:21 Not fearing the enemy in time of war
N 59 Deuteronomy 25:19 Not forgetting the evil which Amalek did to us
Torah About BLASPHEMY
N 60 Leviticus 24:16 Not blaspheming the Holy Name of YHWH (Exodus 22:27)
N 61 Leviticus 19:12 Not violate an oath by the Holy Name shevuas bittui (oath of uterrance)
N 62 Exodus 20:7 Not taking the Holy Name in vain, shevuas shav (vain oath)
N 63 Leviticus 22:32 Not profaning the Holy Name of God
N 64 Deuteronomy 6:16 Not testing/trying His (YHWH/God) promises and warnings
N 65 Deuteronomy 12:4 Not to break down houses of worship or to destroy holy books
N 66 Deuteronomy 21:23 Not leaving the body of an executed criminal hanging overnight
Torah About THE TEMPLE
N 67 Numbers 18:5 Not to be lax in guarding the Sanctuary/Temple
N 68 Leviticus 16:2 Kohein haGadol enter Sanctuary only at prescribed times
N 69 Leviticus 21:23 Kohein with blemish not to enter Sanctuary, from Altar inwards
N 70 Leviticus 21:17 Kohein with a blemish not to minister in Sanctuary
N 71 Leviticus 21:18 Kohein with a temporary blemish not to minister in Sanctuary
N 72 Numbers 18:3 Levites and Kohanim not perform each other’s allotted services
N 73 Leviticus 10:9 Not to be intoxicated when entering Sanctuary; and (continued…)
N 73 Leviticus 10:9 …not to be intoxicated when giving a decision on Torah Law
N 74 Numbers 18:4 A Zar (non-kohein) not to minister in Sanctuary
N 75 Leviticus 22:2 Tameh (unclean) Kohein not to minister in Sanctuary
N 76 Leviticus 21:6 Kohein who is tevul yom, not to minister in Sanctuary
N 77 Numbers 5:3 Tameh (unclean) person not to enter any part of Sanctuary
N 78 Deuteronomy 23:11 Tameh person not to enter camp of Levites (Temple mount)
N 79 Exodus 20:25 Not to build an Altar of stones which were touched by iron
N 80 Exodus 20:26 Not to have an ascent to the Altar by steps
N 81 Leviticus 6:6 Not to extinguish the Altar fire
N 82 Exodus 30:9 Not to offer any sacrifice, but specified incense, on the Golden Altar
N 83 Exodus 30:32 Not to make oil the same as the Oil of Annointment
N 84 Exodus 30:32 Not annoint anyone with special oil except Kohein haGadol and king
N 85 Exodus 30:37 Not to make incense like used in Sanctuary
N 86 Exodus 25:15 Not to remove the staves from their rings in the Ark
N 87 Exodus 28:28 Not to remove the Breastplate from the Ephod
N 88 Exodus 28:32 Not to make any incision in Kohein haGadol’s upper garment
Torah About SACRIFICES
N 89 Deuteronomy 12:13 Not to offer sacrifices outside the Sanctuary/Temple Court
N 90 Leviticus 17:3 Not to slaughter consecrated animals outside the Sanctuary Court
N 91 Leviticus 22:20 Not to dedicate a blemished animal to be offered on the Altar
N 92 Leviticus 22:22 Not to slaughter a blemished animal as a korban
N 93 Leviticus 22:24 Not to dash the blood of a blemished beast on the Altar
N 94 Leviticus 22:22 Not to burn the inner parts of blemished beast on Altar
N 95 Deuteronomy 17:1 Not to sacrifice a beast with a temporary blemish
N 96 Leviticus 22:25 Not to offer a blemished sacrifice of a gentile
N 97 Leviticus 22:21 Not to cause a consecrated offering to become blemished
N 98 Leviticus 2:11 Not to offer leaven or honey upon the Altar
N 99 Leviticus 2:13 Not to offer a sacrifice without salt
N 100 Deuteronomy 23:19 Not to offer on Altar the “hire of a harlot” or “price of a dog”
N 101 Leviticus 22:28 Not to slaughter an animal and her young on the same day
N 102 Leviticus 5:11 Not to put olive oil on the sin-meal offering of a sinner
N 103 Leviticus 5:11 Not to put frankincense on the sin-meal offering of a sinner
N 104 Numbers 5:15 Not to put olive oil on jealousy-offering of suspected adulteress, sotah
N 105 Numbers 5:15 Not put frankincense on jealousy-offering of suspect. adulteress, sotah
N 106 Leviticus 27:10 Not to change a beast that has been consecrated as an offering
N 107 Leviticus 27:26 Not to change one’s holy sacrifice from one category to the other
N 108 Numbers 18:17 Not to redeem the firstborn (of a clean beast) of a permitted animal
N 109 Leviticus 27:33 Not to sell the tithe of the herd of cattle
N 110 Leviticus 27:28 Not to sell a devoted property/field (by the Cherem vow)
N 111 Leviticus 27:28 Not to redeem devoted land/field (by the Cherem vow)…
N 111 Leviticus 27:28 …without specific statement of purpose
N 112 Leviticus 5:8 Not to sever the head of the bird of Sin-offering during melikah
N 113 Deuteronomy 15:19 Not to do any work with a dedicated beast
N 114 Deuteronomy 15:19 Not to shear a dedicated beast
N 115 Exodus 34:25 Not slaughter the Korban Pesach lamb while chometz is about
N 116 Exodus 23:10 Not to leave any sacrificial portions of Korban Pesach lamb overnight
N 117 Exodus 12:10 Not allow meat of Korban Pesach lamb to remain till morning
N 118 Deuteronomy 16:4 Not allow meat of Nisan 14 Festive Offering to remain till day three
N 119 Numbers 9:13 Not allow meat of 2nd Pesach lamb offering to remain till morning
N 120 Leviticus 22:30 Not allow meat of Thanksgiving Offering to remain till morning
N 121 Exodus 12:46 Not to break any bones of Pesach lamb offering
N 122 Numbers 9:12 Not to break any bones of 2nd Pesach lamb offering
N 123 Exodus 12:46 Not to break any bones of Pesach Sheini offering and…
N 123 Exodus 12:46 …not to remove Pesach offering from where it is eaten
N 124 Leviticus 6:10 Not to bake the residue of a meal offering with leaven
N 125 Exodus 12:9 Not to eat the Pesach offering boiled or raw
N 126 Exodus 12:45 Not to allow a ger toshav (alien resident) to eat Pesach offering
N 127 Exodus 12:48 An uncircumcised person may not eat the Pesach offering
N 128 Exodus 12:43 Not to allow an apostate to eat the Pesach offering
N 129 Leviticus 12:4 Tameh (ritually unclean) person may not eat hallowed food/things
N 130 Leviticus 7:19 Not to eat meat of consecrated offerings which have become tameh
N 131 Leviticus 19:6-8 Not eating nosar (sacrificial meat) beyond the allotted time
N 132 Leviticus 7:18 Not eating piggul (sacrificial meat) slaughtered in wrong intention
N 133 Leviticus 22:10 A zar/non-Kohein may not eat terumah/(heave offering)
N 134 Leviticus 22:10 A Kohein’s tenant (sojourner) or hired servant to not eat terumah
N 135 Leviticus 22:10 An uncircumcised Kohein or person may not eat terumah
N 136 Leviticus 22:4 Tameh (ritually unclean) Kohein may not eat terumah
N 137 Leviticus 22:12 A Bat-Kohein if married to a non-Cohein may not eat holy food
N 138 Leviticus6:16 Not to eat the meal-offering of a Kohein
N 139 Leviticus 6:23 Not eat Sin-offering meat whose blood was brought into Sanctuary
N 140 Deuteronomy 14:3 Not eat to eat consecrated animals that have become blemished
N 141 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eat to eat unredeemed 2nd tithe of corn outside Yerushalayim
N 142 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not consuming unredeemed 2nd tithe of wine outside Yerushalayim
N 143 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not consuming unredeemed 2nd tithe of oil outside Yerushalayim
N 144 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eating an unblemished firstling outside Yerushalayim
N 145 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eat sin-offering and guilt-offering outside Sanctuary Court
N 146 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not to eat the meat of a burnt offering at all
N 147 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eat lesser holy offerings before blood dashed on Altar
N 148 Deuteronomy 12:17 A zar/non-Cohein is not to eat the most Holy offerings
N 149 Exodus 29:33 A Kohein not to eat first fruits outside Yerushalayim/Temple courts
N 150 Deuteronomy 26:14 Not eating an unredeemed 2nd tithe while tamah, even in Yerushalayim
N 151 Deuteronomy 26:14 Not eating the 2nd tithe while in mourning
N 152 Deuteronomy 26:14 Not to spend 2nd tithe redemption money - except only on food/drink
N 153 Leviticus 22:15 Not eating untithed produce, tevel (heave offerings and tithe not taken)
N 154 Exodus 22:28 Not altering the prescribed order of separating harvest/various tithes
N 155 Deuteronomy 23:22 Not to delay payment of offerings, freewill or obligatory
N 156 Exodus 23:15 Not to go to Temple on pilgrim festivals without offering
N 157 Numbers 30:3 Not to break your word, even if without an oath
Torah About PRIESTS
N 158 Leviticus 21:7 A Kohein may not marry a harlot (zonah)
N 159 Leviticus 21:7 A Kohein may not marry a woman profaned by harlotry (chalalah)
N 160 Leviticus 21:7 A Kohein may not marry a divorcee
N 161 Leviticus 21:14 Kohein haGadol may not marry a widow
N 162 Leviticus 21:15 Kohein haGadol may not have relations with a widow as a concubine
N 163 Leviticus 10:6 Kohein with disheveled hair may not enter the Sanctuary
N 164 Leviticus 10:6 Kohein wearing rent garments may not enter Sanctuary
N 165 Leviticus 10:7 Ministering Kohanim may not leave the Sanctuary during the service
N 166 Leviticus 21:1 Common Kohein may not defile himself for dead (except some)
N 167 Leviticus 21:11 Kohein haGadol may not be under one roof with dead body
N 168 Leviticus 21:11 Kohein haGadol may not defile himself for any dead person
N 169 Deuteronomy 18:1 Levites may not take a share of the land of Israel
N 170 Deuteronomy 18:1 Levites may not share in the spoil on conquest of the land or war
N 171 Deuteronomy 14:1 Not to tear out hair for the dead
Torah About DIETARY LAWS
N 172 Deuteronomy 14:7 Not to eat any unclean animal
N 173 Leviticus 11:11 Not to eat any unclean fish
N 174 Leviticus 11:13 Not to eat any unclean fowl
N 175 Deuteronomy 14:19 Not to eat any swarming/creeping winged insect
N 176 Leviticus 11:41 Not to eat anything which swarms/creeps on the earth
N 177 Leviticus 11:44 Not to eat any creeping thing which breeds in decayed matter
N 178 Leviticus 11:42 Not to eat living creatures that breed in seeds/fruit
N 179 Leviticus 11:43 Not to eat any swarming (detestable) thing
N 180 Deuteronomy 14:21 Not to eat any animal which died naturally (a nevelah)
N 181 Exodus 22:30 Not to eat an animal which is torn or mauled (a treifah)
N 182 Deuteronomy 12:23 Not to eat any limb taken from a living animal
N 183 Genesis 32:33 Not to eat the gid hanasheh (sinew of the thigh-vein)
N 184 Leviticus 7:24 Not to eat blood
N 185 Leviticus 7:23 Not to eat the fat of a clean animal (chelev)
N 186 Exodus 23:19 Not to cook/boil meat (young male goat) in its mother’s milk
N 187 Exodus 34:26 Not to eat young male goat cooked in its mother’s milk
N 188 Exodus 21:28 Not to eat the flesh of a condemned and to be stoned ox
N 189 Leviticus 23:14 Not to eat bread made from grain of a new crop, before Omer
N 190 Leviticus 23:14 Not to eat roasted grain of a new crop, before Omer offering
N 191 Leviticus 23:14 Not to eat fresh/green ears of grain/new crop, before Omer (Nisan 16)
N 192 Leviticus 19”23 Not to eat orlah
N 193 Deuteronomy 22:9 Not to eatkilai hakerem (growth of mixed vineyard plantig)
N 194 Deuteronomy 32:38 Not to drink yayin nesach (libation wine for idol worship)
N 195 Deuteronomy 21:20 No eating or drinking to excess (gluttony/drunkenness) Leviticus 19:26
N 196 Leviticus 23:29 Not to eat anything on Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement
N 197 Exodus 13:3 Not to eat chometz (leaven) on Pesach
N 198 Exodus 13:7 Not to eat an admixture of chometz/leaven(ed) on Pesach
N 199 Deuteronomy 16:3 Not to eat chometz, leaven(ed) after noon of 14 Nissan
N 200 Exodus 13:7 No chametz may be seen in our homes during Pesach
N 201 Exodus 12:19 Not to possess chametz, leaven(ed) during Pesach
Torah About NAZIRITES
N 202 Numbers 6:3 A Nazir may not drink wine or any beverage from grapes
N 203 Numbers 6:3 A Nazir may not eat fresh grapes
N 204 Numbers 6:3 A Nazir may not eat dried grapes
N 205 Numbers 6:4 A Nazir may not eat grape seeds/kernels
N 206 Numbers 6:4 A Nazir may not grape peels/husks
N 207 Numbers 6:7 A Nazir may not rend himself tameh (unclean) for the dead
N 208 Leviticus 21:11 A Nazir may not rend himself tameh by entering a house with a corpse
N 209 Numbers 6:5 A Nazir may not shave his hair
Torah About AGRICULTURE
N 210 Leviticus 23:22 Not to reap a whole field without leaving corners for the poor
N 211 Leviticus 19:9 Not to gather ears of corn that fell during harvesting
N 212 Leviticus 19:10 Not to gather the whole produce of vineyard at vintage time…
N 212 Leviticus 19:10 …specifically the misformed clusters of grapes
N 213 Leviticus 19:10 Not to gather single fallen grapes during the vintage
N 214 Deuteronomy 24:19 Not to return for a forgotten sheaf
N 215 Leviticus 19:19 Not to sow kalayim (diverse kinds of seed in one field)
N 216 Deuteronomy 22:9 Not to sow grain or vegetables in a vineyard
N 217 Leviticus 19:19 Not to make crossbreed animals of different species
N 218 Deuteronomy 22:10 Not to work with two different kinds of animals together
N 219 Deuteronomy 25:4 Not to prevent a beast from eating the produce where working
N 220 Leviticus 25:4 Not to cultivate the soil in the seventh year, shemittah
N 221 Leviticus 25:4 Not to prune the trees in the seventh year
N 222 Leviticus 25:5 Not reap a self-grown plant in the 7th year as in ordinary year
N 223 Leviticus 25:5 Not gather a self-grown fruit in the 7th year as in ordinary year
N 224 Leviticus 25:11 Not to cultivate the soil or prune trees in the Jubilee year
N 225 Leviticus 25:11 Not to reap the aftergrowths of Jubilee year as in ordinary year
N 226 Leviticus 25:11 Not to gather fruit in Jubilee year as in ordinary year
N 227 Leviticus 25:23 Not to sell out one’s holdings in Eretz Yisroel in perpetuity
N 228 Leviticus 25:33 Not to sell/change the open lands of the Levites
N 229 Deuteronomy 12:19 Not to forsake/leave the Levites without support
Torah About LOANS, BUSINESS, and the TREATMENT OF SLAVES
N 230 Deuteronomy 15:2 Not to demand payment of debts after Shmitah (7th) year
N 231 Deuteronomy 15:9 Not to withold a loan to be cancelled in the Shmitah year…
N 231 Deuteronomy 15:9 …not to refuse a loan to poor because Shmitah year is near
N 232 Deuteronomy 15:7 Failing to give charity to our needy brethren
N 233 Deuteronomy 15:13 Not sending a Hebrew bondman away empty-handed
N 234 Exodus 22:24 Not demanding payment from a debtor known unable to pay
N 235 Leviticus 25:37 Not lending to another Jew at interest
N 236 Deuteronomy 23:20 Not borrowing from another Jew at interest
N 237 Exodus22:24 Not participating in an agreement involving interest
N 238 Leviticus 19:13 Not oppressing an employee by delaying payment of his wages
N 239 Deuteronomy 24:10 Not taking a pledge from a debtor by force
N 240 Deuteronomy 24:12 Not keeping a poor man’s pledge when he needs it
N 241 Deuteronomy 24:17 Not taking any pledge from a widow
N 242 Deuteronomy 24:6 Not taking one’s business (or food) utensils in pledge
N 243 Exodus 20:13 Not abducting an Israelite
N 244 Leviticus 19:11 Not stealing
N 245 Leviticus 19:13 Not committing robbery
N 246 Deuteronomy 19;14 Not fraudulently altering land boundaries/landmarker
N 247 Leviticus 19:13 Not usurping our debts/do not defraud
N 248 Leviticus 19:11 Not repudiating (our) debts, denying receipt of loan/deposit
N 249 Leviticus 19:11 Not to swear falsely in repudiating our debts including…
N 249 Leviticus 19:11 …regarding another man’s property
N 250 Leviticus 25:14 Not wronging/deceiving one another in business
N 251 Leviticus 25:17 Not wronging/misleading one another even by speech
N 252 Exodus 22:20 Not wronging/harming the proselyte/stranger among you by speech
N 253 Exodus 22:20 Not wronging/injuring the proselyte/stranger in business/trade
N 254 Deuteronomy 23:16 Not handing over a fugitive bondman/slave who’d fled to Israel
N 255 Deuteronomy 23:17 Not wronging/taking advantage of a fugitive bondman/slave…
N 255 Deuteronomy 23:17 …who has fled to Israel
N 256 Exodus 22:21 Not dealing harshly (afflicting the) with orphans and widows
N 257 Leviticus 25:39 Not employing a Hebrew bondman in degrading tasks
N 258 Leviticus 25:42 Not selling a Hebrew bondman by public auction
N 259 Leviticus 25:43 Not having a Hebrew bondman do unnecessary work…
N 259 Leviticus 25:43 …not treating a Hebrew bondman cruelly
N 260 Leviticus 25:53 Not allowing a heathen to mistreat a Hebrew bondman
N 261 Exodus 21:8 Not selling a Hebrew bondmaid and if you marry her…
N 262 Exodus 21:10 …not to afflict one’s wife or espoused Hebrew bondmaid (continued…)
N 262 Exodus 21:10 …by diminishing food, rainment, or conjugal rights
N 263 Deuteronomy 21:14 Not selling a captive woman
N 264 Deuteronomy 21:14 Not treating a captive woman as a slave
N 265 Exodus 20:17 Not coveting another man’s property/possessions, etc.
N 266 Deuteronomy 5:18 Not coveting another’s belongings, even the desire is forbidden
N 267 Deuteronomy 23:25 A hired laborer is not to cut down standing grain while working
N 268 Deuteronomy 23:24 A hired laborer is not to putt any of the harvest in his own vessel
N 269 Deuteronomy 22:3 Not ignoring lost property to be returned to its owner
N 270 Exodus 23:5 Not to refuse to help man or animal collapsing with burden
N 271 Leviticus 19:35 Not cheating/defrauding in measurements and weights
N 272 Deuteronomy 25:13 Not to possess false/inaccurate weights and measures
Torah About JUSTICE
N 273 Leviticus 19:15 Judge not to commit unrighteousness
N 274 Exodus 23:8 Judge not to accept bribes/gifts from litigants
N 275 Leviticus 19:15 Judge not to favor (be partial to) a litigant
N 276 Deuteronomy 1:17 Judge not to avoid just judgement through fear of a wicked person
N 277 Leviticus 19:15 Judge not to decide in favor of a poor man, out of pity Exodus 23:3
N 278 Exodus 23:6 Judge not pervert justice (discriminate) against person of evil repute
N 279 Deuteronomy 19:13 Judge not to pity one who has killed or caused loss of limb
N 280 Deuteronomy 24:17 Judge not perverting justice due to proselytes/strangers or orphans
N 281 Exodus 23:1 Judge not to listen to one litigant in absence of the other
N 282 Exodus 23:2 A court may not convict by a majority of one in a capital case
N 283 Exodus 23:2 A judge may not rely on the opinion of a fellow judge, and…
N 283 Exodus 23:2 …may not argue for conviction after favoring acquittal
N 284 Deuteronomy 1:17 Not appointing an unlearned judge ignorant of the Torah
N 285 Exodus 20:16 Not bearing false witness
N 286 Exodus 23:1 Judge is not to receive a wicked man’s testimony
N 287 Deuteronomy 24:16 Judge not to receive testimony from a litigant’s relatives
N 288 Deuteronomy 19:15 Not convicting on the testimony of a single witness
N 289 Exodus 20:13 Not murdering a human being
N 290 Exodus 23:7 No capital punishment based on circumstantial evidence alone
N 291 Numbers 35:30 A witness must not sit as a judge/advocate in capital cases
N 292 Numbers 35:12 Not killing a murderer without a trial and conviction
N 293 Deuteronomy 25:12 Not to pity or spare the life of a pursuer
N 294 Deuteronomy 22:26 Not punishing a person for a sin committed under duress
N 295 Numbers 35:31 Not accepting ransom from an unwitting murderer
N 296 Numbers 35:32 Not accepting a ransom from a willful murdere
N 297 Leviticus 19:16 Not to neglect/hesitate to save the life of another person in danger
N 298 Deuteronomy 22:8 Not leaving obstacles on public or private domain
N 299 Leviticus 19:14 Not giving misleading advice to another
N 300 Deuteronomy25:2-3 Not to inflict more than assigned number of lashes to guilty
N 301 Leviticus 19:16 Not to bear/tell tales
N 302 Leviticus 19:17 Not to bear hatred in your heart toward your brethern
N 303 Leviticus 19:17 Not to put one another to shame
N 304 Leviticus 19:18 Not to take vengeance on another
N 305 Leviticus 19:18 Not to bear a grudge
N 306 Deuteronomy 22:6 Not to take the entire bird’s nest (mother and her young)
N 307 Leviticus 13:33 Not to shave a leprous scall
N 308 Deuteronomy 24:8 Not to cut or cauterize(remove) other signs of leprosy
N 309 Deuteronomy 21:4 Not ploughing a valley where Eglah Arufah (slain body was found)
N 310 Exodus 22:17 Not permitting a witch or sorcerer to live
N 311 Deuteronomy 24:5 Not taking bridegroom from home during first year of marriage
N 312 Deuteronomy 17:11 Not to differ from or disobey the Cohein and the Judge
N 313 Deuteronomy 13:1 Not to add to the Mitsvot/Commandments of Torah
N 314 Deuteronomy 13:1 Not to detract from the Mitsvot/Commandments of Torah
N 315 Exodus 22:27 Not to curse a Judge
N 316 Exodus 22:27 Not to curse a ruler
N 317 Leviticus 19:14 Not to curse any Israelite/Jew
N 318 Exodus 21:17 Not to curse parents
N 319 Exodus 21:15 Not to smite parents
N 320 Exodus 20:10 Not to work on Shabbat
N 321 Exodus 16:29 Not to walk beyond permitted limits, eruv, on Shabbat
N 322 Exodus 35:3 Not to inflict punish on Shabbat
N 323 Exodus 12:16 Not to work on the first day of Pesach
N 324 Exodus 12:16 Not to work on the seventh day of Pesach
N 325 Leviticus 23:21 Not to work on Shavout Atzeres
N 326 Leviticus 23:25 Not to work on Rosh Hashana
N 327 Leviticus 23:35 Not to work on the first day of Sukkot
N 328 Leviticus 23:36 Not to work on 8th-day/Shemini-Atzeret, (after Hoshana Rabba)
N 329 Leviticus 23:28 Not to work on Yom Kippur/the Day of Atonement
Torah About INCEST and other FORBIDDEN RELATIONSHIPS
N 330 Leviticus 18:7 Not have relations with one’s mother
N 331 Leviticus 18:8 Not have relations with one’s father’s wife
N 332 Leviticus 18:9 Not have relations with one’s sister
N 333 Leviticus 18:11 Not have relations with daughter of father’s wife, (step-sister)
N 334 Leviticus 18:10 Not have relations with one’s son’s daughter
N 335 Leviticus18:10 Not have relations with one’s daughter’s daughter
N 336 Leviticus 18:10 Not have relations with one’s daughter
N 337 Leviticus 18:17 Not have relations with a woman and her daughter
N 338 Leviticus 18:17 Not have relations with a woman and her son’s daughter
N 339 Leviticus 18:17 Not have relations with a woman and her daughter’s daughter
N 340 Leviticus 18:12 Not have relations with one’s father’s sister
N 341 Leviticus 18:13 Not have relations with one’s mother’s sister
N 342 Leviticus 18:14 Not have relations with wife of father’s brother
N 343 Leviticus 18:15 Not have relations with one’s son’s wife
N 344 Leviticus 18:16 Not have relations with brother’s wife
N 345 Leviticus 18:18 Not have relations with sister of wife (during wife’s lifetime)
N 346 Leviticus 18:19 Not to have relations with a menstruant
N 347 Leviticus 18:20 Not to have relations with another man’s wife
N 348 Leviticus 18:23 Men may not lie with beasts
N 349 Leviticus 18:23 Women may not lie with beasts
N 350 Leviticus 18:22 A man many not lie carnally with another man
N 351 Leviticus 18:17 A man many not lie carnally with his father
N 352 Leviticus 18:14 A man many not lie carnally with his father’s brother
N 353 Leviticus 18:6 Not to be intimate with a kinswoman
N 354 Deuteronomy 23:3 A mamzer may not have relations with a Jewess
N 355 Deuteronomy 23:18 Not having relations with a woman outside marriage…
N 355 Deuteronomy 23:18 …or a harlot outside of marriage
N 356 Deuteronomy 24:4 Not remarrying one’s divorced wife after she has remarried
N 357 Deuteronomy 25:5 Childless widow to marry none except late husbands brother
N 358 Deuteronomy 22:29 Not divorcing woman he has raped and been compelled to marry
N 359 Deuteronomy 22:19 Not divorcing a woman after falsely slandering her
N 360 Deuteronomy 23:2 Man incapable of procreation (eunuch) not to marry a Jewess
N 361 Leviticus 22:24 Not to castrate a man or beast
Torah About THE MONARCHY
N 362 Deuteronomy 17:15 Not appointing a king who is not the seed of Israel
N 363 Deuteronomy 17:16 A king not to accumulate an excess number of horses
N 364 Deuteronomy 17:17 A king not taking many wives
N 365 Deuteronomy 17:17 A king not amassing great personal wealth Y…Y End of365 Negative Mitzvos …Y…
Ezra 9:10 (5-15) …Y… (Joshua 22:24-25, 21-29) Y…YI John 2:1-6 …Y… II Timothy 3:15-16
Notes: If you belonged to a tribe that did not believe that human flesh was a food. But you had a law, which said all food must be washed before eating and the hands must be washed before eating. If I said to you that all food was clean – even though you did not wash it or wash your hands – would you begin to teach that it was OK to eat people? No you would not.
So why do we think that when Yahshua/Yeshua/Y’Shua (Jesus) answered the false Pharisee’s[1] that “all foods were clean” – He meant it was now OK to eat all the unclean animals that God had put off limits FOR OUR HEALTH PROTECTION? In Hebrew society pigs, shrimp, and lobsters were not even considered food! So when He said all foods were clean – they did not even think of the unclean foods. Besides the phrase “all foods are clean” is not in the earliest manuscripts (most honest Bibles have the phrase in italics or parenthesis. Look also at Acts chapter 10 and Peter’s dream – the Bible always interprets the dreams for us – so we will not be confused. Peter never ate the unclean animals because he was following Torah (read Jeremiah 35 a similar thing). The dream was about people and the unclean animals were a metaphor! The Bible makes that point. So if Abba Father told the people of the “Old” Testament “don’t eat these things because they may kill you.” Why then in the “New” Testament (which is supposedly all about love according to the evangelical elite) does Abba Father tell us to eat things that can kill us (and do every year – Oysters with hepatitis, PCB’s, etc.). Beloved, this is why you and I must study and really read the Scriptures for ourselves.
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NOTE FOR YEAR 5772/2011-2012
This list is attributed to Rabbi Rashi in the middle ages - this list is the compiling that he came up with. I have never run across a listing by book and chapter of the Torah. So in the PREAMBLE for the Torah Cycle for 5772 – I am compiling such a listing.
In every parasha, I will list the Commandments for every chapter during the year. I will list by their original number from this listing composed by Rashi. It should look like this.
GENESIS/BERESHIT
P 212 Genesis 1:28 Be fruitful and multiply
P 215 Genesis 17:10 Circumcising one’s son (Leviticus 12:3)
N 183 Genesis 32:33 Not to eat the gid hanasheh (sinew of the thigh-vein)
Hope and pray this helps next year!
[1] Yahshua’s disciples probably did wash their food and their hands – they just didn’t wash them according to the man-made ceremony that that the false Pharisee’s had implemented.
Parashat Vzot ha’Bracha “and this blessing"
Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12
1 October 2011 / 3 Tishrei 5772
By Rabbi David Miller
www.HisTorah4u.com
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NOTICE: HisTorah4U is without an Editor for most of this year. The Rabbi is aware that there are sometimes minor spelling errors and grammar errors that the software doesn’t catch. Please bear with us – we are trying to address the issue for 5772. It is hoped that the majority of readers will kindly overlook the minor errors and focus instead on the thoughts and ideas. ****************
TRADITIONALLY, this parasha is read during Simchat Torah. It is being sent with parasha Ha’azinu to give HisTorah4u a few weeks to get the full website up and running and to format all the parasha files for next year and finish some other programs and papers that need to be finished before 5772 fully gets under way. We are also trying to reformat an old logo from one of the Rabbis’ former companies for use with HisTorah4u. We pray you have a good New Year and blessings in all of the Holy Days!
Ancient Wisdom: The Rebbe of Tsanz was asked by a Chasid: “What does the Rabbi do before praying?” The Rabbi answered, “I pray, that I may be able to pray properly.”
Ancient Wisdom: To love God truly, one must first love people. And if anyone tells you that he loves God and does not love his/her fellow humans, you will know that they are lying.
Ancient Wisdom: There is no room for God in those who are full of themselves.
THIS IS THE LAST PARASHA FOR 5771. Year after year for thousands of years the cycle has gone on-and-on. In a few days on 22 October/24 Tishrei 5772 another cycle will begin. I can guarantee you that during the next cycle you will gain more insight into the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the Gospels and the Apostolic Writings than you had in 5771. I do every year. And no matter when you join the annual cycle – there is never an opportunity to say “if only I had done this sooner.” Every year, almost every subject, every doctrine, every principle can be touched.
So why do so many people fail to entertain the idea of completing a Torah Cycle? Why do so many people in everyday Churches fail to complete the “Bible In 1-Year” programs? The same reason, people want answers…now. Instant gratification: people want “Wisdom & Understanding in a Can.” But what you can DO is to be there as a servant of God when those people need Scriptural wisdom, understanding and insight. But you will STAY THE COURSE, and let the world revolve crazily like a cyclone. “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13.
DEUTERONOMY 33:1-29
“Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. And he said, "The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; at His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. "Indeed, He loves the people; all Thy holy ones are in Thy hand, and they followed in Thy steps; Everyone receives of Thy words. "Moses charged us with a law, a possession for the assembly of Jacob.” (see Ezekiel 47:21-23, John 10:16, Romans 11:16-24) – Deuteronomy 33:1-4
ONE: This passage is being written in the 3rd person. Some people think that Joshua or a Scribe added this at a later date after Moses death. No one knows if this is true. Moses may have simply written this in his own hand – but in the 3rd person.
TWO: Many people will gloss right over these opening words, and that is a shame. Because the words in verse 4, are significantly powerful for anyone, DNA Jew or DNA Gentile who has been called to Salvation in the LORD and who has found everlasting Salvation.
The words “charged with a law.” “Law” is the word Torah, the instructions from God to his beloved, “He loves the people.” This awesome document that leads us to personal Salvation, that teaches us His Divine character and helps us to lead righteous lives avoiding the mine fields of life, and that helps to create human societies that keep injury of innocent people to a minimum. This Torah He gave it to us for FREE! All He asks is that we love Him and follow His Way. The Torah is for ALL Mankind.[1]
The words “a possession for the assembly of Jacob.” This is not Physical Israel…this is Spiritual Israel, this is everyone who is grafted into the Olive tree which is Israel. It does not matter if you are of the 12-Tribes, or Manasseh or Ephraim, or 100% Gentile. If we were to discover a race of humans living in some subterranean cavern beneath the Earth – Salvation and Torah would be for them too! The Hebrew word used for “possession” is also used for “heritage” it is: morashah. The ancient Rabbis have commented that this isn’t not specific to a physical promise - but of a spiritual one – this includes everyone who joins, who is grafted in to Spiritual Israel – whoever you are, wherever you live! Even the great Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon[2] (Rambam) agreed with this idea!
"And it will come about that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. "And it will come about that in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance," declares the Lord God.” – Ezekiel 47:22-23
"And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd.” – John 10:16
“And if the first piece of dough be holy, the lump is also; and if the root be holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."– Romans 11:16-26
Beloved, “IF” there is a thing called “A Divine Invitation” it for EVERY ONE. First Invitation is to accept God’s free gift of Salvation and the second Invitation is to follow His Way. Torah and its loving instructions are not for DNA Jews only as some people erroneously teach. In fact now that I think about it, I will include the paper about the UMJC Decision at the end of this last parasha (people other than UMJC have picked it up and teach it, some have modified it and teach it – but it is still a doctrine taught in error). Torah is for everyone just as Salvation that it leads everyone to – is for.
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” – Romans 11:29
DEUTERONOMY 33:5-25
"And He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel together.”
Jeshurun (Yeshurun) is a poetic form of “Israel.” “Derived from root word meaning upright, just, straight. Describes Israel when it does not stray away from the standards set by and upheld by God. (R'Hirsch) Jeshurun appears four times in the Hebrew Bible — three times in Deuteronomy and once in Isaiah. It can mean the people of Israel (Deut. 32:15; 33:26), the Land of Israel(Deut. 33:5;), or the Patriarch Jacob.”
BLESSINGS FOR THE TRIBES
REUBEN -v6 - "May Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few."
JUDAH v7 –“And this regarding Judah; so he said, "Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, And bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them; and mayest Thou be a help against his adversaries." LEVI v8-11 – “And of Levi he said, "Let Thy Thummim and Thy Urim belong to Thy godly man, Whom Thou didst prove at Massah, With whom Thou didst contend at the waters of Meribah; Who said of his father and his mother, 'I did not consider them'; And he did not acknowledge his brothers, Nor did he regard his own sons, For they observed Thy word, And kept Thy covenant. "They shall teach Thine ordinances to Jacob, And Thy law to Israel. They shall put incense before Thee, And whole burnt offerings on Thine altar. "O LORD, bless his substance, And accept the work of his hands; Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him, And those who hate him, so that they may not rise again."
BENJAMIN v12 – “Of Benjamin he said, "May the beloved of the LORD dwell in security by Him, Who shields him all the day, and he dwells between His shoulders." JOSEPH v13-17a,b – “And of Joseph he said, "Blessed of the LORD be his land, With the choice things of heaven, with the dew, And from the deep lying beneath, And with the choice yield of the sun, And with the choice produce of the months. "And with the best things of the ancient mountains, And with the choice things of the everlasting hills, And with the choice things of the earth and its fulness, And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush. Let it come to the head of Joseph, And to the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. "As the first-born of his ox, majesty is his, And his horns are the horns of the wild ox; With them he shall push the peoples, All at once, to the ends of the Earth.”
MANASSEH & EPHRAIM v17c – “And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh."
ZEBULUN v18 – “And of Zebulun he said, "Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth.”
ISSACHAR v18b-19 – “And, Issachar, in your tents. "They shall call peoples to the mountain; There they shall offer righteous sacrifices; For they shall draw out the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand."
GAD v20-21 – “And of Gad he said, "blessed is the one who enlarges Gad; He lies down as a lion, and tears the arm, also the crown of the head. "Then he provided the first part for himself, for there the ruler's portion was reserved; and he came with the leaders of the people; he executed the justice of the LORD, and His ordinances with Israel." DAN v22 – “And of Dan he said, "Dan is a lion's whelp, that leaps forth from Bashan." NAPHTALI v23 – “And of Naphtali he said, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, And full of the blessing of the LORD, Take possession of the sea and the south."
ASHER v24-25 – “And of Asher he said, "more blessed than sons is Asher; may he be favored by his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil. "Your locks shall be iron and bronze, and according to your days, so shall your leisurely walk be.” – Deuteronomy 33:5-25
You will no doubt notice that these blessings are NOT in birth order. Why? No one really knows for sure, the “Post-It” note that Moses left on the scroll explaining why he made the blessings in this order - disappeared. Along with it, “why” he did not include the Tribe of Simeon. Here are some reasons:
· When Dinah was raped in Genesis 34, Simeon along with Levi tricked the men of the cities to become circumcised and while the men were recovering – they killed them.
· Later when Jacob blesses his sons, in Genesis 49:5-7 he states that Simeon and Levi would be scattered within Israel.
· Levi repents and becomes the hands of God as the Priests – but they receive no inheritance. And they are indeed scattered among the other tribes (their cities are throughout the Land).
· But the Simeonites seem to have not learned their lesson. In Numbers 25, the incident with Cozbi and Zimri (Zimri is from the tribe of Simeon) some 24,000 people were killed by the plague. Some scholars think this was a person-for-person justice for the slaughter in Genesis 34 (?).
The Tribe of Simeon is absent from the listing in Deuteronomy 33 – for whatever reason God thought it was appropriate. As the centuries roll by, the Tribe of Simeon is indeed absorbed into greater Israel.
"There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty. "The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, 'Destroy!' "So Israel dwells in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded, in a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew. "Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, who is the shield of your help, and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, and you shall tread upon their high places." - Deuteronomy 33:26-29
WHY DOES MOSES END…UPBEAT?
The consensus throughout the centuries is that he asked God to delay his death so he could bless Israel on an upbeat manner. So God granted him his request. According to Scripture Moses climbed Mt. Nebo unaided at 120-years old and died. According to tradition he died on 7 Adar, which is around March.
THE DEATH OF MOSES
In the next brief chapter we see Moses die. In this modern era we are all familiar with the term “euthanasia.” Rev. Matthew Henry in the 1800’s referred to the death of Moses as “euthanasia.” It the 1800’s it had a meaning of “a delightful death.” Many writers in the 1600’s through the 1800’s often commented that when the True Believer sees death approaching they should welcome death as one would greet a friend. For the Believer who has been Saved by faith, has had their sins washed away, loves God and has been a good and faithful servant – what fear is there of death? What awaits the True Believer is Eternal and Abundant life. One moment you are aware of this world…and the next aware moment you are in eternity and your name has been called by your Savior.
Please read all of Psalm 90, here is but one verse: “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.” – Psalm 90:10c. Someone the other day told me of an interview with a world famous music mogul, he was explaining how he is awakened every morning by (3) retired models each carrying a special health drink, he has medically injected every week a slew of pharmaceutical grade vitamins and minerals – his goal is to live to be 120. What’s the old saying: “If you want to make God laugh…tell Him ‘I have a plan.’” The unbeliever has this life only – several decades at the most. During my most recent hospital stay the ER doctor and I had a talk about Scripture and “Man” and he told me from his perspective as a Medical Doctor, the human body is really designed for 40-years, after that…it deteriorates. I was also surprised when I went to the Ophthalmologist several years ago and he said after the exam, ”you’re about 40?” He said everyone loses their up close vision around age 40.
I am NOT suggesting that we all take up Base Jumping and begin to eat cheese burgers every day. But other Scriptures tell us that our days are fixed – Messiah told us something similar (Matthew 6:27). So, while we are living we should be striving every day to strive, endure, grow, and to share what we have experienced (mercy and forgiveness) with others whom we meet. All of us die.
PERSONAL NOTE: Last week a friend of my children lost their father (he had experienced several heart-attacks over the years). My (2) daughters were in the living room and we were talking about how hard it was for their friend and his mother: I mentioned that they had time though to prepare, to resolve issues, and to tell each other how much they cared for, loved, and appreciated each other. I then added that they should be aware that with 6-heart attacks and 9-stents they should know that I am not going to live forever. My youngest daughter started to cry and said “you can’t die…you’re my Google.” Until that moment I never really thought that anyone would cry over my death. The point is this: we all die and we should all live our daily lives in preparation for that eventuality. We should not leave things unsaid and good deeds undone. The country singer Tim McGraw a few years ago had a song about a man who at age 40 thought he was going to die; here is a line from that song.
"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
“An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,”
"To live like you were dyin'."[3]
Though for the True Believer there will always be things left undone, prayers to be said, people to see and to share God with. But we should not leave good tidings left unsaid, we should not leave love unexpressed, leave His Word unread and not DOne. The words of Robert Frost are appropriate:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.[4]
Moses was told he was going to die by his LORD and Savior – there was an appointed time and place. Moses appeared at the place…, and at the time Moses breathed his last breath. The very next moment that Moses became aware of – was at the end of Time & Space when Eternity began: for Moses, for all of us, it will be literally a ‘twinkling of an eye.’ No matter how little or how much time – intervened. It isn’t necessary to get into a discussion of what happens when we stop breathing and our souls leave our bodies – once we stop being alive: time is irrelevant. All that matters is what we hear when we hear our names being called: by either our Judge or our Savior. I pray that everyone who finds these commentaries, that you make a commitment to ask God to bring you to His Son if you do not know Him as your Personal Savior. And if you DO know Messiah as your Savior: then live everyday as if you were dying. Beloved, do not let this be written as your epitaph:
“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are those "It might have been.”[5]
“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, "do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” – Isaiah 43:1-3a
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12
“Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.” – Deuteronomy 34:1-12
MOSES’ OBITUARY
Verses 10-12 are written by God about Moses (Moshe). Most of us don’t give it much thought but God has a regular practice of writing the obit’s for His servants. Of King David He said, “David was a man after God’s own heart.” Of the Priest Jehoiada He said, “He did much good in Israel, both for God and for His Temple.” In Revelation 2:13, we are introduced to a martyr who was named Antipas, he was a martyr of the Church at Pergamum, Jesus calls him “My witness, My faithful one.” Of Abraham, God said that he was a “friend of God.” And of King Josiah He said, “Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” And for Simeon who was blessed by being able to see the Messiah in his time, God said “he was Righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.”
Chaverim kol Yisrael (“all Israel are friends”), may you live your life in such a way that you leave nothing undone when you leave this world. May you live your life so that your obituary is written by your LORD and Savior and you will be blessed to have it displayed outside of your residence in New Jerusalem. May you live your life so you hear your name called by your Savior and then you hear “well done my good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your LORD.” (paraphrase Matthew 25:21, 23).
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: the LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.' "So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them." – Numbers 6:22-27
Your Servant,
Rabbi David Miller
Luke 24:44-45
BOATROCKERS MINISTRIES Ministries of Great Compassion and Commission 3157 Terry Avenue, Suite 757 Y Clovis, CA 93612 Y Rabbi David Miller, Chairman/CEO
Boatrocker Ministries, Inc.
Position Paper – BR-0031
The UMJC Decision – Boom!
THE UMJC DECISION – BOOM!
A Rebuttal:
A Simple Error…Or A Deadly Error?
By David Miller Ó March 2003, 2006-2011
Landmines (15 May 2016)
It was the darkest kind of night, the sort of dark that enters one’s very marrow and carries with it the cold that can fire one’ deepest fears. The six young men of the United States Marine Corps crept forward into the night, dedicated to carrying out their mission, which on this night was to ensure the safety of this parcel of the Khyber Pass so that in the morning, their Army counterparts could safely lay the deadliest of all modern armaments meant to kill other men – Landmines!
Maps
One more significant thing happened in that brief moment and if one were to consider it carefully, this was perhaps the most important. The coordinates, based upon a grid and exact GPS pinpoints, found its way to a military computer in the form of a map. The map would reside there in “0’s” and “1’s” until called upon by its human masters. Its purpose: to provide the American military and its allies with the exact position of every landmine – should friendly forces ever have to traverse the field.
“Major Roger Brim, United States Army: You are hereby found guilty of the charges of withholding vital information, which lead to the deaths of 19 French Army Forces on the 17th day of March, 2017. By withholding the mapped coordinates of minefield KP-77Alpha, you knowingly allowed friendly forces to enter a death-zone without the map - which WOULD have saved their lives. Your decision not only cost the lives of 19 innocent soldiers, but you have deprived their families of their loved ones and affected untold unborn children of the heritage of these lives that were needlessly cut short.” “It is further noted that you freely gave the maps of KP-77Alpha to American forces and to Canadian Rangers, but withheld the maps from the French forces, who are our allies.” “It is the decision of this Court-Martial that you be stripped of your rank and all military privilege, and you be dishonorably discharged from the United States Army. And that you be immediately taken from this place to Leavenworth Federal Prison, where you will spend the rest of your natural life as a military prisoner.”
Recently there has been a resurgence of a centuries-old debate concerning the Torah and its availability to non-Jewish people groups. The UMJC says the Torah is for Jewish people only. More specifically, while the moral teachings of the Torah are “OK” for non-Jewish people to follow, the specific aspects of Torah Observance that can be expressed in a peculiar lifestyle and an identifiable expression of worship and faith, is reserved for Jewish people only. (Q. How do you parcel it out?) Moreover, the Messianic movement is Messianic “Jewish” only – non-Jews NEED NOT APPLY. (If they do, it shall be in a support role – only).
Boatrockers Ministries sees NO difference between this decision and those made by various Protestant and Catholic ruling body’s over the centuries that have prescribed that Jewish Believers in Messiah had to divest of all Jewishness before being “allowed” to practice Christianity. In essence: Christianity was for “Christian” folks ONLY – Jews NEED NOT APPLY. (see Heb 10:28-29)
Quotes
The UMJC,[6] at its 23rd Annual convention decided the following:
“[Messianic Judaism] is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to
Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah,
expressed in tradition, and renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant.” “You have many Gentile
congregations who are calling themselves Jewish because they practice Jewish festivals and love Israel, we think
God raised up Messianic Judaism as a Jewish people movement for Yeshua.” “Gentiles in Messianic Judaism
are not here for themselves, but for Messiah’s own people.”
Our Response
THE MAP
Life is a like a minefield. No, it isn’t like one…it is one. All men and women are born into this world in a state of Spiritual Darkness (Matthew 4:15-16). The Torah is the Light (Psalm 119:105, John 1:4, 8:12). Messiah is the Living Torah, and whoever receives Him, He gives the right to become children of God (John 1:12). Messiah came to make all men and women into brothers and sisters; to tear down the wall and to make ONE FLOCK (John 10:16, Ephesians 2:11-18, 19). Further, all men will dwell in the Land and inherit everything (Ezekiel 47:21-23, Isaiah 56:3-8). Everyone with a passport to Spiritual Israel CAN live out Torah!
BOOM!
When anyone (Messianic Jewish Rabbis or Post-Modern Evangelical Pastors or Ancient Jewish Rabbis) is willing to share with anyone the truth that God loves them and wants to Save them, but then withholds from them the Torah that is God’s Instruction Book and Map to Avoiding Life’s Landmines. They are sentencing them to possible death, but most certainly to a life fraught with dangerous connections made with life’s landmines, for instance: Greed, Lust, Adultery, Pride, Anger, Sloth, Gluttony, etc, embodied in such forms as Misplaced Priorities, New Secretaries, Stock Manipulation, Selfish Motivations, Wars, Terror, etc.
God gave His Only Begotten Son to be the Atonement for our sins. “Whosoever that believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). He also came that we should all live life more abundantly, richly, and fully. We can only do this when we avoid the landmines that are crippling those of an unredeemed world who still live in spiritual darkness. For although we, when we receive Messiah, are transferred spiritually to a kingdom of Light, we still live on planet Earth which continues to spin in darkness. Torah is “a LAMP to our feet, and a LIGHT unto our path” (Psalm 119:105). Every Believer gets a Torah flashlight.
When well-meaning but misguided “theologians” declare that: A). The Torah is nailed to the Cross or B). The Torah is only for Jewish folks. They both are guilty of taking from the hand of the Redeemed Believer the LIGHT (and map) that CAN guide them through the minefields of life! The end result for the Believer is then identical as the unbeliever: tip-toeing through life, never knowing (Situational Ethics) whether the resistance is a live mine, or a rock, until…BOOM! Defeat…rather than a life of victory.
God Intended For Everyone To Get A Map!
Deuteronomy 4:1-8: Moses explains that when Israel settled into the Land, they were to live by the Torah, His Word (Light, Revelation, Knowledge). The nations would see Israel and marvel at the wisdom, love, and kindness of God! (Living out Torah protects us AND glorifies God!) They would then approach Israel and inquire about God and their lifestyle. Some ancient rabbis (and apparently some modern ones too) have said, and are saying, that non-Jews can have Salvation and Redemption by knowing God, but the map to the minefield belongs only to the ethnic people of God. Peoples of the 70 nations can’t have a map (Torah)! This is utterly ridiculous! And it is utterly dangerous to the peoples of the 70 nations who come to God., for God is no respector of people. It is God’s desire that all come to repentance. And everyone gets a copy of the map! And everyone gets a Torah flashlight!
God Created Everyone For A Purpose
Our Father created Jewish folks for a purpose (carry the Messiah’s bloodline, be a nation of priests to the nations, and to protect the Oracles of God). Our Father created the 70 nations too, and they also have special purposes and talents. He created men and women; black, white, brown, yellow, blue, and red. BUT IN MESSIAH WE ARE ALL ONE. (Hebrews)[7] (Eph 4:4-6, Num 15:14-16).
The Major - Revisited
This could be a 100-page paper…but it won’t be. Notice that poor Major Brim did not forfeit his life for his dereliction of duty and his misguided belief that the maps were only for his people. Major Brim’s reward for his ‘safely keeping’ the maps from his brothers-in-arms was that he merely descended in status from Commissioned Officer…to prisoner. To those “theologians” who would, for ‘safe-keeping,’ deny the blessings and wise instructions of Torah to any, we offer the following verse for your perusal:“Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.” – Yahshua, Matt. 5:19
Words of Wisdom from our Messiah. Should this verse not be sufficient to see the folly of this decision, read Prov 28:9, I Jn 2:1-11.
[1] In 2003 I wrote a simple 2-page paper titled: “THE UMJC DECISION – BOOM! A Rebuttal: A Simple Error…Or A Deadly Error?” It’s number is BR-0031. When the full website is up and running it is available for FREE in .pdf format.
[2]Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Rambam (Hebrew acronym for "Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon"), was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt (or Tiberias) on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204.
[3] http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/mcgraw-tim/live-like-you-were-dying-13619.html
[4] Robert Frost (1874 - 1963 / San Francisco / USA) American poet. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
[5] John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) American Poet
[6] Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the entire document can be read at: www.umjc.org , www.messianictimes.com.
[7] Hebrew means: “he who crossed over.” Anyone who accepts Messiah and is grafted into Israel is a Hebrew (not Jewish: Jew is ethnic).
Beloved, here we are at the beginning of 5772! Below are (2) parasha for the end of the year" Ha'azinu and Vezot Ha'Bracha. At the end of Ha'azinu is a complete listing of the 613 as complied by Rashi. At the end of Vezot Ha'Bracha is a paper that we wrote back in 2003 comparing the Torah to a landmine map - it is only 2-pages long but it speaks to the heart of the matter. Both commentaries are less than 10-pages each! Someone out there is saying: "Baruch atah Adonai." Everyone at HisTorah4u prays that you have a blessed year and that you and your family and friends are blessed during the High Holy Days. Shalom!
Parashat Ha’azinu “give ear!”
Deuteronomy 32:1-52
1 October 2011 / 3 Tishrei 5772
By Rabbi David Miller
www.HisTorah4u.com
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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard, (NASV), © 1977, published by The Lockman Foundation.
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FYI: COMPLETE Listing of 613 Commandments at end – in order of to whom they apply.
COMMENT: This week the television soap opera “All My Children” went off the air, it had been continuously broadcast since 1970 (41 years). One can imagine that there are some people who have watched it nearly every day since 1970. When the show ended last Friday for many people it was like losing a piece of themselves: friends albeit electronic ones who are gone. Read Psalm 17:14 - “From men with Thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life; and whose belly Thou dost fill with Thy treasure; they are satisfied with children, and leave their abundance to their babes.”
There are people who worship their children and their families: “Child Idolatry” and “Family Idolatry.” There are people who worship their countries: “National Idolatry.” There is “Military Idolatry,” “Political Ideology,” “Philosophical Idolatry.” Within Judeo-Christianity there is “Denominational Idolatry,” and even “Sect Idolatry.” What happens to people’s self-identity, their self-worth, and their faith in the God of the Universe – when “whatever” they had elevated to a position of supreme importance – evaporates? It may also just simply be out-of-kilter in its importance in one’s life?
We may be in the last days of the Last Days. We may just be in a titanic shift of world Empires and power. Already we are seeing people in the Western Democracies who thought they had their retirements fully funded…and now they are seeing their retirements evaporate. People have worked for companies for their entire lives…and now they see those evaporate. I have an Uncle who retired from the US Army as a “full-bird” Colonel after 35-years: he has many, many men and women who are in the same boat from many militaries from many countries – they are now watching as their countries teeter on the edge of financial collapse. The Space Shuttle program came to an end after 30 years.[1] If the things of this world are your life and they define your experiences and time spent upon this planet – what happens when they are taken away? If your self-identity is being a doctor, a dentist, a fireman, a teacher, a farmer – what happens when you can no longer be that?
For the Judeo-Christian Believer your home is on an Earth yet to be remade (Revelation 21:21). Your house is in New Jerusalem yet to be seen (Revelation 21:2). Your real family is in Christ (Matthew 12:46-50). Your self-identity and will always be in Christ/Messiah (Colossians 2:4-15).
The message of the ha’azinu is to BE CAREFUL of who and what we listen to and by what we order our lives and to who we are loyal: COME OUT OF EGYPT. It is the final message from a great man to a great people. We need in these last days of the Last Days to pay attention.
DEUTERONOMY 32:1-52
1"Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 "Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb.
3 "For I proclaim the name of the LORD; Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 "The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.
5 "They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 "Do you thus repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.
7 "Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.
8 "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 "For the LORD's portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 "He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.
11 "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.
12 "The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him.
13 "He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And He made him suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat-- And of the blood of grapes you drank wine.
15 "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- You are grown fat, thick, and sleek-- Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation.
16 "They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.
18 "You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth.
19 "And the LORD saw this, and spurned them Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
20 "Then He said, 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
21 'They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 'I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them.
24 'They shall be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 'Outside the sword shall bereave, And inside terror-- Both young man and virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair.
26 'I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men,"
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, Lest their adversaries should misjudge, Lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant, And the LORD has not done all this."'
28 "For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them.
29 "Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future!
30 "How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had given them up?
31 "Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this.
32 "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter.
33 "Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras.
34 'Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 'Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.'
36 "For the LORD will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants; When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 "And He will say, 'Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 'Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their libation? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place!
39 'See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal; And there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
40 'Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever,
41 If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 'I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.'
43 "Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people."
44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun.
45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
46 he said to them, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.
47 "For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess."
48 And the LORD spoke to Moses that very same day, saying,
49 "Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession.
50 "Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
51 because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.
52 "For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel."
THE SONG OF MOSES
Moses is about to die. On this Earth he will not see another day. But he will be resurrected in bodily form at the end, he will breathe again, he will walk again, and he will live forever and ever upon a New Earth and he will live within the city of New Jerusalem. So too shall everyone who place their faith and trust in The LORD God of the Universe and His Son.
“For this is contained in Scripture: "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed." – I Peter 2:6
MESSIAH AND TIME
Messiah when He walked the Earth in due time to fulfill His mission to sacrifice Himself for us – told many parables. One is the parable of the seeds: “On that day Jesus went out of the house, and was sitting by the sea. And great multitudes gathered to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole multitude was standing on the beach. And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. "And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. "And others fell on the good soil, and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. "He who has ears, let him hear." – Matthew 13:1-9
Moses is speaking to the People of Physical Israel but he is also speaking to us – throughout the centuries. Moses is saying that his WORDS are water. And the WORDS he spoke are recorded to us as Scripture – they are Inspired. He is also telling all of us the following: We are to BE CAREFUL, we are to COME OUT OF EGYPT. We are to grow in wisdom and understanding, we are to walk out our lives in spirit and in truth. And all of this takes time. Moses cautions us to seek the ancient ways and to consult our Elders as to “how” to live for God. Does a toddler think about ancient ways? Does a toddler even think about last week? Does a child ask his grandfather “how shall I live?” What is the meaning of life? I’ve met adults who don’t ask that question. Verse 7: "Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you.”
People generally do not become aware of the passage of time and its implications until later in life. So why do we think that we can possess ALL of deep spiritual and scriptural knowledge and wisdom and understanding after attending a weekend retreat?
I do not believe that the disciple making process takes a long-time. As I read the Gospels and the Apostolic Writings I have the impression that a large portion of the process took somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 years. Not 30-50+ years as seems to be the case in modern times. And yet just as a seed is planted and germinates and sprouts and appears to be grown in a short span of time – it must remain at that “almost” stage for a while longer to mature and for the fruit to ripen. A stalk of corn shoots up fairly rapidly – but then it grows a bit more slowly in stature as the corn ripens. Verse 10-11: "He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye.” "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.”
So with us. Joshua the son of Nun, began his journey with Israel as a physical child, now in this passage of Scripture he is considerably older. He probably knew all or most all of the basics of the faith by the time he was in his late teens or early twenties. But he still had to mature, he had to try them out in real life, he had to have success and failure, he had to live life well…and to fail in sin (he is still human: it doesn’t excuse sin, but we are still human beings with warring natures), Joshua still had to experience heartbreak and joy. Like a Cheetah on the plains of Africa, it may look full-grown, but if it still has long fur on the back of its neck – he or she needs to continue to grow, to forage, to be wary, to be discerning.
WHAT IS THE BASIS OF A SCAM?
How did Bernie Madoff convince smart people to part with billions of dollars over a lifetime? How does a huckster come into a retirement center and con people out of their life savings? The core to any successful con – is the idea that “it” must be done quickly…and, “it” will bring about a large and overabundant return out of proportion to what would normally be expected. The basis of any really good scam is greed.
In the late 1990’s many, many people took a hard hit to their portfolios at the end of the “Tech Bubble.” They had become accustomed to 20%, 25%, 30% or more in returns! Forgetting the old time wisdom that a return of 5%, 8%, and maybe 10% were good (were great) if one could achieve it. People began to think that double-digit returns were normal…, and they began to expect it. If you lived on a block in an affluent suburb of Connecticut and you were happy with a 7% return, your neighbors looked at you askew and then ran to check their latest double-digit return. But we all know what happened. The Tech Bubble burst and many, many, many people were hurt badly. Many Believers were hurt badly.
IS RELIGION ANY DIFFERENT?
Way back in November 2010, in parasha Va-yetzei, page 4, I wrote this...
WHAT WAS THE LADDER?“One more warning about “mysticism.” Why am I so wary about things like Jewish Mysticism and Christian Mysticism and things like “contemplative prayer” “theophostic prayer” “word of faith” “emergent church” “latter rain” and the list goes on-and-on-and-on. It can all be lumped together as false doctrine. Why? What is wrong with all of these?”
“I have witnessed with my own eyes, I have seen people I know get lured into these things – and they ALL turn inward unto themselves. These theories turn people into self-centered believers – they begin to focus only on their own spiritual journey and they soon forget about being Salt & Light to their family, friends, community, and world. Everything I see and read in Scripture is that the genuine experiences of God turn people outward to others. If you look at people who define themselves as “mystic” where do a significant number of the full-timers live? Monasteries and Convents, retreats and camps – they don’t work for 3M or Monsanto as research chemists and interact every day with plain ol’ folks. They hide away and they concentrate on themselves and their own spiritual journey.”
“Why take the time to discuss this? Because this whole passage of “The Ladder” is preoccupied by people who are into the hidden, the mystical, and the transcendental things. Just like the “Wheel within the Wheel,” or the “Transfiguration of Jesus,” people obsess over these singular events – and they miss out, ignore, or gloss over the really BIG THEMES in Scripture that God takes the time to instruct us in time-and-time again and over-and-over-and-over.”
Now I’ll explain a little bit what I mean. The message of Moses, of Jeremiah, of Ezra, of Nehemiah, of Messiah and His Apostles is consistent. STAY THE COURSE. We are all on a journey. “Love Me and keep my Commandments.” And Messiah even condensed it for us into two overarching basics: 1). Love God, 2). Love your neighbor. The writer of Ecclesiastes even summed it up for us: “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13.
This is the work of a lifetime. We are Saved in an instant and declared by God to be Righteous in an instant when we are 5, 7, 10, 14, 20, 35, 58, etc., but we become righteous over a lifetime – however long or short that may be. So why do so many people get sucked into philosophies and movements such as Theophostic Prayer, Latter Rain, the hysterical laughing thing, the Prosperity Gospel? And even hundreds of years ago they had their movements which grew quickly and then faded away.
It is a kind of spiritual greed. It is sold as a way to accelerate ones spiritual growth by giving oneself over to it – these things are hyped that a person will reap spiritual rewards far in excess of what one would normally expect and at a far faster pace than…a lifetime. And even though they may require extensive week long retreats and mounds of Scripture memorization – the goal is always inward to the self, the ego, the pride. In the +40-years I have been a Believer in Messiah as my Savior – almost every time I have seen a friend or acquaintance become involved in something mystical, transcendental, and “new” in regards to some undiscovered secret that has been revealed to a Svengali personality – it turns out that in reality their spiritual growth stops (faux-spiritual growth). They turn inward. The old saying is this: “so spiritually minded they become no earthly good.” The “con” is to make people believe that we can shortcut the process of time that he or she needs to continue to grow, to learn, to be wise, and to become discerning.
WHEN WE TURN INWARD
Verse 15-18: "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked-- you are grown fat, thick, and sleek--then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock of his Salvation.” "They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.” "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread.” "You neglected the Rock who begot you, and forgot the God who gave you birth.”
Suddenly we begin to think our spiritual growth begins and ends with what we DO for our growth, our prayers, our knowledge, our “whatever.” “If” we devote ourselves to “centering prayer.” “If” we laugh hysterically – the Holy Spirit can take us over. “If” we memorize 1000 verses of Scripture we will be more spiritual. If we learn what every paleo Hebrew letter picture and meaning is about – we will KNOW more.
But the Holy Spirit can’t take us over – more - if we are not willing to yield our will to His Will
But we can’t grow through more prayer if we don’t honestly want to yield our will to His Will.
But we can’t become more spiritual by memorizing if we don’t let Scripture supplant our will for His Will.
What good is knowing more – if we never feed a hungry person and show them the love of God?
Earlier in the year I made reference to when I was an active airline pilot and I knew guys who could literally tell you how many rivets were on the wing of Boeing 727, or they could give a 7-hour talk on the battery system. Fine, but how does that help you at V1 and the #3 fire warning light illuminates? I am sure that there are truck drivers out on the road that can probably make a diesel engine out of raw metal stock and a well-equipped machine shop. But how does that help you when you are driving on ice and you feel that the back end of your rig wants to meet your front end?
Similarly if you know the word picture of the Hebrew word “echad” and you can talk for an hour about the mystical and transcendental implications of the word – does that help you to help a young married couple that is having problems right now and one of the spouses has their bags packed right now? Does “centering prayer” help you simply explain the Gospel to a 58-year old blue collar worker who has been unemployed for 2-years? Does Theophostic prayer help you to walk him through a simple prayer to ask God to wash away his sins and to become his LORD and Savior? Does laughing hysterically, being purpose driven, or being “emergent” in your outlook – help you to feed the hungry, visit the shut-in, or have a heart to raise $100 to buy Vitamin A capsules?
I can say that I see people like Arvo in Visalia, CA who fought from the Aleutian Islands to North Africa, to Italy, to D-Day and all across Europe: who wouldn’t know what I was talking about if I told him the Holy Spirit could improve his life by laughing hysterically. Arvo has been clipping coupons for +20-years and every week he buys hundreds of dollars of groceries for pennies and he gives them to the homeless and hungry and the poor and needy. I am sure Arvo sleeps well at night and is prepared to meet His LORD and Savior. Arvo knows he is a servant.
My mother is 87-years old, she knits hats, gloves, and blankets for the homeless shelters. She makes similar items for the Make-A-Wish summer camps for children that people often forget. She leads the shut-in ministry for her local church and just took a singing group (“The Remnant”) out this last weekend to perform for her shut-ins. She also donates time to the local cat shelter. My mother would not understand “Theophostic Prayer” or see much need for it – all she knows is that she has a personnel relationship with her Savior and she is content with whatever time she has left on Earth: although she worries for her grand-children and her great-grandchildren and the state of the world her generation is leaving behind. My mother knows she is a servant.
Servants do not enrich themselves. They enrich their Master. Their Master takes upon himself the responsibility to enrich his servants. "If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free.” "And when you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.” – Deuteronomy 15:12-13. We need to be about BEing and DOing what servants are expected to BE and DO. Our enrichment comes from that service to God and to others. For the spiritual servant we enrich our Master (God) by enriching others and enabling them to praise God and give Him glory and honor (Matthew 5:16 among many other verses).
WHAT IS THE FUNDAMENTAL “TRAP” OF PROGRAMS?
Remember when you rode a tricycle for the first time? How exciting it was! But soon you wanted a 2-wheeler with training wheels. Why? Because the tricycle got “old” it got boring. Now, perhaps, you have a Porsche Boxster and your eye is on the new 918 Spyder or BMW i8? Why upgrade? Because the Boxster has become old and familiar.
The same is true for the Purpose Driven church, or the any other “new” thing. The previous “thing” has gotten stale and now the leaders need to find something “new” to keep the church “fresh” and “relevant.” The TV Evangelist I spoke of last week said in his ABC Nightline interview that if Jesus were on Earth today His ministry would have “good production” and good production values. Beloved, these leaders DO NOT know what they are talking about! Recently I received a new catalog for the local Berean Bookstore in our area, if you get one you should look at it. The books that are the newest and the hot sellers now - that tell you “how to” increase your prayer effectiveness, grow your church, manage your family, lose weight for God, etc., will be replaced in 6-months by newer books talking about the same subjects with a brand new approach. And every year new programs make their rounds across the nation and around the world – bringing around a new approach to solving last year’s problems. The amazing thing is this – the problems that affected Jacob and his family 3,800 years ago – are still our problems today. And the solution has always been there since Adam and Eve first left the Garden. The Word of God.
FROM: http://christianfutures.com/snyderbook.shtml “What major trends will shape the church's life and witness over the next fifty years? Out of curiosity, we decided to find out by polling a number of knowledgeable church leaders as to their perceptions. Using an initial survey and a follow-up, we elicited "trends perceptions" from more than fifty denominational leaders, evangelists, educators, missionaries, writers, and others. Our sample represents a spectrum of theological and ecclesiastical perspectives and gives their perceptions and ranking of major trends in the church, or trends in the world affecting the church. Most respondents were North Americans, but we chose people with a broad knowledge of the international scene.”
“While this methodology is somewhat impressionistic, still it gives a fascinating and useful reading on perceived trends and on the issues with which church leaders will be dealing. We compiled the ten leading trends, researched them, and did sense analysis in light of the church's life and mission. The results have been published in Foresight: Ten Major Trends That Will Dramatically Affect the Future of Christians and the Church. This article condenses the major points from the book. We have defined the ten major trends as follows:”
1. From regional churches to world Church.
2. From scattered growth to broad revival.
3. From Communist China to Christian China.
4. From institutional tradition to kingdom theology.
5. From clergy/laity to community of ministers.
6. From male leadership to male-female partnership.
7. From secularization to religious relativism.
8. From nuclear family to family diversity.
9. From church/state separation to Christian political activism.
10. From safe planet to threatened planet.”
Beloved, do you see on the list: “Spread the Gospel, make people aware that they are sinners and in need of a personal Savior. Introduce them to Jesus/Yahshua/Yeshua as the world’s Savior and their personal Savior. Disciple them according to the whole Word of God. Teach people to Love God and to Keep His Commandments.” Do you see that anywhere? Protestant? Evangelical? Messianic? Sabbatarian? Anywhere?[2] The website listed above is for one segment of the “Church,” I am sure you could go to other websites that serve other segments and find the same old “new” stuff.
REMEMBER
"Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you.”– Deuteronomy 32:7
Does this make sense to you? We hear the soft whispering of the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) in the ears of our heart and soul. We listen to the presentation of the Gospel – and through the Holy Spirit we understand it and comprehend it. We then have a choice to make: accept or decline. If we accept our sins are washed away, we are declared to be Righteous, we are regenerated into a New man or a New Woman. Then we have another choice to make: do we sit like a potted plant in a Church or a Synagogue for the rest of our lives: or, do we devote ourselves to being a Disciple and allow God through His Word to let us be His hands, His feet, His voice in changing the lives of other people.
After we make our (2) decisions we may live minutes more or decades more. But during the time allotted to us – we grow, and grow, and grow, and we mature. If we live long enough we begin to produce fruit.
"Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” – Matthew 3:8-9
The Life of a True Believer is a simple one. It isn’t too high for us, it isn’t too far for us, it isn’t too complicated for us, it isn’t too intellectual for us. It is within our grasp – and how do we take hold of something? We have to reach for it and take hold. We have to DO. We have to believe, believing is faith, faith is acting, faith is DOing. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17. And what “words” did Messiah give to us? ALL OF IT.
And what is the Word of God good for? “You, 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 Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” – II Timothy 3:14-17.
“For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.” – Hebrews 4:15-16
ONE MORE WARNING
"They made Him jealous with strange gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.” "They sacrificed to demons who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread.” – Deuteronomy 32:16-17
Beloved, I have visited Purpose Driven churches where the audience brought their manuals to church and not their Bibles. I have been to churches where there wasn’t a single verse of Scripture given, referenced, or talked about during the 19 minute and 30 second sermon. Beloved, if you do your homework, if you examine these programs: 99% of them have some kind of a pagan basis or pagan thought process running through them. “Centering Prayer,” “Theophostic Prayer,” they have transcendental meditation techniques running throughout. There are more meditation programs coming into the Body of Christ for the past 20-30 years and they are rapidly increasing: in them Believers are taught to “empty their minds:” Beloved, that is very dangerous spiritually. Almost every New Age program running rampant through our churches and synagogues has some Eastern faux-religious thought running through it. Even tenets of Islam are showing up in Protestant and Evangelical churches and seminaries.
Biblical meditation is about meditating upon Scripture, the Word of God: His Word is what you fill your mind with – not emptiness! If you create a vacuum in your mind and soul, are you sure what “it” is that rushes in to fill that vacuum? There are many, many faithful men and women within the Body of Christ/Messiah who see the dangers and they are warning us every day. We need to pay attention. And Moses was warning us +3,000 years ago. We need to pay attention.
MOSES
“When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. "For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you shall prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess." – Deuteronomy 32:45-47
BE CAREFUL
COME OUT OF EGYPT
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” – I John 4:1-6.
Your Servant,
Rabbi David Miller
Luke 24:44-45
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program
[2] I think of the scene from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” “Beuller…Beuller…? Ferris Beuller? Has anyone seen Ferris Beuller?” What if Roll Call was being taken among the Churches and God-Fearing Synagogues? “Gospel…Gospel…? Gospel of Christ? Has anyone seen the Gospel of Christ?” Has anyone really seen the WHOLE Gospel of our LORD and Savior lately?
THE TORAH
&
The 613 Instructions
Y…Y Of The “Old” Testament …Y…
(“The part that most Christians and Jews don’t read anymore”)
N = Negative Laws i.e., “Don’t do this…”
P = Positive Laws i.e., “Do this…” **Matthew 5:17-20**
1999 – Boatrockers Ministries. 2005 - www.Historah4u.com
248 Positive Mitzvos – YHWH Commands us to do these things, we have a duty to do them. REMEMBER that TORAH in Hebrew means INSTRUCTION.
INSTRUCTION to do what? To hit the mark. What mark? To live a righteous life.
Torah About Our Relationship To the LORD God
P 1 Exodus 20:2 To Believe In God
P 2 Deuteronomy 6:4 To acknowledge the Unity of God
P 3 Deuteronomy 6:5 To love God
P 4 Deuteronomy 6:13 To fear God
P 5 Exodus 23:25, To worship and serve God (Deuteronomy 11:13, 13:5)
P 6 Deuteronomy 10:20 To cleave to God
P 7 Deuteronomy 10:20 Taking an oath by God’s Name
P 8 Deuteronomy 28:9 Walking in God’s ways
P 9 Leviticus 22:32 Sanctifying God’s Name
Torah About TORAH(For Messianic Believers TORAH Is Genesis to Revelation)
P 10 Deuteronomy 6:7 Reading the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 6:4) twice daily (morning/evening)
P 11 Deuteronomy 6:7 Studying and teaching Torah
P 12 Deuteronomy 6:8 Wearing Tefillin of the head
P 13 Deuteronomy 6:8 Wearing Tefillin of the hand
P 14 Numbers 15:38 To make Tzitzit with blue thread on garments corners
P 15 Deuteronomy 6:9 To affix a Mezuzah to our doorposts and gates
P 16 Deuteronomy 31:12 Israel and aliens to assemble each 7th year to hear the Torah read
P 17 Deuteronomy 17:18 A king should write a copy of the Torah for himself
P 18 Deuteronomy 31:19 Everyone should have a Torah scroll for himself
P 19 Deuteronomy 8:10 Praise God after eating, Grace after meals
Torah About The TEMPLE And The PRIESTS
P 20 Exodus 25:8 Building a Temple/Tabernacle/Sanctuary for God
P 21 Leviticus 19:30 Revering the Sanctuary (Beis Hamikdosh)
P 22 Numbers 18:4 Guarding the Sanctuary (Mikdosh)
P 23 Numbers 18:23 Levitical services in the Tabernacle (Mikdosh)
P 24 Exodus 30:19 Kohanim (Cohanim) washing hands and feet before entering Temple
P 25 Exodus 27:21 Kindling the Menorah by the Kohanim (Priests)
P 26 Numbers 6:23 Kohanim blessing Israel
P 27 Exodus 25:30 The Showbread before the Ark
P 28 Exodus 30:7 Burning the Incense on the Golden Alter twice daily
P 29 Leviticus 6:6 The perpetual fire on the Altar
P 30 Leviticus 6:3 Removing the ashes from the Altar
P 31 Numbers 5:2 Removing tameh (unclean) persons from the camp
P 32 Leviticus 21:8 Honoring the Kohanim (Priests)
P 33 Exodus 28:2 The Priestly garments
P 34 Numbers 7:9 Kohanim bearing the Ark on their shoulders
P 35 Exodus 30:31 The holy oil of the Annointment
P 36 Deuteronomy 18:6-8 Kohanim (Priest’s) ministering in rotation/watches
P 37 Leviticus 21:2-3 Kohanim (Priest’s) being defiled for deceased relatives
P 38 Leviticus 21:13 Kohein haGadol (High Priest) may only marry a virgin
P 39 Numbers 28:3 Twice daily - burnt, tamid offerings
P 40 Leviticus 6:13 Kohein Gadol’s (High Priest) twice daily meal Offerings
P 41 Numbers 28:9 The Shabbat (Sabbath) additional musaf offering
P 42 Numbers 28:11 The New Moon, Rosh Chodesh, additional offering
P 43 Leviticus 23:36 The Pesach (Passover) additional offering
P 44 Leviticus 23:10 Second day of Pesach, meal offering of the Omer
P 45 Numbers 28:26 The Shavuot additional, musaf, offering
P 46 Leviticus 29:1-2 Bring Two Loaves of bread for Wave offering on Shavout
P 47 Numbers 29:1-2 The Rosh HaShannah additional offering
P 48 Numbers 29:7-8 The Yom Kippur additional offering
P 49 Leviticus 16 The Service of Yom Kippur, Avodah
P 50 Numbers 29:13 The Sukkot, musaf, Offering
P 51 Numbers 29:36 The Shemini Atzeret additional offering
P 52 Exodus 23:14 The three annual Festival pilgrimages to the Temple
P 53 Exodus 34:23 Appearing before YHWH during the Festivals (Deuteronomy 16:16)
P 54 Deuteronomy 16:14 Rejoicing on the Festivals
P 55 Exodus 12:6 Slaughtering the Pesach (Passover) lamb on the 14th of Nisan
P 56 Exodus 12:8 On the evening of 14 Nisan, eating the roasted Pesach lamb
P 57 Numbers 9:11 Slaughtering the Pesach Sheini, Iyyar 14, offering
P 58 Numbers 9:11 Eating the Pesach Sheini lamb with Matzah and Maror
P 59 Numbers 10:9-10 Trumpets for Feast sacrifices brought and for tribulation
P 60 Leviticus 22:27 Minimum age of cattle to be offered
P 61 Leviticus 22:21 Offering only unblemished sacrifices
P 62 Leviticus 2:13 Bringing salt with every offering
P 63 Leviticus 1:2 The Burnt–Offering
P 64 Leviticus 6:18 The Sin-Offering
P 65 Leviticus 7:1 The Guilt-Offering
P 66 Leviticus 3:1 The Peace-Offering
P 67 Leviticus 2:1 The Meal-Offering
P 68 Leviticus 4:13 Offerings of a Court (Sanhedrin) that has erred
P 69 Leviticus 4:27 The Fixed Sin-Offering, by unknowingly breaking a karet
P 70 Leviticus 5:17 The Suspensive Guilt-Offering, if doubt of breaking a karet
P 71 Leviticus 5:15 The Unconditional Guilt-Offering, for stealing, etc.
P 72 Leviticus 5:1-11 The Offering of a Higher or Lower Value, according to one’s means
P 73 Numbers 5:6-7 To confess one’s sins before God and repent for them
P 74 Leviticus 15:13 Offering brought by a zav (man with a discharge)
P 75 Leviticus 15:28 Offering brought by a zavah (woman with a discharge)
P 76 Leviticus 12:6 Offering of a woman after childbirth
P 77 Leviticus 14:10 Offering brought by a leper after being cleansed
P 78 Leviticus 27:32 Tithe of one’s cattle
P 79 Exodus 13:2 Sacrificing the First-born of clean (permitted) cattle
P 80 Exodus 22:28 Redeeming the First-born of man, Pidyon ha-ben
P 81 Exodus 34:20 Redeeming the firstling of a donkey, if not…
P 82 Exodus 13:13 …breaking the neck of the firstling of a donkey
P 83 Deuteronomy 12:5-6 Bringing due offerings to Jerusalem without delay
P 84 Deuteronomy 12:14 All offerings to be brought only to the Sanctuary
P 85 Deuteronomy 12:36 Bring all offerings due from outside Eretz-Yisroel (Israel) to Sanctuary
P 86 Deuteronomy 12:15 Redeeming blemished sanctified animal offerings
P 87 Leviticus 27:33 The holiness of substituted animal offerings
P 88 Leviticus 6:9 Kohanim (Priests) eating the remainder of the Meal Offerings
P 89 Exodus 29:33 Kohanim eating the meat of the Sin and Guilt Offerings
P 90 Leviticus 7:19 To burn Consecrated Offerings that have become tameh (unclean)
P 91 Leviticus 7:17 To burn the remnant of the Consecrated Offerings not eaten in time
P 92 Numbers 6:5 The Nazir letting his hair grow during his separation
P 93 Numbers 6:18 Nazirite completing his vow shaves his head and brings sacrifice
P 94 Deuteronomy 23:24 A man must honor his oral vows and oaths
P 95 Numbers 30:3 A judge can annul vows, only according to Torah
P 96 Leviticus 11:8 Defilement through touching certain carcasses of animals
P 97 Leviticus 11:29 Defilement through carcasses of eight creeping creatures
P 98 Leviticus 11:34 Defilement of food and drink, if contacting unclean thing
P 99 Leviticus 15:19 Tumah of a menstruant woman
P 100 Leviticus 12:2 Tumah of a woman after childbirth
P 101 Leviticus 13:3 Tumah of a leper
P 102 Leviticus 13:51 Garments contaminated by a leper
P 103 Leviticus 14:44 A leprous house
P 104 Leviticus 15:2 Tumah of a zav (man with a running issue)
P 105 Leviticus 15:6 Tumah of semen
P 106 Leviticus 15:19 Tumah of a zavah (woman suffering from a running issue)
P 107 Numbers 19:14 Tumah of a human corpse
P 108 Numbers 19:13 The law of the purification water of sprinkling, mei niddah
P 109 Leviticus 15:16 Immersing in a mikveh to become ritually clean
P 110 Leviticus 14:2 The specified procedure of cleansing from leprosy
P 111 Leviticus 14:9 A leper must shave his head
P 112 Leviticus 13:45 The leper must be made easily distinguishable
P 113 Numbers 19:2-9 Ashes of the Red Heifer, used in ritual purification
P 114 Leviticus 27:2-8 Valuation of for a person himself to the Temple
P 115 Leviticus 27:11 Valuation for an unclean beast to the Temple
P 116 Leviticus 27:14 Valuation of a house as a donation to the Temple
P 117 Leviticus 27:16 Valuation of a field as a donation to the Temple
P 118 Leviticus 5:16 Restitution plus 1/5th if benefit for Temple property
P 119 Leviticus 19:24 The fruits of the trees fourth-year’s growth
P 120 Leviticus 19:9 To leave the corners (Peah) of fields for the poor
P 121 Leviticus 19:9 To leave gleanings of the field for the poor
P 122 Deuteronomy 24:19 To leave the forgotten sheaf for the poor
P 123 Leviticus 19:19 To leave defective/misformed grape clusters for the poor
P 124 Leviticus 19:10 To leave grape gleanings for the poor
P 125 Exodus 23:19 To separate and bring First-Fruits to the Sanctuary
P 126 Deuteronomy 18:4 To separate the great Heave-offering (terumah)
P 127 Leviticus 27:30 To set aside the first tithe to the Levites
P 128 Deuteronomy 14:22 To set aside the second tithe, eaten only in Jerusalem
P 129 Numbers 18:26 The Levites’ giving tenth of their tithe to the Kohanim (Priest’s)
P 130 Deuteronomy 14:28 To set aside the poor-man’s tithe in the third and sixth year
P 131 Deuteronomy 26:13 A declaration made when separating the various tithes
P 132 Deuteronomy 26:5 Recital on bringing the First-fruits to the Temple
P 133 Numbers 15:20 To set aside the first portion of the Challah given to the Kohein
P 134 Exodu 23:11 Renouncing as ownerless produce of the Sabbatical year (shemittah
P 135 Exodus 34:21 Resting the land on the Sabbatical year
P 136 Leviticus 25:10 Sanctifying the Jubilee (50th) year
P 137 Leviticus 25:9 Blowing the Shofar on Yom Kippur in the Jubilee year & slaves freed
P 138 Leviticus 25:24 Reversion of the land to ancestral owners in the Jubilee year
P 139 Leviticus 25:24 Redemption of a house within a year of the sale
P 140 Leviticus 25:8 Counting and announcing the years till the Jubilee year
P 141 Deuteronomy 15:3 All debts are annulled in the Sabbatical year, but…
P 142 Deuteronomy 15:3 …one may exact a debt owed by a foreigner/idolator
Torah About ANIMALS FOR CONSUMPTION
P 143 Deuteronomy 18:3 The Kohein’s due in the slaughter of every clean animal
P 144 Deuteronomy 18:4 The first of the fleece to be given to the Kohein
P 145 Leviticus 27:21 (Cherem vow) one devoted thing to God, other to the Kohein
P 146 Deuteronomy 12:21 Slaughtering animals, according to Torah, before eating them
P 147 Leviticus 17:13 Covering with earth the blood of slain birds and animals
P 148 Deuteronomy 22:7 Setting free the mother bird before taking the nest
P 149 Leviticus 11:2 Searching for the prescribed signs in cattle and animals, for eating
P 150 Deuteronomy 14:11 Searching for the prescribed signs in birds, for eating
P 151 Leviticus 11:21 Searching for the prescribed signs in locusts, for eating
P 152 Leviticus 11:9 Searching for the prescribed signs in fishes, for eating
Torah About FESTIVALS
P 153 Exodus 12:2 Sanhedrin to sanctify the New Moon, & reckon years & seasons
P 153 Deuteronomy 16:1 Sanhedrin to sanctify the New Moon, & reckon years & seasons
P 154 Exodus 23:12 Resting on the Shabbat (Sabbath=7th day of week)
P 155 Exodus 20:8 Proclaiming the sanctity (holiness) of Shabbos (Sabbath)…
P 155 Exodus 20:8 …at its onset and at its termination
P 156 Exodus 12:15 Removal of the chometz, leaven (yeast) on (Nisan 14) Pesach
P 157 Exodus 13:8 Recounting Exodus from Egypt on first night of Pesach (Nisan 15)
P 158 Exodus 12:18 Eating Matzah of the first night of Pesach (Nisan 15)
P 159 Exodus 12:16 Resting on the first day of Pesach (Passover)
P 160 Exodus 12:16 Resting on the seventh day of Pesach
P 161 Leviticus 23:16 Count the Omer 50 days from day of the first sheaf (Nisan 16)
P 162 Leviticus 23 Resting on Shavous
P 163 Leviticus 23:24-25 Resting on Rosh Hashana
P 164 Leviticus 16:29 Fasting on Yom Kippur
P 165 Leviticus 16:29 Resting on Yom Kippur
P 166 Leviticus 23:35 Resting on the first day of Sukkot
P 167 Leviticus 23:36 Resting on (the 8th day) Shemini Atzeres (Atzeret)
P 168 Leviticus 23:42 Dwelling in a Sukkah (booth) for seven days
P 169 Leviticus 23:40 Taking a Lulav (the four species) on Sukkot
P 170 Numbers 29:1 Hearing the sound of the Shofar on Rosh Hashana
Torah About COMMUNITY
P 171 Exodus 30:12 Every male giving half a shekel annually to the Temple
P 172 Deuteronomy 18:15 Heeding the Prophets
P 173 Deuteronomy 17:15 Appointing a king
P 174 Deuteronomy 17:11 Obeying the Great Court (Sanhedrin)
P 175 Exodus 23:2 In a case of division, abiding by a majority decision
P 176 Deuteronomy 16:18 Appointing Judges and Officers of the Court in every town
P 177 Leviticus 19:15 Treating litigants equally/impartially before the law
P 178 Leviticus 5:1 Anyone aware of evidence must come and testify in Court
P 179 Deuteronomy 13:15 The testimony of witnesses shall be examined thoroughly
P 180 Deuteronomy 19:19 Condemning witnesses who testify falsely…
P 180 Deuteronomy 19:19 …false witnesses punished, as they intended upon the accused
P 181 Deuteronomy 21:4 On Eglah Arufah, on the heifer when murderer unknown
P 182 Deuteronomy 19:3 Establishing Six Cities of Refuge
P 183 Numbers 35:2 Giving cities to the Leviaim (Levites) – who’ve no ancestral land share
P 184 Deuteronomy 22:8 Building fences on roof; and…
P 184 Deuteronomy 22:8 …removing sources of danger from our dwellings
P 185 Deuteronomy 12:2 Destroying all idol-worship and its appurtenances
P 186 Deuteronomy 13:17 The law of the apostate/perverted city
P 187 Deuteronomy 20:17 The law about destroying the Seven Canaanite Nations
P 188 Deuteronomy 25:19 The extinction of the seed of Amalek
P 189 Deuteronomy 25:17 Remembering the nefarious deeds of Amalek to Israel
Torah About WAR
P 190 Deuteronomy 20:11 Regulations for wars other than ones commanded in Torah
P 191 Deuteronomy 20:2 Appoint a Kohein to speak to the people going to war and…
P 191 Deuteronomy 20:2 …send back any man unfit for battle
P 192 Deuteronomy 23:14 Preparing a place beyond the camp, so to keep sanitary and…
P 193 Deuteronomy 23:15 …including a digging tool among war implements
P 194 Leviticus 5:23 A robber to restore the stolen artifacts to the owner
P 195 Deuteronomy 15:8 To give charity to the poor (Leviticus 25:35-36)
P 196 Deuteronomy 15:14 Lavishing gifts on a Hebrew bondman upon his freedom
P 197 Exodus 22;24 Lending money to the poor without interest
P 198 Deuteronomy 23:21 Lending money to the heathen/foreigner with interest
P 199 Deuteronomy 24:13 Restoring a pledge to a needy owner (Exodus 22:25)
P 200 Deuteronomy 24:15 Paying wages to your workers on time
P 201 Deuteronomy 23:25 An employee is allowed to eat the produce he’s working in
P 202 Exodus 23:5 On helping to unload (when necessary) a tired animal
P 203 Deuteronomy 22:4 Assisting the owner in loading his beast with its burden
P 204 Deuteronomy 22:1 Lost property must be returned to its owner (Exodus 23:4)
P 205 Leviticus 19:7 Being required to rebuke the sinner
P 206 Leviticus 19:18 Loving your neighbor as yourself
P 207 Deuteronomy 10:19 Being commanded to love the convert/proselyte
P 208 Leviticus 19:36 The law of accurate weights and measures
P 209 Leviticus 19:32 Honoring the old (and wise)
P 210 Exodus 20:12 Honoring parents
P 211 Leviticus 19:3 Fearing parents
P 212 Genesis 1:28 Be fruitful and multiply
P 213 Deuteronomy 24:1 The law of marriage
P 214 Deuteronomy 24:5 Bridegroom devotes himself to his wife for one year
P 215 Genesis 17:10 Circumcising one’s son (Leviticus 12:3)
P 216 Deuteronomy 25:5 Law of the Levirite Marriage, if a man dies childless his brother must…
P 217 Deuteronomy 25:9 …his widow or release her/the-widow, Law of Chalitzah
P 218 Deuteronomy 22:29 A violator must marry the virgin/maiden he has violated
P 219 Deuteronomy 22:18 The defamer of his bride is flogged and may never divorce
P 220 Exodus 22:15 The seducer must be punished according to the Law
P 221 Deuteronomy 21:11 Captive women treated according to special regulations
P 222 Deuteronomy 24:1 The law of divorce, only by means of written document
P 223 Numbers 5:15 A suspected adulteress has to submit to the required test
Torah About JUDICIAL
P 224 Deuteronomy 25:2 Whipping transgressors of certain commandments
P 225 Numbers 35:25 Exile to city of refuge for unintentional manslaughter
P 226 Exodus 21:20 Beheading transgressors of certain commandments
P 227 Exodus 21:16 Strangling transgressors of certain commandments
P 228 Leviticus 20:14 Burning transgressors of certain commandments
P 229 Deuteronomy 22:24 Stoning transgressors of certain commandments
P 230 Deuteronomy 21:22 Hanging after execution, transgressors of certain commandments
P 231 Deuteronomy 21:23 Burial on the day of execution
P 232 Exodus 21:2 The special laws of treating the Hebrew bondman
P 233 Exodus 21:8 Hebrew bondmaid to be married by her master to his son, or…
P 234 Exodus 21:8 …allow the redemption of a Hebrew bondmaid
P 235 Leviticus 25:46 The laws for treating an alien bondman
P 236 Exodus 21:18 Penalty for a person inflicting injury
P 237 Exodus 21:28 The law of injuries caused by an animal
P 238 Exodus 21:33 The law of injuries caused by a pit
P 239 Exodus 21:37 The law of punishment of theft
P 240 Exodus 22:4 The law of a judgement for damage caused by a beast
P 241 Exodus 22:5 The law of a judgement for damage caused by a fire
P 242 Exodus 22:6 The law of an unpaid guardian
P 243 Exodus 22:9 The law of a paid guardian
P 244 Exodus 22:13 The law of a borrower
P 245 Leviticus 25:14 The law of buying and selling
P 246 Exodus 22:8 The law of litigants
P 247 Deuteronomy 25:12 Saving the life of the pursued, even if need – kill oppressor
P 248 Numbers 27:8 The law of inheritance
Y…Y End of248 Positive Mitzvos …Y…
365 Negative Mitzvos
YHWH instructs us not to do these things, we have a duty to not do them.
Torah About IDOLATRY and RELATED PRACTICES
N 1 Exodus 20:3 Not believing in any other god except the One God
N 2 Exodus 20:4 Not to make images for the purpose of worship
N 3 Leviticus 19:4 Not to make an idol (even for others) to worship
N 4 Exodus 20:20 Not to make figures of human beings
N 5 Exodus 20:5 Not to bow down to an idol
N 6 Exodus 20:5 Not to worship idols
N 7 Leviticus 18:21 Not to hand over any children to Moloch
N 8 Leviticus 19:31 Not to practice sorcery of the ov, necromancy
N 9 Leviticus 19:31 Not to practice sorcery of the yidde’oni, familiar spirits
N 10 Leviticus 19:4 Not to study idolatrous practices
N 11 Deuteronomy 16:22 Not to erect a pillar which people will assemble to honor
N 12 Leviticus 20:1 Not to make figured stones (dias) on which to prostrate ourselves
N 13 Leviticus 16:21 Not to plant trees in the Sanctuary/Temple
N 14 Exodus 23:13 Not to swear by an idol or instigate an idolater to do so
N 15 Exodus 23:13 Not to divert any non-Jew to idolatry
N 16 Deuteronomy 13:12 Not to try to pursuade an Israelite or Jew to worship idols
N 17 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to love someone who seeks to mislead you to idols
N 18 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to relax one’s aversion to the misleader to idols
N 19 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to save the life of a misleader to idols
N 20 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to plead for (defend) the misleader to idols
N 21 Deuteronomy 13:9 Not to oppress evidence unfavorable to the misleader
N 22 Deuteronomy 7:25 No benefit from ornaments which have adorned an idol
N 23 Deuteronomy 13:17 Not rebuilding an apostate city destroyed as punishment for idolatry
N 24 Deuteronomy 13:18 Not deriving benefit from property of an apostate city
N 25 Deuteronomy 7:26 Not increasing wealth from, or using anything connected with idolatry
N 26 Deuteronomy 18:20 Not prophesying in the name of an idol
N 27 Deuteronomy 18:20 Not prophesying falsely in the Name of God (YHWH)
N 28 Deuteronomy 13:3-4 Not to listen to the prophesy made in the name of an idol (or the one)
N 29 Deuteronomy 18:22 Not fearing or refraining from killing a false prophet
N 30 Leviticus 20:23 Not adopting/imitating the habits/ways and customs of unbelievers
N 31 Leviticus 19:26 Not practicing divination (Deuteronomy 18:10)
N 32 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not regulating one’s conduct by the stars (not practicing soothsaying)
N 33 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not practicing the art of a soothsayer (not practicing enchanting)
N 34 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not practicing sorcery
N 35 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not practicing the art of the charmer
N 36 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not consulting a necromancer who uses the ov
N 37 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not consulting a sorcerer who uses the ydo’a
N 38 Deuteronomy 18:10 Not to seek information from the dead, necromancy
N 39 Deuteronomy 22:5 Women not to wear men’s clothes or adornments
N 40 Deuteronomy 22:5 Men not wearing women’s clothes or adornments
N 41 Leviticus 19:28 Not imprinting/tatooing any marks on our bodies, as idolaters do
N 42 Deuteronomy 22;11 Not wearing Shatnes (Mixture of wool and linen)
N 43 Leviticus 19:27 Not shaving the temples/sides of your head
N 44 Leviticus 19:27 Not shaving your beard
N 45 Deuteronomy 16;1 Not making cuttings in our flesh over your dead
N 46 Deuteronomy 17:16 Not settling in the land of Egypt to reside there permanently
N 47 Numbers 15:39 Not to follow one’s heart or eyes, straying to impurity
N 48 Deuteronomy 7:2 Not to make a covenant with the Seven Nations of Canaan (Ex. 23:32)
N 49 Deuteronomy 20:16 Not to spare the life of the Seven Canaanite Nations
N 50 Deuteronomy 7:2 Not to show mercy to idolators
N 51 Exodus 23:33 Not to allow idolators to settle in our land (Eretz-Israel)
N 52 Deuteronomy 7:3 Not to intermarry with a heretic (one serving false gods)
N 53 Deuteronomy 23:4 Not to intermarry at all with a male from Ammon or Moav
N 54 Deuteronomy 23:8 Exclude not marrying descendants of Esav (Esau) if a proselyte
N 55 Deuteronomy 23:8 Not to exclude marrying an Egyptian who is a proselyte
N 56 Deuteronomy 23:7 Not permitted to offer peace to Ammon or Moav nations
N 57 Deuteronomy 20:19 Not destroying fruit trees, even in time of siege/war
N 58 Deuteronomy 7:21 Not fearing the enemy in time of war
N 59 Deuteronomy 25:19 Not forgetting the evil which Amalek did to us
Torah About BLASPHEMY
N 60 Leviticus 24:16 Not blaspheming the Holy Name of YHWH (Exodus 22:27)
N 61 Leviticus 19:12 Not violate an oath by the Holy Name shevuas bittui (oath of uterrance)
N 62 Exodus 20:7 Not taking the Holy Name in vain, shevuas shav (vain oath)
N 63 Leviticus 22:32 Not profaning the Holy Name of God
N 64 Deuteronomy 6:16 Not testing/trying His (YHWH/God) promises and warnings
N 65 Deuteronomy 12:4 Not to break down houses of worship or to destroy holy books
N 66 Deuteronomy 21:23 Not leaving the body of an executed criminal hanging overnight
N 67 Numbers 18:5 Not to be lax in guarding the Sanctuary/Temple
N 68 Leviticus 16:2 Kohein haGadol enter Sanctuary only at prescribed times
N 69 Leviticus 21:23 Kohein with blemish not to enter Sanctuary, from Altar inwards
N 70 Leviticus 21:17 Kohein with a blemish not to minister in Sanctuary
N 71 Leviticus 21:18 Kohein with a temporary blemish not to minister in Sanctuary
N 72 Numbers 18:3 Levites and Kohanim not perform each other’s allotted services
N 73 Leviticus 10:9 Not to be intoxicated when entering Sanctuary; and (continued…)
N 73 Leviticus 10:9 …not to be intoxicated when giving a decision on Torah Law
N 74 Numbers 18:4 A Zar (non-kohein) not to minister in Sanctuary
N 75 Leviticus 22:2 Tameh (unclean) Kohein not to minister in Sanctuary
N 76 Leviticus 21:6 Kohein who is tevul yom, not to minister in Sanctuary
N 77 Numbers 5:3 Tameh (unclean) person not to enter any part of Sanctuary
N 78 Deuteronomy 23:11 Tameh person not to enter camp of Levites (Temple mount)
N 79 Exodus 20:25 Not to build an Altar of stones which were touched by iron
N 80 Exodus 20:26 Not to have an ascent to the Altar by steps
N 81 Leviticus 6:6 Not to extinguish the Altar fire
N 82 Exodus 30:9 Not to offer any sacrifice, but specified incense, on the Golden Altar
N 83 Exodus 30:32 Not to make oil the same as the Oil of Annointment
N 84 Exodus 30:32 Not annoint anyone with special oil except Kohein haGadol and king
N 85 Exodus 30:37 Not to make incense like used in Sanctuary
N 86 Exodus 25:15 Not to remove the staves from their rings in the Ark
N 87 Exodus 28:28 Not to remove the Breastplate from the Ephod
N 88 Exodus 28:32 Not to make any incision in Kohein haGadol’s upper garment
Torah About SACRIFICES
N 89 Deuteronomy 12:13 Not to offer sacrifices outside the Sanctuary/Temple Court
N 90 Leviticus 17:3 Not to slaughter consecrated animals outside the Sanctuary Court
N 91 Leviticus 22:20 Not to dedicate a blemished animal to be offered on the Altar
N 92 Leviticus 22:22 Not to slaughter a blemished animal as a korban
N 93 Leviticus 22:24 Not to dash the blood of a blemished beast on the Altar
N 94 Leviticus 22:22 Not to burn the inner parts of blemished beast on Altar
N 95 Deuteronomy 17:1 Not to sacrifice a beast with a temporary blemish
N 96 Leviticus 22:25 Not to offer a blemished sacrifice of a gentile
N 97 Leviticus 22:21 Not to cause a consecrated offering to become blemished
N 98 Leviticus 2:11 Not to offer leaven or honey upon the Altar
N 99 Leviticus 2:13 Not to offer a sacrifice without salt
N 100 Deuteronomy 23:19 Not to offer on Altar the “hire of a harlot” or “price of a dog”
N 101 Leviticus 22:28 Not to slaughter an animal and her young on the same day
N 102 Leviticus 5:11 Not to put olive oil on the sin-meal offering of a sinner
N 103 Leviticus 5:11 Not to put frankincense on the sin-meal offering of a sinner
N 104 Numbers 5:15 Not to put olive oil on jealousy-offering of suspected adulteress, sotah
N 105 Numbers 5:15 Not put frankincense on jealousy-offering of suspect. adulteress, sotah
N 106 Leviticus 27:10 Not to change a beast that has been consecrated as an offering
N 107 Leviticus 27:26 Not to change one’s holy sacrifice from one category to the other
N 108 Numbers 18:17 Not to redeem the firstborn (of a clean beast) of a permitted animal
N 109 Leviticus 27:33 Not to sell the tithe of the herd of cattle
N 110 Leviticus 27:28 Not to sell a devoted property/field (by the Cherem vow)
N 111 Leviticus 27:28 Not to redeem devoted land/field (by the Cherem vow)…
N 111 Leviticus 27:28 …without specific statement of purpose
N 112 Leviticus 5:8 Not to sever the head of the bird of Sin-offering during melikah
N 113 Deuteronomy 15:19 Not to do any work with a dedicated beast
N 114 Deuteronomy 15:19 Not to shear a dedicated beast
N 115 Exodus 34:25 Not slaughter the Korban Pesach lamb while chometz is about
N 116 Exodus 23:10 Not to leave any sacrificial portions of Korban Pesach lamb overnight
N 117 Exodus 12:10 Not allow meat of Korban Pesach lamb to remain till morning
N 118 Deuteronomy 16:4 Not allow meat of Nisan 14 Festive Offering to remain till day three
N 119 Numbers 9:13 Not allow meat of 2nd Pesach lamb offering to remain till morning
N 120 Leviticus 22:30 Not allow meat of Thanksgiving Offering to remain till morning
N 121 Exodus 12:46 Not to break any bones of Pesach lamb offering
N 122 Numbers 9:12 Not to break any bones of 2nd Pesach lamb offering
N 123 Exodus 12:46 Not to break any bones of Pesach Sheini offering and…
N 123 Exodus 12:46 …not to remove Pesach offering from where it is eaten
N 124 Leviticus 6:10 Not to bake the residue of a meal offering with leaven
N 125 Exodus 12:9 Not to eat the Pesach offering boiled or raw
N 126 Exodus 12:45 Not to allow a ger toshav (alien resident) to eat Pesach offering
N 127 Exodus 12:48 An uncircumcised person may not eat the Pesach offering
N 128 Exodus 12:43 Not to allow an apostate to eat the Pesach offering
N 129 Leviticus 12:4 Tameh (ritually unclean) person may not eat hallowed food/things
N 130 Leviticus 7:19 Not to eat meat of consecrated offerings which have become tameh
N 131 Leviticus 19:6-8 Not eating nosar (sacrificial meat) beyond the allotted time
N 132 Leviticus 7:18 Not eating piggul (sacrificial meat) slaughtered in wrong intention
N 133 Leviticus 22:10 A zar/non-Kohein may not eat terumah/(heave offering)
N 134 Leviticus 22:10 A Kohein’s tenant (sojourner) or hired servant to not eat terumah
N 135 Leviticus 22:10 An uncircumcised Kohein or person may not eat terumah
N 136 Leviticus 22:4 Tameh (ritually unclean) Kohein may not eat terumah
N 137 Leviticus 22:12 A Bat-Kohein if married to a non-Cohein may not eat holy food
N 138 Leviticus6:16 Not to eat the meal-offering of a Kohein
N 139 Leviticus 6:23 Not eat Sin-offering meat whose blood was brought into Sanctuary
N 140 Deuteronomy 14:3 Not eat to eat consecrated animals that have become blemished
N 141 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eat to eat unredeemed 2nd tithe of corn outside Yerushalayim
N 142 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not consuming unredeemed 2nd tithe of wine outside Yerushalayim
N 143 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not consuming unredeemed 2nd tithe of oil outside Yerushalayim
N 144 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eating an unblemished firstling outside Yerushalayim
N 145 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eat sin-offering and guilt-offering outside Sanctuary Court
N 146 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not to eat the meat of a burnt offering at all
N 147 Deuteronomy 12:17 Not eat lesser holy offerings before blood dashed on Altar
N 148 Deuteronomy 12:17 A zar/non-Cohein is not to eat the most Holy offerings
N 149 Exodus 29:33 A Kohein not to eat first fruits outside Yerushalayim/Temple courts
N 150 Deuteronomy 26:14 Not eating an unredeemed 2nd tithe while tamah, even in Yerushalayim
N 151 Deuteronomy 26:14 Not eating the 2nd tithe while in mourning
N 152 Deuteronomy 26:14 Not to spend 2nd tithe redemption money - except only on food/drink
N 153 Leviticus 22:15 Not eating untithed produce, tevel (heave offerings and tithe not taken)
N 154 Exodus 22:28 Not altering the prescribed order of separating harvest/various tithes
N 155 Deuteronomy 23:22 Not to delay payment of offerings, freewill or obligatory
N 156 Exodus 23:15 Not to go to Temple on pilgrim festivals without offering
N 157 Numbers 30:3 Not to break your word, even if without an oath
Torah About PRIESTS
N 158 Leviticus 21:7 A Kohein may not marry a harlot (zonah)
N 159 Leviticus 21:7 A Kohein may not marry a woman profaned by harlotry (chalalah)
N 160 Leviticus 21:7 A Kohein may not marry a divorcee
N 161 Leviticus 21:14 Kohein haGadol may not marry a widow
N 162 Leviticus 21:15 Kohein haGadol may not have relations with a widow as a concubine
N 163 Leviticus 10:6 Kohein with disheveled hair may not enter the Sanctuary
N 164 Leviticus 10:6 Kohein wearing rent garments may not enter Sanctuary
N 165 Leviticus 10:7 Ministering Kohanim may not leave the Sanctuary during the service
N 166 Leviticus 21:1 Common Kohein may not defile himself for dead (except some)
N 167 Leviticus 21:11 Kohein haGadol may not be under one roof with dead body
N 168 Leviticus 21:11 Kohein haGadol may not defile himself for any dead person
N 169 Deuteronomy 18:1 Levites may not take a share of the land of Israel
N 170 Deuteronomy 18:1 Levites may not share in the spoil on conquest of the land or war
N 171 Deuteronomy 14:1 Not to tear out hair for the dead
Torah About DIETARY LAWS
N 172 Deuteronomy 14:7 Not to eat any unclean animal
N 173 Leviticus 11:11 Not to eat any unclean fish
N 174 Leviticus 11:13 Not to eat any unclean fowl
N 175 Deuteronomy 14:19 Not to eat any swarming/creeping winged insect
N 176 Leviticus 11:41 Not to eat anything which swarms/creeps on the earth
N 177 Leviticus 11:44 Not to eat any creeping thing which breeds in decayed matter
N 178 Leviticus 11:42 Not to eat living creatures that breed in seeds/fruit
N 179 Leviticus 11:43 Not to eat any swarming (detestable) thing
N 180 Deuteronomy 14:21 Not to eat any animal which died naturally (a nevelah)
N 181 Exodus 22:30 Not to eat an animal which is torn or mauled (a treifah)
N 182 Deuteronomy 12:23 Not to eat any limb taken from a living animal
N 183 Genesis 32:33 Not to eat the gid hanasheh (sinew of the thigh-vein)
N 184 Leviticus 7:24 Not to eat blood
N 185 Leviticus 7:23 Not to eat the fat of a clean animal (chelev)
N 186 Exodus 23:19 Not to cook/boil meat (young male goat) in its mother’s milk
N 187 Exodus 34:26 Not to eat young male goat cooked in its mother’s milk
N 188 Exodus 21:28 Not to eat the flesh of a condemned and to be stoned ox
N 189 Leviticus 23:14 Not to eat bread made from grain of a new crop, before Omer
N 190 Leviticus 23:14 Not to eat roasted grain of a new crop, before Omer offering
N 191 Leviticus 23:14 Not to eat fresh/green ears of grain/new crop, before Omer (Nisan 16)
N 192 Leviticus 19”23 Not to eat orlah
N 193 Deuteronomy 22:9 Not to eatkilai hakerem (growth of mixed vineyard plantig)
N 194 Deuteronomy 32:38 Not to drink yayin nesach (libation wine for idol worship)
N 195 Deuteronomy 21:20 No eating or drinking to excess (gluttony/drunkenness) Leviticus 19:26
N 196 Leviticus 23:29 Not to eat anything on Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement
N 197 Exodus 13:3 Not to eat chometz (leaven) on Pesach
N 198 Exodus 13:7 Not to eat an admixture of chometz/leaven(ed) on Pesach
N 199 Deuteronomy 16:3 Not to eat chometz, leaven(ed) after noon of 14 Nissan
N 200 Exodus 13:7 No chametz may be seen in our homes during Pesach
N 201 Exodus 12:19 Not to possess chametz, leaven(ed) during Pesach
Torah About NAZIRITES
N 202 Numbers 6:3 A Nazir may not drink wine or any beverage from grapes
N 203 Numbers 6:3 A Nazir may not eat fresh grapes
N 204 Numbers 6:3 A Nazir may not eat dried grapes
N 205 Numbers 6:4 A Nazir may not eat grape seeds/kernels
N 206 Numbers 6:4 A Nazir may not grape peels/husks
N 207 Numbers 6:7 A Nazir may not rend himself tameh (unclean) for the dead
N 208 Leviticus 21:11 A Nazir may not rend himself tameh by entering a house with a corpse
N 209 Numbers 6:5 A Nazir may not shave his hair
Torah About AGRICULTURE
N 210 Leviticus 23:22 Not to reap a whole field without leaving corners for the poor
N 211 Leviticus 19:9 Not to gather ears of corn that fell during harvesting
N 212 Leviticus 19:10 Not to gather the whole produce of vineyard at vintage time…
N 212 Leviticus 19:10 …specifically the misformed clusters of grapes
N 213 Leviticus 19:10 Not to gather single fallen grapes during the vintage
N 214 Deuteronomy 24:19 Not to return for a forgotten sheaf
N 215 Leviticus 19:19 Not to sow kalayim (diverse kinds of seed in one field)
N 216 Deuteronomy 22:9 Not to sow grain or vegetables in a vineyard
N 217 Leviticus 19:19 Not to make crossbreed animals of different species
N 218 Deuteronomy 22:10 Not to work with two different kinds of animals together
N 219 Deuteronomy 25:4 Not to prevent a beast from eating the produce where working
N 220 Leviticus 25:4 Not to cultivate the soil in the seventh year, shemittah
N 221 Leviticus 25:4 Not to prune the trees in the seventh year
N 222 Leviticus 25:5 Not reap a self-grown plant in the 7th year as in ordinary year
N 223 Leviticus 25:5 Not gather a self-grown fruit in the 7th year as in ordinary year
N 224 Leviticus 25:11 Not to cultivate the soil or prune trees in the Jubilee year
N 225 Leviticus 25:11 Not to reap the aftergrowths of Jubilee year as in ordinary year
N 226 Leviticus 25:11 Not to gather fruit in Jubilee year as in ordinary year
N 227 Leviticus 25:23 Not to sell out one’s holdings in Eretz Yisroel in perpetuity
N 228 Leviticus 25:33 Not to sell/change the open lands of the Levites
N 229 Deuteronomy 12:19 Not to forsake/leave the Levites without support
Torah About LOANS, BUSINESS, and the TREATMENT OF SLAVES
N 230 Deuteronomy 15:2 Not to demand payment of debts after Shmitah (7th) year
N 231 Deuteronomy 15:9 Not to withold a loan to be cancelled in the Shmitah year…
N 231 Deuteronomy 15:9 …not to refuse a loan to poor because Shmitah year is near
N 232 Deuteronomy 15:7 Failing to give charity to our needy brethren
N 233 Deuteronomy 15:13 Not sending a Hebrew bondman away empty-handed
N 234 Exodus 22:24 Not demanding payment from a debtor known unable to pay
N 235 Leviticus 25:37 Not lending to another Jew at interest
N 236 Deuteronomy 23:20 Not borrowing from another Jew at interest
N 237 Exodus22:24 Not participating in an agreement involving interest
N 238 Leviticus 19:13 Not oppressing an employee by delaying payment of his wages
N 239 Deuteronomy 24:10 Not taking a pledge from a debtor by force
N 240 Deuteronomy 24:12 Not keeping a poor man’s pledge when he needs it
N 241 Deuteronomy 24:17 Not taking any pledge from a widow
N 242 Deuteronomy 24:6 Not taking one’s business (or food) utensils in pledge
N 243 Exodus 20:13 Not abducting an Israelite
N 244 Leviticus 19:11 Not stealing
N 245 Leviticus 19:13 Not committing robbery
N 246 Deuteronomy 19;14 Not fraudulently altering land boundaries/landmarker
N 247 Leviticus 19:13 Not usurping our debts/do not defraud
N 248 Leviticus 19:11 Not repudiating (our) debts, denying receipt of loan/deposit
N 249 Leviticus 19:11 Not to swear falsely in repudiating our debts including…
N 249 Leviticus 19:11 …regarding another man’s property
N 250 Leviticus 25:14 Not wronging/deceiving one another in business
N 251 Leviticus 25:17 Not wronging/misleading one another even by speech
N 252 Exodus 22:20 Not wronging/harming the proselyte/stranger among you by speech
N 253 Exodus 22:20 Not wronging/injuring the proselyte/stranger in business/trade
N 254 Deuteronomy 23:16 Not handing over a fugitive bondman/slave who’d fled to Israel
N 255 Deuteronomy 23:17 Not wronging/taking advantage of a fugitive bondman/slave…
N 255 Deuteronomy 23:17 …who has fled to Israel
N 256 Exodus 22:21 Not dealing harshly (afflicting the) with orphans and widows
N 257 Leviticus 25:39 Not employing a Hebrew bondman in degrading tasks
N 258 Leviticus 25:42 Not selling a Hebrew bondman by public auction
N 259 Leviticus 25:43 Not having a Hebrew bondman do unnecessary work…
N 259 Leviticus 25:43 …not treating a Hebrew bondman cruelly
N 260 Leviticus 25:53 Not allowing a heathen to mistreat a Hebrew bondman
N 261 Exodus 21:8 Not selling a Hebrew bondmaid and if you marry her…
N 262 Exodus 21:10 …not to afflict one’s wife or espoused Hebrew bondmaid (continued…)
N 262 Exodus 21:10 …by diminishing food, rainment, or conjugal rights
N 263 Deuteronomy 21:14 Not selling a captive woman
N 264 Deuteronomy 21:14 Not treating a captive woman as a slave
N 265 Exodus 20:17 Not coveting another man’s property/possessions, etc.
N 266 Deuteronomy 5:18 Not coveting another’s belongings, even the desire is forbidden
N 267 Deuteronomy 23:25 A hired laborer is not to cut down standing grain while working
N 268 Deuteronomy 23:24 A hired laborer is not to putt any of the harvest in his own vessel
N 269 Deuteronomy 22:3 Not ignoring lost property to be returned to its owner
N 270 Exodus 23:5 Not to refuse to help man or animal collapsing with burden
N 271 Leviticus 19:35 Not cheating/defrauding in measurements and weights
N 272 Deuteronomy 25:13 Not to possess false/inaccurate weights and measures
N 273 Leviticus 19:15 Judge not to commit unrighteousness
N 274 Exodus 23:8 Judge not to accept bribes/gifts from litigants
N 275 Leviticus 19:15 Judge not to favor (be partial to) a litigant
N 276 Deuteronomy 1:17 Judge not to avoid just judgement through fear of a wicked person
N 277 Leviticus 19:15 Judge not to decide in favor of a poor man, out of pity Exodus 23:3
N 278 Exodus 23:6 Judge not pervert justice (discriminate) against person of evil repute
N 279 Deuteronomy 19:13 Judge not to pity one who has killed or caused loss of limb
N 280 Deuteronomy 24:17 Judge not perverting justice due to proselytes/strangers or orphans
N 281 Exodus 23:1 Judge not to listen to one litigant in absence of the other
N 282 Exodus 23:2 A court may not convict by a majority of one in a capital case
N 283 Exodus 23:2 A judge may not rely on the opinion of a fellow judge, and…
N 283 Exodus 23:2 …may not argue for conviction after favoring acquittal
N 284 Deuteronomy 1:17 Not appointing an unlearned judge ignorant of the Torah
N 285 Exodus 20:16 Not bearing false witness
N 286 Exodus 23:1 Judge is not to receive a wicked man’s testimony
N 287 Deuteronomy 24:16 Judge not to receive testimony from a litigant’s relatives
N 288 Deuteronomy 19:15 Not convicting on the testimony of a single witness
N 289 Exodus 20:13 Not murdering a human being
N 290 Exodus 23:7 No capital punishment based on circumstantial evidence alone
N 291 Numbers 35:30 A witness must not sit as a judge/advocate in capital cases
N 292 Numbers 35:12 Not killing a murderer without a trial and conviction
N 293 Deuteronomy 25:12 Not to pity or spare the life of a pursuer
N 294 Deuteronomy 22:26 Not punishing a person for a sin committed under duress
N 295 Numbers 35:31 Not accepting ransom from an unwitting murderer
N 296 Numbers 35:32 Not accepting a ransom from a willful murdere
N 297 Leviticus 19:16 Not to neglect/hesitate to save the life of another person in danger
N 298 Deuteronomy 22:8 Not leaving obstacles on public or private domain
N 299 Leviticus 19:14 Not giving misleading advice to another
N 300 Deuteronomy25:2-3 Not to inflict more than assigned number of lashes to guilty
N 301 Leviticus 19:16 Not to bear/tell tales
N 302 Leviticus 19:17 Not to bear hatred in your heart toward your brethern
N 303 Leviticus 19:17 Not to put one another to shame
N 304 Leviticus 19:18 Not to take vengeance on another
N 305 Leviticus 19:18 Not to bear a grudge
N 306 Deuteronomy 22:6 Not to take the entire bird’s nest (mother and her young)
N 307 Leviticus 13:33 Not to shave a leprous scall
N 308 Deuteronomy 24:8 Not to cut or cauterize(remove) other signs of leprosy
N 309 Deuteronomy 21:4 Not ploughing a valley where Eglah Arufah (slain body was found)
N 310 Exodus 22:17 Not permitting a witch or sorcerer to live
N 311 Deuteronomy 24:5 Not taking bridegroom from home during first year of marriage
N 312 Deuteronomy 17:11 Not to differ from or disobey the Cohein and the Judge
N 313 Deuteronomy 13:1 Not to add to the Mitsvot/Commandments of Torah
N 314 Deuteronomy 13:1 Not to detract from the Mitsvot/Commandments of Torah
N 315 Exodus 22:27 Not to curse a Judge
N 316 Exodus 22:27 Not to curse a ruler
N 317 Leviticus 19:14 Not to curse any Israelite/Jew
N 318 Exodus 21:17 Not to curse parents
N 319 Exodus 21:15 Not to smite parents
N 320 Exodus 20:10 Not to work on Shabbat
N 321 Exodus 16:29 Not to walk beyond permitted limits, eruv, on Shabbat
N 322 Exodus 35:3 Not to inflict punish on Shabbat
N 323 Exodus 12:16 Not to work on the first day of Pesach
N 324 Exodus 12:16 Not to work on the seventh day of Pesach
N 325 Leviticus 23:21 Not to work on Shavout Atzeres
N 326 Leviticus 23:25 Not to work on Rosh Hashana
N 327 Leviticus 23:35 Not to work on the first day of Sukkot
N 328 Leviticus 23:36 Not to work on 8th-day/Shemini-Atzeret, (after Hoshana Rabba)
N 329 Leviticus 23:28 Not to work on Yom Kippur/the Day of Atonement
Torah About INCEST and other FORBIDDEN RELATIONSHIPS
N 330 Leviticus 18:7 Not have relations with one’s mother
N 331 Leviticus 18:8 Not have relations with one’s father’s wife
N 332 Leviticus 18:9 Not have relations with one’s sister
N 333 Leviticus 18:11 Not have relations with daughter of father’s wife, (step-sister)
N 334 Leviticus 18:10 Not have relations with one’s son’s daughter
N 335 Leviticus18:10 Not have relations with one’s daughter’s daughter
N 336 Leviticus 18:10 Not have relations with one’s daughter
N 337 Leviticus 18:17 Not have relations with a woman and her daughter
N 338 Leviticus 18:17 Not have relations with a woman and her son’s daughter
N 339 Leviticus 18:17 Not have relations with a woman and her daughter’s daughter
N 340 Leviticus 18:12 Not have relations with one’s father’s sister
N 341 Leviticus 18:13 Not have relations with one’s mother’s sister
N 342 Leviticus 18:14 Not have relations with wife of father’s brother
N 343 Leviticus 18:15 Not have relations with one’s son’s wife
N 344 Leviticus 18:16 Not have relations with brother’s wife
N 345 Leviticus 18:18 Not have relations with sister of wife (during wife’s lifetime)
N 346 Leviticus 18:19 Not to have relations with a menstruant
N 347 Leviticus 18:20 Not to have relations with another man’s wife
N 348 Leviticus 18:23 Men may not lie with beasts
N 349 Leviticus 18:23 Women may not lie with beasts
N 350 Leviticus 18:22 A man many not lie carnally with another man
N 351 Leviticus 18:17 A man many not lie carnally with his father
N 352 Leviticus 18:14 A man many not lie carnally with his father’s brother
N 353 Leviticus 18:6 Not to be intimate with a kinswoman
N 354 Deuteronomy 23:3 A mamzer may not have relations with a Jewess
N 355 Deuteronomy 23:18 Not having relations with a woman outside marriage…
N 355 Deuteronomy 23:18 …or a harlot outside of marriage
N 356 Deuteronomy 24:4 Not remarrying one’s divorced wife after she has remarried
N 357 Deuteronomy 25:5 Childless widow to marry none except late husbands brother
N 358 Deuteronomy 22:29 Not divorcing woman he has raped and been compelled to marry
N 359 Deuteronomy 22:19 Not divorcing a woman after falsely slandering her
N 360 Deuteronomy 23:2 Man incapable of procreation (eunuch) not to marry a Jewess
N 361 Leviticus 22:24 Not to castrate a man or beast
Torah About THE MONARCHY
N 362 Deuteronomy 17:15 Not appointing a king who is not the seed of Israel
N 363 Deuteronomy 17:16 A king not to accumulate an excess number of horses
N 364 Deuteronomy 17:17 A king not taking many wives
N 365 Deuteronomy 17:17 A king not amassing great personal wealth
So why do we think that when Yahshua/Yeshua/Y’Shua (Jesus) answered the false Pharisee’s[1] that “all foods were clean” – He meant it was now OK to eat all the unclean animals that God had put off limits FOR OUR HEALTH PROTECTION? In Hebrew society pigs, shrimp, and lobsters were not even considered food! So when He said all foods were clean – they did not even think of the unclean foods. Besides the phrase “all foods are clean” is not in the earliest manuscripts (most honest Bibles have the phrase in italics or parenthesis. Look also at Acts chapter 10 and Peter’s dream – the Bible always interprets the dreams for us – so we will not be confused. Peter never ate the unclean animals because he was following Torah (read Jeremiah 35 a similar thing). The dream was about people and the unclean animals were a metaphor! The Bible makes that point. So if Abba Father told the people of the “Old” Testament “don’t eat these things because they may kill you.” Why then in the “New” Testament (which is supposedly all about love according to the evangelical elite) does Abba Father tell us to eat things that can kill us (and do every year – Oysters with hepatitis, PCB’s, etc.). Beloved, this is why you and I must study and really read the Scriptures for ourselves.
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NOTE FOR YEAR 5772/2011-2012
This list is attributed to Rabbi Rashi in the middle ages - this list is the compiling that he came up with. I have never run across a listing by book and chapter of the Torah. So in the PREAMBLE for the Torah Cycle for 5772 – I am compiling such a listing.
In every parasha, I will list the Commandments for every chapter during the year. I will list by their original number from this listing composed by Rashi. It should look like this.
GENESIS/BERESHIT
P 212 Genesis 1:28 Be fruitful and multiply
P 215 Genesis 17:10 Circumcising one’s son (Leviticus 12:3)
N 183 Genesis 32:33 Not to eat the gid hanasheh (sinew of the thigh-vein)
Hope and pray this helps next year!
[1] Yahshua’s disciples probably did wash their food and their hands – they just didn’t wash them according to the man-made ceremony that that the false Pharisee’s had implemented.
Parashat Vzot ha’Bracha “and this blessing"
Deuteronomy 33:1-34:12
1 October 2011 / 3 Tishrei 5772
By Rabbi David Miller
www.HisTorah4u.com
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Ancient Wisdom: The Rebbe of Tsanz was asked by a Chasid: “What does the Rabbi do before praying?” The Rabbi answered, “I pray, that I may be able to pray properly.”
Ancient Wisdom: To love God truly, one must first love people. And if anyone tells you that he loves God and does not love his/her fellow humans, you will know that they are lying.
Ancient Wisdom: There is no room for God in those who are full of themselves.
THIS IS THE LAST PARASHA FOR 5771. Year after year for thousands of years the cycle has gone on-and-on. In a few days on 22 October/24 Tishrei 5772 another cycle will begin. I can guarantee you that during the next cycle you will gain more insight into the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the Gospels and the Apostolic Writings than you had in 5771. I do every year. And no matter when you join the annual cycle – there is never an opportunity to say “if only I had done this sooner.” Every year, almost every subject, every doctrine, every principle can be touched.
So why do so many people fail to entertain the idea of completing a Torah Cycle? Why do so many people in everyday Churches fail to complete the “Bible In 1-Year” programs? The same reason, people want answers…now. Instant gratification: people want “Wisdom & Understanding in a Can.” But what you can DO is to be there as a servant of God when those people need Scriptural wisdom, understanding and insight. But you will STAY THE COURSE, and let the world revolve crazily like a cyclone. “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” – Ecclesiastes 12:13.
DEUTERONOMY 33:1-29
“Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. And he said, "The LORD came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; at His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. "Indeed, He loves the people; all Thy holy ones are in Thy hand, and they followed in Thy steps; Everyone receives of Thy words. "Moses charged us with a law, a possession for the assembly of Jacob.” (see Ezekiel 47:21-23, John 10:16, Romans 11:16-24) – Deuteronomy 33:1-4
ONE: This passage is being written in the 3rd person. Some people think that Joshua or a Scribe added this at a later date after Moses death. No one knows if this is true. Moses may have simply written this in his own hand – but in the 3rd person.
TWO: Many people will gloss right over these opening words, and that is a shame. Because the words in verse 4, are significantly powerful for anyone, DNA Jew or DNA Gentile who has been called to Salvation in the LORD and who has found everlasting Salvation.
The words “charged with a law.” “Law” is the word Torah, the instructions from God to his beloved, “He loves the people.” This awesome document that leads us to personal Salvation, that teaches us His Divine character and helps us to lead righteous lives avoiding the mine fields of life, and that helps to create human societies that keep injury of innocent people to a minimum. This Torah He gave it to us for FREE! All He asks is that we love Him and follow His Way. The Torah is for ALL Mankind.[1]
The words “a possession for the assembly of Jacob.” This is not Physical Israel…this is Spiritual Israel, this is everyone who is grafted into the Olive tree which is Israel. It does not matter if you are of the 12-Tribes, or Manasseh or Ephraim, or 100% Gentile. If we were to discover a race of humans living in some subterranean cavern beneath the Earth – Salvation and Torah would be for them too! The Hebrew word used for “possession” is also used for “heritage” it is: morashah. The ancient Rabbis have commented that this isn’t not specific to a physical promise - but of a spiritual one – this includes everyone who joins, who is grafted in to Spiritual Israel – whoever you are, wherever you live! Even the great Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon[2] (Rambam) agreed with this idea!
"And it will come about that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. "And it will come about that in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance," declares the Lord God.” – Ezekiel 47:22-23
"And I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they shall hear My voice; and they shall become one flock with one shepherd.” – John 10:16
“And if the first piece of dough be holy, the lump is also; and if the root be holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."– Romans 11:16-26
Beloved, “IF” there is a thing called “A Divine Invitation” it for EVERY ONE. First Invitation is to accept God’s free gift of Salvation and the second Invitation is to follow His Way. Torah and its loving instructions are not for DNA Jews only as some people erroneously teach. In fact now that I think about it, I will include the paper about the UMJC Decision at the end of this last parasha (people other than UMJC have picked it up and teach it, some have modified it and teach it – but it is still a doctrine taught in error). Torah is for everyone just as Salvation that it leads everyone to – is for.
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” – Romans 11:29
DEUTERONOMY 33:5-25
"And He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel together.”
Jeshurun (Yeshurun) is a poetic form of “Israel.” “Derived from root word meaning upright, just, straight. Describes Israel when it does not stray away from the standards set by and upheld by God. (R'Hirsch) Jeshurun appears four times in the Hebrew Bible — three times in Deuteronomy and once in Isaiah. It can mean the people of Israel (Deut. 32:15; 33:26), the Land of Israel(Deut. 33:5;), or the Patriarch Jacob.”
BLESSINGS FOR THE TRIBES
REUBEN -v6 - "May Reuben live and not die, nor his men be few."
JUDAH v7 –“And this regarding Judah; so he said, "Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, And bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them; and mayest Thou be a help against his adversaries." LEVI v8-11 – “And of Levi he said, "Let Thy Thummim and Thy Urim belong to Thy godly man, Whom Thou didst prove at Massah, With whom Thou didst contend at the waters of Meribah; Who said of his father and his mother, 'I did not consider them'; And he did not acknowledge his brothers, Nor did he regard his own sons, For they observed Thy word, And kept Thy covenant. "They shall teach Thine ordinances to Jacob, And Thy law to Israel. They shall put incense before Thee, And whole burnt offerings on Thine altar. "O LORD, bless his substance, And accept the work of his hands; Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him, And those who hate him, so that they may not rise again."
BENJAMIN v12 – “Of Benjamin he said, "May the beloved of the LORD dwell in security by Him, Who shields him all the day, and he dwells between His shoulders." JOSEPH v13-17a,b – “And of Joseph he said, "Blessed of the LORD be his land, With the choice things of heaven, with the dew, And from the deep lying beneath, And with the choice yield of the sun, And with the choice produce of the months. "And with the best things of the ancient mountains, And with the choice things of the everlasting hills, And with the choice things of the earth and its fulness, And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush. Let it come to the head of Joseph, And to the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. "As the first-born of his ox, majesty is his, And his horns are the horns of the wild ox; With them he shall push the peoples, All at once, to the ends of the Earth.”
MANASSEH & EPHRAIM v17c – “And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh."
ZEBULUN v18 – “And of Zebulun he said, "Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth.”
ISSACHAR v18b-19 – “And, Issachar, in your tents. "They shall call peoples to the mountain; There they shall offer righteous sacrifices; For they shall draw out the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand."
GAD v20-21 – “And of Gad he said, "blessed is the one who enlarges Gad; He lies down as a lion, and tears the arm, also the crown of the head. "Then he provided the first part for himself, for there the ruler's portion was reserved; and he came with the leaders of the people; he executed the justice of the LORD, and His ordinances with Israel." DAN v22 – “And of Dan he said, "Dan is a lion's whelp, that leaps forth from Bashan." NAPHTALI v23 – “And of Naphtali he said, "O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, And full of the blessing of the LORD, Take possession of the sea and the south."
ASHER v24-25 – “And of Asher he said, "more blessed than sons is Asher; may he be favored by his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil. "Your locks shall be iron and bronze, and according to your days, so shall your leisurely walk be.” – Deuteronomy 33:5-25
You will no doubt notice that these blessings are NOT in birth order. Why? No one really knows for sure, the “Post-It” note that Moses left on the scroll explaining why he made the blessings in this order - disappeared. Along with it, “why” he did not include the Tribe of Simeon. Here are some reasons:
· When Dinah was raped in Genesis 34, Simeon along with Levi tricked the men of the cities to become circumcised and while the men were recovering – they killed them.
· Later when Jacob blesses his sons, in Genesis 49:5-7 he states that Simeon and Levi would be scattered within Israel.
· Levi repents and becomes the hands of God as the Priests – but they receive no inheritance. And they are indeed scattered among the other tribes (their cities are throughout the Land).
· But the Simeonites seem to have not learned their lesson. In Numbers 25, the incident with Cozbi and Zimri (Zimri is from the tribe of Simeon) some 24,000 people were killed by the plague. Some scholars think this was a person-for-person justice for the slaughter in Genesis 34 (?).
The Tribe of Simeon is absent from the listing in Deuteronomy 33 – for whatever reason God thought it was appropriate. As the centuries roll by, the Tribe of Simeon is indeed absorbed into greater Israel.
"There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty. "The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; and He drove out the enemy from before you, and said, 'Destroy!' "So Israel dwells in security, the fountain of Jacob secluded, in a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew. "Blessed are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, who is the shield of your help, and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, and you shall tread upon their high places." - Deuteronomy 33:26-29
WHY DOES MOSES END…UPBEAT?
The consensus throughout the centuries is that he asked God to delay his death so he could bless Israel on an upbeat manner. So God granted him his request. According to Scripture Moses climbed Mt. Nebo unaided at 120-years old and died. According to tradition he died on 7 Adar, which is around March.
THE DEATH OF MOSES
In the next brief chapter we see Moses die. In this modern era we are all familiar with the term “euthanasia.” Rev. Matthew Henry in the 1800’s referred to the death of Moses as “euthanasia.” It the 1800’s it had a meaning of “a delightful death.” Many writers in the 1600’s through the 1800’s often commented that when the True Believer sees death approaching they should welcome death as one would greet a friend. For the Believer who has been Saved by faith, has had their sins washed away, loves God and has been a good and faithful servant – what fear is there of death? What awaits the True Believer is Eternal and Abundant life. One moment you are aware of this world…and the next aware moment you are in eternity and your name has been called by your Savior.
Please read all of Psalm 90, here is but one verse: “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.” – Psalm 90:10c. Someone the other day told me of an interview with a world famous music mogul, he was explaining how he is awakened every morning by (3) retired models each carrying a special health drink, he has medically injected every week a slew of pharmaceutical grade vitamins and minerals – his goal is to live to be 120. What’s the old saying: “If you want to make God laugh…tell Him ‘I have a plan.’” The unbeliever has this life only – several decades at the most. During my most recent hospital stay the ER doctor and I had a talk about Scripture and “Man” and he told me from his perspective as a Medical Doctor, the human body is really designed for 40-years, after that…it deteriorates. I was also surprised when I went to the Ophthalmologist several years ago and he said after the exam, ”you’re about 40?” He said everyone loses their up close vision around age 40.
I am NOT suggesting that we all take up Base Jumping and begin to eat cheese burgers every day. But other Scriptures tell us that our days are fixed – Messiah told us something similar (Matthew 6:27). So, while we are living we should be striving every day to strive, endure, grow, and to share what we have experienced (mercy and forgiveness) with others whom we meet. All of us die.
PERSONAL NOTE: Last week a friend of my children lost their father (he had experienced several heart-attacks over the years). My (2) daughters were in the living room and we were talking about how hard it was for their friend and his mother: I mentioned that they had time though to prepare, to resolve issues, and to tell each other how much they cared for, loved, and appreciated each other. I then added that they should be aware that with 6-heart attacks and 9-stents they should know that I am not going to live forever. My youngest daughter started to cry and said “you can’t die…you’re my Google.” Until that moment I never really thought that anyone would cry over my death. The point is this: we all die and we should all live our daily lives in preparation for that eventuality. We should not leave things unsaid and good deeds undone. The country singer Tim McGraw a few years ago had a song about a man who at age 40 thought he was going to die; here is a line from that song.
"And I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter,
"And I gave forgiveness I'd been denying."
“An' he said: "Some day, I hope you get the chance,”
"To live like you were dyin'."[3]
Though for the True Believer there will always be things left undone, prayers to be said, people to see and to share God with. But we should not leave good tidings left unsaid, we should not leave love unexpressed, leave His Word unread and not DOne. The words of Robert Frost are appropriate:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.[4]
Moses was told he was going to die by his LORD and Savior – there was an appointed time and place. Moses appeared at the place…, and at the time Moses breathed his last breath. The very next moment that Moses became aware of – was at the end of Time & Space when Eternity began: for Moses, for all of us, it will be literally a ‘twinkling of an eye.’ No matter how little or how much time – intervened. It isn’t necessary to get into a discussion of what happens when we stop breathing and our souls leave our bodies – once we stop being alive: time is irrelevant. All that matters is what we hear when we hear our names being called: by either our Judge or our Savior. I pray that everyone who finds these commentaries, that you make a commitment to ask God to bring you to His Son if you do not know Him as your Personal Savior. And if you DO know Messiah as your Savior: then live everyday as if you were dying. Beloved, do not let this be written as your epitaph:
“For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are those "It might have been.”[5]
“But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel, "do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. "For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” – Isaiah 43:1-3a
DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12
“Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, and the Negev and the plain in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Then the LORD said to him, "This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there." So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. Now Joshua the son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; and the sons of Israel listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, for all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and for all the mighty power and for all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.” – Deuteronomy 34:1-12
MOSES’ OBITUARY
Verses 10-12 are written by God about Moses (Moshe). Most of us don’t give it much thought but God has a regular practice of writing the obit’s for His servants. Of King David He said, “David was a man after God’s own heart.” Of the Priest Jehoiada He said, “He did much good in Israel, both for God and for His Temple.” In Revelation 2:13, we are introduced to a martyr who was named Antipas, he was a martyr of the Church at Pergamum, Jesus calls him “My witness, My faithful one.” Of Abraham, God said that he was a “friend of God.” And of King Josiah He said, “Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” And for Simeon who was blessed by being able to see the Messiah in his time, God said “he was Righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.”
Chaverim kol Yisrael (“all Israel are friends”), may you live your life in such a way that you leave nothing undone when you leave this world. May you live your life so that your obituary is written by your LORD and Savior and you will be blessed to have it displayed outside of your residence in New Jerusalem. May you live your life so you hear your name called by your Savior and then you hear “well done my good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your LORD.” (paraphrase Matthew 25:21, 23).
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: the LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine on you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.' "So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them." – Numbers 6:22-27
Your Servant,
Rabbi David Miller
Luke 24:44-45
BOATROCKERS MINISTRIES Ministries of Great Compassion and Commission 3157 Terry Avenue, Suite 757 Y Clovis, CA 93612 Y Rabbi David Miller, Chairman/CEO
Boatrocker Ministries, Inc.
Position Paper – BR-0031
The UMJC Decision – Boom!
THE UMJC DECISION – BOOM!
A Rebuttal:
A Simple Error…Or A Deadly Error?
By David Miller Ó March 2003, 2006-2011
Landmines (15 May 2016)
It was the darkest kind of night, the sort of dark that enters one’s very marrow and carries with it the cold that can fire one’ deepest fears. The six young men of the United States Marine Corps crept forward into the night, dedicated to carrying out their mission, which on this night was to ensure the safety of this parcel of the Khyber Pass so that in the morning, their Army counterparts could safely lay the deadliest of all modern armaments meant to kill other men – Landmines!
Maps
One more significant thing happened in that brief moment and if one were to consider it carefully, this was perhaps the most important. The coordinates, based upon a grid and exact GPS pinpoints, found its way to a military computer in the form of a map. The map would reside there in “0’s” and “1’s” until called upon by its human masters. Its purpose: to provide the American military and its allies with the exact position of every landmine – should friendly forces ever have to traverse the field.
“Major Roger Brim, United States Army: You are hereby found guilty of the charges of withholding vital information, which lead to the deaths of 19 French Army Forces on the 17th day of March, 2017. By withholding the mapped coordinates of minefield KP-77Alpha, you knowingly allowed friendly forces to enter a death-zone without the map - which WOULD have saved their lives. Your decision not only cost the lives of 19 innocent soldiers, but you have deprived their families of their loved ones and affected untold unborn children of the heritage of these lives that were needlessly cut short.” “It is further noted that you freely gave the maps of KP-77Alpha to American forces and to Canadian Rangers, but withheld the maps from the French forces, who are our allies.” “It is the decision of this Court-Martial that you be stripped of your rank and all military privilege, and you be dishonorably discharged from the United States Army. And that you be immediately taken from this place to Leavenworth Federal Prison, where you will spend the rest of your natural life as a military prisoner.”
Recently there has been a resurgence of a centuries-old debate concerning the Torah and its availability to non-Jewish people groups. The UMJC says the Torah is for Jewish people only. More specifically, while the moral teachings of the Torah are “OK” for non-Jewish people to follow, the specific aspects of Torah Observance that can be expressed in a peculiar lifestyle and an identifiable expression of worship and faith, is reserved for Jewish people only. (Q. How do you parcel it out?) Moreover, the Messianic movement is Messianic “Jewish” only – non-Jews NEED NOT APPLY. (If they do, it shall be in a support role – only).
Boatrockers Ministries sees NO difference between this decision and those made by various Protestant and Catholic ruling body’s over the centuries that have prescribed that Jewish Believers in Messiah had to divest of all Jewishness before being “allowed” to practice Christianity. In essence: Christianity was for “Christian” folks ONLY – Jews NEED NOT APPLY. (see Heb 10:28-29)
The UMJC,[6] at its 23rd Annual convention decided the following:
“[Messianic Judaism] is a movement of Jewish congregations and congregation-like groupings committed to
Yeshua the Messiah that embrace the covenantal responsibility of Jewish life and identity rooted in Torah,
expressed in tradition, and renewed and applied in the context of the New Covenant.” “You have many Gentile
congregations who are calling themselves Jewish because they practice Jewish festivals and love Israel, we think
God raised up Messianic Judaism as a Jewish people movement for Yeshua.” “Gentiles in Messianic Judaism
are not here for themselves, but for Messiah’s own people.”
THE MAP
Life is a like a minefield. No, it isn’t like one…it is one. All men and women are born into this world in a state of Spiritual Darkness (Matthew 4:15-16). The Torah is the Light (Psalm 119:105, John 1:4, 8:12). Messiah is the Living Torah, and whoever receives Him, He gives the right to become children of God (John 1:12). Messiah came to make all men and women into brothers and sisters; to tear down the wall and to make ONE FLOCK (John 10:16, Ephesians 2:11-18, 19). Further, all men will dwell in the Land and inherit everything (Ezekiel 47:21-23, Isaiah 56:3-8). Everyone with a passport to Spiritual Israel CAN live out Torah!
BOOM!
When anyone (Messianic Jewish Rabbis or Post-Modern Evangelical Pastors or Ancient Jewish Rabbis) is willing to share with anyone the truth that God loves them and wants to Save them, but then withholds from them the Torah that is God’s Instruction Book and Map to Avoiding Life’s Landmines. They are sentencing them to possible death, but most certainly to a life fraught with dangerous connections made with life’s landmines, for instance: Greed, Lust, Adultery, Pride, Anger, Sloth, Gluttony, etc, embodied in such forms as Misplaced Priorities, New Secretaries, Stock Manipulation, Selfish Motivations, Wars, Terror, etc.
God Intended For Everyone To Get A Map!
Deuteronomy 4:1-8: Moses explains that when Israel settled into the Land, they were to live by the Torah, His Word (Light, Revelation, Knowledge). The nations would see Israel and marvel at the wisdom, love, and kindness of God! (Living out Torah protects us AND glorifies God!) They would then approach Israel and inquire about God and their lifestyle. Some ancient rabbis (and apparently some modern ones too) have said, and are saying, that non-Jews can have Salvation and Redemption by knowing God, but the map to the minefield belongs only to the ethnic people of God. Peoples of the 70 nations can’t have a map (Torah)! This is utterly ridiculous! And it is utterly dangerous to the peoples of the 70 nations who come to God., for God is no respector of people. It is God’s desire that all come to repentance. And everyone gets a copy of the map! And everyone gets a Torah flashlight!
God Created Everyone For A Purpose
Our Father created Jewish folks for a purpose (carry the Messiah’s bloodline, be a nation of priests to the nations, and to protect the Oracles of God). Our Father created the 70 nations too, and they also have special purposes and talents. He created men and women; black, white, brown, yellow, blue, and red. BUT IN MESSIAH WE ARE ALL ONE. (Hebrews)[7] (Eph 4:4-6, Num 15:14-16).
The Major - Revisited
This could be a 100-page paper…but it won’t be. Notice that poor Major Brim did not forfeit his life for his dereliction of duty and his misguided belief that the maps were only for his people. Major Brim’s reward for his ‘safely keeping’ the maps from his brothers-in-arms was that he merely descended in status from Commissioned Officer…to prisoner. To those “theologians” who would, for ‘safe-keeping,’ deny the blessings and wise instructions of Torah to any, we offer the following verse for your perusal:
Words of Wisdom from our Messiah. Should this verse not be sufficient to see the folly of this decision, read Prov 28:9, I Jn 2:1-11.
[1] In 2003 I wrote a simple 2-page paper titled: “THE UMJC DECISION – BOOM! A Rebuttal: A Simple Error…Or A Deadly Error?” It’s number is BR-0031. When the full website is up and running it is available for FREE in .pdf format.
[2]Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Rambam (Hebrew acronym for "Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon"), was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. He was born in Córdoba, Spain on Passover Eve, 1135, and died in Egypt (or Tiberias) on 20th Tevet, December 12, 1204.
[3] http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/mcgraw-tim/live-like-you-were-dying-13619.html
[4] Robert Frost (1874 - 1963 / San Francisco / USA) American poet. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”
[5] John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) American Poet
[6] Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, the entire document can be read at: www.umjc.org , www.messianictimes.com.
[7] Hebrew means: “he who crossed over.” Anyone who accepts Messiah and is grafted into Israel is a Hebrew (not Jewish: Jew is ethnic).