X X X Parashat HaShavuah har Understanding the Parsha Devarim Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17 Devarim (Deuteronomy) 11:26-16:17 Re eh (See) We ill Learn ho to 1) interpret the main theme (subjet) of a Parsha (eekly reading from the Torah), 2) make themati onnetions to that Parsha (study the Sriptures related by a ommon theme [subjet], line upon line and preept upon preept) 3) learn ho to gain greater understanding of the Parsha e are looking at through its themati onnetions to other portions of Sripture. The Fundamental Funtion/Purpose of the Torah These are the Signs of Life Let s ontinue ith our study of the main funtion and purpose of the Torah. Remember e have learned the that: the fundamental funtion and purpose of the Torah (at the Pashat level) is to seure, ensure and give physial LIFE to those ho keep it. Read these verses Devarim 4:1, 4 and 10, Devarim 5:33, Devarim 6:24, Devarim 8:1 and 3, Devarim 30:19, Levitius 26:3-13, Ezekiel 20:11, 13, 21 and 25! It is obvious that the Holy One gave Am Yisrael the Torah for a purpose. It only makes sense that e ould be able to get a tiny look see of that purpose by examining those verses that desribe the ideal state here Am Yisrael are fully obeying the ommandments (mitzvot). http://.restorationoftorah.org http://restorationoftorah.org/weeklyparsha/mbmreeh.htm 1
Read Devarim 11:26-32. What ill happen to those ho obey the ommandments (mitzvot)? They ill be. What ill happen to those ho do not obey it? They ill be. As you an see, Moses ontinues to press the point that the Torah as given for a unique purpose or funtion in the lives of those ho obey it. It as given so that they ould reeive blessing and LIFE! I don t ant to sound like a broken reord, but Moses is being very thorough. Every time e turn around he is shoing us that obediene to the Torah brings blessing and life. Read Devarim 12:28. Why should Am Yisrael safeguard the ords of the Torah? So that it ill ith them and their hildren. We have seen this phrase, so that it ill go ell ith you, before. It s simply another ay of saying, so that you ill be blessed and experiene an abundane of LIFE. Read Devarim 12:20-25. What is the subjet? m Eating. Note ho Adonai arns them not to eat blood. When most Western Ne Covenant believers read the prohibition against eating blood, they think this ommand prohibits the drinking of blood. Let's read Levitius 17:10-16 to see hat the prohibition of eating blood is all about. Read Levitius 17:10 and 12. What is the negative ommandment given? e b Do not any. eat g meat blessed ursed go ell Notie, it says not to eat any blood. These verses say nothing about drinking blood. The drinking of blood is not the issue. No the Torah ill teah you, hat you have to do so that you do not to eat blood! Read Levitius 17:13-14. Aording to the Torah, hat ation must be performed in order to not eat blood? If a person ishes to eat a bird or animal, its blood must be out and overed ith! What are e talking about here? We're talking about eating meat food! Why must you pour the blood out and over it? e b blood So that you on t it.] eat p poured e earth 2
See ho many times the Torah uses the phrase onsume/ eat blood in Levitius 17:10-16! In other ords, hen the Torah says don t eat blood, it means don t eat meat that has not had the blood properly removed from the body. No here is a key phrase in this portion of Sripture. Look at Levitius 17:13. And hatsoever man there be of the hildren of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, hih hunteth and atheth ANY BEAST OR FOWL THAT MAY BE EATEN; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and over it ith dust (Levitius 17:13, emphasis mine). What does the Torah mean by the phrase, any beast or fol that may be eaten? Are there some beasts and fol that may not be eaten? Also, hih beasts and fol may be eaten? The anser is given in Levitius 11:1-47 here the Torah lists the lean/ tahor/ pure animals that may be eaten! That s right. We re talking about the kosher requirements that make food fit and proper to eat. There are basially to requirements. First, the animal must be a kosher animal; seond, the blood must be properly removed. The Torah is very plain in its definition of not eating blood. It means that you must only eat a kosher animal hose blood has been properly drained. Remember, the Torah says any beast or fol THAT MAY BE EATEN. Can you think of another prohibition that teahes about kosher meat? Read Levitius 3:17 it says that e are to eat neither nor. Animal fat is also not alloed. No pay lose attention to Devarim 12:24-25. We kno that not eating blood is onneted to eating only eat a kosher animal hose blood has been properly drained. We also kno that the phrase, so that it ill go ell ith you, is simply another ay of saying, so that you ill be blessed and experiene an abundane of physial LIFE. So e kno that, Devarim 12:24-25 is saying that by obeying the kosher dietary requirements, you ill ensure LIFE for yourself. One again, Moses is saying that obeying the ommandments (mitzvot) ill lead to life. This time, though, he singled out the dietary ommandments (mitzvot) as a pratial example of ho folloing them ill lead to life. Just something to think about: do you see the health benefits of the dietary ommandments (mitzvot)? Most believers rejet these ommandments (mitzvot) today, saying that they aren t a matter of salvation. No, they aren t a matter of salvation; BUT, they are a matter of LIFE and DEATH. It s not a oinidene that many of today s siknesses and diseases are medially related to eating Biblially unlean foods like pork and shellfish. It s also not a oinidene that most of the leading illnesses in Ameria (diabetes, heart attak, stroke, high blood pressure, et.) are medially proven to be related to too muh saturated fat and holesterol (obtained from animal fat). To sum it up, Moses ontinues to sho Am Yisrael that obediene to the Torah produes LIFE, hereas disobediene produes death. The Holy One has a grand purpose for Am Yisrael, His hosen people hom He loves. So, e kno that it is His intent that the main funtion and purpose of the Torah is to be a soure of blessing and LIFE to those ho obey its preepts. It s question time again. Did any of the passages in this eek s sidra teah any of the belo statements? Cirle YES or NO to eah one... YES or NO The Torah is bondage. YES or NO The Torah ould one day be done aay ith. f YES or NO The Torah as only for the Jes. 3 fat b blood
YES or NO The Jes ere saved by keeping the Torah. YES or NO The Torah is temporary. YES or NO The Torah as given to the Jes to urse them. YES or NO The Torah as abolished. YES or NO The Torah is a urse. YES or NO The Torah as nailed to the ross. YES or NO We only need to obey the spirit of the Torah. YES or NO The letter of the Torah has been done aay ith. YES or NO The Torah brought death to those ho obeyed it. a B g d h z x j y YES or NO We are 1) free from, 2) dead to and 3) delivered from the Torah as a standard of right behavior. YES or NO Obeying the Torah today is legalism. If your ansers ere NO, then e shouldn t aept any of these errors above as reality. After all, they are only the dotrines of men. Yeshua said in Mark 7:13, Thus, ith your tradition hih you had handed don to you, you nullify the Word of God! Read Devarim 11:26-13:2. Pay lose attention to the Parsha breaks (listed at the beginning of this lesson) and here there are subjet hanges. Look for the folloing themati flo: Devarim 11:26-32 Introdution and header for the beginning of the seond subjet of the main speeh. Devarim 12:1-19 Worshipping the Holy One in the manner and in the plae He hooses. Devarim 12:20-31 Conluding arning against orshiping the Holy One the ay the nations orship their gods. Devarim 13:1-2 Devarim 13:1 is a header/introdution to the next topi that begins in Devarim 13:2. The ne subjet is all about false prophets. Please see that although there are to Parsha Stumot beteen Devarim 12:26-12:28, the subjet/ theme/ topi is the same throughout the divisions, i.e., orshiping the Holy One in the manner and in the plae He hooses. Then, the subjet drastially hanges after the Parsha P tuhah sine it no longer is about the negative influenes from outside the nation and begins teahing about the negative influenes ithin the nation (false prophets). Read Devarim 12:1-19. Remembering that one of the primary ays the Torah teahes us its lessons and themes is through repeating things over and over, hat ords seem to be repeated many times in this Parsha? 4
P and. plae hoose No let s go through this Parsha paying attention to its flo as e notie the primary ords. Read Devarim 12:1-7. Let s reate a general outline by onneting the Sripture referene to the subjet. Devarim 12:1 Devarim12:2-3 Devarim 12:4-7 Worshiping at the plae Adonai hooses. Destroying the plaes here the nations orshiped their gods. Introdutory statement. Do you see ho the key ord, plae, links the topis of Devarim 12:2-3 and Devarim 12:4-7 in our outline? These to passages are thematially linked by another ord. Do you kno hih one it is? N and. That s right! On the one hand, the Holy One ommands Am Yisrael to destroy the names of the previous gods in every plae they find it. On the other hand, He says that He ill establish His Name in a ertain plae. As you an see, of all the key ords in this passage, it seems as though plae is the key ord. No, ho ould you summarize Devarim 12:2-7? T in the proper. True Name n orship names l loation Some more ontrasts Devarim 12:4 sits miday beteen the to passages e are investigating. It is a bridge verse. It bridges or onnets the to themes presented in Devarim 12:2-3 and Devarim 12:5-7. Basially it is saying that Am Yisrael annot orship the Holy One in the manner the nations orshiped their gods. We ve already studied the deeper spiritual teahing onerning the La of Kil ayim (Forbidden Mixtures) in Parashat Kedoshim. The deeper teahing (Sod) behind the la of forbidden mixtures is about holiness and the neessity of guarding the truth from error. In other ords, the la of forbidden mixtures (Levitius 19:19-22) is thematially linked to properly keeping Adonai s ommandments (Levitius 19:1-18). This an only be done ithin the ontext of safeguarding His ords from those of ompeting philosophies. Devarim 12:1-7 is simply a pratial appliation of forbidding a mixture of evil (the ays of the nations) ith good (the ommandments [mitzvot]) priniple. See ho this theme reappears in the losing verses of this Parsha P tuhah! I use the Artsroll Chumash hile preparing my lessons. Its hapter and verse divisions are sometimes different from the English versions. Therefore, sometimes my verses may not math yours. When this ours, I ill try to print the verses I ant you to read. 29 "When the LORD your God uts off from before you the nations hih you go to dispossess, and you displae them and dell in their land, 30 take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follo them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, "Ho did these nations serve their gods? I also ill do likeise.' 31 You shall not orship the LORD your God in that ay; for every abomination to the LORD hih He hates they have 5
done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods (Deuteronomy 12:29-31). We an get a hole lot of knoledge, understanding and isdom hen e study thematially by omparing and ontrasting themes. For example, if e ompare and ontrast ho the nations orship their gods ith orship of the Holy One in Devarim 12:1-7, e ill immediately see that the nations have many different plaes of orship (on hills, mountains and under every leafy tree), and the Holy One has one unique plae in mind. Do you see a themati onnetion beteen the plaes here the nations orshiped and their idea of god? Most of the nations ere polytheisti (belief in more than one god). This is thematially linked to orship in more than plae. In fat, the single loation, of the plae here YHVH your Elohim (God) ill hoose to ause His Name to dell, beomes a dominant theme throughout the remainder of this Parsha. Read Devarim 12:8-14. Although this passage is about private altars, ho is it thematially linked to the first seven verses? It is linked thematially to the first seven verses in at least to different ays. 1) Both passages arns Am Yisrael to orship only at the the Holy One ill hoose for His Name to. 2) Both passages arns Am Yisrael to rejet praties that Turn aside from the ommandments (mitzvot) Moses delivered at that time. In Devarim 12:1-7, they ere arned not to adopt the praties. In Devarim 12:8-14, they ere arneded not to adopt praties of their on imaginations. (In other ords they ere told not to orship God any ay they thought as good). Read Devarim 12:15-19. Although this passage is about eating meat that as onserated (set apart as holy), ho is it thematially linked to the first seven verses? P and. Plae d o one dell o Read Devarim 12:20-28. Although this passage is about eating unonserated meat and other general ommandments (mitzvot), ho is it thematially linked to the first seven verses? Both passages arns Am Yisrael to orship only at the on h heathen the Holy One ill for His Name to dell. hoose hoose plae We have already seen ho Devarim 12:21-31 relates to Devarim 12:1-7. All of these verses emphasize orship aording to the ommandments (mitzvot) at the plae here YHVH hooses to ause His Name to dell. p p plae orship 6
Ho ould you summarize the theme of these Parshiot remember to be brief? Ho about, Proper orship at the Plae? Can you find the ords from this Parsha? T N L T N E D E S R U C A O M I T Z V O T R E E M B R R F A T B L O O D W E L A A E E M E T P R O Y A E H T U T M L C A R R G T S O N S A R H U S C H O O S E C N J H G H E P N D I E A R T H E I Y O R T S E D E E A F P A D A U G H T E R S A M O S E T R A P A T E S REEH TORAH MITZVOT OBEY BLESSED CURSED SAFEGUARD LIFE MEAT BLOOD EARTH FAT CHOOSE PLACE GODS WORSHIP DESTROY NAME SONS DAUGHTERS SET APART 7