Haftarah Conclusion Yeshayahu (‘(the LORD He Saves’ ‘Isaiah’) 40:1- 26
RCS Renewed Covenant Scripture Connections With the Torah
Verses from Va’eschanan are cited quite a bit in the RCS – almost 50 times!
Overview of the Reading Va’eschanan
It begins with Moshe acting upon himself with intensity to pray in the form of pleading with God that Moshe be allowed to enter the Land of Israel; such was Moshe’s great love for the Land and the Jewish People!
Very shortly afterward, Moshe reminds the People of the fact that the Nations will be amazed at the Israelites because they have the LORD to call on and because of what the Torah contains! It is thus once again reiterated to the Israelites – as the covenanted People of God – the type of people they must be and what they must do!
What are called in Hebrew ‘Ten of the Words’, what the world calls the Ten Commandments, are reiterated because the Israelites are about to enter the Land of Israel. They must operate at a higher spiritual and ethical and moral level than the peoples around them, who are being driven out of the land. Those peoples are being driven out not just because of their idolatry – and some abominable practices – but also because they are morally and ethically bankrupt, as one rabbinic commentator correctly points out.
‘Hear O Yisrael the LORD our God the LORD Be Absolute Compound Oneness Absolute One’, Devarim 6:4 is given. As we mentioned below what Yochanon 3:16 means for Christians, Devarim 6:4 means for Jews. The Israelites are instructed that it is imperative that they affirm and acknowledge the Absolute Compound Oneness Absolute One of the LORD.
As we explained below, this does not lead to a theological position; but rather to an action – love the LORD your God Devarim 6:5.
Moshe reiterates regarding cities of refuge that need to be set up for those who have accidentally killed someone so that they have a place to flee to and not be killed by the relatives of the one accidentally killed. As we pointed out, these cities are mentioned in Bamidbar (‘Wilderness’, ‘Numbers’). They are not so that someone could escape justice; but rather to provide a place for someone to be able to be safe until justice could be determined.
Moshe reviews the Exodus from Egypt
Haftarah Connection with the Torah
One rabbinic commentator correctly points out that part of the mission function purpose of a prophet is also to comfort the Jewish People. Moshe repeatedly reassures and encourages the Israelites – God will be with them in the Land even as Israel will have more that they will have to do, compared to when they were in the Wilderness.
Moshe comforts the People; this is not unrelated to what we find in the Haftarah reading’s opening, ”Comfort you comfort you People of Me”. Ish. 40:1.
It has to be translated ‘My People’ in English, otherwise, it’s awkward. The Hebrew is actually ‘People of Me’. We have explained the key difference in our teaching when this comes up: especially in our teaching on the 23rd Psalm and its opening. ‘Of Me’ indicates source, i.e., that the LORD is the ‘source’ of the People; not only that they are ‘My People’ In the sense of possessing them.
The Haftarah begins by speaking of the suffering of the Israelites because of their collective sin but ends as is typical in prophecy, with hope and restoration! This was not unlike what the Israelites went through for 430 years in Egypt and then were blessed and brought into the land of Israel. (Israel of course did not serve Egypt as punishment for sin).
RCS Citations from the Torah
The citing of Va’eschanan in the RCS is primarily found in the Synoptic (‘Similar’) Gospels, Mathew, Mark, Luke, but not in Yochanon (‘God is gracious’, ‘ John’s’ original Hebrew name. Please see our Glossary just a short way past our weekly Torah reading teaching on our Home page and elsewhere).
This week’s reading contains some of the best-known and most seminal teaching of the Torah and the Bible! It includes a repetition/reiteration of what are known in Hebrew as Ten of the Words, which the world knows as the Ten Commandments. We’d be remiss if we didn’t point out that 9 of the 10 are repeated in the RCS. The only one that isn’t? The one that pertains to the Sabbath. This may well be because for his fellow Jews in Israel, there would be no need for Yeshua to speak about Sabbath observance; that would be a given.
Another reason may be that again while observing the Sabbath would be a given to Jews, for Gentiles it could possibly lead to speaking the truth and love, to what unfortunately has been happening in the last few decades. That is, a focus on the Festivals and Sabbath when it comes to the Torah rather than the Torah’s, real what would be called in Hebrew, substance/essence.
The Torah’s real substance is illuminated by Yeshua in the Teaching on the Hill Mt. 5:17-7:28. Yeshua sums up the Torah in Mt. 7:12 the Golden Rule, drawn by Yeshua from an earlier Jewish work. Yeshua elevates this by expressing positively, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You here it should be noted in the original is you plural not you singular.
Yeshua addresses his fellow Jews of the Galil in Hebrew’s ‘we’ rootedness; not the West’s Yeshua in the Teaching on the Hill, a more accurate name than Sermon on the Mount Mt. 5:17-7:28 illuminates the true essence of the Torah. Yeshua does not say a single word there – not one – about the Festivals or Judaica! Yeshua sums up the essence of the Torah and the Prophets in Mt. 7:12 which Yeshua draws from an earlier Jewish source (the non-biblical Book of Tobit).
It is the very well-known Golden Rule, “do unto to others as you would have them do unto you”, Mt. 7:12. We should note: ‘you’ is ‘you’ plural – not ‘you’ singular. Yeshua as a 1st-century Jew and Hebrew in the Land of Israel understands, thinks, and most often expresses in Hebrew’s ‘we’ emphasis. Not, the ‘me’ emphasis of the West.
There are a dozen verses in this week’s Torah reading that are cited multiple times. There are 4 verses cited 3 times each in the RCS
Devarim.4:20. Titus 2:14. 1 Pet. 2:9 – This last citation should be particularly noted. Devarim 4:20 speaks of the Israelites being taken from Egypt by the LORD and being a People who are a heritage People to the LORD. Peter’s actual way of using the verse has too often been missed or misinterpreted. It unfortunately has not been taken directly from his Greek, but also has taken out of context. The verse has been terribly misapplied by those promulgating Replacement Theology (the pernicious lie that the Gentile ‘Church’ is now Israel).
Peter’s Greek very deliberately does not refer to those he’s writing as … ‘the people of God’. If Peter was inspired to write that, he could have very easily made this very specific In Greek; he doesn’t do so. Peter’s context Is to encourage followers who are under increasing pressure not so much for following Yeshua, but are under pressure from the pagans around them to go back and act like the pagans.
Commentators correctly point out that both of Peter’s Letters have an emphasis on moral and ethical conduct. Peter is trying to encourage the followers he writes to by telling them that as godly people they are at a considerably higher spiritual level than the pagans around them. Being people of God means a higher level of moral and ethical conduct and integrity according.
That is Peter’s point; not – at all – that followers are now ‘the people of God’. Again; if Peter meant this in the context that they are now spiritually replacing Israel, it would have been very very easy for him to have expressed this in Greek. We believe he deliberately does not do so. His Greek rather than specifically identifying those he’s writing to as the people of God, describes them in what’s called qualitative terms; meaning, a quality about them. That gets back to his context and as is seen in both his Letters – especially the opening section of 2nd Peter – a higher level of character and conduct is expected!
Peter draws from Devarim 4:20 in order to encourage his audience even more so by drawing from what the Torah says about the Israelites. That, is his context. Further; if Peter thought followers of Yeshua where replacing Israel he could have very easily used the term New Israel or True Israel. He does not; and neither does anyone else in the RCS – not even once.
Replacement Theology over the centuries lead Christian leaders to see Jews as now being ‘replaced’. Jews then were seen as either needing to or be forcibly ‘converted’. If not, then far far too many times Jews were seen as either needing butchering or persecuting….. Jews were too often seen as either needing to convert or be exterminated
Devarim 5:14. From Ten of the Words ‘Ten Commandments’ about the Sabbath – Mt. 12:2. Lk. 23:56
Devarim 5:16 is one of four verses in this week’s Torah reading cited three times in the RCS. It is also drawn from the Ten of the Words, pertaining to honoring one’s father and mother. In Hebrew this word is more commonly used for ‘glory’ and keeping with Hebrew does not mean Glory in abstract terms but literally ‘weightiness of glory’.
Cited in Mt.15:4.
Devarim 6:4 – One of the Bible’s Most Seminal Verses
It is also one of 4 verses in this week’s reading cited 3 times. Famously known among Jews from its first word in Hebrew, Shema (‘Hear’). For Jews this is like Yochanon 3:16 for Christians (‘God is gracious’, ‘John’s’ original Hebrew name – please see our Glossary further down on our Home page for much more)
You should note dear one – when Yeshua is asked what is the first, more deeply in Hebrew ‘fulfilling of which leads to fullness of life’ (simple English ‘commandment’, Mk. 12:28-34 vv. 28-30), Yeshua answers with Devarim 6:4. Yeshua never authorized post-Biblical anti-Semitic Gentile leadership, to come up with a ‘definition’ of God – and then make that – rather than what Yeshua cites from the Torah – as the ‘litmus test’ for whether one is a follower of Yeshua or a ‘heretic’.
Devarim 6:4 would be a separate teaching in and of itself.
Countless hundreds of thousands of Jews over the centuries have died saying Dt. 6:4 in order to do what is called in Hebrew Sanctification of the Name, while being butchered for refusing to do what’s called Profane the Name of the LORD. That is, when Christian leaders offered at the point of a sword the choice of ‘stop worshiping God and abandon the Torah, and start worshipping ‘JC’ who came across to them as a Gentile man’. Given the choice, they took the sword with Devarim 6:4 on their lips rather than do what they saw as Profaning the Name (of the LORD).
Devarim 6:4 is also traditionally said by Jews at someone’s deathbed immediately after someone passes.
Here in Devarim 6:4 is an imperative.
Please note – Moshe addresses this to Israel. Moshe addresses Israel collectively – not individualistically. Western individualism did not exist in the Middle East in Moshe’s time, it didn’t exist in Yeshua’s time – and it does not exist in today’s Middle East! The overarching ‘we’/’us’ emphasis – rather than ‘me’ – of Scripture cannot be overstated!
One – ‘One’ in Hebrew is also a separate lesson. There is no Greek, Latin, or English equivalent to the Hebrew word ‘one’. It doesn’t lend itself to translation. It comes from the verb ‘being one’. The best I can render it is ‘absolute compound oneness absolute one’. It is not the same as single, though in Hebrew the words are closely related.
The first use of ‘one’ is at the end of Gen. 1:5 “…there was evening ‘mixed shades of light’ there was morning ‘time to distinguish differences’ day, absolute compound oneness absolute one”. Please notice – as the rabbis astutely point out – unlike the other days – the second day, the third day, etc. during Creation, the Torah does not say ‘….the first day’. Rather the Torah says, ‘day, absolute compound oneness absolute one’.
The Torah teaches an extremely extremely important lesson there; evening and morning are not separate and compartmentalized.Though each has a different purpose together they are part of one day, of oneness.
Dev. 6:4 – and especially as cited by Yeshua when asked, ‘What is the first fulfilling of which leads to fullness of life’ (simple English ‘commandment’)…. cf. Mk. 12:28-30, illuminates the first thing we need to grasp about God. Oneness is what Yeshua Hebraically prayed that his followers be Yochanon 17:20-23. Cf. also Paul and ‘one Body many members’ 1 Cor. 12:12-27.
Dev. 6:5 – The Paramount Importance of it’s Connection with Dev.6:4
Dev. 6:5, “And in connectedness love (meaning in part) a desire to draw the other close, to breath after someone (the) LORD your God”…
Dev. 6:5 is also cited 3 times in the RCS. Yeshua connects it with Dev. 6:4 also in Mk. 12:28-34. Dev. 6:5 is connected in Hebrew to the end of Dev. 6:4. The rabbis thus very correctly point out – recognition of the Oneness of God does not lead to a theological position. It leads to an action – love – because in Hebrew again, this is connected by ‘and’ at the very beginning of Dev. 6:5: “And – in connectedness – love (the) LORD your God”.
Thus, this action of love the LORD – rather than a theological position – Yeshua also very much expects to be done In connectedness with acknowledging the Oneness of the LORD.
Greek text sources list Dev. 6:4-5 as being specifically cited in Mk. 12:29-30.
Dev. 6:5. also cited in – Mt. 22:37. Mk. 12:33. Lk. 10:27
Lk. 10:27 should be particularly noted as this is used in the lead in to Yeshua’s Hebrew Jewish P’rush ‘Separate One’ Pharisee-based parable instructing on behavior, the Good Samaritan.
Dev. 7:6. Also cited 3 times. Rom.9:4, Titus 2:14, 1 Pet.2:9. All 3 citations should be particularly noted.
Dev. 7:6 tells the Israelites that they are a people of a very special treasure to the LORD. The Hebrew term is another of those found that particularly speak of the uniquely very special very close relationship the LORD has with Israel. This term used about 5 times.
It should be noted – these terms of endearment of the LORD with Israel are generally not used in referring to Yeshua’s followers and the Assembly. It should be noted – despite all of the Western Tradition emphasis on the ‘Church’, the fact is that in the Gospel, there is one – one – reference to the Universal Assembly.
The Rom. 9:4 reference is in the context of Paul speaking about Israel. The other two are cited in the context of encouraging those written to. They are not – at all – cited with the idea of equating Gentile followers with Israel or ‘now being Israel’.
We commented on 1 Pet. 2:9 above.
The Titus 2:14 reference in Paul’s Greek should be noticed. Paul says …‘laon periousion‘… ‘(a) people (whom are) special’. Paul – very significantly and very deliberately we believe – omits ‘the’, i.e. he does not write more deeply in Greek … ‘very specifically and limiting the focus to the very special people’…
We believe by deliberately omitting ‘the’, Paul’s use in Greek (called qualitative), rather than very specifically identifying someone, describes a quality about them. In the specific form Paul uses we believe he omits ‘the’, because to have used it with this particular Greek form would have limited it very specifically to followers.
Paul would not want them to think that they were now the only people very special to God. In context again, the verse is used to encourage followers regarding what Yeshua has done for them! Paul is trying to encourage followers that they are a special people to Yeshua; but, they are not ‘the only’ special people.
If the latter was the case, we might have expected this term in Greek to be used at least several times if not more; especially in the Gospel; it is not.
As we have repeatedly repeated in our teaching: while the Western Tradition System emphasizes the ‘Church’, the fact is that there is only one reference to the Universal Assembly in the entire Gospel – one. Very clearly, Yeshua focuses on the Kingdom. That is seen in the 111 references in the Gospel, according to a Greek concordance.