Parsha Nitzavim-Vayeilech

[Rebbe]

BRI International Internet Yeshiva Parashah Notes, September 2011

CAUTION: BRI Yeshiva notes are not available to the general public. They are not for distribution. They are not for reproduction. The notes may also bear little or no resemblance to the actual recorded BRI Yeshiva lecture.
Copyright © BRI 2011 All Rights Reserved Worldwide

"I teach nothing new but all things original" -- Rebbe


Parasha Nitzavim  (stand firmly [and consistently]) - Vayeilech (and he went)

Nitzavim Deut 29.10-30.20; Vayeilech Deut 31.1-30

Haftorah Nitzavim Isa 61.10-63.9; Vayeilech Isa 55.6-8 (Hos 14.2-10; Mic 7.18-20; Joel 2.15-27)

"It's utterly impossible to observe the Torah!" "Nobody can keep the Law!" Oh, how many times have I heard these statements. So many times I cannot number them.

Churchianity tries to convince us of many heresies and downright lies. Especially is this the case when it comes to their view of the Torah. "Why," they say, "Jesus came to do away with the law -- he came to nail it to his cross -- because nobody could keep it." In other words, God's original plan for humankind went awry because God the Father was just too strict. His son Jesus, in marked contrast, had to come and correct his Father's silliness as far as God's expectation was concerned. Jesus was a contingency plan, an afterthought, a compromise. That's what they say. And if they don't actually say it, it's what their theology implies.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Paul's argument against the Judaizers in his day could hardly have been that the law cannot be obeyed therefore righteousness comes through faith. This is not what the Biblical revelation tells us! It IS what Paul's detractors accused him of teaching. It IS what the various churches tell us. It IS what many ministries on the Internet expect us to believe (and we can all name them). Lovely people to be sure, but lovely people infected with doctrinal viruses.

I find it singularly astonishing that when pressed, most of those who say the law can't be obeyed or followed as a guide for living, admit that they have never read the Torah and they really do not know what is in it.

If however they are correct in their stand, then how strange that the holy Spirit should inspire the following passages of sacred text.

According to Rav Shaul's own testimony, HE HAD KEPT THE LAW blamelessly as a Pharisee.

"For WE ARE THE CIRCUMCISION, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Messiah Yeshua, and have no confidence in the flesh..." [Paul here contrasts authentic Jews -- those Jews who believed in Yeshua as their Messiah -- with those who were of the various Judaisms of the day and age, including the sect of the Sadducees] ... "Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man think that he has whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Phil 3.3-6).

Was he considered "blameless," or wasn't he?

Similarly, Paul's friend and talmid -- the physician Luke -- writes that both Zechariah and Elizabeth (the parents of John the Immerser) "were RIGHTEOUS before God, living BLAMELESSLY according to ALL the commandments and regulations of the Lord" (Lk 1.6).
 
These records are fully in accord with the teaching of the Torah itself. And, this is what God said about Our Father Abraham:

"Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws" (Gen 26.5). This was long before Sinai. I am not implying that the Sinai Torah -- all 613 commandments -- was available prior to Sinai! Such is a ridiculous assessment. But God's TEN COMMANDMENTS were in force long before Moses as is evidenced right throughout the scroll of Genesis.

So, based on these foundations what do we think? Is it impossible to obey God? Is it impossible to keep the commandments? Is it impossible to obey the relevant TEN stipulations of the Torah? Of course we can obey. But some choose not to do so, and then use the lame excuse that human nature will not abide by God's expectations of us.

Listen please! I have met literally hundreds of Christ-professing church attendees who proclaim that nobody could observe properly the 613 laws of Sinai. BUT, are these same folk aware that while the 613 may well have been eclipsed in the course of first-century CE events the apostles and Messiah himself gave the people of God 1050 entirely new commandments, life-regulations, statutes, judgments, ordinances and plain commonsense principles of living -- so that we could all live life to the max in pursuit of worthy aims, goals and challenges in the development of a richer, more fulfilling destiny.

Especially does all this have a relevance in relation to this week's Torah reading. After all, God himself stated "the Torah is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you CAN do it" (Deut 30.14). Then God quickly adds, "See? I have set before you this day, life and good, and death and evil; In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that you may live and multiply...I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore CHOOSE life, that both you and your children may live: That you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey his voice, and that you may cleave to him: FOR HE IS YOUR LIFE and YOUR LENGTH OF DAYS" (Deut 30.15,16,19,20).

I loved my father. I miss him terribly. The one thing, if there be one thing, that I miss about him is the fact that he LOVED God. Oh, people were very critical of Dad, and of how he lived his life, and I admit he was somewhat of a rascal at times. But I saw how he loved God...and I saw how God loved him. I thank God that I can look back on his life and view it with converted eyes, for he taught me much in his moments of brooding silence as he gazed up into the heavens at night and always with an exhaustive sense of vision and overawed exultation. His heart danced above the stars with Abraham.

The prophet Moses gave the ancient Israelites this assurance: "Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach" (Deut 30.11 NIV).
 
The apostle John considered that the Torah was not grievous, or burdensome (1 Jn 5.3). Far from being crushed by the imposing demands of a law impossible to fulfill, the righteous person's "delight is in the Torah of the LORD" (Ps 1.2). John's view of the Torah is clearly stated in his first epistle for any and all to see for themselves.

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not [or, that you do not break the law]. And if any man sin [or, if any man break the law], we have an advocate with the Father, Yeshua HaMashiach the Just: And he is the kaparrah for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his mitzvot [commandments]. He that says, I know him, and keeps not his mitzvot [commandments] is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his Torah [word, instruction, teaching], in him truly is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (1 Jn 2.1-6).

How did Yeshua "walk"? Did He obey His Father in all things? Or did He cast God's words behind Him and give us a far better "truth" about obedience? Did He come to outwit the Father, or to make up -- in loving acts of piety -- for His Dad's mistakes in giving Israel such a hard law? I think we know the answer to that question!

"Whoever commits sin transgresses also the Torah: for sin is the transgression of Torah. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whoever abides in him sins not: whoever sins has not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous ...Whatever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his mitzvot [commandments], and do those things that are pleasing in his sight...By this method we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his mitzvot [commandments]. For this IS the love of God, that we keep his mitzvot [commandments]: and his mitzvot [commandments] are not grievous ... Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (I Jn 3.4-7,22; 5.2,3,21).

Again, this is not to be misconstrued as a teaching of salvation by works. Not at all. But the Final Judgment of God in relation to US as His "firstfruits" in the plan of salvation proceeds on the basis of what has been accomplished through perseverance in faithful obedience AS A CONSEQUENCE OR RESULT of our already attained present salvation. In accord with an appropriate theology our perseverance in faithful obedience constellates around what Our Lord Yeshua has achieved FOR us, not only in His works but in His intentions. When properly speaking about salvation Paul has in mind (along with James, Peter and others) an eschatological salvation INTO God. This is the requirement of the Father for those believers in His Son who live in a covenant relationship and whose covenant faithfulness and integrity will be vindicated in the Last Day.

And bear this in mind. The Jews of the Second Temple Period were not obeying God for an attainment to salvation, but were rather seeking to obey God in response to God's Grace on display or "on show" (if you will) in the covenant.

Jewish scholars have espoused that position for centuries, and have rightly voiced strenuous objections to Christian scholars who have misinterpreted their literature.

Neither was the Messianic Community of Faith in Yeshua obeying Torah to merit salvation. The entire idea of legalism has the connotation of earning salvation. No Christian -- and no Jew -- ever earns salvation by obeying God. They obey God in order to enjoy their Life in God more fully.

Transformation can take place anytime we decide to choose to follow that which is good for us. We live as Messianic believers within Torah, the living Torah Yeshua the Messiah, and from that unique perspective we SEE things differently. We no longer live according to the fleshly nature of our forebears and peers.

"Faith," I might remind you, "comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God."

There are times when we need to simply SPEAK ALOUD from the mouth the requirements of God (and to do so often enough) to ensure a reprogramming or rewiring of our brains. From mouth to heart, you see. That's what God is saying to ancient Israel, and he is saying it again to us.

By maintaining our resolve (Nitzavim) we can alter our behaviour (Vayelech). Our transformational vocabulary will reconstruct brain patterns and bring about new neural pathways, our very thoughts will be creating new brain cells, our genes will switch on and off and alter our brain anatomy. We can literally change our DNA.

Science is now talking of man's secret abilities in altering brain-maps as if this is groundbreaking news.

Well, it might well be "current news" to the scientific community, but the Bible was talking about such things way back in the days of Moses and the giving of the Torah by the angels of God at Sinai.

If we are in step with Moses, we will be a step ahead of science -- and certainly light-years ahead of Christians who oppose the expectations of God.