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TORAH READINGכ״ד בְּאֱלוּל תשע״א 23 September 2011 = 24th of Elul, 5771 Deuteronomy 29:9 - 31:30 Parashat 51 Nitzavim -“You are standing” Dev/Deut 29:10(9) – 30:20
Blessing for the Torah:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn
(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples,
and have given us your Torah. Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
Torah Readings (the years when Nitzavim is read separately)
Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 – 63:9
Yeshayahu/Isa 61:10 I greatly rejoice in יהוה, my being exults in my Elohim. For He has put garments of deliverance on me, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Isa 62:1 For Tsiyon’s sake I am not silent, and for Yerushalayim’s sake I do not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her deliverance as a lamp that burns.
Isa 62:4 No longer are you called “Forsaken,” and no longer is your land called “Deserted.” But you shall be called “Ḥephtsiḇah,”(my desire is in her) and your land “Married,” for יהוה shall delight in you, and your land be married.
Isa 62:6 I have set watchmen on your walls, O Yerushalayim, all the day and all the night, continually, who are not silent. You who remember יהוה, give yourselves no rest,
Isa 62:7 and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Yerushalayim a praise in the earth.
Isa 62:10 Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Lift up a banner for the peoples!
of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
Isa 63:2 Why is there red on Your raiment, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?
Isa 63:3 “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. And I
trod them down in My displeasure, and I trampled them in My wrath. Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have defiled all My raiment. Isa 63:4 “For a day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.
Isa 63:5 “And I looked, but there was none helping, and I was astonished that there was none upholding. So My own arm saved for Me, and My wrath upheld Me.
Isa 63:6 “And I trod down peoples in My displeasure, and made them drunk in My wrath, and brought down their strength to earth.”
Isa 63:7 Let me recount the kindnesses of יהוה and the praises of יהוה, according to all that יהוה has done for us, and the great goodness toward the house of Yisra’ĕl, which He has done for them according to His compassion, and according to His many kindnesses.
Isa 63:8 And He said, “They are My people, children who do not act falsely.” And He became their Saviour.
Isa 63:9 In all their distress He was distressed, and the Messenger of His Presence saved them. In His love and in His compassion He redeemed them, and He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Rev 19:9 And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true words of Elohim.”
Rev 19:11 And I saw the heaven opened, and there was a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Trustworthy and True, and in righteousness He judges and fights.1 Footnote: 1See Acts 10:42.
Rev 19:12 And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, having a Name that had been written, which no one had perceived except Himself1 – Footnote: 1See 2:17.
Rev 19:13 and having been dressed in a robe dipped in blood – and His Name is called: The Word of יהוה.1 Footnote: 1John 1:1 & 14.
Aliyah Rishon 29:10-12
Devarim/Deu 29:10 “All of you are standing today before יהוה your Elohim: your leaders, your tribes, your elders and your officers, all the men of Yisra’ĕl,
“Standing” “Netzavim” is a niphal verb. A niphal verb is a “passive” verb. In other words we may assume all those who are standing are standing because YHVH had something to do with their standing.
Rom 14:4 Who are you that judges another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. But he shall be made to stand, for Elohim is able to make him stand.
These are standing “today” in Hebrew “ha yom” which means a specific day. It is not just by chance that parashat Netzavim is always read on the Shabbat a week before Yom Teruah (Rosh ha shannah for the Jews).
We know that Yom Teruah points to the time when Yahshua will meet His bride to be, just before the Great Marriage supper of the Lamb.
This is a time when the righteous dead will be raised. They will stand before Yahshua (Netzavim) together with those who were caught up in the air to meet the Messiah. The same image we see when a young Hebrew couple are lifted into the air on their wedding day by the guests.
Today this is a word to those who feel too weak to carry on – He says “Netzavim” you can stand because I will help you stand and stay standing. In fact we will not only stand but we will move forward. (The title and theme of our next parasha – “Vayelech” to go, walk, come) We will stand and then proceed to move to a higher level towards becoming one with the very essence of YHVH.
Let us however not forget that this day “ha yom” is also a day of judgment. This is why the month of Elul precedes “The Day” – a time of searching ourselves and preparing to be with Yahshua forever. (Yamim noraim – days of awe)
Rom 14:10 ….. we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Messiah.
Deu 29:11 your little ones, your wives, and your sojourner who is in the midst of your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water,
Great and small shall stand together. The sages say we will recognize the beauty and uniqueness of each person, no one will despise the other. This reminds us of a day when the body of Messiah will stand before him – united and complete.
1Co 12:14 For indeed the body is not one member but many.
1Co 12:15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” does it therefore not belong to the body?
1Co 12:16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” does it therefore not belong to the body?
1Co 12:17 If all the body was an eye, where would be the hearing? If all hearing, where would be the smelling?
1Co 12:18 But now Elohim has set the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He pleased.
1Co 12:19 And if they all had been one member, where would the body be?
1Co 12:20 And now, there are indeed many members, but one body.
1Co 12:21 And an eye is unable to say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
1Co 12:22 But much rather, those members of the body which are thought to be weaker are necessary.
1Co 12:23 And to those of the body which we think to be less respected, these we present greater respect. And our unseemly members have greater seemliness,
1Co 12:24 whereas our seemly members have no need. But Elohim blended together the body, having given greater respect to that member which lacks it,
1Co 12:25 that there should be no division in the body, but that the members should have the same concern one for another.
1Co 12:26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is esteemed, all the members rejoice with it.
1Co 12:27 And you are a body of Messiah, and members individually.
1Co 12:28 And Elohim has appointed these in the assembly: firstly emissaries, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, ministrations, kinds of tongues.
Deu 29:12 so that you should enter into covenant with יהוה your Elohim, and into His oath, which יהוה your Elohim makes with you today,
This is that great day when those who are in Messiah will enter into a marriage covenant with him.
Aliyah Sheni 29:13-15
Deu 29:13 in order to establish you today as a people for Himself, and He Himself be your Elohim, as He has spoken to you, and as He has sworn to your fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Ya’aqoḇ.
Deu 29:14 “And not with you alone I am making this covenant and this oath,
Deu 29:15 but with him who stands here with us today before יהוה our Elohim, as well as with him who is not here with us today.
These words and this promise include those who were not present when these words were spoken: those who keep the commandments and have the testimony of Yahshua.
Rev 14:12 Here is the endurance of the set-apart ones,1 here are those guarding the commands of Elohim and the belief of יהושע.2 Footnotes: 1In 12:17 they are called “the remnant”
This is why we prepare ourselves during this month of Elul to get ready to meet our Messiah.
Aliyah Shlishi 29:16-29
Deu 29:16 “For you know how we dwelt in the land of Mitsrayim and how we passed through the nations which you passed through,
Deu 29:17 and you saw their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were with them,
Deu 29:18 lest there should be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe, whose heart turns away today from יהוה our Elohim, to go and serve the mighty ones of these nations, lest there should be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.
Deu 29:19 “And it shall be, when he hears the words of this curse, that he should bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,’ in order to add drunkenness to thirst.
In these days an awakening is beginning to take place amongst believers both Jewish and gentile that to make light of the Torah of YHVH is the worst possible error any human being can ever make. (See Yesh/Is 24)
Wormwood:
“Heb. la'anah, (to curse) the Artemisia absinthium of botanists, is known as “Wilde-als” by the Afrikaans community. “Wilde-als brandy” is a popular folk medicine still made and sold today. It is noted for its intense bitterness. In the symbolical language of the Apocalypse (Rev_8:10, Rev_8:11) a star is represented as falling on the waters of the earth, causing the third part of the water to turn wormwood.
It is cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance. So it smells good but tastes bad. It is used to remedy many bodily ailments which include arousing sexual desire.
It should be noted that there is some toxicity in the herb, as there is in absinthe. It is well known that absinthe, when consumed in high quantities, can cause symptoms such as addiction, hallucinations and epileptic attacks.
Its botanical name comes from the Greek goddess “Artemis” who was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana she is frequently portrayed wearing a moon crown. (See Acts 19) The effects of addiction to wormwood describe the condition of many living in our days. People have become addicted to lawlessness, the more they are lawless (Torahless) the more intoxicated they become. Intoxicated people have continual hangovers accompanied by thirst. To quench the thirst (for more lawlessness) they consume more of the drug and so the vicious circle continues.
Deu 29:20 “יהוה would not forgive him, but rather, the displeasure of יהוה and His jealousy shall burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book shall settle on him, and יהוה shall blot out his name from under the heavens.
Deu 29:21 “And יהוה shall separate him for evil, out of all the tribes of Yisra’ĕl, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Torah.
The blessing spoken out at this time of the year during these appointments/moadim is:
"L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem" (or to women, "L'shanah tovah tikatevi v'taihatemi"), which means "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year."
Deu 29:22 “And the generation to come of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, shall say when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which יהוה has sent into it:
Deu 29:23 ‘All its land is sulphur, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Seḏom and Amorah, Aḏmah and Tseḇoyim, which יהוה overthrew in His displeasure and His wrath.’
Deu 29:24 “And all nations shall say, ‘Why has יהוה done so to this land? What does the heat of this great displeasure mean?’
Deu 29:25 “And it shall be said, ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of יהוה Elohim of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim.
Deu 29:26 ‘And they went and served other mighty ones and bowed themselves to them, mighty ones that they did not know and that He had not given to them,
Deu 29:27 therefore the displeasure of יהוה burned against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book.
Deu 29:28 ‘And יהוה uprooted them from their land in displeasure, and in wrath, and in great rage, and cast them into another land, as it is today.’
Deu 29:29 “The secret matters belong to יהוה our Elohim, but what is revealed belongs to us and to our children forever, to do all the Words of this Torah.
Note: there are 12 titels over letters in vs 28 and 29 (in the original Hebrew – look at it in the Chumash). Vs 28 appears over the “Lamed”. Maybe this is a reference to Yashua – the revelation of all things hidden in the word and in the Torah. Lamed has a gematria of 30, the age when Yahshua starts His ministry. “Lamed” also means to prick or pierce. “Lamed” could also represents the tribe of Judah, the staff speaks of leadership. This all could be an illusion to an end time fulfillment of Yoseph being reconciled to his eleven brothers (remaining eleven titels in vs 29 – lanu ulevaneinu plus ayin of ad) an end time restoration of Yoseph (Messiah) and His brothers - the tribes of Israel. (Page 1090 Chumash Stones).
Aliyah Reviee 3-:1-6
Deu 30:1 “And it shall be, when all these words come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you shall bring them back to your heart among all the gentiles where יהוה your Elohim drives you,
“The Melech HaMoshiach ("anointed king") is destined to arise and restore the kingdom of David to its esteem of old, to its original sovereignty. He will build the Set Apart Temple and gather the dispersed of Israel. In his times, all laws (of the Torah) will be reinstated as before; the offerings will be offered, the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year instituted as outlined in the Torah.
Whoever does not believe in him or does not anticipate his coming, denies not only the other prophets but also the Torah and Moshe. For the Torah testifies about him: "YHVH shall return your captivity and have compassion upon you. And He will return and gather you from all the nations amongst whom YHVH your Elohim has scattered you... If your outcasts shall be at the ends of the heavens, from there will YHVH your Elohim gather you, from there He will take you... YHVH will bring you..." These explicit words of the Torah encapsulate all that has been said [regarding Moshiach] by the prophets...(Mishneh Torah)”
Deu 30:2 and shall turn back to יהוה your Elohim and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your being, you and your children,
Deu 30:3 then יהוה your Elohim shall turn back your captivity, and shall have compassion on you, and He shall turn back and gather you from all the peoples where יהוה your Elohim has scattered you.
“The Hebrew word used here for "he will return" is not veheishiv -- which means "he will bring back" -- but veshav, which literally means "he will come back." (This implies that he has already been here.) Our sages learned from this that the Divine presence resides among Israel, as it were, in all the misery of their exile, and when the Jews are redeemed, YHVH speaks of it as His own redemption -- He Himself returns along with Israel's exiles.” Sages.
Deu 30:4 “If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under the heavens, from there יהוה your Elohim does gather you, and from there He does take you.
Deu 30:5 “And יהוה your Elohim shall bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. And He shall do good to you, and increase you more than your fathers.
Deu 30:6 “And יהוה your Elohim shall circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed, to love יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being, so that you might live,
“From the time of the creation of the universe, man had the choice to be righteous or wicked. So it was for the entire duration of the Torah, in order that there is merit for us in choosing good and punishment for desiring evil. But in the days of Moshiach, the choosing good will be in our nature, and the heart will not lust for that which is not proper for it and have no desire for it at all. This is the "circumcision" spoken of here, as lust is a "foreskin" blocking the heart, and the "circumcision of the heart" is the removal of any desire to want to disobey Torah. In those times man will return to what he was before Adam's sin, when he naturally did what is proper to do and there were no conflicts and contradictions in his will...”
Aliyah Chamishi 30:7-10
Deu 30:7 and יהוה your Elohim shall put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
Deu 30:8 “And you shall turn back and obey the voice of יהוה and do all His commands which I command you today.
Deu 30:9 “And יהוה your Elohim shall make you have excess in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground for good. For יהוה turns back to rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,
Deu 30:10 if you obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim, to guard His commands and His laws which are written in this Book of the Torah, if you turn back to יהוה your Elohim with all your heart and with all your being.
Aliyah Shishi 30:11-14
Deu 30:11 “For this command which I am commanding you today, it is not too hard for you, nor is it far off.
This mitzvah which I command you today... It is not in heaven... (30:11-12) If it were in heaven, you would be required to climb up there and learn it. - Talmud
Deu 30:12 “It is not in the heavens, to say, ‘Who shall ascend into the heavens for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we do it?’
Deu 30:13 “Nor is it beyond the sea, to say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, so that we do it?’
Deu 30:14 “For the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart – to do it.
“Freedom of choice has been granted to every man: if he desires to turn toward a good path and be righteous, the ability to do so is in his hands; and if he desires to turn toward an evil path and be wicked, the ability to do so is in his hands...This concept is a fundamental principle and a pillar of the Torah and its commandments. As it is written [Deuteronomy 30:15]: "See, I have set before you life [and good, and death and evil]" and "See, I set before you today [a blessing and a curse]"... For were YHVH to decree that a person be righteous or wicked, of if there were to exist something in the very essence of a person's nature which would compel him toward a specific path, a specific conviction, a specific character trait or a specific deed...how could YHVH command us through the prophets "do this" and "do not do this,"...? What place would the entire Torah have? And by what measure of justice would YHVH punish the wicked and reward the righteous...?” (Mishneh Torah)
(See Romans chapter nine)
Rom 9:14 What, then, shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with Elohim? Let it not be!
Rom 9:15 For He says to Mosheh, “I shall favour whomever I favour, and I shall have compassion on whomever I have compassion.” (Ex 33:19)
Rom 9:16 So, then, it is not of him who is wishing, nor of him who is running, but of Elohim who shows favour.
Rom 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this same purpose I have raised you up, to show My power in you, and that My Name be declared in all the earth.”
Rom 9:18 So, then, He favours whom He wishes, and He hardens whom He wishes.
Rom 9:25 As He says in Hoshĕa too, “I shall call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.”
Rom 9:26 “And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there they shall be called sons of the living Elohim.”
Rom 9:27 And Yeshayahu cries out on behalf of Yisra’ĕl, “Though the number of the children of Yisra’ĕl be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved.
Rom 9:28 For He is bringing a matter to an end, and is cutting it short in righteousness, because יהוה shall cut short a matter on the earth.”
Rom 9:29 And as Yeshayahu said before, “If יהוה of hosts had not left us a seed, we would have become like Seḏom, and we would have been made like Amorah.”
Rom 9:30 What shall we say then? That gentiles not following after righteousness, have obtained righteousness, even the righteousness of belief,
Rom 9:31 but Yisra’ĕl following after the Torah of righteousness, has not arrived at the Torah of righteousness.
Rom 9:32 Why? Because it was not of belief, but as by works of Torah. For they stumbled at the Stone of stumbling.
Rom 9:33 As it has been written, “See, I lay in Tsiyon a Stone of stumbling and a Rock that makes for falling, and everyone who is believing on Him shall not be put to shame.”
YHVH knows beforehand what kind of choices every one of us will make. Therefore His election will be based on whether or not we will choose to recognize and honour His Son as the perfect manifestation of the Torah in the flesh of the second Adam. This excludes the Roman Catholic Church Jesus who is claimed to be YHVH and has rejected Israel the Jews and the Torah. (This is the view of the author of this study.)
Deu 30:14 “For the Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart – to do it. – This verse is quoted in Rom 10:8
Rom 10:4 For Messiah is the goal1 of the ‘Torah unto righteousness’ to everyone who believes. Footnote: 1Or end purpose; not termination.
Rom 10:5 For Mosheh writes about the righteousness which is of the Torah, “The man who does these shall live by them.”
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness of belief speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who shall ascend into the heavens?’ ” – that is, to bring Messiah down; or,
Rom 10:7 “ ‘Who shall descend into the abyss?’ ” – that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead.
Rom 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” – that is, the word of belief which we are proclaiming:
Rom 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth the Master יהושע and believe in your heart that Elohim has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, and so is saved.
Let us consider carefully the kind of “Jesus” we confess as our Master. Remember the times of ignorance He has winked at and now He wants us to walk in the light of who His Moshiach truly is (Acts 17:30). It is impossible for YHVH to die and be resurrected. We must confess and believe in the Yahshua of the scriptures and not in the Yahshua of our vain imaginations.
Aliyah Sheviee 30:15-20
Deu 30:15 “See, I have set (given) before you today life and good, and death and evil,
Our response is to choose life …..
“What is meant by these words "And you shall choose life?" Is this a commandment? A promise? A statement of fact? In any case, the Torah has no doubts about the ultimate outcome of man's choice between good and evil. "In the end of days," prophesies Moshe, "you will return to YHVH your Elohim and you will obey His voice" (Deuteronomy 4:30). No matter to what depths we may fall, no matter how far we may stray from the fulfillment of his purpose, "YHVH... devises means that the forsaken one be not forsaken" (II Samuel 14:14). In the words of Maimonides, "The Torah has already promised that Israel is destined to repent at the end of their exile and will immediately be redeemed."”
Deu 4:30 “In your distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the latter days, then you shall return to יהוה your Elohim and shall obey His voice.
Deu 30:16 in that I am commanding you today to love יהוה your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to guard His commands, and His laws, and His right-rulings. And you shall live and increase, and יהוה your Elohim shall bless you in the land which you go to possess.
Deu 30:17 “But if your heart turns away, and you do not obey, and shall be drawn away, and shall bow down to other mighty ones and serve them,
Deu 30:18 “I have declared to you today that you shall certainly perish, you shall not prolong your days in the land which you are passing over the Yardĕn to enter and possess.
Deu 30:19 “I have called the heavens and the earth as witnesses today against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore you shall choose life, so that you live, both you and your seed,
Deu 30:20 to love יהוה your Elohim, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him – for He is your life and the length of your days – to dwell in the land which יהוה swore to your fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Ya’aqov, to give them.”
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam,asher natan lanu Toraht-emet,
v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu.Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe,
you have given us your Torah of truth,
and have planted everlasting life within our midst.
Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
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