# 50 - Torah Parashah Ki Tavo (When you come in) to the land

this morning's Torah portion is called kita ho now how many of you remember what last week's Torah portion was called ketta say and it meant when you when you what go forth right when you go out now this is just the opposite key Tavo is when you come in what was the principle that we learned when you go out like when you go out of your houses when you go out of the land of Israel when you're gonna be a light and a blessing to the nation's what did we learn with a common theme in last week's Torah portion to honor all flesh to honor all life and all life forms as Hashem has given them our fellow man the animals the trees it was a beautiful lesson and how when we go out we show glory to God by honoring all life-forms now we're gonna be talking about when you come in Israel is right on the east side of the Jordan River and Moses is giving his last discourse to them and he is going to show them that when you're in the land and you're in Hashem's presence Hashem is holy and his nature is selfless love and so when you come in you honor God by showing selflessness through certain acts of kindness and certain laws like the offering up of the first fruit that keeps us from thinking that it was our work that produced the first fruits when you give your tithe it keeps us from thinking that this money is ours we realize that we're just stewards of it and so it's beautiful this last week where we learned when we go out we show honor to all life when we come in and as we're preparing to come into the land we're gonna see us theme of selflessness through the laws that are given in this Torah portion there are seven different kinds of firstfruits that are mentioned in Deuteronomy can you name them with me from the spring and the beginning of our religious calendar we have the barley that sets the year when the barley is green in the air it's called Aviv and two weeks later if it's in the state of Aviv then we will hold a pass over the Pesach and a week of unleavened bread so this is the first bit Kareem everybody save it Kareem that's the word for firstfruits all of these are bit Kareem different types so it starts with the barley and they march and then it goes to fifty days you're counting the Omer an Omer is a measure of wheat and you're counting up to the firstfruits of the wheat harvest which is always in the end of May June time around the 6th of Sivan we present our first fruits of wheat and then there's a period from early summer there where we do shava ode that holy day all the way up into Sukkot that people can be bringing the firstfruits as they come on the tree and we'll find that men used to watch the first blossom on the tree and when it would bud and then it'd start to grow its first bit of fruit they would actually tie a little ribbon on it that way they knew that that was the very first fruit on that tree and they would do it for each one of these whether it was a sheaf of grain or you see here the the figs what's this pomegranates olives so you're going from spring into fall grape harvest is always around the time of yom teruah where we're cleaving up to now and then the date harvest in the very end so you would come and you'd bring your first fruit before the Lord and that's what this tour portion is going to start off with the laws of the firstfruits and we realize that the bringing of the firstfruits helped us maintain humility and selflessness in realizing that all things come from Hashem it says in chapter 26 of Deuteronomy when you have come to the land Adam I your God is giving you as your inheritance take possession of it and you settle there you are to take the firstfruits of all the crops and all the things that the ground yields which you will harvest from your land that out of night your God is giving you and you will put them in a basket and you'll go to the place where out of my your God will choose to have his name live where did out of my choose to have his name live Jerusalem second chronicles six six confirms that and you will approach the priest and you will say to him today I declare to Adonai your God that I have come to the land at an I swore to our ancestors that he would give us the Kohen will take the basket from your hand to put it down in front of the altar of God so let's break down these first four verses the interesting thing is when you read it in the Hebrew you start off seeing yeah hyah hey Pavo el jurado a share Hashem a Logica no tane lai aha it means when you have come to the land I deny your God is giving you this phrase is mentioned one other place in the Torah and that is a few chapters earlier in Deuteronomy 17 verse 14 let's turn there now the only difference is here you're talking about when you come into the land that God is giving you it's gonna be your inheritance you're gonna take possession and settle there and take the firstfruits in Chapter 17 verse 14 he says the same thing t Tavo ilhara a share hashem aloha cannot Ain la ha when you have entered the land Adonai your God is giving you the phrase is exactly the same except for one Hebrew letter and we're always searching for these little anomalies and what it can teach us but the difference here is it says and you've taken possession of it and you're living there you might want to say to yourself you might be tempted in other words I want to have a king over me like all the other nations this is an issue of self focus instead of coming to the land and realizing that you're inheriting it from Hashem and your focus is on him and it's selfless if you come to the land and you become haughty and you want to be like the other nations this element of self focus is going to bring a curse to you instead of a blessing and so we have to look at this in the Hebrew and what we're gonna find is that there's one letter that has a slight difference and it's this letter right here the vol and this volve is indicative of a man is the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet and in Chapter 17 you don't see this little vow but this Holum on top and so it's as if to say there's a difference are we gonna be the kind of man that is selfless and focused on all things coming from hashem or are we going to be sabotaging ourselves if you will through self focus and losing the blessing that hashem desires for us in the land just a quick overview of what we're gonna be looking at this morning chapter 26 is talking about the principles of the firstfruits and how it helps maintain humility and foster selfless giving chapter 27 is instructions on setting up the standing stones with pour written upon it and the curses if we live out of harmony with Yas selfless love by acting selfishly in chapter 28 it goes more into the blessings if we observe and obey all God's commandments or the loss of blessings if we do not and then in the first nine verses of chapter 29 where we close out moshe a summons all of israel after reciting the words of the covenant to remind them of how god has provided for them in the last 40 years so this is just kind of an overview of the whole poor portion but here's a little picture of the wheat in the background and some of the firstfruits very cute here's another one of some of our brothers in israel bringing the firstfruits up to jerusalem to present them before the lord and here's these two verses that i just mentioned to you and you see the volvo l'm here in chapter 17 they just put the whole um without the vol and it says if to say when you are selfless and you recognize that god is giving you an inheritance in the land and that we're to present our first fruits as a type of tithe to recognize that all things are he is we are going to prosper but if we become haughty in the land and we do not follow god's selfless laws then it's as if we will be removed from the land the little man is removed this is a little hidden anomaly and the only two places where this phrase is in the Torah you can see one is dealing with giving God the recognition and the other is giving yourself or your earthly King the recognition we don't want to become haughty like a king and in those laws in Chapter 17 we see that Solomon even though he wrote his own copy of the Torah broke all of those mitzvot when the Israel asked for a king they ended up not only bringing a curse upon themselves through Saul but then you see the land divided when Solomon did not keep Israel's Torah of Hashem Torah what happened his sons divided the kingdom and so there was a loss of blessing now this word the land hot rats when you have come into the land how deny your God is giving you as your inheritance take possession of it and settle there you are to take the firstfruits of all the crops of the ground which you will harvest now it says from your land here's another anomaly first it says the land its general and then it says your land when does it become your land when you possess it and there's more to it huh after you bring the firstfruits exactly it's it's Hashem's land he's giving it to us as an inheritance we're to be good stewards of it but if we do not recognize hashem by giving the firstfruits it never becomes our land this is the same thing with being faithful in your tithing you're gonna see that this portion of the firstfruits also leads right into taking care of the priests and giving a tenth of all that Hashem has entrusted to you because if you do not give acknowledge God as the giver of all good gifts then what happens you lose the blessing of the inheritance and the land is not yours very good Heather and he says to put them in a basket how would they be put in a basket this is another thing see how we break down tour there's so many little anomalies that if we don't have the oral torah given to us by our sages and our forefathers we won't even know how to present the firstfruits what does it look like Tory is giving you the general overview of all the laws but then in the oral torah it's given the specifics of how and it's been passed down from Moses to Joshua to the sages to the 70 elders and down through the prophets and down to our days to our rabbis today they would actually have a process of layering the different fruits now let's say that in all of those seven first fruits let's say that one happened a couple months ago but you couldn't come to Jerusalem right you want to wait till you get all your first fruits you are allowed to dry and preserve certainly like grains or the figs you would allow them to dry and there would be a certain process of stacking the first fruits in the basket and you would separate them by leaves so what would be on the very bottom the barley then you'd put a little layer of leaves there and then you would put the wheat and then on top of that you would put let's see I mean make sure that I'm getting in the right order here you would put on top of the wheat the olives next now see the olives were not the next in the harvest so why would you put them next if you don't have the oral torah you won't even know the order in which to layer them and present them then you put the dates then the pomegranates because the pomegranates are heavier if something crushes the pomegranates the juice runs out they crack and finally the figs which are very soft right and they could get crushed they'll be the very last even though that's not the order in which they become ripe so there's a beautiful process in presenting the first fruits that I'd like to share with you before we even go on these first four verses are so beautiful because we need to write torah on our hearts so that when we are going back to the land in fulfillment of the prophecies when Messiah comes he's gonna gather all the Exile of Israel together and return us to the land we need to know how to live in the land how to bless the land how to come up to Jerusalem three times a year how to bring our firstfruits and our tithes and so here's a beautiful description of what would happen imagine yourself in Israel we're living in community there and we're gathering our firstfruits and putting them in the baskets and the travelers we would basically group into different districts so our community would go up together and present our first fruits together another district or community would because in Israel it's quite long North and South different things also ripen at different times throughout the year so the inhabitants of every town in every district would assemble in a place and they would travel together for safety to Jerusalem to bring their bickering a Mitzvah is enhanced when performed by an entire congregation and this is something for us to take to heart also it's not good enough for just me or for just you to keep the commandments let's keep them together as a community and it heightens the the power of the fulfillment of the mitzvot and the blessings that are brought out of it it says in the scriptures that a king's glory is in a multitude of people and that's because if the king is rightly teaching Torah and how the king will even come as an example and have to bring his first fruits this is very humbling for the king you would come and present them before the priest and acknowledge the priest and as a representative of God and so why is it King's glory and a multitude of people if he's operating right they will follow suit and they will operate right and everybody in the nation will be blessed and all of the nation will be blessed so it's important for us to observe these mitzvahs as a community then we would travel all day long and at night depending on wherever we're coming from in the land we would rest outside under the stars why do you think this is because if you rent a room let's say you go into a hotel or an inn or even you stay with a lodging you know in a house that's on the way there might be somebody who has died there in which case you would make yourself Tamim you would make yourself unclean and then you couldn't present your firstfruits so see if we do not have these beautiful oral laws passed down from us we won't even know how to protect ourselves so that we are able to rightly present the first fruits so we sleep outside together and in the morning the leader announces arise let us go up to Zion to the house of our God now in ox which would later be offered as a startling sacrifice would walk in front of us in front of the whole procession and its horns would be covered with gold and a wreath of olive leaves would decorate its head and we would be singing together Psalms 122 verse 1 along the way I was happy when they said to me let us go up to the house of Hashem this is really beautiful because when the call is made that it's time for us to all present our first fruits we are so happy that we can present these first fruits before the altar of the Lord and this is exactly what it says in Psalms 122 so we sing that first verse all along the way flutists and tambourines and shofar blowers would provide musical accompaniment until the procession reached Jerusalem then we would stop at the gates to arrange and decorate our Becca Kareem it may have settled down through the travels right and maybe all those layers of leaves and everything things have fallen around one another so we get it all beautiful like you would present a basket because you're getting ready to present it to God through the priests so we get everything in order and meanwhile while we're getting things in order we send news ahead of our arrival to the city that were coming to present our first fruits and then we would be welcomed by a number of priests and levites and treasures of the beit hamikdash the holy temple it's the house of the lord they would come out to greet us and as we would enter the city of jerusalem we would then proclaim verse 2 of psalms 122 which says our feet we're standing in your gates jerusalem it's like a fulfillment here all this travel we have looked forward to coming to jerusalem to the house of hashem now our feet are at the very gaze the laborers of jerusalem we'll stop there working and they'll rise and the common greet us our brothers from such-and-such town welcome they would say our brothers and sisters from Wenatchee of course we'll be living somewhere in the land so it'll be some city in the land the laborers of Jerusalem would thus honor the performers of a mitzvah basically they're acknowledging that we're fulfilling a commandment and so they're really excited to see somebody else fulfilling within the house of Israel all of God's mitzvot the flutist will continue to play as we go up to the temple because first you you have three different stages when you reach Jerusalem you've got the city borders then you've got the Temple Mount wall and the gates - not just the city but the gates to the temple down below and then you come right up to the entrance to the temple so three different stages so the flutists will continue to play and will continue to recite verses of Psalms which in Hebrew is called tehilim until we arrived at the Temple Mount there each one of us and even if the king is with us the king himself would put his baskets on his shoulders and personally present it to the priest when the procession entered the Azara which is the forecourt that second place that I was mentioning the forecourt of the temple the Levites scene I will praise you Hashem for you have lifted me up and have not made my foes rejoice over me that's from Psalms 30 verse 2 the travelers we also have attached offerings and sacrifices along to our baskets of firstfruits we have doves we might have lamb with us we have the Ox which will be sacrificed which was up ahead so at this time we unattached the doves and the pigeons that we've had attached to the side of our baskets and we hand these over to the priests as an Ola offering that means to lift it up offering to the Lord with the basket still on our shoulders each from the different tribes of Israel recite the verse in Psalms 26 3 I declare or no this is from what we just read in Deuteronomy 26 3 I declare today to Hashem your God that I have come to the land which God has sworn to our forefathers to give us we thus acknowledged that God has kept his promise to the forefathers and that he has brought us to the beit hamikdash a gift of bickering from our own portion of the land then while the the owner of the basket whoever is presenting it holds the edge of the basket the Cohen team would place his hands underneath your hands and so that way instead of him just taking it and waving it before the Lord his hands are laid over your hands and you wave it together before the Lord and that beautiful that waving ceremony is called Tonopah so then the fruit was placed in front of the altar and the offer recited with the holy tongue in Hebrew the whole chapter concerning the Kareem which is now verses 5 through 10 let's read those then in the presence of out am I your God you are to say my ancestor now what is your passage say some English translations miss translate this it says what are we supposed to recite our ancestor was a sometimes it says foreigner a wanderer sometimes it says a nomad from Syria which was used to be called a ram right Haram you know what's amazing when I read this in the Hebrew I found that that's not what it says at all and there's a whole understanding about saying it right to get it right our forefather was who he goes on to say he went down into Egypt a few a number and he stayed there he's talking about Jacob and his family right so when you read it in the Hebrew what's amazing is it says that our forefather was caused to perish in Aram see it's referring to Laban always trying to curse Jacob and trying to bring about his demise and trying to increase his flocks while Jacob just continued to be a laborer and a worker for him and so it's referring to all the times that the enemy has tried to thwart God's purpose through Jacob and through the house the whole family of Israel it's actually not our Father who was and our Omni but it's Laban who was an irani who lived up in that area of the Lebanon Syria border and he caused to perish our forefather then it goes on to say he went down into Egypt few in number and stayed there there he became great strong and a populous nation but the Egyptians treated us badly they oppressed us and imposed harsh slavery on us so we cried out to Adonai the god of our ancestors Adonai hurt us and saw our misery toil and oppression and out and I brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm with great terror and with signs and wonders now he has brought us to this place and given us this land a land flowing with milk and honey therefore as you see you're speaking to the priest right I have now brought the firstfruits of the land which you out and I have given me you are then to put the basket down before out an eye your God and prostrate yourself before out an eye your God so you get totally down on the ground face down and you take joy in all the good that out of my your God has given you your household the Levites and the foreigner living with you this whole passage is loaded and you can imagine if you are to recite this in Hebrew in the Lashon ha'qodesh that's the Holy tongue how important it is for us to learn Hebrew now there's certain mitzvot that are only fulfilled in using Hebrew certain blessings that are only given using Hebrew and it's interesting that not only is the whole connotation of this passage different when you read it in Hebrew but it's amazing that you start off by saying to the priest my let's see where is it it says in the presence of Adonai your God it's actually referring to the priest and how there are representation of Hashem and how we're supposed to fulfill all of these myths vote and honor see this this first fruit offering was eaten by the priests so the hola offering was burnt and given to God but if you didn't bring your first fruits the priests would starve so it's very important to recognize Hashem and all that he's blessed you with through this act of giving which keeps us humble and which keeps us selfless so then this fruit was placed in front of the altar and the offer would recite this whole passage that we just read and originally those who knew how to read Hebrew would recite the text themselves but for those who did not a reader performed the mitzvah for them when the sages realized that a lot of illiterate Jews were refraining from bringing the first fruit offering to the temple because they were embarrassed they were ashamed that they couldn't speak Hebrew any more then they instituted a new law that the text would be read by a third person in every case and we have this to this day this is when you go out and make a nollie yaw and say you're in synagogue and we break up the Torah portion we read it in Hebrew and only Hebrew and all seven portions in the synagogue service are read by different Allah people so I would first call upon a Cohen somebody who is recognized as from the priestly lineage they would get the first right to read the first passage and then anyone in the congregation you know would be called upon with with their Hebrew name just according to if you had a prayer shawl on or to lead if you were knowledgeable and could read it but today there's so many people that can't read Hebrew that there's always a third person this carries over from the temple days where you'll be called up and you just say the blessing you know the blessing we said this morning over the Torah this is what you would say in front of the synagogue but then you wouldn't be expected to embarrass yourself showing that you don't know Hebrew so the rabbi or the Cantor or somebody else would read and so that way alleviating any embarrassment [Music] and similarly in ancient times the Torah was read in synagogues by individuals called up to recite the blessing since some congregants did not know how to read it was instituted that the tour be read by a communal Cantor the Torah commands the offer of the firstfruits the bickering to read this particular portion of the Torah because it relates to God's kindnesses to the whole house of Israel the offeror acknowledges his gratitude for all God has done for him and in this way it keeps us humble it keeps us selfless if we would stop taking the first fruits and the tithes to the Lord what would happen we would start to inherently without that practice become more self-centered and attribute to ourselves the big house we built the big gardens we grew the blessings the riches that we've acquired we would start to inadvertently look at ourselves and since God is selfless and the process of recreating us back into his selfless image requires certain practices and tithing and the offering of firstfruits are a couple of those the text recalls the hardships and afflictions of our people for in order to appreciate truly one's good fortune one must be mindful of past misfortunes and so we start off remembering the misfortune in with Laban than the misfortune in Egypt but how God has come through every single time and we can do that in our own life recognize where the enemy has tried to gain the victory but God has turned that curse back into a blessing because we have been faithful in observing his Commandments so it's beautiful example there in the beginning of this Torah portion and how to present the first fruits then in verse 12 that goes right into another act of selfless giving the tithing after you have separated a tenth of the crops yielded in the third year the year of separating a tenth how many of you know which years you're supposed to separate the tenth of the land even that is very specific it's the third and the sixth year in the shemitah cycle so just like we look at a week in a seven-day cycle we also look in our years in terms of seven-year cycles the third in the sixth year is when we gather these tins and take them to the Lord and then within a fifty year span we're looking at the cycles of seven sevens and we pronounced the first cycle of the next Jubilee the first year of the next cycle of forty-nine years the fiftieth year so it's both the fiftieth year and the first year and so excuse me when you're calculating Jubilee years you actually divide them by 49 year cycles but we call the year of Yeovil the fiftieth year because it's after seven complete cycles of seven shemitah years so in this one should meet a year we bring our crops a tenth of our crops in the third year and we give it to the priest the foreigner and the orphans and the widow so some of these offerings are also to help the poor so you have offerings that help the priests offerings that acknowledge that everything comes from God offerings that also help the orphan the poor and the widow which is beautiful so that they can have enough food to set by them whilst at staying with you and you were to say in the presence of a deny your God when you bring this tenth of the land in the third year I have rid my house of the things set aside for God see they're not mine and I'm making that acknowledgement usually this would be said in a quiet way personally when you're up at the Temple Mount and after you've brought that you would acknowledge and you would say this under your breath I have fulfilled this mitzvot by ridding my house of all the things that are set aside for God because throughout the year you're setting things aside and I've given them to the Levite and to the foreigner and to the orphan and to the widow in keeping with every one of the mitzvot you gave me I haven't disobeyed any of your mitzvot or forgotten them Lord I haven't eaten any of this food myself even while morning I haven't put any of it aside when I was unclean nor have I given any of it for the dead I have listened to what yahaha my God has said and I have done everything that you have ordered me to do look out from your holy dwelling place from heaven above and bless your people use rayul so this acknowledgement of us doing the right thing leads into all of Israel being blessed bless your people Israel and the land you gave us as you swore to our ancestors a land flowing with milk and honey so this begs the question if there's so many different types of offerings we should know the different types of offerings right as the descendants of Israel we should get reef Emillio set aside different offerings and as I was meditating on this I can think of five different types of offerings there's two times in seven years that we would present or these offerings of the land and declare that we have separated these masa rows that was required and we would have offered something called a terumah which is a lifted up offering for the priest it's basically a gift for the priest so you have the true offering you have the first ties which is always given to the priest to the Levites sorry the true m'as for the priests the first time is for the Levites see all priests are Levites but not all Levites are priests does that make sense so you don't wanna leave the Levites out these are doing different work in the temple area but not acting as priests only sons of Aaron can be priests within the house of Levi so you have the trauma for the priests the first tie for the Levites the second tithe would be for yourself now you would think if we're talking about tithing as being an unselfish act how is this unselfish if I save it for myself anybody know what the second type is used for yes getting to Jerusalem and the feast and when you're in Jerusalem buying if you can't bring all of your offerings and food and drink with you then you're it's enough to purchase to live in such a way that your rejoicing in the Lord having a full feast in Jerusalem so we should be setting aside a second tenth in addition to the tenth that you give and your tithes and offerings you should be setting aside a second tenth so that three times a year we can go up to Jerusalem and we can praise the Lord on these different holy days Pesach the feast of unleavened bread there one feast in the spring then shava oh we should be going to Jerusalem every shovel and then the week-long Sukkot we should be going to Jerusalem so this is why all of Israel always set aside 20% 10% for the priest and 10% for getting to Jerusalem and and feasting on the feast days then the fourth kind of tied that I thought about is the one mentioned here which is the third and sixth year of the shemitah cycle separating your crops and the fifth tithe is mentioned inadvertently that it's for the widow and the orphan for the poor so you always want to have enough that you can give and bless others that are meeting say somebody couldn't get to Jerusalem even you could bless them with a trip to Jerusalem if you had set aside enough try this and see that the storehouses of heaven will open up and bless you in your business and in your health and in your family's observance of Torah it is a tremendous blessing them you can't outgive the Lord the more that we give the more we naturally receive and the only reason that we receive anything is so that we can pass it on and be a conduit of Yas blessings to bless others then it goes on to say in 4:16 today I don't know your God after you made this great Proclamation that you have not withheld anything that Hashem has entrusted to you and how many of us can really say that this this last verse that was recited from verse 13 through verse 15 this is a powerful statement and I think all of us could take to heart giving more in these different areas that are outlined here in this tour portion then it says today I deny your God orders you to obey these laws and rulings therefore you are to observe not just observe and hear but to observe and obey them with all of your heart and with all of your being you are agreeing today that Adonai is your God and that you will follow his ways you will observe his laws his mitzvot and his rulings and do what he says in turn had an eye as a green see this covenant that's being made out an eye as a green that you are his own unique treasure you're gonna be his bride this is Bridal language this is beautiful intimate language if you will observe these Commandments you will be recreated in his selfless nature and you will be fit to be a bride without spot or blemish so it's beautiful when we say we love the Lord our God in the Shema with all our heart mind and soul we say la vaca in the fish car mail deck ha mail deck ha means with everything that you've got and the nafech is with all your soul well how do we it's not just something we say right it's something that is put into practice and we see it lived out and observed so if we are truly agreeing that Adonai is our God then we will follow his ways because we're so in love with him they won't be seen burdensome will realize that they're for our blessing and for our life more abundantly and he is going to make us his own unique treasure like a princess like a bride as he promised you that you are to observe all his mitzvot and that he will raise you high above all the nations what happens when a woman marries the king like Queen Esther she's raised up high above all the nations right so if you are to be the bride of Hashem it's natural that you would be raised up above all the nations and then what do they see they see that selfless giving loving non-judgmental pure nature and that me8 sout is light and they want to have what you have that's the best witness that we can have is living out the commandments and the nation's seen the blessing that comes as a byproduct of us living them out and they say I want what he has and they come and they seek and that's why it says Tim people will take hold of Jews ZT and say take us with you to the house of the Lord we want what you got we want to be blessed like you're blessed and this is what it means to be a witness not that we have to convert anybody or that we have to try to like the old same bible thumpers you know preach to anybody if we will be the change if we will live these mitzvot how in our live we will have such blessings that our cup will run over and people will naturally want access to whatever the source of our blessing is and that's how we introduce them to our wonderful God yes Tammy yes all of the above the animals like the doves and the pigeons would have been offered up on the altar the grains know there was a certain amount that was made into flour but the majority of it the only a small portion of that was used in a in a like a smoke offering yeah the majority of it was eaten by the priests and by the Levites so even the terumah offering which you would present to the Lord see it was a big bull lock or a ram well out of that sacrifice that's going to be burnt on the altar of burnt offerings the the shoulder the thigh would be taken off and that would be given so that the priests would even have a little meat to eat with their grains and their fruits and the rest of it was burnt up so the yes isn't it beautiful to see how it all works perfectly it's wonderful to get this written back on our hearts and to start thinking of how we can apply this to our lives it says in addition to him raising us high above all the nations as his own peculiar unique treasure he is how is it gonna look how is he gonna raise this up above all nations it says in praise in reputation and glory and that as he said you will be a holy people a Kadesh code a shame for a deny your God now we go into chapter 27 and we see the tribes 6 on Mount Gerizim 6 on Mount Ebal and the Levites were down below in between the two mountains and the Levites would pronounce the blessings to Mount Gerizim and the curses to mount a ball and so that all of Israel could hear in addition to rehearing all of the blessings that come from different aspects of Torah observance Moses you know the standing stones that were written on by Moses in Moab these were the standing stones that were used and supposed to be carried into the land in show Marone where I took the group this last year Archie was there Terrence and Heather were there and we saw Gerizim and Andy ball and where that first Tabernacle the Mishkan stood and where these standing stones would have been erected and they were whitewashed they would have been huge big stones and they were whitewashed so that you could inscribe very small Hebrew letters and you were to write this passage or the Torah mitzvot that bring blessings in not just Hebrew but in 70 languages these were to be a witness to all the nations so that anybody that would pass by there they could read it in their own native tongue did you have something Archie yes isn't that amazing with the imagine the Levites standing down below and you saw how far across Shechem the next Hill over was Maui ball yeah that so that means they had to add pronounce it in unison that's a very good point that unity would carry the sound from one mountain to another and then they would turn and face the other six tribes so in chapter 27 verse one we read about that and it says then Moshe and all the leaders of Israel gave orders to the people they said observe all of the commandments I am giving you today when you cross the Jordan to the land out of night your God is giving you you are to set up large standing stones put plaster on them and after crossing over write this torah on them every word so that you can enter the land adonai your God is giving you a land flowing with milk and honey as Adonai the God of your ancestors promised you when you have cross the Jordan you are to set up these stones as I am ordering you today on Mount Eve all and put plaster on them there you are to erect an altar to Adonai your God and archaeologists have found the altar of burnt-offering with the ramp that goes up to it to this day they've unearthed it right there on mountain a ball [Music] and put plaster on them there you are to erect an altar to Adonai your God this is the altar that they have found an altar made of stones and I don't think that these stones could be hewn I think these had to be unhuman stones yes that's correct a.m. and man and this is totally dedicated to Hashem beautiful conformation then it goes on to say you are not to use any iron tool on them but are to build the altar of out a night your god of uncut stones and you are to offer burnt offerings on it to I deny your God so at this point the tabernacle that God gave instruction to build in the wilderness to Moses and that they carried around for 39 years in the wilderness with them once they cross the Jordan this is the where this Tabernacle stands then it was moved from this place on Maui ball and where do you where do you think it went to next I went to Shiloh and for sheilo it stood there well that's where the priest Eli and Samuel resided over the house of the Lord and the 12 tribes would come from all their areas and when we went to Sheila you could see 12 mountains around three on each side of the four sides and there would be a hill for every tribe to have all their encampments on with the tabernacle in the center and Shiloh it stood there for 369 years I believe and then it went to Hebron for a little while and then David moved it from Hebron he reigned seven years in Hebron and then he was the one to move the tabernacle to the place where God placed his name in Jerusalem and David reigned another thirty three years in Jerusalem for a total of forty years and then it was his son that built the first permanent tabernacle so imagined this tabernacle that you can pick to pick up and take down that moved through the wilderness whenever they move this is the tabernacle this is the locations of it when it entered the land first mount a ball then Shiloh then Hebron than Jerusalem yes Archie yeah I'm sure at one time there was beautiful trees and olive groves but the land has been desolate for 2,000 years so then he says you are to write on the stones all the words of this Torah very clearly next Moshe in the cone eeeem the priests who are leaving Levine spoke to all Israel and they said be quiet pay attention and listen Shema Israel today you have become the people of ah deny your God therefore you are to listen to what out of my your God says and obey his mitzvah in laws which I am giving you today that same day Moshe commissioned all the people as follows these are the ones who are to stand on Mount Gerizim and bless the people after you have crossed the Jordan then he designated shamone lave a yahudah yes a car Joseph and Benjamin you go stand on Mount Gerizim and then he turned to the other six tribes and told him to go up to Mount Ebal for the curse how do you think they felt Reuben GAD Asher Zebulun Dan and Naphtali and what's amazing is that these are the tribes that were throughout time you can see Aaron in idolatry Reuben he not only did wrong with his father's concubine but he also didn't want to cross the Jordan with the rest of his brothers he liked the rich green pastures east of the Jordan and Moab GAD stayed over there is well with him so you can kind of see the reason why because they hadn't fully observed the Torah this is why they're allotted to think about it it's kinda like putting a kid in timeout okay you go home to mount you ball and you think about the curses that are going to happen to you and your descendants if you continue to air in these ways that you have erred the Levites down at the base of these two mountains will loudly announce to every man of Israel a curse on anyone who makes a carved or metal image something out and I detest the handiwork of a craftsman and sets it up in secret this is a key word here because now you're gonna see a lot of the curses that we bring into our lives are things that we think we can get away with that nobody else will notice the laws that are not obvious to everybody and so we're gonna talk a little bit about secret sins because you're gonna see a lot of these curses have to deal with secret sins all the people are to respond by saying Amen next a curse on anyone who dis honors his father or mother no this originates anything that you speak comes from what long thinking and most of the time when you have your worst blow outs with family members it's behind closed doors it's in your house right it's something done in secret so the community you can show up at the synagogue and have a smile on your face but you might have just had a big blowout with your spouse or dishonored your parents and this is another type of secret sin a curse on anyone who dishonours his father or mother and all the people are to say Amen this is an acknowledgment that we believe what it's saying a curse on anyone who moves his neighbor's boundary marker it's like moving that fence a little bit over getting a little more property when do you do that you do it in the broad daylight when your neighbors out in the field or in his yard or do you do it at night another type of see Kherson even though these might not all say that they're secret sins when you find a theme in Torah it's amazing how it stays in keeping with the theme verse 18 curse on anyone who causes a blind person to lose his way on the road this is a type of deceit a blind person might be able to see perfectly physically but what if spiritually they can't see there's big woes in the scriptures too shepherds who lead their flocks astray so in many different ways both physically and spiritually we can what lead a blind person there's many people that are just ignorant they're not bad people they just don't know any better and if you're the only one that's to lead them whether you're leading them physically or spiritually this is kind of something that they're not going to detect right it's almost a secret sin because they're blind so anyone who does this will bring a curse on themselves and all the people are to say amen a curse on anyone who interferes with justice now do you know the word for justice in Hebrew it's Sunday so Dec is the word like we get Sadiq a righteous man it's the same word justice and righteousness are interchangeably because when you're living a righteous life you're always going to do justice and it is said that in the office of the high priest justice and mercy will be perfectly balanced and anyone who interferes with justice or mishpat bring a curse on themselves all the people are to say a curse on anyone who has sexual relations with his father's wife because he has violated his father's rights all the people are to say a curse on anyone who has sexual relations with any kind of animal now do you think any of this stuff is going to be done publicly so these are all very secretive perverse sins and they bring curses we what is a curse but a loss of blessing see from God's side he doesn't punish anybody arbitrarily right because he is the source of life he's a life giver he only gives good gifts we serve the father of Lights in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow so if the curse doesn't come from God where is it coming from it's a cause and effect loss of blessing that's all it is it's like here you're under the covering of Hashem by Torah observance and you receive life more abundantly you receive health you receive prosperity and you choose through your poor lessness that's actually the definition of sin in 1st John 3 for right the way transgression of the Torah is sin when you remove yourself you suffer yourself from that source of blessing and life and health and the cause and effect of that is just the loss of blessing and so all of these curses are not something arbitrarily that God puts on anyone they're just the natural cause and effect of us separating ourselves because Isaiah 59 verse 2 says your sins have made a separation between you and your God it's not that God has separated himself it's this is what sin does on the mind and this is why you sure when he took on all of these sins of the world what happened to his mind it seemed like he was being separated from God did God go anywhere no God is everywhere it was only the mental separation your sins have created a separation between you and your God and he said my God my God why hast thou forsaken me it seems like you're so far away that's what sin does this is the natural cause and effect then another curse on anyone who has relations with his mother-in-law and all the people are to say I'm in a curse on anyone who secretly hears that word again attacks a fellow member of the community now another principle of not just something overt and physical right how many times have we seen within the body certain types of attacks Lashon Hara evil speech accusations gossip these are different secret attacks when you talk behind somebody's back they bring a curse on you because you're aligning yourself with the enemy in that moment who accuses the brother and day and night and all the people are to say a curse also on anyone who accepts a bribe in secret to kill an innocent person all the people are to say a curse on anyone who does not conform the words of this Torah by putting them into practice wow what a final summation and all the people are to say Amen and this is secret only because you know how you are not observing Torah see God winks at our ignorance but to whom much is given much is required we're to live up to the light that we've been given so if you don't know something there are certain sins of ignorance that there's atone meant for but if you know and only you know and this is why this is included in sense of forgiveness you ever have the Ruach of the Spirit of God tell you you know you're doing something that you've read is not in harmony with Hashem sways and you have to either decide ok I'm gonna die to myself in this moment or I'm gonna push through in rebellion and hardness of heart and I'm gonna do what I want regardless of what I know to be right what a horrible state to be in but we've all been there at different times and so this is the spiritual walk that we're on to make sure that we only align ourselves with the blessings never with the curses or the loss of blessings so here's a little illustration we've got to choose wisely the more we follow God's character which we were created in His image and he is selfless love the more blessings we will receive but the more that we lose our true identity and what's our true identity it's his spirit in us if I recognize that it's his spirit that lives in me and this is body it's just a vessel I don't need to protect the body I'm not reactionary and it also helps me align with you and you and you because that same spirit is in you and that's your true identity in that way we're one we take care of each other it's selfless we take we give all the glory to a Shem but the minute that I say I am this person who has this body who has this title this job or who owns this house and I think I own anything what happens I'm always worried about self-preservation right protecting myself my false identity anything selfish self exaltation self gratification always leads to self-destruction which is a loss of blessings so it's just natural cause-and-effect very simple and all of the Taurus laws are to help us live in harmony with his character of selfless unconditional love so we must choose wisely there's an interesting phrase that our sages say in regards to the bickering and I don't know if you've ever read this but they say let the first bring up the first two the first two the first place to the first of all what does it mean let the first who's this first we were talking about you and me right descendants of Israel the whole house of Israel bringing our firstfruits how can we be so bold to claim that we are first among the nations Jeremiah 2:3 says Israel was holiness unto the Lord and Israel was the first fruits of his increase so we're actually considered first fruits all that devour him shall offend evil shall come upon us another way to say the curse says the Lord what's the second first so let the first Israel bring up the first fruits right to the first who which are the priests right to the first place yeah which is the Temple in Jerusalem to the first of all with a capital F Hashem the Lord are gone Vinay Israel are termed the first because they are they were the first to acknowledge the one true God from Abraham Isaac and Jacob and we are to be the first to lead others to believe in God and God alone the one true God that's why we say this Shimon is the foundation of our faith so we have to be careful in meditating upon the curses that come through secret sins that there are no secret sins in our life God knows everything about us including even the motives behind our words in our action Cindy files is soils it brings on spiritual death this is why Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death it's not the wages of an angry god who's punishing the wages of sin which have suffered you from the source of life and sin is defined as the transgression of the law first John 3:4 so that's why it naturally leads to spiritual death God doesn't have to do anything he has stepped in our place from the foundation of the world to prolong our life even in the midst of sin and ignorance so that we could learn how to return in teshuva how to return to life the enemy wants to tempt us because he knows it's going to lead us to his same demise which is death he wants to destroy us Yeshua says the enemy comes to steal kill and destroy so remember we cannot sin and get away with it notice your unnoticed it's gonna have natural consequences in the life but first John 1:9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness this is the good news there are things that atone but the greatest thing is to turn that's what teshuva is turn from your sin and return to the source which is Torah Torah is just a reflection or a transcript of God's nature of selfless love and so that's why many people that don't want to observe poor they falsely understand it as rules and restrictions but it is just the natural description of who God is so that week it's like that's why it's called the schoolmaster it teaches us how to come back in alignment with God after we have fallen in sin chapter 28 says if you listen closely to what Adonai your God says observing and obeying all his myths vote which I am giving you today how deny your God will raise you on high above all the nations of the earth this word in the Hebrew is L Yan he's gonna raise you up so we call God most high ll Yan but he's gonna make you le on as well and all the following blessings are gonna be yours in abundance this is why you should was referring to when he says I come to give life in life more abundantly he's taken the Torah myths boat to a whole new level of not just outward display of doing them and observing them but even the way we think so he's brought it to our heart how our whole motivation all those secret sins all the secret desires of our heart he starts working on changing those now your our behavior through Torah is cleaned up now let's start working on the inside because it's not what goes into a man that defiles him but what comes out of him this is what he was speaking of the thoughts and motives of the heart and all the blessings God intends for us to be to be ours in abundance if we will do what I deny our God says a blessing on you in the city and a blessing on you in the countryside wherever you're at a blessing on the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land and the fruit of your livestock the young of your cattle and flocks a blessing on your grain baskets and your kneading bowls so all of you always have food a blessing on when you go out and a blessing on when you come in this is keep pets a and ki Tov o blessing when you go out and a blessing when you come in we've learned about how to honor all life and how to live selflessly by giving more the practice of giving helps us return to that selfless nature that brings blessings into our life that and I will cause even our enemies who desire to attack us to be defeated before us they will advance on us one way but they're gonna flee seven other ways at and I will order a blessing to be with you in your barns that's your storehouses and in everything you undertake he will bless you in the land a tonight your God is giving you and this is where he desires for us to ultimately end up so that we can be fulfilling all of the torah right now we can only fulfill a certain amount of the Torah living in a foreign land without the temple but his purpose when Messiah comes in the age of mashiac we are going to be going up to the house of the Lord which will be rebuilt all the Exile of Israel and the descendants of Israel will be regathered and there in Israel and we'll be able to learn the principles of peace from the Prince of Peace during the Millennium of peace in the city of peace yerushalayim means the place of peace the city of peace and so this is God's intention that we would have Torah written upon our hearts that we know how to live when he returns us to the land then all the people on earth will see that out a nice name his presence is with you so that they will be afraid of you and we talked about fear in a previous Torah portion and what that true fear is it's like a holy awe or an infatuation when we fear God we're totally infatuated with him when the nations see the blessings in our lives they're gonna have that kind of reverent off for us Wow that's God's people that's his ride I want to be closer aligned to him the way they are can I be grafted in with you and he's made a way for all the nations to be grafted into Israel I don't I will give you great abundance of good things of your fruit of your body of your livestock of your land and the land that I deny swore to your ancestors to give you I don't I will open for you his good treasure the sky to give you to give your land it's rain at the right seasons and to bless everything you undertake you will lend to many nations you won't borrow what does debt when you borrow it causes debt and that is slavery we are children of God and we've been set free from slavery do not encumber yourselves with debt and return to slavery because then you will be in subjection to the earthly authorities rather than the heavenly authorities when we observe Torah we will have such an overflowing abundance that we will become the lenders to the nation's and we will reap the the blessing of the interest we won't be borrowers or enslaved to debt I don't I will make you the head and not the tail this is a promise that you can claim for yourself father make us the head as you promised not the tail the enemy wants to turn it around and make it as if you are just scraping by so that the nations don't recognize the blessings of Hashem upon you but we have to rebuke that he promises in the book of Joel I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten yes yeah that's right that's right they will acknowledge where these things come from just like we acknowledge through our tithes it's beautiful he's gonna bless you and you will be only above never below if you will listen to observe and obey the mitts vote of Adonai your God and not turn away from any of the words sometimes we justify well I'm keeping 90 percent but this area it's difficult for me no we need to observe all of the words I am that he is ordering us today let us turn neither to the right nor to the left to follow after other gods and serve them but and this is a big but verse 15 if you refuse to pay attention okay you have free choice there's gonna be natural cause and effect of your free choice if you sever that connection with the source if you turn away from yaws ways if you pay attention if you refuse to pay attention to what Adonai your God says and you do not observe and obey all his mitzvot and regulations which I'm giving you today then all of the following curses will be yours in abundance a curse on you in the city and now he reverses all the blessings and this is what proves to us that accurse is not something arbitrary it's just a reversal or a loss of blessing a curse on you in the city where you're meant to be blessed and the curse on you in the countryside where God intended to bless you in verse 3 a curse on your grain basket and kneading bowl then verse 5 he said this is where he would bless us if we would be observant a curse on you the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land and the young cattle and flocks we saw this in verse 4 and verse 11 he intended to bless us in these areas a curse when you come in and a curse when you go out and this was in verse 6 ad and I will send on you curses disasters and frustrations why does it say Adam I will send on you because with an ignorant mind you don't understand 1 what Satan is doing behind the scenes and you don't understand the natural cause and effect of your own actions bringing a loss of blessing so in the days of the ancient forefathers for 3,000 years they didn't even really have an understanding of what hospital was doing behind the scenes and what cause and effect who would do they attributed everything to God they said he creates light and darkness good and evil right and Jobe says though he slay me yet will I follow him was God slain job no it was hasta ton but he didn't know that so he attributed everything to God so this is the way it's written and I just want to unlock your mind so that when you read the scriptures you don't attribute any wrong principle on to our beautiful heavenly father and lover of our souls he's only a giver of good gifts but it's written this way upon you will come curses disasters and frustration and everything you set out to do until you are destroyed and quickly perished because of your evil actions in abandoning Hashem Adonai will bring on you a plague that will stay with you until he has exterminated you from the land you are entering it's especially important to observe the mitzvot when you're in the and the place where he has placed his name Adonai will strike you down with wasting disease fever inflammation fire heat drought blasting winds and mildew and they will pursue you until you perish do you know in Revelation it talks about 25% of the earth when the three-and-a-half year time of tribulation begins very quickly you see that peace is taken from the land and then you see inflation inflation a quart of wheat for a Denarius and then famine right with all the things that it's listing here are coming upon us because we're out of harmony with Torah there's four things that bring our judgments upon a land there's also four sins that bring judgment upon a land we are committing all for sins both in our nation and abroad and the four judgments are famine disease war and being killed by wild beasts all four of these are reiterated in Ezekiel Jeremiah and also in Deuteronomy right here you see these plagues that is talking about we're gonna see these happening very soon when the time of tribulation begins the sky over your head will be brass and the earth underneath you iron out and I will turn the reign your land needs into powder and dust will fall on you from the sky until you're destroyed there's also a loss of rain whenever there's judgment on a nation remember l Elisha the prophet prophesied against the false Union of the governmental system and religious system at that time king ahab and jezebel --zf all system brought about three and a half years of drought no rain interest in correlation with the final tribulation being three and a half years and here the prophecy was that when there's sin in the land and in our lives the rain won't even fall thus the crops will not produce thus what is left over from the previous years will greatly inflate in price right and this is why it says a quart of wheat for a Denarius and then pretty soon when everything's bought out even at that inflated price there's no food for anybody and that's called famine and that's one of the curses that we bring upon ourselves through sin says Adonai your God will cause you to be defeated before your enemies you will advance on them one way and flee before them 7 you will become an object of horror to every Kingdom on earth the carcasses will become food for all the birds in the air and the wild animals and there will be no one to scare them away at and I will strike you down with the boils that broke out on the Egyptians this is the very first sign in the last days of those who have taken the mark of the beast the very first plague is boils on those who have taken the mark of the beast Boyle's just like those that broke out in Egypt tumors skin lesions itching all incurable how do my will allow insanity and blindness to come upon you and utter confusion this word confusion is Babel and this is the system that God is calling us out of come out of her my people that you participate not in her sins and receive not of her plagues this whole world's false system is promoting self seeking self gratification and it's these sins that are going to lead to self-destruction God is calling his people out of this false system it's a false system of economics government religion we have to be aware how much are we going to be in the world but not of the world this is the key you will grope about at noon like a blind person groping in the dark unable to find your way you will be continually oppressed and robbed and there will be no one to save you this is pretty serious language pretty sobering he went through the curses already many went into the blessings and now he's giving you a final reminder if you choose wrongly if you choose that self seeking way that is an opposition to the selflessness that's in Torah these are all the things that are going to happen and he lists a number of them you will get engaged to a woman but another man will marry her you will build a house but not living it you will plant a vineyard but not use its fruit your ox will be slaughtered before your own eyes but you won't get to eat any of its meat your donkey will be taken away from you by force as you watch so you know when people build up big storehouses of food a lot of times this gets robbed from you it's to put it into proper modern application or what's your donkey donkey something you ride into town on so your car might get stolen you know just to bring it home to us today your sheep will be given to your enemies and there'll be no one to help you your sons and daughters will be handed over to another people you will watch them watch for them longingly all day but not see them and there will be nothing you can do about it a nation unknown to you will eat the fruit of your land and labor now America has been used as a blessed place to preserve the descendants of Israel for the last 250 years and revelation 13 says that it's a nation that would start out like a lamb but it's going to end up speaking like a dragon and we're bringing judgment even upon our own land and we're seeing it greater than ever I almost was going to read to you all the things that are happening currently but it's so sobering and so depressing it just all of you know of all the things that are happening around the world today but this place what does it say this place that was used as a blessing for God's people it hid the woman in prophecy which is Israel for the last 250 years it says that it's going to be given over to enemies and no one's going to be able to help us your sons and daughters hand it over to another people a nation unknown to you will eat the fruit of your land and labor had to supply today we're so in debt to the other nations could we see other nations come and seek to take the resources from the u.s. since we cannot pay our debt says Adonai we'll strike you down in the knees and legs with painful and incurable boils they will spread from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head out and I will bring you and your king whom you have put over yourselves to a nation you have not known neither you nor your ancestors and there you will serve other gods made of wood and stone think about this what Isles do we have today that are wood and stone so many churches are upholding the cross and it becomes almost idol worship right it's wood that's Christianity what is Islam hold up this the Kaaba stone in Mecca these are idols of wooden stone even though you wouldn't think of it today in what ways do we still have idol worship or are we putting ourselves in the place of worshipping a false god we have to be very careful and soul-searching about these things you will be so devastated as to become a proverb in the laughing stock among all the people to which how did I will drive you you will carry much seed out to the field but gather little in because locusts will devour in you will plant vineyards and dress them but neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes because worms will eat them you will have olive trees throughout your territory but not be able to anoint yourself with the oil because your olives will fall off unripe you will father sons and daughters but they won't belong to you because they will go into captivity the bugs will all inherit your trees and the produce of your land the foreigner living with you will rise higher and higher while you sink lower and lower you will end up lending to you but you will not lend to him he will end up being the head and verse 12 and 13 said he wanted us to be the head and not the tail but if we don't follow his ways what will happen someone else will be the head and will be the tail all these curses will come upon us pursuing us and overtaking us until we are destroyed if we do don't pay attention to what Adonai our God has said and this season of teshuva in the month of Elul and leading up to yom kippur is such a sobering time to search our hearts and to return to god's torah in all the ways that we're out of harmony there's nobody that needs to scare you with the punishments or entice you with the rewards of prosperity the the true motivator is when you fall in love with a sham your God when you see how good he is this love is gonna be the greatest motivator for change for teshuva for union with him and when your focus is stayed on him throughout your day how is anything going to distract you how is anything going to trip you up or catch you into a sin this is what a true love affair is where you can't stand to be apart from each other where you're communicating day and night where your eyes are always on each other and you're always spending time together this is what we want to see in our teshuva in addition that's going to spawn acts of kindness to others because he says in as much as you've done it to one of the least of these you've done it unto me and our repentance is going to show forth in a closer relationship with Hashem he goes on to say in verse 48 out and I will ascend your enemies against you and you will serve him now Adonai allows trials and tribulations to come upon us why because like a loving father it says he disciplines and chasten a--the those whom he loves and it's oftentimes only when we hit rock bottom and we're in the dire straits that we cry out to him and that we even desire to return to him so many times when we have prosperity those are the times where we forget him you're gonna see a really interesting anomaly when we get down to verse 63 here first 50 or 49 says yes I don't I will bring against you a nation from far away that will swoop down on you from the ends of the earth like a vulture a nation whose language you don't understand a nation grim and appearance whose people neither respect the old nor pity the young they will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you have been destroyed they will leave you without grain wine oil or your young cattle and sheep until they have caused you to perish they will beseech all of your towns until your high fortified walls and cities in which you trusted collapse everywhere in your land which out and I your God gave you then because of the severity of the siege and distress that your enemies are inflicting on you you will eat the offspring of your own body the flesh of your own sons and daughters and you know that this was fulfilled in 586 BC in Nebuchadnezzar's siege against Jerusalem and it's actually recorded by Jeremiah's scribe if you will he had a scribe named Baruch which means blessed one and in first Baruch there's a chapter chapter two verses two and three he fulfills or he records the fulfillment of this possible curse if Israel would go so far away this is what would happen and that's exactly what happened in that siege fifty four says even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will be without pity for his brother times will be so hard his beloved wife or his surviving children to the degree that he'll refuse to share with any of them the flesh of his children whom he is eating because if he did he would have nothing left for himself what is showing is the ultimate end of self focus this is the epitome of self selfishness that sins lead to she's showing the worst case scenario in the severity of the siege and the distress your enemies are inflicting on you in all your towns the most delicate and sensitive woman among you so sensitive and delicate that she wouldn't think of touching the sole of her foot to the ground will so begrudge her own beloved husband and her sons and daughters that she will secretly eat even the afterbirth that comes out after her and even her own children as she bears them so desperately hungry will she be in the severity of the siege now somebody can be desperately hungry and not even fathom these kind of atrocities so what is it telling you the state of the person it's so consumed with self focus and that self focused leads to protecting the self which is the body at all cost if we can separate our identity from the body and we recognize the Spirit of God is our true identity then because we've died daily and it's become such a practice through fasting in prayer if somebody wants to hurt my body do I react no I turn the cheek if I'm starving do I do some atrocious thing like become cannibalistic no it's not even a thought let the body perish the spirit is going to thrive this is a state the epitome of selfishness that this is talking about verse 58 says if you will not observe and obey all the words of this Torah that are written in this book so that you will fear this glorious and awesome name how deny your God then Adam I will strike down you and your descendants with extraordinary plagues so here's one plagues and severe sickness to go out on and on you'll bring you back all the diseases the Egyptians had which you were in dread of and they will cling to you not only that but add and I will bring upon you all the sickness and plagues that were not written in the book of Torah until you are destroyed and then he talked about the nations that will come against you and war and this is a third type of judgment the only thing that's not mentioned here is the beast that's mentioned in Revelation thus it will come about that just as one side and I took joy in seeking to do you good and increase your numbers so now add and I will take joy in causing you to perish it's gonna seem like this it's not you know we have to understand the language in which it's written and you will be plucked off the land to your entry and in order to take possession of it out and I will scatter you among all the people from one end of the earth to the other and this did happen and we are still in the Diaspora today I want you to think of yourself as Israel okay no longer do you think of yourself as a going or a Gentile you are the descendants of Israel and you have been scattered and your forefathers were scattered to diverse nations and we lost sight of our heritage in our Torah and our God and we come being born in America and we say oh my descendants were German or Spanish or Irish right that's even part of the false identity you are Israel and you come thinking that I'm Christian or I'm this or I'm that and that's not who you are either and you you grow up with certain ideologies and holidays that you revere and cherish and that's not who you are God has his word with certain holy days for his people and he's waking up your DNA in the Diaspora you're still in the Diaspora but he's promised just as he gathered that he dispersed Israel throughout all the nations he would gather you back in the last days and that day is coming where we are going to be gathered back we're gonna return to Hashem it's the only one and true God and his Torah as the only one and true Torah so the world foundation is on three things Torah the one true God and acts of kindness these are the three things that are very important for us as we return to our true identity he promises that he's going to gather us back in these last days he's going to return to us the years the locust has eaten it says among these nations you will not find repose and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot rather out and I will give you their anguish of heart dimness of eye and apathy of spirit your life will hang in doubt before you and you will be afraid day and night and have no assurance that you will stay alive in the morning you will say oh how I wish you were evening and in the evening you'll say oh how I wish it was morning you're just living from day to day and so many people are like that in the rat race just living from day to day they wake up tired and they don't they're not excited about the day when you're in harmony with Torah you wake up excited about the day you wake up with a blessing on your lips for Hashem restoring the breath of life to you it's just a wonderful joy to to have life and you're thankful for it but if you're not following Torah this is the way you're going to feel in the foreign land in which you will be dispersed finally it says out and I will bring you back and ships to Egypt the place of which I said to you you will never see it again this a euphemism for slavery you're selling yourselves back into slavery through debt in the foreign land and you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies but no one will even buy you what happens when you totally lose the blessings of Torah so much that you can't even produce food you don't have any savings you have to sell yourself as an indentured servant this is what debt is it's a form of slavery and yet it says you won't even be able to sell yourself and in this in the Hebrew this word and there you will try to sell yourselves there's an enlarged COFF now who knows what the COFF represents in the paleo hebrew depiction you know how every letter has a meaning in addition to every word having a meaning every letter in the Hebrew has a meaning the yo'd is a little closed handwrite and then after the yo'd the 11th letter is the COFF which is an open hand it's the open hand of giving why are we in the desperate state that we're in that we would have to sell ourselves because we didn't have an open hand we didn't bring the firstfruits we didn't tithe we didn't bless one another we stopped being giving we stopped being selfless and through thinking that we're going to have more if we're more self-centered and selfish guess what it was through that very act that we brought about our demise and we lost the blessing and now we're at this destitute place where we can't even sell ourselves that's what it means when even your credit is bad nobody's even gonna give you a loan you can't even feed your family did all that selfishness in hoarding your wealth in not giving your tenth to the Lord did it profit you anything it's beautiful when you understand the principle all of a sudden this phrase and there you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies but nobody will buy you in the Hebrew this enlarged cough tells it all it all goes back to the open hand to the very first passages in this Torah portion which we're about presenting our firstfruits acknowledging Hashem in all things and giving our tithe this is so beautiful and it closes up saying this these are the words of the Covenant which out and I ordered mo che to make with all the people of Israel in the land of Moab in addition to the covenant which he made with them in Horeb which was Sinai so this amazing passage of the blessings and the cursings really can be boiled down to every choice we make in life is it selfish or is it selfless you're gonna be blessed the more you give because it's inherent in the laws of the universe and it comes from Hashem is very nature himself so I hope this blesses you understanding more clearly that we must align ourselves with these selfless loving nature of us Shem and in so doing we're not only going to return to Torah but we're gonna return to the blessings that He desires to pour out upon us so with that let's stand and we will close in prayer and thank the Father for these amazing truths that he's revealing to us in these days because this is the time of repentance and there's no time like the present for us to change and realign ourselves with the ancient paths to return to Him Jeremiah told us our forefathers have inherited lies it's time for us to return to the truth and return to the path of blessings Abba Father we love you we thank you you are such a good daddy to admonish us in love showing us the cause and effect of every thought and every word and every deed is either leading to life and life more abundantly a life filled with blessings and health and prosperity or the loss of blessing if we seek to not observe and obey your ways of selfless love father we ask for your ruach ha'qodesh to change our heart mind and soul as David said cleanse my heart O God and renew a right spirit within me we repent in the season of teshuva father and we confess our sins before you our sins of selfishness we know that all sin which is transgression of the Torah is all the different forms of self seeking and self gratification that separate us from you so father we desire today and we resolve to make this resolution today to align ourselves back with your ways and your selfless character of unconditional love we love you Father we ask you to break our stony hearts to give a soft skin that is desiring to be more giving to realize that all things come from You Father we don't own anything we're just stewards of it and we show that we recognize that we're stewards of it through our giving and it's through that giving that you give more to us you said that he who is faithful with a few things you will make ruler of many and so we claim that promise father and as we seek to bless your people in these last days use us father entrust us with your blessings so that we can be a blessing to others this is our prayer in your holy name we pray amen

Channel: Assembly of Called-Out Believers

Views: 12,097

Rating: 4.9242425 out of 5

Keywords: Torah, Parsha, Parashah, Parashah Ki Tavo, Ki Tavo, Called Out Believers, Assembly of Called-Out Believers, Torah Study, Pastor Isaac, Rabbi Yitzchak, Learn Truth, Torah Truth, Selflessness, Selfless giving

Id: k2Md3hzhzP8

Length: 88min 21sec (5301 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 09 2017