08/06/2021
PARASHAH RE’EH (See). Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17; Haftarah Isaiah 44:11-45:5
Blessing or curse? Numerous times in last week’s parashah God said to Israel, in effect, “Obey my mitzvot, and you will be blessed.” In this parashah God “ups the ante.” He says, “I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse — the blessing, if you listen to the mitzvot of ADONAI your God that I am giving you today; and the curse, if you don’t listen to the mitzvot of ADONAI your God, but turn aside from the way I am ordering you today and follow other gods that you have not known.” (11:27-28)
And they are told “When ADONAI your God brings you into the land you are entering in order to take possession of it, you are to put the blessing on Mount G’rizim and the curse on Mount ‘Eival.( Deuteronomy 11:29 -CJB ) Clearly there are consequences to not following God’s ways. It’s not like, “Hey, guys, if you want to do it, it’ll be fun.” This is life and death, not maybe! Immediately upon entering the Land, they are to “destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, whether on high mountains, on hills, or under some leafy tree. Break down their altars, smash their standing stones to pieces, burn up their sacred poles completely and cut down the carved images of their gods. Exterminate their name from that place.
“But you are not to treat ADONAI your God this way. Rather, you are to come to the place where ADONAI your God will put his name. He will choose it from all your tribes; and you will seek out that place, which is where he will live, and go there. You will bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tenths [set aside for ADONAI], the offerings that you give, the offerings you have vowed, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep.” (12:2-6)
God is preparing the people to go into the land. They will no longer just be twelve tribes wandering through the desert. Now they will be a nation with a land. The ground rules are changing. There will be a central authority.
One of the things that stands out in this parashah is that God has them do their sacrifices in the place which ADONAI will choose. This is to preserve the unity God wants. Sixteen times in this parashah the text mentions God’s choosing a place. For quite a while the tabernacle was set up in Shiloh; not until later, during the time of King David, did Jerusalem become the “chosen place.” Not until Shlomoh became king was the Temple built. The operative thought was “the place of God’s choosing,” to preserve unity and to keep them from being drawn away from God and from each other to the old “high places” scattered all over the land that the pagan forerunners used. The parashah concludes in Chapter 16 by mentioning that three times a year, at the Pilgrim Festivals -- Pesach, Shavu’ot and Sukkot – the men are to appear in the place “which ADONAI will choose to have his name live.”
The people of Israel are not even supposed to be curious about the ways of those nations. “Be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.’ You must not do this to ADONAI your God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations that ADONAI hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods!” (12:30-31)
People today compare abortion to this practice of offering up their children to idols. The Palestinians under Hamas in Gaza systematically use their children as human shields in their wars against Israel.
Spirituality is not about supernatural powers. There are spirits who have power but are not good. Rather, they are dangerous. God wants to protect us from such negative spirituality. It always comes down to: do we love God? Will we follow him? In Chapter 13 comes the warning that even if someone “gives you a sign or wonder,” you are not to listen to him if he is trying to draw you away from ADONAI. (13:2-6). On the contrary, “If your brother the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or your wife whom you love, or your friend who means as much to you as yourself, secretly tries to entice you to go and serve other gods, which you haven’t known, neither you nor your ancestors — gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near or far away from you, anywhere in the world — you are not to consent, and you are not to listen to him; and you must not pity him or spare him; and you may not conceal him. Rather, you must kill him!” (13:6-9)
This is shocking! Yet listen to Yeshua: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brothers and his sisters, yes, and his own life besides, he cannot be my talmid [disciple]. Whoever does not carry his own ex*****on stake and come after me cannot be my talmid.” (Luke 14:26-27)
And: “Whoever loves his father or mother more than he loves me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than he loves me is not worthy of me. And anyone who does not take up his ex*****on-stake and follow me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 14:37-38)
We have the choice -- to follow God and be blessed or not to follow God and be cursed. Yeshua “redeemed us from the curse pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed on our behalf.” (Galatians 3:13) May we all choose blessing!
Shabbat shalom!
-- David and Martha
The picture is Martha's picture of Mount Eival and Mount G'rizim. The blessings were proclaimed from G'rizim, the curses from Eival. You still can go to these mountains today. See Deuteronomy 11:29 in our Parashah and Joshua 8:30-35
