Sights&Sounds

Last week, the Sabbath readings took us to the beginning of the fifth Book, Deuteronomy, or D'Varim, meaning (Words) in Hebrew. "Deuteronomy" is from the Greek language, and means "a repetition (of the Law)". We will see that Moses does repeat the Law to the Israelites as they camp along the eastern side of the Jordan River before they enter into the Promised Land. However, there is something else going on in this week's reading portion titled Va'etchannan, which means "And I besought". This portion begins in Chapter 3 of Deuteronomy, where Moses begs the LORD to allow him to enter the Land with the Israelites: "Then I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, "...I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.' But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the LORD said to me: "Enough of that! Speak no more to Me on this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan." (Deut. 3:23-27). And the LORD told Moses that He was giving the leadership of the Israelites to Joshua, and Joshua would go over with the people. (v. 28). From our English translation, we might think that the LORD was strongly and perhaps callously denying the heartfelt request of Moses, who described himself to the LORD as His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega, see Rev. 1:8, 21:6, 22:13) servant (ebed/abad (servant, bondservant, slave, worshipper, subject, laborer, worship and obey). (Deut. 3:24). However, if we look at the Hebrew meanings of the key words here, we will see that the LORD wants Moses to speak (dabar) no more about it, because his request, as a prophet of the LORD, actually limits God's purpose. In fact, the LORD, in answer to His servant's pleadings above, commands Moses to elevate the vision of his eyes and understanding. The LORD told Moses: "Enough!", or, "Let it suffice!". Unlike the meaning of our English understanding, the word "enough/suffice" in Hebrew is rab/rabab, meaning "great, much, prince, captain, master, multitude, mighty, abounding, exceedingly, increase, great understanding, vast, arrows, archers/multiplied, manifold, ten thousands, become many, expand, spread". Then the LORD told Moses to "go up", or ala in Hebrew, meaning: come up, offering, raised, arose, light, exalted, ascend, extend the boundary, lift oneself, overcome. "The top" is: ros - top, chief, captain, sum, beginning, height of the stars, highest, supreme, prince, first and foremost. "Of "Pisgah/pasag": cleft/contemplate, consider, accurately contemplate. The LORD doesn't want Moses to limit his vision to the land, even though Moses calls the land "good" (tob - of favor, goodness, delightful, joyful, benefits, precious, rich, sweet, upright). The physical land is a foregone conclusion, because it is a promise of God. However, at the pleading of Moses, the LORD does not ignore that pleading, but He commanded Moses, the prophet of God, to see beyond that to the truly awesome, unlimited destination of the LORD's VISION. God tells Moses to "lift up your eyes" (nasa - bare up, lift up, exalt, rise up, accept, marry, magnify, forgive/obtain pardon, raise up, grow, increase, lift up soul in desire (towards God). "Eyes", or ayin in Hebrew, not only means physical eyes and sight, but the understanding, a fountain, knowledge, judgment. Moses is told to look in the four directions from Mt. Pisgah: westward, northward, southward, eastward. These directions also translate from the Hebrew as "the roar of the sea, the nations by the sea and across the sea; that which is dark, hidden, obscure, of heaven; at the right hand; rising, rise up, shine, come forth, like rays of sunlight, appear. From the meanings of these fur directions, Moses was supposed to "see" the plan of salvation, including the resurrection of the Son Who is at the Right Hand of God. The LORD told Moses not to speak small things of a limited, natural understanding, but to lift up his eyes from the greatest height, and see beyond to what God has seen and purposed. Then Moses was to take this revelation knowledge and command (sava - appoint, ordain, lay charge upon, send with, delegate), encourage (hazaq - encourage, prevail, strengthen, press urgently, make firm, make bold, hold up and support, fortify), and strengthen (ames - courage, brave, establish, increase, assure, make alert, stenghten) (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Joshua (yehosua - "Jehovah is Salvation"). Joshua will bring the people into their inheritance, "which you will see (ra'a - look, behold, appear, consider, perceive, foresee)". (v. 28). This is a prophetic journey that requires the prophetic Vision of God given to His prophet, to a prophesied spiritual, as well as a physical destination. The LORD says to Moses, and to all of us, don't limit your vision, and don't speak that limited vision. Lift up your eyes and ra'a see! It is also interesting that the beginning place of this amazing encounter, Pisgah (v. 27), and the ending place of this encounter, Beth-Peor/Ba'al-Peor (see v. 29), were places from which Balaam tried to curse the Israelites for King Balak, but could not (see Num. 23:13-14, Num. 22:41). Man cannot curse what God has blessed, and the plans of God, established before the world was formed, will not be contradicted (see Rev. 13:8, 1 Pet. 1:19-20). In this Sabbath reading portion called Va'etchannan, or "And I besought", Moses repeated portions of the Law to the Israelites so that they would keep it when they entered the Promised Land in order to prosper, and keep their lives (see Deut. 4:1). However, also repeated several times within these three chapters of Deuteronomy, are specific sights and sounds that Moses never wants the Israelites to forget, because these sights and sounds make this nation of Israelites different from among all the nations of the earth: "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? Only take heed to yourself, lest you forget the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb (horeb/harab - desert/dry up, desolate, laid waste, kill, decay, destroyer), when the LORD said to me, 'Gather the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) people to Me, and I will let them hear My (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) dabar words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children." (Deut. 4:7-10). Moses is about to repeat the sights and sounds that all of the Israelites saw and heard that they were to remember all of their lives, and teach to their children, and he will repeat the telling several times: "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. So He declared to you His (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) covenant (berit/bara - covenant, alliance, pledge, friendship, banquet, marriage, cutting:passing through pieces of flesh/miracles, create, something new, shape, form, transformation, eat, food, manifest) which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments...". (Deut. 4:11-13). These were amazing and unforgettable sights and sounds, as the LORD made His presence known and His voice heard before His people in a place that can only be described as the devil's own stronghold of death, according to the meaning of Horeb (see above). Again, in another place, Moses said: "Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or did God ever try and go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation...according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (Deut. 4:33-34). Moses explained the reason why God had done this thing before their eyes: "To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him." (v. 35). Again Moses repeats: "Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth, He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire." (v. 36). Moses told the Israelites that the LORD had done this because of His love for their fathers, and those fathers' descendants (v. 37). "Therefore", Moses Said, "know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above, and on the earth beneath; there is no other." (v. 39). Therefore, God's people were to keep the Words that God spoke to them, His statues and commandments to prosper and prolong their days (written "behold" (hey), yamim - days, time, continually, ever, always) in the earth (adama - earth, nations, ground) forever (kol/kalal - all the whole, everything, all, whosoever, whatsoever/made perfect, made complete) (v. 40). This is where the Hebrew words are important, because Moses is revealing what he learned when he enlarged his Vision - that the LORD is talking about eternal life and perfection for whosoever in the whole earth. This is also the Gospel, our Good News. Again, Moses will repeat to the people: "Hear, O Israel, the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) statutes and judgments... (to learn and observe)...The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb (see above)...with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. The LORD talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire...you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain..." (Deut. 5:1-5). Moses repeated again: "These (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) words (the Ten Commandments) the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more..." (Deut. 5:22). And again he repeated: "So it was when you heard the (aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire..." (v. 23). These awesome sights and sounds that the people witnessed were never to be forgotten, but told to their children and children's children. The Word of God, which brings life (Jn. 1:1-5), was brought forth out of the stronghold of death, and only God can do that. This is the promise and the consolation that God has given to His people. The LORD confirmed and sealed the Word that was delivered on Mt. Horeb (part of the Sinai summits) with the signs and wonders of His fire, darkness, and voice. Jesus assured His disciple that He was the resurrection and the life when she was disconsolate over the death of her family member (Jn. 11:25-26). Jesus also said that the day was here when "...all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth..." (Jn. 5:26-29). As the LORD displayed before Moses and His people His Words of life from a mountain of death, Horeb, Jesus spoke His Words of life from the mountain of death called Calvary (kranion/keras - a skull/a horn), or in Hebrew, Golgotha (golgotha/gulgolet/galal - skull/every man/roll down, remove, roll away). From that place He said: "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do", and told the criminal crucified next to Him, who had besought Him: "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."{Lk. 23:32-34, 42-43). These are also sights and sounds witnessed, recorded, and to be remembered forever. Those who beseech the LORD in their desperation, as Moses did, as one of the criminals who was crucified with Christ did, will not be turned away. This Sabbath is also the Sabbath that follows the sorrowful events that occurred to God's people throughout history on the Ninth of Av, or Tisha B'Av (see previous blog post titled "Words and Vision"). Because of this, this Sabbath's reading portion is also called Nachamu, from the Hebrew word naham, which means "comfort, repent, comforter, moved to pity, compassion, to pant or groan, to lament and grieve". For this portion titled Nachamu, Isaiah 40 is read in the synagogues: "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!' says your God. 'Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD double for all her sins." (Isa. 40:1). Just as Moses besought the LORD and received much more than he asked, God's people receive a double portion of comfort ("Comfort ye, Comfort..."), and not only that, but the pity and compassion of that double portion of comfort from the LORD leads to repentance from which God overcomes sin. Now this double portion of compassion is directed towards Jerusalem. However, the Vision of the LORD in this chapter of Isaiah encompasses the whole earth, as God is described as "...He who sits above the circle of the earth..." (v. 22). While some believed, and maps of old epicted, that the earth was flat well into the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, the Greek, Eratosthenes, had calculated the circumference of a spherical earth in 240 BC. However, Isaiah had seen the Vision of God, and recorded the Vision with earth as a circle long before that, in around 750 BC. The Vision was written to bring to the remembrance of God's people how BIG God is, and the limitlessness of His power. In this same chapter of the double portion of comfort for His people in circumstances of desolation, God gave Isaiah another prophecy connected to the coming of the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the LORD...The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken." (v. 3-5). This is the prophetic promise, as part of a double portion of comfort, of the ministry of John the Baptist that would arrive many hundreds of years later as recorded in all four Gospels (Mt. 3:1-3, Mk. 1:4, Lk. 3:2-6, Jn. 1:19-23). He would be the prophet who called God's people to prepare with repentance of nachamu, and identified Jesus as the promised Messiah, saying, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn. 1:29). He was the prophet who came out of the LORD's provision of the double portion of comfort for His people. The miraculous, unlimited, and all-powerful comfort and consolation of God to Moses, to His people, Israel, to the whole world, extends far beyond what we think: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power (of Christ) that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Eph. 3:20-21). With these inspired words, it sounds like Paul was preaching from the revelation of this week's Sabbath portion, doesn't it? Finally, of all the sights and sounds that the Israelites, that most special nation in the earth, were reminded of during this Sabbath reading portion of Va'etchannan, "And I besought", and Nachamu, "Comfort", was this sound: "HEAR, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:4-5). If you would like to learn more about the comfort and consolation of God, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, You answered Moses when he besought You with a Vision of consolation that far surpassed his sorrow. You allowed Moses to receive the Vision of Your salvation, resurrection, and eternal life by the One, Your Son, Who sits at Your right hand. I want to remember always the sights and sounds when You revealed Your Son and Yourself to me. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I will always remember that moment and tell it to my children, and their children, amd so that I will always walk in the highest Vision of the double portion of the Comfort of the Almighty. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."