This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled D'varim, meaning "Words", from Deut. 1:1, referring to the words which Moses spoke to the children of Israel. D'varim (dabar - word, thing, matter, acts, chronicles, saying, commandments, speech, utterance, speaking, counsel, decree, judgment, language, promise, purpose, spoken, sing, declare, warn, threaten, to arrange in order) is also the name of the fifth book of the Torah, or Deuteronomy in Greek. In many ways this fifth book of the Torah moves us forward chronologically and physically in the journey to the promised land, but also takes us back to the beginning, spiritually. This book opens with telling us that the Israelites were very near the end of their forty-year wandering through the wilderness: "...in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the LORD had given him as commandments to them..." (v. 3).
Moses began to recount the Israelites' history with the LORD, including their failure to heed His word to them. However, Moses also reveals the LORD's caring heart towards His people: "The LORD your God who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet for all that, you did not believe the LORD your God, who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day." (Deut. 1:30-33). Again, Moses said, "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) wilderness (midbar/dabar - wilderness, uninhabited land, a desert or sterile sandy country, a pasture fit for feeding flocks, speech, the mouth as an organ of speech/speak, declare etc.- see above). These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing." (Deut. 2:7).
As we look at the word "wilderness" used in the above verse, it is the Hebrew word midbar with the root word of dabar. The meaning of the word "wilderness" here means both a sterile desert or a pasture fit to feed the flock. How can it mean both, as they seem to be opposites? Perhaps because "wilderness" is attached to its root word dabar, which means to speak and more. "Wilderness" even means the mouth as used to speak. We know that while traveling through the wilderness, the Israelites used many occasions to speak the curse of the sterile desert rather than the blessing and the glory of the green pasture that fed them, and where they lacked nothing. How are we speaking of "the wilderness" in which we sometimes find ourselves, as it awaits the spoken words of our mouths to determine its characteristics toward us? These are the words that Isaiah spoke from the LORD over the wilderness: "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the excellency of our God." (Isa. 35:1-2). This beautiful and powerful prophetic testimony was not what was spoken by the Israelites in the wilderness, but rather bitterness and rebellion. Self-pity and unbelief spoken in the wilderness did not serve the Israelites well, and in fact, caused many deaths. For us, the prophetic promise has already been established, as we read in Isaiah. We can leave the world as a spiritual desert wasteland by the words we speak, or we can speak the promise of God leading to the transformation of the spiritual wilderness into an abundant garden of joy, singing and glory. Paul wrote that all of creation is groaning, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:18-22). What and how are we speaking in the wilderness?
How we speak when we are in the spiritual wilderness is especially important at this time. This Sabbath is also designated as Chazon, meaning that it is the Sabbath before Tishah B'Av. Tishah B'Av, or the ninth of Av refers to a date that throughout history has seen disaster befall Israel and/or the Jewish people wherever they might be in the world.
Some of the events from history that have occurred around or on the ninth of Av include the destruction of the two temples by the enemies of Israel. Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC which was followed by the Babylonian captivity, and the Romans destroyed the second temple in 70 AD that had been built under Zerubbabel. Also on or around the ninth of Av in different years, three nations expelled their Jewish populations: England in 1290, France in 1306 and Spain in 1492. In 1942, Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland and taken to Treblinka concentration camp on the ninth of Av. The ninth of Av this year will follow this Sabbath and will be observed with fasting as the saddest day on the Jewish calendar.
For this Sabbath reading portion before Tishah B'Av, the chazon vision of Isaiah is read. The meaning of the Hebrew word chazon/haza is "a vision as the vision seen by a prophet, a divine vision, divine revelation/to see, perceive, prophesy, provide, to see God, to behold the face of God." The vision of Isaiah reported what the LORD saw concerning His people. The LORD saw a desolate wilderness: "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence; and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers." (Isa. 1:7). As desolate as the vision was for the land, it was even more so for the people: "Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment...Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the LORD..." (v. 5-6, 10-11). In this vision, the rulers and people of Israel are compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. This vision is not just about the land and people of Israel. We have previously seen that the land to which the LORD was bringing the Israelites after their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt was the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) 'eres land. In Hebrew, 'eres is also used to refer to the whole earth (see also Gen. 1:1-2). When the LORD first revealed this vision to Isaiah, He said, "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth ('eres)! For the LORD has spoken (dabar, see above)..." (Isa. 1:2). This vision is for all who have been grafted into the Name of the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) LORD and the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Holy One of Israel as written in Hebrew in Isa. 1:4. To use an expression, we are mistaken if we believe that what happens in Israel stays in Israel. Do we think that what the LORD spoke in this vision about Jerusalem only applies to Jerusalem? - "How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers." (v. 21). We are mistaken if we believe that Tishah B'Av, the ninth of Av, has nothing to do with the rest of the earth. History tells us that empires were judged and eventually pulled down, and world wars were forged around the events above that were associated with the ninth of Av.
What does Isaiah's chazon vision tell us about God's plans for this desolate spiritual wilderness described here? The LORD drops a seed of life into the middle of the desolation: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,' says the LORD, 'though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow...If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword;' for the mouth of the LORD has spoken (dabar, see above)." (v. 16-20). Then the LORD says: "I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors (ya'as - to advise, consult, give counsel, purpose, plan, guide, exhort, admonish, counselor or minister to a king, to provide for, to declare future things) as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness." (v. 26-27).
Following the report of this chazon vision of Isaiah's in Chapter 1, there is a powerful prophetic promise in Chapter 2 regarding the house of the LORD in the latter days, that all nations and many people shall flow to the mountain of the LORD where: "He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem...Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the LORD." (Isa. 2:1-5). How awesome was this chazon vision for the latter days that flowed out of the desolate spiritual wilderness that the LORD had seen! It is a vision that impacts the whole 'eres earth.
As the ninth of Av approaches this year, the heartbroken nation of Israel is in mourning even while it finds itself facing the attacks of enemies from all directions as was prophesied in scripture. These enemies are supported and directed by nations, and include nations, that have acquired nuclear weapons. Let us all who call upon the Name of the LORD cleanse our hearts, turn from evil, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6) and pray that all of Israel shall return to and call upon the Lord our Savior, and be saved (Rom. 11:26-27/Isa. 59:20). Let us speak that seed of life that the LORD has dropped into the wilderness.
If you would like to learn more about speaking in the wilderness, you can pray with me: "Father, You have shown us how to speak in the wilderness to bring life and glory in a place of desolation and waste. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that the words that I speak revive and renew those who are desolate. I pray that You would teach me Your ways so that I will walk in your paths. I pray for Israel and all of the seed of Abraham, both by the flesh and by faith, that they would live in the peace and safety of the Lord and in Your salvation, the Messiah/Christ Jesus, Immanuel, according to the words of Your prophets. I pray that we would all hear Your voice, turn away from sin and evil, and turn back to You. Especially as the ninth of Av approaches this year, we stand in the gap in the wall of fire and the hedge of protection that You have set around Jerusalem and Israel, and all those whom You have called by Your name. I ask these things, Father, in the name of Your Son, Jesus. AMEN."
*NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as Α Ω , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13.
