Re'eh “See”
Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
Isaiah 54:11-55:5
Psalm 97
Revelation 18:1-24
Re'eh holds some of the severest judgments for idolatry. The "odds and ends" that follow are not a disconnected jumble of various instructions. Jewish scholars have been discussing their connections from long ago, but perhaps the easiest summary is found in the Book of Revelation. Israel’s destruction of idol-worship was to create a pattern for the other nations. By destroying the idols, Israel would inherit a land where freedom invited unity, not multiple gods.
Instead of investing their best, God-given resources in the personally convenient modes of worship under every tree and on every hill and mountain, they would discipline themselves in their tzedakah (righteousness) according to the Torah's mishpatim. They would worship three times per year in Jerusalem, the place where He put His Name. The Israelites would exercise their Creator's righteousness according to “It is written...,” not “I feel...,” “I think...,” or “I want...” This ”freedom” leads to poor vision when spotting idols. Freedom itself can become the idol that fractures a people.
The moedim would be the calendar that unified Israel to accomplish their purpose, to defeat the “King of Babylon”:
And it will be on the day when the LORD gives you rest from your hardship, your turmoil, and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved, that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say...
‘How you have fallen from heaven, you star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who defeated the nations! But you said in your heart, “‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’”Nevertheless you will be brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. (Is 14:3-4; 12-15)
This final judgment on Babylon and its idols comes with a troop of riders:
“Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.'” (Is 21:9)
In Creation Gospel Workbook Two, The Seven Abominations of the Wicked Lamp, you learned about the chiastic circular route of the four horsemen of Revelation as pictured by the menorah. The white horse would release with the Fourth and Seventh Seals; the red horse would release with the Second and Sixth Seals, and the Black Horse with the Third and Fifth Seals. The pairs of horsemen signal the end of Babylon's idolatry.
In earlier lessons on the serpent Pharaoh and how he gave his authority to the first beast kingdom of Babylon, you learned the four kingdoms of the beast: Babylon, Persia/Medea, Greece, Rome, and the mixed iron-and-clay daughters of the Roman Empire in current world systems. Babylon has always sought to rule Heaven with its golden head, but Rome (the Red One, Edom) desired to rule the earth. Nevertheless, they are part of the same image. If the mixed clay and iron feet of the Beast on earth are shaken by judgment (mishpat) by the four horsemen, then the golden head of Babylon, which is given authority by the serpent mystically called Egypt and Babylon fighting in the heavenlies, the entire image will also fall along with its idolatry, deceits, and sorceries.
This “coalition” would have only a short time to continue deceiving mankind. In Re'eh, the destruction of idolatrous cities, idolators, and false prophets is described in detail for Israel. These details will emerge in the judgment on the idolatrous nations in John's Revelation:
“If you hear in one of your cities, which the LORD your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let’s go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), then you shall investigate, search out, and inquire thoroughly. And if it is true and the matter is certain that this abomination has been committed among you, you shall most certainly strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. Utterly destroy it and all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. Then you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its public square and burn the city and all its plunder with fire as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. Nothing at all from what is designated for destruction is to cling to your hand, in order that the LORD may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, if you will listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.” (Dt 13:12-18)
Jewish scholars have broken down the elements of Dt 13:1-18, the destruction of the false prophet, inciter, and an idolatrous city. You should be able to match these to long passages in Revelation or the Gospels concerning the destruction of Babylon and Edom, the scarlet beast:
- First came investigation and judgment.
- Destruction of, false prophets, idols and their “deceivers/inciters.”
- The false prophets and people who incited their brothers to idol worship were executed by stoning.
- All found guilty of idol worship were to be put to death by the sword.
- All the idolators’ belongings were burned, even if they were being stored in a different city. There is no refuge in a worldwide economy, foreign branches, or “offshore accounts.”
After a thorough official investigation, and assuming no repentance was forthcoming, those found guilty of the deceptions of false prophecy and inciting to idolatry were to be put to death by stoning. In ancient times, stoning was accomplished by pushing the guilty party off a rocky cliff like the scapegoat of Yom HaKippurim. When an angry crowd tried to push Yeshua off a cliff, they were attempting to stone him as a false prophet:
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And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff. But He passed through their midst and went on His way. (Lk 4:28-30)
It appears the angry ones skipped the part about a thorough investigation! It demonstrates the difference between the beast ("I think, I feel, I want") vs the Spirit: "It is written..."
Revelation is full of fulfillments of Re'eh's judgments, from stoning deceiving false prophets and inciters to burning cities of idolatry, i.e., Babylon. Here is an example of how Heavenly judgment takes the judgment a step further. Instead of human beings executing judgment upon other human beings, the Holy One Himself causes the deceiving false prophets and idolators to TRY to be stoned! The great men of the earth who incited the nations to idolatry in order to build powerful systems of commerce to enrich themselves will try to stone themselves:
The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Re 6:14-17) (Also see Lk 23:30)
This is only one method in the Book of Revelation in which the judgment prophecies of Re'eh are fulfilled. Revelation is packed with them! The most widely-recognized judgment fulfilled in Revelation is the one pronounced upon an idolatrous city that must be burned to the ground: "Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great..." And it will continue to smoke in order to warn the world away from the deception of idolatry.
We are not in an ideal location for live streaming today, but we will make every attempt to do so. Join us on the YouTube live stream today at 4:00 pm Eastern for a more in-depth study of Re'eh's prophecies of Babylon Burning. If we are unable to connect with you, then we will bring this lesson next Shabbat, b'azrat Hashem. It is important.
