Va'etchanan "and I pleaded"
Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
Isaiah 40:1-26
Psalm 90
Matthew 24:29
One of the most heart-wrenching cries of the Torah, and perhaps of all Scripture, is Moses’ plea in Vaetchanan:
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I also pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, ‘Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? Please let me cross over and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, and Lebanon.’ But the LORD was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; instead, the LORD said to me, ‘Enough! Do not speak to Me any more about this matter.’ (Dt 3:23-25)
What an aching of heart to see the Land of Israel! What a cry of pain! Moses knew that there was more in the Land than giants, wicked kings, idolatry, robbery, and sexual immorality. Those were there to test the hearts of Israel. Did they see impossibilities or opportunities for new miracles?
Like the Holy One, Moses saw the potential of Israel to partner with Him and clear away the blemishes. He could see the Holy City built up, purified, and drawing the nations to its House of Prayer. Most of the Israelites did not have the same longing. Yet, there was Caleb. Joshua. The daughters of Tzelophechad. With the exception of Moses, those who yearned for it, entered it.
Moses didn’t pray that he be granted another forty years of life to lead the Israelites in the mission, but merely to cross over and see it, put his feet on its holy soil. Had he been granted permission to cross over, the sages suggest that Moses undoubtedly would have set about preparing to build the Temple. Divine timing is late in human perception, but right on time in His.
The Psalm that is read with this week’s Torah portion is Psalm 90, a psalm of Moses, perhaps penned when he realizes that his feet will not touch the Temple Mount before he dies:
Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
You turn mortals back into dust
And say, “Return, you sons of mankind.”
For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or like a watch in the night.
Moses acknowledges that Adonai has been their dwelling place in all generations, even before the Mishkan was built or David would purchase the threshing floor of the Temple Mount. He was the dwelling place of the human spirit even before the world was created. There is some comfort in that, and perhaps this psalm assuaged Moses’ anguish to see the place of the Holy City hovering just above the Holy City that would be built below it. If anything could have moved the Father’s heart in Moses’ behalf, it was this plea, “Please let me cross over and see that good land!” The Holy One loves the Land even more than Moses:
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…a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year. (Dt 11:12)
The Land of Israel is vital to the Divine plan for mankind. Originally, Israel was chosen to build up its borders and its Holy City. They were to rule according to their Covenant with the Holy One, judging the nations of the earth from its twelve gates:
- It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. (Re 21:12)
Gates represent judgment in Scripture. Angels are messengers and appointed rulers over territories. The number seventy represents the number of nations in the earth regardless of the actual number:
- When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. (Dt 32:8)
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Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven. (Dt 10:22)
These verses tie the stars to the “70” symbolic nations of the world. The sages comment that while the nations are under the dominion of angelic Heavenly appointees, Israel is under the personal protection and provision of the Holy One Himself. Israel’s power is in obedience, and her influence is similar to, “like,” the dominion of the 70 “stars,” or angels, ruling the nations.
To worship the gods of the other nations is to worship their created entities that rule them instead of the One who created them. When she breaks her covenant with idolatrous behavior in the Land, mixing with the nations, Israel must be expelled and exiled to those nations to be subjected to the powers she seeks to worship. She loses her “star” power of living testimony to the Torah. Like Samson, she regains a vestige of her power through repentance, but she is still subject to being “killed” for her testimony.
Why consult the stars instead of the One who made them to rule? Why not obey and appeal to Israel’s personal Protector?
You are wearied with your many counsels;
Let now the astrologers,
Those who prophesy by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and save you from what will come upon you. (Is 47:13)
The sun and moon have become dark,
And the stars have lost their brightness. (Joel 3:15)
Israel abandoned her covenant and lost her “star power” of obedience, which resulted in the destruction of two Temples. The first Temple was lost for idolatry, bloodshed, and sexual immorality. The Second Temple was lost because of baseless hatred among brothers, which is seen as the equivalent of the three primary sins that destroyed the First Temple. As Yeshua said, loving one’s neighbor hangs equally with the Shema and the commitment to the Torah’s commandments.
The world still waits for Israel to long for their return to the Holy Land and the Holy Temple to the same degree Moses and the Holy One care for it. The Temple represents Israel itself, obedient and loving to one another, welcoming the seventy nations to worship there. Before Israel can be entrusted with this star power again, she must YEARN to return. She must roar in pain each day for the return of the Holy One’s Presence to His dwelling place below:
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The LORD roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But the LORD is a refuge for His people, and a stronghold for the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling on Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will no longer pass through it. (Joel 3:16-17)
Now that Israel is dispersed among the nations, the Temple is dispersed as well. Better to destroy the physical structure than its spiritual structure, the people of Israel. Now the Temple is mixed among the nations of the seventy rulers. Mourning and fasting on Tisha B’Av is mourning the destruction of the Temple, the dispersion of a people, Israel. Now Israel must grip tightly to the Covenant under difficult circumstances. The seventy rulers of the nations were not created for the benefit of Israel, which is ruled personally by The Holy One and the “seven stars” in the hand of Yeshua (Re 1:20). These seven stars assist Israel in assembling at the moedim. The seven assemblies of Revelation are the seven moedim, centered in the Temple, the Heavens and the earth of his Body.
The twelve tribes were to rule the 70 nations, not be ruled by them. Prayer has become increasingly important with the loss of the Temple. The interests of Israel may conflict with the ruling principalities and powers assigned to the nations:
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Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was standing in my way for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the latter days, because the vision pertains to the days still future.” (Da 10:12-14)
Prayers can take longer to be answered in exile, but John’s vision suggests that the virtuous woman Israel will return to her King's palace and her dominion like the stars over the nations. Obedience and love:
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A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (Re 12:1)
The twelve tribes, or “stars” will rule under Yeshua, who rules under the Holy One (Re 2:26-28). Those other stars, principalities and powers, will no longer be necessary:
- But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. (Mt 24:29/ref.Is 13:10)
Do we mourn for the destruction of the Temple like The Holy One? Do we experience anguish and yearning for the Kingdom to be restored? The Holy One of Israel roars from Heaven over His Temple, His habitation on earth, because those who were chosen to BE that Temple and maintain it in obedience destroyed it with every sin. If we are returning, then Yeshua’s lament, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem” must also be in our hearts. His anguish will one day be replaced with a roar of wrath against all who have trampled the Holy dwelling place:
Therefore, you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them,
‘The LORD will roar from on high
And raise His voice from His holy dwelling;
He will roar forcefully against His fold.
He will shout like those who tread the grapes,
Against all the inhabitants of the earth
A clamor has come to the end of the earth,
Because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with humanity... (Je 25:30-31)
Can you hear the Lion roar for His holy habitation Jerusalem? Those who yearn for it will inherit it. A moed anywhere else is just practice for the moedim in the Holy City. Yeshua cries out like a mother bird yearning for her chicks to return to the safety of her nest. They are safe there, and the enemy cannot steal them away. When the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roars with his Father, he will return to gather them to the holy habitation. By then, it may be too late to learn to yearn. Don't wait. Lament. Roar.
Join us on the YouTube live stream today at 4:00 pm Eastern for a more in-depth study of the principalities and powers over the nations and how the world descends into darkness as their powers weaken.
