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“If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep His covenant of love with you, as He promised to your ancestors.” This is how our Parasha, entitled Eikev begins and, like last week’s portion, affirms that obedience and faith in God equal the fulfillment of a beautiful promise far beyond our imaginations. Because human promises are so often broken, many are skeptical of such pledges; however, a promise from God is so very different. His promises are pure, true and most importantly, they are kept. Eikev means ‘consequence’ or ‘result’ and covers Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25.
As we open in Verse 12, Moses continues his final speech to Israel. He assures them that their entry into the Promised Land is not due to their own merits, but simply God making good His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To make this point very clear, Moses reminds them of their many transgressions. Israel would be blessed above all peoples if they simply obey the commandments of God. Would they do what God directed them to do? Unfortunately, as we see, only a remnant of them would actually do that.
Furthermore, the people were not to have any tolerance for idols. They were to destroy them by fire and eliminate them from the Land. Not even the gold or silver from those idols was to be kept, but to be considered an abomination. Adonai had cared for the people during their wandering in the desert; He humbled them, fed them with miraculous manna, brought water from a rock to quench their thirst…He did all this so that the people would learn to rely exclusively on Him to meet their needs. After God showed them all of this, could they worship Him alone? Sadly, many turned to false gods.
And now the Promised Land lay before them, a land renowned for its beauty and fruitfulness. So long as they would trust in the Lord, He would continue to care for them as He did in the wilderness. Moses warned the people not to forget the Lord by ignoring His commandments and statutes, especially after entering the Land and beginning to flourish. If Israel failed to remember their deliverance from Egypt by the One, the All-Powerful God, turning to idols or believing in themselves more than Him, they would soon perish from the Land, just like those before them.
In Chapter 9, Moses reminds the Jewish people that it wasn’t because they were morally superior to the Canaanites that they were given the land, but because God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham, and because He was judging those nations. He said: “Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that He may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.” Lest we point a finger at Israel, remember we are a stubborn people too, are we not? We rebel against God every day. Thank God for His grace and mercy on all of us. Thank God for His promise through our Savior, Yeshua!
In Chapter 10, Moses reminds Israel of the rewriting of the Ten Commandments due to their worship of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses’ intercession for them enabled the people to receive a second chance – something all of us need, and it is a picture of Yeshua’s intercession for us before the Father. In this chapter we also are reminded of the death and burial of Aaron, Moses’ brother and Israel’s first High Priest, as well as God’s choosing of the tribe of Levi to serve at the Tabernacle.
Finally, in Chapter 11, Moses instructs Israel to follow God’s commandments, and to teach His word to their children if they hope to enjoy His protection and blessing in the Land.
The consistent theme running through this parasha, and much of Deuteronomy, is the need to trust God through all of our trials. Israel’s difficulties were Adonai’s way of teaching them humility. He allowed them to learn the pain and futility of trusting their own strength and ingenuity. We struggle to comprehend that God would actually choose to do that to them, or to us; putting us through life’s wringer. He tests our hearts to reveal what’s inside, unmasking the facade. He deliberately puts things into our lives to reveal where we are lacking.
It might be easier if God let us go along, unchallenged. Easier yes, but it would also be disastrous for us! Without the Lord’s discipline, we would grow spiritually lazy and negligent and likely fall far from Him. There can be no spiritual shortcuts in this maturing process.
As Rabbi Loren taught recently, Yeshua set up a situation that demonstrates this very well. In John chapter 6 we read, “…so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread, so that these people can eat?’ (Now Yeshua obviously said this just to test Philip, for He already knew the answer.)” Yeshua was looking for a response from Philip that demonstrated confidence in God’s ability to provide in seemingly impossible situations. After all, Israel survived in the wilderness on the manna God provided. Ask yourself this: Has God ever put you in a situation where He has absolutely failed to see you through it? Is He not the God who provides?
No one likes to be tested; however, it allows you to see what is in your heart and whether you continue to press in to God and walk in His ways. It also illustrates that keeping Yeshua’s ways is an act of faith; we will find ourselves in situations that demand that we cling to God in spite of it all, knowing that His path is the right one…the only one. Sadly it is often in these crisis moments that we step out in faith, and it’s the only time, having exhausted all other options first. God occasionally engineers such situations, because otherwise we would never learn to trust Him.
How does all this bring humility? God’s Word gives us the answer…we do not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from God. The humbling has to do with recognizing something: that God is truly, truly in control of our lives, and able to feed us and provide for us at all times. Moses didn’t provide the manna supernaturally, God did. What we need, He provides. Yeshua, by connecting this concept to Himself, demonstrated again that if God is able to provide bread, how much more will He provide for our salvation and redemption, providing a sacrifice for sin which we could never bring ourselves?
In closing, what should we take away from Parasha Eikev? Simply this: we need to learn that God alone is our Source, and He has done everything for us; just like He did for the people of Israel, going ahead of them as a consuming fire, giving them victory over those who opposed them. He has done all these things for us because of who He is, not because of who we are.
God is same yesterday, today and forever…He has made a beautiful Promise to us as He did to the people of Israel…we only must believe in and surrender to our Lord Yeshua, His Son and our Savior, who laid His life down for each and every one of us to receive God’s promise. It is such a simple thing, yet so difficult for much of the world to embrace. Just like in today’s reading, those that love and follow the New Covenant will assuredly enter into a new Land, the New Jerusalem that, “comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”
Do not chose rebellion against the Creator…. As the psalmist wrote, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart…” You do not want to find yourself excluded from entering such a lovely place set aside for you. Brothers and sisters, obey God, treasure His mighty Word; believe in Messiah Yeshua, whom He gave to be our great Mediator… prove yourself diligent so that you can be assured of entrance into this great and glorious Promised Land through His grace.
Shabbat shalom!