ONLY ONE ALAHIM (DEUT.4)
THIS IS PERHAPS ONE OF THE 10 MOST CRITICAL AND CENTRAL CHAPTERS IN ALL THE SCRIPTURE FOR UNDERSTANDING WHO YAHUSHA IS (HIS CHARACTER, ATTRIBUTES AND THE PRINCIPLES THAT HOLD ALL OF HIS INSTRUCTIONS TOGETHER). ALSO WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO ARE OBEDIENT AND WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE WHO DISOBEDIENTLY REBEL.
YISHARAL MUST OBEY YAHUSHA
Moses said: "Yisharal, listen to these Instructions and teachings! Because if you actually guard and obey them, you will live, and get to go in and take the land that Yahuah is giving you. Don’t forget He’s the same Alahim your ancestors worshiped, and now He’s your Alahim. I’m telling you everything He’s instructed, so don’t add anything or take anything away from them.
You saw with your own eyes how He killed everyone who worshiped that deity Baal Peor, but all of you who were obedient and cling to Him are still alive today. No other nation has Instructions that are as fair as the ones Yahuah my Alahim told me to give you. If you obediently behave them when you enter the land, you will show the other nations just how wise you are. In fact, everyone that hears about your Instructions will say, “That great nation is certainly wise!” And what makes us greater than other nations? We have an Alahim who is close to us and responds to us when we communicate with Him.
You must be very careful not to forget the things you’ve seen Yahuah do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. Do you remember the day you stood in Yahuah’s presence at Mount Sinai? He said, “Moses, bring the people of Yisharal here. I want to speak to them so they’ll obey Me as long as they live, and will teach their children to obey Me too.”
Mount Sinai was surrounded by deep dark clouds, and fire went up to the sky. You all came to the foot of the mountain and Yahuah spoke to you from the fire. You could hear Him and understand what He was saying too, EVEN THOUGH YOU COULDN’T SEE HIS FORM.
Yahuah said He was raising up His Blood-Covenant agreement with you, and He told you that your part is to obey His instructions. Then Yahuah wrote these Ten Instructions on two stone tablets. And that’s when He instructed me to give you the Instructions and teachings that you must obey in the land that you will conquer, west of the Jordan River.
(THE IDEA IS THAT YAHUSHA’S PRESENCE MADE QUITE AN UNFORGETTABLE IMPACT AS IT WAS DESIGNED TO DO. NATURE ITSELF WAS AFFECTED BECAUSE OF HIS POWER AND PRESENCE. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO ELICIT AWE, REVERENCE, AND A HEALTHY FEAR. )
DON'T GIVE YAHUSHA ANY FORM !
Remember when Yahuah spoke to you from the fire, HE WAS INVISIBLE AND YOU COULD SEE NO FORM, AND YOU ARE NEVER TO GIVE HIM ONE EITHER, FOR THAT’S WICKEDNESS! Be very very careful not to make idols and worship Yahuah in this way, no matter whether they're shaped like men, women, animals, birds, reptiles or fish. And when you see the sun or moon or stars, DON’T BE TEMPTED TO BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP THEM EITHER, for all the other nations worship and behave in this insanity.
WE ARE NOT TO MAKE AN IMAGE OF YAHUSHA BECAUSE HE IS NOT OF THIS WORLD OR DIMENSION AND THEREFORE NOTHING WE COULD EVER MAKE WOULD EVER CAPTURE THE ESSENCE OF WHO HE IS. YISHARAL HAD NEVER SEEN YAHUSHA’S SHAPE (AND MOSES IS NOT ONLY TALKING ABOUT MAKING IMAGES OF FALSE/PAGAN DEITES, BUT ABOUT GIVING YAHUSHA A CERTAIN FORM ALSO, LIKE A GOLDEN CALF FOR EXAMPLE).
IT’S INTERESTING THAT THIS PARTICULAR INSTRUCTION TAKES UP SO MUCH TIME ON MOSES’ AGENDA (AS IT SHOULD) BECAUSE THE FAILURE TO KEEP THIS INSTRUCTION HAD LED TO THE DEATH OF THOUSANDS OF YISHARALITES OUT IN THE WILDERNESS, AND IT WOULD HAPPEN AGAIN AND AGAIN WITH ALARMING REGULARITY BECAUSE THE PEOPLE JUST DIDN’T TAKE THIS WARNING SERIOUSLY ENOUGH.
YISHARAL IS NOT TO BOW DOWN TO THE STARS AND THE MOON EITHER BECAUSE THEY WERE ALLOTTED FOR THE OTHER NATIONS TO WORSHIP. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? THE IDEA IS THAT IT WAS NATURAL (THOUGH WRONG) FOR MANKIND TO BE SO AWED BY THE CELESTIAL BODIES THAT THE RESPONSE COULD BE LITTLE ELSE BUT TO BOW DOWN TO THEM. AND IF YAHUSHA HADN’T GIVEN INSTRUCTIONS NOT TOO, AND IF HE HADN’T GIVEN HIMSELF AS THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP, MANKIND WOULD BE DRAWN TO WORSHIP THESE OBJECTS LIKE A MOTH TO A FLAME.
BUT SINCE HE DID SET YISHARAL APART AND SINCE HE DID TAKE IT UPON HIMSELF TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING THAT NO OTHER NATION HAD (HIS SET-APART INSTRUCTIONS & A PORTAL CONNECTION ON THE ARK), THEN IT WAS YISHARAL’S DUTY TO PUT AWAY ALL WORSHIP OF THESE SPECTACULAR (BUT CREATED) OBJECTS AND TO ENJOY THE PRIVILEGE OF KNOWING THAT THE ONLY THING WORTH WORSHIPPING WAS THE SELF-EXISTENT CREATOR, YAHUSHA HIMSELF.
But you are Yahuah’s people, His treasured possession, having led you through His iron furnace of fiery trials and rescued you from the misery and bondage of Egypt. And Yahuah `saw red’ at my behaviour because of what you all said, and He told me that I’m not allowed to cross the Jordan River into the good land that He’s giving you all. So I must stay here and die on this side of the Jordan, but you will all cross the river and take the promised land of Canaan.
(MOSES STILL PARTIALLY BLAMES YISHARAL FOR HIS PUNISHMENT, SAYING THAT IT WAS THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE YISHARALITES THAT PROMPTED HIS RASH BEHAVIOR).
So guard yourselves and always remember the Covenant-Agreement that Yahuah your Alahim made with you, and never make a carved image in any shape or form because Yahuah is incredibly passionate and jealous and if you worship false deities, He’ll rip through you all like a wild-fire that destroys everything in its path.
Soon you will cross the Jordan River and settle down in the land. Then in the years to come, you will have children and grandchildren and after many years, you might lose your sense of right and wrong and corruptly make idols again, even though Yahuah your Alahim hates this evil practice! So I’m giving you fair warning here today, and I call the earth and the sky as my witnesses. If you ever make idols, Yahuah will be furious and you won’t have long to live, because He’ll let you be completely wiped out. Yes! Only a few of you will survive, and Yahuah will force you to leave the land of promise and will scatter you among the nations. And there you’ll have to worship deities made of wood and stone, and these are nothing but idols that can’t see or hear or eat or smell.
THE MYSTERIOUS TWO WITNESSES WHO APPEAR IN REVELATION (WHO ARE KILLED IN THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE) ARE BUT AN EXTENSION OF THIS REQUIREMENT `THERE MUST BE AT LEAST TWO WITNESSES TO JUDGE A MAN FOR DESTRUCTION (THE DEATH PENALTY)”. HERE IN DEUTERONOMY MOSES SAYS HE CALLS ON THE EARTH AND THE SKIES AS THE REQUIRED TWO WITNESSES AGAINST YISHARAL SHOULD THEY EVER COMMIT IDOLATRY AGAIN. THIS `TWO-WITNESSES REGULATION' WAS AN ABSOLUTE LEGAL MUST IN YAHUSHA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM, ONE THAT HE EVEN IMPOSED ON HIMSELF, WHICH IS WHY IN THE END THERE MUST BE TWO WITNESSES SINCE HE IS SENTENCING THE WHOLE WORLD TO PHYSICAL AND ETERNAL DEATH. SINCE THE PUNISHMENT FOR IDOLATRY WAS DEATH, IF YISHARAL WAS TO PERISH AS A NATION (AS A CONSEQUENCE FOR THEIR CORPORATE IDOLATRY), WHO COULD POSSIBLY BE LEFT TO QUALIFY AS THE TWO WITNESSES TO TESTIFY AGAINST THEM? MOSES SAYS IT WILL BE THE EARTH AND SKIES FOR THEY ARE SUBJECT TO YAHUSHA IN THE SAME WAY THAT MANKIND IS.
IN GENERAL THIS VERSE HAS BEEN ASSUMED TO MEAN THAT THE HEBREWS WILL BE PERSECUTED AND FORCEFULLY MADE TO BOW DOWN TO THE DEITIES OF THE NATIONS WHO CAPTURE THEM IN THE FUTURE. HISTORICALLY SPEAKING THAT HAS INDEED HAPPENED IN ISOLATED CASES (SUCH AS DEMONSTRATED IN THE STORY OF SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO AND THE FIERY FURNACE WHEN THE HEBREWS WERE EXILED TO BABYLON), BUT IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF CASES THE HEBREW WERE NOT FORCED TO WORSHIP OTHER DEITIES BECAUSE THAT SIMPLY WAS NOT THE THINKING OR METHODS OF ANCIENT MIDDLE EASTERN CONQUERORS OF THE SCRIPTURAL ERA.
RATHER, THE CONSEQUENCE IS THAT YISHARAL WILL DO WHAT ALL PEOPLE DO: ASSIMILATE INTO WHATEVER CULTURE THEY ARE EXILED.
OR THEY WILL NOT BE PERMITTED BY THAT CULTURE’S GOVERNMENT TO OPENLY CONTINUE WITH THEIR WELL-ESTABLISHED WORSHIP PRACTICES OF YAHUSHA (AS OUTLINED IN HIS INSTRUCTIONS) SO THEY’LL COMPROMISE IN ORDER TO GO UNNOTICED.
OR PERHAPS WORSE, THEY WILL NO LONGER BE RESIDING ON YAHUSHA’S SET-APART LAND (CANAAN), AND BECAUSE THE TEMPLE WAS THE ONLY PLACE THEY COULD GO TO SACRIFICE AND ATONE FOR THEIR DISOBEDIENT BEHAVIOUR, THEIR SPIRITUAL STATE OUTSIDE OF THE LAND WAS AS IF THEY WERE DEFILED AND NEVER ABLE TO BE CLEANSED.
WORSE, SINCE THEY WERE DEFILED AND IMPURE, THIS AUTOMATICALLY MEANT THAT THEY WERE UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE AND DWELL WITH YAHUSHA. IMAGINE THE STATE OF MIND OF THE HEBREWS IN BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY; HOW AWARE THEY WERE OF THEIR EXILE NOT JUST FROM THEIR HOMELAND OF CANAAN BUT ALSO FROM YAHUSHA HIMSELF. THEY FELT THAT THE VERY AIR THEY BREATHED WAS DEFILED; THE FOOD THAT THEY ATE WAS IMPURE, NOT KOSHER (CLEAN AND ACCEPTABLE); THAT THEY LIVED IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF UNCLEANLINESS FROM WHICH THERE WAS NO ESCAPE. THE WOMEN COULDN’T PROPERLY AND LEGALLY CLEANSE THEMSELVES FROM THEIR MONTHLY CYCLES, NOR COULD THE MEN CLEANSE THEMSELVES AFTER SEXUAL INTIMACY WITH THEIR WIVES AS WAS REQUIRED BY YAHUSHA’S INSTRUCTIONS. THEY COULDN’T OBEY THE COVENANT INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE THE 3 PILGRIMAGES EACH YEAR TO JERUSALEM FOR THE FESTIVALS (MOEDIM) EITHER AND THEY COULDN’T TITHE, THE PRIESTS COULDN’T TEACH OR PERFORM THEIR SACRIFICIAL RITUALS, AND SO THE HEBREWS COULDN’T OFFER A SACRIFICE OF ATONEMENT WHEN THEY WERE DISOBEDIENT.
THEY WERE IN A LIVING HELL OF THEIR OWN MAKING!
RESTORATION
And in all of your troubles and distress, you will finally decide that you want to seek Yahuah and if you turn back and obey Him completely, He will again be your Alahim. Then He will favour you and won’t destroy you or desert you. Yes He will remember His promise, and will keep the Blood-Covenant He made with your ancestors.
When Yahuah your Alahim brought you out of Egypt, you saw how He fought for you and showed His great power by performing terrifying signs and wonders. You became His people, and at Mount Sinai You heard Him talking to you out of the fiery flames, yet you’re still alive! How’s that even possible? Has anything like this ever happened since Yahuah created humans? No matter where you go or who you ask on the earth or in the skies, you will get the same answer: No way Jose`!! No one has ever heard of another Alahim even trying to do such things as Yahuah your Alahim has done for you. And He wants you to know that HE IS THE ONLY TRUE ALAHIM, THERE IS NONE BESIDE HIM AND HE WANTS YOU TO OBEY HIM.
That’s why He let you see His mighty miracles and His fierce fire on earth, and why you heard His voice instructing you from that fire and from the sky. And because Yahuah loved your ancestors so much(ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB), He decided that you would be His people too, using His great power to bring you out of Egypt, where you faced other nations much more powerful than you . . . but He’s already begun forcing them out of their land and giving it all to you guys.
SO REMEMBER THAT YAHUAH IS THE ONLY TRUE LIVING ALAHIM, WHETHER IN THE SKY ABOVE OR ON THE EARTH BELOW. I’M EXPLAINING HIS INSTRUCTIONS AND TEACHINGS TO YOU TODAY BECAUSE IF YOU ALWAYS OBEY THEM, BOTH YOU AND ALL YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL LIVE LONG AND BE SUCCESSFUL IN THE LAND THAT YAHUAH IS GIVING YOU.
SO IN DEUTERONOMY, MOSES IS (FOR THE FIRST TIME) BEGINNING TO MAKE IT CRYSTAL CLEAR THAT YAHUSHA IS THE ONLY ALAHIM IN EXISTENCE, NOT JUST YISHARAL’S ONLY DEITY. MOSES IS TELLING YISHARAL THAT WHEN THEY ARE SCATTERED ALL OVER THE EARTH FOR THEIR IDOLATRY (THAT THEY WILL COMMIT), THAT THEY CAN TAKE COMFORT IN KNOWING THAT YAHUSHA THE ONLY LIVING ALAHIM WILL BE WHEREVER THEY ARE. AND THAT (UNLIKE THE UNIVERSAL THOUGHT OF THAT ERA) THE HEBREWS WILL NOT HAVE TO SWITCH ALLEGIANCE TO THE FALSE DEITIES OF WHATEVER NATIONS THEY WIND UP IN, IN ORDER TO HAVE SUPERNATURAL ASSISTANCE. YAHUSHA’S POWER AND PRESENCE IS EVERYWHERE ON THIS EARTH AND HE IS NOT RESTRAINED BY TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES, AS ARE THE NON-EXISTENT DEITIES OF THE PAGAN NATIONS.
ANOTHER PART OF WHAT MOSES WAS SAYING WAS VERY PROPHETIC: THAT IN THE FUTURE YISHARAL WOULD REBEL AGAINST YAHUSHA BY MEANS OF IDOLATRY, THEY WOULD BE VOMITED FROM THE LAND AND SCATTERED, THEY WOULD BE KILLED AND TAKEN CAPTIVE BY OUTSIDE NATIONS, THEY WOULD BE PUT UNDER SOCIETAL PRESSURES TO WORSHIP OTHER DEITIES, AND MANY (IF NOT MOST YISHARALITES) WOULD SUCCUMB TO ONE ELEMENT OR ANOTHER OF THIS.
REALLY, MOSES PUTS THIS IN SUCH GENERAL TERMS THAT ONLY HINDSIGHT ENABLES US TO CONFIRM IT. IT’S NOT THAT YISHARAL WOULD DO THIS ON ONE OCCASION AND THEN YAHUSHA WOULD RESPOND WITH EXILE, BUT WHAT IS BEING INTRODUCED TO YISHARAL IS A PRINCIPLE THAT WOULD BE REPEATED IN REGULAR CYCLES; YISHARAL WOULD REBEL IN IDOLATRY AND YAHUSHA WOULD, EACH TIME, RESPOND THE SAME WAY WITH THEIR EXILE FROM THEIR HOMELAND.
BUT AS ALWAYS, MOSES BRINGS A BALANCE TO THE SITUATION. RESTORATION WILL OCCUR JUST AS SURELY AS YISHARAL WILL REBEL. AND MOSES SAYS THAT THE GROUNDS FOR THIS HOPE OF RESTORATION AND RECONNECTING WITH YAHUSHA (THAT YISHARAL SHOULD ALWAYS HOPE FOR) IS TWOFOLD:
1) BECAUSE YAHUSHA LOVED THE PATRIARCHS AND
2) BECAUSE HE IS INHERENTLY MERCIFUL. AND FROM HERE MOSES GIVES A BIG SPEECH ABOUT THIS RADICAL CONCEPT THAT YAHUSHA IS THE ONLY ALAHIM THAT HAS EVER EXISTED AND EVER WILL.
WHAT SOCIETY HAS EVER ACTUALLY HEARD THE VOICE OF ALAHIM? NOT JUST SOME PRIESTS CLAIMING THAT THEY HEARD AN ALAHIM, BUT RATHER THE GENERAL POPULATION BEING EYE-WITNESSES TO IT OCCURRING? WHEN HAS THERE EVER BEEN AN ALAHIM WHO SET APART A SELECTED GROUP OF PEOPLE FROM THE WORLD IN GENERAL, GAVE THEM AN INSTRUCTION AND A BLOOD-COVENANT, BROUGHT DOWN SUPERNATURAL DESTRUCTION ON THEIR OPPRESSORS (LIKE IN EGYPT), AND THEN LED THEM BY MEANS OF A VISIBLE CLOUD AND PILLAR OF FIRE THAT WAS AVAILABLE NOT JUST FOR YISHARAL TO SEE BUT FOR ANYONE WITHIN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO ACTUALLY WITNESS?
MOSES IS CLAIMING THAT NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN IN YISHARAL’S POSITION, AND NO ONE HAS EVER HAD SUCH PERFECT INSTRUCTIONS TO LIVE BY, THAN WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN PRESENTED BY YAHUSHA.
WHAT HE HASN’T SAID YET IS THAT THE WORLD IS GOING TO HATE YAHUSHA'S BRIDE YISHARAL FOR THIS AND THAT THE WORLD (AS LED BY THEIR OWN EVIL INCLINATIONS AND SATAN’S DIRECTION), WILL NEVER STOP TRYING TO RID ITSELF OF THESE STRANGE PEOPLE, SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ARE MONOTHEISTICALLY DIFFERENT. OF COURSE THIS IS YAHUSHA'S IMMERSED BRIDE BEING REFERRED TO TODAY IN THE 21st CEBTURY, NOT SOME ASSIMILATED, MAN-MADE, WHITE WASHED RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT CLAIMING HERITAGE OR DIVINE AUTHORITY. THE BRIDE IS HIDDEN, HATED, INCOGNITO AND QUIETLY REJOICING . . .
Oh also, you must set aside the following three towns east of the Jordan River as Safe Towns: Bezer in the desert highlands belonging to the Reuben tribe; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gad tribe; and Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manasseh tribe. And anyone who kills their neighbor accidentally, can run to one of these towns and find safety.
Yisharal had come from Egypt and were camped east of the Jordan River near Beth-Peor, when Moses gave these Instructions and teachings. The land around their camp had once belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon. But Moses and the Yisharalites had defeated him (and King Og of Bashan), and taken their lands. These two Amorite kings had ruled the territory east of the Jordan River from the town of Aroer on the edge of the Arnon River gorge, north to Mount Hermon. Their land included the eastern side of the Jordan River valley, as far south as the Dead Sea, below the slopes of Mount Pisgah.
The ancient Yisharalites did NOT believe their Alahim was the only one in existence. Their understanding was that there were absolutely other deities who existed, it’s just that they were only allowed to worship ONE…because the Alahim they worshipped tolerated no competition. In the beginning, the ancient Yisharalites had difficulty accepting this concept, as we’ll see them struggle with idolatry and fall into apostasy time and time again and being judged severely for it. And let’s face it, it wasn’t just the Yisharalites who struggled with idolatry. We too struggle with our own modern day versions of idolatry on a daily basis.
21st Century Idolatry comes in many forms: gold and silver, precious stones (bling), fleshly lusts, power, people, parties, pornographic voyeurism, physical appearances, romance, fame, leisure, success, celebrity, comfort, real estate, cars and boats, grand trips, holidays and cuisines, all the things our flesh can insatiably consume to give it a quick fix, a buzz, a thrill so short-lived . . .
These are just a few of the lusts and mindsets that Yahusha simply calls . . .
THE WORLD!!
