UNDER PRESSURE (DEUT.11)
Don’t ever forget that Yahuah is your Alahim, so you must always love Him and obey His Instructions and teachings. (LOVE & OBEDIENCE GO HAND IN HAND WITH YAHUSHA. YISHARAL HAS BEEN GIVEN THE COVENANT CONTRACT OF LOVE, BUT ARE THEY GOING TO AGREE AND LIVE UP TO IT’S TERMS?) Remember Yahuah corrected YOU, not your children .... YOU! Many of you old enough will recall seeing Him unleash His great power, causing wonders and miracles in Egypt, raining down calamities and terrible things on the Pharaoh and all his people. And when the Egyptian army chased us in their chariots, we saw Yahuah drown them and their horses in the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea). And Egypt has never recovered to this day, they still suffer from that devastation! Your folks saw what Yahuah did for us all in the desert, right up to the time we arrived here, and we all saw how He made the ground open up in the middle of our camp underneath the tents of Dathan and Abiram, who were swallowed up along with their families, their animals, and their tents. Yes! With your own eyes, you saw Yahuah’s mighty power do all these things.
MOSES IS NOT ASKING YISHARAL TO TRUST THE EXPERIENCES FROM ANOTHER GENERATION, BECAUSE MANY OF THEM HAVE THEMSELVES PERSONALLY WITNESSED WHAT HE IS CALLING TO MIND OF THEIR HISTORY. CERTAINLY MANY HEBREWS WHO ARE NOW ABOUT 60 EVEN SAW WHAT HAPPENED IN EGYPT BECAUSE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ABOUT 20 DURING THE EXODUS. IT WAS THAT AGE GROUP (20 YEARS AND OLDER) THAT WAS CONSIDERED TO BE THE AGE OF PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY. SO AS YOU CAN IMAGINE ALL THAT HAPPENED IN EGYPT AND THEN IN THE 40 YEARS OF WILDERNESS WANDERING WAS QUITE VIVID AND REAL IN THE MINDS OF THOSE IN THEIR 50’S. NOT ALL OF THOSE STANDING BEFORE MOSES PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED EVERYTHING HE WAS SPEAKING ABOUT FOR MOST OF THOSE ALIVE AT THIS MOMENT WERE BORN DURING THIS ARDUOUS JOURNEY. HOWEVER A GREAT NUMBER OF HEBREWS EXPERIENCED AT LEAST SOME OF IT, SO THEY HAD NO REASON TO DOUBT MOSES OR TO DENY WHAT THEY HAD PERSONALLY SEEN. THEREFORE, MOSES SAYS IF YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE THE BLESSINGS OF WHAT YAHUAH HAS WAITING FOR YOU IN CANAAN THEN OBEY HIS INSTRUCTIONS.
THE BOTTOM LINE: BEING BORN A HEBREWS IS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR YOU TO BE BLESSED BY THE GOOD THINGS OF THE LAND; RATHER YOU MUST ALSO BE OBEDIENT TO THE BLOOD-COVENANT YOU HAVE JUST AGREED TO ACCEPT. OBEDIENCE WAS THE KEY TO ALL THAT LAY AHEAD FOR YISHARAL.
Soon you will cross the Jordan River, and if you obey the Instructions and teachings I’m giving you today, you will be strong enough to conquer the land that Yahuah promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It’s rich with milk and honey, and you will live there and enjoy it for a long time. It’s a much better land than Egypt, where Yisharal had to struggle just to water the crops. But the hills and valleys in the promised land are watered by rain from the sky, because YAHUAH YOUR ALAHIM KEEPS HIS EYE ON THIS SET-APART PROPERTY AND TAKES CARE OF IT ALL YEAR LONG. But He demands that you love Him and serve Him with all of your heart and being, for if you do, He’ll send rain at the right seasons, so you’ll have more than enough food, wine, and olive oil, and there will be plenty of grass for your cattle. BUT WATCH OUT, FOR YOU WILL BE TEMPTED TO TURN YOUR BACKS ON YAHUAH. And if you worship other deities He’ll become angry and stop the rain from falling. Nothing will grow in your fields, and you will die and disappear from the good land that He’s giving you.
EGYPT WAS A RELATIVELY FLAT LAND, BUT CANAAN IS GENERALLY HILLY WITH THE RESULTING VALLEYS. EGYPT WAS LIKE ANY OTHER LAND ON EARTH IN THAT IT BECAME WHATEVER ITS INHABITANTS MADE OF IT; BUT YAHUSHA SAYS THAT HE KEEPS HIS EYE ON THE LAND OF CANAAN AND LOOKS AFTER IT BECAUSE IT’S A VERY SPECIAL PIECE OF SET-APART REAL ESTATE TO HIM (REAL ESTATE THAT BEGAN IN MARRIAGE IN THE GARDEN, BUT WAS RIPPED FROM HIM THROUGH DISOBEDIENCE). SLOWLY BUT SURELY THOUGH, HE’S BEEN GAINING BACK GROUND (HIS TIME AND SPACE), ONE METRE AT A TIME, THROUGH THE THRONE OF THE ARK IN THE MOST SET-APART PLACE IN THE TABERNACLE AND NOW ON THE THRONE OF HIS BRIDE’S HEART (LITTLE PORTALS SCATTERED ALL OVER THE WORLD), PREPARING AND AWAITING HIS RETURN. YAHUSHA NO LONGER HOLDS ANY SPECIAL PLACE IN HIS HEART FOR THE LAND OF YISHARAL, FOR HE'S REPOSSESSING (TAKING BACK HIS ROYAL TIME AND SPACE) THROUGH THOSE WHO WILL WORSHIP HIM (BEHAVE) IN THE TRUTH OF HIS LIVING WORDS (WHICH INVOLVE SETTING APART A VERY SPECIAL TIME (SHABATH) AND SPACE (OUR BODIES WHICH HOUSE THE ANOINTING PRESENCE OF HIS PORTAL DOORWAY).
So put all of Yahuah's Instructions into your heart, keeping them at the front of your mind at all times, guarding your ear-gates and eye-gates with them and obediently behaving them always. Speak about them with your children over and over again, talking about them all the time, whether you’re at home or walking along the road or going to bed at night, or getting up in the morning. Wherever and whenever, for if you stay true to Yahuah, you and your descendants will live a long time in the land that He’s promised your ancestors. Your families will live there as long as the sky is above the earth. Love Yahuah your Alahim by obeying all the instructions and teachings I’m giving you today. Because if you actually behave the way He wants, He’ll help you take the land. And even though the nations there are way more powerful than you, Yahuah will force them to leave when you attack. And you will capture the land everywhere you go, from the Southern Desert to the Lebanon Mountains, and from the Euphrates River west to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand up to you, for Yahuah will make everyone terrified of you, just as He promised. So you guys have a choice now don’t you! Do you want Yahuah to bless you, or do you want Him to curse you? Today I’m giving you His Instructions, and if you obey Him, He’ll bless you. But if you disobey Him and worship those fake-arse deities of stone and wood and clay, Idols that have never done anything for you (cause they’re not real), Yahuah will put a curse on you.
THE EXTENT OF THE LAND HOLDINGS THAT YISHARAL WOULD RECEIVE IS OUTLINED AND ONLY DURING KING DAVID’S TIME DID YISHARAL EVER POSSESS ANYTHING CLOSE TO THIS WIDE RANGE OF TERRITORY. IN ESSENCE THIS IS THE HEAVENLY IDEAL FOR THE MASS OF LAND SET ASIDE FOR YISHARAL’S POSSESSION; BUT SINCE THE DEAL WAS CONDITIONAL AND THE HEBREWS STARTED BREAKING THE TERMS OF THE COVENANT ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER CROSSING THE JORDAN RIVER, THE PENALTY (THE CURSE) WAS THAT YAHUSHA DIDN’T EXPEL ALL THE PEOPLE THAT OCCUPIED CANAAN AND SO YISHARAL NEVER GAINED ALL THAT HAD BEEN SET ASIDE FOR THEM. SO BEFORE WE ENTER CHAPTER 12 (THAT BEGINS TO EXPLAIN THE INDIVIDUAL INSTRUCTIONS AND RULES AND WHAT THEY MEAN) MOSES SPEAKS OF THE DECISION THAT YISHARAL MUST MAKE. NOW THE DECISION TO ACCEPT THE COVENANT IS FOREGONE; WHAT IS MEANT HERE BY CURSE AND BLESSING IS THAT THE COVENANT THEY HAVE ACCEPTED CONTAINS BOTH AND SO YISHARAL MUST DECIDE TO ABIDE BY WHAT THEY HAVE AGREED TO OR EXPERIENCE YAHUSHA’S SEVERITY. AND THE FIRST THING YAHUSHA FORBIDS YISHARAL FROM DOING IS BOWING DOWN TO THE FAKE DEITIES OF THE CANAANITES.
After Yahuah your Alahim helps you take the land, you must announce His blessings from Mount Gerizim and His curses from Mount Ebal. You know that these two mountains are west of the Jordan River in the land now controlled by the Canaanites living in the Jordan River valley. The mountains are west of the road near the terebinth trees of Moreh on the other side of Gilgal. So very soon you will cross the Jordan River to conquer the land that Yahuah your Alahim is giving you, and when you have settled there, be careful to obey His instructions and teachings that I’m giving you today.
ANOTHER CEREMONY?
ONCE THEY ENTER INTO THE LAND (WITH JOSHUA IN THE LEAD) THEY ARE TO HAVE A CEREMONY THAT REAFFIRMS THE ETERNAL BLOOD-COVENANT OF DELIVERANCE, WHICH THEY HAD AGREED TO ABOUT A YEAR AFTER LEAVING EGYPT. THIS TOPIC IS TAKEN UP IN MORE DETAIL IN CH27 OF DEUT AND ALSO IN THE BOOK OF JOSHUA (CH8) WE FIND THE CEREMONY OF REAFFIRMATION ACTUALLY OCCUR. WHY WAS THIS RENEWAL (OR REAFFIRMATION) NECESSARY? IT IS INTERESTING THAT THIS WILL BE THE 3RD TIME THE BLOOD-COVENANT GIVEN TO MOSES HAS BEEN RAISED UP OR `BROUGHT TO THE TABLE’. THE FIRST TIME WAS AT MT. SINAI, THE SECOND IS WHAT WE JUST COVERED IN THE LAST COUPLE OF CHAPTERS OF DEUTERONOMY IN THE LAND OF MOAB, AND THE 3RD TIME WILL BE AFTER YISHARAL HAS ENTERED THE PROMISED LAND. AT LEAST ONE THEORY ABOUT THIS SERIES OF REAFFIRMATIONS IS THAT IT WAS CUSTOMARY OF MOST COVENANTS AND TREATIES OF THAT ERA. WHEN A LEADER WITH WHOM THE TREATY WAS MADE DIED, THEN THE NEW LEADER HAD TO RE-VALIDATE THE BLOOD-COVENANT AND THIS WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH A CEREMONY. MOSES DIED AFTER THE 2ND AGREEMENT TO AFFIRM THE COVENANT AND SO WITH JOSHUA AS THE NEW LEADER OF YISHARAL THE 3RD AFFIRMATION WAS REQUIRED (AT LEAST IN THE EYES OF THESE MIDDLE EASTERN PEOPLE OF THAT ERA).
BUT (AGAIN, IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLE) IT ALSO PROBABLY HAD TO DO WITH LEAVING BEHIND THE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OF ONE TERRITORY AND ENTERING INTO SPIRITUAL SPHERE OF INFLUENCE OF ANOTHER. THAT IS, AS YISHARAL LEFT MT. SINAI (THE DWELLING PLACE OF YAHUSHA) AND ENTERED MOAB (WHERE ANOTHER DEITY WAS THOUGHT TO RULE) IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CUSTOMARY TO REAFFIRM A TREATY WITH THE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY OVER THAT LAND. RECALL AS WE’VE DISCUSSED ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS THAT THE ANCIENTS THOUGHT THAT VARIOUS ALAHIMS CONTROLLED VARIOUS PARCELS OF LAND. SO SINCE IT WAS A BASIC NECESSITY OF ALL TREATIES THAT A VOW WAS MADE, AND THAT A VOW BY DEFINITION MEANT INVOKING THE NAME OF A CERTAIN DEITY, AND IT HAD TO BE THE ONE WHO WAS IN CHARGE OF THE TERRITORY WHERE THE TREATY WAS MADE. IF ONE WERE IN EGYPT THEN EGYPT’S DEITY WOULD BE INVOKED; BUT IF ONE WERE IN MOAB A DIFFERENT IDOL/DEITY WOULD HAVE TO BE INVOKED. BY REAFFIRMING THE BLOOD-COVENANT IN THE LAND OF MOAB THE NAME OF YAHUSHA’S AUTHORITY WAS BEING ATTACHED TO THAT TERRITORY. AND BY REAFFIRMING THE COVENANT YET AGAIN IN CANAAN, YAHUSHA’S AUTHORITY WAS BEING EXTENDED TO THAT TERRITORY.
IT IS INTERESTING AS WELL THAT THE PLACE WHERE THIS BLOOD-COVENANT REAFFIRMATION CEREMONY WAS TO EVENTUALLY TAKE PLACE WAS DEFINED; MOUNT GERIZIM AND MOUNT EBAL. THE ROAD TO SHECHEM CUTS IN BETWEEN THEM WITH GERIZIM TO THE SOUTH OF THE ROAD AND EBAL TO THE NORTH. NOW WHAT IS INTERESTING IS THAT IT IS ON MOUNT GERIZIM THAT THE BLESSINGS OF THE TORAH ARE TO BE PROCLAIMED; BUT ON MOUNT EBAL THE CURSES OF THE TORAH ARE TO BE PROCLAIMED. BELIEVE IT OR NOT, THERE IS LOGIC AND PATTERN BEHIND THIS CHOICE.
RECALL OUR STUDY OF THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIRECTION EAST. ALSO RECALL IN OUR STUDY OF HOW THE ENCAMPMENT OF YISHARAL WAS ORDERED SUCH THAT CERTAIN GROUPS WERE ASSIGNED PERMANENT CAMPING LOCATIONS ACCORDING TO THE 4 MAJOR COMPASS DIRECTIONS. EAST IS ALWAYS PREEMINENT. SO WHEN ONE FACES EAST, WHAT DIRECTION IS TO YOUR RIGHT? SOUTH. WHEN FACING EAST MOUNT GERIZIM WAS TO THE RIGHT, THE SOUTH. SINCE THE RIGHT SIDE IS THE MIGHTIER AND THE MORE REGAL, THEN MOUNT GERIZIM WAS GIVEN THE PRIVILEGE OF HAVING THE COVENANT BLESSINGS READ FROM IT. AS ONE FACES EAST, THEN TO THE LEFT IS NORTH; AND TO THE NORTH WAS MOUNT EBAL. LEFT IS NOT NECESSARILY A CURSED DIRECTION, IT’S JUST NOT AS GOOD OR MIGHTY AS THE RIGHT. SO THE CURSES OF THE LAW WERE PRONOUNCED FROM MOUNT EBAL THAT WAS TO THE LEFT SIDE, THE NORTH.
BY THE WAY: THESE TWO MOUNTAINS, THE VERY PLACE WHERE THE BLOOD-COVENANT GIVEN TO MOSES WAS REAFFIRMED, NOW LIES IN WHAT THE WORLD CALLS “DISPUTED TERRITORY” (THE SO-CALLED WEST BANK) HOWEVER ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING OF WHERE YAHUSHA’S TRUE SET-APART REAL ESTATE IS (IE US) WOULD GET INTO DISPUTES ABOUT SUCH POPPY-COCK.
So Moses is telling us that we will experience pressure to incorporate the systems and lifestyle of the surrounding nations (who we are required to live in amongst until the time), to worship, behave and conduct our lives and businesses as the worldly folk do. Honoring and giving praise and esteem to their deities, philosophies and mindsets. But he warns us that taking our eyes off Yahusha and not honoring His living Words brings a curse, calamity and devastation. So just as Yisharal did, we too have a choice of which way we will go, who we will listen too and where we will take our council.
Do you face the pressure you live under, or did you think there was something wrong with you? Yahusha told us about the persecution and hatred if we don't go the way of the world. Even walking incognitio and keeping your mouth shut, the spirits that control everyone around you know only too well who lives within you . . . and they want to destory us through anyone and everyone possible (even those closest).
So if you're not feeling or experiencing this kind of pressure or hatred, are you being truly effective in your belief? Because Yahusha said this would happen to those who love and follow Him in obedience, making ready for His return . . .
