Scriptures of the Week

The readings for this week, 28 July—3 August 2013 are called R'eh—"See!":

TORAH: Deuteronomy 11:26—16:17  

HAFTARAH:  Isaiah 54:11—55:5

*Deuteronomy 11:26.  "See! I am setting before you today blessing and curse."

PLEASE PRAY:  For sight to see the difference between ways whose very nature brings a curse and those which are blessed—for grace to ask "for the ancient paths, the good way," to see and to walk in it! (Jeremiah 6:16; 18:15).

*Deuteronomy 12:2, 5.  "You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods."  "But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go." 
At least 16 times in this Torah portion this 'place' (singular) is mentioned where Israel's One God YHVH would choose to place His name and to dwell.  This one place as compared to the many "places" where the multiple gods of Canaan were worshipped.  Those places were to be utterly destroyed, and with them the very names of the gods which had been worshipped there (12:3).   The "place" where the One God would place HIS name and choose to dwell in a unique way was, of course, Jerusalem. This had been prophetically alluded to by Moses 40 years before in his Song, just after the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 15:17).

  PLEASE PRAY:  For the peace of Jerusalem.that God's glory would return there, that there the believing Body of Messiah would be established in maturity and unity.  Pray that God would raise up wise and anointed Messianic leaders to be Elders in the Gates of Zion.  That as God "chose" Jerusalem when He first returned Israel to the land following the Exodus, He would now, with the return of His people from around the world, "take possession of Judah as His inheritance in the Holy Land, and again choose Jerusalem"  (Zechariah 2:12).

*Deuteronomy 12:8.  "You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes." 
God had a special order for worship and government waiting for the people when they would enter the land—it wasn't to be "everyone for himself".  Rather, they were to "do what is right in the sight of YHVH your God" (12:25, 28).  There would be Judges (the title for next week's Parasha) for civil matters, and the Priesthood to keep the worship "in line".  There would be periods during the next 400 years when the people followed this directive—but eventually it would be abandoned:  the closing words of the Book of Judges read, "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

*Deuteronomy 12:16; 12:23.  "Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water."  "Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life (Hebrew: nefesh—soul); you may not eat the life with the meat." 
This prohibition is made repeatedly in the Torah, yet long before the Law of Moses it was forbidden by God.  In fact, in Genesis 9:4-5, it was placed right alongside murder. Thousands of years later, after Yeshua had returned to Heaven, the high council of the Messianic Body in Jerusalem forbade the consumption of blood by all Gentile as well as Jewish believers of the New Testament Church (Acts 15:20,29).  With the recently awakened popularity of vampirism and "zombies" in books and films in the West (catering especially to the young; the "Twilight" series being only the tip of the iceberg), accompanied by graphic, sensual descriptions of awakened blood-hunger, might it be that Satan is seeking to bring back this ancient sin (albeit, for now, in a vicarious "fantasy" form)? As in Eden, Satan's way is to suggest, "Has God indeed said, 'Thou shalt not.'?"

*Deuteronomy 14:2.  "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be for Him a specially treasured people of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."
*Deuteronomy 14:26.  "You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires; for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household." 
*Deuteronomy 16:1.  "Observe the month of Aviv (The "First Month"; Babylonian and modern usage: Nisan), and keep the Passover to YHVH your God, for in the month of Aviv YHVH your God brought you out of Egypt by night."
*Deuteronomy 16:16.  "Three times a year all your males shall appear before YHVH your God in the place which He chooses; at the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Pesach/Passover), at the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot), and at the feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot); and they shall not appear before YHVH empty handed."
NOTE
Last week's Haphtarah extended from Isaiah 49:14 to 51:3; this week's is 54:11—55:5.  Next week's will go back to 51:12—52:12, and the following will come again to 54:1-10.  What is mysteriously absent here is the great poem of the "Anointed Suffering Servant", extending from Isaiah 52:13 through all of Isaiah 53.  Because many Jews are only exposed to the readings they hear in Synagogue, many, many are unaware that Isaiah 53 even exists.  It is in their Bibles if they looked although often with rabbinic commentaries carefully calculated to turn them away from any possible interpretation which might lead them in the direction of associating the "servant" with the Messiah Yeshua.  Yet there are ancient Jewish commentaries which do associate the Servant here with the coming Anointed One  (i.e. Messiah).  Certainly, the Messianic Jews of the 1^st Century knew to whom it was referring.  In Acts 8:35, Philip, a deacon in the early Messianic Body of Jerusalem, "beginning at this Scripture, preached Yeshua" to a visiting Ethiopian official.  Of course, Yeshua's presence may also be discerned in almost all of these Isaiah passages (See especially last week's Isaiah 50:5-7).  But all of Israel is starving for the truths of Chapter 53.

  PLEASE PRAY:  That the Holy Spirit will lead many to read the portion 52:13-53.  Pray for the "veil" to be lifted that they may see and have understanding and believe in the one who came first to live and release Kingdom life among us, to suffer and "bear the sin of many", to die and be buried, to be raised to see His seed and prolong His days.  Pray for revelation of this righteous One, the knowledge of whom "justifies many!"

*Isaiah 54:11:  "O you afflicted one, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and lay your foundations with sapphires." 

 PLEASE PRAY:  That Israel's sense of identity be restored—not an identity related to her rejection, suffering, persecution and the Holocaust, but rather an identity of a people chosen to be set apart as a special treasure of the God Who created the Universe.

*Isaiah 54:13-14.  "All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children."

  PLEASE PRAY:  For the present generation of Israeli children that the loving jealousy of God would be loosed over them, cutting through the evil values being taught in so many homes and schools in Israel, awakening a zeal for Truth; that they would respond to the Holy Spirit and ask for the ancient paths where they will find rest for their souls (Jeremiah 6:16).

*Isaiah 54:14.  "In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you."  For Israel to be delivered from terrorism she must first become established in righteousness.  "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21 NASB).

  PLEASE PRAY:  That in God's mercy the Spirit which was sent to convict the world concerning Sin and Righteousness and Judgment (John 16:8) will move strongly across all of Israel.

*Isaiah 54:17.  "No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from Me," says the LORD."
*Isaiah 55:3.  "Incline your ear, and come to Me.  Hear, and your soul shall live." 

 PLEASE PRAY:  "That Israeli ears will be opened to hear the living Word.  There are many "winds" blowing in Israel right now (In Hebrew "wind" and "spirit" are the same word).    Pray that believers in Israel will "have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the congregations."

*Isaiah 55:5b.  ".For He has glorified you."  The Hebrew word for "glorified" here might better be rendered "beautified you."  It is the verb form of the same word used in Isaiah 61:3, where the Spirit anoints the Messiah to give those who mourn in Zion "beauty for ashes." 

 PLEASE PRAY:  For Israel to come to realize that the one whom she has been resisting for 2000 years is the very One who longs to make her beautiful and shall!

portions taken from Israel Prayer list