I pray that you will all have a blessed Shabbat. I’ve been a little bit busy
with my Aunt being here. Anyway, let''s get started!
.........................................................................................................
On to the portion!
The name of this portion is Ki-Tavo. It goes from Deuteronomy 26:1-29:9
and includes the instruction of the giving of the firstfruits,
the instruction of the giving of the tithe to the Levites, strangers, fatherless, and widows, the blessings and the cursings of YHVH,
and the instruction to follow the Words of the Covenant.
The 1st offering that we see in chapter 26 is the firstfruits offering,
wherein we give the firstfruits of our crops and give it to YHVH.
This firstfruits offering is one of the most important offerings in Scripture since it has to do with the beginning of the blessings YHVH gives in our
crops and animals. I believe the reason why YHVH instructed Yisra'el
to give this offering was to see if they were faithful enough to give
the 1st of the crops or if they were going to hide it and not
give Him what was special to them.
Ok, let's say you were growing lots of carrots.
It''s been months since you have had any(since the last harvest)
and you are just waiting for them to grow. And then one day you
wake up and you see the 1st carrots coming out of the ground.
Doesn't it make you excited! Now, when you see that the 1st one is
ready to eat, what's the 1st thing we as humans normally do?
We take it out of the ground, wash it quickly, cut it up, and eat it!
I know that I probably would. But from what I see in this passage,
I believe that YHVH is testing us to see if we would give Him the
firstfruits of what we have instead of just eating it all ourselves.
YHVH wants to see if our heart is right and see if we truly
love Him by giving our first of what we have to Him.
So the question is, what do WE do with the 1st of our crops?
Well, the easiest thing to do would be to give it to the poor,
widows, and orphans around us. Maybe you could make carrot cake
and take a piece to each of your neighbors, even if you don't really know them. Maybe if you see a family that looks like they are in need you could
give it to them and pray for them. There are lots of different ways to do it,
just make sure you do it with YHVH and the giving of the
firstfruits on your mind. Maybe the person you give it to will ask,
"Why are you giving this to me?" It would be a blessed opportunity
to talk about YHVH and His Word, and maybe that person
will accept Yahshua and His Covenant because of it!
The 2nd offering that we see in this chapter is the tithe to the Levites,
poor, fatherless, and widows. As we see in verses 12-13, this tithe
wasn't your $7 dollars that you put in the tithe plate every week:
Deuteronomy 26:12-13
“When you have completed tithing all the tithe of your increase in
the third year, which is the year of tithing, and have given it to the Levite,
to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they
have eaten within your gates and have been satisfied,
13 Then you shall say before YHVH your Elohim,
‘I have put away the set-apart portion from my house,
and also have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Your command which You have commanded me. I have not transgressed Your commands, nor have I forgotten.
This tithe was given every 3 years and was the tithe of all our increase,
and in every other tithe we read, we see how the tithes were YHVH's,
not for some church building or for the sunday school field trip to the zoo. Most tithes were supposed to be given to the Levites who would
then give it to the poor, widows, and orphans.
But this tithe is important because it talks about them
coming to our own gates and eating it there. This tithe gave
Yisra'el an opportunity to be able to witness their tithe literally
being used for the purpose. And now today, we can share with them an even bigger blessing, the blessing of salvation in Messiah Yahshua!
Praise Yah!
...............................................................................................
Now on to chapters 27-28. The next 2 chapters have all do with
blessings and cursings. Now, one quick glance at the next 2 chapters
and we see how YHVH looks like He gives out more cursings then blessings.
But look at the blessings He gives us. He blesses the fruit of our labors,
gives us protection and respect from our enemies, and rain in its season,
all if we just guard and obey His instructions for our lives.
Those blessings are simple, yet they supply all that we need.
BUT if we disobey YHVH, He wanted to make sure we knew just
how He was going to do it so that we wouldn't say it was just by
chance those things happened. We would know right away that
we were doing something wrong and that we needed to check
our lives to see where we disobeyed Him. YHVH is a loving El,
but He is also a jealous El, as Joshua tells Yisra'el at the end of his life:
Joshua 24:19-20
Then Yehoshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve YHVH,
for He is a set-apart Elohim, a jealous El is He. He does not bear
with your transgression and with your sins,
20 If you forsake YHVH and shall serve mighty ones of a stranger. Then He shall turn back and do you evil and consume you, after He has been good to you.”
He must judge the just and the unjust equally. If we obey Him,
He blesses us, and if not, He must punish us, even though He does
not want to. He never wanted to. He wanted to love us and take care
of us but we didn't want His love, we just wanted His blessings. We cannot say that we know Him and then disobey Him, as the apostle John said:
1st John 2:4-5
The one who says, “I know Him,” and does not guard His commands,
is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been
perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.
His love can only be in us if we OBEY Him, as Messiah Yahshua says in John 14:
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you shall guard My commands.
Blessings only come if we love Him. And we cannot love Him without
obeying His commands. YHVH always loves us; even if we are disobedient,
but for His love to be perfected and for Him to bless us back,
we must 1st bless Him by guarding His Words. It isn't just a one way agreement. There is no such thing as a one way agreement. There are 2 sides
to the agreement, where one has to give something so that the
other can give something too. In this case if we love YHVH and obey His covenant, He will bless over and above what we need.
HalleluYAH!
...............................................................................................
Now on to chapter 29. The torah portion ends at verse 9
and in just those verses we see something so powerful.
Deuteronomy 29:3-4
“Your eyes saw the great trials, the signs, and those great wonders.
4 “But YHVH has not given you a heart to know and eyes to
see and ears to hear, till this day.
Wow! Imagine being there and hearing Moshe speak, and then all
of a sudden realize how dumb you and your parents were all those years.
After all those fights with Moshe, and all those disagreements with Moshe,
and all those grumblings with Moshe, and all those...
Anyway after all that, you realize that no matter what great things
YHVH did through Moshe, you still didn't understand until just now!
Of all the great wonders and signs YHVH did, I think this may have
been the one that was most important. The blinding of the eyes
and the deafening of the ears spiritually, even though physically
they were able to see and hear, is a wonder all in itself,
and one of the greatest wonders of them all!
And finally, verse 9:
Deuteronomy 29:9
“Therefore you shall guard the words of this covenant,
and do them, so that you prosper in all that you do.
You want to be prosperous? OBEY YHVH and His Word.
It may not be the way you think, but YHVH knows how to
bless you SO much more then you can bless yourself!
Until next time...
Shalom!
Christian Montanez Dodd
Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH
HalleluYAH!