“Look out from your holy dwelling-place, from heaven; and bless your people Israel and the land you gave us, as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”-Deuteronomy 26:15
From verse 15 of Deuteronomy 26, we notice an interesting change.
The focus of the worshipper shifts from himself to the nation of Israel.
I’ve told you before that as a whole the Bible focuses more on the community of Israel than it does on the individual.
This is totally the opposite of Christianity which upholds the individual as supreme with the community of believers playing a secondary role.
However, this mystical 4-chapter section we’ve just entered starting from Deuteronomy chapter 26 is an exception.
Why?
Because in this section we’re going to see more attention paid to the individual worshipper than anywhere else in the Torah.
But for a brief moment, in verse 15, we see a quick return back to the typical Torah style of placing the role of the whole community above the individual.
Hence, the worshipper finishes his prayer-declaration by asking HASHEM to bless KOL Israel (all of Israel) in response to his individual obedience to the Lord’s commands and regulations.
Let’s take a look at what Moses says next.
“Today Adonai your God orders you to obey these laws and rulings. Therefore, you are to observe and obey them with all your heart and all your being.”
Moses declares that the key to pleasing and loving the Lord is to obey His commands with all of our heart and soul.
This is of course a profound repeat of that GREATEST of all commandments which exhorts us to…
“….love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
with all your soul,
and with all your strength!”
Let me remind you that during Bible times, “heart” actually meant “mind”.
The idea being communicated here is that every part of our life is be to surrendered to God.
When I say every part, I literally mean EVERY part.
This includes our work life, our close relationships, how we treat the stranger down the street and how we treat our neighbors.
This obviously is totally different than the idea of “separation of church and state”.
The Bible knows nothing of the compartmentalization of human activities into the religious and secular.
This is so contrary to how things are in our current culture.
In our day and age, if a person seeking elected office even mentions the word God, it could be cause for his or her instant disqualification.
But you know what’s even sadder?
Your average worshipper today due to being swept away by the busyness of life ends up living his or her faith only during the Shabbat and the High Holy Days instead of incorporating the Lord into every aspect of their life.
Unfortunately, we are passionate for God only during a designated set of hours once a week and then after that we put the Lord back on the shelf only to be taken down again at our convenience.
please I hope you are doing very great. I totally agree with you God see us as ambassadors 24/7. When Yeshua mentioned the shrewd manager in the holy bible, it introduces a topic to denote how the children of God should go about our businesses; to be more focused on building the ” Kingdom”. Infact, everything we own belongs to Hashem. We must return everyday business daily account back to HIM. Shalom
Amen!