Today we begin Deuteronomy Chapter 30.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James version, click here.
“When the time arrives that all these things have come upon you, both the blessing and the curse which I have presented to you; and you are there among the nations to which Adonai your God has driven you; then, at last, you will start thinking about what has happened to you; and you will return to Adonai your God and pay attention to what he has said, which will be exactly what I am ordering you to do today — you and your children, with all your heart and all your being.”-Deuteronomy 30:1-2
If one were to give this chapter a name, a most apt title would be…
…”The Return & Restoration of Israel”.
In fact, the very first few verses repeatedly use various forms of the Hebrew word SHUV which means to repent and turn back.
At least the first half of this chapter is dedicated to the theme that if Israel will turn away from their apostasy and turn back to HASHEM, then He will turn away His wrath from His Chosen People.
I want you to notice something else very important in verse 1.
Notice how God uses the words the “blessing” and the “curse” in the singular form.
In other words, the Lord has set before His people two distinct but opposite paths:
The BLESSING for obedience to the Law and the CURSE for disobedience to the Law.
The reason I have to keep emphasizing this is because of that damnable and utterly false gentile church doctrine that says believers in Messiah are no longer under the curse of the Law.
The church incorrectly assumes that when Paul claims believers are no longer under the curse of the Law, it means the Law itself is a curse and that’s why we’re under no obligation to obey it.
Can you now see why the gentile church has been so fire-breathing enthusiastic to denounce God’s Holy Law as a bad thing that has no relevance for the believer today?
I know I’ve said this about 20 billion times already but the Bible clearly defines the curse of Law as the CONSEQUENCE of breaking the Law.
You fall under the curse of the Law when you fall away or apostatize from God.
The curse is NOT the Law itself.
Actually, in this very chapter itself, we’re going to find Moses expounding on what exactly the terms “the blessing” and “the curse” of the Law actually mean.
To summarize, the Lord says that IF during their exile, Israel accepts the Lord’s verdict and realizes the reason they have been judged is because of their rebellion…
…and then IF they turn back to the Lord by obeying His commandments (the Torah), then HASHEM will be overjoyed and restore his Chosen People.
Finely, note how verse 2 says they must repent with all of their hearts and souls.
In other words, they must be sincere and ready to start afresh under the terms of the Covenant.
Hello again,
What are your thoughts on the Council of Jerusalem among the apostles where they rendered the laws gentiles must obey in Acts 15?
Acts 15:19-21 – 19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
Bless you.
Hello
just some thoughts on your query.
The text itself is relating to deuteronomy and even the exodus with the mixed multitude that came out with Israel from Egypt with its one Instruction for all both the native born and the stranger dwelling with you.
Deuteronomy expounds on them as requisites to love God and join the assembly of Israel ( God’s
People)
They are the first “love in action God commands” after accepting the invitation to repennt into the Kingdom of God through Christ and being baptised as we are informed in the gospel accounts.
It was in the First Covenant & still is a requirement to give up idolatry and idolatry’s associated practices which included eating what was food according to God but was also defiled according to God in the manner it was killed and in that it was offered to a false god. Sexual immorality is the practice of idolatry too by going away from God’s standard of sexual behaviour which is often associated with worship of false deity.
The ongoing nature of turning to God is covered in that by a new believer in Christ from the gentile population renouncing IDOLATRY would then give access to a synagogue where the Torah was read in verse 21 expressly giving the reason why these necessary things being followed would aid the believer going well.
In Orthodox Judaism a gentile was admitted to study in a synagogue if they weren’t idolators to become trained as God Fearers. Some became proselytes(Jewish Citizen rights according to the Pharisee thought of the day and now) through this process.
Believers in Christ from the gentile population did not have the status of being Jewish through being a Proselyte & are just as Cornelius considered righteous God Fearing gentiles according to Judaism.
Jesus said a convert( proselyte) was twice as worthy of hell because they knew Torah but didn’t follow it alone but added or took away from God’s instructions to follow the traditions of men.
This short study may help you see what Paul and the Apostles were on about generally.
Be blessed in finding true answers and challenging your beliefs to find Messiah as He is & nothing else.
https://hoshanarabbah.org/blog/2021/05/18/how-to-easily-understand-the-hard-sayings-of-paul-2/
Blessings
Acts 15 is all about where do the gentiles, wishing to join the congregation, start. Some had the notion that the gentiles HAD to become jews, outward proof being circumcision. The congregation concluded not to make it heavier for them than it needed to be.
So they said “start here” and then they learned Torah as they attended the synagogue (Acts 15:21).
Problem was that after som years Torah was not preached any more as the congregations became more and more Hellenistic or greek. And churchanity was born, divesting itself from everything jewish and especially the Torah.