Ekev

Parasha Ekev

Deuteronomy 7:12 – 11:25

Please pray this

prayer before reading

Prayer

In the name of Yahushua

Our Messiyah,

I pray for the Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Knowledge and

The Spirit of Wisdom

As I read through this Parasha

That the Truth of Torah may

Come forth. Amen

This Torah Portion is the 46 portion in the Torah Cycle. Usually the word “Ekev” means heel. In fact, this word shares the same three root word as the name Jacob, who was born holding on to his brother heel.

However, in this forty six reading, the third in Deuteronomy the word ekev means “on the heel of,” or “because of.”

It is used in the first verse of this portion, which says: “and it shall come to past, because you hearken to these ordinances and keep and do them, that יהוה your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the kindness which He swore to your fathers.” 

This portion of Deuteronomy describe the good things that will happen on the heel of believers who keep to the path of righteousness.

From a Kabbalistic standpoint, this portion is about the power of unity and, specifically, the understanding that even the greatest souls cannot do on their own, what lessor souls can do if they have unity.

In order for an Assembly to be able to reveal great light, it is important that no one individual view him or her self, as more important than anyone else.  The smaller the ego, the greater the Light they will received. The person who view themselves as the least of the group is the one who is responsible for opening up the gate of blessing and abundance from Above.

This is true only when we assembly together for spiritual reasons. It is also true with family and with work. The gift of this Shabbat is the understanding that nothing in the world can bring as much blessing as that of unity.

The Torah uses the Word ekev, or heel to indicate that our journey to perfection is strictly about the diminishment of the self. What every believer want to awaken on this Shabbat is not just another understanding of how important it is to diminish our ego; we also want to grasp the idea of being a heel, of being the lowest.

It is only someone who merit greater and greater diminishing of his ego merit hearing the Word of the CREATOR, that why we are told not to cast our Perls among swines.

The greatest secrets are found in the place that are least populated, the place where it is the quietest, where we are the least comfortable. This lesson applies to finding a teacher as much as it does to our spiritual life, but in both case, one sure sign that our spiritual journey is no the right track is its unpopularity. If our spiritual works is applauded by everyone, that is the time to question it.

On the Shabbat of Ekev, we witness the power of unity, and we know that seeing ourselves as the weakest link in the chain allow us to be a conduit for the Light of the CREATOR. We also become aware that feeling, the faith of our soul, and the faith of our friends help to breakdown all the barriers our negative actions have erected between the Holy Spirit and ourselves.

All our spiritual life should be centered around the desire for the diminishing of our ego, and become the heel the lowest part of the body is the part that supports the whole body.

This Parashas continue with Moses encouragement to the nation, to trust in  יהוה in order to ensure their successful conquest of the Land and the abundant blessing in every aspect of their lives.

He stress again and again that all vestiges of idolatry had to be eliminate from our life and the land, for idolatry is an investment in the selfish ego.

This chapter is broken down in the following area:

1. In general, that, if they would serve YAHVEH, HE would bless and prosper them verse 12–15.

2. In particular, that if they would drive out the nations, that they might not be a temptation to them, YAHVEH would drive them out, that they should not be any vexation to them verse 17.

Deu 7:12 “And it shall be, because you hear these right-rulings, and shall guard and do them, that יהוה your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the kindness which He swore to your fathers, - The reward. The Torah in this verse assures Yisrael that if they are careful to observe even the negative commandments, we can be certain that יהוה will reward us with His Covenant and kindness.

To the believers who may be contemplating with the choose of been popular or keeping Torah, there should not be a choice, as the next verse promise that יהוה will love those who are fearlessly loyal to Him, and destroy the other.

This might inspire other to love them, and יהוה will bless them and see to it that they and their possessions are not diminished by those who seek to harm us. The covenant with Abraham creates the environment were by the bountiful blessings, flows directly to His people without intermediaries.

Deu 7:13 and shall love you and bless you and increase you, and shall bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. - "He will bless us with the tokens of His love above all people.’’ If we would distinguish ourselves from our neighbors by a singular service, YAHVEH would dignify us above our neighbors by singular blessings.

 "He will multiply thee.’’ Increase was the ancient blessing for the peopling of the world, once and again (Gen. 1:28; 9:1), and here for the peopling of Canaan, that little world by itself.

The increase both of their families and of their stock is promised: they should neither have estates without heirs nor heirs without estates, but should have the complete satisfaction of having many children and plentiful provisions and portions for them.

Deu 7:14 “Blessed are you above all peoples – there is not going to be a barren man or a barren woman among you or among your livestock. – This verse continues with the same notion, as he continues to remind us, as if to say please hear what I am saying. There will not be a barren man or woman among you. Prosperity is guarantee.

That if they would love EL YAHVEH and serve HIM, and devote themselves to HIM, HE would love them, and bless them, and multiply them greatly. What could they desire more to make them happy? 

He will love thee.’’ YAHVEH began in love to us (1 Jn. 4:10), and, if we return HIS love in filial duty, then, and then only, we may expect the continuance of it, Jn. 14:21. "YAHVEH will bless thee with the tokens of YAHVEH love above all people.’’ If they would distinguish themselves from their neighbors by singular services, YAHVEH would dignify them above their neighbors by singular blessings.

"He will multiply thee.’’ Increase was the ancient blessing for the peopling of the world, once and again (Gen. 1:28; 9:1), and here for the peopling of Canaan, that little world by itself. The increase both of their families and of their stock is promised: they should neither have estates without heirs nor heirs without estates, but should have the complete satisfaction of having many children and plentiful provisions and portions for them.

Deu 7:15 “And יהוה shall turn away from you all sickness and put on you none of the evil diseases of Mitsrayim which you have known, but He shall put them on all those who hate you. – Moses continues to remind the people of the consequence of obedience. If blessing was not reason enough, then the promises in this verse might motivate them.

Some people are motivated by the blessing, some by the curse that might come upon them. Whichever one motivates us, the point is to be motivated.

That, if they would keep themselves pure from the idolatresses of Egypt, YAHVEH would keep them clear form the diseases of Egypt. It seems to refer not only to those plagues of Egypt by the force of which they were delivered, but to some other epidemical country disease (as we call it), which they remembered the prevalence of among the Egyptians, and by which YAHVEH had chastised them for their national sins. Diseases are YAH’s servants; they go where HE sends them, and do what HE bids them. It is therefore good for the health of our bodies to mortify the sin of our souls.

Deu 7:16 “And you shall consume all the peoples whom יהוה your Elohim is delivering over to you – your eye shall not pardon them. And do not serve their mighty ones, for that is a snare for us. - That, if we would cut off the idolatrous nations, none should be able to stand before us. Our duty in this matter would itself be our advantage: Thou shalt consume all the people which YAHVEH thy EL shall deliver thee, this is the precept. That, if they would continue to be a devoted nations, they should cut them off all undeveloped nations, and none should be able to stand before them. Their duty in this matter would itself be their advantage: Thou shalt consume all the people which the YAHVEH TSEBAOTE shall deliver to us, this is the precept.

YAHVEH TSEBAOTE thy EL shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them,. this is also the promise, verse 23. Therefore, we are commanded not to let sin reign, not to indulge ourselves in it nor give countenance to it, but to hate it and strive against it; and then YAHVEH has promised that sin shall not have dominion over us (Rom. 6:12,14), but that we shall be more than conquerors over it. The difficulty and doubtfulness of the conquest of Canaan having been a stone of stumbling to their fathers, Moses here animates them against those things which were most likely to discourage them, bidding them not to be afraid of them, verse 18, and again.

Deu 7:17 “When you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I, I am unable to drive them out,’ – What we think is who we are, or who we are is what we think. As believers we should never think ourselves inferior to anyone else. That those not mean that we are better than anyone else. It simple means that we must believe that we can do all things through Yahushua who strengthen us.

Let us not be disheartened by the number and strength of their enemies: Say not, They are more than I, how can I dispossess them? We are not to think that the most numerous must needs be victorious: but, to fortify Yisrael against this temptation, Moses reminds them of the destruction of Pharaoh and all the power of Egypt.

Deu 7:18 do not be afraid of them. Remember well what יהוה your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Mitsrayim, - This word “remember’ in the Hebrew means to take this to our heart, be assured, and be very sure of this fact.

We must remember what יהוה did to Pharaoh, His hands are never short, He can still do it today. They had seen the great temptations, or miracles (so the Chaldee reads it), the signs and wonders, where YAHVEH had brought them out of Egypt, in order for HIM bringing them into Canaan, and thence might easily infer that YAHVEH could dispossess the Canaanites (who, though formidable enough, had not such advantages against Yisrael as the Egyptians had; HE that had done the greater work could also do the less), and that HE would dispossess them, otherwise HIM bringing Yisrael out of Egypt had been no kindness to them. He that begun would finish. Thou shalt therefore remember this.

 Deu 7:19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm, by which יהוה your Elohim brought you out. יהוה your Elohim does so to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. – No Elohim has ever able to take one set of people from among the nations, as YAHVEH had removed Yisrael from Egypt. This is proof of His absolute power and His love for His people.

YAHWH did so with challenges, as HE defied Pharaoh to test him, Exodus 8:5. With signs, by means of which Moses proved that Elohim had sent him.

With wonders, the plagues and with wars. The miracle at the sea, which the Egyptian saw as Elohim waging war against them.

The word and works of YAHVEH are well remembered when they are imported as helps to our faith and obedience. That is well laid up which is available to us when we have occasion to use it.

Deu 7:20 “And יהוה your Elohim also sends the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. – This completed their ruin; such influence had the devil in them that they would resist יהוה, but such power had יהוה over them that they could not. I will send my fear before thee; and those that fear will soon flee. Hosts of hornets made way for the hosts of Yisrael; such mean can יהוה creatures, make use of nature for the chastising of his people’s enemies, as in the plagues of Egypt.

Let them not be disheartened by the weakness and deficiency of their own forces; for YAHVEH will send them in auxiliary troops of hornets, or wasps, as some read it, probably larger than ordinary, which would so terrify and molest their enemies (and perhaps be the death of many to them) that their most numerous armies would become an easy prey to Yisrael.

Deu 7:21 “Do not be afraid of them, for יהוה your Elohim, the great and awesome Ěl, is in your midst. - Those who does not take warning by fewer judgments on others may expect greater on themselves. But the great encouragement of Yisrael was that they had יהוה among them, a mighty Elohim and terrible. And if יהוה be for us, we need not fear the power of any creature against us.

YAHVEH plagued the Egyptians with flies, but the Canaanites with hornets. Those who take not warning by less judgments on others may expect greater on themselves. But the great encouragement of Yisrael was that they had YAHVEH among them, a mighty EL and terrible, And if YAHVEH be for us, we need not fear the power of any creature against us.

Deu 7:22 “And יהוה your Elohim shall drive out those nations before you, little by little. You are not allowed to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. – This is both a corporate and an individual promise. - Let them not be disheartened by the slow progress of their arms, nor think that the Canaanites would never be subdued if they were not expelled the first year; no, they must be put out by little and little, and not all at once.

We must not think that, because the deliverance of the people and the destruction of its enemies are not effected immediately, therefore they will never be effected. יהוה will do his own work in his own method and time, and we may be sure that they are always the best.

In our personal life, how many times we ask for certain behavior to be removed from our lives. Yet, our Father remove them little by little, as a child learn a little each day, the light of the Gospel shines brighter and brighter until a perfect day.

Let them not be disheartened by the slow progress of their arms, nor think that the Canaanites would never be subdued if they were not expelled the first year; no, they must be put out by little and little, and not all at once.

We must not think that, because the deliverance of the Assembly and the destruction of its enemies are not effected immediately, therefore they will never be effected. YAHVEH will do HIS own work in HIS own method and time, and we may be sure that they are always the best. Thus corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but that judgment will at length be brought forth into a complete victory. The reason here given (as before, Ex. 23:29, 30) is, Lest the beast of the field increase upon thee.

               

Deu 7:23 “But יהוה your Elohim shall deliver them over to you and destroy them with a great destruction until they are consumed. – As the light of the Word is written on our heart, it displaces the darkness of sin. Sin is missing the mark, while the Word is hitting the Mark. The sixth days of Creation represent the six stages of our spiritual growth. In each stage, like a tree it must undergo development. This development destroys the darkness of sin in our lives. This destruction must be continued until all resemblance of sin is totally destroyed. This is what the sixth day of Creation is all about, the creation of perfect sons.

Corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers little by little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but that judgment will at length be brought forth into a complete victory.

Deu 7:24 “And He shall give their kings into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under the Heavens. No one is going to be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. - The reason here given before in, Ex. 23:29, 30) is, Lest the beast of the field increase upon thee.

Deu 7:25 “The carved images of their mighty ones you are to burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to יהוה your Elohim. – The man made god that human worship, we shall destroy. We shall not desire their wealth and their customs, less we are corrupt by it. These things are an abomination to  יהוה. The earth YAHVEH has given to the children of men; and therefore there shall rather be a remainder of Canaanites to keep possession till Yisrael become numerous enough to replenish it than that it should be a habitation of dragons, and a court for the wild beasts of the desert, Isa. 34:13, 14. Yet YAHVEH could have prevented this mischief from the beasts, Lev. 26:6. But pride and security, and other sins that are the common effects of a settled prosperity, were enemies more dangerous than the beasts of the field, and these would be apt to increase upon them. See Judges 3:1,4.

Deu 7:26 “And do not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be accursed like it. Utterly loathe it and utterly hate it, for it is accursed. – This verse prohibits anyone from benefit from an idol or its accouterments. The prohibition against any sort of profit from funds or other items that were obtained in violation of Torah.

The same spirit that drives people to worship idols, propels them to seek monetary gain in other forbidden areas.

Chapter 8

Moses had charged the people to teaching their children to guard the Word of YAHVEH upon them (ch. 6:7) by frequent repetition of the same things over and over again.

Here in these verse HE HIMSELF takes the same method of instructing the Yisraelites as HIS children, frequently inculcating the same precepts and cautions, with the same motives or arguments to enforce them.

That what they heard so often might abide with them. In this chapter Moses gives them: 

I.             General exhortations to obedience verse 1, 6. 

II.           A review of the great things YAHVEH had done for them in the wilderness, as a good argument for obedience verses 15, 16. 

III.          A prospect of the good land into which YAHVEH would now bring them verse 7-9. 

IV.         A necessary caution against the temptations of a prosperous condition verse 10–14, and 17, 18. 

V.           A fair warning of the fatal consequences of apostasy from YAHVEH verse 19, 20.

Deu 8:1  “Guard to do every command which I command you today, that you might live, and shall increase, and go in, and shall possess the land of which יהוה swore to your fathers. - The charge given here is the same as before, to keep and do all YAH’s Commandments. Their obedience must be,

1. Careful: Observe to do.

2. Universal: To do all the commandments.

3. From a good principle, with a regard to YAHVEH as the Creator, and their EL, and particularly with a holy fear of HIM verse 6, from a reverence of HIS majesty, a submission to HIS authority, and a dread of HIS wrath. To engage them to this obedience, besides the great advantages of it, which HE sets before them (that they should live and multiply, and all should be well with them, YAHVEH directs them.

Deu 8:2 “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you guard His commands or not. - To look back upon the wilderness through which יהוה had now brought them: Thou shalt remember all the way which יהוה thy EL led thee these forty years in the wilderness.

Now that they had come of age, and were ready to enter their inheritance, they must be reminded of the discipline they had been under during their training and the method יהוה had taken to train them up for HIMSELF.

The wilderness was the school in which they had been in for the past forty years boarded and taught, under tutors and governors; and this was a time to bring it all to remembrance.

The occurrences of these last forty years were very memorable and well worthy to be remembered, very useful and profitable to be remembered, as yielding a complication of arguments for obedience; and they were recorded on purpose that they might be remembered.

As the feast of the Passover was a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt, so was the feast of Tabernacles of their passage through the wilderness. It is very good for us to remember all the ways both of YAH’S providence and grace, by which HE has led us hitherto through this wilderness that we may be prevailed with cheerfully to serve HIM and trust in HIM.

Deu 8:3 “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה. Messiyah quotes this in Mt. 4: ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of YAHVEH. and in Luke. 4:⁴ But Yahushua answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of YAHVEH. - YAHVEH Himself took particular care of their food, raiment, and health; and what would they have more?  They had manna for food: YAHVEH caused them to hunger, and HE fed them with manna, that the extremity of their want might make the supply the more acceptable.

YAH'S goodness to them was more remarkable. YAHVEH often brings HIS people low, that He may exult them. Therefore, the manna of Heavenly comforts is given to those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, Mt. 5:⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.  To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

Deu 8:4 “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. – The same clothes served them from Egypt to Canaan, at least the generality of them. Though they had no need for a change of garment, yet it was always new, and waxed not old upon them.

 This was a standing miracle, and the greater if, as the Yisraelites say, they grew with them, so as to be always fit for them. But it is plain that they brought out of Egypt bundles of clothes on their shoulders (Ex. 12:34), which they might barter with each other as there was occasion; and these, with what they wore, sufficed till they came into a country where they could furnish themselves with new clothes.

By the method YAHVEH took to providing food and raiment for them, He had to humbled them. It was mortification to them to be tied for forty years together to the same meat, without any varieties, and to the same clothes, in the same fashion.

 Therefore HE taught them that the good things HE designed for them were figures of better things, and that the happiness of man consists not in being clothed in purple or fine linen, and in faring sumptuously every day.

But in being taken into covenant and communion with YAHVEH, and in learning HIS righteous judgments. YAH’S law, which was given to Yisrael in the wilderness, must be to them instead of food and raiment.

 He proved for them, whether they could trust HIM to provide for them when means and second causes failed. Therefore He taught them to live in a dependence upon Providence, and not to perplex themselves with care what they should eat and drink, and wherewithal they should be clothed.

Messiyah would have His disciples learn the same lesson (Mt. 6:25), and took a like method to teach it to them, when He sent them out without purse or scrip, and yet took care that they lacked nothing, Lu. 22:35.

 YAHVEH took care of their health and ease. Though they traveled on foot in a dry country, the way was rough and un-trodden, yet their feet swelled not.

YAHVEH preserved them from taking hurt by the inconveniences of their journey; and mercies of this kind we ought to acknowledge. Those that follow Yah’s conduct are not only safe but bless. Our feet swell not while we keep in the way of duty; it is the way of transgression that is hard, Prov. 13:15. YAHVEH had promised to keep the feet of his saints, 1 Sa. 2:9.

Deu 8:5 “Thus you shall know in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so יהוה your Elohim disciplines you, - They must also remember the rebukes they had been under. During these years of their education they had been kept under a strict discipline, and not without need. As a man chastened his son, for his good, and because he loves him, so the YAHVEH thy El chasteneth thee. YAHVEH is a loving tender Father to all his children, yet when there is occasion they shall feel the smart of the rod.

Yisrael did so: they were chastened that they might not be condemned, chastened with the rod of men. Not as a man wounds and slays his enemies whose destruction he aims at, but as a man chastens his son whose happiness and welfare he designs: so did their EL chasten them; HE chastened and taught them, Ps. 94:12.

Deu 8:6 therefore you shall guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. – How many time have we read this statement. Yet, how easy for believers to break them. Have the Christian church ever teach the people how to guard the commandments, or have they guard there own denomination doctrine more than the Word.

Deu 8:7 “For יהוה your Elohim is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills, - the whole purpose of life is for us to learn the Constitution of the Kingdom of Heavens.

So that when we die we may give an account of what we have learned about the Kingdom to Come. The knowledge we gain and our faithfulness to it, will determine our place.

The land which they were now going to take possession of is here described to be a very good land, having every thing in it that was desirable, for us to bring up our family.

As mature believers, the place were we live, must be a Land flowing with milk and honey. This earth system is only a shadow of the Heavenly inheritance we will be given. It is where the squatters now lived in the heavens, they will be driven out one by one until the Kingdom of Heaven is restored.

Deu 8:8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, - This verse speaks of the seven foods that the Land was known for. When dates were left in the sun, their honey like juice oozes from them. Honey is used to refer not only to bee’s honey, but to every manner of very sweet food, such as dates.

Plenty of wheat and Barley for bread, olive oil for the Menorah, lamp, and cooking. That wonderful juice of the Pomegranates. These seven food groups make for a well balance diet.

They had not only water enough to quench their thirst, but vines, the fruit whereof was ordained to make glad the heart. And, if they were desirous of dainties, they needed not to send to far countries for them, when their own was so well stocked with fig-trees, and pomegranates, olives of the best kind, and honey, or date-trees, as some think it should be reap.

Deu 8:9 a land in which you eat bread without scarcity, in which you do not lack at all, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you dig copper. - Even the bowels of its earth were very rich, though it should seem that silver and gold they had none; of these the princes of Sheba should bring presents (Ps. 72:10, 15); yet they had plenty of those more serviceable metals, iron and brass. Iron-stone and mines of brass were found in their hills. See Job 28:2.

Deu 8:10 “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and shall bless יהוה your Elohim for the good land which He has given you. – This is the commandment to recite grace after meals, which applies whenever one eats a meal and is satisfied.

Moses, having mentioned the great abundant of food they would find in the land of Canaan, YAHVEH finds it necessary to caution them against the abuse of that abundance, which could be a sin, now that they came into the vineyard of YAHVEH, immediately out of a barren desert.

He directs them to the duty of a prosperous condition. They are allowed to eat even to fullness, not to surfeiting, no excess; but let them always remember their benefactor, the founder of their feast, and never fail to give thanks after meat: Then thou shalt bless YAHVEH thy EL.

 They must take heed of eating or drinking so much as to indisposed themselves of this duty of blessing EL YAHVEH, rather aiming to serve EL YAHVEH with so much  cheerfulness and enlargement.

 They must not have any fellowship with those that, when they had eaten and were full, blessed false gods, as the Yisraelites themselves had done in their worship of the golden calf, Ex. 32:6.

 Whatever they had the opportunity, EL YAHVEH must have the glory of. As our Savior has taught us to bless before we eat (Mt. 14:19, 20), so we are here taught to bless after meat. That is our Hosannah, EL bless; this is our Hallelujah, Blessed be YAHVEH. In every thing we must give thanks. From this law the Hebrew took up a laudable usage of blessing for YAHVEH, not only at their solemn meals, but upon other occasions; if they drank a cup of wine they lifted up their hands and said, blessed be he that created the fruit of the vine to make glad the heart. If they did but smell the sweet fragrance of a flower, they said, blessed be he that made this flower sweet.

 When they gave thanks for the fruits of the land they must give thanks for the land itself, which was given them by promise, for all our comfortable enjoyments we must take occasion to thank YAHVEH for our comfortable settlements; and I know one thing, we as a nation of Yisrael have so much reason to give thanks for a good land.

Deu 8:11 “Be on guard, lest you forget יהוה your Elohim by not guarding His commands, and His right-rulings, and His laws which I command you today, - He arms them against the temptations of a prosperous condition, and charges them to stand upon their guard against them.

Those that admire themselves despise YAHVEH. "Forget not thy duty to YAHVEH. We forget YAHVEH if we keep not HIS Commandments; we forget HIS authority over us, and our obligations to HIM and expectations from HIM, if we are not obedient to HIS laws. When men grow rich they are tempted to think religion is a needless thing. They are happy without it, they think it a thing below them and too hard upon them. Their dignity forbids them to stoop, and their liberty forbids them to serve

Deu 8:12 lest you eat and shall be satisfied, and build lovely houses and shall dwell in them, - "When thou art settled in goodly houses of thy own building,’’  (for though YAHVEH gave them houses which they build not, ch. 6:10. He arms them against the temptations of prosperity, and charges them to stand upon their guard against them: "When thou art settled in beautiful houses of thy own building,’’ (for though YAHVEH gave them houses which they did not build, ch. 6:10, these would not serve them, they must have larger and finer), "and when thou hast grown rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold, as Abraham (Gen. 13:2), when all thou hast is multiplied,’

Deu 8:13 and your herds and your flocks increase, and your silver and your gold are increased, and all that you have is increased, - and when thou hast grown rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold , as Abraham (Gen. 13:2), when all thou hast is multiplied,’’ .  

Deu 8:14 that your heart then becomes lifted up, and you forget יהוה your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, from the house of bondage, - Then take heed of pride. Beware lest then thy heart be lifted up. When the estate rises, the mind is apt to rise with it, in self-conceit, self-complacency, and self-confidence. Let us therefore strive to keep the spirit low in a high condition; humility is both the ease and the ornament of prosperity.

But we are basely ungrateful the more blessing EL YAHVEH gave to us, the worse we are to Him.  "Forget not YAH’S former dealings with thee. Thy deliverance out of Egypt. The provision HE made for thee in the wilderness, that great and terrible wilderness.’’ They must never forget the impressions which the horror of that wilderness made upon them; see Jer. 2:6, where it is called the very shadow of death.

Deu 8:15 who led you through that great and awesome wilderness – fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst – where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flinty rock, - There EL preserved them from being destroyed by the fiery serpents and scorpions, though sometimes HE made use of for them for their correction: there HE kept them from perishing for want of water, following them with water out of a rock of flint.

Deu 8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and to try you, to do you good in the end, - There he fed them with manna, of which before verse 3, taking care to keep them alive, that HE might do them good at their latter end.  EL YAHVEH reserves the best till the last for Yisrael. However HE may seem to deal hardly with them by the way, HE will not fail to do them good at their latter end.

Deu 8:17 you then shall say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand have made for me this wealth!’ - Take heed of saying, so much as in thy heart, that proud word, My power, even the might of my hand, hath gotten me this wealth. We must never take the praise of our prosperity to ourselves, nor attribute it to our ingenuity or industry; for bread is not always to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, Eccl. 9:11. It is spiritual idolatry thus to sacrifice to our own net, Hab. 1:16. 2. "Then take heed of forgetting YAHVEH.

Deu 8:18 “But you shall remember יהוה your Elohim, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, in order to establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is today. – We must never "Forget that Yah’s hand is in every present prosperity. Remember it is HE that gives thee strength to get wealth; for HE gives thee power to get wealth.’

 See here how Yah’s giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it to spiritual wealth. It is our duty to get wisdom, knowledge and understanding. And yet it is YAH’S grace that gives wisdom, and when we have got it we must not say, it was the might of our hand that got it, but must own it was YAHVEH that gave us power to get it.

Therefore, to Him alone we must give all the praise and consecrate the use of it. The blessing of YAHVEH on the hand of the diligent makes rich both for this world and for the other.

He gives thee power to get wealth, not so much to gratify thee, and make thee easy, as that he may establish his covenant. All Yah’s gifts are in pursuance of his promises.

Deu 8:19 “And it shall be, if you by any means forget יהוה your Elohim, and follow other mighty ones, and serve them and bow yourself to them, I have warned you this day that you shall certainly perish. - YAHVEH repeats the fair warning, He had often given them of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from YAHVEH. Observe how He describes the sin; it is forgetting Elohim, and then worshiping other gods. What wickedness those who do not keep their thoughts of YAHVEH in their minds, fall into?

When the affections are displaced from YAHVEH, they will soon be misplaced upon lying vanities. How HE denounces wrath and ruin against them for it: "If you do so, you shall surely perish, and the power and might of your hands, which you are so proud of, cannot help you.

Deu 8:20 “Like the nations which יהוה is destroying before you, so you are to perish, because you did not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim. - Not that, you shall perish as the nations that are driven out before you. YAHVEH will make no more account of you, notwithstanding HIS covenant with you and your relation to HIM.

If you will not be obedient and faithful to HIM.’’ Those that follow others into sin will certainly follow them to destruction. If we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare.

Chapter 9

The deliberation of Moses in this chapter is to convince the people of Yisrael of their utter unworthiness to receive from YAHVEH. Those great favors that were now to be conferred upon them. They are being encourage to Writing this, as it were, in capital letters on their head, "Not for your sake, be it known unto you,’’ Eze. 36:32.

I.             He assures them of victory over their enemies verse 1-3. 

II.           He cautions them not to attribute their successes to their own merit, but to Yah’s justice, which was engaged against their enemies, and his faithfulness, which was engaged to their fathers verse 4-6.

III.         To make it evident that they had no reason to boast of their own righteousness, he mentions their faults, shows Yisrael their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. In general, they had been all along a provoking people verse 7–24. In particular:

1. In the matter of the golden calf, the story of which he largely relates verse 8–21. 

2. He mentions some other instances of their rebellion verse 22, 23.

3. Returns, at verse 25, to speak of the intercession he had made for them at Horeb, to prevent their being ruined for the golden calf.

Deu 9:1  “Hear, O Yisra’ĕl: You are passing over the Yardĕn today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and stronger than yourself, cities great and walled up to the Heavens, - The call to attention. Hear, O Yisrael, intimates that this was a new discourse, delivered at some distance of time after the former, probably the next Sabbath day. 

Moses represents to the people the formidable strength of the enemies which they were now to encounter. The nations they were to dispossess were mightier than themselves, not a rude and undisciplined people, like the natives of America, that was easily made a prey of.

Deu 9:2 a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anaqim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who does stand before the descendants of Anaq?’ - But, should they besiege them, they would find their cities well fortified, according as the art of fortification then was.

Should we engage them in the field, we would find the people great and tall, of whom common fame had reported that there was no standing before them.

This representation is much the same with that which the evil spies had made (Num. 13:28, 33), but made with a very different intention: that was designed to drive them from YAHVEH and to discourage their hope in HIM; this to drive them to YAHVEH and to engage their hope in HIM, since no power of the Almighty could secure and prosper them.

The final enemy, are those in the Promise Land, like those fallen gods who are still in the heavens, we we go there to take over from them, they will not vacate the land without a fight. Thank for YAHVEH TSEBAOTE, the Commander of Chief of the Army of Heavens, we are assured victory.

Deu 9:3 “And you shall know today that יהוה your Elohim is HE who is passing over before you as a consuming fire – HE does destroy them and subdeu them before you. So you shall dispossess them and destroy them quickly, as יהוה has said to you. - He assures them of victory, by the presence of YAHVEH TSEBAOTE with them, notwithstanding the strength of the enemy. "Understand therefore, what thou must trust in for our Spiritual success, and which way thou must look.

It is the YAHVEH TSEBAOTE that goes before thee, not only as thy CAPTAIN, or COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, to give direction, but as a consuming fire, to do execution among them.

He shall destroy them, and then thou shalt drive them out. Thou canst not drive them out, unless He destroys the spirit over them and bring them down.

But He will not destroy them and bring them down, unless thou set thyself in good earnest to drive them out.’’ We must do our Endeavor in dependence upon YAH’S grace, as we strive for spiritual maturity, and we shall have that grace if we do our endeavor to reach it.

This military campaign will be for the restoration of all thins when the Kingdom will be restored as it was before the rebellion of Lucifer. This campaign all  those stars in the Kingdom who seek after their own Liberty will be cast out as the Cannaites was cast out to make room for the Yisraelites.

Deu 9:4 “Do not think in your heart, after יהוה your Elohim has driven them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness יהוה has brought me in to possess this land.’ But it is because of the wrong of these nations that יהוה is driving them out from before you. - Moses cautions them as he is cautioning me, not to entertain the least thought of our own righteousness.

As if it was our hands had procured for us this favor at YAH’S hand: "Say not. For my righteousness (either with regard to my good character or in recompense for any good service) YAHVEH hath brought me in to possess this land .

It was the rebellion of Lucifer and the subsequent fall of one-third of the other leaders of the various star system, that cause the Kingdom to sustain vacancy. Now we who have proven ourselves loyal to HIS cause will  be found worthy of entering into the Land. If those angels had not done wrong we would not have this opportunity.

Deu 9:5 “It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wrong of these nations that יהוה your Elohim drives them out from before you, in order to establish the word which יהוה swore to your fathers, to Aḇraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Yaʽaqoḇ. - Never think it is for thy righteousness or the uprightness of thy heart, that it is in consideration either of thy good conversation or of they good disposition.

It is because of grace why we are considered. We have all sinned, and have fallen short of the Glory, that is required for the Kingdom. Only Yahushua ever fulfilled this requirement. It is the promise He had made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob three faithful sons.

As Lucifer was cast out because he and his accomplish sinned, we also who sinned should not even come close to enter into the Land. It is because of the promise made to Abraham why Messiyah came, it is because of the promise made to Abraham whe we have a second chance.

Deu 9:6 “And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. - And again it is insisted on, because it is hard to bring people from the conceit of their own merit, and yet very necessary that it be done: "Understand (know it, and believe it, and consider it) that YAHVEH thy EL gives thee not this land for thy righteousness.

Hadst thou been to come to it upon that condition, thou wouldst have been for ever shut out of it, for thou art a stiff-necked people.

Our ability to gain possession of the Heavenly Canaan must be attributed to YAH’S power and not to our own might, so it must be ascribed to YAH’S grace and not to our own merit.

In Yahushua we have both righteousness and strength; in Him therefore we must glory, and not in ourselves, or any sufficiency of our own.

All those whom YAHVEH rejects are rejected for their own wickedness: but none of those whom he accepts are accepted for the righteousness they have achieve in Messiyah.

HE will be honored in the performance of HIS promise to those that are in covenant with HIM.

 YAHVEH swore to the patriarchs, who loved IM and left all to follow HIM, that HE would give this land to their seed; and therefore HE would keep that promised mercy for thousands of those that loved HIM and kept HIS commandments; HE would not caused HIS promise to fail. It was for their fathers’ sake that they were beloved, Rom. 11:²⁸ Concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

Therefore boasting is for ever excluded, Eph. 1: ⁹ having made known to us the mystery of HIS Will, according to HIS good pleasure which HE purposed in HIMSELF, ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times HE might gather together in one all things in Messiyah, both which are in Heavens and which are on earth—in HIM. ¹¹ In HIM also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of HIM who works all things according to the counsel of IS  Will.

Deu 9:7 “Remember, do not forget how you provoked to wrath יהוה your Elohim in the wilderness. From the day that you came out of the land of Mitsrayim until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against יהוה. - That they might have no pretence to think that YAHVEH brought them to Canaan for their righteousness.

 Moses here shows them what a miracle of mercy it was that they had not been destroyed in the wilderness: "Remember, and forget not, how they provokes YAHVEH our El.

So far from purchasing HIS favor, thou hast many a time fallen short, laid our selves open to HIS displeasure.’’ Their fathers’ provocations are here charged upon them; for, if YAHVEH had dealt with their fathers according to their deserts, this generation would never have been, much less would they have entered Canaan.

We are apt to forget our provocations, especially when the punishment of the rod is over, and we have need to be often reminded, that we may never entertain any conceit of our own righteousness. Paul argues from the guilt which all mankind is under to prove that we cannot be justified before YAHVEH by our own works, Rom. 3:19, 20. If our works condemn us, they will not justify us. We had been a provoking people ever since they came out of Egypt. Forty years long, from first to last, were YAHVEH and Moses grieved with them.

Deu 9:8 “Even in Ḥorĕḇ you made יהוה wroth, so that יהוה was enraged with you, to destroy you. - Though the Mosaic history records little more than the occurrences of the first and last year of the forty, yet it seems by this general account that the rest of the years were not much better, but one continued provocation. Even in Horeb they made a calf and worshipped it. That was a sin so heinous, and by several aggravations made so exceedingly sinful, that they deserved upon all occasions to be upbraided with it.

Deu 9:9 “When I went up into the mountain to receive the Tablets of stone, the Tablets of the Covenant which יהוה made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread nor did I drink water. – We must remember that one day is like a thousand years and one thousand years is like one day. Moses might have stayed 40 days in the natral, who know how long it was there in the Spiritual.

Deu 9:10 “Then יהוה gave me the two Tablets of stone written with the finger of Elohim, and on them were all the Words which יהוה had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. – Notice very carefully. Moses gave the Tablets that was written with the Finger of the YAHVAH. From this statement, how can we call the law, Moses laws. Within the Ten Commandments were all the Words which EL YAHVEH spoke to Moses on the mountain. We also knew that EL YAHVEH do not change. Therefore His Laws cannot change.

Deu 9:11 “And it came to be, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that יהוה gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. – Forthy is the number of probation. Moses could have send forty years in the Spirit on the mountain in the presence of Sheckinah Glory, absorbing the very essence of the Father. Moses was able to give a definition for every commandment, when he penned the Books of: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number and Deuteronomy  Moses was born thousand of years after Adam yet He accurately discribe what took place. Is it possible that while Moses was on the mountain, he was able to see the complete history of humanity from the first day of Creation played out in-front of Him. Or maybe it was a revelation. However, Moses got hold of the Wisdom and Knowledge to write the Torah it was extensive.

Deu 9:12 “Then יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you brought out of Mitsrayim have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them, they have made themselves a moulded image.’ -  A bill of divorce was given them, and thenceforward they might justly have been abandoned for ever, so that their mouth was certainly stopped from pleading any righteousness of their own. YAHVEH had, in effect, disowned them, when he said to Moses, "They are thy people, they are none of mine, nor shall they be dealt with as mine.’’

Deu 9:13 “And יהוה spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people. – A stiff neck people is one whose mind is made up and it is not easily turn. Notice how EL YAHVEH rejected the people, by calling them this people instead of My People.

Deu 9:14 ‘Leave Me alone, so that I destroy them and blot out their name from under the Heavens, and make of you a nation stronger and greater than they.’ - It is the nature of YAHVEH to destroy the sinful nature any were it is found. However, it is His Grace that spared us from sudden destruction. Moses was also been tested also to see if he was qualified to continue leading the people. Did he stand up for them as all good leader should. Moses was given the ultimate test; He was give an opportunity to have a people named after himself, a stronger and greater than what was at the foot of the mountain.

Deu 9:15 “So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. -  Moses was bringing the marriage covenant to the people of YAHVEH.

Deu 9:16 “And I looked and saw that you had sinned against יהוה your Elohim, and had made for yourselves a moulded calf! You had quickly turned aside from the way which יהוה had commanded you. – The people were already commuting adultry. It was done in the very place where the law was given. They were expressly forbidden to worship EL YAHVEH by images, and while the mountain was yet burning before their eyes, as a jealous Husband should, and Moses had gone up to fetch them the law in writing. They turned aside quickly.

Deu 9:17 “And I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes, - They had by their sin broken the covenant with EL YAHVEH, and forfeited all the privileges of the covenant, which Moses signified to them by breaking the tables.

Deu 9:18 “and I fell down before יהוה, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread and I did not drink water, because of all your sins which you committed in doing evil in the eyes of יהוה, to provoke Him. – It was with great difficulty and very long attendance that Moses himself prevailed to turn away the wrath of YAHVEH, and prevent their total destruction  He fasted and prayed full forty days and forty nights before he could obtain their pardon.

Deu 9:19 “For I was afraid of the displeasure and rage with which יהוה was wroth with you, to destroy you. But יהוה listened to me that time once more. - Moses himself, though a friend and favorite, trembled at the revelation of YAH’S wrath from Heavens against their ungodliness and unrighteousness: I was afraid of the anger of YAHVEH, afraid perhaps not for them only, but for himself, Ps. 119: ¹²⁰       my flesh trembles for fear of You,

And I am afraid of Your judgments.. .

Deu 9:20 “And יהוה was very enraged with Aharon, to destroy him, so I prayed for Aharon at that time also. - Aaron himself fell under YAHVEH displeasure for it, though he was the saint of YAHVEH, and was only brought by surprise or terror to be confederate with them in the sin: YAHVEH was very angry with Aaron. No man’s place or character can shelter him from the wrath of YAH if he have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Aaron, that should have made atonement for them if the iniquity could have been purged away by sacrifice and offering.

Deu 9:21 “And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain. - To affect them the more with the destruction they were then at the brink of, he describes very particularly the destruction of the calf they had made.

 He calls it their sin: perhaps not only because it had been the matter of their sin, but because the destroying of it was intended for a testimony against their sin, and an indication to them what the sinners themselves did deserve.

It was also the first demonstration of the test for adultery. The dust was place in the water, and the woman who commit adultery had to drink it.

Deu 9:22 “And at Taḇʽĕrah and at Massah and at Qiḇroth Hatta’awah you made יהוה wroth. - Those that made it were like unto it, and would have had no wrong done them if they had been stamped to dust, and consumed, and scattered, and no remains of them left.

 It was YAHVEH infinite mercy that accepted the destruction of the idol, instead of the destruction of the idolaters. Even after this fair escape that they had, in many other instances they provoked YAHVEH again and again.

Those who were guilty of idolater belly were swollen. They were the ones who the Levites slew with the sword. He needed only to name the places, for they carried the memorials either of the sin or of the punishment in their names.

Taberah, burning, where YAHVEH set fire to them for their murmuring, at Massah, the temptation, where they challenged almighty power to help them, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lusters, where the dainties they coveted were their poison; and, after these, their unbelief and distrust at Kadesh-barnea, of which he had already told them (ch. 1).

Deu 9:23 “And when יהוה sent you from Qaḏĕsh Barnĕa, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the mouth of יהוה your Elohim, and you neither trusted Him nor listened to His voice. -  Moses again mentions Kadesha Barnea, were they would certainly have been completed destroyed, if they had been dealt with according to their own merits.

Deu 9:24 “You have been rebellious against יהוה from the day that I knew you. – Now let them lay all this together, and it will appear that whoever favor YAHVEH should here after show them, in subduing their enemies and putting them in possession of the land of Canaan, it was not for their righteousness.

Deu 9:25 “So I fell down before יהוה the forty days and forty nights, for I fell down because יהוה had said He would destroy you. - And some think twice forty days , because it is said, as I fell down before, whereas his errand in the first forty was not of that nature. Others think it was but one forty, though twice mentioned (as also in ch. 10:10); but this was enough to make them understand how great YAH’S displeasure was against them, and what a narrow escape they had for their lives, and how Moses had intercede for them. In this appears the greatness of YAH’S anger against all mankind, that no less a person than HIS Son, and no less a price than His own blood, would serve to turn it away.

Deu 9:26 “And I prayed to יהוה, and said, ‘O Master יהוה, do not destroy Your people and Your inheritance whom You have redeemed in Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Mitsrayim with a strong hand. - Their character was bad indeed when he that appeared an advocate for them, Moses could not give them a good word, and had nothing else to say on their behalf, but that YAHVEH had done great things for them, which really did but aggravate their crime.

Deu 9:27 ‘Remember Your servants, Abraham, Yitsḥaq, and Yaaqob. Do not look on the stubbornness of this people, or on their wrong or on their sin, - Moses here tells them the substance of his intercession for them. He was obliged to own their stubbornness, and their wickedness, and their sin. that they were the posterity of good ancestors, which might also have been turned upon him, as making the matter worse and not better.

Deu 9:28 lest the land from which You brought us should say, “Because יהוה was not able to bring them to the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.” – Moses in his dialog with Father YAHVEH said that the Egyptians would reproach EL, if HE should destroy them, as unable to perfect what HE had done for them, a plea which had a lot of spiritual logic.

Since Creation was to restore the Kingdom of Heavens, with the replacement for those who had followed Satan. Then Lucifer would have a valid argument say that YAHVEH could not accomplish the Creation story. After all, this is what the devil and his angels are trying to prevent, the Creation of there replacement.

So that the saving of them from ruin at that time was owing purely to the mercy of YAHVEH, and the importunity of Moses, and not to any merit of theirs, that could be offered so much as in mitigation of their offence.

Deu 9:29 ‘And they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.- It is good for us often to remember against ourselves, with sorrow and shame, our former sins, and to review the records conscience keeps of them, that we may see how much we are indebted to free grace, and may humbly own that we can never merited at YAH’S hand any thing, but wrath and the curse.

But thanks to the Mighty Hand of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, pastor and teacher. For their help in helping us to carry our Cross to Maturity.

Chapter 10

Moses having, in the foregoing chapter, reminded us of our own sin, as a reason why we should not depend upon our own righteousness.

In this chapter he sets before us YAH’S great mercy to us, notwithstanding our provocations, as a reason why we should be more obedient for the future.

 

I. He mentions divers tokens of YAH’S favor and reconciliation to us, never to be forgotten. 

(1.)    The renewing of the tables of the covenant verse 1-5.

(2.)     Giving orders for their progress towards Canaan verse 6, 7.

(3.)     Choosing the tribe of Levi for his own verse 8, 9.

(4.)     And continuing the priesthood after the death of Aaron verse 6.

(5.)    Owning and accepting the intercession of Moses for them verse 10, 11. 

I.             Hence he infers what obligations they lay under to fear, and love, and serve YAHVEH, which he presses upon them with many motives verse 12, etc.

II.           There were four things by which YAHVEH showed HIMSELF reconciled to Yisrael and made them truly great and happy, and in which YAH’S goodness took occasion from their badness to make him the more illustrious:

Deu 10:1  “At that time יהוה said to me, ‘Hew for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain. And you shall make yourself an ark of wood, - He gave them HIS law, HE gave it to them in writing, as a standing pledge of HIS favor. Though the tables that were first written were broken, because Yisrael had broken the commandments, and YAHVEH might justly break the covenant, yet when HIS anger was turned away the tables were renewed.  YAH’S putting HIS Law in our reconciliation to Him and the best guarantee for our happiness in him.

Deu 10:2 then I write on the tablets the Words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. And you shall put them in the ark.’ – Notice that the Law was place in the Ark, not on the outside as the curse of the Law was placed, Deu 31:26 “Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of YAHVEH your EL, that it may be there for a witness against thee.” This verse is a repeat of Exodus 40:20 “And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark: ”

The testimony that was place in the Ark is indicative of the Word of YAHVEH been place inside of us, Jer. 31:33 and Hebrew 8:10 “But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisrael; After those days, saith YAHVEH, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their EL, and they shall be MY people. ”

Deu 10:3 “So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain, with the two tablets in my hand - Moses is told to hew the tables; for the law prepares the heart by conviction and humiliation for the grace of YAHVEH, but it is the Holy Spirit, in particular the Spirit of Understanding that writes the law in our Heart. Jer. 31:33; Hebrew 8:¹⁰ “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisrael after those days, says YAHVEH: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their EL, and they shall be My people.

Moses made an ark of shittim-wood , a plain chest, the same, I suppose, in which the tables were afterwards preserved: but Bezaleel is said to make it (Ex. 37:1), because he afterwards finished it up and overlaid it with gold.

Moses is said to make it because, when he went up the second time into the mount, he ordered it to be made by Bezaleel against he came down. And it is observable that for this reason the ark was the first thing that YAHVEH gave orders about, Ex. 25:10. And this left an earnest to the congregation that the tables should not miscarry this second time, as they had done the first. YAHVEH will send HIS law and gospel to those whose hearts are prepared as an Arks to receive them.

Who is the Ark of the Covenant a picture off? Anyone who fulfill Jer 31:33 and Hebrew 8:10.

Deu 10:4 “And He wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the Ten Words, which יהוה had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Then יהוה gave them to me, - Messiyah is a type of the Ark, for He had the Word of YAHVEH written in His heart perfectly. He also lived it perfectly. What the first Adam failed because of his wife, the second Adam accomplishes.

What it was that EL YAHVEH wrote on the two tables, the ten commandments, the ten categories of Commandments, or ten words, intimating in how little a compass they were contained: they were not ten volumes, but ten words: it was the same with the first writing, and both the same that he spoke in the mount. The second edition needed neither correction nor amendment, nor did what he wrote differ form what he spoke. The written word is as truly the word of EL YAHVEH as that which HE spoke to HIS servants the prophets.

The question is begging to be ask is! Is the various versions of the Christian bible trult the Word of YAHVEH? The Answer is no! there can not be, even the slighest variation from the original version to the second or even twenty thousand version later. The Word cannot be change or destroyed.

Deu 10:5 and I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the Tablets in the Ark which I had made. And they are there, as יהוה commanded me.” - What care was taken of it? These two tables, thus engrave, were faithfully laid up in the ark. And there they be, said Moses, pointing it is probable towards the sanctuary.

That good thing which was committed to him he transmitted to them, and left it pure and entire in their hands; now let them look to it at their peril. Thus we may say to the rising generation, "YAHVEH has entrusted us with the Torah, Sabbaths, etc., as tokens of HIS presence and favor, and there they are; we bring them with you,’’ 2 Tim. 1:¹³ Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Messiyah Yahushua. ¹⁴That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Deu 10:6 Now the children of Yisra’ĕl set out from the wells of Benĕi Yaʽaqan to Mosĕrah. Aharon died there, and he was buried there. And Elʽazar his son became priest in his place. - HE led them forward towards Canaan, though they in their hearts wanted to turn back towards Egypt, and he might justly have chosen their delusions.

HE brought them to a land of rivers of waters, out of a dry and barren wilderness. Sometimes YAHVEH supplied their wants by the ordinary course of nature: when that failed, then by miracles; and yet after this, when they were brought into a little distress, we find them distrusting YAHVEH and murmuring, Num. 20:3, 4.

A mature ministry is a great blessing to a people, and a special token of YAH’S favor. And, since the particular priests could not continue by reason of death, YAHVEH showed HIS care of the people in securing a succession, which Moses takes notice of here. When Aaron died, the priesthood did not die with him, but Eleazar his son ministered in his stead, and took care of the ark, in which the tables of stone, those precious stones, were deposited, that they should suffer no damage; there they were, and he has the custody of them.

Under the law and grace, a succession in the ministry was kept up, by an entail of the office on a certain tribe and family. But now, when the effusion of the Spirit is more plentiful and powerful, the succession is kept up by the Spirit’s operation on men’s hearts, qualifying men for, and inclining men to, that work, some in every age, that the name of Yisrael may not be blotted out.

Deu 10:7 From there they set out to Guḏgoḏah, and from Guḏgoḏah to Yotḇathah, a land of rivers of water.-

Deu 10:8 At that time יהוה separated the tribe of Lĕwi to bear the ark of the covenant of יהוה, to stand before יהוה, to serve Him, and to bless in His Name, to this day. - He appointed a standing ministry among them, to deal for them in holy things. At that time when Moses went up a second time to the mount, or soon after, he had orders to separate the tribe of Levi to YAHVEH, and to his immediate service, they having distinguished themselves by their zeal against the worshippers of the golden calf.

The Kohathites carried the ark; they and the other Levites stood before YAHVEH, to minister to him in all the offices of the tabernacle; and the priests, who were of that tribe, were to bless the people. This was a standing ordinance, which had now continued almost forty years, even unto this day; and provision was made for the perpetuating of it by the settled maintenance of that tribe, which was such as gave them great encouragement in their work, and no diversion from it. YAHVEH is his inheritance.

Deu 10:9 Therefore Lĕwi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers. יהוה is his inheritance, as יהוה your Elohim promised him. – The Name Levi means those with an Heart of YAHVEH. They are those who will rule and reign with EL YAHVEH; Like the CEO and the Vice president of a compant, they make the decisions and send if via the Angels to the working class spirit, in the Heavens, what Revelation 7:15 calles the servants.

Deu 10:10 “And I stayed in the mountain for forty days and forty nights. And יהוה heard me at that time also, and יהוה chose not to destroy you. - He accepted Moses as an advocate or intercessor for them, and therefore constituted him their prince and leader. He accepted Moses as an advocate or intercessor for them, and therefore constituted him their prince and leader. ABBA YAHVEH hearkened to me and said, Arise, go before the people. It was a mercy to them that they had such a friend, so faithful both to him that appointed him and to those for whom he was appointed. It was fit that he who had saved them from ruin, by his intercession with heaven, should have the conduct and command of them. And herein he was a type of Messiyah, who, as he ever lives making intercession for us, so he has all power both in heaven and in earth.

Deu 10:11 “And יהוה said to me, ‘Arise, go before the people, to set out, and let them go in and possess the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.’ - YAHVEH hearkened to me and said, Arise, go before the people. It was a mercy to them that they had such a friend, so faithful both to Him that appointed him and to those for whom he was appointed. It was fit that he who had saved them from ruin, by his intercession with Heavens, should have the conduct and command of them. And herein he was a type of Messiyah, who, as he ever lives making intercession for us, so He has all power both in Heavens and in earth.

Deu 10:12 “And now, Yisra’ĕl, what is יהוה your Elohim asking of you, but to fear יהוה your El, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve יהוה your El with all your heart and with all your being, - Here is a most pathetic exhortation to obedience, inferred from the premises, and urged with very powerful arguments and a great deal of persuasive rhetoric.

Moses brings it in like an orator, with an appeal to his auditors and now, “Yisrael, what doth YAHVEH thy EL require of thee”?

 Ask what he requires; as David (Ps. 116:12), “what shall I render”? When we have received mercy from יהוה we should enquire what sacrifice we shall make to him. Consider what יהוה requires, and you will find it is nothing, but what is highly just and reasonable in itself.

It is often of an unspeakable benefit and advantage to us. Let us see here what He does require, and what abundant reason there is why we should do what he requires.

We must serve him, serve him with all our heart and soul, devote ourselves to His honor, put ourselves under his government, and lay out ourselves to advance all the interests of His Set Apart kingdom among men.

 Deu 10:13 to guard the commands of יהוה and His laws which I command you today for your good? - And we must be hearty and zealous in his service, engage and employ our inward man in his work, and what we do for Him, we must do cheerfully and with a grateful heart.

We must keep YAHVEH’s commandments and His statutes. Having given up ourselves to His service, we must make His Revealed Will, our rule in everything; perform all He prescribes, forbear all that He forbids, firmly believing that all the statutes He commands us are for our good. Besides the reward of obedience, which will be our unspeakable gain, there are true honor and pleasure in obedience.

Deu 10:14 “See, the Heavens and the Heavens of Heavens belong to יהוה your El, also the earth with all that is in it. - He has great possessions. Heavens and earth are His, and all the hosts and stars of both His.

Therefore, He is able to bear us out in His service, and to make up the winner we are Created to be, if we continue to dedicate our duty to Him. He has no need for human approval. We are undone without him, but He is happy when we obey His Commandment, which is the purpose of His grace, which is to give us a chance to keep His Commandment. Heavens and earth are his possession, and yet YAHVEH’s portion is His people.

Deu 10:15 “יהוה delighted only in your fathers, to love them. And He chose their seed after them, you above all peoples¹, as it is today. Footnote: ¹See also 7:6, 14:2, 26:18, Ps. 135:4 and Amos 3:2. – The faith that Abraham, showed to יהוה create for us a wonderful covenant. It gave יהוה hope that there is some hope for humanity. יהוה showed Abraham life style at a symbol of who we should be, and anyone who followed in Abraham foot steps, יהוה will establish a Covenant with them.   

Deu 10:16 “And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and harden your neck no more - We are here taught our duty to ourselves: Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts. That is, "Cast away from you all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you from fearing and loving ABBA YAHVEH.

Mortify the flesh with the lusts of it. Away with all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, which obstruct the free course of the Word of YAHVEH to your hearts?

Rest not in the circumcision of the body, which was only the sign, but be circumcised in heart, which is the thing signified.’’ See Rom. 2:29. The El Yahushua explain and obliges us not only to cut off the foreskin of the heart, which may easily be spared, but to cut off the right hand and to pluck out the right eye that is an offence to us.

The more we grow spiritual is the more we get read of spiritual, and to go all the way in mortifying sin. And be no more stiff-necked, as they had been hitherto, ch. 9:24.

Be not any longer obstinate against Divine Commands and corrections, but ready to comply with the Will of YAHVEH in both.’’ The circumcision of the heart makes it ready to yield to YAHVEH, and draw in his yoke.

Deu 10:17 “For El יהוה is El of all the mighty ones and Master of masters, the greatest Ělohim, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor does He takes a bribe. - Consider the greatness and glory of יהוה, and therefore fear him, and from that principle serve and obey him.

What is it that is required to make a man great, but great honor, power, and possessions? Think then how great YAHVEH our El is, and greatly to be feared.

 He has great honor, a name above every name. He is El of Elohim, and Lord of lords. Angels are called gods, so are magistrates and the Gentiles had many gods, and many lords, the creatures of their own fancy; but יהוה is infinitely above all these nominal deities.

What an absurdity would it be for them to worship other gods when the EL to whom they had sworn allegiance was the EL of gods! He has great power. He is a mighty EL and terrible, who regarded not persons, and His name is “יהוה” YAHVEH.

Deu 10:18 “He executes right-ruling for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and a garment. - Consider the goodness and grace of יהוה, and therefore love HIM, and from that principle serve and obey HIM. His goodness is his glory as much as his greatness. He is good to all. Whomsoever He finds miserable, to them He will be found merciful: He executes the judgment of the fatherless and widow. It is His honor to help the helpless, and to succor those that most need relief and that men are apt to do injury to, or at least to put a light upon. See Ps. 68:4, 5; 146:7, 9.

Deu 10:19 “And you shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Mitsrayim. - We are taught in this verse about our duty to our neighbor: Love the stranger; and, if the stranger, is much more our brethren, as ourselves. If the Yisraelites that were such a peculiar people, so particularly distinguished from all people, must be kind to strangers, much more must we, that are not enclosed in such a place.

We must have a tender concern for all that share a common faith with us in the human nature, and as we have opportunity. That is, according to their necessities and our abilities. We must do good to all believers. Two arguments are here urged to enforce this duty.

Deu 10:20 “Fear יהוה your Elohim. Serve Him, and cling to Him, and swear by His Name. - It is really for our present good to be meek and humble, chaste and sober, just and charitable, patient and contented; these make us easy, safe, pleasant, and truly great.

 We must give honor to יהוה, in swearing by his name; so give Him the honor of His omniscience, His sovereignty, His justice, as well as of His necessary existence. Swear by his name, and not by the name of any creature, or false god.

Whenever an oath for confirmation is called for use His Name. To him we must cleave. Having chosen Him for our El, we must faithfully and constantly abide with Him and never forsake Him. Cleave to Him as the one we love and delight in, trust and confide in, and from whom we have these great expectations.

Deu 10:21 “He is your praise, and He is your Elohim, who has done for you these great and awesome deeds which your eyes have seen. - But truly יהוה “YAHVEH” is good to Yisrael in special obligations to him: "He is our object of all praise, and HE is our EL.

Therefore, love יהוה and serve Him, because of the relation wherein he stands. He is our El, an Elohim in covenant with thee, and as such He is our object of all our praise. He puts honor upon thee; He is the El in whom, all the day long we will boast, because we knows Him, and we are  known by Him. If He is our El, He is thy glory.

Deu 10:22 “Your fathers went down to Mitsrayim with seventy beings, and now יהוה your Elohim has made you as numerous as the stars of the Heavens. - The great things יהוה had done for Yisrael. He reminds them not only of what they had heard with their ears, and which their fathers had told them of, but of what they had seen with their eyes.

Which they must tell their children of, particularly that within a few generations seventy souls (for they were no more when Jacob went down into Egypt) increased to a great nation, as the stars of Heavens for multitude.

The more they were in number the more praise and service YAHVEH expected from them; yet it proved, as in the old world, that when they began to multiply they corrupted themselves.

Chapter 11

In this chapter we see Moses concludes his preface to the people with a repetition of the statutes and judgments which they must observe to do. He repeats the general charge verse 1, and, having in the close of the foregoing chapter begun to mention the great things YAHVEH had done among them, in this:

I.             He specifies several of the great works YAHVEH had done before their eyes verse 2-7.

 

II.           HE sets before them, now and in the future, life and death, the blessing and the curse, according as they did, or did not, keep YAH’S commandments, that they should certainly prosper if they were obedient, should be blessed with plenty of all good things verse 8–15, and with victory over their enemies, and the enlargement of their coast thereby verse 22–25. But their disobedience would undoubtedly be their ruin verse 16, 17.

III.         He directs them to what it means and how to that implement them that they might keep in mind the law of YAHVEH verse 18–21.

IV.         He concludes with a solemn charge to them to choose which they would have, the blessing or the curse verse 26, etc.

Deu 11:1  “And you shall love יהוה your Elohim and guard His Charge¹: even His laws, and His right-rulings, and His commands, always. Footnote: ¹See Gen. 26:5.- Because YAHVEH can made us as the stars of Heavens for multitude, therefore we shalt love YAHVEH our El (so this begins).

Those whom YAHVEH has built up into families, whose beginning was small, but whose latter end greatly increases, should use that as an argument with themselves why they should serve EL YAHVEH.

 We shalt keep HIS charge, that is, the oracles of HIS word and ordinances of His worship, with which they were entrusted and for which they were accountable. It is a phrase often used concerning the office of the priests and Levites, for all Yisrael was a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Observe the connection of these two: Thou shalt love YAHVEH and keep HIS charge, since love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience which flows from a principle of love. 1 Jn. 5:3.

Deu 11:2 “And you shall know today – for it is not your children who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of יהוה your Elohim, His greatness, His strong hand and His outstretched arm, - there were some among us as it was among them that could remember their deliverance out of Egypt, all above fifty years old, and to them he speaks this, not to the children, who knew it by hearsay only. EL YAHVEH’s mercies to us when we were young, we should remember and retain the impressions to when we are old; what our eyes have seen, especially in our early days, has affected us, and should be improved by us long after.

Deu 11:3 and HIS signs, and HIS works which HE had done in the midst of Mitsrayim, to Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and to all his land; - We might not have seen what terrible judgments YAHVEH had executed upon the enemies of Yisrael’s peace, but we have read about it.

What a fine country was ruined and laid waste by one plague after another, to bring about Yisrael justification. As long as there is life, this process is still in effect.

Deu 11:4 and that which He had done to the army of Mitsrayim, to their horses and their chariots, when He made the waters of the Sea of Reeds overflow them as they pursued you, and how יהוה has destroyed them to this day; - What a display of power, to destroy a whole army, drowned in the Red Sea, to prevent Yisrael from being re-enslaved!

This is the same spiritual Blood and Water that flows from the side of El Yahushua, our Messiyah, which free us from any bondage we had before we came to Him. Thus did he give Egypt for their ransom, Isa. 43:3. Rather shall that famous kingdom be destroyed than that Yisrael shall not be delivered.

Deu 11:5 and what He had done for you in the wilderness till you came to this place; - Remember what he did in the wilderness, by the many necessary chastisements, as they are called. They were kept from ruining themselves, particularly when those daring Reubenites defied the authority of Moses and headed a dangerous rebellion against YAHVEH HIMSELF, which threatened the ruin of a whole nation.

Deu 11:6 and what He had done to Dathan and Aḇiram the sons of Eliyaḇ, son of Re’uḇĕn, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the living creatures that were in their possession, in the midst of all Yisra’ĕl. - they were kept from ruining themselves, particularly when those daring Reubenites defied the authority of Moses and headed a dangerous rebellion against YAHVEH HIMSELF.

Which threatened the ruin of a whole nation, and might have succeeded if the divine power had not immediately crushed the rebellion by burying the rebels alive, them and all that was in their possession.

 What was done against them, though misinterpreted by the disaffected party (Num. 16:41), was really done in mercy to Yisrael. To be saved from the mischief’s of insurrections at home is as great a kindness to a people, and therefore lays them under as strong obligations, as protection from the invasion of enemies abroad.

Deu 11:7 “For yours are the eyes that saw all the great work of יהוה, which He did. – It is not those who have not heard the Gospel who will be judge, it is those who have seen and heard it, who will have to give an account of their performance.

Deu 11:8 “And you shall guard every command which I command you today, so that you are strong, and shall go in, and shall possess the land which you are passing over to possess, - Still Moses continue to urges the people with the same subject.

 "If they want to enter into life, if they wanted to enter into Canaan, a type of full maturity, you will find it a good land to us, if we keep the commandments.

If we Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. El Yahushua said if you love Me, Keep My Commandment. To love YAHVEH, and serve him with all your heart, is to be like His Favorite son, who keeps the entire Commandment.

Because this was the way to get possession of the Promised Land and it was the way to keep possession.

 That you may be strong for war, and so go in and possess it. So little did they know either of hardship or hazard in the wars of Canaan.

 We do not know if Moses taught them the art of war, how to draw the bow, and use the sword, and keep ranks, that they might be strong, and go in and possess the land.

It seems to reason that they were taught. They were secure of victory not by their own merit, but let them keep YAH’S Commandments, and their religion, while they are true to it, they will be their strength, and secure in their ways.

It is this spirit of success that Deuteronomy 28:1 – 14 speak so eloquently about. Success is not luck it is a Divine intervention.

Deu 11:9 and to prolong your days in the land which יהוה swore to give your fathers, to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. -  It was the way to keep possession of the Land: That you may prolong your days in this land that your eye is upon.

Sin tends to the shortening of the days of particular persons and to the shortening of the days of a people’s prosperity; but obedience will be a lengthening out of their tranquility.

Deu 11:10 “For the land which you are going in to possess is not like the land of Mitsrayim from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden, - Because the land of Canaan, into which we were going, had a more sensible dependence upon the blessing of Heavens than the land of Egypt had.

That is why in a Torah yearly cycle we have the Feast Days at different seasons of the year, which determine the quality of our yearly blessings.

Egypt was a country fruitful enough, but it was all flat, and was watered, not as Yisrael with rain (it is said of Egypt, Zec. 14:18, that it has no rain), but by the overflowing of the river Nile at a certain season of the year, to the improving of which there was necessary a great deal of the art and labor of the husbandman, so that in Egypt a man must bestow as much cost and pains upon a field as upon a garden of herbs.

This made them the more apt to imagine that the power of their own hands got them this wealth. But the land of Canaan was an uneven country, a land of hills and valleys, which not only gave a more pleasing prospect to the eye, but yielded a greater variety of soils for the several purposes of the farmer.

 It was a land that had no great rivers in it, except Jordan, but drank water of the rain of Heavens, and so, saved them a great deal of labor.

While the Egyptians were ditching and guttering in the fields, up to the knees in mud, to bring water to their land, which otherwise would soon become like the heath in the wilderness, the Yisraelites could sit in their houses, warm and easy, and leave it to YAHVEH to water their land with the former and the latter rain, which is called the river of YAHVEH (Ps. 65:9).

The closer the dependence we have upon YAHVEH the more cheerful we should be in our obedience to HIM. See how Moses magnifies the land of Canaan above all other lands, that the eyes of YAHVEH were always upon it, that is, they should be so bless, to see that nothing was wanting, while they kept close to YAHVEH and proform HIS duty. The fruitfulness of Yisrael should make us more the happy, the effect of its soil on the immediate fruit of the Divine blessing.

This may be inferred from its present state, for it is said even to this day, now that YAHVEH has departed from it, as barren a spot of ground as perhaps any under Heavens. Call it not Naomi: call it Marah.

Deu 11:11 but the land which you are passing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of the Heavens, - Perhaps in allusion to, and in contempt of, the river of Egypt, which that nation was so proud of. The more YAHVEH has provided, by our outward display of blessing, for our ease and convenience, the more we should abound in His service.

Deu 11:12 a land which יהוה your Elohim looks after. The eyes of יהוה your Elohim are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the latter end of the year. - The less we have to do for our bodies the more we should do for YAHVEH and our souls. So He directed them to look upwards to YAHVEH, who gives us rain form Heavens and fruitful seasons Acts 14:17.

The promised HIMSELF to be as the dew unto Yisrael, Hos. 14:5. Mercies bring with them the greatest comfort and sweetness when we see them coming from Heavens, the immediate gifts of divine Providence.

Deu 11:13 ‘And it shall be that if you diligently obey My commands which I command you today, to love יהוה your Elohim and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your being, - Because YAHVEH EL SHADDAI would certainly bless them with an abundance of all good things, if they would love him and serve him. I will give you the rain of your land in deu season, so that they should neither want it when the ground called for it nor have it in excess; but they should have the former rain, which fell at seed-time, and the latter rain, which fell before the harvest, Amos 4:7.

The former rain and latter rain represent the time after Sukkoth, after the seeds are planted, EL YAHVEH send the gentle rain to germinate the seed. The medium rain to help the younger seedling grow and the heavy rain when the root system of the new plant is established.

This represented all the seasonable blessings which EL SHADDAI would bestow upon them, especially spiritual comforts, which should come as the latter and former, rain, Hos. 6:3. And the earth thus watered produced.

Deu 11:14 then I shall give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, and you shall gather in your grain, and your new wine, and your oil. – In the land of Yisrael it is a curse if rain falls during the harvest time, and heavy rain after the seeds are sown.

Normally, the harvest time is a time of sunshine, since the harvest time is so short, every thing have to be done un a short space of time, and the heavy rain after sowing the seed will drown or destroy the new seeds.

Deu 11:15 ‘And I shall give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be satisfied. - Fruits for the service of man, corn and wine, and oil, Ps. 104:13–15. 2. Grass for the cattle, that they also might be serviceable to man, that he might eat of them and be full. Godliness describe here is the promise of the life that now is; but the favor of EL SHADDAI shall put gladness into the heart, more than the increase of corn, and wine, and oil will ever do.

Deu 11:16 ‘Guard yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other mighty ones and bow down to them. – When the Christian Church decided to stop Judaize, they replace the 7^th day Sabbath with the 1^st day, in essence worshiping the sun god, which Constantine was a High Priest. They did not guard the Commandments as they should have.

The Macebee 350 year before Messiyah was given the same challenge. We will make you famous if you sacrifice pig on the Altar of YAHVEH, and the High Priest emphatically refused.

This is what the Counsel of Nicaea should have done to Constantine in the year 324 ad. The Macebees, guard the Commandment, and did not desecrate the Altar of YAHVEH, not even for popularity, as the Counsel of Nicaea did.

Deu 11:17 ‘Then the displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you, and He shall shut up the Heavens, and there be no rain, and the land not give its increase. And you shall perish quickly from the good land which יהוה is giving you. - Because their revolt from YAHVEH to idols. Would certainly be their ruin: Take heed that your hearts is not deceived? All those who forsake YAHVEH to set their affection upon, or pay their devotion to, any creature, will find themselves wretchedly deceived to their own destruction.

A little care would have prevented their being imposed upon by the great deceiver. To awaken them to take heed, Moses here tells them plainly that if they should turn aside to other gods, they would provoke the wrath of YAHVEH against them; and who knows the power of that anger?

 Good things would be turned away from them; the Heavens would withhold its rain, and then of course the earth would not yield its fruit. Evil things would come upon them; they would perish quickly from off this good land.

The better the land was the more grievous it would be to perish from it. The goodness of the land would not be their security, when the badness of the inhabitants had made them ripe for ruin.

Deu 11:18 ‘And you shall lay up these Words¹ of Mine in your heart and in your being, and shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. Footnote: ¹See footnote at 5:22. - That these commandments were given with a great deal of awful solemnity. They were spoken with a great voice out of the fire, and thick darkness. That was a dispensation of terror, designed to make the gospel of grace the more welcome, and to be a specimen of the terrors of the judgment-day, Ps. 50:3, 4.

The Ten Commandments were ten categories of Commandment. The other specific commandments not addition to the ten, but a specific explanation of the ten, just as the two main commandment deals with the Love for YAHVEH and man.

The Ten Commandments are an offshoot of the two. The explanation of the other laws He gave them, were done by His servant Moses, but no more were spoken in the same manner that the Ten Commandments were. He added no more, therefore we must not add: the law of YAHVEH is perfect.

 He wrote them in two tables of stone, one illustrate the love for YAHVEH and the other the love for man. It was written on stone that they it might be preserved from corruption, and might be transmitted pure and entire to posterity, for whose use they were intended, as well as for the present generation. These being the heads of the covenant, the chest in which the written tables were deposited were called the Ark of the Covenant. See Rev. 11:19.

Deu 11:19 ‘And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up, - The spreading of the Good New is a 24/7 commitment, year in year out. It should consume our very thought. It is that important!

If this was done according to this instruction, the Kingdom of Heavens would have been restored by now.

Deu 11:20 and shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, - In a time when owning a Torah was very rare, writing certain selective verses was written on individual homes, signifying that that house was a Torah keeping house.

Deu 11:21 so that your days and the days of your children are increased on the soil of which יהוה swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the Heavens on the earth.  - He repeats the assurances he had before given them, in YAH’S name, of prosperity and success if they were obedient. They should have a happy settlement. Their days should be multiplied; and, when they were fulfilled, the days of their children likewise should be many, as the days of Heavens, that is, Canaan should be sure to them and their heirs for ever, as long as the world stands, if they did not by their own sin throw themselves out of it.

Deu 11:22 ‘For if you diligently guard all these commands which I command you, to do it, to love יהוה your Elohim, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him, - "If you will keep YAH’S commandments, and be careful to do your duty, YAHVEH will not only bless the labors of the husbandman with, plenty of the fruits of the earth, but he will own and succeed in the land.

Deu 11:23 then יהוה shall drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess greater and stronger nations than you. - Victory shall attend your arms; whichever way we turn; YAHVEH will help us drive out these nations, and put us in possession of our inheritance.

Deu 11:24 ‘Every place on which the sole of your foot treads is yours: from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea is your border. – The borders given in Numbers 34:1 – 12 are nowhere near the Euphrates. Those were the borders of the of the generations that entered the Land.

Here Moses looked into the future to the second coming of the Messiyah, when the Euphrates will be the border of Messiyah’s Yisrael.

Deu 11:25 ‘No man shall stand against you. יהוה your Elohim shall put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, as He has spoken to you. - The territories of Messiyah’s Yisrael should be enlarged to the utmost extent of the promise, Gen. 15:18. And all their neighbors should stand in awe of them

Nothing contributes more to the making of a nation, than the valuable to its friends and formidable in the eyes of its enemies, than the importance YAHVEH plays in it; for who can be against those that have YAHVEH for them? And He is certainly for those that are sincerely for him, Prov. 14:34.

Haftarah

Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3; 52:1-15

Isa 49:14 But Tsiyon says, “יהוה has forsaken me, and יהוה has forgotten me.” – The troubles of the Assembly have given some occasion to question YAH’s care and concern for it, in this verse. Zion, in distress, said, The YAHVEH has forsaken me, and looks after me no more; my MASTER has forgotten me, and will look after me no more.

See how deplorable the case of YAH’s people may be sometimes, such that they may seem to be forsaken and forgotten of their EL; and at such a time their temptations may be alarmingly violent. Infidels, in their presumption, say YAHVEH has forsaken the earth (Eze. 8:12), and has forgotten their sins, Ps. 10:11.

Weak believers, in their despondency, are ready to say, "YAHVEH has forsaken HIS People Yisrael.’’ But we have no more reason to question HIS promise and grace than we have to question HIS providence and justice. He is as sure a rewarder as HE is a revenger. Away therefore with these distrusts and jealousies, which are the bane of friendship.

Isa 49:15 “Would a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Though they forget, I never forget you. – Now by this it will appear that Zion’s suggestions were altogether groundless, that YAHVEH has not forsaken her, nor forgotten her, nor ever will. Be assured, that YAHVEH has a tender affection for HIS people. In answer to Zion’s fears, YAHVEH speaks as one concerned for his own glory (he takes himself to be reflected upon if Zion say, The YAHVEH has forsaken me, and he will clear himself), as one concerned also for HIS people’s comfort; HE would not have them droop, and be discouraged, and give way to any uneasy thoughts.

"You think that I have forgotten you. Can a woman forget her sucking child?’’ First, It is not likely that she should. A woman, whose honor it is to be of the tender sex as well as the fair one, cannot but have compassion for a child, which, being both harmless and helpless, is a proper object of compassion.

A mother, especially, cannot but be concerned for her own child; for it is her own, a piece of herself, and very lately one with her. A nursing mother, most of all, cannot but be tender of her sucking child; her own breasts will soon put her in mind of it if she should forget it.

Secondly, It is possible that she may forget. A woman may perhaps be so unhappy as not to be able to remember her sucking child (she may be sick, and dying, and going to the land of forgetfulness), or she may be so unnatural as not to have compassion on the son of her womb, as those who, to conceal their shame, are the death of their children as soon as they are their life, Lam. 4:10; Deu. 28:57.

But, YAHVEH, I will not forget thee. YAH’s compassion's to HIS people infinitely exceed those of the tenderest parents towards their children. What are the affections of nature to those of the EL of nature!

Isa 49:16 “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are always before Me. – That he has a constant care of HIS people Yisrael: I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands. This does not allude to the foolish art of palmistry, which imagines every man’s fate to be engraved in the palms of his hands and to be legible in the lines there, but to the custom of those who tie a string upon their hands or fingers to put them in mind of things which they are afraid they shall forget, or to the wearing of signet or locket-rings in remembrance of some dear friend.

His setting them as a seal upon HIS arm denotes HIS setting them as a seal upon HIS heart, and HIS being ever mindful of them and their interests, Cant. 8:6. If we bind YAH’s law as a sign upon our hand (Deu. 6:8, 11, 18), HE will engrave our interests as a sign on his hand, and will look upon that and remember the covenant. He adds, "Thy walls shall be continually before me; thy ruined walls, though no pleasing spectacle, shall be in my thoughts of compassion.’’

Do Zions’ friends favour her dust? Ps. 102:14. So does her EL. Or, "The plan and model of thy walls, that are to be rebuilt, is before ME, and they shall certainly be built according to it.’’ Or, "Thy walls (that is, thy safety) are my continual care; so are the watchmen on thy walls.’’ Some apply HIS engraving HIS people Yisraelon the palms of HIS hands to the wounds in Messiyah’s hands when He was crucified; He will look on the marks of them, and remember those for whom he suffered and died.

Isa 49:17 “Your sons shall hurry, your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart from you. -  The triumphs of the Yisrael, after her troubles, will in due time put the matter out of question.

What YAHVEH will do for Zion we are told. Her friends, who had deserted her, shall be gathered to her, and shall contribute their utmost to her assistance and comfort: Thy children shall make haste. Converts to the faith of The People of Yisrael are the children of the Messiyanic Assembly; they shall join themselves to her with great readiness and cheerfulness, and flock into the communion of saints, as doves to their windows. "Thy builders shall make haste’’ (so some read it), "who shall build up thy houses, thy walls, especially thy temple; they shall do it with expedition.’’ The Work of the Assembly is usually slow work; but, when YAH’s time shall come, it shall be done suddenly.

Her enemies, who had threatened and assaulted her, shall be forced to withdraw from her: Thy destroyers, and those who made thee waste, who had made themselves masters of the country and ravaged it, shall go forth of thee. By antichrist the prince of this world, the great destroyer, is cast out, is dispossessed, has his power broken and his attempts quite baffled.

Isa 49:18 “Lift up your eyes round about and see, all of them gather together and come to you. As I live,” declares יהוה, “you shall put on all of them as an ornament, and bind them on you as a bride does. -  Two things are promised here in this verse, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Nation of Yisrael after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Messiyanic Assembly by the preaching of the gospel of Messiyah; and we may take the comfort of these promises.

That the Assembly shall be replenished with great numbers added to it. It was promised verse 17 that her children should make haste; that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging.

It is promised, that multitudes shall flock to the Assembly from all parts. Look round, and see how they gather themselves to thee. They come to Yerushalayim from all the adjacent countries, for that was then the centre of their unity; but, under the gospel, it is by a spiritual accession to the mystical body of Messiyah in faith and love.

Those that come to Yahushua as the Mediator of the new covenant do thereby come to the Mount Zion, the Assembly of the first-born, Heb. 12:22, 23. Lift up thy eyes, and behold how the fields are white unto the harvest, Jn. 4:35. It is matter of joy to Yisrael of Yahushua to see a multitude of converts to Messiyanic.

That such as are added to Messiyahs Yisrael shall not be a burden and blemish to her, but her strength and ornament. This part of the promise is confirmed with an oath: As I live, saith the YAHVEH, thou shalt surely clothe thyself with them all. The addition of such numbers to Mesiahs Yisrael shall complete her clothing; and, when all that were chosen are effectually called, then the bride, the Lamb’s wife, shall have made herself ready, shall be quite dressed, Rev. 19:7.

They shall make her to appear comely and considerable; and she shall therefore bind them on with as much care and complacency as a bride does her ornaments. When those that are added to Messiyah Yisrael are serious, and holy, and exemplary in their conversation, they are an ornament to it.

Isa 49:19 “For your wastes, and your deserted places, and the land of your destruction, shall soon be too narrow for the inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up are far away. - The country which was waste and desolate, and without inhabitant (ch. 5:9; 6:11), shall be again inhabited by Messiyah’s peopled, it shall be over-peopled : "Thy waste and thy desolate places, that have long lain so, and the land of thy destruction, that land of thine which was destroyed with thee and which nobody cared for dwelling in, shall now be so full of people that there shall be no room for the inhabitants.’’

Here is blessing poured out till there be not room enough to receive it, Mal. 3:10. Not that they shall be crowded by their enemies, or straitened for room, as Abraham and Lot were, because of the Canaanite in the land. "No, those that swallow thee up, and took possession of thy land when thy possession of it was discontinued, shall be far away.

Thy people shall be numerous, and there shall be no stranger, no enemy, among them.’’ Thus the kingdom of YAHVEH shall be among men, which had been impoverished and almost depopulated, partly by the corruptions of the Jewish church and partly by the abominations of the Gentile world, was again peopled and enriched by the setting up of Messiyah Yisrael, and by its graces and glories.

Isa 49:20 “The sons of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me, make room for me to live.’ -  That the new converts to Messiyanic Judaism shall strangely increase and multiply. Yerusalem, after she has lost abundance of her children by the sword, famine, and captivity, shall have a new family growing up instead of them, children which she shall have after she has lost the other, as Seth, who was appointed another seed instead of Abel, and Job’s children, which YAHVEH blessed him with instead of those that were killed in the ruins of the house.

YAHVEH will repair HIS Nation’s losses and secure to HIMSELF a seed that will serve HIM in it. It is promised to the Nation of Yisrael, after their return, that Yerushalayim shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets, Zec. 8:5. Messiyah Yisrael, after it has lost the Jews, who will be cut off by their own infidelity, shall have abundance of children still, more than she had when the Jews belonged to her. See Gal. 4:27.

They shall be so numerous that, the children shall complain for want of room; they shall say (and it is a good hearing), "Our numbers increase so fast that the place is too strait for us;’’ as the sons of the prophets complained, 2 Ki. 6:1. But, strait as the place is, still more shall desire to be admitted, and Messiyah Yisrael shall gladly admit them, and the inconvenient straightness of the place shall be no hindrance to either; for it will be found, whatever we think, that even when the poor and the maimed, the halt and the blind, are brought in, yet still there is room, room enough for those that are in and room for more, Lu. 14:21, 22.

Isa 49:21 “And you shall say in your heart, ‘Who has brought forth these for me, since I am bereaved and barren, an exile, and wandering to and fro? And who reared them? See, I was left alone – from where did these come?’ ” -  The mother shall stand amazed at the increase of her family. She shall say, Who has begotten me these? and, Who has brought up these? They come to her with all the duty, affection, and submission of children; and yet she never bore any pain for them, nor took any pains with them, but has them ready reared to her hand.

This gives her a pleasing surprise, and she cannot but be astonished at it, considering what her condition had been very lately and very long. The Jewish nation had left her children; they were cut off. She had been desolate, without ark, and altar, and temple-service, those tokens of YAH’s espousals to them; she had been a captive, and continually removing to and fro, in an unsettled condition, and not likely to bring up children either for YAHVEH or herself.

She was left alone in obscurity (this is Zion whom no man seeks after), left in all the solitude and sorrow of a widowed state. How then came she to be replenished?  That Messiyah Yisrael is not always perpetually visible, but there are times when it is desolate, and left alone, and made few in number. That yet on the other hand its desolation's shall not be perpetual, nor will it be found too hard for YAHVEH to repair them, and out of stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Isa 49:22 Thus said the Master יהוה, “See, I lift My hand up to the gentiles, and set up My banner for the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters carried on their shoulders; -  That sometimes this is done in a very surprising way, as when a nation is born at once, ch. 66:8. That this shall be done with the help of the Gentiles. The Jews were cast off, among whom it was expected that Messiyah’s Yisrael should be built up; but YAHVEH will sow it to HIMSELF in the earth, and will thence reap a plentiful crop, Hos. 2:23.

How the Gentiles shall be called in. YAHVEH will lift up HIS Mighty Hand to them, to invite or beckon them, having all the day stretched it out in vain to the Jews, ch. 65:2. Or it denotes the exerting of an almighty power, that of HIS Spirit and grace, to compel them to come in, to make them willing. YAHVEH NISSI will set up HIS standard to them, the preaching of the everlasting gospel, to which they shall gather, and under which they shall enlist themselves.

How they shall come: They shall bring thy sons in their arms. They shall assist the sons of Zion, which are found among them, in their return to their own country, and shall forward them with as much tenderness as ever any parent carried a child that was weak and helpless.

YAHVEH NISSI shall raise up friends for returning Yisraelites even among Gentiles.  As the earth helped the woman, Rev. 12:16. Or, "When they come themselves, they shall bring their children, and make them thy children;’’ compare ch. 60:4. "Dost thou ask, Who has begotten and brought up these?

Know that they were begotten and brought up among the Gentiles, but they are now brought into the family of Messiyah Yisrael.’’ Let all that are concerned about young converts, and young beginners, learn hence to deal very tenderly and carefully with them, as Messiyah does with the lambs which he gathers with His arms and carries in His bosom.

Isa 49:23 “And sovereigns shall be your foster fathers, and their sovereignesses your nursing mothers. They bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am יהוה – those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.” – That Messiyah’s Yisrael shall have a great and prevailing interest in all the nations.

Some of the princes of the nations shall become patrons and protectors to the Messiyanic Believers: King shall be thy nursing fathers, to carry thy sons in their arms (as Moses, Num. 11:12); and, because women are the most proper nurses, their queens shall be thy nursing mothers.

This promise was in part fulfilled to Yisrael, after their return out of captivity. Several of the kings of Persia were very tender of their interests, countenanced and encouraged them, as Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes; Esther the queen was a nursing mother to the Jews that remained in their captivity, putting her life in her hand to snatch the child out of the flames. Messiyah Yisrael, after a long captivity, was happy in some such kings and queens as Theodosius, and others, who nursed Messiyahs Yisrael with all possible care and tenderness.

Whenever the sceptre of government is put into the hands of Messiyanic princes, then this promise is fulfilled. Messiyahs Yisrael in this world is in an infant state, and it is in the power of princes and magistrates to do it a great deal of service; it is happy when they do so, when their power is a praise to those that do well.

Others of them, who stand it out against Messiyah’s interests, will be forced to yield and to repent of their opposition: They shall bow down to thee and lick the dust. The promise to the Messiyanic believers in Philadelphia seems to be borrowed from this (Rev. 3:9): I will make those of the synagogue of Satan to come and worship before thy feet. Or it may be meant of the willing subjection which kings and kingdoms shall pay to Messiyah of Yisrael, as He manifests Himself in the World (Ps. 72:11): All kings shall fall down before Him. And by all this it shall be made to appear.

 That YAHVEH EL ELYON, the sovereign Power of all, against whom there is no standing out nor rising up. That those who wait for HIM, in a dependence upon HIS promise and a resignation to HIS Will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope; for the vision of peace is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak and shall not lie.

Isa 49:24 Is prey taken from the mighty, and the captives of the righteous delivered? – Here is, an objection started against the promise of the Children of Yisrael release out of their captivity in Babylon. It suggested that it was a thing not to be expected; for they were a prey in the hand of the mighty, of such as were then the greatest potentates on earth, and therefore it was not likely they should be rescued by force.

Yet that was not all: they were lawful captives; by the law of YAHVEH, having offended, they were justly delivered into captivity; and by the law of nations, being taken in war, they were justly detained in captivity till they should be ransomed or exchanged.

Now this is spoken either, by the enemies, as justifying themselves in their refusal to let them go. They plead both might and right. Proud men think all their own that they can lay their hands on and their title good if they have but the longest sword.

Or, By their friends, either in a way of distrust, despairing of the deliverance ("for who is able to deal with those that detain us, either by force of arms or a treaty of peace?’’), or in a way of thankfulness, admiring the deliverance.

"Who would have thought that ever the prey should be taken from the mighty? Yet it is done.’’ This is applicable to Yisrael redemption my Messiyah Yahushua. As to Satan, He is a prey in the hand of the mighty, and yet delivered even from him that had the power of death, by him that had the power of life. As to the Power of YAHVEH EL ELYON, we were lawful captives, and yet delivered by a price of inestimable value.

Isa 49:25 Yet thus said יהוה, “Even the captives of the mighty is taken away, and the prey of the ruthless is delivered; and I strive with him who strives with you, and I save your children. - This objection answered by an express promise, and a further promise; for YAH’s promises being all yea, and amen, they may well serve to corroborate one another.

Here is an express promise with a notwithstanding to the strength of the enemy: "Even the captives of the mighty, though they are mighty, shall be taken away, and it is to no purpose for them to oppose it; and the prey of the terrible, though they are terrible, shall be delivered; and, as they cannot with all their strength out force, so they cannot with all their impudence outface, the deliverance, and the counsels of YAHVEH concerning it.’’ YAHVEH EL ELYON saith thus, who, having all power and all hearts in HIS Mighty Hands is able to make HIS Words good.

Here is a further promise, showing how, and in what way, YAHVEH will bring about the deliverance. He will bring judgments upon the oppressors, and so will work salvation for the oppressed: "I will contend with him that contends with thee, will plead thy cause against those that justify themselves in oppressing thee; whoever it be, though but a single person, that contends with thee, he shall know that it is at HIS peril, and therefore I will save thy children.’’ The captives shall be delivered by leading captivity captive, that is, sending those into captivity that had held YAH’s people captive, Rev. 13:10.

Isa 49:26 “And I shall feed those who oppress you with their own flesh, and let them drink their own blood as sweet wine. All flesh shall know that I, יהוה, am your Saviour, and your Redeemer, the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ.” - Nay, they shall have blood for blood: "I will feed those that oppress thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own blood. The proud Babylonians shall become not only an easy, but an acceptable, prey to one another.

YAHVEH will send a dividing spirit among them, and their ruin, which was begun by a foreign invasion, shall be completed by their intestine divisions. They shall bite and devour one another, till they are consumed one of another. They shall greedily and with delight prey upon those that are their own flesh and blood.’’

YAHVEH can make the oppressors of Messiyah Yisrael to be their own tormentors and their own destroyers. The New-Testament Babylon, having made herself drunk with the blood of the saints, shall have blood given her to drink, for she is worthy. See how cruel men sometimes are to themselves and to one another: indeed those who are so to others are so to themselves, for YAH’s justice and men’s revenge will mete to them what they have measured to others.

They not only thirst after blood, but drink it so greedily that they are drunken with it, and with as much pleasure as if it were sweet wine. If YAHVEH had not shown mercy on sinners than they would have one upon another, were their passions let loose, the world would be soon a desolation.

 See what will be the effect of Babylon’s ruin: All flesh shall know that I the Yahushua I am thy Saviour. YAHVEH will make it to appear, to the conviction of all the world, that, though Messiyah’s Yisrael may seem lost and cast off, they have a Redeemer, and, though they are made a prey to the mighty, Jacob has a mighty One, who is able to deal with all his enemies. YAHVEH intends, by the deliverance of Messiyah’s Yisreal, both to notify and to magnify HIS own name, YAHVEH EL ELYON.

Chapter 50

In this chapter. Those to whom YAHVEH sends are justly charged with bringing all the troubles they were in upon themselves, by their own willfulness and obstinacy, it being made to appear that YAHVEH was able and ready to help them if they had been fit for deliverance verse 1-3.

 He whom YAHVEH sends produces HIS commission verse 4, alleges HIS own readiness to submit to all the services and sufferings HE was called to in the execution of it verse 5, 6, and assures himself that YAHVEH, who sent him, would stand by him and bear him out against all opposition verse 7-9. 

The message that is sent is life and death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse, comfort to despondent saints and terror to presuming sinners verse 10, 11. Now all this seems to have a double reference.

 

To the unbelieving Jews in Babylon, who quarrelled with YAHVEH for HIS dealings with them, and to the prophet Isaiah, who, though dead long before the captivity, yet, prophesying so plainly and fully of it, saw fit to produce his credentials, to justify what he had said.

 

To the unbelieving Jews in our Saviour’s time, whose own fault it was that they were rejected, Messiyah having preached much to them, and suffered much from them, and being herein borne up by a divine power. The "contents’’ of this chapter, in our Bibles, give this sense of it, very concisely, thus: "Messiyah shows that the dereliction of the Jews is not to be imputed to Him, by His ability to save, by his obedience in that work, and by his confidence in divine assistance.’’ The prophet concludes with an exhortation to trust in YAHVEH and not in ourselves.

Isa 50:1  Thus says יהוה, “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Look, you were sold for your crookednesses, and your mother was put away for your transgressions. – Those who have professed to be the Children of Yisreal, and yet seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain of YAHVEH, and to lay the fault upon HIM, as if HE had been hard with them. But, in answer to their murmurings, we have here.

 A challenge given them to prove, or produce any evidence, that the quarrel began on YAH’s side. They could not say that HE had done them any wrong or had acted arbitrarily.

He had been a husband to them; and husbands were then allowed a power to put away their wives if she commit adultry by giving her a bill of divorce, Deu. 24:1; Mt. 19:7. But they could not say that YAHVEH had dealt so with them. It is true they were now separated from HIM, and had abode many days without ephod, altar, or sacrifice; but whose fault was that? They could not say that YAHVEH had given their mother a bill of divorce; let them produce it if they can, for a bill of divorce was given into the hand of her that was divorced.

He had been a father to them; and fathers had then a power to sell their children for slaves to their creditors, in satisfaction for the debts they were not otherwise able to pay. Now it is true the Jews were sold to the Babylonians then, and afterwards to the Romans; but did YAHVEH sell them for payment of HIS debts? No, HE was not indebted to any of those to whom they were sold, or, if HE had sold them, HE did not increase HIS wealth by their price, Ps. 44:12.

When YAHVEH chastens HIS children, it is neither for HIS pleasure (Heb. 12:10) nor for HIS profit. All that are saved are saved by a prerogative of grace, but those that perish are cut off by an act of divine holiness and justice, not of absolute sovereignty.

A charge exhibited against them, showing them that they were themselves the authors of their own ruin: "Behold, for your iniquities, for the pleasure of them and the gratification of your own base lusts, you have sold yourselves, for your iniquities you are sold; not as children are sold by their parents, to pay their debts, but as malefactors are sold by the judges, to punish them for their crimes. You sold yourselves to work wickedness, and therefore YAHVEH justly sold you into the hands of your enemies, 2 Chr. 12:5, 8.

It is for your transgressions that your mother is put away, for her whoredoms and adulteries,’’ which were always allowed to be a just cause of divorce. The children of Yisrael were sent into Babylon for their idolatry, a sin which broke the marriage covenant, and were at last rejected for crucifying the Master of glory; these were the iniquities for which they were sold and put away.

Isa 50:2 “When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was My hand too short to redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? See, by My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink for there is not water, and die of thirst. -  The confirmation of this challenge and this charge. It is plain that it was owing to their backsliding that they were cast off; for YAHVEH came and offered them HIS favour, offered them HIS helping hand, either to prevent their trouble or to deliver them out of it, but they slighted him and all the tenders of his grace. "Do you lay it upon me?’’ (says YAHVEH); "tell me, then, wherefore, when I came, was there no man to meet me, when I called, was there none to answer me?’’ .

YAHVEH came to them by HIS servants the prophets, demanding the fruits of HIS vineyard (Mt. 21:34); HE sent them HIS messengers, rising up betimes and sending them (Jer. 35:15); HE called to them to leave their sins, and so prevent their own ruin: but was there no man, or next to none, that had any regard to the warnings which the prophets gave them, none that answered the calls of YAHVEH, or complied with the messages HE sent them; and this was it for which they were sold and put away.

Because they mocked the messengers of YAHVEH, therefore, YAHVEH brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, 2 Chr. 36:16, 17. Last of all HE sent unto them HIS  Son Yahushua. He came to His own, but His own received him not; He called them to Himself, but there were none that answered; He would have gathered Yerushalayim’s children together, but they would not; they knew not, because they would not know, the things that belonged to their peace, nor the day of their visitation, and for that transgression it was that they were put away and their house was left desolate, Mt. 21:41; 23:37, 38; Lu. 19:41, 42. When YAHVEH calls men to happiness, and they will not answer, they are justly left to be miserable.

Isa 50:3 “I clothe the heavens with darkness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” -  It is plain that it was not owing to a want of power in YAHVEH EL ELYON, for HE is the Almighty, and could have recovered them from so great a death; nor was it owing to a want of power in Messiyah, for He is more than able to save to the uttermost. The unbelieving Jews in Babylon thought they were not delivered because their EL was not able to deliver them; and those in Messaih’s time were ready to ask, in scorn, Can this man save us? For Himself he cannot save. "But’’ (says YAHVEH) "is MY Mighty Hand shortened at all, or is it weakened?’’ Can any limits be set to Omnipotence? Cannot HE redeem who is the great Redeemer? Has he no power to deliver whose all power is? To put to silence, and for ever to put to shame, their doubts concerning his power, HE here gives unquestionable proofs of it.

YAHVEH EL ELYON can, when HE pleases, dry up the seas, and make the rivers a wilderness. He did so for Yisrael when HE redeemed them out of Egypt, and HE can do so again for their redemption out of Babylon. It is done at HIS rebuke, as easily as with a word’s speaking. HE can so dry up the rivers as to leave the fish to die for want of water, and to putrefy. When YAHVEH turned the waters of Egypt into blood HE slew the fish, Ps. 105:29. The expression our Saviour sometimes used concerning the power of faith, that it will remove mountains and plant sycamores in the sea, is not unlike this; if their faith could do that, no doubt their faith would save them, and therefore they were inexcusable if they perished in unbelief.

HE can, when HE pleases, eclipse the lights of the Heavens, clothe then with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering by thick and dark clouds interposing, which HE balances, Job 36:32; 37:16.

Isa 50:4 The Master יהוה has given Me the tongue of taught ones, that I should know to help the weary with a word. He wakes Me morning by morning, he wakes My ear to hear as taught ones. - Our Messiyah Yahushua, having proved Himself able to save, here shows Himself as willing as He is able to save, here shows Himself as willing as He is able. We suppose the prophet Isaiah to say something of Himself in these verses, engaging and encouraging himself to go on in his work as a prophet, notwithstanding the many hardships He met with, not doubting but that YAHVEH would stand by Him and strengthen him; but, like David, he speaks of himself as a type of Messiyah, who is here prophesied of and promised to be the Saviour.

As an acceptable preacher. Isaiah, was a prophet, was qualified for the work to which he was called, so were the rest of YAH’s prophets, and others whom HE employed as HIS messengers; but Messiyah was anointed with the Spirit above His fellows. To make the man of YAHVEH perfect, he has, the tongue of the learned, to know how to give instruction, how to speak a Word in season to him that is weary. YAHVEH, who made man’s mouth, gave Moses the tongue of the learned, to speak for the terror and conviction of Pharaoh, Ex. 4:11, 12. He gave to Messiyah Yahushua the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season for the comfort of those that are weary and heavily laden under the burden of sin, Mt. 11:28.

Wisdom was poured into His lips, and they are said to drop sweet-smelling myrrh. See what is the best learning of a minister, to know how to comfort troubled consciences, and to speak pertinently, properly, and plainly, to the various cases of poor souls. An ability to do this is YAH’s gift, and it is one of the best gifts, which we should covet earnestly. Let us repose ourselves in the many comfortable words which Messiyah has spoken to the weary.

The ear of the learned, is to receive instruction. Prophets have as much need of this as of the tongue of the learned; for they must deliver what they are taught and no other, they must hear the Word from YAH’s mouth diligently and attentively, that they may speak it exactly, Eze. 3:17. Messiyah Himself received that He might give. None must undertake to be teachers who have not first be a learners. Messiyah’s apostles were first disciples, scribes instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, Mt. 13:52.

Nor is it enough to hear, but we must hear with the Spirit of Understanding, hear and understand, hear and remember, hear as those that would learn by what we hear. Those that would hear as the learned must be awake, and wakeful; for we are naturally drowsy and sleepy, and unable to hear at all, or we hear by the halves, hear and do not heed.

Our spiritual ears need to be wakened; we need to have something said to rouse us, to awaken us out of our spiritual slumbers, that we may hear as for our lives. We need to be awakened morning by morning, as duly as the day returns, to be awakened to do the work of the day in its day. Our case calls for continual fresh supplies of divine understanding, to free us from the dullness we contract daily.

In the morning, is the best time to pray for the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, when our spirits are most lively, is a proper time for communion with EL YAHVEH; then we are in the best frame both to speak to HIM (my voice shalt thou hear in the morning) and to hear from him. The people came early in the morning to hear Yahushua in the temple (Lu. 21:38), for, it seems, His were morning lectures. And it is YAHVEH that wakens us morning by morning.

If we do any thing to purpose in HIS service, it is HE who, as our Master, calls us up; and we should doze perpetually if HE did not waken us morning by morning.

Isa 50:5 The Master יהוה has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. – As a patient sufferer. One would think that he who was commissioned and qualified to speak comfort to the weary should meet with no difficulty in his work, but universal acceptance.

It is however quite otherwise; he has both hard work to do and hard usage to undergo; and here he tells us with what undaunted constancy he went through with it.

We have no reason to question but that the prophet Isaiah went on resolutely in the work to which EL YAHVEH had called him, though we read not of his undergoing any such hardships as are here supposed; but we are sure that the prediction was abundantly verified in Messiyah Yahushua: and here we have, His patient obedience in his doing work.

"The EL YAHVEH has not only wakened my ear to hear what HE says, but has opened my ear to receive it, and comply with it’’ (Ps. 40:6, 7, My ear hast thou opened; then said I, Lo, I come); for when HE adds, I was not rebellious, neither turned away back, more is implied than expressed, that HE was willing, that though he foresaw a great deal of difficulty and discouragement, though he was to take pains and give constant attendance as a servant, though he was to empty himself of that which was very great and humble himself to that which was very mean, yet he did not fly off, did not fail, nor was discouraged.

He continued very free and forward to his work even when he came to the hardest part of it.  As a good understanding in the truths of YAHVEH, so a good servant will be dedicated to the work and service of YAHVEH, is from the grace of YAHVEH.

Isa 50:6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard, I did not hide My face from humiliation and spitting. - His obedient and patience in His suffering work. I call it obedient patience because he was patient with an eye to his Father’s will, thus pleading with himself, This commandment have I received of my Father, and thus submitting to YAHVEH, Not as I will, but as thou wilt.

In this submission he resigned himself, to be scourged: I gave my back to the smiters; and that not only by submitting to the indignity when he was smitten, but by permitting it (or admitting it rather) among the other instances of pain and shame which he would voluntarily undergo for us.

Be buffeted: I gave my cheeks to those that not only smote them, but plucked off the hair of the beard, which was a greater degree both of pain and of ignominy.

To be spit upon: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. He could have hidden his face from it, could have avoided it, but he would not, because he was made a reproach of men, and thus he would answer to the type of Job, that man of sorrows, of whom it is said that they smote him on the cheek reproachfully (Job 16:10), which was an expression not only of contempt, but of abhorrence and indignation. All this Messiyah Yahushua, and voluntarily, to convince us of His willingness to save us

Isa 50:7 And the Master יהוה helps Me, therefore I shall not be humiliated. So I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I am not put to shame. -  As a courageous champion. The Redeemer is as famous for his boldness as for his humility and patience, and, though he yields, yet he is more than a conqueror.

The dependence he has upon EL YAHVEH the prophet Isaiah’s support was the support of Messiyah Himself: The EL YAHVEH will help me; and again, verse 9, Those whom EL YAHVEH employs HE will assist, and will take care they want not any help that they or their work call for. YAHVEH, having laid help upon his Son for us, gave help to Him, and HIS Hand was all along with the man of his right hand. Nor will HE only assist Him in His work, but accept of him verse 8: He is near that justifieth. Isaiah, no doubt, was falsely accused and loaded with reproach and calumny, as other prophets were; but he despised the reproach, knowing that YAHVEH would roll it away and bring forth his righteousness as the light, perhaps in this world (Ps. 37:6), at furthest in the great day, when there will be a resurrection of names as well as bodies, and the righteous shall shine forth as the morning sun.

And so it was verified in Messiyah and His resurrection he was proved to be not the man that he was represented, not a blasphemer, not a deceiver, not an enemy to Caesar. The judge that condemned him owned that he found no fault in Him; the centurion, or sheriff, that had charge of His execution, declared Him a righteous man: so near was he that justified him. But it was true of him in a further and more peculiar sense: the Father justified Him when He accepted the satisfaction He made for the sin of man, and constituted him the Master of our righteousness, who was made sin for us.

He was justified in the Spirit, 1 Tim. 3:16. He was near who did it; for his resurrection, by which he was justified, soon followed his condemnation and crucifixion. He was straightway glorified, Jn. 13:32.

He was straightway glorified, Jn. 13:32.The confidence he thereupon has of success in his undertaking: "If YAHVEH will help me, if HE will justify me,  HE will stand by me and bear me out, I shall not be confounded, as those are that come short of the end they aimed at and the satisfaction they promised themselves: I know that I shall not be ashamed.’’ Though his enemies did all they could to put him to shame, yet he kept his ground, he kept his countenance, and was not ashamed of the work he had undertaken.

Isa 50:8 Near is He who declares Me right. Who would contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me. -  Work for EL YAHVEH is work that we should not be ashamed of; and hope in YAHVEH is hope that we shall not be ashamed of. Those that trust in YAHVEH for help shall not be disappointed; they know whom they have trusted, and therefore know they shall not be ashamed.

The defiance which in this confidence he bids to all opposers and opposition: "YAHVEH will help me, and therefore have I set my face like a flint.’’ The prophet did so; he was bold in reproving sin, in warning sinners (Eze. 3:8, 9), and in asserting the truth of his predictions. Massiyah did so; he went on in his work, as Mediator, with unshaken constancy and undaunted resolution; he did not fail nor was discouraged; and here he challenges all his opposers.

Isa 50:9 See, the Master יהוה helps Me. Who would declare Me wrong? See, all of them wear out like a garment, a moth eats them. - He challenges them to prove any crime upon him: Who is he that shall condemn me? The prophet perhaps was condemned to die; Messiyah we are sure was; and yet both could say, Who is he that shall condemn? For there is no condemnation to those whom Yahushua justifies.

There were those that did condemn them, but what became of them? They all shall wax old as a garment. The righteous cause of Messiyah and His prophets shall outlive all opposition. The moth shall eat them up silently and insensibly; a little thing will serve to destroy them. But the roaring lion himself shall not prevail against YAH’s witnesses. All believers are enabled to make this challenge, Who is he that shall condemn? It is Messiyah that died.

Isa 50:10 Who among you is fearing יהוה, obeying the voice of His Servant, that has walked in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the Name of יהוה and lean upon his Elohim! - The prophet, having the tongue of the learned given him, that he might give to everyone his portion. He admonish to make use of it, so we can rightly dividing the word of truth. It is the summary of the gospel. He that believes shall be saved (he that trusts in the name of Yahushua shall be comforted, though for a while he walk in darkness and have no light), but he that believes not shall be damned; though for a while he walk in the light of his own fire, yet he shall lie down in sorrow.

Comfort is here spoken to disconsolate saints, and they are encouraged to trust in YAH’s grace. What is always the character of a child of YAHVEH. He is one that fears YAHVEH with a filial fear, that stands in awe of HIS majesty and is afraid of incurring his displeasure. This is a grace that usually appears most in good people when they walk in darkness, when other graces appear not. They then tremble at his word (ch. 66:2) and are afraid of his judgments, Ps. 119:120. He is one that obeys the voice of YAH’s servant, is willing to be ruled by the Messiyah Yahushua, as YAH’s servant in the great work of man’s redemption, one that yields a sincere obedience to the law of Messiyah and cheerfully comes up to the terms of HIS covenant. Those that truly fear YAHVEH will obey the voice of Messiyah.

What is sometimes the case of a child of YAHVEH. It is supposed that though he has in his heart the fear of YAHVEH, and faith in Messiyah, yet for a time he walks in darkness and has no light, is disquieted and has little or no comfort. Who is there that does so? This intimates that it is a case which sometimes happens among the professors of religion, yet not very often; but, whenever it happens, YAHVEH takes notice of it. 

It is no new thing for the children and heirs of light to sometimes walk in darkness, and for a time not to have any glimpse or gleam of light. This is not meant so much of the comforts of this life (those that fear YAHVEH, when they have ever so great an abundance of them, do not walk in them as their light) as of their spiritual comforts, which relate to their souls. They walk in darkness when their evidences for heaven are clouded, their joy in YAHVEH is interrupted, the testimony of the Spirit is suspended, and the light of YAH’s countenance is eclipsed. Thoughtful believers are apt to be melancholy, and those who fear always are apt to fear too much.

What is likely to be an effectual cure in this sad case. He that is in the dark, Let him trust in the name of YAHVEH, in the goodness of HIS nature, and that which HE has made known of himself, HIS wisdom, power, and goodness. The name of YAHVEH is a strong tower, let us run into it. Let him depend upon it that if he walk before YAHVEH, which a man may do though he walk in the dark, he shall find YAHVEH all-sufficient to him.

Let him stay himself upon his EL, HIS in covenant; let him keep hold of his covenant-relation to YAHVEH, and call YAHVEH his EL, as Messiyah on the cross, My EL, My EL. Let him stay himself upon the promises of the covenant, and build his hopes on them. When a child of YAHVEH is ready to sink he will find enough in YAHVEH to stay himself upon. Let him trust in Messiyah for YAH’s name is in him (Ex. 23:21), trust in that name of his, The YAHVEH is our righteousness, and stay himself upon YAHVEH  as his EL, in and through a Mediator.

Isa 50:11 See, all you who light a fire, girding on burning arrows: walk in the light of your fire and in the burning arrows you have lit. From My hand you shall have this: you shall lie down in grief! - Conviction is here spoken to presuming sinners, and they are warned not to trust in themselves.

The description given of them. They kindle a fire, and walk in the light of that fire. They depend upon their own righteousness, offer all their sacrifices, and burn all their incense, with that fire (as Nadab and Abihu) and not with the fire from heaven. In their hope of acceptance with YAHVEH they have no regard to the righteousness of Messiyah.

They refresh and please themselves with a conceit of their own merit and sufficiency, and warm themselves with that. It is both light and heat to them. They compass themselves about with sparks of their own kindling. As they trust in their own righteousness, and not in the righteousness of Messiyah, so they place their happiness in their worldly possessions and enjoyments, and not in the favour of YAHVEH. Creature-comforts are as sparks, short-lived and soon gone; yet the children of this world, while they last, warm themselves by them, and walk with pride and pleasure in the light of them.

The doom passed upon them. They are ironically told to walk in the light of their own fire. "Make your best of it, while it lasts. But what will be in the end thereof, what will it come to at last? This shall you have of my hand (says Messiyah for to him the judgment is committed), you shall lie down in sorrow, shall go to bed in the dark.’’ See Job 18:5, 6. His menorah shall be put out with him. Those that make the world their comfort, and their own righteousness their confidence, will certainly meet with a fatal disappointment, which will be bitterness in the end. A godly man’s way may be melancholy, but his end shall be peace and everlasting light. A wicked man’s way may be pleasant, but his end and endless abode will be utter darkness.

Chapter 51

This chapter is designed for the comfort and encouragement of those that fear EL YAHVEH and keep HIS commandments, even when they walk in darkness and have no light. Whether it was intended primarily for the support of the captives in Babylon is not certain, probably it was; but comforts is generally expressed ought not to be so confined. Whenever the Messiyah Yisrael is in distress her friends and well-wishers may comfort themselves and one another with these words.

 

I.              That YAHVEH, who raised Yisrael at first out of nothing, will take care that it shall not perish verse 1-3. 

II. That the righteousness and salvation YAHVEH designs for HIS Yisrael are sure and near, very near and very sure verse 4-6.

II.            That the persecutors of Yisrael are weak and dying creatures verse 7, 8. 

IV. That the same power which did wonders for Yisrael formerly is now engaged and employed for her protection and deliverance verse 9–11.

Isa 51:1  “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, seeking יהוה: Look to the rock you were hewn from, and to the hole of the pit you were dug from. – How the people of YAHVEH are here described, to whom the Words of this consolation is sent and who are called upon to hearken to it. They are such as follow after righteousness, such as are very desirous and solicitous both to be justified and to be sanctified, are pressing hard after this, to have the favour of YAHVEH restored to them and the image of YAHVEH renewed on them. These are those that seek יהוה, for it is only in the say of righteousness that we can seek HIM with any hope of finding HIM.

Isa 51:2 “Look to Aḇraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For he was alone when I called him, and I blessed him and increased him. -  In this verse the Messiyah are here directed to look back to their original, and the smallness of their beginning: "Look unto the rock whence you were hewn’’ (the idolatrous family in Ur of the Chaldees, out of which Abraham was taken, the generation of slaves which the heads and fathers of their tribes were in Egypt); "look unto the hole of the pit out of which you were digged, as clay, when YAHVEH formed you into a people.’’

It is good for those that are privileged by a new birth to consider what they were by their first birth, how they were conceived in iniquity and shapen in sin. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. How hard was that rock out of which we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions, and how miserable the hole of that pit out of which we were digged! The consideration of this should fill us with low thoughts of ourselves and high thoughts of divine grace. Those that are now advanced would do well to remember how low they began.

"Look unto Abraham your father, the father of all the faithful, of all that follow after the righteousness of faith as he did (Rom. 4:11), and unto Sarah that bore you, and whose daughters you all are as long as you do well.

Think how Abraham was called alone, and yet was blessed and multiplied; and let that encourage you to depend upon the promise of YAHVEH even when a sentence of death seems to be upon all the means that lead to the performance of it.

Particularly let it encourage the captives in Babylon, though they are reduced to a small number, and few of them left, to hope that yet they shall increase so as to replenish their own land again.’’

When Jacob is very small, yet he is not so small as Abraham was, who yet became father of many nations. "Look unto Abraham, and see what he got by trusting in the promise of YAHVEH, and take example by him to follow YAHVEH with an implicit faith.’’

Isa 51:3 “For יהוה shall comfort Tsiyon, He shall comfort all her waste places. For He makes her wilderness like Ěḏen, and her desert like the garden of יהוה. Joy and gladness are found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of song. – In this verse the believer are here assured that their present seedness of tears should end in a harvest of joys. Messiyah Yisrael on earth, even the gospel Zion, has sometimes had her deserts and waste places, many parts of the Yisrael, through either corruption or persecution, made like a wilderness, unfruitful to YAHVEH or uncomfortable to the inhabitants; but YAHVEH will find out a time and way to comfort Zion, not only by speaking comfortably to her, but by acting graciously for her.

YAHVEH has comforts in store even for the waste places of his church, for those parts of it that seem not regarded or valued.

He will make them fruitful, and so give them cause to rejoice; her wildernesses shall put on a new face, and look pleasant as Eden, and abound in all good fruits, as the garden of YAHVEH.  It is the greatest comfort of Yisrael to be made serviceable to the glory of YAHVEH, and to be as HIS garden in which HE delights.

He will make them cheerful, and so give them spirit to rejoice. With the fruits of righteousness, joy and gladness shall be found therein; for the more holiness men have, and the more good they do, the more gladness they have. And where there is gladness, to their satisfaction, it is fit that there should be thanksgiving, to YAH’s honor; for whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving; and the returns of YAH’s favour ought to be celebrated with the voice of melody, which will be the more melodious when YAHVEH gives songs in the night, songs in the desert.

Isa 51:4 “Listen to Me, My people, and give ear to Me, O My nation, for the Torah goes forth from Me, and My right-ruling I set as a light to peoples. -  In this verse the prophet Isaiah proclamations, as with an assurance of the perpetuity of YAH’s righteousness and HIS salvation; and therefore we put them together, both being designed for the comfort of YAH’s people.

 Who they are to whom this comfort belongs: "My people, and my nation, that I have set apart for myself, that own me and are owned by me.’’ Those are YAH’s people and HIS nation who are subject to HIM as their King and their EL, pay allegiance to HIM, and put themselves under his protection accordingly. They are a people who know righteousness, who not only have the means of knowledge, and to whom righteousness is made known, but who improve those means, and are able to form a right judgment of truth and falsehood, good and evil.

As they have good heads, so they have good hearts, for they have the Law, written and ruling of YAHVEH in them. Those YAHVEH owns for HIS peculiar people in whose hearts HIS law, statues, and right ruling is. Even those who know righteousness, and have the law of YAHVEH in their hearts, may yet be in great distress and sorrow, and loaded with reproach and contempt; but their EL will comfort them with the righteousness they know and the law they have in their hearts.

What the comfort is that belongs to YAH’s people. That the gospel of Messiyah shall be preached and published to the world: A law shall proceed from ME, an evangelical Law, the law of Messiyah, the LAW of faith, ch. 2:3. This LAW is HIS judgment; for it is that law of liberty by which the world shall be governed and judged. This shall not only go forth, but shall continue and rest, it shall take firm and deep root in the world and the minds of HIS people Yisrael.

It shall rest, not only for the benefit of the Yisrael, who it was given at first, but now a light of the people of other nations. It is this Law, this judgment, that we are required to hearken and give ear to, at our peril; for how shall we escape if we neglect it and turn a deaf ear to it? When a law proceeds from YAHVEH, he that has ears to hear, let him hear.

Isa 51:5 “My righteousness is near, My deliverance shall go forth, and My arms judge peoples. Coastlands wait upon Me, and for My arm they wait expectantly. – That this law and judgment shall bring with them righteousness and salvation, shall open a ready way to the children of men, that they may be justified and santified by it.

 These are called YAH’s righteousness and HIS salvation, because of HIS contriving and bringing them about. The former is a righteousness which HE will accept for us and accept us for, and a righteousness which he will work in us and graciously accept of. The latter is the salvation of YAHVEH, for it arises from HIM and terminates in HIM.

There is no salvation without righteousness; and, wherever there is the righteousness of YAHVEH, there shall be HIS salvation. All those, and those only, that are justified and sanctified shall be glorified.

That this righteousness and salvation shall very shortly appear: My righteousness is near. It is near in time; behold, all things are now ready. It is near in place, not far to seek, but the word is nigh us, and Messiyah in the word, righteousness in the word, Rom. 10:8. My salvation has gone forth. The decree has gone forth concerning it; it shall as certainly be introduced as if it had gone forth already, and the time for it is at hand.

Isa 51:6 “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath, for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth wear out like a garment, and those who dwell in it die as gnats. But My deliverance is forever, and My righteousness is not broken. – in this verse we sees an explanation about the Law, statues, precepts, judgement which if practice are the righteousness of YAHVEH, it explains here that as we look up and see the heavens, and look down and see the earth, it will all past away before the pattern, the righteousness of EL YAHVEH be broken. I am EL YAHVEH, I change not.

Isa 51:7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, a people in whose heart is My Torah: do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their revilings. -  In this verse we see  this evangelical righteousness and salvation shall not be confined to the physical Yisrael but shall be extended to the Gentiles, who will become Spiritual Yisrael; My arms shall judge the people.

Those that will not yield to the judgments of YAH’s mouth shall be crushed by the judgments of HIS Words, Deu 28:15-68. Some shall thus be judged by the gospel, for for judgment Messiyah came into this world; but others, and those of the isles, shall wait upon him, and bid HIS gospel, and the commands as well as the comforts of it, welcome.

It was a comfort to YAH’s people, to HIS nation, that multitudes should be added to them, and the increase of their number should be the increase of their strength and beauty. It is added, And on my arm shall they trust, that arm of the YAHVEH which is revealed in Messiyah, ch. 53:1. YAH’s arm shall judge the people that are impenitent, and yet on HIS Mighty Arm shall others trust and be saved by it; for it is to us as we make it, a savour of life or of death.

Isa 51:8 “For a moth eats them like a garment, and a worm eats them like wool; but My righteousness is forever, and My deliverance to all generations.” – The Words like all HIS righteousness and salvation shall be for ever, and shall never be abolished. It is an everlasting righteousness that the Messiyah brings in (Dan. 9:24), an eternal redemption that He is the author of, Heb. 5:9.

As it shall spread through all the nations of the earth, so it shall last through all the ages of the world. We must never expect any other way of salvation, any other covenant of peace or rule of righteousness, than what we have in the gospel, and what we have there shall continue to the end, Mt. 28:20.

It is for ever; for the consequences of it shall be to eternity, and by this Law of liberty men’s everlasting state will be determined. This perpetuity of the gospel and the blessed things it brings in is illustrated by the fading and perishing of this world and all things in it.

Look up to the visible heavens above, which have continued forever, and seem likely to continue, but they shall vanish like smoke and disappears; they shall be rolled like a scroll, and their lights shall fall like leaves in autumn. Look down to the earth beneath; that abides too for a short ever (Eccl. 1:4), but it shall wax old like a garment that will be the worse for wearing; and those that dwell therein, all the inhabitants of the earth, even those that seem to have the best settlement in it, shall die in like manner: the soul shall, as to this world, vanish like smoke, and the body be thrown by like a garment waxen old.

They shall be easily crushed (Job 4:19), and no loss of them. But when heaven and earth pass away, when all flesh and the glory of it wither as grass, the Word of the YAHVEH EL ELYON endures for ever, and not one iota or tittle of that shall fall to the ground. Those whose happiness is bound up in MessiYah’s righteousness and salvation will have the comfort of it when time and days shall be no more.

What use they are to make of this comfort. If YAH’s righteousness and salvation are near to them, then let them not fear the reproach of men, of mortal miserable men, nor be afraid of their revilings or spiteful taunts, theirs who bid you sing them the songs of Zion, or who ask you, in scorn, Where is now your EL?

Let not those who embrace the gospel righteousness be afraid of those who will call them Beelzebub, and will say all manner of evil against them falsely. Let them not be afraid of them; let them not be disturbed by these opprobrious speeches, nor made uneasy by them, as if they would be the ruin of their reputation and honor and they must for ever lie under the load of them.

Let them not be afraid of their executing their menaces, nor be deterred thereby from their duty, nor frightened into any sinful compliance, nor driven to take any indirect courses for their own safety. Those can bear but little for MessiYah that cannot bear a hard word for him. Let us not fear the reproach of men.

They will be quickly silenced: The moth shall eat them up like a garment, ch. 50:9. The worm shall eat them like wool, or woollen cloth. If we have the approbation of a living EL, we may despise the censure of dying men; the matter is not great what those say of us who must shortly be food for worms. Or it intimates the judgments of YAHVEH with which they shall be visited, with which they shall be consumed, for their malice against the people of YAHVEH; they shall be slowly and silently, but effectually destroyed, when YAHVEH EL ELYON shall come to reckon with them for all their hard speeches, Jude 14, 15.

The cause we suffer for cannot be run down. The falsehood of their reproaches will be detected, but truth shall triumph, and the righteousness of religion’s injured cause shall be for ever plain. Clouds darken the sun, but give no obstruction to his progress.

Isa 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of יהוה! Awake as in days of old, everlasting generations. Was it not You who cut Rahaḇ apart, and pierced Leviathan? – A prayer that YAHVEH would, in HIS providence, appear and act for the deliverance of Yisrael and the mortification of HIS and their enemies. Awake, awake! put on strength, O Mighty Hands of YAHVEH. The arm of the Messiyah Yahushua, or it is put for YAHVEH Himself, as Ps. 44:23. Awake! why sleepest thou?

He that keeps Yisrael neither slumbers nor sleeps; but, when we pray that he would awake, we mean that he would make it to appear that HE watches over HIS people and is always awake to do them good.

The arm of YAHVEH is said to awake when the power of YAHVEH EL ELYON exerts itself with more than ordinary vigour on his people’s behalf. When a hand or arm is benumbed we say, It is asleep; when it is stretched forth for action, It awakes. YAHVEH needs not to be reminded nor excited by us, but HE gives us leave thus to be humbly earnest with HIM for such appearances of his power as will be for HIS own praise.

Put on strength,’’ that is, "put forth strength: appear in thy strength, as we appear in the clothes we put on,’’ Ps. 21:13. The Yisrael sees her case bad, her enemies many and mighty, her friends few and feeble; and therefore she depends purely upon the strength of YAH’s arm for her relief. "Awake, as in the ancient days,’’ that is, "do for us now as thou didst for our fathers formerly, repeat the wonders they told us of,’’ Jdg. 6:13.

Isa 51:10 Was it not You who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? -  In this verse we see the pleas to enforce this prayer.

They plead precedents, the experiences of their ancestors, and the great things YAHVEH EL ELYON had done for them. "Let the Mighty Hands of YAHVEH EL ELYON be made bare on our behalf; for it has done great things formerly in defence of the same cause, and we are sure it is neither shortened nor weakened.

It did wonders against the Egyptians, who enslaved and oppressed YAH’s son, HIS first-born; it cut Rahab to pieces with one direful plague after another, and wounded Pharaoh, the dragon, the Leviathan (as he is called, Ps. 74:13, 14); it gave him his death’s wound. It did wonders for Yisrael. It dried up the sea, even the waters of the great deep, as far as was requisite to open a way through the sea for the ransomed to pass over,’’ . YAHVEH is never at a loss for a way to accomplish HIS purposes concerning HIS people Yisrael, but will either find one or make one.

Isa 51:11 And let the ransomed of יהוה return. And they shall come to Tsiyon with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. Let them attain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - Past experiences, as they are great supports to faith and hope, so they are good pleas in prayer. Thou hast; wilt thou not? Ps. 85:1-6.

They plead promises : And the redeemed of YAHVEH shall return, that is (as it may be supplied), thou hast said, They shall, referring to ch. 35:10, where we find this promise, that the redeemed of YAHVEH, when they are released out of their captivity in Babylon, shall come with singing unto Zion. Sinners, when they are brought out of the slavery of sin into the glorious liberty of YAH’s children, may come singing, as a bird got loose out of the cage.

The souls of believers, when they are delivered out of the prison of the body, come to the heavenly Zion with singing. Then this promise will have its full accomplishment, and we may plead it in the mean time. He that designs such joy for us at last will he not work such deliverance for us in the mean time as our case requires? When the saints come to heaven they enter into the joy of their EL; it crowns their heads with immortal honor; it fills their hearts with complete satisfaction. They shall obtain that joy and gladness which they could never obtain in this vale of tears. In this world of changes it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that world sorrow and mourning shall flee away, never to return or come in view again.

Brit Chadasha

Luka 4:1-13

In the previous chapter we see Messiyah Yahushua baptism, and the Menorah upon Him. Now, in this chapter, we have,  the final preparation for His public ministry by His being tempted in the wilderness, of which we had the same account before in Matthew as we have here verse 1 –13.

Luk 4:1  And יהושע, being filled with the Set-apart Spirit, returned from the Yardĕn and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, - The last words of the foregoing chapter, discribe Yahushua was the Son of Adam, the seed of the woman; being so, we have here, according to the promise, breaking the serpent’s head, baffling and foiling the devil in all his temptations, who by one temptation had baffled and foiled our first parents. The beginning of the war, Messiyah made reprisals upon him, and conquered the conqueror.

In this story of Messiyah’s temptation, we observed: How Yahushua was prepared and fitted for it. He that designed Him the trial, furnished Him accordingly; for though we know not what exercises may be before us, nor what encounters we may be reserved for, Messiyah did, and was provided accordingly; and YAHVEH did for us, and we hope will provide accordingly.

He was full of the Set Apart Spirit, who had descended on him like a Menorah. He had the full complement of the Spirit of YAHVEH, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and the Fear of EL YAHVEH. The full measures of the gifts, graces, and comforts, of the Holy Spirit than ever before. Those are well armed against the strongest temptation who have build their Menorah.

He was newly returned from Jordan, where H was baptized, and directed by a voice from the heavens, describing Yahushua, who had just achieve the order of Melchizedek, to be the beloved Son of YAHVEH; and therefore He was prepared for this combat.  When we have had the most comfortable communion with YAHVEH, and the clearest discoveries of HIS favour to us, we may expect that Satan will set upon us (the richest ship is the pirate’s prize), and that YAHVEH will allow him to do so, that the power of YAHVEH grace may be manifested and magnified.

He was led by the Set Apart Spirit into the wilderness, who led him as a champion into the Arena to accomplish the final test the enemy had to make to him. He was led into the wilderness. Gave some advantage to the tempter; for there he had him alone, no friend with him, by whose prayers and advice he might be assisted in the hour of temptation. Woe to him that is alone! He might give Satan advantage, who knew his own strength; we may not, who know our own weakness.

He gained some advantage to himself, during his forty days’ fasting in the wilderness. During those forthy day, Yahushua completely destroyed the influence of the flesh in His life. Hunger and thirst are such a formidable temptation to overcome that when the tempter came, his temptation was nothing in comparison as the forthy day without food.

We may suppose that he was wholly taken up in proper meditation, and in consideration of his own undertaking, and the work he had before him; that he spent all his time in immediate, intimate, converse with his Father, as Moses in the mount, without any diversion, distraction, or interruption. Of all the days of Messiyah’s life in the flesh, these seem to come nearest to the angelic perfection and the heavenly life, and this prepared him for Satan’s assaults, and hereby he was fortified against them.

He continued fasting: In those days he did eat nothing. This fast was altogether miraculous, like those of Moses and Elijah, and shows him to be, like them, a prophet sent of YAHVEH. It is probable that it was in the wilderness of Horeb, the same wilderness in which Moses and Elijah fasted. As by retiring into the wilderness He showed Himself perfectly indifferent to the world, so by His fasting He showed Himself perfectly indifferent to the body; and Satan cannot easily take hold of those who are loosened from, and dead to, the world and the flesh. The more we keep under the body, and bring it into subjection, the less advantage Satan has against us.

Luk 4:2 being tried for forty days by the devil. And in those days He did not eat at all, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. -  How Yahushua was assaulted by one temptation after another, and how He defeated the design of the tempter in every assault, and became more than a conqueror.

During the forty days, He was tempted of the devil, not by an inward suggestion, for the prince of this world had nothing in Messiyah Spirit to point to as a fault, no accusation could be made against Him, but by outward solicitations, perhaps in the likeness of a serpent, as he tempted our first parents.

Like Adam and Eve Yahushua had not fault, no weakness in the flesh, so he attack Yahushua obedience to the Law. But at the end of the forty days he came nearer to him, and did as it were close with him, when he perceived that he was hungry. Probably, our Messiyah then began to look about among the trees, to see if he could find any thing that was eatable, whence the devil took occasion to make the following proposal to him.

Luk 4:3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of Elohim, command this stone to become bread.” -  Lucefer knew that a Mature Son, the Order of Melchizedek, had power, he also knew that they could not used their Powers for personal gain. This temptation was since you are now a mature Son let me see, what you can do. After all Yahushua had just became a Son by the Order of Melchizedek, the Prince of Righteousness, something that Lucifer could never attained.

He tempted him to distrust His Father’s care of Him, and to set up for himself, and shift for provision for Himself in such a way as His Father had not appointed for Him: If thou be the Son of YAHVEH EL ELYON, as the voice from heaven declared, command this stone to be made bread.

"I counsel thee to do it; for YAHVEH, your Father, has forgotten thee, and it will be long before He sends ravens or angels to feed thee.’’ If we begin to think of being our own carvers, and of living by our own forecast, without depending upon divine providence, of getting wealth by our might and the power of our hands, we must look upon it as a temptation of Satan’s, and reject it accordingly; it is Satan’s counsel to think of an independence upon YAHVEH.

"I challenge thee to do it, if thou canst; if thou dost not do it, I will say thou art not the Son of YAHVEH; for John Baptist said lately, YAHVEH is able to raise up stonese, children to Abraham, which is the greater; thou therefore hast not the power of the Son of YAHVEH, if you do not make bread of stones make bread for thyself, when thou needest it, which is the less.’’ Thus was YAHVEH Himself tempted in the wilderness: Can he furnish a table? Can he give bread? Ps. 78:19, 20.

Messiyah Yahushua yielded not to the temptation; He would not turn that stone into bread; no, though he was hungry; First, Because He would not do what Satan ask Him to do, for that would have looked as if there had been indeed a compact between Him and the prince of the devils.

We must not do any thing that looks like giving place to the devil. Miracles were wrought for the confirming of faith, and the devil had no faith to be confirmed, and therefore he would not do it for him. He did his signs in the presence of his disciples (Jn. 20:30), and particularly the beginning of his miracles, turning water into wine, which he did, that his disciples might believe on him (Jn. 2:11); but here in the wilderness he had no disciples with him.

Secondly, He wrought miracles for the ratification of his doctrine, and therefore till he began to preach he would not begin to work miracles.

Thirdly, He would not work miracles for himself and his own supply, lest he should seem impatient of hunger, whereas he came not to please himself, but to suffer grief, and that grief among others; and because he would show that he pleased not himself, he would rather turn water into wine, for the credit and convenience of his friends, than stones into bread, for his own necessary supply.

Fourthly, He would reserve the proof of his being the Son of YAHVEH for hereafter, and would rather be upbraided by Satan with being weak, and not able to do it, than be persuaded by Satan to do that which it was fit for him to do; thus he was upbraided by his enemies as if he could not save himself, and come down from the cross, when he could have come down, but would not, because it was not fit that he should.

Fifthly, He would not do any thing that looked like distrust of his Father, or acting separately from him, or any thing disagreeable to his present state. Being in all things made like unto his brethren, he would, like the other children of YAHVEH, live in a dependence upon the divine Providence and promise, and trust him either to send him a supply into the wilderness or to lead him to a city of habitation where there was a supply, as he used to do (Ps. 107:5-7), and in the mean time would support him, though he was hungry, as he had done these forty days past.

Luk 4:4 But יהושע answered him, saying, “It has been written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Elohim.’ ”¹ Footnote: ¹Mt. 4:4, Dt. 8:3. – He returned a scripture-answer to it: It is written. This is the first word recorded as spoken by Messiyah after His instalment in his prophetical office; and it is a quotation out of the Old Testament, to show that he came to assert and maintain the authority of the scripture as uncontrollable, even by Satan himself. And though he had the Spirit without measure, and had a doctrine of his own to preach and a religion to found, yet it agreed with Moses and the prophets, whose writings he therefore lays down as a rule to himself, and recommends to us as a reply to Satan and his temptations.

The word of YAHVEH is our sword, and faith in that word is our shield; we should therefore be mighty in the scriptures, and go in that might, go forth, and go on, in our spiritual warfare, know what is written, for it is for our learning, for our use.

The text of scripture He makes use of is quoted from Deu. 8:3: "Man shall not live by bread alone. I need not turn the stone into bread, for YAHVEH can send manna for my nourishment, as He did for Yisrael; man can live by every word of YAHVEH whatever YAHVEH will appoint that He shall live by.’’ How had Messiah lived, lived comfortably, these last forty days?

Not by bread, but by the Word of YAHVEH, by meditation upon that Word, and communion with it, and with YAHVEH in and by it; and in like manner He could live yet, though now he began to be hungry. YAHVEH has many ways of providing for HIS people, without the ordinary means of subsistence; and therefore he is not at any time to be distrusted, but at all times to be depended upon, in the way of duty.

If meat be wanting, YAHVEH can take away the appetite, or give such degrees of patience as will enable a man even to laugh at destruction and famine (Job 5:22), or make pulse and water more nourishing than all the portion of the king’s meat (Dan. 1:12, 13), and enable his people to rejoice in the Lord, when the fig-tree doth not blossom, Hab. 3:17. She was an active believer who said that she had made many a meal’s meat of the promises when she wanted bread.

Luk 4:5 And the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the reigns of the world in a moment of time. – He tempted him to accept from him the kingdom, which, as the Son of YAHVEH, Yahushua expected to receive from His Father, and to do Him homage for.

In the devil’s tempting of our first parents, he presented to them the forbidden fruit, first as good for food, and then as pleasant to the eyes; and they were overpowered by both these charms. Satan first tempted Messiah to turn the stones into bread, which would be good for food, and then showed Him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, which were pleasant to the eyes; but in both these Yahushua overpowered Satan, and perhaps with an eye to that, Luke changes the order. How Satan managed this temptation, to prevail with Messiyah to become a tributary to Him, and to receive His kingdom by delegation from Him.

 He gave Him a prospect of all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, an airy representation of them, such as he thought most likely to strike the fancy, and seem a real prospect. To succeed the better, he took Him up for this purpose into a high mountain; and, because we next after the temptation find Messiyah on the other side Jordan, some think it probable that it was to the top of Pisgah that the devil took Him, whence Moses has a sight of Canaan.

That it was but a phantasm that the devil here presented our Saviour with, as the prince of the power of the air, is confirmed by that circumstance which Luke here takes notice of, that it was done in a moment of time; whereas, if a man take a prospect of but one country, he must do it successively, must turn himself round, and take a view first of one part and then of another. Thus the devil thought to impose upon our Saviour with a fallacy; and, by making him believe that he could show him all the kingdoms of the world, would draw him into an opinion that he could give him all those kingdoms.

Luk 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I shall give You, and their esteem, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.¹ Footnote: ¹See 2 Cor. 4:4, also: John. 12:31, John. 14:30, John. 16:11, 1 John 5:19. – He boldly alleged that these kingdoms were all delivered to him that he had power to dispose of them and all their glory, and to give them to whomsoever he would.

Some think that herein he pretended to be an angel of light, and that, as one of the angels that was set over that part of the kingdoms, he had out-bought, or out-fought, all the rest, and so was entrusted with the disposal of them all, and, in YAH’s name, would give them to him, knowing they were designed for him; but clogged with this condition, that he should fall down and worship him, which a good angel would have been so far from demanding that he would not have admitted it, no, not upon showing much greater things than these, as appears, Rev. 19:10; 22:9.

But I rather take it that he claimed this power as Satan, and as delivered to him not by YAHVEH, but by the kings and people of these kingdoms, who gave their power and honor to the devil, Eph. 2:2. Hence he is called the god of this world, and the prince of this world.

It was promised to the Son of YAHVEH that he should have the heathen for his inheritance, Ps. 2:8. "Why,’’ saith the devil, "the heathen are mine, are my subjects and votaries; but, however, they shall be thine, I will give them thee, upon condition that thou worship me for them, and say that they are the rewards which I have given thee, as others have done before thee (Hos. 2:12), and consent to have and hold them by, from, and under, me.’’

Luk 4:7 “If, then, You worship before me, all shall be Yours.” – He demanded of him homage and adoration: If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine. First, He would have him worship him himself. Perhaps he does not mean so as never to worship YAHW#EH EL ELYON, but let him worship him in conjunction with YAHVEH; for the devil knows, if he can but once come in a partner, he shall soon be sole proprietor.

Secondly, He would indent with him, that when, according to the promise made to him, he had got possession of the kingdoms of this world, he should make no alteration of religions in them, but permit and suffer the nations, as they had done hitherto, to sacrifice to devils (1 Co. 10:20); that he should still keep up demon-worship in the world, and then let him take all the power and glory of the kingdoms if he pleased. Let who will take the wealth and grandeur of this earth, Satan has all he would have if he can but have men’s hearts, and affections, and adoration's, can but work in the children of disobedience; for then he effectually devours them.

Luk 4:8 And יהושע answering him, said, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it has been written, ‘You shall worship יהוה your Elohim, and Him only you shall serve.  -  How our Messiyah Yahushua triumphed over this temptation. He gave it a peremptory repulse, rejected it with abhorrence: "Get thee behind me, Satan, I cannot bear the mention of it. What! worship the enemy of YAHVEH whom I came to serve? and of man whom I came to save? No, I will never do it.’’

Such a temptation as this was not to be reasoned with, but immediately refused; it was presently knocked on the head with one word, It is written, Thou shalt worship YAHVEH EL ELYON thy EL; and not only so, but HIM only, HIM and no other. And therefore Messiyah will not worship Satan, nor, when he has the kingdoms of the world delivered to him by his Father, as he expects shortly to have, will he suffer any remains of the worship of the devil to continue in them.

No, it shall be perfectly rooted out and abolished, wherever His gospel comes. He will make no composition with him. Polytheism and idolatry must go down, as Messiyah’s kingdom gets up. Men must turned from the power of Satan unto YAHVEH, from the worship of devils to the worship of the only living and true EL. This is the great divine law that Messiyah will re-establish among men, and by his holy religion reduce men to the obedience of, That YAHVEH only is to be served and worshipped; and therefore whoever set up any creature as the object of religious worship, though it were a saint or an angel, or the virgin Mary herself, they directly thwart Messiyah’s design, and relapse into heathenism.

Luk 4:9 And he brought Him to Yerushalayim, set Him on the edge of the Set-apart Place, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of Elohim, throw Yourself down from here, - He tempted Yahushua to be his own murderer, in a presumptuous confidence of His Father’s protection, such as He had no warrant for.

What he designed in this temptation: If thou be the Son of YAHVEH, cast thyself down. He would have Yahushua seek for a new proof of His being the Son of YAHVEH, as if that which His Father had given Him by the voice from the heavens, and the descent of the Spirit upon him, were not sufficient, which would have been a dishonor to YAHVEH, as if He had not chosen the most proper way of giving Yahushua the assurance of it; and it would have argued a distrust of the Spirit’s dwelling in him, which was the great and most convincing proof to himself of his being the Son of YAHVEH, the Order of Melchizedek, Heb. 1:8, 9.

He would have Yahushua seek a new method of proclaiming and publishing this to the world. The devil, in effect, suggests that it was in an obscure corner that he was attested to be the Son of YAHVEH, among a company of ordinary people, who attended John’s baptism, that His honors were proclaimed; but if he would now declare from the pinnacle of the temple, among all the great people who attend the temple-service, that Yahushua was the Son of YAHVEH, and then, for proof of it, throw Himself down unhurt, he would presently be received by every body as a messenger sent from heaven.

Therefore Satan would have Messiah Yahushua seek honors of His devising (in contempt of those which YAHVEH had put on Him), and manifest Himself in the temple at Jerusalem; whereas YAHVEH designed He should be more manifest among John’s penitents, to whom his doctrine would be more welcome than to the priests.

It is probable he had some hopes that, though he could not throw him down, to do him the least mischief, yet, if he would but throw himself down, the fall might be his death, and then he should have got him finely out of the way.

Luk 4:10 for it has been written, ‘He shall command His messengers concerning You, to guard over You,’ – How he backed and enforced this temptation. He suggested, It is written. Messiyah had used the Authory of the scripture against him; and he thought he would be quits with him, and would show that he could quote scripture as well as he. It has been usual with heretics and seducers to pervert scripture, and to press the sacred writings into the service of the worst of wickedness.

He shall give his angels “Messengers” charge over thee, if thou be his Son, and in their hands they shall bear thee up. And now that he was upon the pinnacle of the temple he might especially expect this ministration of angels; for, if Yahushua was the Son of YAHVEH, the temple was the proper place for Him to be in (ch. 2:46); and, if any place under the sun had a guard of angels constantly, it must needs be that, Ps. 68:17.

Luk 4:11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear You up, lest You dash Your foot against a stone.’ ” – It is true, YAHVEH has promised the protection of angels, to encourage us to trust HIM, not to tempt Him; as far as the promise of YAH’s presence with us, so far the promise of the angels’ ministration goes, but no further: "They shall keep thee when thou goest on the ground, where thy way lies, but not if thou wilt presume to fly in the air.’’

Luk 4:12 And יהושע answering, said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not try יהוה your Elohim.’ ” –  How he was baffled and defeated in the temptation. Messiyah quoted Deu. 6:16, where it is said, Thou shalt not tempt the YAHVEH our EL, by desiring a sign for the proof of Divine revelation, when He has already given that which is sufficient; for so Yisrael did, when they tempted YAHVEH in the wilderness, saying, He gave us water out of the rock; but can he give flesh also? This Messiyah would be guilty of if He should say, "He did indeed prove me to be the Son of YAHVEH, by sending the Spirit upon me, which is the greater; but can he also give his angels a charge concerning me, which is the less?’’

Luk 4:13 And when the devil had ended every trial, he went away from Him until a convenient time. - What was the result and issue of this trial. Our victorious Redeemer passed the final test. He kept His ground, and came off a conqueror, not for himself only, but for us also.

The devil emptied his quiver: He ended all the temptation. Messiah gave him opportunity to say and do all he could against Him; Yahushua let him try all his force, and yet defeated every temptation or passed every test. Did Messiayah suffer, being tempted, till all the temptation was ended? And must not we expect also to pass all our trials, to go through the hour of temptation assigned us?

The adversery then quitted the field: He departed from Yahushua. He saw it was to no purpose to continue the testing; There was nothing in Yahushua for Satan temptation to find a root; Yahushua had no blind side, no weak or unguarded part in His defense, and therefore Satan gave up the cause. If we resist the devil, he will flee from us.

Yet he continued his malice against Yahushua, and departed with a resolution to try again; he departed but for a season, till a season, or till the season when he was again to be let loose upon him, not as a tempter, to draw Yahushua to sin, and so to strike at Yahushua’s head, which was what he now aimed at and was wholly defeated in; but as a persecutor, to bring Yahushua to suffer by Judas and the other wicked instruments whom he employed, and so to bruise Yahushua heel, which it was told him (Gen. 3:15) he should have to do, and would do, though it would be the breaking of his own head. He departed now till that season came which Messiyah calls the power of darkness (ch. 22:53), and when the prince of this