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Here’s my Nitsavim-VaYelech commentary. Or listen to it!

Shabbat Shalom.

We have a double portion this week, so our parashahs for today are Nitsavim, which means “you are standing” and VaYelech, which means “and he went,” which cover Deuteronomy chapter 29, verse 10 (though due to a difference in numbering, some Bibles will say the portion starts at Chapter 29, verse 9,) through chapter 31, verse 30.

Now, the last time we met, I taught about how the L-RD commanded us to tie fringes on the four corners of your garments, putting a thread of blue upon the corner fringe as a reminder of the commands of the L-RD. And we talked about how the method of tying these fringes – called tzitzit in Hebrew, which is a word that has a numerical value of 600, as well as five knots and eight strands, which equals 613, the number of commands of the L-RD in the Torah.

Now, the fact that we teach about the 613 commands here at Beth Yeshua is something that makes us unique. It’s part of what distinguishes us as Messianic.

However, there are some common misunderstandings about the 613 commands related in these five books that comprise the Torah, and that is what I’d like to talk about today. When the subject of the Ten Commands comes up, or the 613 commands, or the five books of Torah or even the entire Tenakh – with perhaps the exception of Psalms and Proverbs – what is the most common misunderstanding?
“Well, the Law has been done away with.”

OK. What else is a common objection?

People might say, “Oh, this is all too difficult,” or “No one can keep all these commands. It’s impossible!” And you know what? On a technical level, I agree. No one can keep all 613 commands of the Torah. But not because human will is too weak. It’s because not all 613 commands are directed at everyone.

You see, among those 613 commands, there are commands that are for men only; there are commands that are for women only; there are commands that only apply to Levites; there are commands that only apply to those who sit on the earthly throne of Israel as king; there are commands that only apply to married people; there are commands that only apply to parents.

See, if you’re not a Levite, do you have to worry about keeping the commands for the Levites? No. Can you keep them even if you wanted to? No. They don’t apply to you. Can you keep the commands for parents if you are not a parent, even if you wanted to? Of course not.

So yes, technically, you can’t keep all of the commands of the Torah. I agree. But not because the human will is too weak to obey the L-RD; only because not all of the commands of the L-RD apply to everyone.

Now what about that argument that human will is too weak to keep the commands? Certainly there are verses that would seem to back this up, verses we all recognize, such as, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But is that passage talking about the weakness of human will to obey the written Torah? Or is there something else going on there?

We all understand that Scripture reveals Scripture, right? So let’s start our examination of these questions in this week’s parashah, where we read at:

Deuteronomy 30:11
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

In this passage, the L-RD is speaking through Moses to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. He has spent time summarizing the entire history of the Exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Torah, and the laws that shall govern them in the land they are about to enter. And so it is entirely appropriate at this point for the L-RD to reassure the people, so that they do not feel overwhelmed by the burdens and responsibilities they have been given and he shares these words. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

You know, as Solomon observed, there’s nothing new under the sun, is there? As it was back then in the days of Moses, so it is today. That’s what’s going on here. I’m sure many of the children of Israel listened to these 613 commands, this entire Torah, and found themselves overwhelmed by it, and in their hearts, if not yet on their lips, were thoughts that it was too much for God to ask, too much for Him to expect of them. That no one could ever keep it. And that’s how many people still feel about it today.

But is it true? Well, if the Torah is to be believed, and of course we trust that it is the Word of God, then we have to accept as true what we read here. “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”

Now, this is consistent with the life of Messiah Yeshua. He lived a life far above the standard set down in the Torah, and if He is our example, would he set an example that no one can follow, or would he set one that we are capable of following?

We also know of others who lived at or above the standard set by the Torah. For example, we read this in:

Luke 1:5-6
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.

We also know that Paul’s wishes for Yeshua’s early followers included a wish for them to live blamelessly, as we read in:

Philippians 1:9-10
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Messiah,

Finally, such an achievement is actually a requirement for leadership in a congregation, as we read in:

Titus 1:6-7
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless–not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.

So I ask you this: Is blameless keeping of the Torah standard really too hard for any believer to live up to?

Notice that these passages do not indicate sin-free living, but blameless living. I took most of my examples here from the New Covenant writings to demonstrate that this is not simply a Mosaic standard; the expectation to live a life blameless according to the written Torah is not only a command of the
L-RD to Moses, but it is how Yeshua lived out His example for us to follow, it is a standard many people are said to have lived up to in both the Old and New Covenant writings, and it was a general expectation for those in leadership in the first-century church. Would this be expected if it could not be accomplished?

The answer, of course, is no, it would not be required if it were impossible to attain. Again, it is important to remember that what the Torah requires is not the L-RD’s perfect standard for holy living, but merely the minimum standard for our behavior to be acceptable to Him, a minimum standard that was the result of negotiations between the L-RD and Moses. In other words, it’s the least we could do in gratitude for all He has done for us.

This is why Yeshua so often taught things in this style, saying, “You have heard it said, but I tell you this.” In each teaching of that style, Yeshua was always raising the standards, not lowering them or doing away with them. And He did this to point out that not only was the Torah standard achievable, but much more was possible as well.

Take Yeshua’s teaching on divorce for example. The Torah standard is for a husband to write his wife a certificate of divorce; Yeshua pointed out that Moses allowed for divorce because our hearts were hard, and that, except for marital infidelity, divorce was not acceptable. I should add that it was understood in Yeshua’s time that the preservation of life came before all the rules of the Torah, so divorce would also be acceptable for those in abusive marriages.

So, I submit that it is a myth that no one can live up to the expectations of the Torah. In fact, we’re called to live beyond it, far above that minimum standard.

Of course, let’s not deceive ourselves. We are all subject to sin; we all fall short of the L-RD’s perfect standard. But, as I pointed out a few weeks ago, there is a vast difference between the occasional slip into sin in a moment of weakness and what Paul identifies in:

Galatians 5:21
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

That phrase, “live like this,” indicates a state of ongoing, willing, unrepentant sin. It is that point at which we give up the struggle against the fleshly desires, snuff out the will of the Spirit in our lives, and we begin to justify and excuse whatever sinful behavior captures and enslaves us.

That is what the L-RD is referring to here as well as he speaks to the people of Israel through Moses in this week’s reading. The L-RD is not impatient with those who slip up occasionally; but those who allow their hearts to grow hard and unrepentant will not go unpunished by Him.

What about the misunderstanding that God’s will is too complex and unknowable? Let’s read on in:

Deuteronomy 30:12-14
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

Here, the L-RD makes plain that His word, His standards, are completely accessible. Not only are they possible to achieve, but they are no mystery, either. He has made His will known in the words of the written Torah, so all that’s really necessary is to obey; to accept the L-RD’s word as right and just and correct, and then submit our will to His and live by it.

For example, is it possible to observe a seventh day Sabbath? Absolutely. Is there a cost to doing so if you’re in a family that goes to church on a different day? You bet. So it comes down to a willingness to obey, once you are convinced that God’s will is accurately laid out in His word, rather than in the human traditions we’re used to observing. So there’s a cost to obedience, but is there a reward as well? Certainly.

Let’s read on in:

Deuteronomy 30:15-18
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the L-RD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the L-RD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

That’s our insight for today; the L-RD is and will always be consistent. He is not a God who deals unfairly, making demands that are impossible to meet. He is not a God who gives one set of rules to one person, and another set of rules to another. Now, our completion comes through the Messiah Yeshua, who makes up for our failings. The challenge of following the Living Torah is always to be moving closer toward more perfect obedience, rather than lounging about in our sin, overconfident in our own salvation to the point that we no longer even struggle against our sinful desires.

Shabbat Shalom.