Deuteronomy – 11:3 Restoration

Years ago when I was in sales, I walked up to a scheduled appointment at a very nice looking condominium. As I knocked on the door my expectations were very high

(this was a ‘hot lead’) until the door opened. The putrid aroma that flew out of the home nearly bowled me over. It reeked.

Being in difficult financial straits, I chose to proceed inside to meet with the occupant and found a reasonably nice home, well decorated and pretty. The glaring problem was the dozens of piles of dog poo and pee stains all over the carpet. Seriously. A hazmat suit and breathing apparatus would not have been enough. The place needed a four alarm fire.

I didn’t vomit, but I didn’t make the sale either. I got out as quickly as I could and immediately went home for a shower.

There are three verses in Deuteronomy 23 that directly relate to this and hold some serious thoughts for us. Let’s read, Continue reading “God doesn’t like the smell of cr@p!!”

Originally published 8/11/14, but again brought to mind in my studies. Very important and interesting…

There have been a few thoughts from this week’s Parsha, Va’etchanan (and I pleaded), running through my head that I want to share in a rough format. Hopefully, someone will find these nuggets useful to chew.

‘from the midst of the fire…’

This portion, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11, encompasses some of the most important parts of Moshe’s message to the children of Israel as they prepare to enter the Land. As I read, there were a few words and phrases that were of particular interest. One such phrase, ‘from the midst of the fire,’ repeated at least eight times in chapters 4 & 5 was of particular interest!

Moshe is recounting the original giving of the Torah at Horeb/Sinai and to set the stage and remind them of the awesomeness of the Living God and the momentous event, he repeats this phrase multiple times. See 4:12, 15, 33, 37; 5:4, 22, 24, & 26!! Very interesting!

It immediately reminded me of Exodus 3 and the Angel of Yehovah appearing to Moshe in the burning bush and Yehovah speaking to Moshe from the fire. In one sense, it made me think of Moshe’s private encounter with a voice from the flame and then Israel returning to the same mountain for a corporate encounter. An interesting difference is that Moshe saw the Angel of Yehovah, where Israel “did not see any form, only a voice.” (4:12, 15)

In the connection between the Angel of Yehovah and the giving of the Torah, something we have explored more than once on this blog, Was Jesus on Mt. Sinai? being one, it is interesting to note that where the Memra is not mentioned very often in the Targumim, He shows up five times in this same group of verses: 3:22; 4:24, 33; 5:5 & 25. Notice the clear connections between the Memra [see brackets below] and the fire in these verses: Continue reading “‘from the midst of the fire…’”