Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Have you ever been given a task that seems so impossible you wanted to give up before it even started? I'm sure you thought, that's impossible. I don't even know where to begin.
[00:00:09] We've all been there. But what if the impossible task wasn't assigned to you by your boss? Or even your teacher? Or even a family member? But what if it came straight from God? What would you do? Would you walk away because you knew you could never finish it? Or would you begin anyway? If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the commandments of Scripture and wondered, there's no way I can do all of that. You're not alone. Moses faced that very same dilemma, and what he learned may completely change the way you approach God's commandments. Join me as we discover why in this week's five Minute Torah.
[00:00:49] Shalom and Blessings from Shalom Macon, the place where disciples of Yeshua learn, connect and grow. I'm Darren, and before we get into the five minutes of my five Minute Torah commentary, let's cover a few quick facts about this week's Torah portion. This week we are studying the 45th Torah portion of the second portion of the Book of Deuteronomy. We are in the portion of Vayetchanan Deuteronomy 3, 23:7 11 and here are the three things that you need to know about it. Number one underlying hope the Faithfulness of Moses the portion of a canon opens with Moses heart fellowship plea for God to allow him to enter the Promised Land. Although God had already told him he would not cross over because of what had happened at the waters of Medebah, Moses still humbly asks one final time. His request reveals not only his deep longing to see the land, but also his enduring faith and unwavering commitment to the people of Israel. Even after God's answer is no, Moses spends the rest of his life faithfully preparing the next generation to inherit the promise he himself would never receive. That is the mark of the faithful Servant Number two Heavy Hitters the Ten Commandments and Shema the Torah portion of Veit Canaan contains two of the most foundational passages in all of Scripture. Moses restates the Ten Commandments, reminding the new generation of the covenant God established with them at Mount Sinai. He then proclaims the Shema Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 through 9, the central declaration of Israel's faith. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one more than a statement of belief. The Shema is a call to wholehearted love and covenantal faithfulness. Quoted by Yeshua in Mark 12 as the greatest commandment, it remains at the heart of Jewish worship, prayer, and daily life.
[00:02:39] 3 Don't add, don't subtract Guarding God's Word Word as Israel prepares to enter a land filled with competing cultures and beliefs, Moses gives a timeless warning. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it. Deuteronomy 4:2 the temptation would be to soften God's commandments to fit the culture or to pile on additional rules that he never gave. But covenantal faithfulness means preserving God's Word exactly as he revealed it. Same challenge confronts us today. Will we trust God enough to obey His Word on His terms? Resisting the urge to either dilute it or improve upon it, I have some exciting news to share. My newest book, Lost in Prayer, is expected to be released in just a few weeks on August 4th. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the sudur, wonder why Jewish prayer is structured the way it is, or long to experience a deeper connection with God through prayer, this book is for you. Lost in Prayer is a practical, messianic guide designed to help you navigate the prayers, understand their meaning, and discover the beauty that has drawn generations of worshipers into God's presence. While you're waiting for its release, I'd love to invite you to check out one of my other books. Whether it's the Four Responsibilities of a Disciple, the Spirit of the Law, cup of Redemption, Eight Lights, or one of my Five Minute Torah books, I hope they encourage you as you continue to grow in your walk with the Lord. This week's Torah commentary is called Eating Elephants Kosher Ones, that is, and comes from my book, Five Minute Torah, Volume one. Have you ever been overwhelmed at what seemed like an impossible task? We can respond to this in one of two ways. The first is to give up without trying, because we instantly know that we will not be able to complete the task. The alternative, however, is to get our minds off of the impossibility of the task and onto the responsibility at hand. If we focus on the immediate requirements of the task and work to our hardest on what we can do, then we might accomplish more than we realize. Moses was faced with a similar problem in this week's Torah portion. In Deuteronomy 4, we read, Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan. But the problem with this verse is that this is not actually what it says in the original Hebrew. If we were to read the actual Hebrew text, we would understand it to say, then Moses will set apart through three cities. This helps us understand why most translations change this to read in the past tense. It doesn't seem to make sense on the surface that Moses will, at some point in the future, separate these cities of refuge. How is Moses going to do this at some future time if he has been barred from entering into the Holy Land? Moses had a problem Without a solution in sight, he had been given an impossible task. Many people look at the task of living out a Torah centered life in a similar way. Which is we've wrongly been taught for far too long that living out the commandments of the Torah is impossible. Therefore, most people shrug it off without much thought. No one can live it out perfectly, many have said. But are we required to live out the precepts of the Torah flawlessly, or are we commanded to give it our best efforts every day? A Parable One day a man was walking along the beach early in the morning and noticed hundreds of thousands of precious stones and pearls that had washed up onto the beach during the night. They covered the beach as far far as the eye could see. Does he get depressed or give up when he realizes he will never be able to collect every last item that has washed up on the shore? Or does he become elated because he can collect as many as possible with any means he has? This should be our response to the overwhelming number of commandments in the Torah. We should rejoice in the few that we can observe and long for the ones we are currently missing out on. They are the precious gems given to us by our Creator and Redeemer. Yes, the task may be impossible to complete, but it is not impossible to embark on. As Rabbi Tarfon would say, it is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it.
[00:06:38] Even though Moses knew he could not enter the Promised Land and therefore could not personally work to establish these three cities of refuge, he nonetheless took up the task and began working toward their realization. Do we have the ability to bring back Yeshua and initiate the Messianic era? Maybe not. But we can definitely work toward their realization through faithfully living out the precepts given to us within the Torah and the rest of the Scriptures. Will we be able to live them out perfectly? No. We will just have to work on them a little bit every day until Yeshua's return. As they say, how do you eat an elephant? A kosher one, of course.
[00:07:16] One bite at a time. Moses never stopped serving simply because he couldn't finish the mission. He remained faithful with the part God had given him, trusting the next generation to carry it forward. That's exactly the heart of last week's Torah portion, Devarim, where Moses prepares Israel to renew their covenant before entering the Promised Land. If you haven't seen that episode yet, I'd encourage you to watch it next. It sets the stage beautifully for everything we covered in Veit Chanan. You can check it out right here.
