“The Lesson of Remembering…To Remember”
Parashah ‘EKEV (Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25) Week 46
“All the mitzvot I am giving you today you are to take care to obey, so that you will live, increase your numbers, enter and take possession of the land ADONAI swore about to your ancestors. You are to remember everything of the way in which ADONAI led you these forty years in the desert, humbling and testing you in order to know what was in your heart – whether you would obey his mitzvot or not. He humbled you, allowing you to become hungry and then fed you with manna which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that a person does not live on food alone but on everything that comes from the mouth of ADONAI.” (Deuteronomy 8:1-3 CJB)
“So, you will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless ADONAI your God for the good land he has given you.” (Deuteronomy 8:10 CJB)
In Parashah ‘Ekev, Moses expounds to the people of God, upon their history with God. The word ‘EKEV, meaning because, is relevant in the first verse as a confirmation. “Because you are listening to these rulings, keeping and obeying them, ADONAI your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy that he swore to your ancestors.” (Deuteronomy 7:12 CJB)
The people of God were set apart for His commandments, and His commandments were the way in which the people would be set apart. Through obedience to God’s instruction, each Hebrew life would be sanctified by the rulings of Adonai, thus sanctifying the Nation of Israel. The result of the sanctification of the Nation of Israel would bring blessings into all the world. This was the full circle of the journey around Mount Sinai! This full circle would encompass the entire globe; God’s circle of life. In this miraculous blueprint from heaven, there is an eternal aspect of the circle; no beginning and no end.
As I ran in the summer breeze this morning, exhaling the praises of Adonai, I asked for His revelation for Parashah ‘EKEV. So rich and deep are the words of Moses, as he repeats the words of Adonai. It is a revelation to even consider the obedience of God’s servant, Moses. He who would remember every word from the Lord, and repeat it with exacting clarity just as he heard it, is a lesson for us, for all time. What a prophet!
Moses was quick to exhort the Lord. Moses was slow to speak of his personal journey, as deliverer of the Nation of Israel. I saw Moses as I prayed. The life force from his heart was humbly given in service to Adonai, in all the ways God set before him on the blueprint of history. Moses was the shepherd of the new Nation of Israel. Self-sacrifice and self-denial was his call. Moses humbly obeyed all Adonai required. Moses was remembered by Adonai as the most humble man ever to have lived. Oh, to remember how to lead like this.
I prayed, “Adonai, help us to remember how to love and lead. I thank you Lord, for this glorious picture of your servant Moses, and his humility in action.”
The younger generation of Israel gathered to listen to the retelling of the days of slavery in Egypt. Moses retold the stories of how Adonai heard the cries of their grandparents, and of his leadership as intercessor and deliverer. Moses described the toil and the plagues under the stiff neck of Pharaoh. He told of the Nation’s delivery through the parting of the Red Sea. This young generation must have been spellbound, listening to the stories told with zeal, by the deliverer himself!
The miracles, the manna, the mountain, all led to the command; SHEMA! (Hear and obey)
Adonai promised that if the Nation would hear and obey, all would go well with them. Adonai promised their obedience would bring blessing. This truth was as clear, in the recounting of their years in the wilderness, as was the water flowing from Miriam’s well.
“Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which ADONAI our God has laid down for you?’ Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and ADONAI brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. ADONAI worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes. He brought us out from there in order to bring us to this land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us. ADONAI ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear ADONAI our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive as we are today. It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before ADONAI, our God, just as He ordered us to do.’” (Deuteronomy 6:20-25 CJB)
This is the lesson of Remembering…To Remember. The stories in the books of Moses resonate in our hearts. The more we immerse in Torah, the more our thoughts revolve around the truth. The more we feast in the Garden of Torah, the greater our zeal to feed those around us. It is in this ancient, cyclical way of studying Torah that we make the journey with God’s Nation, covered in His manifold presence, power, and pre-eminence flowing through our lives today.
This is the lesson of Remembering…To Remember. In opposition to remembering is the progression of falling away; because of forgetting to remember what Adonai has commanded that we hold dear. When our focus shifts, little by little to the world around us, the shift results in forgetting to remember, and eventually ceasing to care.
May we awaken from our slumber with a jolt! Remember, today is the day the Lord has made, because of His goodness and perfect plans for His own!
This is the lesson of Remembering…To Remember. Our life on earth is a journey lived one step at a time. Adonai is patient as we learn to walk with Him. Step by step, lesson by lesson, verse by verse, we grow into mature sons and daughters for the Kingdom. The blueprint is woven stitch by stitch, by His sovereign hand and our obedience to it.
May we remember to seek Him in His Tabernacle, all the days of our lives!
How blessed are we, to remember the Lord!
How pleasant is our praise and our song to Him.
How sweet is our rest in His faithful love.
By remembering to remember, our personal obedience to His word brings blessings which flow through us, and over all who are near and dear to us!
THIS, dear seeker, is worth remembering!
As I wrestle out this fresh grief and tear-filled mourning for my husband, just one month since his passing on July 8, remembering to remember is a new discipline for me!
By forcing myself to remember the blessings, the beauty, and the bounty of our 33 years of being one, as husband and wife, in covenant together with the Lord, I invoke new hope and healing. My zeal to be obedient in this next unknown phase of my life is ignited…whatever it may look like on the Tapestry from heaven!
I cannot see the finished side of this Tapestry from my vantage point! This is a low point where the valley-view is obstructed by the steep climb ahead! I can only trust my Lord to be good to me, in all things, and thus the beauty of the finished work of my life will end, in His pre-ordained artistry. Baruch Hashem!
This is what I want to remember!
Shabbat Shalom,
Sydney
I was extremely pleased to discover this site. I wanted to thank you for ones time for this particularly wonderful read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to see new stuff on your blog.