Parashat Eikev / פרשת עקב
- Sat, 4 August 2018 = 23rd of Av, 5778
- כ״ג בְּאָב תשע״ח
Deuteronomy 11:22-25 (4 p'sukim)
maf: 11:22-25 (4 p'sukim)
22 “For if you will diligently keep all this mitzvah that I am commanding you to do—to love Adonai your God, to walk in all His ways and to cling to Him— 23 then Adonai will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place where the sole of your foot treads will be yours—from the wilderness to the Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea will be your border. 25 No one will be able to stand against you—Adonai your God will put the fear and dread of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has promised you.
22 כִּי֩ אִם־שָׁמֹ֨ר תִּשְׁמְר֜וּן אֶת־כָּל־הַמִּצְוָ֣ה הַזֹּ֗את אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם לַעֲשֹׂתָ֑הּ לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֛ם לָלֶ֥כֶת בְּכָל־דְּרָכָ֖יו וּלְדָבְקָה־בֽוֹ׃
23 וְהוֹרִ֧ישׁ יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־כָּל־הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֖לֶּה מִלִּפְנֵיכֶ֑ם וִֽירִשְׁתֶּ֣ם גּוֹיִ֔ם גְּדֹלִ֥ים וַעֲצֻמִ֖ים מִכֶּֽם׃
24 כָּל־הַמָּק֗וֹם אֲשֶׁ֨ר תִּדְרֹ֧ךְ כַּֽף־רַגְלְכֶ֛ם בּ֖וֹ לָכֶ֣ם יִהְיֶ֑ה מִן־הַמִּדְבָּ֨ר וְהַלְּבָנ֜וֹן מִן־הַנָּהָ֣ר נְהַר־פְּרָ֗ת וְעַד֙ הַיָּ֣ם הָֽאַחֲר֔וֹן יִהְיֶ֖ה גְּבֻלְכֶֽם׃
25 לֹא־יִתְיַצֵּ֥ב אִ֖ישׁ בִּפְנֵיכֶ֑ם פַּחְדְּכֶ֨ם וּמֽוֹרַאֲכֶ֜ם יִתֵּ֣ן׀ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֗ם עַל־פְּנֵ֤י כָל־הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּדְרְכוּ־בָ֔הּ כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר לָכֶֽם׃ ס
"If Only"... If only we had listened to these words. The God of Israel promised 100% success in all of our endeavors; none of our enemies would ever rule over us, and we would be mightier and more powerful than any other nation...and the boundaries of Israel would look much different than it does today!
The key phrase here in today's Pesukim is: pesuk 24b from the wilderness to the Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea will be your border.
We read over this but do we have an image in our minds of what this actually means? Fortunately, for us according to Israel365, they created a map for us to get this image...
"This map features the biblical boundaries of the Land of Israel as described in Genesis 15:18 and Genesis 17:8.
Dan is described in the Bible as the northernmost city of the Kingdom of Israel
Be’er Sheva is described in the Bible as the southernmost city settled by the Israelites. Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov all spent time in Be’er Sheva (see map Journey of the Forefathers – Key Places).
The Nile River is Egypt’s primary source of water. At the beginning of the Israelite’s slavery in Egypt, Pharaoh commanded that all baby boys be thrown into the Nile (Exodus 1:22), and baby Moshe was placed in the Nile (Exodus 2:3) and drawn from the Nile (Exodus 2:5) when he could no longer be hidden from the Egyptians. The first two plagues the God brought upon the Egyptians also began in the Nile (Exodus 7:14-24, Exodus 7:26-8:11).
The Euphrates River is the longest river of Western Asia, and is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia. According to the Bible, the Euphrates was one of four rivers whose source was a river flowing from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:14).
There are two different phrases often used to describe the biblical boundaries of the Land of Israel:
From Dan (1) to Be’er Sheva (2)
From the Nile (3) to the Euphrates (4)
The expression from Dan to Be’er Sheva appears nine times in the Bible (Judges 20:1, I Samuel 3:20, II Samuel 3:10, II Samuel 17:11, II Samuel 24:2, II Samuel 24:15, I Kings 5:5, I Chronicles 21:2, II Chronicles 30:5), and is used to define the area of the Israelite settlement in the Land of Israel (highlighted in yellow on the map). These borders reflect the promise that God made to Avraham in Genesis 17:8 “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.” Though these are the basic borders of the Land of Israel, it is possible to expand beyond these borders as seen, for example, in Numbers 32.
The phrase “from the Nile to the Euphrates” includes a much bigger area than Dan to Be’er Sheva (highlighted in pink on the map). This phrase has its source in the Covenant of the Parts in which God promises Avraham “’Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). These two rivers mark the limits of potential expansion of the original borders of the Land of Israel. In addition, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag explains that the Nile and the Euphrates represent the two centers of ancient civilization, Egypt and Mesopotamia. By saying that the land in between these two bodies of water is set aside for the Children of Israel, God is implying that it is Israel’s destiny to become a blessing to all mankind by declaring His name “at the crossroads of the two great centers of civilization.”
This is extremely remarkable when you look at it from a Biblical Viewpoint. However, what actually happened in history is much different. Compared to the Biblical boundaries in this image, what Israel has today is only a "sliver" of what God had promised us.
If only our fathers would simply have clung to Adonai as it is writeen in pesuk 22, "walk in all His ways and to cling to Him—"
But thankfully, there remains a promise to Israel in today's Haftarah reading from Isaiah:
Isaiah 49:19 For your waste and desolate places
and your destroyed land
will now be surely too small for the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears,
“The place is too cramped for me!
Make room for me to settle in.”
21 Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne these for me?
Wasn’t I bereaved of my children—
barren, an exile and wandering?
So who has raised these?
Behold, I was left alone—
these, where were they?”
22 Thus says Adonai Elohim:
“Look, I will lift My hand to the nations,
and raise My banner to the peoples!
They will bring your sons on their chest,
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your guardians,
their princesses your nurses.
They will bow down to you with their face to the ground,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am Adonai—
those hoping in Me will not be ashamed.”....
51:2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you.
For when I called him, he was but one,
then I blessed him and multiplied him.”
3 For Adonai will comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her waste places.
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of Adonai.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and a sound of melody.
Let the World make no mistake, God is NOT finished with the Restoration of Israel. He alone is our King, and He will return to make His Presence and throne in Zion, and then, ALL ISRAEL WILL LIVE IN SAFETY AND BE SAVED!
Shabbat Shalom!
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