Your Daily Pesuk Sept. 5, 2018

Parashat Nitzavim / פרשת נצבים

• Wed, 5 September 2018 = 25th of Elul, 5778
• כ״ה בֶּאֱלוּל תשע״ח

Deuteronomy 30:1-6 (6 p'sukim)

Deuteronomy 30:1-6 Tree of Life Version (TLV)

30 “Now when all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart in all the nations where Adonai your God has banished you, 2 and you return to Adonai your God and listen to His voice according to all that I am commanding you today—you and your children—with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then Adonai your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples where Adonai your God has scattered you. 4 Even if your outcasts are at the ends of the heavens, from there Adonai your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Adonai your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it; and He will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 Also Adonai your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants—to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.

30 וְהָיָה֩ כִֽי־יָבֹ֨אוּ עָלֶ֜יךָ כָּל־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה הַבְּרָכָה֙ וְהַקְּלָלָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָתַ֖תִּי לְפָנֶ֑יךָ וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ֙ אֶל־לְבָבֶ֔ךָ בְּכָל־הַגּוֹיִ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר הִדִּיחֲךָ֛ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ שָֽׁמָּה׃

2 וְשַׁבְתָּ֞ עַד־יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֣ בְקֹל֔וֹ כְּכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם אַתָּ֣ה וּבָנֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ׃

3 וְשָׁ֨ב יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־שְׁבוּתְךָ֖ וְרִחֲמֶ֑ךָ וְשָׁ֗ב וְקִבֶּצְךָ֙ מִכָּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֧ר הֱפִֽיצְךָ֛ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ שָֽׁמָּה׃

4 אִם־יִהְיֶ֥ה נִֽדַּחֲךָ֖ בִּקְצֵ֣ה הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם מִשָּׁ֗ם יְקַבֶּצְךָ֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ וּמִשָּׁ֖ם יִקָּחֶֽךָ׃

5 וֶהֱבִֽיאֲךָ֞ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֛רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יָרְשׁ֥וּ אֲבֹתֶ֖יךָ וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֑הּ וְהֵיטִֽבְךָ֥ וְהִרְבְּךָ֖ מֵאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃

6 וּמָ֨ל יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֖ וְאֶת־לְבַ֣ב זַרְעֶ֑ךָ לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ לְמַ֥עַן חַיֶּֽיךָ׃

Pesuk 2 says "V'shavta Ad Adonai Elohecha"...  V'shavta has the root word שׁוּב "Shuv", which according to "Strong's Definition: A primitive root; to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat...

It is so very fitting that these pesukim are read today and during this season, only days away from Rosh Hashanah; as all Israel should be contemplating doing just this... Returning to our God!

There is an equally important promise in these Pesukim, speaking of a time in the prophetic future.  After all the exiles throughout Israel's history, there is going to be a Great Shuvah!  A revival of Israel, that will take place.  Our pesukim says it will happen when we are among the nations, where we have been banished, and we will remember our God.  Then we will "Return".

Returning is a matter of the heart, and the pesukim today call it: "U'mal Adonai Elohecha Et L'vavcha"... וּמָ֨ל יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֖

U'mal means: "and circumcise".  Adonai our God will be like a "Mohel" (pronounced "moyal"), just like in the ritual of circumcision of the flesh, so too will the barrier of the heart be removed.  This is a heart matter, but also it is a spiritual matter.  It is not something we can do ourselves.  Shuvah happens when our hearts are first circumcised.

Even in the uncircumcision condition of the heart, once can become circumcised, just as Abraham received the favor of God while he was still uncircumcised, as Rav Shaul points out;

Romans 4:9 Is this blessing then only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised? For we say, “trust was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”

10 In what state then was it credited? While circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the trust he had while he was uncircumcised, so he might be the father of all who are trusting while uncircumcised—that righteousness might be credited to them as well. 12 Also he is the father of the circumcised, to those not only circumcised but also walking in the footsteps of the trust of our father Abraham before his circumcision.

The matter of the heart comes when we put our "trust" in God.  True Faith, True Emunah, True Bitachon!  This is indeed the definition of a "REAL JEW"... not just someone circumcised on the 8th day, had a Bar Mitzvah at 13 and never darkened the door of the synagogue again...that is "NOTHING"....

Romans 2:28 For one is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something visible in the flesh. 29 Rather, the Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart—in Spirit not in letter. His praise is not from men, but from God.

This circumcision of the heart is what MUST HAPPEN.  A matter of the heart, and when that barrier is removed, and we RETURN... then we can truly see with spiritual eyes that have been opened about who the Messiah really is...and who we really are!  As Rav Shaul continues...

Romans 3:21 But now God’s righteousness apart from the Torah (i.e. "Torah observance", our ability to keep Torah) has been revealed, to which the Torah and the Prophets bear witness— 22 namely, the righteousness of God through putting trust in Messiah Yeshua, to all who keep on trusting. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are set right as a gift of His grace, through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua.  25 God set forth Yeshua as an atonement, through faith in His blood, to show His righteousness in passing over sins already committed. 26 Through God’s forbearance, He demonstrates His righteousness at the present time—that He Himself is just and also the justifier of the one who puts his trust in Yeshua.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what principle? Of works? No, but by the principle of faith. 28 For we consider a person to be set right apart from Torah observance. 29 Is God the God of the Jewish people only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. 30 Since God is One, He will set right the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then nullify the Torah through faithfulness? May it never be! On the contrary, we uphold the Torah.

In other words whether we are "physically" circumcised means little... what really matters is we have the circumcision of the heart, and this is done by the Spirit, not the hand of man, and we put our trust in the Messiah, Yeshua whom God sent into this world.  That is our Salvation, as Shaul taught:

Colossians 2:11 In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision done not by hand, in the stripping away of the body of the flesh through the circumcision of Messiah. 12 You were buried along with Him in immersion, through which you also were raised with Him by trusting in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with Him when He pardoned us all our transgressions. 14 He wiped out the handwritten record of debts with the decrees against us, which was hostile to us. He took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 After disarming the principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.