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DELVING INTO DEUTERONOMY

BOOK 2

by Dr Lawrence Duff-Forbes

Content

1. PLATEAU OF PERSPECTIVE

2. LIKE UNTO MOSES 3. GOD'S TREASURE 4. SERMONS IN STONES 5. THE POTENTIAL OF "IF"

6. HEART SURGERY 7. TRANSFER AND TRANSITION 8. ISRAEL AND THE ROCK 9. ISRAEL AND THE RETRIBUTION 10. ISRAEL AND THE REACTIONARIES 11. ISRAEL AND THE REDEMPTION 12. THE MAN WHOM GOD BURIED 13. FIVE FAULTLESS FLOODLIGHTS

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PLATEAU OF PERSPECTIVE

MY DEAR FRIENDS, immediately following the termination of World War I, I was stationed in the delightful city of Brussels at such a time when Byron's lines could have had full application, for truly, at that time,

Belgium's capital had gather'd then Her Beauty and her Chivalry, and bright The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.

During my brief sojourn in that famous city, I hailed with eagerness the opportunity of visiting the historic battlefields of Waterloo. On that scene had been erected an artificial eminence or mound and from its summit one obtained a magnificent panorama of the whole battlefield. As I looked my imagination populated the scene with the contending armies in the surge and sway of battle, bitter and bloody. It was a memorable experience, yet my vantage point had its limitations. It had fed my mind with history only. There is another vantage point, however, that will provide far richer fare, and from its summit we will be supplied with history considerably wider than the narrow boundaries of the year 1814, and of infinitely greater and lasting consequence. But more. From its lofty heights we shall be able to survey the future and assess the present. I therefore invite you to climb with me to the summit of the fourth book of Moses known in English as Deuteronomy, and in Hebrew as Devarim. In the eleven messages immediately preceding this one, we have used the first eleven chapters of Deuteronomy as salient steps in an ascent to the central section consisting of chapters twelve through twenty-six. This section is like an elevated plateau to which we have now climbed and from which we can look both ways – backward through history and forward through Biblical prophecy. Our great prophet and teacher Moses has already directed our eyes in the backward glance over Israel's history from the wilderness of Sinai to the plains of Moab.

5 This central plateau we shall call the plateau of REPETITION, because it is constructed of a repetition and amplification of LEGISLATIVE prescriptions which Moses deemed wise to repeat for the benefit of the new generation of Israel then about to enter the Promised Land. In the centre of many a mound and monument it is customary to find some sort of inscription and I think we may be permitted to adopt as such the very central verse of Deuteronomy's 955 verses in the Hebrew Bible. Nor shall we find this adoption lacking in significance. Let us plant our feet squarely upon this central verse thus mechanically located and read the significant inscription upon which we have elected to stand. The tenth verse of the seventeenth chapter of Deuteronomy is mechanically central in the book. Let me read you our great Jewish commentator Rashi's translation of this verse. Here it is :

"And thou shalt do according to the word, which they of that place which the Eternal shall choose shall tell thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they teach thee."

You will notice that I have emphasized that word "do," for it is unmistakably the commandment of God, bringing with it blessing for observance and disaster and death for non-observance. Beloved friends, let us be quite honest about all this. Our backward look into the past doesn't encourage us to hope in future "doing" shall we not be again disappointed and disillusioned? Most assuredly we shall. But we shall not despair if we follow the other lessons this great volume Deuteronomy has for us. Although the central spot on which our feet stand assures us of LAW's abiding frown upon failure to "DO," yet have we not now already learned, from this same Deuteronomy, of LOVE's promise of Divine aid and redemption? Messianic redemption? It is true we have looked back into a sad past, failure-crammed; but we can equally truly turn our backs upon it and look forward into a hopeful future, promise-crammed. As we now turn to search this prophetic horizon of hope for Israel, and through Israel for all the world, I would like to call your attention to the poetic juxtaposition of the two chapters that flank our central verse on each side.

6 Preceding it is chapter sixteen; following it is chapter eighteen. This is so harmonious that I feel tempted to declare it Divine design, for human "DOING" is flanked on one side by God's grace enacted in Divine pantomime (using that word, of course, in its correct, sober meaning) and on the other side by Divine grace enshrined in Divine promise. Let us see this spiritual structure and its implications more clearly. Chapter sixteen is devoted to reference to Israel's three great feasts, Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. These feasts are admittedly historico-agricultural yet possessing a strong commemorative motif with the objective of attaching and maintaining Israel in the attitude and disposition of true worship to the God of the Universe. But even this great fulness does not exhaust the wonderful spiritual content of these feasts, for I am persuaded they possess also a symbolic element definitely prophetic. I have examined all these holy convocations somewhat exhaustively in past messages and they will appear in printed form in due time. (see "PAGEANTS THAT PROPHESY") However, let me refer to these feasts, stripped of detail, as they appear in relation to the central section of the book we are currently considering, Deuteronomy. Pesach, Passover, a pre-Levitical feast, presses home its eloquent message of Divine redemption through the shed blood of the appointed Paschal lamb. Not that there is any "magic" in the blood itself; the spiritual value and lesson lies in that which the blood signifies – a life poured out, as Moses so clearly teaches us when he speaks for God in the Divine declaration which I now quote from Vayikra, that is, Leviticus: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that make atonement by reason of the life. " (Leviticus 17:11) Immediately associated with Pesach is the Unleavened bread, . Since leaven is always the Biblical symbol for corruption and sin, we see here the blessed issues of Divine redemption: namely, the cleansing from sin consequent upon the blood of the Lamb. How well and wonderfully God has provided for human failure to "DO"! The Paschal Lamb is undoubtedly the symbolic representation of Israel's great Messiah-Redeemer and the Unleavened Bread the symbolic representation of that spiritual condition and Divine acceptance imputed by Divine grace to all, whether Jew or Gentile, whose faith rests in the comfort

7 of the great atonement wrought out and achieved two thousand years ago by Israel's prophesied Messiah. Shavuot, with its two leavened loaves, typifies both Jew and non-Jew equally unable to "DO," yet fully accepted by the Holy God by virtue of that redemption portrayed by Pesach, Passover. Sukkot symbolizes the whole nation of Israel, the twlve tribes of Israel, brought by Divine grace, at the end of this Age, to a national acceptance of the truths emphasized by the other feasts and, as a consequence, basking in the provision and protection of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How will this glad consummation be achieved? For our answer we turn to the other flank of our central verse and there, embedded in the eighteenth chapter, our prophet Moses refers to a Particular Prophet of paramount importance. This great Being is undoubtedly the One Sent by God to bring to complete fruition all the Divine bestowals and blessings so beautifully symbolized in the feasts. I shall have more to say about this Prophet in my next message, so be sure to keep listening, won't you?

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LIKE UNTO MOSES

MY DEAR FRIENDS, the German historian Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891) in his Dibre Yeme Yisrael (IV.406) quotes a somewhat catchy little saying which, because of the literary area in which it is domiciled, has acquired no small degree of popularity. Let me quote it for you. Here it is:

"From Moses to Moses, there was none like Moses." It is catchy, isn't it? What does it mean? Well, as you can guess, the phrase has in view three separate individuals each possessing the name "Moses." The first named is, of course, the Moses, our great teacher and prophet of God; the second so named refers to the great philanthropist, Moses Montefiore (1784-1885); and the saying itself is, therefore, intended as a tribute to the greatness of the third individual, Moses ben Maimon, better known as Maimonides. Now, Moses Maimonides was born in Cordova, in Spain, in the year 1135 of the Common Era and he became justly famous as a physician, a philosopher, and a codifier. In effect, therefore, our catchy little saying is a declaration that from the advent of Moses, the great recipient of the Ten Commandments and the pattern of the , the Tabernacle, right through to the year 1784 CE, no Jewish figure was capable or worthy of comparison with Moses Maimonides. Now, I am not only prepared but also happy to concede that the originator of this collocation of words may not have intended that they be taken too seriously; nevertheless, lest there be such a peril because of the popularity of the phrase, it would be perhaps wise to refer them to our great and authoritative Teacher, Moses of the Torah, the Law. What would be the fate of this catchy little phrase under his Divinely-illumined scrutiny? Fortunately the eighteenth chapter of Devarim, Deuteronomy, will supply the irrefutable answer. Here are the words of the greatest individual ever to bear the name Moses:

15 "A Prophet, from the midst of thee, from thy brethren, like me; shall the Eternal thy God(s) raise up unto thee; unto him ye shall hearken . . . " (Deuteronomy 18:15) And to any who might question the sufficiency of Moses' own prophetic utterance on this matter, Moses grants knowledge of the Divine Origin of the promise when he adds: "And the Eternal said unto me: 'They have well said that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee …'" (Ibid., verses 17,18a)

9 Here then, my friends, we have the gauge, the standard, the criterion, the touchstone, the yardstick whereby we may test and measure the reliability and hence the acceptability of our catchy little saying. God has declared that He Himself would raise up unto Israel a Prophet like Moses. Just think of it for a moment – a second Moses! It would be the height of folly to minimize the magnitude of this Divine promise. It is futile – utterly futile – to suggest as some have done that Joshua was the Promised Prophet (i.e. Ibn Ezra, Bechai) or that Jeremiah fills the picture. When the full stature of Moses himself is fully captured by the mind and appreciated, these and other figures have the appearance of a three-year-old child tripping precariously round the back yard in his father's trousers! Right here it will be profitable for us to assess somewhat the magnitude of Moses. It was Shakespeare who declared:

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts . . . " (As You Like It, Act II Scene 7)

With Shakespeare's gracious permission, I would like to apply this partial quotation to Moses. However, in doing so I wish to dismiss from the application all the concepts of human fantasy or fiction which embellish the legitimate theatre, for the actor we have in mind had his parts thrust upon him by Almighty God. Moreover, they were portrayals possessing purpose – definite Divine purpose. Indeed, our simile could be better expressed and extended in the words of Du Bartas:

"The world's a stage where God's omnipotence, His justice, knowledge, love and providence, Do act the parts." (Divine Weekes and Workes)

The world was indubitably the stage; God the Creator of the parts; and Moses the Divinely-selected actor for all of them. Someone has suggested that Moses assumed no less than twenty-four offices or functions. It certainly would be an alluring and profitable occupation to explore this estimate with a view to confirmation or otherwise; however, we have no difficulty whatever in observing him fulfilling the various roles of Prophet, Mediator, King, Redeemer, Liberator, Leader, Lawgiver, Warrior, Shepherd, Priest, Teacher, Prince, Servant, Intercessor, Voluntary Substitute, and Intimate of God.

10 This then – as you see – is something of the stature of the mighty Moses; hence, rejecting – utterly rejecting – modern Jewish expositions resulting merely from polemics, I have the greater respect for our ancient Jewish interpretation which exhibits Moses as a type of the Messiah, and urges Israel to study Moses so that, through him – Moses – Israel may be helped to identify the Messiah Whom Moses adumbrates, and of Whom Moses wrote. Just as an undistorted shadow, though lacking the full details of the substance producing it, is nevertheless a reliable indication of that substance; so Moses, the shadow, is a reliable indication of Messiah, the Substance. The learned rabbi, Levi ben Gershon, better known as Gersonides (1288-1344), commenting on this very passage of Devarim, that is Deuteronomy, observes – and here I quote him:

"In fact the Messiah is such a prophet as it is stated in the Midrash on the verse, 'Behold my servant shall prosper …' Moses by the miracles which he wrought drew but a single nation to the worship of God, but the Messiah will draw all nations to the worship of God."

On this point I am in hearty agreement with Gersonides. It is also interesting to observe the paraphrase adopted by our very ancient Jewish Targums. Let me quote it:

"… and a Prophet of Righteousness will the Lord your God give you; a Prophet from among you of your brethren like unto me, with the Holy Spirit will the Lord your God raise up unto you; to Him shall you be obedient."

That is the end of the quotation from the Targum Jerusalem. Maimonides himself discerns something of the magnitude of the Promised Prophet for in his famous Moreh Nevuchim he weds the Deuteronomy passage with the twenty-third chapter of Exodus where God refers to a Heavenly Messenger as Israel's protecting Escort to the Promised Land. As we scan the archway of the ages from "Moses to Moses" what Jewish Figure fills and overflows the measure of majesty shadowed forth by the first Moses? Who was hailed publicly in Jerusalem as "King of the Jews"? Was it not the same One Who declared that Moses wrote of Him (John 5:46)? Was He not both Prince of Peace and Servant of God? Was not He so completely an

11 Intimate with God that He declared that no one had seen God except Himself for He and the Father are , One? If we believe His words as we believe the words of Moses, should we not be glad that we have found Him of Whom Moses spoke? For beyond doubt the record of our Jewish New Covenant, New Testament, exhibits Him as Prophet and Mediator, Teacher and Leader, Priest and Lawgiver, Intercessor and Shepherd, and – as the Prophesied Messiah-Redeemer of Israel – the Voluntary Substitute for the sin of fallen man, in which capacity already He has undoubtedly drawn the redeemed of all nations, both Jewish and Gentile, to the worship of God. It is my sincere wish that you, dear friend, may be among these worshippers.

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GOD'S TREASURE

MY DEAR FRIENDS, in my earlier army days I recall having to undergo a course in signalling by heliograph. A heliograph is a device which, by means of a movable mirror so positioned that it receives upon its prepared surface the constant light from the sun, reflects that light in brilliant regulated codeflashes over quite a considerable distance. By this means messages can be transmitted accurately from one point to another. The word "heliograph" is quite an interesting one. "Helio" is a word element meaning "sun," the sun that shines from the heavens. "Graph" is a word element meaning "to write," "to draw," "to delineate." Basically, then, the word "heliograph" means "sun-writing." Writing with or by means of the sun. It is quite important for me to add that the mirror must be in the proper relationship to the light from the sun in order to reflect that light, and the more accurate the mirror's position the more brilliant the reflection, and consequently the more efficient the signal. Of course, the reverse also is true. A mirror out of position either gives a weak and ineffective signal or no signal at all. Now it so happens that there is a word in the Hebrew language that sounds something like the English word "signal." It is the Hebrew word which means basically "to gain" or "to acquire," and hence in the feminine nounal form means "treasure." Whilst there is no etymological relationship between the English word "signal" and the Hebrew word (segullah) nevertheless, because of an affinity which I wish to create in them for your entertainment and, I hope, instruction, I am going to wed them together for the duration of this message. I feel confident there will be some spiritual treasure from the offspring of the union. The Hebrew word "segullah" appears in one form or another only about eight times in the Hebrew Tenach, the so-called "Old Testament" and, as an aid to the capture of the idea embedded in the word, we might quote First Chronicles 29:3 where the great King David, in generous outburst of love towards God an the Temple, declares: "Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure (a segullah) of mine own of gold and silver, I give it unto the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house."

13 There you are, my friends, that is the concept conveyed by the word "segullah"; a treasure, something peculiar in itself and peculiar to its possessor; something "uncommon," "unusual," "distinguished in nature or character from others" and, hence, also as belonging exclusively to a particular individual or thing. It is in this sense that the English Bible so employs and translates the Hebrew word "segullah" when converting the Hebrew into English in such a passage as, for instance, Deuteronomy 26:16-19, where in the English we read: "This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgements: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and to hearken unto his voice: And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken." That is admittedly rather a long quotation but it serves admirably to illustrate the use of the English word "peculiar" as a translation of the Hebrew word "segullah." It also illustrates the character of the wedding I make between that Hebrew word and the English word "signal." The people of Israel, as a national entity, were to be God's heliograph. Keeping the moral and religious quality of their national life polished and positioned towards the heavenly light blazing from the revelation God had granted of Himself, Israel was called to signal that supreme and illuminating message into the darkest corners of the earth. Israel, nationally, was called to be God's own supreme missionary nation to the Gentile peoples and, in such a capacity and relationship, was declared by God to be unto Him His own peculiar people, His treasure, His "segullah," His signal. Listen to this same expression in the other two of its Deuteronomic uses:

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14 "For thou art a holy people unto the Eternal thy God(s); The Eternal thy God(s) hath chosen thee to be His own treasure (segullah), out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth." (Deuteronomy 7:6 and repeated at Deuteronomy 14:2 and compare Exodus 19:5) Israel nationally, as I said, was to be God's heliograph. Well, my friends, what is the verdict of history? With all my heart I seek a brave, gentle, sincere, and true answer. There be those who say that Israel has failed, totally failed, and is thus Divinely outcast and rejected. I am in emphatic disagreement with such an outlook and find it to be not only at variance with the Tenach but also contrary to the teaching of our own Jewish New Testament. But more, is it not a libel upon the character and constancy of God Himself? On the other hand, there be those who say that Israel, as a national entity, has fulfilled fully his great commission. With this, the opposite outlook, I find myself in equally emphatic disagreement, and for precisely the same reasons. Where, then, lies the truth? May I ask you to find it with me in an outlook somewhere between the two extremes to which I have just referred? I suggest that Israel, as a national mirror designed to reflect the Person and purposes of God, was originally fixed in position by God Himself but that, down the ages, this national mirror was moved out of the ideal position by the hands of mere unauthorized human tradition. In later ages, it was farther knocked out of the ideal position by the persecutions of human tyrants. The result was that, whilst the reflected light was not totally extinguished, it became nevertheless largely ineffective. As early as the days of Malachi we discern this moving of the mirror. I quote from the third chapter: "Then they that feared the Eternal Spoke one with another; And the Eternal hearkened and heard, And a book of remembrance was written before Him, For them that feared the Eternal, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Eternal of Hosts, In the day that I do make, even Mine own treasure (segullah) …" (verses 16,17a) The Hebrew term Segullah, 'special possession,' once descriptive of all Israel (Exodus 19:5) is here applied to the faithful minority. (see The Rev. Dr. A. Cohen (ed.). The Twelve Prophets, The Soncino Press, 1948, page 354). It was surely this "faithful minority" of Israel who received Israel's prophesied Messiah-Redeemer when He came and who "had to decide whether to authorize missionary work in the Gentile world. With hesitations and reservations they took the revolutionary step," and the Gentile church was

15 born; an organization which, whilst as guilty as Israel of human departures from Divine revelation, has nevertheless reflected sufficiently the heavenly signal of Redeeming Love. In this connection I think of Prior's words:

The merchant, to secure his treasure, Conveys it in a borrow'd name.

Unfortunate Israel! A mirror moved by rabbinism and knocked by ecclesiasticism, the Merchant has been obliged to let others borrow your name, but you are still God's "segullah" and He has pledged Himself to restore you to your pristine position. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, And the glory of the Eternal is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, And gross darkness the people; But upon thee the Eternal will arise, And His glory shall be seen upon thee." (Isaiah 60:1,2) God's hand will yet return to His "segullah," His heliograph, to signal, not of the sun in the heavens, but of His Son from the heavens!

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SERMONS IN STONES

MY DEAR FRIENDS, Shakespeare in his play As You Like It refers to the possibility of stones preaching sermons. But he was by no means the original discoverer of this potential. Thousands of years before Shakespeare was born, stones were used to preach one of the most important sermons ever presented to mankind. Indeed, not only stones but whole mountains were employed. You will find the record of this mighty message in the twenty-seventh chapter of Devarim that is, Deuteronomy. Moses and the elders of Israel were responsible for the issue of detailed instructions to the children of Israel regarding the enactment of a solemn pageant to be performed upon the very day they were to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Let us note first the outward actions of this imposing pageant and then capture the incomparable sermon enshrined within it. Moses had completed a long and impelling rehearsal of the Law and the Covenant. These included law relative to Israel's national religious life (chapter 12:1 through chapter 16:17); law of an administrative character (chapter 16:18 through chapter 18:22); criminal law (chapter 19:1 through chapter 21:14); and, finally, certain miscellaneous laws (chapter 21:15 through chapter 26:16). Now, Moses instructs Israel that as soon as the Jordan River is crossed and Canaan entered they are to set up "great stones, and plaster them with plaster" and inscribe upon them "all the words of this law." These inscribed, plastered stones were to be set up in Mount Ebal. (Deuteronomy 27:2,3) This Mount Ebal is a mountain about 3,076 feet (900m) high from which a magnificent view can be obtained. To the west, from its summit, one can behold the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea; to the north the snow-capped dome of Hermon; whilst to the east, Hauran looms into view. Looking southward, however, the prospect is partially obstructed by the adjacent Mount Gerazim, a mountain which also plays an important part in this significant stony sermon as we shall shortly see. Mount Gerazim is not quite so high as Ebal, being only 2,847 feet (840m), and it is situated near the city of Shechem, also in the Promised Land. Six of the tribes of Israel were to be stationed on Mount Ebal and the other six on Mount Gerazim, whilst the Levites remained with the Ark of the Covenant in the centre of the interval between the two mountains, an interval judged to be somewhere about 200 yards (160m).

17 Israel was thus poised to engage in the enactment of a sequence of great solemnity. Moses had previously confronted the people with a momentous choice. Here are his words: "Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of the Eternal your God(s), which I command you this day; and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of the Eternal your God(s), but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known." (Deuteronomy 11:26-28) In this eloquent disposition, led by the Levites, Israel is charged to make solemn proclamation of the blessing and the curse of the Law. Mount Gerazim is the scene of the blazoning of the blessings, Mount Ebal the scene of the calling of the curse. One further feature is to be noted regarding Mount Ebal, and it is an eloquent and important feature. Let me recite to you the pertinent passage of Scripture regarding it: "And there (i.e. on Mount Ebal) thou shalt build an altar unto the Eternal thy God(s), an altar of stones; thou shalt lift up no iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Eternal thy God(s) of unhewn stones; and thou shalt offer burnt-offerings thereon unto the Eternal thy God(s). And thou shalt sacrifice peace-offerings, and shalt eat there; and thou shalt rejoice before the Eternal thy God(s)." (Deuteronomy 27:5-7) My friends, as we, with the eyes of the mind, behold these two mountains companioned by the three groupings of Israel's children, and monumented by the stony symbols, we feel a strong allurement to have the eyes of the intelligence opened also that we may be able to absorb and comprehend this immense sermon in stones. As an aid to enlightenment, allow me to summarize some salient features of the situation:

1. There are no stones on the Mount of Blessing – Gerazim. Neither the plastered stones inscribed with the Law; nor the unhewn stones constituting the altar. The Mount of Cursing – Ebal, has them all.

2. Although the Holy Scriptures record in full detail all the curses so solemnly proclaimed from Ebal, yet there is not a single syllable of record concerning the promulgation of the blessings from Gerazim. Twelve times the record rings with the uttered curse but we strain our ears in vain for any recorded echo of the blessings. (Deuteronomy 27:15-26)

18 Now, what do you make of it? Shall I give you the interpretation to which I find myself attached? The Law, although spiritual and perfect, is an outward ethic lacking an inward power to produce response from the unregenerate heart of fallen man, whether Jew or Gentile. The circumcision of the flesh by the hands of man, although an admirable symbol of an ideal condition, yet possessed in itself no power to transform the heart and to alter the nature of the individual subjected to it. That is precisely why, throughout Tenach – the Old Testament, God spoke of the necessity of a second circumcision – a circumcision of the heart by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Refer, for instance, to Devarim – Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse 6. So with the inscribed stones on Ebal. Although an admirable symbol of an ideal condition, there was no demonstrated dynamic to predispose sinful man towards law-keeping. Hence, on the basis of law our ears resound to the curse but the greater eloquence is the silence of the record regarding the blessing! Don't you think so? The "great stones" belong to Ebal and not to Gerazim because the Law can only be a curse to law-breakers; and since all sons of fallen Adam, whether Jew or Gentile, are by nature law-breakers; the Law can only bring the curse and not the blessing upon the children of men. Is this a bitter potion? Admittedly! Most medicines seem to be unpalatable. But this bitter draught must be swallowed if we are to be sufficiently restored to receive the beneficent therapy of the second stony sermon to which I now turn. My friends, it was on Ebal that the altar was placed! The Altar of Sacrifice. And note the prohibition against bringing upon these stones of the altar the tools of man; each stone must be unhewn, just as God in nature had left it. Thus we are again reminded that it is not by our works but by God's grace that salvation comes to the sinner, the breaker of God's Law. The "great stones," plastered and inscribed with the Law preach their powerful sermon of man's sin; the unhewn stones constituting the Altar of Sacrifice preach their comforting sermon of God's grace. Nor are the stony sermons in opposition, you see, for both are on Mount Ebal. God's Law and God's Love are not divorced; both are within the Covenant. LAW is set forth by the "great stones," but LOVE is set forth by the Altar of Sacrifice. Yet, it may be said, sacrifices have ceased. Of course, Israel's Divinely-instituted animal sacrifical system was itself but a symbol pointing towards the atoning sacrifice of Israel's Messiah of Whom it is written, "Messiah hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law …" (Galatians 3:13)

19 These words are in our Jewish New Covenant, popularly known as the New Testament, and for Israel to ignore our Jewish New Testament is as serious an omission as failure to observe the Altar on Ebal, for if we ignore the Sacrifice we have only the Stones.

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THE POTENTIAL OF "IF"

MY DEAR FRIENDS, shall I invite you to share a confidence with me? For many years I have felt convinced that in the hearts of my people there was a real longing for the deeper spiritual truths of our sacred Jewish Scriptures. I determined, therefore, to cater for that hunger and these messages to Israel entitled "TREASURES FROM TENACH" are the result, and the response to them fully justifies my earlier convictions and I am, therefore, deeply grateful. But more – and this is important, I find a double consolation in the fact that so many non-Jewish people take their very welcome place in my audience and honor me with their evidence of esteem and regard and their touching expressions of sympathy and friendship towards my people, Israel. This warms my heart and gives me courage and inspiration to continue this ministry as the God of Israel enables. It has been very well said that "the Scriptures continue to unite Jewish and non-Jewish folk in love and in fellowship and it is for just this very spirit of tenderness that I now plead, as together, we explore perhaps the grimmest passage of Scripture in all Israel's prophetic Divine oracles. I refer to the twenty-eighth chapter of Devarim – that is, Deuteronomy. How I wish I could avoid it. It wrings the heart. Yet its awful details have been literally outworked in Israel's long and agonized history. Frequently, if we are ever to reach a desired mountain-top, we are obliged first to pass through dark and depressing approaches. Deuteronomy, chapter 28, is one such; and, in our journey together through it, it is good to know and to feel the fellowship and companionship of so many non-Jewish friends. Let us all find strong consolation on the journey by the firm assurance of the prophesied sunshine ahead. There is a little English word possessing only two letters but upon it can hang the conquest of continents, the health of humanity, and the very hope of heaven. Its potential is prodigious. It packs a punch more powerful that a hydrogen bomb. Its possibilities are limitless. Out of its gossamer fabric every dream, without exception and no matter how fantastic, can acquire blissful realization. It is the word – the paramount, supreme and unrivalled word – in the whole English vocabulary. Yet it possesses only two letters. That little word is "IF." If all our "ifs" were realized our wildest imaginings would be wild no longer and our imagination itself would and could become the factory to produce the reality of our "ifs," if our imaginations were large enough for the happy output.

21 If we had some bread, we could have some bread and butter, if we had some butter. Do you see what I mean? The "ifs" make all the difference between food and famine. Shakespeare said ,

" … much virtue in If" (As You Like It, Act V). He also said, "Tellest thou me of 'ifs'? Thou are a traitor: Off with his head!" (Richard III, Act III)

It is, nevertheless, my task to tell you of "ifs," and I would indeed be a traitor to the truth if I didn't tell you of them, because they constitute the clues to conduct us through the enigma of Israel's pathetic history and to bring us out into the ecstasy of Israel's prophesied haven. The twenty-eighth chapter of Devarim – Deuteronomy – begins with an "IF" in the very first verse:

. . . 1 "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Eternal thy God(s) …" Have you ever held up a string of pearls by the first pearl, leaving the rest of the precious pearls suspended beneath it? Suspended, tantalizingly, from this little pearl of an "if" are fourteen pearly verses packed with precious promise of prosperity and security. The word "blessing," in one form or another, appears nine times in these few verses; moreover, these blessings extend over at least sixteen named items and activities of paramount importance to human welfare and happiness. In addition, as if to dwarf abundance itself, superabundance is superimposed upon it. If Israel could smite this rocky "if" with the rod of performance, the living waters would indeed flow. Here is a brief summary of the "if" blessings: Israel's enemies would be impotent (verse 7); Israel would be firmly established in his relationship with the Godhead (verse 9); Israel would be esteemed by all the peoples of the world (verse 10); Israel would be excessively abundant (verse 11); Israel would extend and bestow bounty to other nations (verse 12); Israel would be elevated above all nations for the benefit of all nations (verse 13).

22 "IF"! Here is an "if" depending on Israel's power to perform. But, alas! As you know, it was an impotent "if." However, there is another "if." An "if" depending upon God's power to perform. It was an inevitable "if."

. . . 15 "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Eternal thy God(s) . . . "(v: 15) Suspended, ominously, from this little "if" are fifty-five verses packed with presage of poverty and sorrow. The cavalcade of cumulative catastrophes is too harrowing to relate in detail; yet these prophesied calamities have had a literal and minute fulfillment down the ages. One should retire alone with these verses and ponder them privately. I prefer to refer only to the concluding section of the chapter which prophesies of the great Galut, the Diaspora, the scattering of Israel among the nations of the world and his long vicissitudes in that exiled condition. Both Rashi and Nachmanides, our great Jewish commentators, agree that Moses predicted as Israel's Divine remedial punishment the loss of the Land and the great Galut among the nations. Abraham Ibn Ezra affirms – and I quote him – that "the disastrous position of which the people of Israel will find themselves will be an indication that they have rebelled against God, and the effects will also be experienced by their seed." The Great Galut – exile, scattering – began really with the destruction of the Temple in the year 70 of the Common Era, and it was increased in tempo and intensity under the Roman Emperor Hadrian about 134 CE. Expelled from the land and dispersed, the ensuing centuries ticked off their sad tale of admissions and expulsions among the nations of the world and even the current age is witness to similar sorrowful circumstances. Dr Abram L Sachar, the noted historian, has written a book entitled Sufferance is the Badge and this is a volume that should be read by all. It is a masterly and meaningful survey of the position of the Jewish people in "the turbulent, disjointed contemporary world." The record of Israel's failure under the Mosiac Law is not only written across the scroll of human history but its earlier chapters are recorded by Israel himself in our sacred Jewish Scriptures under compulsion of the Holy Spirit of truth. Yet even more than this. The national failure under Mosiac Law was foreknown by our Prophet Moses (Deuteronomy 30).

23 My dear friends, whilst all that we have thus gleaned from Devarim – that is, Deuteronomy – is revelation, I am so happy to conclude this particular message with the assurance that the prediction is of a two-fold prophetic character. It is true that Israel's further failure was foreknown; but it is equally true that Israel's future fealty was foreshadowed. Listen to these assuring words which like the blessed dawn of a new day, chase away the dark midnight hours of the Galut. "And the Eternal shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, whither the Eternal shall lead you away … In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee, in the end of days, thou wilt return to the Eternal thy God(s), and hearken unto His voice; for the Eternal thy God(s) is a merciful God; He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them." (Deuteronomy 4:27, 30, 31.) It is, therefore, Moses himself who points back to the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant as delineated in Genesis 12 among other Scriptures as the destined basis of Israel's future fealty in possession and enjoyment of the Land of Israel (see also Leviticus 26:33f). Moreover, Israel's ultimate national destination is not the Land only – but also and chiefly the Lord of the Land, the One true God of the Universe; not, of course, the unitarianistic god of modern tradition, but the God of the Bible, the God of Revelation and Redemption. And in this portion of the Divine prophecy there are no "ifs," a feature which will rejoice the hearts not only of Israel but of you, too, my gracious non-Jewish friends. Truly, the Word of God unites; human opinions divide; and it will be the Word of God – incarnate – Who will unite both the Jewish people and the non-Jewish peoples in the end of days into a blessed unity of brotherly love and a true worship of the glorious God Who makes such love gloriously possible.

24

HEART SURGERY

MY DEAR FRIENDS, in the Midrash HaNe'elam there is a quaint little saying which goes as follows:

"The human body has three kings: brain, heart, and liver." (ed.5625, ch.1, p.12b) With the first and last – the brain and the liver – I am not presently concerned; it is the heart to which I invite your attention. That the heart is a monarch in the realm of the human anatomy few would care to dispute; that it is even more a monarch in the regions of human emotions most would emphatically affirm. Sholom Aleichem says:

"The heart, especially the Jewish heart, is a fiddle: you pull the strings, and out come songs, mostly plaintive." (Stempenyu, 1888)

Our Jewish Holy Scriptures not only acknowledge the heart's sovereignty in this domain, but also extend its rule into spheres spiritual; the pages of Tenach – the Old Testament – abound with such references but, as we are currently exploring the fifth book of Moses known in English as Deuteronomy and in Hebrew as Devarim, it is from this source principally that we shall find on this occasion our Treasures from Tenach relative to the heart. In Deuteronomy's thirty-four chapters there are fifty-one references to the heart in the Hebrew text, but chapter thirty contains twice as many references as any other single chapter. Personally, I am not surprised at this, for chapter thirty alludes to an operation upon the human heart that would make our most famous heart surgeons thrill with anticipation. The great King David reveals himself as an eager patient for this operation when he cries:

12

"Create me a clean heart, O God(s)". (Psalm 51:12, English tr. 51:10) Now, my friends, it is just this type of heart operation that the Surgeon Supreme, the Eternal God of the Universe, has promised to perform; and He has selected a particular patient whose identity may surprise you very considerably. Before disclosing the name of this patient to you, please let me assure you that the operation will be most successful because this great Surgeon has performed it upon innumerable occasions, and upon patients of both sexes and of all ages, races, and nationalities, and without one single failure.

25 By way of added introduction, I should mention that – unfortunately – the Great Surgeon has competition: indeed, clamant competition, vociferous competition. Hosts of so-called heart specialists, launching their claims out of hosts of theories, not only compete with each other but, collectively, make such a din and promulgate such extravagant assurances in behalf of their therapies, that the Surgeon Supreme is frequently ignored altogether, and this by the very patients who need Him most. Heart disease in the organic realm is quite a serious matter; but heart disease in the spiritual sphere is doubly fatal, affecting both body and soul, time and eternity. Just listen to this self-diagnosis prepared by one such unfortunate heart patient:

"In me the cave-man clasps the seer, And garlanded Apollo goes Chanting to Abraham's deaf ear. In me the tiger sniffs the rose. Look in my heart, kind friends, and tremble, \ Since there your elements assemble." (Sasoon, The Heart's Journey, 1928, #8, p.14)

Surely, this is but an amplification of the Prophet Jeremiah's declaration:

9

"The heart is deceitful above all things and incurable – who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9) Jeremiah is right. The human heart is incurable: that is, of course, humanly incurable. Only the Surgeon Supreme can successfully perform the requisite operation; but so persistent is the do-it-yourself idea that the Great Surgeon has frequently to wait until the unfortunate patient is thoroughly disillusioned before He is invited into the operating theatre. Nahman Bratzlav says, "Each thing has a heart, and the world as a whole has a heart." (Tale of the Seven Beggars) In a sense, this is true; and if it be true of the whole world, it is true of nations that comprise the world. Does someone say – "Hold on! Heart operations on individuals – yes. But on a whole nation - ?" To such a hypothetical expression of incredulity, I am happy to respond that this is exactly what the

26 Great Surgeon has pledged Himself to do. And the national patient? My friends, Israel! The nation of Israel! I suggested that you might be surprised when I disclosed the patient's identity. After the deliverance from Egypt, and whilst still in the wilderness, Israel had affirmed with great confidence his ability to keep and fulfil the Sinaitic Law and Covenant. But national heart disease wrought death and disaster in that very same wilderness in which the adults of the generation that came out of Egypt perished. In the twenty-ninth chapter of Deuteronomy, our great teacher Moses recounts to the new generation about to enter the Promised Land these same sad wilderness experiences (29:1-8) and invites that new generation and all the nation to enter into the Patriarchal Covenant (29:9-20), at the same time warning that actual possession and enjoyment of the land rested upon the Sinaitic Covenant. (So, also, Sforno) Then, as a Prophet and mouthpiece of God, Moses foresees the further failure of Israel nationally and views the land as desolate and the nation as expelled from it (29:21-28). As Nachmanides affirms:

"This seems to be a prediction of the uprooting and dispersion of the entire people of Israel owing to their failure to adhere to God's covenant."

My friends, the failure we know; the reason for it we can confidently assume – national heart disease. Indeed, that very same chapter twenty-nine provides the clue, for Moses observes:

. . . 3 "But the Eternal hath not given you a heart to know …" (Deuteronomy 29:3a; English tr.29:4a) The Great Surgeon had not yet performed His national heart operation. Not that He wasn't willing. But Israel unfortunately had adopted the do-it-yourself theory. Under the circumstances there was little else that could be done, yet the Great Surgeon even condescended to disclose to Israel His own method. He revealed to the very patient the method by which He would perform the national operation. The disclosure of the method of the Surgeon Supreme is found in the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy and verse sixteen and the operation is technically known as Heart Circumcision. The Great Surgeon, as it were, regretfully hands the scalpel over to the patient convinced of the do-it-yourself method, and in effect says – "Go ahead; try it yourself. But I do hope you'll call Me when you want Me." Our Jewish commentator Rashi paraphrases the Surgeon's instructions as follows:

27

"Remove the covering on your hearts which prevents My words from entering into them." Both Nachmanides and Abraham Ibn Ezra paraphrase the Surgeon's exhortation in these words:

"Henceforth make your hearts receptive to the Divine truth …" Well, Israel nationally – and mark you – in common with all other nations, peoples, and individuals who have tried the do-it-yourself system, failed to make a successful operation. As with mankind generally, as with the whole world, the tiger still sniffs the rose! It is refreshing – nay, that's a tame word! It is exhilarating, therefore, to turn to chapter thirty of Deuteronomy. It is a hearty chapter. As I said, verbal references to the heart are twice the number of those of any other chapter in Deuteronomy. The heart is mentioned eight times in the Hebrew text; this, to me, is significant for eight is the number of a new beginning, the Messianic redemptive number, as I have elsewhere pointed out. Don't miss reading these first ten verses of that thirtieth chapter of Deuteronomy. Nachmanides affirms, and here I quote him again:

"The whole of this section refers to the distant future. None of its predictions has so far been fulfilled …. This is a prediction of the Messianic era when the dual character of man, good and evil, will end and goodness be his only natural instinct. The same Messianic prophecy is proclaimed by the prophet (Jeremiah), Behold, the days come, saith the LORD … I will put My law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it. "(Jeremiah 31:31ff)

Nachmanides is there quoting from the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, a chapter which, I believe, is Israel's Divine authority of embracing our Jewish New Covenant, the New Testament, and the great Messiah-Redeemer of Whom it speaks and Who, Himself, said to His Jewish followers and, through them, to all Israel: "Stop letting your hearts be troubled; keep on believing in God, and also in Me." (Yochanan 14:1)

28

TRANSFER AND TRANSITION

MY DEAR FRIENDS, surely there is no spectacle more wondrous than the setting sun. The splendor of the sunset has inspired canvas and keyboard, prose and poetry, and yet its wanton wealth is not exhausted. When old Sol's bedtime approaches he splashes his bed-chamber with colorings kaleidoscopic and, stretching out his many amber arms, he pulls his cloudy bedclothes round about him and sinks his burnished head upon their fiery pillows. The vast vocabulary of adulation has variously lauded him as monarch and mainstay, lord and lover; in which latter connotation the Hebrew poet Jacob Cahan has set him forth in words well-befitting his lambent lovemaking:

"Behold the heavens! A devouring flame Has taken hold of them. The sun with fiery kiss has touched And set afire their hem." ("Shekiat Hama")

With this artistic sentiment, Jacob Cahan has surely set fire to our imagination. And yet, my friends, after the fire, the fire's food remains; the darkening embers as the glow fades out. Black reminders of a telling terminus. And so it is with the setting sun. The purpling gloom, with silence sinister, encroaches its black shroud to quench the receding radiance in a western grave. It is then that the fiery fingers of a dying day can strike strange chords upon the keyboard of the human soul. Not always the languid lullaby of tranquil tones, but oftimes the tempo of a tragic terminus. And so it seems as we together enter those last four chapters of that last book of Chumash, known in Hebrew as Devarim and in English as Deuteronomy. It is Moses' sunset! Nor is the simile without justification, for our ancient Jewish tradition declares that "Moses became like the orb of the sun to Israel" (Zohar). Now, that great illuminant was about to shine no more in personal proximity to his people. The Divine decree had gone forth that Moses' days were numbered; his authority was being transferred to Joshua and the children of Israel were in transition from the plains of Moab to the Promised Land. We are therefore not surprised to discover that Deuteronomy's thirty-first chapter contains no less than six solemn speeches. Let me itemize them for you:

29 The first – Moses speaks to all Israel (verses 1-6) The second – Moses speaks to Joshua in the eyes of all Israel (verses 7, 8) The third – Moses speaks to the priests (verses 9-13) The fourth – The God of Israel speaks to Moses (verses 14-22) The fifth – The God of Israel speaks to Joshua (verse 23; and so Nachmanides, Rashi and Sforno agree) The sixth – Moses speaks to the Levites (verses 24-29) In the first three discourses, at the age of 120 years, Moses announces the Divine decision that he is not to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land, but that Joshua is God's chosen successor and, as such, will experience the enablement and aid of God in the conquest of Canaan. I am now going to give you a most arresting quotation from a source not widely available for general reading. I refer to our very ancient Jewish Targums. The word "targum" means "translation" and these translations were used in both Jewish schools and synagogues during the early period of Common Era history when Hebrew had ceased to be understood. Since these Targumim contain Jewish components dating from centuries before the rise of ecclesiastical Christianity, they are valuable reflections of early Jewish theological thought and outlook at a time when these were uninfluenced by any consideration of polemics. Here, then, is this paraphrastic quotation from the ancient Aramaic Targum of Palestine, and its interest will amply compensate for its length:

"And Mosheh went into the tabernacle of the house of instruction, and spake these words unto all Israel, and said to them: I am the son of a hundred and twenty years this day. I am no more able to go out and come in, and the Word of the Lord hath said to me: Thou shalt not go over this Jordan. The Lord your God, and His Shekinah, will go over before you. He will destroy those nations, and you shall possess them … And the Word of the Lord will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong, then, and of good courage, fear not, nor be dismayed before them; for the Shekinah of the Lord your God will be the Leader of you, He will not forsake nor be far from you.

30

"And Mosheh called Johoshua from among the people, and said to him: Be thou strong, and of good courage; for thou art appointed to go with this people to the land which the Word of the Lord sware to your fathers to give them, and thou art to divide it among them. And the Shekinah of the Word of the Lord will go before thee, and His Word will be thy keeper; He will not forsake nor be far from thee; fear not, nor be dismayed. (Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel)

Here, my friends, is a revelation of the early Jewish belief in the Triune Personality of the Godhead; an ancient Jewish belief which, I do not hesitate to say, has the support of our Holy Jewish Scriptures, both "Old" and "New" Testaments. Avoiding the twin perils of tritheism on the one hand and unitarianism on the other hand, our ancient Jewish tradition nevertheless ascribes Deity to the Lord, to the Word of the Lord, and to the Shekinah of the Lord. The essential Jewishness of this theological outlook is authenticated by the New Testament revelation of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; not "three gods," as a superficial or biased viewpoint would suggest, but the Eternal Being in the coexistent relationships of Conscious Deity expressed in English as Father, Son, and Spirit. In the third discourse, Moses charges the priests with the responsibility of reading publicly the Torah at the end of every seven years. (Deuteronomy 31:10, 11) In the fourth discourse it is God Who speaks to His servant Moses; speaks, moreover, with prophetic voice, for the Eternal foresees and foretells Israel's future lapses into idolatry and consequent breaking of the Sinaitic Covenant. As the outcome of this foreknowledge of Israel's national failure, God issues an instruction so remarkable that it will be the subject of my next message following. Its content, however, gives rise to the fifth discourse – a special exhortation of encouragement from God to Joshua. The sixth and final charge of the chapter is Moses' address to the Levites commanding them to take the book of the Law –

. . . 26

31 "… and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Eternal thy God(s) that it may be there for a witness against thee." (verse 26) Notice here two important factors. The Hebrew text just quoted by me again reflects that uniplurality in the Godhead " … the Eternal thy God(s)." It is this great and glorious Being, a Unity, Who commands the preservation of His Divine Law as a testimony against His people. It is not a broken Law that brings salvation to Israel; it is not a Moses who leads into the spiritual Promised Land. Moses himself declares he "he is not able" (Deuteronomy 31:2) and that inability not because of declining strength (compare Deuteronomy 34:7) but, as Rashi observes, "for the reason that the leadership is being transferred" to another – "to Joshua." There is no lack in the Law. The Law of the Lord is perfect. The lack is in Man, fallen Man. It is not because of declining strength that the Law is unable to procure Man's salvation. The absence of strength lies in Man himself. That is why God set Moses aside as representative of the Law, and transferred the leadership to Joshua as representative of Israel's Messiah-Redeemer. One final word, full of hope. As we stand and survey the blazing glory of the sunset of our great Leader Moses, I ask you to note with joy and triumph that he did enter the Promised Land! But only by death, burial, and resurrection. And he obtained this superlative spiritual position only through the death, burial, and resurrection of his great Successor, Joshua. Not Joshua ben Nun, but Joshua ben David ben Abraham, Israel's promised and prophesied Messiah-Redeemer. (Matthew 17:1-13; cf. Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36) Surely, for those who trust this great Redeemer – after the sunset, the morning glory of eternal sunrise!

32

ISRAEL AND THE ROCK

MY DEAR FRIENDS, the well-known Yiddish novelist, Joseph Opatoshu (1887-1954), makes an interesting statement. Here it is:

"Through true song one may rise to the power of prophecy." (In Polish Woods, 1921, p.162)

Now, whether this statement contains any reliability in the sense and sphere intended by the novelist, I am, of course, unable to say; I do not hesitate, however, to declare that if it be carried to its utmost extreme its reliability will be found to be quite unimpeachable. Do you inquire to what extreme verity and prediction in song can be carried? I reply, to Deity, the Fount of Truth, Prediction and Song. Let me call your attention to a true song, powerful in prophecy, the Author and Composer of which is none other than God Himself! This unique song is known to us Jewish people by the title "Haazinu," the opening Hebrew word in the exordium: "Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak; and let the earth hear the words of my mouth." You will locate this prophetic composition in the thirty-second chapter of Devarim – that is, Deuteronomy – and, as it is worthy of our sober attention, I recommend that you read it in full length as you have opportunity to do so; particularly as I deem it of sufficient importance to allocate more than one message to its vital revelation. The Eternal God of Israel had issued a remarkable instruction to His servants Moses and Joshua:

. . . 19 "And now write you for you this song and teach it (to) the sons of Israel …" (Deuteronomy 31:19) Unfortunately, neither the English verbs nor the English word "you" reveal the plurals embedded in the Hebrew text. It is therefore necessary for me to say that the Divine charge to write is addressed to Moses and to Joshua. It is our great commentator Nachmanides who, noting this very feature, suggests that the "inclusion of Joshua in this writing task was the first step to his succeeding Moses."

33 As I have previously remarked, I cannot find myself in sympathy or agreement with the unproven and disproven speculations of the historico-critical evolutionary theological schools. I, therefore, align myself with traditional acceptance of the record which the Scripture gives of itself; namely, that to Moses and Joshua we are indebted for the faithful discharge of the Divine commission to record this true song, this prophetic song. Let us note, further, that this God-inspired song was composed for all Israel for all time and not merely for Moses and Joshua; moreover, its Divine purpose was clearly stated – it was to be for a witness against the sons of Israel. Coming from such a Source, we are not surprised to find Simon Cohen remarking that it "is regarded as one of the best productions of Hebrew poetry." Its prophetic content is described by the same gentleman as a foretelling of "the fate of the nation at the hands of a just God." A Jewish document, older than the Talmud, exclaims: "How great is this Song! In it is to be found the present, the past, the future, and the events of the age of come." (Sifre) Rabbi Bachya Ibn Pekuda, who lived in the eleventh century remarks:

"This song is God's accusation against Israel. In it He shows them the end from the beginning, and foretells all that would ever befall them throughout the whole course of their history; therefore it begins with creation, and goes on to the days of the Messiah."

This really is an excellent description of the substance of this Divine Song of Witness and, for your facile apprehension, I have simplified it – that is, the song (Deuteronomy 32) – into four major headings as follows:

1. Israel and The Rock (1-18) 2. Israel and The Retribution (19-33) 3. Israel and The Reactionaries (34-42) 4. Israel and The Redemption (43)

In this, and in my messages immediately following, we shall pull a few golden threads from each of these skeins of Divine revelation. The Hebrew word for rock is . We first meet with it in the Hebrew Scriptures at Shmot – that is – Exodus, chapter 17. You may recall the incident. It was during the wilderness journeyings under the leadership of our great Moses. The people were desperate and were complaining bitterly against Moses because there was no water for them to drink.

34 Moses apparently was desperate, too, for he complained unto the Eternal that the multitude were almost ready to stone him to death. God immediately responded to Moses' entreaty, but it is obvious that, in the response, the Eternal God of Israel had a double purpose – not only graciously to supply the needed water, but also graciously to supply a spiritual lesson with it. God says to Moses: "Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink." (verse 6) On this Exodus passage ancient Jewish Midrashim declare that God also gave indication to Moses in which place he should look for the Presence of the Shekinah. (Mekilta Va-Yassa 6,51a-52b, etc.) Smiting the Place of the Presence produced the miracle of the supply of life-giving waters to those who would otherwise have perished. Dear friends, may I repeat that important statement that you may the better grasp its significance. Smiting the Place of the Presence produced the miracle of the supply of life-giving waters to those who would otherwise have perished. It is very impressive, then, to find that in our Prophetic Song, Haazinu, the Hebrew word for rock has the definite article attached to it and is Divinely appropriated as a title of Deity. The God of Israel is henceforth known as The Rock, and this descriptive title is used of Him five times in this Song itself (verses 4, 15, 18, 30, 31). And five is the number of Grace. Now it is exceedingly harmonious and illuminating that the very chapter which discloses for the first time a poetic name for Deity – namely The Rock – also discloses for the first time a poetic name for the nation of Israel, namely Yeshurun. The derivation of this name Yeshurun is from a root meaning to be upright and the very same root is used in the very same chapter as descriptive of the upright character of God Himself. The Rock is upright, dependable, righteous. So the Yeshurun nation, Israel, is called to be upright, dependable, righteous. Listen carefully! A nation created in the image and likeness of God. What a terrific connotation, isn't it?

35 Did Israel, nationally, attain to this ideal? Ah! Dear friends, you know the answer! Even if the Song itself did not supply it in these words of awful irony:

"But Yeshurun waxed fat and kicked; Then he contemptuously abandoned God Who made him, And treated as a fool the Rock of his salvation."

I have shared with you here something of the deeper meaning of the Hebrew text. The magnitude of Israel's national failure seems incredible were it not for the fact – the undeniable fact – that it finds an even darker parallel in the greater failure and apostacy of Christendom and the deplorable conduct of the Gentile nations: a sum total which points to the failure of humanity as such, and reveals mankind's desperate need of The Rock Himself. Fortunately, this universal need of living water will be supplied, Divinely supplied; and it is this same prophetic Song which reveals that the method of supply is atonement or expiation, and the One making that atonement is Deity Himself, The Rock Himself. Our Jewish New Covenant or Testament, speaking of Israel's experience in the time of Moses, says: "I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our ancestors were all under cover of the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were immersed with the Mosaic immersion in the cloud and in the sea, and they all partook of the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the accompanying Rock, the Rock that was Messiah." (I Corinthians 10:1-4) Rabbi Pekuda was right in including Messiah in the Divine outlook. My friends, in the wilderness of Israel's national wandering, the smiting of the Place of the Presence, the rock at Horeb, proved to be the fount of the Divine supply of the much needed – the desperately needed – life-giving waters. This, surely, was God's great object-lesson to teach us that in the wilderness of Israel's spiritual wandering, the smiting of the Place of the Presence, the Messiah, the Rock at Golgotha, proves to be – by the foreknowledge and Grace of the Godhead – the fount of the Divine supply of the life-giving waters of atonement and forgiveness for failing Israel, failing Christendom and failing humanity at large. May it please God that my own dear people, Israel, may NOT fail to drink deeply of this Divinely provided fount of living water.

36

ISRAEL AND THE RETRIBUTION

MY DEAR FRIENDS, the Hebrew poet and philosopher Moses Ibn Ezra (Spain, c1070-c1138), declares: "Song is a faithful messenger." (Selected Poems, p. 15) Believe me, there could be no melodic messenger more faithful than the Song of Moses, known as Haazinu, a strain we are currently examining from the Hebrew text of Deuteronomy, chapter thirty-two. First appearances are always fascinating, and among the "TREASURES FROM TENACH" unearthed in my last message was the discovery that two significant, poetic, descriptive titles make their first appearance. The God of Israel assumes the title The Rock, and bestows upon Israel's twelve tribes the title Yeshurun, meaning The Upright One, an ideal, prophetic title. In this message, which I have called "Israel and The Retribution," we shall appraise the aptness of these appellations. Calling the heavens and the earth as witnesses, the character and conduct of God and Israel are graphically brought into contrast. Perhaps I can adopt no better method of demonstrating the violence of this contrast than by presenting, side by side, two short passages from the Song itself. Here they are:

"The Rock! Perfect is His work; For all His ways are justice: A God of faithfulness and without unrighteousness; Righteous and upright is He. (verse 4) But Yeshurun waxed fat and kicked; Then he contemptuously abandoned God Who made him, And treated as a fool the Rock of his salvation. " (verse 15)

Let the enemies of Israel not be too hasty to exult over Yeshurun's failure, for this same prophetic Song also promises an unsheathed sword of Divine judgement upon the haters of Israel. In my examination of the Hebrew text of this magnificent Song of Moses, it has delighted me to discern no less than twenty-six shades or facets of relationship which God, in His greatness and faithfulness condescends to adopt towards Israel.

37 I am persuaded that, to lovers of our Holy Scriptures, it will not be regarded as tedious if I enumerate these relationships in the order in which I have found them. Here they are: Father (verses 6,19), Purchaser (verse 6), Maker (verses 6,15), Establisher (verse 6), Sovereign (verse 8), Elector (verses 8,9), Discoverer (verse 10), Protector (verse 10), Nurturer (verse 10), Keeper (verse 10), Guide (verse 12), Exalter (verse 13), Provider (verses 13,14), Saviour (verse 15), Creator (verse 18), Travailer (verse 18), Retributor (verse 21), Castigator (verse 23), Warrior (verse 30), Avenger (verses 35,41,43), Judge (verse 36), Master (verse 36), Almighty God (verse 39), Life-Giver (verse 39), Restorer (verse 39), Redeemer (verse 43). There's a list for you! God is said to have "found" Israel in a desert, waste, howling wilderness, and there to have encompassed him as with a protective wall of fire and to have granted him the instruction of the Holy Spirit. Nehemiah, in his ninth chapter, makes reference to this "instructing" when he says: "… yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsook them not in the wilderness … Thou gave also Thy Good Spirit to instruct them …" (cf. Nehemiah 9:12-21) Now comes the first of two very beautiful similes employed to portray God's loving attitude and actions towards Israel, (Deuteronomy 32), both whilst in the wilderness (verses 10-12), and whilst in the Promised Land (verses 13,14). The sacred Scriptures grant us the tender revelation that the Jewish nation and people are mirrored in the all-seeing and loving eye of the Eternal God of Israel. This delicate sentiment is first expressed in this thirty-second chapter of Deuteronomy where the Lord of Hosts affirms that He has kept Israel: , "as the apple of His eye." In the second chapter of the Scripture book named after the prophet Zechariah we meet with the same expression in the English translation where God says of the relation between Israel and Himself, "Surely, he that touches you touches the apple of His eye." (verse 12; English tr. verse 8) In the Zechariah passage, however, the Hebrew expression is a different one. It is , literally – "the hollow of His eye."

38 Now, my friends, we are in for some delicate fare as we inhale the fragrance of this rare reflection. The word used by Zechariah comes from the Hebrew root , and the imagery of the expression is daring and delicious. The expanding and contracting opening in the iris of the eye, through which light passes to the retina, is poetically conceived as a hollow liquid laver which serves as a reflecting surface, mirroring in diminutive form, the object within its proximity and range. The word in Deuteronomy and elsewhere (Deuteronomy 32:10; emphasizes this diminutive in the object reflected. The word means "man," but here the word is , literally meaning "little man." This will be understood when the eye is conceived as a mirror reflecting in that which we call the pupil of the eye a diminutive representation of the full size object before it. Indeed, the very word "pupil" comes from the Latin "pupilla" and means a "little doll." Isn't this an exquisite notion? Israel, the Jewish people, viewed collectively, is so close before and within the affectionate and constant regard of the Holy One that the very eye of the Eternal God mirrors the impression of His people in diminutive form. (See also my message entitled "The Mirror-Made Ablutionary," found in Moments with the Mishkan.) The second simile is equally expressive. God is likened to an eagle, strong and powerful; yet protective, wise and tender towards the young eaglets, Israel. The eagle "wakens" the nest of young, for the time has come for them to learn to fend for themselves. She renders the nest uncomfortable and, by fluttering her wings over it, she incites the eaglets to attempt flight for themselves. It is a moment fraught with anxiety, for the heights are great and to fall might well mean certain death. But the watchful mother bird is ready to swoop to the rescue. Flying speedily beneath one so endangered, she interposes her outstretched wings and thus, as the Scripture says she "takes them, bears them (safely) on her pinions." (Deuteronomy 32:11) In the nineteenth chapter of Exodus God charges Moses, saying: "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen … how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you unto Myself." (Exodus 19:3, 4) One turns with a very heavy heart from the nature and nurture of God to the character and conduct of Israel. The record is saddening, the language is startling, and the retribution shattering.

39 Israel's idolatry is described in arresting language: "They (My people) have aroused Me to jealousy with a no-god." (Deuteronomy 32:21) What an expressive term! And the retribution is expressed in terms equally graphic: "I will arouse them (My people) … with a no-people." Since Israel turned to the "no-gods" of the "no-people," God will use the "no-people" to expose the falsity of the "no-gods." In this very action God's chastisements are seen to be constructive and instructional in character. Whilst on this phase, dear friends, let us not be too smug about idolatry. Idolatry can still be present today. Our idol need not be necessarily visible and tangible. There are invisible, intangible idols, "no-gods." Human tradition, if unauthorized, unsanctioned, and uninspired by God, can and does become a "no-god," and such a "no-god" can and does lead not only to breach of communion with God but, also, to a contemptuous abandonment of the Messiah Whom God sent to make that very atonement to which the last verse (verse 43) of the Song makes full reference. However, I am so grateful that I can terminate this message on a happier note. Breach of communion does not imply breach of union. Israel, nationally, is still in covenant relationship with God, not through the broken Mosaic Covenant of Law, but through the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant of Grace. God's relationship to Israel is described as akin to that subsisting between father and son, husband and wife; and, as we shall discover in my succeeding messages, there is yet a happy ending to Israel's national history. So be sure and listen again.

40

ISRAEL AND THE REACTIONARIES

MY DEAR FRIENDS, what a hungry hound is haste! It bursts into the larder of our lives and devours the untasted food of our cultural and spiritual opportunities. How maddeningly the miserable mongrel mars our meditations. Impound the brute! And liberate us with leisure to linger in our larder. Believe me, no richer fare could be found than that awaiting us in the spiritual cuisine provided by the Song of Moses known as Haazinu and which we are currently examining. This magnificent Song, embedded in the thirty-second chapter of Deuteronomy, is certainly unique in all poetry. Its Author is God; His instruments, Moses and Joshua; His addressees, the People of Israel; His message, momentous; His panorama, pure prophecy. Moreover, this matchless melody is metered in terms superlatively expressive, words that can explode in the brain and light the limits of imagination with vivid color. Let me whet your appetite with just one sample – drunken arrows! Think of it! Arrows drunk with blood! Come! It is time to explore further the wonders of this Divinely-inspired prophetic Song for it is a graphic epitome of the history of the Jewish people and their relation to the Gentile nations. In my two messages immediately preceding we have observed the contrast between the character and conduct of God and Israel. Now, we are to learn something of the Divine reasons for the birth, bestowals, banishment, bedevilling, blindness, barrenness, but final blossoming of a people and nation whose history would otherwise be an enigma. Our first clue is found in verse eight: "When the Most High apportioned to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel." For a reason which will immediately appear, the Eternal God, in His infinite wisdom, established a national relationship between the children of Israel and the children of men; between the Jewish nation and the Gentile nations, the latter being placed in conformity with the former. God chose Israel and Israel's land for the reason of strategic geographic locality. But behind this choice was a significant spiritual reason. It is embedded in the ninth verse as follows:

41

9

"For the portion of the Eternal is His people, Jacob the lot of His inheritance." Let us look at these two words translated respectively "portion" and "lot." The word , "haleq," comes from a root meaning to smooth, as in making smooth a surface by scraping, planing, removing unsightly projections with a view to leaving the object more polished, elegant, and agreeable. This throws considerable light upon the idea of Israel as God's "portion," God's "haleq." His dealings and relationship with the nation have an objective as regards the nation itself – to leave it more polished, elegant, and agreeable. But isn't God interested in the welfare of the Gentile nations? Why, of course! It is His great interest in the welfare of the Gentile nations that lies behind His choice of Israel, as the very next word to be examined will reveal. Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. The Hebrew word translated "lot" is , "hevel," which, in plain English, means a "rope," a "cord"; but it comes from a root meaning "to twist" or "to bind" into a union. We can now understand the basis of the word "rope" as being the product of the twisting or binding of fibres into a united cord. Let us use this rope to bring up, to draw up, from the well of meaning an even deeper and more interesting connotation. The use to which the resultant rope or cord is to be put is the government idea in this very precious Hebrew Scripture, for the word "hevel" means also a cord or rope used as a measuring line. Now we are getting illumination. Israel was to be God's "measuring line" by which the nations of the earth could measure their manners to conform to God's moral character. As Yeshurun, the ideal nation, God intended Israel to set a canon for the conduct of the nations of the world. As the polished, agreeable, measuring line, Israel was called to reflect the character and charter of the God of the Universe that the Gentile nations might know, love, and trust the only and true God and, by this very knowledge and attitude, reap the rich, lavish, prosperity and provision of the very

42 larder of Heaven. That is the sense and settlement in which Israel, the Jewish people, are God's "chosen people" – to bring the Kingdom of God upon earth. Surely an understanding of this should awaken in every Gentile heart a tender and brotherly feeling for the Jewish people. Of course, the nation failed. The job was too big for it. What Gentile nation would have succeeded where Israel failed? What of Christendom? Can it be said to have reflected the Kingdom of God? Of course, I am instant to concede that it was never Divinely entrusted with the task. Rather did it assume it for itself – with sword and faggot! And, if I am to present a full and proper perspective, I must call attention to the fact that when the Destined One (Matthew 11), the Messiah of Israel, excommunicated the spiritual leaders of the nation, saying, "the Kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation which yields its fruits" (Matthew 21:43), He was not referring to Christendom, but to that heterogeneous spiritual nation within Christendom consisting of individual Jewish and Gentile believers knit together, corded together, in Divine love and fellowship. Truly such a spiritual "nation" has yielded the fruits of the Kingdom for well nigh two thousand years and its zeal and love for God has speeded His Scriptures and His Message into a thousand languages and into the four corners of the earth. But – and here is the point – God has not cast away His people Israel (Romans 11:1, 2) and it is this same amazing Song which enlightens us with a contributory reason for God's maintained relationship with that nation: "I said I would blow (them) utterly away into the corners, I would make the memory of them cease among men: Were it not that I dreaded the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge amiss … " (Deuteronomy 32:26, 27a) Israel's national behaviour admittedly deserved such a national fate but the honor of God's name and the welfare of the Gentile nations are at stake. If God had permanently excommunicated His chosen nation and suffered its permanent extinction as such, the Gentile nations, as the Song declares, would have made a misjudgement disastrous to themselves. They would have said, "Our hand is exalted, and not Jehovah hath wrought this." As Nachmanides observes, "The survival of dispersed Israel will not be due to their merit, but will be an act of God in the interests of mankind." Even with Israel's preservation, the Gentile nations are as ready to rule God out of history as they are to stamp His people out of national existence; but neither is possible. God still rules in the affairs of man and He has promised to make His arrows drunk with the blood of those nations who oppose His Divine will in this respect.

43 In tremendous terms God declares His intention of ultimate interposition. Judgement and recompense are spoken of as being stored up in His treasuries awaiting the appropriate occasion to burst upon the heads of the reactionaries. (verses 34, 35) "As I live forever, if I whet my lightning sword, and My hand take hold on judgement; I will render vengeance to Mine adversaries, and will recompense them that hate Me." (Verses 40b, 41) Israel's enemies are found to be God's enemies, and although the Divine judgemental interposition purges Israel nationally, it yet blasts the way for the goal of human history – not the attainment of world peace by the evolution of human effort, but the attachment of world power by the Return and Enthronement of Heaven's own Anointed Emissary, the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the World.

44

ISRAEL AND THE REDEMPTION

MY DEAR FRIENDS, some words of the Hebrew poet Joseph Ezobi keep thrusting themselves into my mind. If I quote them to you, and you have been listening to my last three messages, you will understand why they recur. Here they are:

"My song is my strength, the strength of rocks." (Kaarat Kesef) Since we have been examining that superb Song of Moses which describes the God of Israel as The Rock, you will understand how the association of a rock and a song so dominates my thoughts. Together – during my former three messages – we have viewed Israel and The Rock; Israel and the Retribution; Israel and the Reactionaries; and now we are to view Israel in relation to the Redemption as portrayed in that sublime last stanza of the Song, the forty-third verse of Devarim – that is, Deuteronomy – chapter thirty-two. There has been expressed dissatisfaction with several of the English translations of this wonderful verse. Because of this I shall select those Hebrew words upon which rests concord, agreement, unanimity both in translation and interpretation. We shall place these universally accepted words firmly down upon any doubtful ground and you will find them to be reliable and strong stepping-stones which will safeguard our interpretational or translational feet from slipping. First, however, let me say that no doubt whatever exists regarding the meat and message of this last verse. No matter how phrased or interpreted it is always and ever good news. Now let me put your mind at instant rest on this point by quoting you more than one English translation. This will launch you into the theme with a glow of satisfaction and a whetted appetite for more to come. Now listen carefully:

"Sing aloud, O ye nations, of His people; For He doth avenge the blood of His servants, And doth render vengeance to His adversaries, And doth make expiation for the land of His people." (The Soncino Chumash)

That is one of our Jewish translations. Now here is the familiar English Authorized Version:

45 "Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people." Here, finally, is Isaac Leeser's rendering: "Speak aloud, O ye nations, the praises of his people; for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and vengeance will he render to his adversaries, and forgive his land, and his people." In substance you will now have seen that these variations are not variations at all – they all move in the same direction and delight in the same theme. But, my friends, there is yet even more delight, even more hope, even more comfort tucked away in the Hebrew text, and because so very many of you have written to me expressing your relish of our Hebrew word-explorations, I feel encouraged to gratify that appetite for this delightful fare just a little more now. No matter how we read the Hebrew text, the first line of this glorious stanza bursts upon us like a herald trumpet announcing the banishment of world-woe and the dawn of universal joy. Packed into thirteen Hebrew characters, comprising just three words – three Hebrew words, of course – we discern the answer to the prayers of the ages:

. . . Let us look into this phrase. The verb "ranan," both in Biblical and Modern Hebrew means "to rejoice," "to shout for joy," and hence "to sing." Moreover, it is in the active, causative (Hiphil) imperative, masculine, plural. Look! I'm really sorry for that little bit of grammar; but it was necessary. The noun with which it is associated means the non-Jewish nations and the last word of the three means "His people." The sense, then, of this grand phrase is that God is issuing a command to the non-Jewish nations to express emphatically and wholeheartedly considerable, and universal rejoicing. And the reason for this Divinely-enjoined international, universal, gladness? The reason is His people, God's people, the Jewish people, Israel. So far so good. Now, why "His people"? Well, let us be thorough in our scrutiny of this portion of God's Word; we shall be very well repaid. The verse reveals that there are three actions taken by God which relate to four features. The three ACTIONS are as follows: God "avenges";

46 God "makes-to-return vengeance"; God "strongly expiates." Now we shall attach to these three actions the four elements to which they relate. If we do this, we find:

1. God avenges the blood of His servants; 2. God makes to return vengeance upon His adversaries; 3. God atones for His land; 4. God atones for His people. (Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, etc.)

Reduced to the irreducible minimum we find that Judgement and Atonement constitute the bedrock of the Divine pledge and prophecy embedded in this section of the Song of Moses. Observe the order also – first the judgement, then the joy. Purging precedes purity. I would call your attention also to two factors of great importance and which are exhibited with consistency throughout our Jewish Holy Scriptures. First and always it is God, not man, Who provides and makes expiation, atonement for sin; secondly, the earth, the land, is linked to and participant in the effects of sin and the Divine atonement made for sin. Let me show you this. You will find it so interesting. We shall go right back to the beginning. Back to the scene and circumstance of sin's entry into the human race. Back to the Garden in Eden. In the third chapter of Genesis it is recorded that after the sin of Adam, through whom sin entered into humanity as such, God, for the sake of Adam, placed a curse upon the ground, imposing upon it a restricted fruitfulness in its yield of produce for human consumption. God originally created Adam in His image and after His likeness, but when Adam marred that image and likeness by sin, Adam was Divinely expelled from the garden and the ground Divinely cursed. Now here is an amazing and most arresting parallel! God originally "created" the Jewish nation Israel to reflect His glorious character and polity so as to be a light to lighten the Gentiles. Israel was to be a corporate entity, a nation, created – as it were – in the image and likeness of God. But, when Israel – as a nation – failed, Israel – as a nation – was Divinely expelled from the Land of milk and honey, and that land was Divinely cursed. God said to Israel:

47 "If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them (verse 3); then I will give your rains in their season, and the land (of Israel) shall yield her produce (verse 4) … But if ye will not hearken unto Me (verse 14) … your land shall not yield her produce …" (verse 20) (Refer to Leviticus, chapter 26) Here, surely, is a remarkable parallel in Divine principle and we can now understand why, in this wonderful Song of Moses, both Land and People are linked together in the great atonement for sin which God has so graciously promised and provided. I say "provided" because I am personally persuaded that the One to Whom reference is made in our Jewish New Covenant, popularly known as the New Testament, and Who Himself claims the Messianic Message and Mission, made that great atonement for Israel and for all the world. The Scriptures are clear and emphatic that there will be no true lasting world peace and prosperity until Israel as a nation is restored to his pristine predestined position in God's perfect polity for humanity. This last verse of Moses' sublime prophetic Song is like entering the portals of Heaven. Indeed, this is no poetic flight of fancy, for here we are granted a prophetic presentation of the Divine answer to an oft-uttered three-fold petition – "May Thy Name be sanctified, Thy Kingdom established, Thy will be obeyed, ON EARTH as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:9, 10) How significant, then, is the national re-emergence of Israel among the non-Jewish nations of the world today! Surely Israel's long, dark, midnight of sorrow is passing away and already the streaks of light and hope are promising the dawning of the new day. But these same lightening horizons have their angry overtones. Remember? Before the joy, the judgement! If the joy is nearing, how much nearer the judgement? Yet, if the ultimate issue brings with it Divinely initiated world peace, world prosperity, and world security, no wonder we read "Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people." I have made a careful study of the contemporary international situation particularly with regard to Israel and a great anti-theocratic, totalitarian power north of Israel. This study has now been put into booklet form entitled PERIL FROM THE NORTH. You might care to inquire about it.

48

THE MAN WHOM GOD BURIED

MY DEAR FRIENDS, when some words are mated they produce ideological families familiar to us all. For instance, mate the word "Moses" with the word "mountain" and I feel sure your mind is instantly flooded with a familiar family of mental pictures all associated with Israel and the "Ten Commandments." You behold the fiery mount, the tables of stone, the golden calf, the shouting of the people of Israel, and – the man Moses! Yet there is another family of imperishable portrayals born of the union of these words. A very much less familiar family I admit but, I assure you, not one whit less dramatic. May I introduce you to this other family born of Moses and a mountain? "And the Eternal spoke unto Moses that selfsame day, saying: Get thee up into this mountain of Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho … "(Deuteronomy 32:48, 49a) "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho." (Deuteronomy 34:1a) Let us now follow in the footsteps of Moses and learn something of the mountain's secret. Just speed the eye of your imagination and come to rest upon the extreme north end of the Dead Sea. At that point we are approximately level with and halfway between Jerusalem and our goal. We stand in the fertile Jordan Valley between two mountain ranges, both of which seem to have retired from us to allow us the enjoyment of a large plain extending both sides of the Jordan and quite twelve miles in extent. Away over to our right, high above us, we see the range of mountains to which we are going. This range, forming the eastern wall of the valley, was given the name "Abarim," meaning "regions beyond." Away upon this mountain range, 2,643 feet (850m) above the Mediterranean Sea, there is a ridge called Nebo, and somewhere on the western projection of that ridge is the location once known as "Pisgah." Let us commence our climb. Our way lies through the wonderful Plains of Moab at the northeast end of the Dead Sea across the Jordan.

49 As we approach the eastern mountains with their deep purple shade, the upper terraces of the valley are marked by green groves produced by the issue of the springs from the roots of the range. Soon we commence the ascent by Ayun Musa and around the sides of Jebel Seaghah to its summit, from whence, a little distance away, we can discern the peak of Nebo. What a striking view is now ours! Someone has described it as the finest view to be seen in any part of the world. Away out, eastward, the great tablelands, once cultivated, slope away gently for several miles then, descending, issue forth into a vast plain sweeping outward into Arabia as far as the eye can see. Looking southward down the beautiful range, the horizon is stabbed by the peaks of Mount Attarus and Mount Shihan. Beyond this latter summit our view is sealed off by a purpling ridge. It was to this point that the Eternal God brought His great servant Moses alone, and commanded him to "behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession." (Deuteronomy 32:49b) For this very reason our main interest is now directed to the northward and westward outlook. What an incomparable vista! Northward, deeply embedded in the earth, twists the River Jordan down its fertile valley, in the bright sunlight like some silvery serpent writhing its way down to drink a salty draft at the Dead Sea beneath. The view to the west is amazing! Suddenly, in two or three colossal terraces, the landscape sinks to the Dead Sea immediately beneath. It gleams in silver splendour at our feet, its northern shore exactly disecting our view where the Jordan's curving delta is discovered. Raising our eyes from the valley level, our gaze sweeps the wilderness of Judah and ascends to the ridge of Hebron. The towers of Jerusalem and Bethlehem are clearly visible on the top of the mountains opposite. God and Moses alone together on this great eminence viewing the pleasing prospect. And God said to Moses: "This is the land which I swore unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying: I will give it unto thy seed; I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes …" (Deuteronomy 34:4)

50 But if it was to Pisgah's height that God brought Moses to permit him a preview of the Promised Land, it was also to this locality that God had conducted his esteemed servant for quite another reason. Moses had forfeited right of entry to the land of milk and honey, and God had brought him alone to Nebo to execute the death sentence upon him! "… die in the mount whither thou go up, and be gathered unto thy people … because ye trespassed against Me in the midst of the children of Israel … because ye sanctified Me not in the midst of the children of Israel." (Deuteronomy 32:50, 51) The closing declaration of the Book of Deuteronomy, a declaration written probably by Moses' successor Joshua, affirms: "And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Eternal knew face to face … " (Deuteronomy 34:10) Yet, this spiritual giant Moses, whose influence for righteousness, justice, and truth has permeated the ages, failed his God both positively and negatively and, by that vey failure, suffered the Divine sentence of physical death and, on the basis of personal performance and personal merit, forfeited his right of entry into the Promised Land. My dear friends, as we confront ourselves with this fact let us adjust ourselves to it with objective honesty. Frankly, I shrink from facing the Judge of all the Earth on the basis of personal worth and works if Moses himself – whose character and conduct when judged by human standards are admittedly of superlative calibre – fails to pass that test with God. Yet our hearts whisper to us that the man who enjoyed a "face to face" friendship and communion with God – the only man whom God Himself ever buried – must have inherited all the fullness of God's spiritual blessings and bounties including the bestowal of eternal life. But if not upon the basis of merit, then upon what basis was the bestowal made? Let Moses and the mountain mate again and whisper the answer. Pisgah means "a part or a section." Moses, representative of Divine Law, standing on Pisgah with the sentence of death upon him is, praise God, only "a part or a section" of the Divine Revelation.

51 Moses, speaking for God, declares: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that make atonement by reason of the life." (Leviticus 17:11) Not personal merit but redemption by Divinely-provided blood atonement is the answer, and the animal sacrifices, I am fully persuaded, were but symbols. My friends, the area on which Pisgah stands is associated with the tribe of Reuben. Reuben was the firstborn and the name means "Behold! A Son!" It is surely significant that the last picture of Moses granted us by our sacred Jewish Scriptures is in the New Covenant – that is, New Testament. This time Moses is on a mountain in the Promised Land standing with One of Whom God declared: "This is My beloved Son … hear ye Him." And the subject of conversation? They "discussed His exodus which He was soon to solemnize at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:28-36; Mark 9:2-13; Matthew 17:1-13). When that exodus was accomplished the blood of atonement was shed. May we not fail to follow Moses from Pisgah to glory by its redeeming efficacy.

52

FIVE FAULTLESS FLOODLIGHTS

MY DEAR FRIENDS, the first division of our Hebrew Bible is known as "Chumash." This word is very interesting; it comes from a root meaning primarily "to arm" – that is, to take to oneself armaments, and so to be strong, courageous and ready for battle. But there is another meaning embedded in the root idea; quite a strange and fascinating concept. This further idea is associated with the number "five." Indeed, if we make a verb out of the root, then (hammash) means "to divide by five," and if we make a noun out of it, (hamash) means "five." Now, what possible affinity of ideas can there be between the figure "five" and being armed and strong, ready for battle? Before I can throw light upon this enticing question and thus arm you with a suggestive field of profitable exploration, I find it necessary to affirm my non-acceptance of the modern, popular, theory of evolution in religion. When such men as Tyndall, Huxley, and Haeckel popularized the now largely rejected evolutionary theories of Darwin and Wallace where the origin of living creatures was concerned, the evolution epidemic became so widespread that it invaded the realm of religious concepts evolved from animism, through polytheism, pantheism, henotheism, and deism until it emerged into monotheism. However, my friends, I have no hesitation in affirming that this theory of evolution in religion lacks the scientific evidence of both ethnology and archaeology and I consequently adhere to the long-sustained viewpoint that the Bible is a revelation of and from God. Dr Macalister, Professor of Anatomy at Cambridge and a former President of the Royal Society wrote:

"I think the widespread impression of the agnosticism of scientific men is largely due to the attitude taken up by a few of the great popularizers of science, like Tyndale and Huxley. It has been my experience that the disbelief in the revelation that God has given … is more prevalent among what I may call the camp-followers of science than amongst those to whom scientific work is the business of their lives."

(see A Rendle Short, Modern Discovery and the Bible, London, 1943, page 14) Now, let us return to the association of ideas between armaments and the figure five. The actual word meaning "five" makes its first appearance in the Hebrew Bible as follows:

53 "And Seth lived a hundred and five years and begot Enosh." Poetically enough, this first use of the word "five" appears in the fifth chapter of Genesis (verse 6), a chapter described in its first verse as "the book of the generations of Adam." The word "Adam" means "man" and so does the word "Enosh," but whereas the former word relates mankind to his pristine condition before the Fall as bearing the image and likeness of God, the latter word, Enosh, means "incurable, mortal" and suggests mankind's deplorable condition after the Fall. Man is so constituted that he is related to the number "five." He possesses five fingers to each hand, five toes to each foot and employs the five natural senses of tasting, touching, seeing, smelling, and hearing. Yet neither his moral and spiritual work (symbolized by the five fingers of his hands), nor his moral and spiritual walk (symbolized by the five toes of his feet), nor yet the unaided employment of his five natural senses, suffice to cure him from sin's sorry sequence or to enlighten him to the ways and the will of God. Without the Divine aid Adam – mankind – remains Enosh – incurable. But, my friends, the number five is also associated with the God Who created man, the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet being frequently employed as a symbol for God, and God has not left mankind without a bestowal in grace of Divine aid and cure. In the Midrash on Numbers 4:10 the five books of Moses are likened to the five fingers of the hand of God in the bestowal in grace of a five-fold Divine gift. Our rabbis have also drawn attention to the fact that the word "light" appears in the Biblical record exactly five times in relation to the first day of creation, and this five-fold usage is interpreted as corresponding to the light of Chumash, the five books of Moses. Since together, in over one hundred past messages, we have now traversed these five books of Moses – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, this is surely the appropriate occasion to assess the spiritual treasures brought to light by God's great revelation to Israel and to all mankind. I have entitled this message "Five Faultless Floodlights" for so I regard our Chumash – our five books of Moses. What, then, have we found in their beneficent beams? The Palestinian Amora, Hama of Sepphoris, who flourished in the second century of the Common Era, is on the record as saying:

54

"The Holy One will repair the damage (of Adam's sin). He will heal the wound of the world. " (Gen.R.10.4 See 20:5)

My friends, these are true words, but let there be no mistake about this, Chumash reveals that Israel's hope of healing does not lie in a process of redemption initiated and completed by man himself; but, on the contrary, Israel's hope of healing lies in a Person Who Himself initiates and accomplishes redemption for and on the behalf of Israel and all mankind. This Person is the subject of Divine revelation in the Five Books as well as throughout the Tenach and unites in Himself the three anointed offices of prophet, priest, and king, for this reason this Person is known as the Messiah.

"Messianic prophecy is that view of the future which connects the eventual blessing of our suffering world with a Person …" (Max I Reich)

Messianic prophecy is the true hope and heritage of Israel and the Five Books of Moses and our great teacher Moses himself threw the first beams of illumination on this hopeful theme. Embedded in the third chapter of Genesis is what has been called the Proto-Evangelium, or the first announcement of the Divine intention and method of the redemption of fallen man; the Seed of the Woman would bruise the head of the Serpent. Here we have the first intimation of the Coming One, and let it be observed that it was through the lips of God Himself, that the promise came. In the ninth chapter of Genesis God identifies Himself with Shem and as Delitzsch observes:

The Protoevangelium announced a future salvation in the Seed of the Woman; the language here connects the same with the Name of God, which was to be entrusted to Shem. (Messianic Prophecies, p.30)

Genesis speaks twice more indicating in the twelfth chapter that the Shemitic Seed of the Woman was also to be the Seed of Abraham and, in the forty-ninth chapter, we have the famous prophecy of Shiloh, "He Whose right it is," and to Whom shall be the obedience of the Gentiles. Of this great Person, the Babylonian Talmud asks and answers the important question:

"What is Messiah's Name? His Name is Shiloh, for it is written, 'Until Shiloh come.'" The amazing prophecies of Balaam arrest us with the promise of the Star out of Jacob and the Sceptre arising from Israel.

55 Moses himself then makes his own great announcement that the Coming One would be a Prophet like unto himself. (Deuteronomy 18:15) As we shall see in messages to follow, it is left to the Divinely-inspired and illuminated prophets of Israel to interpret to us the Divine-human nature, the great redemptive work, and the chronological appearing of Messiah, the Sent One, the Coming One, the Inaugurator and Mediator of the New Covenant with Israel and the One Who is the Light to lighten the Gentiles. If we will follow the light of Chumash, these Five Faultless Floodlights of Messianic prophecy, we shall be armed indeed to identify the true Messiah-Redeemer, nor will we fail to enjoy with thankfulness the great redemption He wrought for Jew and Gentile nearly two thousand years ago. H'zaq!