Ki Tavo – When You Go Forth
Devarim (Deut) 21:10 – 25:19
YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 54:1-10
Matthew 5:27-32; 1 Cor 5:1-5
The children of this world are casting off all restraint to do whatever their flesh and mind-controlling powers direct them to do. ‘Lawlessness’ and “Do what thou wilt” is running rampant in our society today. What is happening to the rule of law in America?
On the other hand, world powers are restraining the people of God from pursuing righteousness. Many conservatives believe that if Donald Trump wasn’t restrained from his rightful place as the US President, righteous people could accomplish causes that are under tyrannical restraint right now. Our elected president was booked like a common criminal, a mug shot taken, and then released on bail, indicted by trumped-up, phony charges. What can we do to liberate him or the more than 1200 January 6 political prisoners, who are languishing away in the Washington DC gulag?
Persecuted for their faith, many pastors and righteous fathers around the world are sitting in jail cells. They could be accomplishing great things for their communities and their families, if they weren’t restrained behind bars. Why do tyrants get away with it?
The Restraint of the Righteous as Recorded in the Torah
Restraint of the righteous is nothing new under the sun, our forefathers in Israel also struggled with oppression and restraint under tyrannical regimes.
And you shall speak and say before YHWH your God, ‘My father was a perishing Aramean! And he went down to Egypt with few men and lived there, and became a nation there, great, mighty and many. And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and put hard labor (bondage) on us.’ Deuteronomy 26:5-6, LITV
‘Perishing Aramean’ – ‘Aramiy oved’ – is rendered ‘Wandering Aramean’ in many translations, a seemingly different picture.
Just what are we to remember and to declare about our Aramean forefather?
This puts our forefathers in Aramea, the highlands of Syria outside the Land.
The Hebrew word for ‘perishing’, or ‘wandering’ is ‘oved’, spelled ‘alef, bet, dalet.’ The first two letters ‘alef bet’ spell ‘abba’ – father; the last two – bet dalet, bad, meaning alone and separated.
According to Jeff Benner’s lexicon, ‘abad’ means:
Perish, Lost, (abstractly) Destruction: A wanderer is one alone or lost. A place separated from people is a place of ruin.
Put all these meanings together and you get the picture of a father (alef-bet) in the door (dalet) of his tent or house (bet) alone and separated (bet dalet) from his family. That’s what Jacob must have felt like under Uncle Laban for seven years – and more. He was out working hard shepherding his uncle’s sheep while he was separated from Rachel, the woman he first loved and wanted to marry in the first place. His wages had been changed ten times and he bore all the losses that came with his occupation, while Laban got rich by Jacob’s work that Yah blessed and prospered. I doubt Laban was ever out in the field with Jacob working with his sheep. Jacob’s sons were just little guys who stayed home. Jacob was out there wandering around with his sheep alone. Does anyone feel like that? Are any of us feeling like a ‘wandering, perishing Aramean’ in exile?
Loneliness is an epidemic in our society. Sin separates and its bondage isolates.
What is meant by ‘Aramiy oved’ – ‘a perishing Aramean’ is better understood by the context of what the Israelite is commanded to recall (Deuteronomy 26:5-6). We see the children of Israel, when offering firstfruits, declaring that bondage and restraint had come again under the tyranny of the Egyptians. When the children of Israel actually made it into the land and settled there, they were to offer the first fruits of the land with joy for their new lives in the land…and they were not to forget how they got there.
Deliverance from ALL Distresses
Here we go again. Are we not under a regime here in America that deals ill with the people of Yah, afflicts us, and makes us work harder and harder just to make ends meet?
But praise be to YHWH Elohim, He has released captives by His mighty right arm!
And YHWH brought us out from Egypt by a mighty hand, and by an arm stretched out, and by great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders. Deuteronomy 26:8
Will He do it again for us in our day? You better believe it! Do not believe the evil reports of the spies from the land who say the giants there are too big and too dangerous to overcome. Who do we have to fear?!? The Deep State? The Kazarian Jews? Radical Muslim Jihadists? Give me the Joshua and Caleb report, lest I fear the bad guys over there and rebel against YHWH (Numbers 14:7)
Abba often reminds me to stand on this Word:
The eyes of YHWH are on the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their cry. The face of YHWH is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry out and YHWH hears and delivers them from all their troubles. YHWH is close to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit. Many are the distresses of the righteous, but YHWH delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:16-20
Out of them all! What distress does YHWH not deliver us from? Our God delivers us from everything this word ‘distress’ ‘tsarah’ means: literally ‘to press in’, also translated as ‘trouble, distress, affliction, adversity, anguish, tribulation, adversary.’ Are you experiencing anything today that these words describe?
Find your righteousness in Yeshua the Messiah, the Righteous One (1 Jn 2:1). Believe that He is your righteousness (Rom 3:22, 5:19, 8:10; 1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21; Php 3:9). Cry out to Him for deliverance and trust that He will deliver you out of ALL of your afflictions – bar none! The Rich Mullins song ‘My Deliverer is Coming’ resonates with me!
Yeshua Sets the Captives Free!
How is it that Yeshua sets captives free, setting you and me free? The Gospel declares liberty through faith in the divine Messiah, Who was crucified, buried, and risen again:
But to each one of us grace was given in keeping with the measure of Messiah’s gift. Therefore it says, “When He went up on high, He led captive a troop of captives and gave gifts to His people.” (Ephesians 4:7-8, Psalm 68:18, NASB)
When Yeshua entered the grave, He released all souls of the seed of Messiah and brought them with Him, when our risen Lord ascended on high. If Messiah is in you, that same Spirit that rose the Messiah from the dead lives in you to raise you up (Romans 8:11). Deliverance is part of the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Yeshua the Messiah!
Be Free From What Captivates
What is it that captivates a soul that leads to a life of bondage, emptiness, and loneliness?
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Messiah. For in Him, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him, you have been made complete, and He is the Head over all rule and authority. Colossians 2:8-10
What worldly philosophies and empty deceptions can you think of that bind souls today? You may think of empty promises in the ‘public health’ area, like ‘vaccines and face masks protect us from a pandemic’, that more money will make me happier, or that sex outside of marriage is a pleasure, after all, everyone’s doing it. If the majority believes it will make you happy, then know that minds are being controlled by lies and deception.
But in Yeshua, we can say ‘No!’ to what can captivate the mind. We can find our satisfaction and completion in life in the divine Messiah! He is our Head, not the serpent!
Taking Captive What Captivates
By the Spirit of the risen Messiah, the believer has the power to take captive even the very thoughts that are intended to bind us under the strongholds of the enemy. In Yeshua, the believing soul has a victory on the battlefield of the mind, will, and emotions. No longer does the enemy have the power to bind us – we bind the adversary of our souls!
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful through God for the tearing down of strongholds. We are tearing down false arguments, and every high-minded thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Messiah – ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6
Be on guard and check every thought and emotion at the gateway of your mind. Is what you are thinking – for or against the knowledge of God? How does that thought line up with the Scriptures? Use discernment people! If it doesn’t line up with God’s Word, bind it and tear it down! Don’t let it set itself up as a stronghold in your mind.
But if it already has you, Yeshua wants to deliver you today, right now by the same Spirit that rose Him up from the dead. Identify that stronghold and tear it down in His mighty Name! Not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit that mountain shall be removed!
What is one of the most common strongholds the enemy has set up in the minds of children, many of who have grown up to be adults? It’s been one of the battles in my life. Many of us grew up thinking that we’d never amount to anything – we weren’t smart enough, good-looking, or likable enough to succeed at anything in life. Many of us believed the lie, “It’s not enough, I’ll never measure up.” We struggle with the voices in our minds that accuse us of falling short and accuse us of the debilitating sins of our past.
This struggle is so common today among believers, that the song ‘You Say’ by Lauren Daigle became the #1 Christian song of all time. Her lyrics resonate with a lot of people.
Jacob (heel-grabber) wrestled with the Angel who changed his character to Israel (he who prevails with God). Each believer has to wrestle down their fleshly nature for the spiritual nature to prevail and reign, to walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh.
We can tear down every false argument against the soul and say what Abba says.
He created each one of us for a purpose in His Kingdom. Each one of us is precious in His sight. He offered His Son to redeem us and release our potential to become in Him, who He created us to be. Tell the devil He’s a liar! “I am not your slave, not even in my thought life! I do have worth! I have a reason to live – to love my God and my neighbor as myself. I am His bond-servant with a purpose and importance in His house.”
The Restrainer
And now you know what restrains, for him from being revealed in his time. For the secret of lawlessness is already at work – only until he who now restrains comes out of the midst. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, The Scriptures
Is the Holy Spirit ‘he who now restrains’ as many eschatologists believe? Or could it be the Labans or Pharaohs of today who restrain Yah’s people from their potential through captivating lies, false arguments, or empty and vain philosophies of men? Watch it! The restrainer and the mysterious secrets of lawlessness are still hard at work.
What is holding you and me back from the greater works that Yeshua said His disciples would do? (John 14:12) What ‘mystery of iniquity’ are we battling within our minds?
The strongest false argument that the father of lies deceives believers in the God of Israel today is that the Torah is done away with and is not valid for today. The root of all ‘lawlessness’ is that the laws of the Holy God, His commandments, are negotiable and not absolute. Greasy grace has become a license for sin. Paul warned us about this.
Now we request you, brethren, about the coming of our Lord Yeshua Messiah and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-3
By deception, lawlessness takes many off the straight and narrow way, away from the faith and into apostasy, causing many to fall away into captivity, corruption, and tyranny.
The experience of restraint from our full potential in Messiah is like a baby in a womb.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in the hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this but also we, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:18-23
The whole creation is under the captivity of corruption! We all long for and groan within ourselves to get free from this terrible mess the world has the masses spellbound under!
What are we to do? Be led by the Holy Spirit in all we do and let Abba do the delivering!
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:14-15
Let my people go - to a Feast!
A cool song I like is by Matt Redman called ‘Let My People Go!’ He wrote it to awaken and inspire people to overcome human trafficking and slavery (A21).
The very first occurrence of Moses’ crying out ‘Let My people go!” was demanded of the tyrant Pharaoh for the children of Israel to do what exactly?
And afterward, Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast (chag) to Me in the wilderness.'” Exodus 5:1
What a great God! YHWH wanted to set the slaves of Israel free to celebrate a festival! Did the Holy and Righteous God release the children of Israel for them to have a solemn and somber assembly as some may think? Check out the Hebrew. The word translated ‘festival’ is ‘chag.’ It’s one of my favorite words from my favorite lexicon of the Bible – Jeff Benner’s Ancient Hebrew Lexicon:
Chag – Feast. The participants of a festival would gather together and dance in a circle.
The letters chet and gimel picture dancers like a circular wall going round and round ‘gimeling’ with happy feet! HalleluYah!
With deliverance and release from the restraint of tyrants come great joy and celebration with dancing! When we tear down false arguments and lies and get free from corrupting thoughts, praise Yeshua and rejoice! Celebrate with me the liberty we have in Messiah.
What festival is called the Feast of Joy? What celebration grants us the greatest opportunities for a group joyously dancing in circles? What festival starts with the command on the first day for those coming to worship YHWH to bring fruit, as this Torah portion starts with? Yes, the Festival of Tabernacles – Sukkot!
What fruit is our Messiah Yeshua wanting us to bring to our assemblies?
Bringing the Fruit of the Spirit
Upon entering the land and coming to the place that He has set His Name, the children of Israel were commanded to bring a basket of the ‘first of all the fruit of the ground’ to the priest and their tithes to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless and the widow.
What is the deeper meaning in the Hebrew for the fruit of the ground (Deuteronomy 26:2)? And what does it teach us about what He wants from us?
Translated as fruit of the ground – p’riy ha’adamah in paleo-Hebrew within its Scriptural context can mean – the open mouth, the voice, of the exalted Head, the Messiah, working in us to reveal the last Adam, Who, by the agency of His Blood, bears the fruit of the Spirit from the heart’s fertile ground.
In other words, when we obey the voice of our Master Yeshua, from a circumcised heart that is blood-washed and free from the nature of Adam, the redeemed will bear the fruit of the Spirit. Then we will no longer live for self, but out of selfless love offer our fruit so that others in need may have more of His life alive and working in them.
Let’s not read Moses with a veil over our face that doesn’t see the Master Yeshua:
But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:15-17, NASB
Bring the Fruit of the Spirit!
Understand that those who bring fruit to the assembly are to freely bring the fruit of the Spirit. Bring your love, your joy, your peace and offer that to YHWH and your brothers and sisters, not restraining yourself but liberally, for Yah loves a cheerful giver. ( 2 Corinthians 9:7)
On the first day of Sukkot, we are to bring four kinds of branches, the first being the fruit of a beautiful tree. Fruit is the decoration of a tree. It’s the fruit of the Spirit that makes you beautiful. Come round and dance with us, rejoicing in the liberty of the Spirit this Sukkot!
Blessings HaShem Yeshua, our Great Deliverer!
David Klug