Torah Re’eh “See!”
D’varim (Deuteronomy) 11:26 – 16:17
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 44:11 – 45:5
Yochanan Alef (1 John) 4:1-6
Somebody is watching you. All alone or not, someone has an eye on you – day and night. Those eyes neither slumber nor sleep.
Those eyes aren’t looking for only what’s wrong with you. Those eyes look out for your good, watching for anything that could harm you to protect and defend you. Those eyes are not critical and judgmental, but are full of mercy and love, kindness and consideration.
The Eye of the Shepherd
An upright man lifts his head to keep an eye out to see how he can provide for and how he can protect the ones whom he takes desires in, his companions, and his friends. These are the pictographic meanings of the Hebrew word ‘shepherd’ – ‘Ro’eh,’ spelled resh, ayin, hey; the head of a man, an eye, and a light shining through a window to reveal something inside.
Who is our Head? Who watches over us and reveals what’s on the inside?
Give ear, Ro’eh Yisra’el (Shepherd of Israel), You who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubs, shine forth! Psalm 80:2
From the Torah and the Prophets, we know that the Shepherd enthroned upon the cherubs to be YHWH Elohim, the God of Heaven and earth. There is only One God. Yeshua claimed His Divinity by identifying Himself as the Good Shepherd, the shepherd of Israel, when He said:
“I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known by mine, according as the Father doth know me, and I know the Father, and my life I lay down for the sheep.” John 10:14-15
To what flock was the Messiah sent to shepherd?
And He answering said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Matthew 15:24
Yeshua the Messiah is the Shepherd of Israel Who lovingly and zealously watches over His sheep to bless and keep them in His care. What can we see about Him shepherding His sheep on the two mountains in this Torah portion?
The Shepherd Sees
The word for ‘shepherd’ in Hebrew ‘Ro’eh’ is closely related to the word ‘Re’eh, the name of this Torah portion. Re’eh in Hebrew is spelled resh, alef, hey, put in paleo – a man’s head, an ox head, and light shining through a window. In the context of this portion, Re’eh is a picture of the Exalted Head revealing the infinite, invisible Kingdom of Heaven in a finite, tangible way here on earth so that the Messiah, the Hope of glory, would be revealed in us and to the world around us.
What did YHWH set before them in the land of Israel for Israel to Re’eh, to see from His perspective?
Re’eh (See!) I set before you today a blessing and a curse: a blessing if you shall Shema (hear, believe and obey) the commandments of YHWH your Elohim which I command you today… Deuteronomy 11:26-27
Here, Re’eh is to see how to live a life of blessing or a life of cursing from the perspective and under the watchful eye of the Good Shepherd. His sheep hear, trust and obey His voice. Where were the children of Israel to look for, and what did they see?
And it shall be when YHWH your Elohim shall bring you into the land to which you go to possess it, that you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal. Deuteronomy 11:29
See the Sheep on the Mount of Blessing
First, the twelve tribes were to set the blessing on a mountain named Gerizim and behold that. Why Gerizim? What does our Good Shepherd want His people to Re’eh, to behold or see on this mountain?
The root word for Gerizim is garaz, which means ‘cuttings off or cut up.’ It’s where we get our English word to graze. So the picture of Gerizim is where livestock cut off the grass to graze on a fertile mountain. The place of blessing is a peaceful and fertile scene of sheep grazing by the leading and care of the Good Shepherd, the Head of the flock.
Grazing is what we do when we shema His word. In paleo-Hebrew, the letters sheen, mem, and alef picture teeth cutting, chewing, and digesting His words until they are deep within the womb of the soul. Then His words (D’varim) internally motivate and empower the believer to do His commandments from the heart by the Spirit, not just by the flesh.
In Hebrew, there’s always more than one perspective, more than one way to see or behold something. It takes meditation to see how to keep His commandments with every decision we make in life. Let’s chew on more of the meanings of the mounts.
See the Barreness on the Mount of Curses
On the other side of the view is Mount Ebal, which means bald, bare, a stone. Ebal sounds like the origins of the English words evil or bald. In contrast to a fertile place of sheep peacefully garaz-ing, Har Ebal is a stony place of baldness and barrenness.
A stony heart and a stiff neck will not receive the words of YHWH and will not turn and obey His commandments. The condition of a hard heart prevents the Spirit of YHWH from penetrating inside the soul with His words. A hard-hearted soul refuses to obey His commandments. This condition brings on the curses that the Torah specifically warns us would happen if we refuse to Shema, hear and obey Him and His commandments.
The paleo-Hebrew for the word curse, q’lalah, pictures two lameds, two staffs of authority, two tongues that the hard-hearted will gather and submit to.
Israel subjected themselves to two authorities with the Golden Calf incident when Aaron called it “a feast to YHWH.” (Exodus 32:5). Israel subjected themselves to two authorities as the prophet Balaam did when they joined themselves to Ba’al Peor when Balaam taught them to whore after the daughters of Moab (Numbers 22, Rev 2:14).
Two lameds picture a hard heart whoring after and gathering under other Elohim (gods). Trying to serve two gods brings barrenness to the soul.
Two tongues = Cursing
Two tongues of authority (the two lameds of q’lalah) can also represent a tongue that accuses, judges, and condemns, yet claim to be true to the authority of God’s Word. Anyone who judges another without the mercy and grace of our Messiah speaks on their own authority, even if they claim to be presenting God’s truth by His Spirit.
One way I can tell that a self-appointed authority speaks separately from the tongue of the Holy Spirit is by how a judgment is made. Suppose a judgmental tongue speaks with authority about the wrong or evil done by another without calling the accused to the foot of the cross, where mercy flows, and the blood of the Lamb cleanses. In that case, I believe that tongue is not in line with but separate from the voice of the Holy Spirit. I believe anyone railing an accusation of wrong-doing/sin against another person without presenting the Gospel is just cursing the other with their own tongue.
The Spirit of YHWH always calls sinners to repentance at the foot of the cross. The Torah teaches bringing a substitutional sacrifice when a soul needs to get right with God. The only acceptable sacrifice is the Lamb of God and His precious blood. That’s the only acceptable solution in trying to straighten someone out who is judged to be in the wrong.
The Master Yeshua does not want the accused left condemned and under a load of guilt and shame. He is the guilt offering in our place, so we don’t have to come away burdened but free of sin and guilt. We should not line ourselves up with the Accuser’s voice but only with the voice of the Intercessor, our Advocate with the Father from Whom all blessings flow. Line up with the voice of our great High Priest, Yeshua!
Two Mounts Today
Even today, the two mountains in the land of Israel contrast the fruitfulness of Mount Gerizim and its vineyards versus the barrenness of Mount Ebal and its stoniness.
Still, today, the city of Shechem, meaning shoulders, is situated between the mount of blessing and the mount of cursing. When you face east, towards the way of YHWH, the mount of blessing, Gerizim, is on the right shoulder, and the mount of cursing, Ebal, is on the left shoulder.
Choose Life! Choose Blessing!
When the Messiah opens our eyes to behold Life from His perspective, with His eyes, we see blessing and fruitfulness, life in the Kingdom of His Light and Love as we Shema, hear and obey His commandments. Until the Spirit of Truth reveals to us what life is like with Him or without Him, we are blind, not knowing that we do not have to live under the curses of life in miserable Mitsrayim (Egypt) in this cruel world. With that revelation in mind, who would not want to keep the commandments of our King?
Choose this day who you are going to serve. The Living Torah graciously calls us to see and choose Life and to choose blessing. Choose to allow the trials and hard things of life to break the heart rather than to resist and become hard-hearted. When someone hurts us, choose to bless and pray that the loving-kindness of YHWH would lead them to repentance and the cross. Let’s not be hard-hearted, condemning, and cold towards those who hurt us, but realize that YHWH breaks our hearts with the things that break His – the lost soul who’s under the curse that He paid for with the blood of the Lamb.
What do we offer whoever comes to us? The fruit of the Spirit? To those who accuse us – the love of Elohim, talking to them peaceably with the joy of the Ruach HaKodesh? Or do we offer them a stony, sullen stare, critical and cold words, or an attitude and words of judgmental condemnation?
What are we choosing to speak – the Good News that Yeshua saves and wants to bless, or the bad news of judgment and condemnation to such a cursed wretch of a soul?
We need to see both sides to help us make the right choices – blessings for obeying and cursing for disobedience to His voice. What do we start with? The Torah begins with the blessing, and so should we. The Gospel offers not condemnation, but the greatest blessing of all – eternal Life by grace through faith in Yeshua our Messiah:
“For Elohim so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Elohim did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17)
See and choose Life, choose Gerizim blessing, choose our Savior and His Love.
B’rakhot BaShem Yeshua HaMashiyach,
Blessings in the Name of Yeshua the Messiah,
David Klug