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Parasha Ki Tavo
by Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber
The Scripture readings for the Shabbat of August 24/16 Elul are: Devarim/Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19; Yesha'yahu/Isaiah 60:1-22; Efesim/Ephesians 1:3-6. As we all know, this Parasha is awash with blessings and curses prescribed by the L-rd on those who obey or disobey His commandments. Easily any one of them can be applied to our lives and our life situations today. As I was reading through the list of curses this time around, one stuck me as important, so I have chosen it as the subject of my commentary this week. This interpretation is also, I believe, an appropriate addition to our month of Elul teaching and it fits in very nicely as well, with the High Holiday season. Devarim {28:52} They shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fortified walls come down, in which you trusted, throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which HaSHEM your G-D has given you. This Scripture is of course referring to Israel being besieged by her enemies because of her lack of obedience to G-d's commandments. We know historically that such sieges did take place. In fact most of the curses of Parasha Ki Tavo effected Israel at one time or another and in some cases are still affecting them. It is not however the besieging of Israel's fortified walls that I want to discuss here, but rather it is the fortified wall we have set up in our lives. It is the things we trust in for our security that I would like to discuss. Verse 52 can, I believe, be easily applied to each one of our lives. We too have built up walls of protection around ourselves and in doing so we have not only locked our enemies out but also we have locked out G-d. G-d's desire is for His people to be transparent, He has told us this many times in Scripture. One such times and perhaps the most apparent is: Yaacov (James) {5:16} Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. It is obvious from this Scripture that the L-rd's desire is for us to express our faults to each other. Now this could be a very dangerous thing to do. What if you tell something about yourself to some; something very private that you may be struggling with and they go and repeat it indiscriminately to others. Your honesty could easily turn into a huge embarrassment. But do you know what? I believe that is exactly why we were given this passage. If there is something in our lives, a wall that we have erected to keep people out and to keep our secrets in, then it needs to be broken down if we are to be healed. Walls do not only lock things out they also lock things in and if we are to be healed we need to let whatever it is that we are protecting out. For healings sake we are to let out what is locked in. Once the fortified walls you have built are broken down and the fault exposed, it cannot hurt you anymore because it is no longer a secret burden. G-d I believe wants us all to be transparent, that way there will be not man made fortified walls, erected by our hands that can protect us; that we can put our confidence in. If you are a born again believer in Messiah Yeshua, then He is your shield and your buckler. He is all that you need for protection. And He has promised to protect you and defend you from all enemies. No one can harm you, or use anything against you that you yourself have declared harmless and placed in the L-rd's hands. In the book of Revelation, Yochanan (John) speaks of the streets of New Jerusalem being paved in pure gold: Revelation {21:2} And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. I do not take this description literally, but rather I believe Yochanan is referring here to the saints of G-d. The streets of New Jerusalem are filled with G-d's saints and they are the pure transparent souls G-d desires all of us to be. He wants us all to be transparent as the purest gold. We can never become like that if we insist on putting our trust in walls, which we ourselves have erected. God is telling us in Parasha Ki Tavo, that if we do place our trust in walls, in fact if we place our trust in anything other then Him, what ever it is we put our trust in will become a curse to us.Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada. Copyright 2002
- Romans 1:16, NIV |