Re-eh (See)
This portion continues the Moshe’s farewell discourse with its warnings to the people who will be taking over the land; they would be on their own without their father Moshe who wants to make sure that they are prepared for all the trials ahead. Chapter 12 repeats the laws and the rulings that Israel was to obey beginning with the warning about idolatry; we were not to follow the pagan ways of the foreigners or other religions. Today I would like to base my drash upon chapter 13: 1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, "Let us go and worship other gods" (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.
Why do Jewish people react so violently when one of their own become believers in the Messiah? If we look back at this portion, it becomes obvious. Idolatry is the worse sin for Jews — worthy of stoning to death.
When I as Messianic Rabbi first came to Montreal, my desire was to start a congregation where my people could come and learn the truth about their Messiah—who he is and how to serve the G-d of Israel. From the beginning I was attacked by both sides. The Jewish community accused me of being worse than Hitler because I was killing the soul of the Jewish people. The leaders of the community would say that I should just admit that I was a Christian and no longer a Jew although according to Halachah, they did have to admit in private that I was a Jew. On the other hand, the Christian community rejected me because I refused to say that I had converted to Christianity.
I know a young man who after coming to believe that Yeshua was the Messiah and after telling that to his parents, he was thrown out of his house and his family sat Shiva (mourning for seven days) for him. He was rejected by them for 8 years until they too one day came to understand the same truth. At the beginning he struggled with many of the doctrines of Christianity and finally came to the conclusion that he simply could not accept them. He could not find them in Scripture and could not simply accept things because someone told him that they were true. He was born a Jew and would die a Jew; but he was a Jew who believed in Messiah Yeshua and no one could change that.
When Christians comes to a Jewish person trying to get him/her to believe in their Jesus Christ they cannot understand why he reacts so vehemently against this message. They cannot see that for a Jew to believe that a man can be G-d is next to impossible. The Scriptures tell us over and over that G-d cannot be a man (e.g. / Bamidbar (Num) 23:19).
So just who is our Messiah and what has happened to him over the centuries that our people cannot see him apart of course from the fact that they have been spiritually blinded in part? In Deut. 18:18, we read “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” Our people have always understood that this means that the prophet would be like Moses — an extraordinary man.
Christianity has developed a theological explanation that Jesus the Messiah is full G-d and full man. For Gentiles this is not difficult to believe since they come from pagan Greek and Roman roots which had a multiplicity of gods who were half man, half god. For Jewish people who come from the belief in one G-d, this is simply idolatry.
In Chapter 13 we read…if a prophet tells you to follow other gods… so if you are an Orthodox Torah observant Jew it is impossible for you to think of ever following other gods. In this, Jews and Gentiles simply do not think alike. Jews also do not try to explain G-d. He is too vast and too unfathomable for explanation yet Gentiles are continuously trying to explain the unexplainable. With their doctrinal statements, they attribute definitions of G-d which simply looks to the Jew that Christians believe in multiple gods; again impossible for the observant Jew to believe.
Yeshua said that he came in the Name of G-d. He was the representation of the living G-d. He had all the characteristics of the G-d of Israel but he never said that He was the G-d of Israel and that we should bow down to him or to worship him. He always led us to the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. From the moment he called himself a direct representative of G-d they tried to stone him to death. They finally succeeded in having him put to death because he was creating religious and political disruptions to the scene of the day. The religious people wanted to get rid of him because he was creating problems for them with the regular people and with Rome, disrupting the status quo. Of course we know that he is our Redeemer who came to die for the sins of mankind.
It is easy to understand why we as Jewish believers in the Messiah Yeshua are accused of stealing the souls of our people. Those congregations which are Christian with Jewish paraphernalia are not doing a service to the Torah or to the G-d of Israel. Religion of today is filled with idolatry and turns people away from Torah and the G-d of the Scriptures to follow a god of their own making.
I believe in the Messiah Yeshua with all my heart. That is the only reason that I am here leading a Messianic congregation otherwise I would be an Orthodox Jew. That is why I am persecuted by my own community.
The main problem we face today is that many people have big mouths but little understanding. They are quick to accuse people of being heretic. They believe that they have the only true god and unless you believe in god according to their theology, you are a heretic. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has read any books on Christian History for in them we can what official Christendom did to their own Gentile heretics as well as to the Jewish people. You can read the story about the Waldenses in Italy, the Huguenots in France or the Anabaptist in lower Europe. The Holy Institution of the inquisition was equally prejudiced against anyone who would believe anything outside their particular doctrines. Even if the doctrines of the Church were wrong, they are still being kept today in Christianity. I would like to challenge you to check your own understanding. The New Testament, which is the most important book in Christendom, and is revered by all people who believes in Jesus Christ has been so manipulated that it is almost impossible to have an accurate reading about the Messiah. Words have been added which never existed at the time of Yeshua.
Jews have always been faithful to one G-d. There are too many things that are not clearly explained in the Scriptures about the identity of Messiah Yeshua. We know that there was no one like him nor will there ever be anyone like him. Instead of trying to make everyone’s theology correct, we need to help everyone receive the revelation of our Messiah, and simply learn from him. The Inquisition is already over!
Remember that G-d’s thoughts are not our thoughts; G-d’s ways are not our ways.
Blessed be Our Messiah Yeshua through whom we have obtained redemption!
May G-d add blessings to His Word!