Va'etchanan: I pleaded — ואתחנן

Thoughts on Torah for Last Week.
 
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Numbers 33-36
Deuteronomy 1-3
For this week, we are going to cover two parsha’s to catch up on our schedule.  In these two parshas, we see three primary themes.  These three themes are connected to the three principal blessings associated with God’s covenant with Israel – Inheritance, Protection and Posterity. Moreover, we do not see these same specific blessings laid out in the New Testament.  But before we continue, let's review the mitzvot/commandments in these chapters.  Go to Part 15 at time mark 26:10 minutes – HERE:

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A Triad of Blessings
Deuteronomy 28 enumerates in detail the blessings associated with the Sinai covenant.  This chapter takes 68 verses to summarize these blessings. However, the blessings of the Sinai covenant can be synthesized into three primary blessings:
 
                                                               A Perpetual Inheritance of Land,
                                                                    Physical Protection, and
                                                                         Enduring Posterity.
 
Commenting on these three principal blessings in the context of being God’s Covenant People or what Dr. Gileadi refers to as a Zion/Jerusalem people, Dr. Gileadi said in his book Isaiah Decoded:
 
“The Israelites under Moses briefly reached the Zion/Jerusalem level when they inherited the Promised Land.   Those who didn’t, perished in the wilderness.  They became a type of God’s wicked people who fail to ascend [become a Zion/Jersusalem people] at the end of the world.  Those who did ascend in Moses’ day forsook their false gods in favor of the true God and kept the terms of his covenant. Because the Promised Land, divine protection, and enduring offspring constitute the chief blessings of the covenant, God’s people could not inherit the land any other way.  As noted, it wasn’t enough that God had promised the land to their ancestors.  He required that they themselves should qualify for it by living the law.”

Millennial Fulfillment
In the Millennium, we will see these three primary blessings return to the earth as God's people - those who Dr. Gileadi refers to as Zion/Jerusalem - live under the rule of the Messiah.  Again Dr. Gileadi comments,

​"In this modern, entrepreneurial age of financial investments and rabid speculation, the biblical idea of permanent lands of inheritance has virtually been lost sight of. When Israel conquers the Promised Land anciently under the leadership of Moses and Joshua, God allocates lands to the twelve tribes of Israel, each with its clans and families, as permanent inheritances (Joshua 10–21). Even when houses and lands are sold because of hardship, they revert back to their rightful inheritors every fiftieth year—the year of the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:23–41). Only later, when Israel breaks the terms of God’s covenant, are properties sold and never reclaimed."

"In the earth’s millennial age, God’s people again receive permanent lands of inheritance: “They who seek refuge in me shall possess the earth and receive an inheritance in my holy mountain” (Isaiah 57:13); “Your entire people shall be righteous; they shall inherit the earth forever—they are the branch I have planted, the work of my hands, in which I am glorified” (Isaiah 60:21); “You shall spread abroad to the right and to the left; your offspring shall dispossess the nations and resettle the desolate cities” (Isaiah 54:3). Just as he appointed Joshua, so God appoints his end-time servant to “restore the Land and reapportion the desolate estates” (Isaiah 49:8)."

The following video summarizes those who Isaiah calls Zion/Jerusalem:

Isaiah Prophecy Highlights 4 — Isaiah’s Prophecy of God’s Elect — Avraham Gileadi from Color My Media on Vimeo.

Hebrew Study

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Isaiah Chapter 43
Jehovah’s Endtime people who repent of idolatry - whom Isaiah calls Zion/Jerusalem - return in a new exodus from the four directions of the earth.

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Resource Links for this Week's Portion

TORAH: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
GOSPELS: Luke 3:2-15

Listen and Read the Portion
First Fruits of Zion

Torah Pearls with Nehemia Gordon

HAFTARAH: Isaiah Chapter 44

Commentary with Avraham Gileadi, PhD