Nitsavim (Weekly Portion) Deuteronomy 29:10-30:20 (27 August, 2013, Elul 21, 5773)
Judah and the Ten Tribes have different roles. A Covenant was made with all the descendants of Israel including those who were destined to be born or to attach themselves to Israel. The presence of the Ten Tribes in the End Times in North America( the New World) was predicted.
Duration: 27.01 minutes. To read text Please Scroll Down!
Note: Very often the section Nitsavim and the section that comes after it, VaYelec, are read together as Nitsavim-VaYelec, Deuteronomy 29:10-31:30 (Tribal Destiny, New World, Protection).
To Hear a Talk on Nitsavim-VaYelec
http://britam.org/Broadcasts/newBAMBI/ParNitzavimVaYelec.mp3
Tribal Destiny, New World, Protection
(34 minutes)
Talk includes points not mentioned in the text.
We however have decided to treat the two sections separately. Nitsavim is D8, and VaYelec is D9. Here is Nitsavim.
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Nitsavim
D8: Deuteronomy 29:10-30:20
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s.1 29:10-11
Deuteronomy 29:
10 You stand assembled today, all of you, before the LORD your God, the leaders of your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel,
the leaders of your tribes: Commentary of the "Natziv" (Naphtali Zvi Berlin, an important 19th century Rabbi in Russia whose opinion is still greatly respected) in free translation:
## the leaders of your tribes: The expression "of your tribes" would appear to be superfluous...rather it comes to teach us that each tribe and its heads are not judged the same as the others. Each tribe is judged according to its own nature and according to that quality it was recognized to be most adhering to. It is judged by the extent of its deviation from its own special characteristic. This is similar to the message of Amos:
Amos 2:
4 Thus says the LORD:
For three transgressions of Judah,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;*
because they have rejected the law of the LORD,
and have not kept his statutes,
but they have been led astray by the same lies
after which their ancestors walked.
5 So I will send a fire on Judah,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.
6 Thus says the LORD:
For three transgressions of Israel,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;*
because they sell the righteous for silver,
and the needy for a pair of sandals,
7 they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
and push the afflicted out of the way;
father and son go in to the same girl,
so that my holy name is profaned;
8 they lay themselves down beside every altar
on garments taken in pledge;
and in the house of their God they drink
wine bought with fines they imposed.
The Natsiv explains:
##The main judgment against Judah is because they departed from their good path of keeping HIS commandments meaning the qualities of the Torah. It is an honor for the Written Law that it be kept very strictly. When they [i.e. Judah] departed from the good path it was as if they despised the Torah. This did not apply to the [other] Tribes of Israel who had never been really strict about learning the Torah. On the contrary, their main characteristic was kindness [empathy] between a man and his fellow. The main judgment against the [northern ten ] Tribes is because they departed from this quality of social empathy and sold THE POOR FOR A PAIR OF SANDALS (Amos 2:6) ##
We see from this that Judah was expected to keep the Torah. The other Tribes were expected to maintain and enforce a system of social justice.
Deuteronomy 29:
11 your children, your women, and the aliens who are in your camp, both those who cut your wood and those who draw your water.
Note: the aliens who are in your camp. From the very beginning they had people of foreign non-Israelite origin with them. These had the same rights and the same obligations as anyone else.
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s.2 29:12-14
Deuteronomy 29:
12 to enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, sworn by an oath, which the LORD your God is making with you today; 13 in order that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
The people of Israel belong to God Almighty.
Deuteronomy 29:
14 I am making this covenant, sworn by an oath, not only with you who stand here with us today before the LORD our God,
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s.3 29:15-28
Deuteronomy 29:
15 but also with those who are not here with us today.
According to tradition [Midrash Tanchuma] the souls were present of all those who were destined to accept the Torah whether by birth or by conversion. The Covenant was being made with those who were physically there then and with those who were not but eventually would be part of the people.
Deuteronomy 29:
16 You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.
We were slaves in Egypt. Other peoples would not accept us. Jews and Anglo-Saxons are disliked without justification by most peoples of the earth.
Deuteronomy 29:
17 You have seen their detestable things, the filthy idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, that were among them.
They were all idolaters and in a sense still are. And so are we in some ways.
Deuteronomy 29:
18 It may be that there is among you a man or woman, or a family or tribe, whose heart is already turning away from the LORD our God to serve the gods of those nations. It may be that there is among you a root sprouting poisonous and bitter growth.
## OR TRIBE: The possibility existed of a whole tribe departing from the straight and narrow.
Deuteronomy 29:
19 All who hear the words of this oath and bless themselves, thinking in their hearts, We are safe even though we go our own stubborn ways (thus bringing disaster on moist and dry alike)
Whenever we sin we say to ourselves that somehow we will escape whatever punishment is entailed. This is a problem. We know that sin is bvad. We know that by sinning we bring bad luck and worse on ourselves but still we do it. WE try to delude ourselves that we shall escape retribution.
Deuteronomy 29:
20 the LORD will be unwilling to pardon them, for the LORD's anger and passion will smoke against them. All the curses written in this book will descend on them, and the LORD will blot out their names from under heaven. 21 The LORD will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this book of the law. 22 The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the LORD has afflicted it. 23 all its soil burned out by sulphur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his fierce anger.
The whole Land of Israel before the Zionist return was in desolation. Visitors (such as Mark Twain) were astonished as to how desolate the Land really was.
This sounds exaggerated but it was so, utterly desolate, according to eye-witness accounts.
Many of the Arabs in the Land of Israel (Who call themselves Palestinians?) are descended from Muslim newcomers who 2 or 3 generations ago came from North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Bosnia, etc. These newcomers flooded the country looking for a living when the British and Jews began to build the place up.
Deuteronomy 29:
24 they and indeed all the nations will wonder, Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused this great display of anger?25 They will conclude, It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They turned and served other gods, worshipping them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them; 27 so the anger of the LORD was kindled against that land, bringing on it every curse written in this book. 28 The LORD uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as is now the case.
INTO ANOTHER LAND = THE 'NEW WORLD' = AMERICA = LOCATION PREDICTED TO BE THE PLACE OF THE LOST TEN TRIBES!
It was predicted that if Israel did not keep the commandments they would be cast out into an "Eretz Acheret" which is translatable from the Hebrew as meaning both "another land" (Deuteronomy 29:28) and/or a "New World". The Mishna (Sanhedrin 10) opines that the verse in Deuteronomy refers to the Lost Ten Tribes who are destined to remain in "Eretz Acheret" until close to the End Times. The American hemisphere when first revealed in our era to European eyes was known as "The New World". Deuteronomy (29:28) and the Mishna, may be therefore understood as saying that the Lost Ten Tribes would be mainly in "The New World" (i.e. "Eretz Acheret") after its discovery (or re-discovery) by Europeans since only then did the term become applicable. It follows that either North or South America was intended as a place of exile and all other evidence points to North and Western Europe and North America.
Deuteronomy 29:
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children for ever, to observe all the words of this law.
THE SECRET THINGS: This in my opinion includes traumatic experiences that cause criminal behavior. In many cases it is for the health of society that punishments be administered for wrongdoing even if the perpetrator had a bad childhood, etc.
At the same time quite a few people are unjustly in prison or excessively under condemnation.
The sicknesses and injustices of society that are known about are not secret and we may have to give an account as to why we did not attempt to correct them.
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s.4 30:1-6
Deuteronomy 30:
1 When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, 2 and return to the LORD your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today,
We have to love God with all that we have and are to the utmost of our ability and beyond. Easier said than done maybe but it is our duty.
Deuteronomy 30:
3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the LORD your God has scattered you.
If you turn to God, HE will help you.
Deuteronomy 30:
4 Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world,* from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back.
5 The LORD your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.
6 Moreover, the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.
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s.5 30:7-10
Deuteronomy 30:
7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on the adversaries who took advantage of you. 8 Then you shall again obey the LORD, observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today,
Those that persecuted you will be punished.
We shall all return to worship the God of Israel.
Deuteronomy 30:
9 and the LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors,
We will succeed in what we do. We shall have good, healthy children and many of them. Our possessions will increase almost of their own accord.
We will be blessed in every way. We only have to return to the God of Israel.
Deuteronomy 30:
10 when you obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
We must keep the Law and We must love God.
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s.6 30:11-14
Deuteronomy 30:
11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it? 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it? 14No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.
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s.7 30:15-20
Deuteronomy 30:
15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.
Note the association Good=life, evil=death.
Deuteronomy 30:
16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God* that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
If we keep the law we will live and be multiplied and blessed in the Land.
Deuteronomy 30:
17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,
If we do not hearken to God we shall be punished.
Deuteronomy 30:
18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
Most people who live long and remain healthy have lead good lives.
Deuteronomy 30:
19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,
We are commanded to choose life, for our own good and for the good of our offspring. God wants our good and this is the way we earn it.
Deuteronomy 30:
20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
holding fast to him: This can be fulfilled be associating with good people who also love God.