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Deuteronomy, Language, Teaching

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – The offer by Moses to the Israelites [Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany]

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Moses said, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 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. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 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. 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, 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.”

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In this reading, understand how Moses said, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity” – and then followed that up with details.

The details come in his saying: “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.”

To support that, Moses then stated: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life,” from which to choose.  This is then stated to be a “blessing,” as from “life” comes “prosperity.”

That “blessing” becomes a reward for the choice to serve God.  Thus, Moses then said: “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 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.”

When Moses spoke of the alternate choice – “death and adversity” – he implied that was a natural end, from a failure to choose “life.”

This was then detailed in his saying: “But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 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.”  It is natural to serve what your heart seeks.  It requires a seeker to choose “life” through God, as opposed to natural “death” as a mortal.

Moses then said he had warned about choosing “death” and the “curses” that choice brings.

This reading from Deuteronomy … about the choice between life and death … has to be understood in greater terms that physical life in a body of flesh (“life”) and the release of an eternal soul upon the end of usability in that material form (“death”).  The meaning of “life” in this reading is as eternal life, in the presence of God, which is a spiritual “life.”  This means that “death” is the opposite of that spiritual “life,” as the presence of an eternal soul in a body of flesh that is limited in its ability to support “life.”  Thus, a soul born into a human form is bound to “death” through the simple fact of mortality.

The result of “death” is reincarnation.  An eternal soul that has proved to be unworthy of spiritual “life” – to remain one with God – is returned to the plane of that soul’s choice.  As such, a material “life” can be assured of another bodily “death,” unless that soul is led to “life” as a reborn Christ.  Moses was pointing this out, albeit in “between the lines” form.

When one then analyzes the requirements of choosing “life,” the acts of obedience, love, following a path set by God (not self), the chosen “life” follows steadfast rules. Thus, the reward is said to be: “then you shall live and become numerous.”  This reward has nothing to do with physical lineage, although it is easy to become distracted by the promise made by God to the Israelites – the direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The reward has wholly to do with the presence of the Holy Spirit, which is the only way one can fulfill all the aforementioned requirements.  When one is filled with the Holy Spirit, then one has “life” “to live” and one “becomes numerous” through the lineage of passing on the Holy Spirit to others.  One filled with God’s Holy Spirit is for the purpose of exponential increase of God’s presence in others.  Therefore, “living in the land” sworn to those named Biblical patriarchs is much more than being a land on the other side of the Jordan, where Canaan (to be named Israel) was, but heaven.

It is so important to realize that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not typical human beings, whose power, wealth, and influence came from being acute businessmen.  True.  They profited greatly in the world; but they were, above all other titles held,  High Priests who recognized and served the One God – YAHWEH.  Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob; but Abraham also begat Ishmael and Isaac also begat Esau, neither of whom were descendants who walked the path of the LORD.

Likewise, Adam begat Cain and Abel [Abel was the soul that became Seth], where one was true to Adam’s priestly heritage of serving the One God, while the other served as a priest to a lesser god.  All those forgotten characters of lineage were human beings who served worldly gods and matter not in the thread of Holy Spirit that is the Holy Bible.  Therefore, physical heritage has nothing to do with the promise of Moses, as the only lineage of merit is that of being a descendant of God [a Son of God], through the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

In this same sense of physical heritage, Jacob begat twelve sons, with Joseph being the only true priestly follower of Isaac.  Joseph was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt.  Joseph’s “life” as a High Priest, filled by the Holy Spirit, was shown in his abilities to prophesy.  He rose to advise the Pharaoh in a position of importance.  Like Elisha’s request of Elijah: “Give me a double portion of your spirit,” Joseph would receive a double share of the land of Canaan, through his sons Manasseh and Ephraim who were adopted by Jacob.  Still, Jacob would give the blessing of his right hand to the younger Ephraim, instead of the elder Manasseh, because Jacob (Israel) saw Ephraim becoming greater than his older brother.  This greatness must be seen as in priestly measure.

Because of the choices Moses offered the Israelites – the descendants of Jacob [Israel] – the “life” or “death” options can be seen as paralleled to the “captivity” in Egypt and the “freedom” of a Promised Land.  The “bondage” is not to a land or a ruler, but to the worldly domain, where many gods demand our obedience and allegiance.  This means the “freedom” found in a new land – where the Israelites continuously rebelled and complained about the restrictions of their Covenant – has little to do with ownership of property in this world offering “freedom.”  The offer of “freedom” is from the “death” that is associated with a mortal life, such that “freedom” can only be the immortality of a soul allowed to retain spiritual oneness with God.

The harsh environment that Egypt had become for the Israelites symbolizes the harshness of human conditions: the loss of childhood dreams to adult realities, the slavery to work in order to pay the price for life on earth, and the ravages of old age on a body.  There is no “freedom” from life on earth – no Emancipation Proclamation that can ever be mandated in writing – that can free human beings from the slavery that one finds in a human body of flesh … one that is always demanding servitude to mortal needs.  It is the realization of the idiom: Death and Taxes.  This projects the certainties of mortal existence.

It is important, above all other points of perspective, to see that the Israelites never lost their lusts for human ways.  They longed for the pleasures of a worldly existence, which were hoped for as islands of respite in an environment of punishment and persecution.  The benefits of “life” in Egypt, just like the perceived benefits of “life” in Canaan, were seen as better to enjoy when physical “life” on earth was the same as the “life” in other nations.  This is the fault of Esau, who sold his birthright for a bowl of savory stew.

Moses never promised the rewards of heaven to any soul that would sacrifice eternal “life” for a pause in the pains of human suffering.  Thus, the chosen ones were not simply human beings, but those who heard the words spoken by Moses and knew his promise of true “life” meant a lifelong servitude to God – the “death” of a dependency on “death.”  Just like “death” and taxes, heaven cannot be gained without hard labors.

This is why the Jews (as a race) have no claim to being God’s Chosen People.  The rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah, by those who call themselves non-Christian Jews, means they chose “death” and a return to mortality.  They chose not God, preferring to serve lesser gods than YAHWEH: Mammon, Baal, Satan; gods of war, philosophies, and politics, who relish in their misguided servants’ zeal for sins like the theft of lands, the misuse of mortal powers of influence, and the hoarding of material wealth.  Those not filled with the true Holy Spirit serve material ways and human rewards, all which are represented by the many gods of “death,” who are as dead as the religions they pretend to represent.

It is not for God to choose people, but for people to choose God.  This is the stipulation of the Covenant that all human beings find as the promise made to them equally: “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.”  All who make the Lord their only God, so they can call upon Him as “My Lord,” they are the ones who can be seen as God’s chosen people, because those people choose obedience to God, as servants only to their God.

These commitments can only be met by the power of God in one’s heart, through a marriage to God, from deep love.  This means more than observing the mentality of words.  It means the sacrifice of self to a husband, where God is that husband.  The child of that union then becomes the Mind of Christ, where one becomes “dead” as a self-ego of human mortality and reborn as a new Jesus in the world.  All who are without Christ refuse to make this commitment, as self is more important than sacrifice and servitude.

Only when one experiences the “death” of mortal life, which is “life” defined by “death,” can one begin to see the benefit of eternal “life” in the new Promised Land.  With the marriage to God resulting in the rebirth of Jesus Christ, “then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.”  “Life” never grows old and always rejoices in the vitality of birth.  With God in one’s heart, the soul leaps with joy within its worldly body, like a fetus growing to maturity in the womb.

In that regard where Moses spoke, “entering the land to be possessed,” the mortal body becomes that land.  In Biblical history, a wildly flowing Jordan River would be made stopped and dry by the Ark of the Covenant, carried by the priests of the twelve tribes (following the death of Moses, led by Joshua).  This is how the Holy Spirit’s presence reverses the flow of worldly mortality.  The changes in that crossing also symbolizes the baptism of Jesus, as the water of the Jordan could not wash away sin from purified people.  Physical water backed away as the dove of the Holy Spirit descended upon him, so Jesus entered the realm of God and God entered into Jesus, via His Holy Spirit.  Thus, the Lord says to all His High Priests, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”

Moses directed his words to the Israelites before they purified themselves and crossed over.  God put those words in Moses’ mouth for your eyes to read and your heart to hear.  God is well pleased by a new bride who sacrifices “death” for eternal “life.”

Deuteronomy, Language, Teaching

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – Entering the Promised Land where heaven and earth are one

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Moses said to all Israel the words which the Lord commanded him, [15] “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. [16] If you obey the commandments of Yahweh eloheka 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 Yahweh eloheka will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. [17] But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other lelohim and serve them, [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. [19] I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. [20] Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving Yahweh eloheka, 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 Yahweh swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. פ“

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Back on Proper 10, Year C (the fifth Sunday after Pentecost), the track two Old Testament reading selection was from Deuteronomy 30:9-14, which leads up to these verses. The same background applies to these verses, as Moses was giving the true Israelites their last warnings, before allowing them to move into their ‘Promised Land.’ If you want to combine the two readings, for a greater perspective, the other commentary can be read by clicking on this link: Deuteronomy 30:9-14 – Final notes on reaching the ultimate Promised Land – eternal salvation.

In the whole of Deuteronomy 30, there are fourteen times Moses stated the combined Hebrew words “Yahweh eloheka,” which has been translated by the translation service as saying, “the Lord your God.” A total of eighteen times Moses referred to “Yahweh,” with four times that name stood alone. That alone says “Yahweh” was the supreme deity of everyone who (spiritually) listened to Moses give these final instructions. The Hebrew word “eloheka” is a second person masculine singular that is constructed in the masculine plural. This means the masculine singular is “your,” which speaks as an individual relationship for everyone Moses spoke to, with the masculine plural being the fact that “elohim” is the masculine plural form of “el” (the masculine singular. For Moses to repeatedly tell the true Israelites “Yahweh” is the source of “your elohim” (which is inward and joined with one’s (the singular individuality) soul, the “elohim” is the “Yahweh elohim” stated eleven times in Genesis 2 – Adam, the Son of Yahweh, hand-made to be the savior of souls many times over, in many at the same time (the masculine plural). Thus, “Yahweh eloheka” is central to understand this chapter and these selected verses.

In verse fifteen, the duality stated by Moses is spiritual history. When we read the truth of that written, it says, “see I have set your face today.” In that, the Hebrew construct word “lə·p̄ā·ne·ḵā,” where the root word is “panim,” meaning “face.” This says everyone listening (spiritually) to what Moses said then wore “the face” of Yahweh – the First Commandment being secured. When one has “set your face today,” the voice speaking spiritually is not Moses, but coming directly from Yahweh. All true Israelites (always) wear His “face” and no other.

The duality that comes next – “this life and this good ; and the death and the evil” – must be seen as the ability to see the true Promised Land, which is Eden (not some dusty, rocky, place near the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle East). In Eden, Yahweh placed both the “tree of life,” which was “good,” and the tree of knowledge of good and evil,” which reflected the one fruit never to eat, unless one’s soul wanted to be banished from that true Promised Land. To have a Big Brain leading one’s actions means to wear one’s own “face” or the “face” of some lesser god … such as worshipping at the altar of money-grubbing Mammon (all you Hollywood movie moguls whose souls have been sold to “death and evil”). Thus, Yahweh said through Moses, when your souls are individually married to Me and they individually have receive My Spirit, each resurrected as my Son Adam (the “Yahweh elohim”), then you can “see” Eden is where your souls are promised, with the same prohibitions in place – only eat the fruit of the tree of “life” and have eternal “life.” To becomes self-aware means ejection from your ‘Promised Land,’ to suffer are mortals, bound to “death” all filthy from “evil” sins.

In verse sixteen, where Yahweh said through Moses, “that I am commanding you today you all to love Yahweh eloheka to walk in his manner , and preserve his commandments and statutes and his judgments ; that you may remain alive and become great , and will kneel you to Yahweh eloheka .” In this, the aspect of “you all to love” (“lə·’a·hă·ḇāh”) and “to walk in his manner” (“lā·le·ḵeṯ biḏ·rā·ḵāw”) are both statements of submission through holy matrimony of the highest Spiritual kind. This says to “preserve his commandments and statutes and judgments” can only happen when one’s soul is one with Yahweh, subjected totally to His Will. With that divine union, then one will always know eternal life, which is the intent behind “remain alive.” A soul in a mortal body of flesh can only “remain alive” when the flesh can maintain a soul. When the flesh dies, for the soul to “remain alive,” it must be free of all sin; and, that can only be guided by the Son’s soul one with each host soul – the Lord Adam-Jesus. To then “become great” means to cease being poor of spirit by becoming one with Yahweh, His Spirit and His Son (the Trinity). That means each soul must then “kneel” before the Lord of its soul-body and serve the Son of man as his subject in the flesh – following the path of righteousness in ministry to lead others to the same path.

In verse seventeen, Moses spoke as Yahweh warning: “if he or she will turn away your heart so not do you hear ; and are drawn away , and worship gods other and serve them .” Here, it is important to realize that once a soul has received the Baptism of Yahweh’s Spirit, purifying a soul so it can resurrect His Son’s soul within that virgin womb, that state of being lasts forever, with the gift of eternal life gained. This means this warning relates to the ministry of those to whom Moses spoke, as their yet unborn sons and daughters would be the focus of this verse. The “if” condition is relative to those new bodies of flesh being born and receiving souls, which are not yet married to Yahweh and granted eternal life. In those cases, the parents and relatives should teach their children to take the path to divine union; but it is up to each individual soul to choose one’s path in the flesh. Therefore, there will be those who “will turn away” from marrying their souls to Yahweh, so their “hearts do not hear” the guidance of His Son within. They “will be drawn away” towards worldly pursuits “and worship other gods and serve them,” not Yahweh. This is the danger that always exists in the world and why Moses kept the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years; so, two generations of new bodies of flesh would show this natural rebelliousness and the way Yahweh rejects those rebels from His midst, as Moses and Aaron would execute His Commandments to punish those not worthy of the name Israel.

In verse eighteen, Yahweh makes the promise through Moses: “I make clear to you today , that [mentioned before in verse seventeen] to perish you shall perish ; not you will be long days over the land , which you pass over the Jordan , to go in there to take possession of .” The element that repeats “perish” is a statement of mortality. The flesh housing a soul that is unclean, from a soul serving other gods, will die and the soul will then be judged to repeat life in the flesh (reincarnation), so death is a repeated experience (not eternal life). The element of “days” relates to the light of truth that comes from being led by the Son of Yahweh, from within one’s soul, as the Lord over its flesh. Those “days not you will be long over one’s flesh (the land)” says one will be unclean and unmarried to Yahweh. The element of “passover the Jordan,” this would be when they would cross the Jordan by Joshua and the passover feast would be recognized. The meaning of “pass over” is to escape death and receive eternal life. So, to “pass over the Jordan” without being covered with the blood of the lamb (the soul of Jesus as Lord over one’s soul-flesh), then entrance into the ‘Promised Land’ will have the world “take possession” of one’s soul, because one has chosen death over eternal life.

In verse nineteen there is another set of dualities stated: “heaven and earth life and death.” This is the duality of mankind, where each is the union of “heaven and earth” as the soul and its flesh. The soul is “life” and the flesh is “death.” This truth is stated by Yahweh as “against you,” meaning either “heaven” or “earth” either “life” or “death” will be the path one takes, with each soul responsible for its choice. The choice will then bring either a “blessing” or a cursing,” with that duality reflecting the “blessing” if a soul chooses marriage to Yahweh and eternal “life.” The “cursing” comes if one chooses to serve its “flesh” and seek the pleasures of the world. Yahweh then strongly recommends “choose life , that both may live you and your descendants .” Here, the aspect of children becomes totally dependent on their parents having chosen “life,” in order to teach them the correct path to take.

Verse twenty then takes this recommendation, because all who are listening to Yahweh through Moses are souls married to Yahweh and reborn as His Son. As such, the verse reads: “that [following the recommendation] you may love Yahweh eloheka , that you may obey his voice that you may cling to him ; for he your life and the length of your days , that you may dwell in the land that swore Yahweh to your fathers , Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give them .” here, again, the aspect of “love Yahweh your elohim” is a statement of divine marriage, where the objective of all marriage is to give birth to new life. That new life from “love of Yahweh” is “your inner elohim” or the soul of Jesus as your soul’s Lord. To “obey his voice” means to be guided by the whispers of Adam-Jesus within (the Christ Mind); and, “to cling to him” means to be ‘doubly fruitful’ from the soul of Adam-Jesus joining with one’s host soul (two in one body of flesh). With this Son of Yahweh one with one’s soul, this determines one’s soul to be saved and granted eternal life, so one is always led by the light of truth (so the sun is always shining as bright as day). To “dwell in the land that swore Yahweh to your fathers” means “to live as a soul in flesh” that has no influence over that soul. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all surrendered their self-importance to serve Yahweh fully. That commitment was soul based and spiritually connected. It was not a bloodline of physical properties. Thus, Yahweh says one who is truly able to be called “Israel” – “Who Retains the el of Yahweh” within – can truly be called a descendant of those named.