Va'etchanan - the Sabbath of Comfort-3

Unfaithfulness and Exile

“Adonai will scatter you among the peoples; and among the nations to which Adonai will lead you away, you will be left few in number.”  (Deuteronomy 4:27)

In this Parasha, Moses prophesies the tragic consequence of Israel straying from their devotion to God and turning to idols: they would be sent into exile (galut) and scattered to the four corners of the earth. This is exactly what happened when the Babylonians and the Romans destroyed the Holy Temple and Jerusalem. However, God is merciful; He promised that if the people would repent and turn back to Him with all of their heart and soul, then He would relent and bring them back to the Land. Indeed, in fulfillment of a great number of prophecies, including those of Moses, the Lord did bring His people home from Babylon.  In these last days, He is once again bringing His people home. “In your distress, when all these things have come upon you, in the last days [acharit-hayamim], you will return to Adonai your God and listen to what He says; for ADONAI your God is a merciful God.  He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which He swore to them.”  (Deuteronomy 4:30–31) This miracle has happened in our very generation as Jewish people are returning to the Land of our forefathers from the north, south, east and west.  It is not because of our righteousness that we have come back to the Land, but because of the covenant God made with our ancestors.

An Orthodox Jewish man recites morning prayers.

 Haftarah Va’etchanan: Comfort My People

Haftarah (prophetic portion) is the first of a series of seven special Haftarot of Consolation that begin on the Shabbat following Tisha B’Av and continue until Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). These seven Haftarot follow three special Haftarot called the "Three of Rebuke," which are read from Tammuz 17 to Av 9, the three weeks during which we mourn the destruction of the Temple and the onset of the exile of the Jewish People.Isaiah 40 opens with a word of comfort to those who are in exile in Babylon and to the destroyed city of Jerusalem:“Comfort, comfort My people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”  (Isaiah 40:1–2)

 

Jewish men pray at the Western (Wailing) Wall in

Jerusalem, where it is traditional to stuff prayers on
slips of papers in the crevices of the wall. 

 Divine consolation to the people of Israel declares reconciliation, restoration, national renewal and hope:

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’”  (Isaiah 40:3–5) This prophecy of Isaiah would likely have been understood by the Israelites as an allusion to the ancient practice of eastern monarchs sending harbingers before them to prepare the way, levelling roads and removing impediments for the king.  Just as these monarchs prepared the way before themselves, God prepared the way before the Jewish slaves in Egypt, leading them to their Promised Land.  He would prepare the way again before the Jewish exiles in Babylon, leading them home. And He has prepared the way again, leading the Jews scattered throughout the nations (the Diaspora) back to a restored Land of Israel. This passage also speaks of the future manifestation of the Lord before the world, in which people would be led out of bondage to sin and into the Kingdom of Heaven. God confirms the trustworthiness of this promise, stating that while all flesh is like grass, God’s Word stands firm forever.  God is watching over His Word to perform it and His promise to restore and save Israel is reliable and can be trusted by all.

Reading from the Torah scroll

Only God’s Word can restore what seems unrestorable, reconcile what seems irreconcilable, and comfort those who are without comfort. The greatest comfort any Jewish person can receive is the security in knowing that their sins have been paid for once and for all by Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).Please comfort God's people today by helping Bibles For Israel reveal Yeshua to the Jewish People in powerful, culturally sensitive ways.