By Ariella Casey
Laws for Israel in The Land, and How Big is The Land?
Moses, near the end of his life, speaks his final words to Israel while near the borders of the Promised Land. He tells them several times that the laws that YHWH gave to him on Sinai, the laws other than the ten commandments, were given for when they entered The Land.
So why have the Jews continued the tithing laws which were given for the Leviim and Cohenim (Levites and Priests) and the Temple when there is no Temple? Why do Jews in Europe and America build Sukkot along the streets of foreign cities when the Feast of Tabernacles was to be observed “in The Land” as a memorial of the 40 years they spent outside in the wilderness? Aren’t Jews outside of Israel, still in the wilderness? And why are synagogues built and dedicated as holy places, when the only true Holy Place was set apart by YHWH on the Sacred Mount in Israel? And, in case we don’t know, the Second Temple on Har HaBayit was desolated by the betrayal of the Jewish people, giving Jerusalem to Rome 2000 years ago! Har HaBayit is even now in the news, with the Israeli government siding with the nations to prevent Jews from praying there. Please stay abreast of what is happening! Keep praying!
The history of the Israelites over the last 3000 years has been, not what God had planned for us, but what our forefathers chose to do. Israel has been in and out of The Land; taken captive several times and then during prolonged captivity, they formulated new laws which would allow them to be able to remain a separate people and still remain in the nations to which they were scattered. But, these new laws were invented by their rabbis and now referred to as the “Oral Law.” These were anything BUT the original laws given to them through the hand of Moses.
The laws given by the hand of Moses, which are claimed to be the basis for the “Oral Torah” were to be kept solely “in The Land.” Moses gave his final words with several references to this. At this time they were at the end of the 40 years wilderness sojourn. They had, most certainly, been practicing some of these laws, but they were laws that Moses clearly specified for when they were in The Land. Let’s view some of the verses that say this:
“And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words; and he wrote them on two tables of stone. And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in The Land whither ye are passing over to possess it.” (Deu 4:12-14).
And Moses reminds the children of Israel that at Sinai they had asked that YHWH not speak to them, but that Moses should go and receive the laws from YHWH and then teach them.
So he continues reminding them…
“And now, why should we die? for this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we, and has lived? Come thou near, and hear all that Jehovah our God will say; and speak thou to us all that Jehovah our God will speak to thee; and we will hear it, and do it. And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people that have spoken to thee: they have well spoken all that they have spoken. Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments continually, that it might be well with them and with their sons for ever! Go, say unto them, Get you into your tents again. But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in The Land which I give them to possess it. Take heed then to do as Jehovah your God hath commanded you: turn not aside to the right hand or to the left. In all the way that Jehovah your God hath commanded you shall ye walk, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in The Land which ye shall possess.” (Deu 5:25-33).
Again we see that these laws were for “in The Land.”
“And these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye may do them in The Land whereunto ye pass over to possess it, that thou may fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. And thou shalt hear, Israel, and take heed to do them; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase greatly, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deu 6:1-3).
Then Moses teaches the Shema, the laws referring to Mezuzot (writing the laws on the doorposts), and then the binding of the arm and the head-Tefillin (which refer symbolically to controlling our thoughts and actions). He goes on to challenge the Israelites to remain faithful and to not allow idolaters to live in The Land–that they not be seduced into idol worship.
These instructions about keeping certain laws “in The Land” where Israel was to dwell from then onward were so that they would prosper and have long life on The Land and that The Land would flow with milk and honey.
Alas, our history shows something else and we now await a full second Exodus by our exiles who desire to return and be among the people of Israel.
May our brothers and sisters strive with all their strength to be among that group that come to settle The Land and push back the borders that all may inhabit The Land that was once promised to our father Abraham!
Here is our challenge! May we return and possess The Land in it’s fullness!
“Jehovah our God spoke unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have stayed long enough in this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and unto all the neighboring places in the plain, in the mountain, and in the lowland, and in the south, and by the seaside, The Land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. Behold, I have set The Land before you: go in and possess The Land which Jehovah swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.” (Deu 1:6-8)
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