Ki Tavo (When You Enter) Deut. 26:1–29:9; Is. 60:1–22; Luke 23:26–56.
By Raphael ben Levi
In this week’s parsha, we see how Israel’s entire existence as a nation is predicated on covenant, but whether they prosper or not is determined by their relationship with God – either blessings or curses – dependent upon their they walk in His ways or not. But this is not the case with covenant. God remains faithful to His covenant promises even when we are faithless because He cannot deny Himself. But within these parameters, we must make important choices in our lives – blessings or curses. Abundant life or a life filled with regrets and disappointments. Yeshua said, “I have come that you might have abundant life,” but the choice is ours…
This Shabbat the parsha is called ‘Ki Tavo’, “when you come in,” from Deut 26:1–29:8. The setting is the day of Pentecost, Shavuot — the Feast of Weeks that falls 50 days after Passover. Scripture instructed the children of Israel how to enter the land of Canaan. The first was to gather the first fruits of the land and the trees, put them in a basket, take them to the house of the Lord, and dedicate them to the Lord. And so, the parsha begins by God instructing Israel to bring their first-fruits (‘bikurim’) to the Tabernacle when they entered Canaan (ch.26:2): “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose,…” Have you ever imagined how that looked like? Here is a description from the MIshna (Bikkurim 3:2-6).
“Throughout Israel, villagers would gather in the nearest of 24 regional centres. There, overnight, they would sleep in the open air. The next morning, the leader would summon the people with words from the book of Jeremiah (31:5): “Arise and let us go up to Zion, to the House of the Lord our God.”
Those who lived near Jerusalem would bring fresh figs and grapes. Those who lived far away would bring dried figs and raisins. An ox would walk ahead of them, its horns plated with gold and its head decorated with an olive wreath. Someone would play a flute. When they came close to Jerusalem they would send a messenger ahead to announce their arrival and they would start to adorn their first-fruits. Governors and officials of the city would come out to greet them and the artisans would stop their work and call out, “Our brothers from such-and-such a place: come in peace!”
The flute would continue playing until the procession reached the Temple Mount. There, they would each place their basket of fruit on their shoulder and carry it to the Temple forecourt. There the Levites would sing (Psalm 30:2), “I will praise you, God, for you have raised me up and not let my enemies rejoice over me.”
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks describes things like this. “The scene, as groups converged on the Temple from all over Israel would have been unforgettable. However, the most important part of the ceremony lay in what happened next. With the baskets still on their shoulders the arrivals would say, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” Each would then hold their basket by the rim, the Cohen would place his hand under it and ceremoniously wave it, and the bringer of the fruit would say the following passage, whose text is set out in our parasha: “My ancestor was a wandering Aramean. He went down into Egypt and lived there as a stranger, few in number, and there became a great nation, strong and numerous. The Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labour. We cried out to the Lord, God of our ancestors. The Lord heard our voice and saw our suffering, our toil and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power and signs and wonders. He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And now I am bringing the first fruit of the soil that you, O Lord, have given me.” Deut. 26:5-10.
Many cultures have similar ceremonies connected to first fruits. What is unique about the first-fruits ritual celebrated by the Israelites is that they as a people see God in history rather than in nature. He is more than a God who provides for all our needs. He is the One who birthed Israel as a nation. He is the One whose outstretched hand redeemed the Israelites from slavery. And He is the One who is a shadow and type of the Messiah – the First fruit from the dead – Yeshua for whom we are His first fruits. What can be our response to this? Nothing less than this, that God deserves our best regardless of our position in life, (kings or slaves) our material possessions (rich or poor) our education, background or any other outward criteria. Whatever falls short of our bikkurim falls short of what rightly belongs to Him. Many are called but few are chosen because few dare choose to take this path of sacrifice.
God is not so interested in the level of our gifts or talents compared with the first fruits of a life consecrated to Him. Better to overcome much with very little than much with an abundance – to contend for the faith wholeheartedly no matter how meagre our provision appears to be.
Our faithfulness as God’s custodians in even the smallest things will be reflected in our reward in Heaven. Yeshua illustrated this in Matt.10:42: “…whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.”
Our best is always good enough however meagre it may appear. This alone is the standard and the level playing field in the Kingdom of God.
From Deut. 28:15-25, all the blessings promised by God are detailed followed by the consequences for those who choose to ignore His commandments or stray to the right hand or to the left, or go after other gods to serve them.
The number 5 biblically represents God’s grace as we see the occurrence of the conditional clause, ‘if’ repeated in this short section five times. We are saved by grace and blessed because of His grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness, but free will and choice is also interwoven within our lives and determines whether we are adorned in rags or the garments of His glory – in spiritual poverty or riches. God gave the Israelites the choice between blessings or curses in the same way that we too can choose – spiritual rags or riches.
In all of this, I want now to relate some of these things to the month of Elul we are in. In Jewish tradition God created the universe on Rosh haShanah based upon the first word in the Hebrew bible (B’resheet) “In the beginning” which when rearranged forms the phrase “Aleph” (1st) of “Tishrei”. The sages interpreted this to mean that on the 1st of Tishrei God created man (not the universe) who was given authority to govern the universe on the 6th day. This means that the universe was established 6 days earlier on ELUL 25, in Gen.1:3 when God said, “Let there be light.”
It was on that date when the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem were completed in the 2nd Temple period under Nehemiah (Neh.6:15) around 430BC. This is significant because God wants to rebuild the walls of our lives. That which was broken down and rendered a heap of rubble through sin is being rebuilt stone by stone by God that we might live in a restored and intimate relationship with Him.
This evening will commence the 21st day of ELUL, the month of Teshuva; of returning both to God and putting our lives right with others. This is something we are reminded of in this month with the daily blowing of the shofar that we dare not pass by; an action closely connected to the Jewish value of ‘tikkun olam’ (repairing the world) – repairing the damage caused by sin. God is not concerned with damage limitation or sticky plaster solutions but to restore and reshape usas the Master Potter who rebuild the walls of our lives with Divine love and precision. The things in us that have been broken down through sin and rendered a heap of rubble, God desires to rebuild stone by stone, and all He needs is our permission to allow Him to do so.
Although the history of the Jewish people is permeated with tragedy, many times due to a failure to live in relationship with God, they have nonetheless never lost the capacity to rejoice because it is a mechanism to survive even the worst of times. As we approach the Feast of Sukkot, “Z’man Simchateynu” in several weeks time, we will focus upon leaving the security and comfort of our houses and live instead in a sukkah (a temporary dwelling) exposed to the wind, the cold and the rain. Yet we call it ‘Z’man Simchatenu,’ our season of joy because it’s not dependent on circumstances!
The word JOY occurs in the Bible 10 times more frequently than the word HAPPINESS because happiness is circumstantial but the joy of the Lord is our strength without which we wither up and die. His joy is contagious but too many believers have the Holy Spirit but no joy and instead are bowed down by fear of man and chains of enslavement.
Joy is something we don’t pursue but rather it pursues us when we submit ourselves to God and it plays a key role in two contexts as we see in this week’s parsha. One is linked to the bringing of first-fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem as already mentioned earlier. (Deut. 26:11) The other context are the curses that are described twice in the Tanakh: once in Lev.26, and the other time here in our weekly reading from Deut, 28. The curses in Leviticus end on a note of hope but in Deuteronomy it ends in despair. The Leviticus curses speak of total rebellion against God by the people. The people walk ‘bekeri’ with God (“rebelliously”). But the curses in Deuteronomy are provoked simply “…because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart out of the abundance of all things.” (Deut. 28:47)
So, what does the Torah mean when it attributes national disaster to a lack of joy? Why does joy matter more than happiness? Happiness is the state of mind of an individual. Simcha, (joy) in the Torah, however, is never about individuals but always about something we share in community. The festivals described in Deuteronomy are days of joy, because we celebrate the occasions together : “you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the strangers, the fatherless and the widows living among you.” (Deut.16:11) Simcha is joy shared. It is not something God intended for us to experience in solitude.
“Happiness is an attitude to life as a whole, while joy lives in the moment. Happiness is something you pursue. But joy is not. It discovers you…It is the redemption of solitude.” Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Interestingly, the biblical book most focused on joy is Ecclesiastes (Kohelet) written by King Solomon (“the preacher) a book usually associated with unhappiness even though it is always read during Sukkot. And yet it uses the word ‘simcha’ 17 times, which is more than the whole of the 5 books of Torah combined. After every reflection regarding the pointlessness of life, Kohelet ends with an exhortation to rejoice: (Kohelet 3:12; 3:22; 8:15; 11:8) How then can we understand things when the whole book of Ecclesiastes is punctuated with the word “hevel” (“futility”? We can only truly appreciate this when we know that the word ‘hevel’ properly translated means “a shallow breath”. In other words our mortal lives are just a fleeting breath and Kohelet eventually finds it, not in happiness but in joy – because joy lives not in thoughts of tomorrow, but in grateful acceptance and celebration of today. Even when we do not know what tomorrow may bring and we are surrounded by enemies, when we properly understand who we are as children of the living God we are bestowed with the gift of joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength!
The Haftarah portion from Isai.60 defines this joy made available for us as believers: “Arise [from spiritual depression to a new life], shine [be radiant with the glory and brilliance of the Lord]; for your light has come, And the glory and brilliance of the Lord has risen upon you!” Verse 2 describes the conditions we are currently in: “2 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness [all] peoples, but…
But the end of the story is soon to unfold: “the Lord shall arise upon you [O Jerusalem], and His glory shall be seen on you. 3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes round about you and see! They all gather themselves together, they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried and nursed in the arms. 5 Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart shall thrill and tremble with joy [at the glorious deliverance] and be enlarged; because the abundant wealth of the [Dead] Sea shall be turned to you, unto you shall the nations come with their treasures.”
This momentous event will usher in the Millennium a cause for us to be joyful as the generation living in the most perilous times ever.
