Ekev – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

Our reading today begins with the word ‘Eikev’ and it means ‘because’:

We begin by listening, after which our actions follow. and In return, God keeps His covenant and shows His mercy to us. So, In return, He blesses us and blesses our families. We learn this from the first two verses of this Torah portion.

Further on in Eikev, we have the additional part that we add to the ‘Shema’-prayer. And they both appear, together, in every mezuzah or tefillin, that secant part starts with:

In other words, this Torah portion leads us to discuss the topic of punishment and reward in the Scriptures.

In the Jewish world we ponder about this question. We ask ourselves whether we keep the commandments ‘for our own sake’, or ‘for heaven sake’.

In other words, do we keep the commandments for the sake of a reward and a blessing, or out of our love for God?

Parashat Eikev contributes a lot of material to this discussion. As mentioned before, this discussion starts already at the beginning of the Tora reading. The word ‘eikev’ - ‘due to’ or 'because' is conditional, much like ‘if’ or ‘when’ we keep God’s instructions… then in return, God will keep the promises he gave our fathers. This condition follows the ‘measure for measure’ principle.

The ‘Measure for measure’ principle is present all throughout the Scriptures, the New Testament discusses this matter in great detail. Yeshua often teaches in the spirit of ‘measure for measure’, Yeshua declares:

Yeshua explains that the Torah and the Prophets are built upon the principle that everything you do, will be done to you. That is a classic example of ‘measure for measure’. Yeshua adds by saying:

Another classic saying of Yeshua is:

And an essential teaching of Yeshua that appears in the Lord’s prayer, which actually is the main prayer He taught us to pray, says:

All these passages point to the importance of ‘measure for measure’ in the New Testament. This principle is expressed in this week’s Torah portion. ‘if you keep the Lord’s commandments, then He will show mercy to you.’

And we continue: ‘If we deserve it, God will send us rain. yet, if we do not deserve it, then the Lord will not send us rain.’

This concept is especially clear concerning the Land of Israel:

Unlike the other countries of the world, the Land of Israel has a special status in the eyes of God. He examines its inhabitants throughout the year, and whenever He wishes, He pours blessed rain upon this land. This is in contrast with Egypt, where the land can be easily watered with water from the Nile, all year long.

In The Land of Israel, we literally depend on God to send rain from heaven, to water our land and sustain us. As part of the traditional Jewish prayers, at the beginning of the ‘Amidah’, in the winter, we pray daily for rain, In the summer we pray daily for dew. We address God as ‘the One Who makes the wind blow, and makes the rain descend.’

Our tangible dependence on God providing for us, strengthens the understanding that God sustains us and everything is truly in His hands. He decides when to let it rain and when to open the gates of the east, to let the sun come up.

The New Testament describes one of Yeshua’s temptations, where He did not eat nor drink for 40 days. The devil came to tempt Him. Knowing Yeshua was hungry, He tells Yeshua to command the stones to turn into bread. Yeshua answers His tempter with a quotation from this Torah portion:

The verses Yeshua quotes, are taken from Moses’ speech to the People of Israel. The goal is to encourage and cause the people to keep the commandments:

Moses claims that the manna, the journey in the wilderness and even the miracles happened with the purpose to see and test if the People of Israel would or wouldn’t keep the commandments of the Lord.

In light of this context, we can fully understand the meaning of Yeshua’s words. We are being tested and should not turn to a different source nor to a different power. We should not trust any promise nor any source that does not come from the Lord. Truly, God is the source of blessing, rain and bread.

Later on, Yeshua teaches us:

We are promised, that if we insist on keeping God’s commandments, there will be bread, there will be rain and there will be blessing!

And here we reach one of the most important questions - the reason for keeping the commandments.

Do we keep the commandments in order to receive rain, bread and blessing?

Or, out of fear of punishment?Or because we lack something?

And, is there even an obligation to keep the commandments from love?

The Shema-prayer consists of two parts. the first part is ‘Hear, O Israel’, and the second part is “so if you listen carefully”, from this week’s Torah portion:

The word “If”, is much like the word ‘eikev’ that appears at the beginning of this Torah reading. The phrase “so that” is meaningful and basically says: “If you listen carefully”. And it precisely describes the reason why we should keep the commandments - namely, ‘so that’ you will live a good and long life. Moses promises and tells us that it is worthwhile to keep God’s commandments.

As believers and disciples of the Messiah, we ask ourselves: is it appropriate to keep God’s commandments for a reward or profit?

The idea that Parashat Eikev raises, of being blessed in return for our obedience to God, is rather difficult for us to accept as believers.

The reason is that we are taught to live according to the Word of God from love, and not for a reward.Even though, Yeshua clearly teaches us that there is a reward, and our desire is to ‘postpone the reward for later’- to the world to come– is actually based on the teaching of Yeshua Who asks us to keep the reward for the Kingdom of Heaven:

Indeed, there is a reward, and it is worthwhile to save it for the world to come.

Contrary to the reward promised in the second half of the ‘Shema’; the first part, however, does not promise any reward, but rather talks about a deep love:

The approach in favor of love as the supreme value in serving God, is not exclusively Messianic. Indeed, there are also many Torah scholars that have emphasized this same vision throughout many generations. Let’s look at the following example:

that is to say:

is the most important.

The tension between keeping the Word of God for our own sake or keeping it for the sake of heaven (meaning: from our love for God), will always exist. Many relate to - keeping the commandments for the sake of a reward - as a serious flaw: if a person keeps the commandments in order to receive a reward, he serves himself, rather than God.

However, besides what others say and think, what does the Torah tells us? In my opinion, the Torah and the New Testament mainly emphasize doing the Word of God. And, while the New Testament greatly emphasizes faith and love; nonetheless, the requirement to do and fulfil the Word of God remains and is obligatory.

It is important to remember that, besides the fact that the Torah is the Word of the living God, the Torah is also a social and political constitution. The Torah contains rules for desirable behavior, family relations, compliance to authority, and of course the command to bring justice and to care for the weak and needy of our society.

So actually, first of all, the Torah requires us to implement and do. To be law-abiding citizens. Yet, why do we keep the law? Initially, it doesn't matter if you keep the law, because you are interested in a certain benefit, or because you are afraid of the law enforcement. or if you just keep the law, because you are a good citizen. Truly, the main thing that counts is that you obey the law.

Throughout the New Testament, Yeshua teaches us numerous times to rejoice about the fact that there is a reward, and to make sure that we receive this reward.for example:

And the following quotation, is from the parable of ‘the house on the rock’, it can be found at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount:

Here Yeshua tells us to do the will of God, and not only to call him ‘Lord’.

Another parable of Yeshua that deals with rewards, is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, from Mathew chapter 20. In this parable, Yeshua compares believers to laborers who work for a daily wage of one dinar.

Throughout the parable, the landlord continues to hire additional workers - again and again. He does so throughout the entire day, and until shortly before the end of the work day, when the laborers would come to collect their salary.

Some worked a full day, while others worked only half a day or even less; and yet, the landlord still promised every worker to be paid one dinar each. It was a very good payment for those who worked a full day, and it was an excessive payment for those who worked half a day or less.

This parable speaks about a reward and actually invites us to be Yeshua’s workers who get paid in return. However, the parable also shows the measure of grace shown in the vineyard by the landlord.

Similar to the laborers in the parable, everyone who comes to faith in Yeshua will also receive an equal measure of grace, no more and no less.

Indeed, every believer will receive the full wage and the full measure of God’s grace. Furthermore, this parable points out, that, one way or another, we will all receive more mercy than we deserve. Surely, we are paid employees and deserve payment, but in this case, the parable makes it clear that we receive far more than we deserve.

That being said: it is not by our own power nor through our own actions that justify us. Rather, it is God’s grace that rewards us ten times more than we deserve.Our Torah portion says this perfectly:

Do not say: it is my own power and the strength of my own hand. It is not me nor my deeds, because everything is from Above!

This Torah portion as well as this discussion, express that the most important part is the doing. The Scriptures permit us to keeps God's word for our own sake, because of the reward, or to avoid punishment. Perhaps that isn’t the ideal situation. However, it is acceptable.

Of course, the aspiration for the ideal would mean for us to detach ourselves from our own interest to profit. To act from pure love for God and to serve Him in truth and in purity. As we pray in the Amidah prayer:

The ideal is presented to us by the Torah and taught to us by Yeshua, and it is to act from love.Yeshua replied: