First Fruits / Blessing or Curse

8/28/10 Ki Tavo (When you enter in) D’varim (Deuteronomy) 26:1-29:9 (emphasis 26:1-10; 28:1-2, 13,15,62,64; 29:9;
Isaiah 50:1-28; Hebrews 11:32-40
compiled by Val Waters, sopher (scribe)
Midrash: Seth Budai
Psalm 119:137-144 Shabbat is our resting time to hide in Him, while He strengthens us (D’varim 8:3)
Psalm 121:3,4 We have a BIG God who doesn’t slumber or sleep, so we have no excuses (to give Him our all) because He gives us strength!

Teaching: Rabbi Ken Alpren
D’varim 26 is about the ceremony of First Fruits, or Bikkurim, which is covered in Mishnah Bikkurim 1:3.
Jewish farmers would tie a reed around the earliest ripening fruits from each of seven species (wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates). and at harvest time those specific plants were brought in baskets and put on oxen and led in a procession of dancing and singing to Jerusalem to be presented to the Cohanim (priests) at the Temple. The ceremony included the reading aloud of D’varim 26:1-10.
D’varim 28 is about Israel being given the choice to obey God in the promised land and thus receive His blessing, (v2 “…and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you…” v13 “and the LORD shall make you the head and not the tail and you only shall be above and you shall not be underneath, if you will listen…”) but if they would choose to disobey God, the curse was also spelled out clearly v62 “then you shall be left few in number whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude” v64 “…the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth…”).

Rabbi Ken reminded the congregation that if we honor God with our first and our best as in Proverbs 3:9 our harvest will overflow our barns; and if we give Him the whole (complete) tithe, in Malachi 4: 10, He will open for us the doors of heaven and pour out blessings that overflow!

Often we hear that the Old Covenant just says we have to love God, while the New Covenant says we love God because we want to; this implies that grace wasn’t active until after Yeshua redeemed us. Rabbi Ken pointed out that the Decalogue (Sh’mot 20) begins with “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” the LORD is saying, I redeemed you…with the implication being that the Hebrews belonged to God, that He already proved his love to His people, and asked for their obedience in return. Grace started with God in the Old Covenant also!

We are considered His holy ones, saints, kiddushim because of of what God has already done through the blood of Yeshua! He has set us apart, wants us as pure fruit, purges out the old leaven (1 Cor 5); we are already ‘matza’ or cleansed of sin!
Positional Truth Experiential Truth
our standing our state
our union our communion
our position our experience
Eph. 1;3, Heb 7:9,10 Col 3:1,2 1 Jn 2:28 Jn 15:5,7,9, Gal 1:6, 2:4, 3:1-5
John 3:31, 8:23 Gal 5;1 Heb 2:1, 2 Pet 1:19

Watchman Nee’s book, Sit, Walk Stand summarizes the book of Ephesians and who we are: with Messiah we are dead, buried, risen and ascended and now sit with Him; we walk in His calling, in health; and we stand firm, not yielding to the adversary.

a brief summary of the three tithes required when living in the land of Israel:
crops 10% to Levites, who in turn tithe to Cohanim (priests)
main tithe, 2% to priests
1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th years, a second tithe, of which 9& eaten by owner (in Jerusalem)
3rd and 6th year, poor man’s tithe, they eat it at home
1 Tim 5:17, 1 Cor 6:17 : also tithing before Torah, Abraham to Melchizedek (Gen. 14).
Abel brought 1st fruits, Cain gave left-overs: we can miss God’s blessing by stingy giving, not freely given
We can bring ourselves as first fruits also…by prioritizing our time spent in His Word! search in it, meditate upon it, read speak it aloud; speak it out loudly! We are told to not neglect hi sword, As a new believer, Rabbi Ken was challenged to spend more time in the word and told that he would get better grades without more time spent in homework, just in the Word….and it worked! We are told to meditate day and night on His Word! 1 Pet 2:2, Psalm 119:11, Ps 1. 5 loaves and 2 fish fed 5,000! God’s power is a mystery to natural man, Don’t skip worship services and expect the blessings: have company? bring them along as a testimony to your faith! Most people try giving on in crises, the LORD asks for your first fruits, not your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th best.
1 Thes 5:17, Luke 18:1 There is no formula that man can copy, the LORD’s blessings and growth and healing are supernatural!

In D’varim 28,29 Three prophecies of Israel’s dispossession are already fulfilled. Two prophecies of Israel’s restoration are already fulfilled, while the 3rd is in the process of being fulfilled. The LORD is drawing, wooing His chosen people back to Israel. Jer 16:14-16 speaks of the LORD sending fishers and hunters to help gather them, and they have also experienced the persecution.

Archaelogists have uncovered a rock engraved with the sh’ma in Hebrew, and a drawing of a mezuzah!

Blessing…D’varim 28:13 “The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully,”

listen = sh’ma; keep =shamar; do = asah
l’malah = above (ascend, progress; below = l’mattah below, pervert, distort

It’s the LORD’s faith that empowers us. Dan 10 “I am strengthened as You speak” Heb 3:7, Jn 10:3, 10:27; Eph 4:21,
Mk 7:16, Jer 3:22, Ps 24:2, James 1:19, Ecc 5:2

Martyrs had enough FAITH to die! Let their lives be a lesson to us to NOT judge by other peoples circumstances; even Yeshua had no place to lay his head. 1 Cor 4 speaks of his having no dwelling place. The LORD will provide, He will never leave us or forsake us, Ps 19:34 says ‘we will “never see the righteous forsaken”.

D’varim 23:5
the LORD can turn curses int blessings! When we finally wake up spiritually and begin to put the LORD first, then everything will turn around! Neh 13:2, Phil 3:12-14

LORD, we believe Your blessing will overtake us if we “go” after You! Because YOU love us!