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Bechukotai
(In My Statutes)
(Sefer Vayikra) Leviticus 26:3 – 27:34
26:3- “If
ye walk in My statutes, and keep my commandments,
and do them;
4- Then I will give you rain in due season, and the
land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the
field shall yield their fruit.
5- And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage,
and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time:
and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell
in your land safely.
6- And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall
lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will
rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the
sword go through your land.
9- For I will have respect unto you, and make you
fruitful, and multiply you, and establish My
covenant with you.
10- And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the
old because of the new.
11- And I will set My tabernacle among you: and My
soul shall not abhor you.
12- And I will walk among you, and will be your
Elohim, and ye shall be My people.
13- I am YHVH your Elohim, which brought you forth
out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be
their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your
yoke, and made you go upright.
15- And if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your
soul abhor My judgments, so that ye will not do all
My commandments, but that ye break My covenant:
17- And I will set My face against you, and ye shall
be slain before your enemies: they that hate you
shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none
pursues you.
19- And I will break the pride of your power; and I
will set your heaven as iron and your earth as
brass:
20- And your strength shall be spent in vain: for
your land shall not yield her increase, neither
shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
23- And if ye will not be reformed by Me by these
things, but will walk contrary unto Me;
24- Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and
will punish you yet seven times for your sins.
40- If they shall confess their iniquity, and the
iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which
they trespassed against me, and that also they have
walked contrary unto me;
42- Then will I remember My covenant with Yaakov,
and also My covenant with Yitzchak, and also My
covenant with Avraham will I remember; and I will
remember the land.
44- And yet for all that, when they be in the land
of their enemies, I will not reject them nor will I
abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My
covenant with them: for I am YHVH their Elohim.
45- But I will for their sakes remember the covenant
of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the
land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I
might be their Elohim: I am YHVH.
46- These are the statutes and judgments and laws,
which YHVH made between Him and the children of
Yisrael in mount Sinai by the hand of Moshe.”
“I call heaven and earth to record this day against
you, that I have set before you life and
death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life,
that both thou and thy seed may live.”
(Deuteronomy 30:19)
“You only have I known of all the
families of the earth: therefore I will punish you
for all
your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they
be agreed?”
(Amos 3:2-3)
“Yet ye say, The way of Adonai is not equal. Hear
now, O house of Yisrael; Is not my way equal?
are not your ways unequal?”
(Ezekiel 18:25)
“Why cry thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is
incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity:
because thy sins were increased, I have done these
things unto thee.”
(Jeremiah 30:15)
“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the
good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye
shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of
YHVH has spoken it.”
(Isaiah 1:19-20)
“That thou may love YHVH thy Elohim, and that thou
may obey his voice, and that thou may
cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length
of thy days: that thou may dwell in the land
which YHVH swore unto thy fathers, to Avraham, to
Yitzchak, and to Yaakov, to give them.”
(Deuteronomy 30:20)
Bechutokai Summary:
2. The Last Word, Making Ends Meet under His
Conditions:
Within
the calling of Am Yisrael and the opportunity to
experience a life filled with blessings of peace and
prosperity, comes the responsibility to honor the
orchestrated set of movements, defining the terms of
covenant and articulating the righteous ways of the
Eternal. Even as sure and methodical as the book of
Vayikra had opened, so does the final parasha close
with clarity and an ultimatum, accompanied by a
major conditional note of “if.” Filled with numerous
statutes and non-negotiable judgments, which were to
guide a community into a land of promise, the Torah
was about to be proven. Regrettably, the very words
of this week’s sedra would be confirmed in Yisrael’s
history. There is no debate, HaShem meant what He
said. Isaiah 42:23-24 pleads transcendently through
time that we take notice, as is posed:
“Who among you will give ear to this? Who will
hearken and hear for the time to come? Who
gave Yaakov for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers?
Did not YHVH, He against whom we have
sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, neither
were they obedient unto His Torah.”
Thousands of years have passed, and one thing is
certain: little has changed. To date, many still
cast off the yoke of Torah, denying the consequences
of lawlessness. Let us not be mistaken, we will not
be able to extinguish rebellion’s effects. Exposing
our state, Psalms 94:7-12 is most apropos, viz.:
“Yet they say, YHVH shall not see, neither shall the
Elohim of Yaakov regard it.
Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye
fools, when will ye be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that
formed the eye, shall He not see?
He that chastises the heathen, shall not He correct?
He that teaches man knowledge,
shall not he know? YHVH knows the thoughts of man,
that they are vanity...
Blessed is the man whom Thou chastens, O YHVH, and
teaches him out of Thy Torah.”
Confirming this national plight, Malachi 3:7
prescribes the antidote for our infirm ways as is
written:
“Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away
from Mine ordinances, and have not kept
them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you,
says YHVH Tzivaot…”
And so, with true repentance comes the return of His
cherished brachot, as Malachi 3:11 promises:
“And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and
he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the
time in the field, says YHVH Tzivaot.”
1.
Weathering the Storm as the Leather Meets the Sand:
The hope of restoration must be accompanied by
faithful trust. Though times of refreshing will soon
find the parched soul, in the interim, a journey
through the wilderness is before us. For many, it is
easy to say yes to the ways of HaShem provided
everything goes off without a hitch. What about
those seasons when adversity seems our sole visitor?
For this Habakkuk 3:17-18 delivers the balm, namely:
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither
shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall
be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in YHVH,
I will joy in the Elohim of my salvation.”
Indeed, Jeremiah 6:16 rejoins that with the return
to Torah, comes the promise of favor and shalom:
“Thus says YHVH, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and
ask for the old paths, where is the good way,
and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your
souls…”
As despair attempts to remove our feet yet again,
Joel 2:25 relates the ordained repair of our nation:
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust
has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar,
and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among
you.” |
