I’ve never been so aware of my feet, my legs, my hips, my back, alright most of my body, as I’ve been since developing issues with my knees. Suddenly, those little things that I took for granted, like walking, getting dressed, sitting, standing, etc., became points of potential pain or even danger. By necessity I now carefully consider movement that was once second nature; yet, in this slowing, we might say, I have become more attentive to those “little things” overlooked before.

In this week’s Torah portion called עֵקֶב/Eikev, (Deut. 7:12-11:25) sometimes translated as because, if or wherefore, Moses calls Israel to faithfulness as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. With the difficulties before them, they need to remember the faithfulness of the covenant Lord, and in that remembrance, walk faithfully before Him regardless of the perceived obstacles along the way.

Still the word עֵקֶב/Eikev that opens the portion troubles some commentators, as we read:

וְהָיָה עֵקֶב תִּשְׁמְעוּן אֵת הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים הָאֵלֶּה וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְשָׁמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ אֶת־הַבְּרִית וְאֶת־הַחֶסֶד אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֶיךָ

“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers” (Deut. 7:12).

The word עֵקֶב/Eikev is not often used in the Torah, or the entire Hebrew Bible for that matter, so its usage here by Moses seems deliberate. Rashi translates this first clause, “And it will be because of your listening to these ordinances …” He explains that Israel must heed even the small commandments that people often trample “with his heels” by not heeding them seriously. He is reminding the reader of the root meaning of עֵקֶב/Eikev, as “heel” or the bottom of the foot. Other rabbinic commentators, such as Ibn Ezra and Ramban, offer different or even harmonizing opinions to Rashi. Yet, Rashi seems to be pointing the reader to the first usage of the root word עָקֵב/ʿāqēḇ in the Bible, in Genesis 3:15, regarding the Seed of the woman:

  הוּא יְשׁוּפְךָ רֹאשׁ וְאַתָּה תְּשׁוּפֶנּוּ עָקֵב

 “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

The head of the נָחָשׁ/nāḥāš, the whisper/serpent, is laid low to the ground to where the promised Seed will walk. While the serpent can bruise the heel of the promised One, the promised One will trample upon his head. Moses seems to be reminding Israel to not trample underfoot the commandments of the Lord, do not trample upon His faithfulness; rather, respond faithfully. Sadly, time and again, they did. The serpent brought low those who were called to soar. It is easy to walk over or upon those “little things” that seem low or unimportant. Trampling upon, not the head of the serpent, but the Word of God, or as Messiah said, “making void the Word of God” (Mk. 7:13).

When we trample upon or mishandle God’s Word, we find ourselves in the domain of the serpent. Now, dear reader, I am not suggesting a works-based righteousness. Rather, I am asking us to be attentive. We will, even in our saved and renewed lives of imputed righteousness, make mistakes and sin. We do not glory in that, or use it as an excuse, but we remember, even in those moments, the grace by which we have been saved. We, in Messiah, are washed anew by His grace and mercy when we confess our sins (1 Jn. 1:8-10). But what happens when we identify with Christ, but continue in sin, or, heaven forbid, become dismissive of sin entirely?

The author of Hebrews explains succinctly, “How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:29). We “trample underfoot” the Son of God, the Word made flesh (Jn. 1:14) when we fall for the schemes of the enemy (Eph. 6:11) and believe the whisper over the Word of God (Gen. 3:1).

In his commentary, Rashi was reminding his readers to pay attention to what Messiah Yeshua/Jesus calls “least of these commandments” (Matt. 5:19), the ones that to us seem unimportant, even as Yeshua does. How can we understand the “least” today? Honestly, it probably depends on the individual and their specific emphasis. This is why we must be in His Word, in community, and in discipling relationships. We need brothers and sisters who can see our blind spots, and gently restore us (Jas. 5:19-20). The promise connected to Deuteronomy 7:12 is found in verse 7:13: the promise of His love, His blessing, His increase of womb, produce, orchard, flocks, and herds, etc.

The Lord calls Israel to abide in Him, even as Messiah said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn.15:5; cf. Jn. 14:15; 15:8-10, 16). Let us not neglect or trample underfoot so great a salvation (Heb. 2:3). He has bruised the head of the enemy, and the Holy Spirit silences the voice of the whisper leading us along in Yeshua’s victory.

Over this past year I have been reminded daily of Jacob/יַעֲקֹב, whose name comes from the same root family of heel or עָקֵב/ʿāqēḇ words. Jacob attempted to overreach or grab the heel of Esau, and he became a schemer and subject to a schemers reward. Yet, when he trusted the Lord for his life and blessing, he overcame. The heart of all this is to believe in the One the Lord sent to bruise the head of the enemy, as Messiah said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (Jn. 6:29); and in doing so, we will not trample upon the Word of God, rather, we bruise the schemes of the enemy doing those “least” commands for the benefit and blessing of the “least of these My brethren” (Matt. 25:40).  

Maranatha. Shalom.  

The section of Deuteronomy called וָאֶתְחַנַּן/Va’etchanan (3:23-7:11) is precious to my heart, as it is my youngest sons bar mitzvah portion. As I mentioned in my previous devotional on Deuteronomy, Moses is speaking to the next generation as well as those following. At the heart of Va’etchanan, “And I pleaded,” is the legacy of the covenant family. Earlier this year, family legacy became even more real to me when I witnessed the above-mentioned son stand under the Chuppah, the marriage canopy, with his bride. Incidentally, her grandfather performed the ceremony.

We parents sat and watched. While I cannot speak for them, I considered all the twists and turns, those ordained steps of the Lord (Ps. 37:23), that brought these two together. It seems improbable, yet it is. When I gave my short word of exhortation at the reception to the new couple, I told to my daughter in law that from the time my son was an infant I had been praying for his future bride. Twenty-six years of prayer realized in a single moment; and in that moment, what seemed improbable proved to be ordained of the Lord.

It would be easy to focus solely on the theological matter of Va’etchanan. After all, it warns of the dangers of idolatry, reminds them of the continuing battle with “Ba’al Peor” who represents the broad way, records the ten commandments, and has the foundational proclamation of biblical faith: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” But in all this, Moses is speaking to the generations: “that you may live,” “Make them known to your children and your children’s children,” and “When your son asks you in time to come.” It is during those monumental life moments that we pray, “Lord, I hope I testified enough.”

In Deuteronomy 4:9-10 we read, “Only be watchful and watch over your soul closely, so you do not forget the things your eyes have seen and they slip from your heart all the days of your life. You are to make them known to your children and your children’s children. The day that you stood before your God in Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me and I will make them hear My words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and so that they teach their children.”

The older you get the more meaningful time with family, and friends, becomes. Inevitably, gatherings become a time of stories and memories, while creating new ones. The laughter, smiles, and recollections of departed family members at our gatherings keep the family connections meaningful and strong and keeps the memories alive. I have personally told the same stories so many times at family gatherings that my siblings and sons can tell them in the same vivid detail, as if they themselves had lived them.

In our text above, it is this living memory that Moses is warning the children of Israel to kindle, remember, honor, and guard. The language that Moses uses is striking, “Only be watchful and watch over your soul closely…do not forget…lest they slip from your heart all the days of your life.” Moses is warning the community of Israel to continually refresh, not only their collective memory, but also the memory of what their eyes have seen: their testimony.

Their testimony, and the communal testimony collected in the Torah, is entrusted to future generations, but it must be living. Testimony without living memory becomes history, something preserved only in books. The Lord desires Israel to remember her experience before Mt. Sinai as a living memory, not solely preserved memory.

This requires us to personally share our memory, our experience and the wisdom received from our textual history and faith tradition (1 Cor. 11:1; 2 Thess. 2:15, 3:6). This sharing is called “discipleship” in the Apostolic Scriptures, as Messiah said, “Go out and make disciples…teaching them to observe all I have commanded you…” (Matt. 28:19-20). Messiah Yeshua/Jesus is commanding us to not only teach, but to build relationships and pass to these precious people the collective memory/testimony to which they have been born-again. Moses is telling us to disciple our children, our grandchildren (Deut. 4:9), and all those coming behind us.

In Deuteronomy, Moses is passing to the next generation, not only a book of laws as some might imagine, but covenant legacy, as if to say: “Israel, this is your history, even you who did not see the Sinai revelation, you were there in promise, and this legacy is yours.” Excuse the poetic license, but this personalization of a history that we did not directly experience, but in which we were included, personalizes the totality of the testimony that we now share.

This testimony is the living chain of redemptive history from creation to eternity. It is the working of our Father in Heaven. It is a work that neither depends on us nor is it completed in us, as it is finished in Messiah. Nonetheless, it is a work, that by his grace, we are included in (Eph. 2:8-10). Pirkei Avot explains, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it (2:21).”

Moses and Yeshua/Jesus are admonishing us to “watch over our soul closely” to ensure that what really matters in this life is not lost in the busyness of this life. They are instructing us to take time, sit, share, and pass on to the next generation just what the Lord has done for us, for our forefathers, and what he will do in their lives as well. By this we share with them the legacy they are now included in, the legacy of covenant secured by the Blood of the Lamb, Yeshua.

Of course the theology of Va’etchanan matters, but when we rightly kindle the legacy of faith, the theology will be caught up in the living, and exampled for the next generations. 

Maranatha. Shalom.