Torah Portion--Shabbat Chazon/Shabbat Of Isaiah's Vision & Chukah/Decree

Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22; Isaiah 1:1-27; Hebrews 4-6

We are walking in today:  Torah Portion--Shabbat Chazon/Shabbat Of Isaiah's Vision & Chukah/Decree

Witness see My ways throughout the Bible:  H7200 ra'ah look at, to percieve, look after, watch, search, gaze at
H1870 derek  course, path, course of life, moral character
2 Kings 17:13; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Job 31:4; Song of Solomon 3:2; Isaiah 58:2

This morning we begin our study of Deuteronomy for this Torah reading cycle.  This is the countdown to the time that Moses will lie with his fathers or when he will die.  He takes this time at the close of his life to remind and bring to remembrance that which they have learned in the wilderness.  That time that Yahweh had them set apart as a time of His instruction due to disobedience of entering the land in the previous generation.  Why would he need to remind and cause them the remember?  They have been in the wilderness with him and have seen those who were stricken down due to rebellion and other poor choices.  As we see later on in the other books in the history of Israel, without leaders that follow closely to Yahweh, the people will wander into and embrace paganism.  Moses knows that a time will come.  He has been mentoring Joshua to take his place and directing him on leadership while setting examples of what to do in various situations.  So let's fast forward to the children of Israel to the first chapter of Isaiah.
The first few verses in this chapter shows that Moses was right that the people could and would forget Yahweh their Elohim.  Isaiah 1:2-3 2 “Hear, heaven! Listen, earth! For Adonai is speaking. “I raised and brought up children, but they rebelled against me. 3 An ox knows its owner and a donkey its master’s stall, but Isra’el does not know, my people do not reflect.  This comparison of the working animal knowing it's owner or the stall of it's owner, shows a closeness in relationship and daily access to come into knowing and yet Israel His people do not know Him!  Why would people need to be reminded?  Two reasons the importance of the knowledge--remember the perishing from lack of knowledge?  The other reason is the weight of the information.  As a child the things that were most important were repeated over and over again--things of little import were not drilled into our minds, brought up in various settings like walking along the road, when you rise up or when you lay down. 
Preceding through the next verses we find that in Israel's rebellion and abandoning Yahweh they have become sick in their whole bodies.  That there are bandages and balm everywhere for the maladies they are suffering.  What is attacking or causing such a woeful state?  Isaiah 1:5 “Where should I strike you next, as you persist in rebelling? The whole head is sick, the whole heart diseased.  What does the Bible say that Yahweh is asking where, He should strike them next?  Isaiah 1:7-8 7“Your land is desolate, your cities are burned to the ground; foreigners devour your land in your presence; it’s as desolate as if overwhelmed by floods. 8 The daughter of Tziyon is left like a shack in a vineyard, like a shed in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.”  So we have that the people were so stricken that there was no health to be found in them.  The land was burned and the foreigners were eating of it's produce--this is a desolate and overwhelmed land by enemies.  Now the time that was spent and focused on the people's recall of His instructions that they would remember and even rehearse the book of the law of Moses day and night (Joshua 1:8).  So how could these people, the children of Israel end up in this state?  Deuteronomy 28:14-22 14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. 15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: 16 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. 17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. 18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 20 The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. 21 The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it. 22 The Lord shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
This sounds like the state of the children of Israel in this first chapter of Isaiah. illness in their bodies and desolation of the land, all at the hands of Yahweh.  All stemming from the people not walking in the instructions of their Elohim, this is the result--curses, in the city and the field, their basket and store.  Until this time when reading the Bible with a Hebraic mindset we find that the upper portion of Deutronomy 28 contains all of the blessings, which many of us have confessed and repeated to others everywhere we go.  Upon closer review of the whole chapter the blessings are for those who life their lives according to His direction.  The curses arise in our disobedience.  Look again at the people in Isaiah, this is not describing people living a blessed experience.  Why does Adonai all this to happen?  The better question is why did the people allow this to happen.  Their actions are tied to an result, but which actions will you choose?  Will you allow those around you to walk in disobedience or remind them what Almighty God has taught and rehearsed to your ancestors and generations?  As we continue reading that the people were setting new feast days or combining neighboring pagan practices with what was to be pure worship before the holy Yahweh.  Because of His wearied response this was not a one instance, this was in repetition of their error and arrogance that they could offer any worship and that He would accept it.  The plea of correction to return the people from their shame from pagan practices in verse 15 let's them know that He is turning His ear from their prayers but if they would put evil away and to learn His good and right way from before.  This is a terrible thing to consider that they had gone so far from what which is true, they have to learn it all over again.  This is the state of many of us before we came to the Torah.  We did not know, understand or regard His instructions as worthwhile or beneficial to our lives now.  The more we study, we find much of what has be pushed aside for great information of the time is no longer valid, yet we have so many problems.  For His heart is for His chosen and still has hand out stretched for them to return and correct their ways and walk in His principles.  That in washing us in our return to Him in our hearts and actions we are able to eat the good of the land. 
This portion deals with the preparation of the close of Moses' life and then the introduction to one of the major prophets and the condition of the people in each book is at opposite ends of the spectrum.  This is the danger in not teaching wisdom from one generation to the next.  If there is no record of the measure of defining elements of a good person how to determine which attributes are to be prized?  We have in Isaiah a great people who if left to their own devices can live in such a way to be absolutely foreign to the one who began their lineage, Abraham.  Just take a look around and think of your grandparents would they be shocked, appalled, ashamed, or upset at the state of the world today?!  When the instruction is not passed down much can be suffered by those without direction and the state of the society and land diminished.  To hear this mornings portion click here.