The Hebrew calendar has changed from the year 5780 to 5781 on Rosh Hashannah (The Feast of Trumpets) one week ago, September 19, 2020. The three weeks that follow the yearly marker of Rosh Hashannah are a time of deep spiritual reflection for the first ten days followed by a time of transition leading to festive rejoicing. The annual reading cycle of the Torah transitions during this period as well but will only begin again after the Feast of Tabernacles.
The initial ten days during these three weeks are called the “The Ten Days of Awe” in which there is an intense focus on repentance: getting in right relationship with God and others. During these ten days there is always a Sabbath day that falls in-between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement) and it is called by a special name: Shabbat Shuva – The Sabbath of Repenting or the Sabbath of Returning. This is an annual call to repentance leading up to Yom Kippur. To learn more about the Ten Days of Awe and Yom Kippur which will occur on Monday, September 28, click this link: Yom Kippur
The Song of The LORD
Every year during this season of the fall Appointed Times we read one of the final sections of the Torah which comprises one single chapter, Deuteronomy 32. The name of this Torah Portion is האזינו – Ha’azinu and means “Give ear!” or “Listen!” What makes this chapter unique is that it is actually a song which was dictated by the LORD to Moses and given to the children of Israel to memorize:
Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. – Deut. 31:19-20
This song was meant to be a continual testimony which would hold the Israelites accountable when they would inevitably break God’s covenant.
The wording and message of this song are wonderfully composed. It is a beautiful song but also a difficult song as it speaks of the straying heart of God’s people and how He will be forced to discipline them for their waywardness. I encourage you to read this song for yourself as its message is still relevant to each one of us today (Deuteronomy 32). I also want to share with you one magnificent blessing found in this song that is still being fulfilled in our days.
Provoking Israel to Jealousy
In the middle of this song, found in Deuteronomy 32, God speaks of one of the sins by which the children of Israel would provoke Him to anger and cause Him to respond in a fitting manner:
They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,… – Deut. 32:21
As a result of the Israelites provoking God to jealousy by worshipping idols, the LORD promised that He would make the nation of Israel jealous by a nation and a people who were considered insignificant.
Israel was chosen as a unique nation to carry the name of the LORD and to display God’s holiness among the idolatrous nations of the world. All of the other peoples and nations of the world were considered as foolish because only Israel had a special relationship with God, however, God said that He would make Israel jealous by a supposedly “foolish nation.” This verse from Deuteronomy 32 is directly quoted in the New Testament book of Romans:
But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, by a nation without understanding will I anger you.” – Romans 10:19
Paul quoted Deuteronomy 32:21 in his letter to the Romans to teach them how God directly fulfilled this prophecy. The LORD is disciplining the nation of Israel by means of jealousy by including people from the Gentile nations to also become the people of God through belief in Yeshua.
The Rejoicing of the Nations
This prophecy of Gentile nations being grafted into the people of God is stated many times throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. God’s plan from the beginning has always been for the redemption and salvation of the world.
In the final verse of this Song of the LORD in Deuteronomy 32, God clearly stated that His desire is for the unity of the nations together with the people of Israel:
Rejoice, O nations, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance on His adversaries, and will atone for His land and His people. – Deut. 32:43
God beckons the nations of this world to rejoice with the children of Israel as the LORD Himself will rise up to be the ultimate Avenger and the One who provides atonement for His Land and His people!
Today God is using the Gentile nations who believe in Him through Yeshua the Messiah to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy. Unfortunately, the majority of Jewish people still reject Yeshua as the Messiah. Yeshua Himself spoke of these days when many of the people of Israel would be kept from seeing the full salvation plan of God:
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ – Matthew 23:37-39
Jerusalem, as the capital of Israel and the city that God has chosen from all the tribes of Israel, represents the nation of Israel as a whole. The LORD longs for Israel as a nation to turn to Him and be fully united to Him through Yeshua. Until that day comes, Gentile believers will continually be used to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy.
Ultimate Rejoicing
We are living out the Song of the LORD in our days as we continue to see a growing number of Gentile believers in the Messiah who are being counted as the people of God together with Jewish believers in the Messiah. As we read in Deuteronomy 32:43, God’s ultimate plan is to see the peoples and nations of this world rejoice together with the nation of Israel. This day is still coming in all of its fulness and the apostle Paul reassures us of this fact in the letter to the Romans:
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! – Romans 11:11-12
The Song of the LORD is still being sung. We have great reason to rejoice for the multitude of Gentile and Jewish believers who comprise God’s family today, however, God is not finished yet. The great day of fulfillment of Jew and Gentile worshiping together is yet to come.
During this season of deep spiritual introspection of the fall Appointed Times, I invite you to pray for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. May God continue to use the Gentile believing community around the world to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy in order that they may fully return to the LORD and acknowledge Yeshua as the Messiah as they say to Him “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” A day of great rejoicing is still to come!
Shabbat Shalom Ve Shanah Tova!
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*All Scripture take from NASB Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
**The Hebrew name “Yeshua” is used in the biblical quotations in place of the English name “Jesus” to give emphasis to the meaning of this name, salvation. The word “Messiah” is also used in place of the word “Christ” to bring clarity to the office of Yeshua.