Vayelech | וילך | "He Went"

Vayelech | וילך | "He Went"                                                    09.27.25

Torah: Deuteronomy 31:1-30

Prophets: 1 Samuel 1:1 - 2:10; Hosea 14:1(2)-9(10); Joel 2:15-27; Micah 7:18-20; Zechariah 14:1-21

Brit Hadasha: Luke 24:13-43; Romans 9:30 - 10:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Hebrews 12:1-17

The end is told from the beginning. 

The longer I study Torah, the clearer the New Testament becomes.  I used to wonder how exactly were they preaching the New Testament gospel when the only scriptures they had were the Old Testament.

The older I get, I don’t wonder that quite so often anymore.  Nights like tonight, the Holy Spirit is so gracious in revelation.

One chapter. That’s all our entire portion was for the week, but yet, I couldn’t get out of that one chapter tonight, at least as far as the reading goes.

Since we only have that one chapter.  Let’s try to read it now.

31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in. Also the Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross over this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God Himself crosses over before you; He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the Lord has said. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites and their land, when He destroyed them. ⁵ The Lord will give them over to you, that you may do to them according to every commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶ Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷ Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. ⁸ And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years

⁹ So Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, saying: “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, ¹¹ when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹² Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, ¹³ and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

Prediction of Israel’s Rebellion

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the days approach when you must die; call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of meeting, that I may ^[a]inaugurate him.”

So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁵ Now the Lord appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will ^[b]rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then My anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide My face from them, and they shall be ^[c]devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ ¹⁸ And I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the children of Israel. ²⁰ When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant. ²¹ Then it shall be, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land of which I swore to give them.”

²² Therefore Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the children of Israel. ²³ Then He inaugurated Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

²⁴ So it was, when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, ²⁵ that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying: ²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you; ²⁷ for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? ²⁸ Gather to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰ Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended:

So first let me say, it’s been such a terribly long week.  I have had the looming pressure of today’s library event coming, with no time to work on it.  My job duties continue to increase, I continue to work longer and longer hours, and I don’t feel like I could possibly be more behind.  When we got home the other night from Trumpets.  I just collapsed.  It was time to sleep.  And it has taken me all week to recover.  Not just from Trumpets, but from the stresses of planning, studying, working, personal things. Etc.  Week after week, I see more and more just how precious of a commodity that time is.  And week after week, it just seems it goes by faster.

But this week, like most every week lately, church and work take precedence.  And Chad is left holding all the pieces of our household together when he gets off work. And I just never get off.  I hadn’t slept well, my blood pressure was up, my head was killing me.  It’s Friday night and I have nothing for today which includes two meetings.  Physically and mentally I was exhausted.  I just wanted to go to bed.  But I prayed.  I rested.  And finally I began to read.. probably like 9pm.  And boy was the Lord gracious.  At least in my opinion.  I hope you find this as valuable as I did.

I started at Chapter 31 verse one, just like we did a moment ago, and what did I get hung up on?  It was Moses’ birthday.  How neat.  I had never noticed that before.  And all these things are happening on his birthday!  God gave him a song!  On his birthday! How cool! 

I was reading this to Chad as well.  And I go back to revisit some memories from Sukkot 2022.  That was a Shemitah year.  And that year, I read the entire book of Deuteronomy on a podcast due to the commandment here in this chapter.  In Hebrew called the commandment of Hakhel.  I didn’t have the capacity to gather people physically, but I still wanted to honor this commandment by speaking it out into the interwebs for anyone who would care to listen.  (Side note:  there are words in Deuteronomy that will get your podcast episode pulled on Apple.  But thankfully, Spotify didn’t mind. 😊 )

But as I sat there with my terrible headache, I contemplated on this particular part.  Every 7 years the book of the law is to be read.  How cool is it that every 7 days, we hear or read from the book of the law here!  It’s sabbath amplified! 

It is said to be read during the feast of tabernacles. (Exodus 23:14) which is one of the 3 pilgrimage festivals.  So the intention is in Israel this would be ready every 7^th Shemitah in the presence of not only just the men, but all the men, women and children.  All need to hear and learn and come to fear God. Then it is stated again. 

My mind immediately goes back to Sinai once more.  I know we just memorialized Sinai last week on Trumpets, and here we are with a nod back to Sinai again. 

Deuteronomy 31:  ¹¹ when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹² Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, ¹³ and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess.”

Exodus 19: ¹⁷ And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying: (then He spoke the 10 commandments) 

Exodus 20: ¹⁸ Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. ¹⁹ Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

²⁰ And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

At this point, I’m already in awe.  Every single year, we have a memorial to Sinai as we are jolted awake and called to gather again (holy convocation) by the sound of the shofar.  Every year, called back to the mountain.

And every 7 years, immediately after Trumpets, we are called to hear and remember our end of the covenant in detail.  And it doesn’t even really stop there.

We are called to remember the words of our covenant in the Shemitah year!  Which brings a whole new light and focus on this theme of fear/ do not fear.

If we go back and review this chapter again from the beginning it basically says: 6 Do not fear.  Do not be afraid. He will not leave you or forsake you. 7. Do not fear, do not be afraid. He will not leave you or forsake you. 

But then in the commandment Hakhel, it is 12 learn to fear, learn to fear.

So there’s definitely something here.  So at first he is telling us:

Don’t fear man.  Man isn’t in control God is. 

Fear God.  God is control.

All of this at the same time, we are in Shemitah. Which is all about trusting God and relinquishing control.  Afterall, during a Shemitah year, we have to let the land have its sabbath. So to tell a purely agricultural society that you cannot grow any crops this year, is most likely in their mind, a suicide mission. 

This act of honoring God with a year long sabbath of not growing their own food is a major awakening experience.  A huge testament of faith.  Do they really believe? Do they really believe that God will provide for them during this year where they submit all control to Him?  Do they really believe they will be outside of God’s will and protection if they disobey this commandment? Do they really fear God?

These are fair questions for us today, and the exact questions that God has been asking me about us lately.  Last week part of the was was, “Do we really believe?”  I believe He is warning us that a time is quickly approaching where we will be put to the test.  Will we disobey or give a bad report?  Or will we stand obedience no matter what?

Let’s go to Matthew 10.

Persecutions Are Coming

¹⁶ “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless^[a] as doves. ¹⁷ But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; ²⁰ for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

²¹ “Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. ²² And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house  Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! ²⁶ Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

Jesus Teaches the Fear of God

²⁷ “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Confess Christ Before Men

³² “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Do we really believe these words? 

Just as Sinai was an extreme realization and an unforgettable experience, the commandment of Hakhel is also an awakening and unforgettable experience.

It’s like God knew that every 7 years, they’d need a revival, if you will.  Extreme reliance on God, and an uptick in belief.  Really exercising those faith muscles as they failed to plant.  And strength building as day after day they continued to thrive, with God feeding them instead of them feeding themselves.

A stark reminder that it is God in control.  Not us.  Nothing we can do on our own. It is only through God. His mercy.  His grace. His provision.

And as it still is today.  Nothing we can do can get us anywhere.  It isn’t my job that helps pay the bills. It’s God’s mercy and grace that allows me the opportunity, the favor, the strength, the energy and the wisdom, but most of all the favor.  And it isn’t the sabbath keeping perfectly, it isn’t the kosher diet or even the tassels that will earn me a spot in heaven.  No matter how many feasts I throw, or podcasts I do, or speaking engagements, or facebook posts. There is nothing I on my own can do earn my way into heaven.

There are probably a hundred verses I can list here to justify those thoughts.  But I’ll only name a few.

Ephesians 2:8–9 — “By grace you have been saved through faith… not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Titus 3:5 — “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His mercy…

 Isaiah 64:6 — Our righteous deeds are like filthy rags

But….we have these commandments that we are instructed to do year after year to remind us of those facts.  We have to do something to remain in the right mindset, and to remain in Christ.  Seeing God feed them every Shemitah and every Sabbath serves as reinforcements and reminders of how to stay within these guardrails of God’s will and under His protection.

Repeating this every 7 years will be critical, as each generation gets further and further away from the first hand account of the Sinai experience.  And now, here at the end of this book, with Moses’s death looming, the Lord warns Moses:   You’re going to die.  And your lifelong work of pouring into these people, will be tossed by the wayside.  They will break covenant and I will forsake them. But therefore… in other words, there is something you can do about it.  Write down this song and teach it to them before you inaugurate Joshua. Then in that day… their descendants will remember it.

Knowing what we’ve studied so far in this chapter… how does that not take us to Romans?  I think about  Romans 9.  It’s about the men trying to earn power.  But another reminder.  It’s all up to God.  We have no over effect over God’s will.  And we cannot earn our righteousness. And entering in over to Chapter 10 and then 11, but it is still this same story.  Israel breaks covenant, but the gifts of God are irrevocable. Israel returns. He pours out mercy then says “Vengeance is mine.”

So now we are at the point of Moses inaugurating Joshua.  And the Lord hit me like a ton of bricks.  I see them standing in the tent of meeting.  Moses on the left.  Joshua on the right.

And He tells me: this is the foreshadowing of the first and second coming of Yeshua.

Moses, the deliverer from Egypt, the deliverer from the bondage and slavery, who gave the instructions of the Passover lamb and how to apply the blood and showed them the path to the Promised Land.

This is illustrative of Yeshua’s first coming.  Yeshua is our deliverer who delivered us from the bondage of sin and slavery to sin and the world. He is our Passover Lamb.  It’s his blood we apply to the door post of our hearts, that causes the second death will Passover us.  And He came to earth to show us and demonstrate to us how to live a righteous life and show us the way.

Joshua, the one who will crosses over before us. The one who leads us in battle.  The one who takes us into the promised land.  This is Yeshua’s second coming.  Yeshua crossed over into Kingdom before us.  He will lead us in battle.  And He is returning with vengeance to conquer our enemies before us and take us into the New Jerusalem, our promised land.

But let’s look even deeper.  Moses will die and the people will stray.  The same after Yeshua. God knew that once again, after Yeshua would leave earth, that the people again would stray from the faith.  He knew we’d turn away.  He knew we’d forget.  That we’d worship other gods and we would mix the faith.

2 Thessalonians 2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of  Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

Matthew 24  ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

There was one other thing that Lord pointed out to me last night.  Remember how I was so caught up about Moses’ birthday? He took me back there again. 

31 Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today. 

So I wondered, what in the world would 120 have to do with Jesus.

Genesis 6: ³ And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive^[a] with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. 🤯  I just don’t believe that it is a coincidence that Moses died at 120.  Genesis 6:3 is well regarded as a prophetic marker.  Since God divides time up into Jubilees (50 years) it is believed for this verse to be a nod towards the 6000 years or 6 days that we have upon this earth, prior to the 7^th day or 1000-year millennial reign with Christ, as 50x120=6000.

If this is true, we see 120 as a completion of time.  We see 120 as a completion of leadership with Moses.  And we see 120 yet again, at the completion of the spring feasts fulfilment in Acts.  In Acts 1:15, it is noted there were 120 followers there.

And what does Pentecost mean?  Fifty.  It is the counting of the 50 days from Passover.

Again… 50 x 120 = 6000.

The message over and over tonight has been: Do you really believe?

The time is coming to a close.   120 is a bridge from promise to fulfillment. Seeing Moses & Joshua in the tabernacle, we are seeing the bridge between the first and second coming.

The Lord keeps taking me to Romans and back to Acts, back and forth.  Fullness/fulfillment.

12 tribes, 12 apostles.  120.  (x10?) Then Romans 11 reading about the Israel backsliding, their unbelief, Gentiles, being grafted in, but that Israel is not replaced.  But then in verse 25-26 fullness again: ²⁵ For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own ^[f]opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be ^[g]saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;²⁷ For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

Then he took me back to where I left off in Acts 2 and told me to keep reading.  Peter is still standing up talking, reciting the prophet Joel about the last days, and the Lord highlights verse 21. And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’ 

Then the Lord told me to go back to Romans, where I had just finished reading in chapter ten.  Verse 13 says:  For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Back to Acts 2. Verse ³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

³⁸ Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the ^[k]remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Romans 10 ¹⁴ How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who ^[b]preach the gospel of peace,Who bring glad tidings of good things!”¹⁶ But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” ¹⁷ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ¹⁸ But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words to the ends of the world.”

So the message remains a repeat from last week.  “I pray this Yom Teruah that we are jolted from our sleep.  That we remember the roots of our faith and hear the trumpet call of return, return to the Lord.  That we preach repentance, baptism and the remission of sins, but that we ourselves will also repent and return! We surely aren’t where we need to be yet.”

We need to seek the Lord while He is near, and we need to tell others the same.  We need to preach the words of this Torah for all to hear, remember and fear the Lord.  We need to remember the words of Yeshua. 

Matthew 10:

Yeshua Teaches the Fear of God

²⁷ “Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. ³⁰ But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Matthew 24: ⁹ “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. ¹⁰ And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. ¹¹ Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. ¹³ But he who endures to the end shall be saved. ¹⁴ And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Our works won’t earn us our spot in heaven but we do have a job to do. 

First believe. (Romans 10:17) Faith comes by hearing the word of God.

And not just Hakehl.  Matthew 28: ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Do not fear.  He is with us.  Always. 

But do fear God.  And how do we fear God, by believing and hearing, and the cycle starts again.

This repetition, this pattern, this rhythm is the heartbeat of God.  This is what we uncover and what we see when we walk in intimacy with our Father, what He reveals when we walk in His footsteps and follow His way.  Actually this is also our heartbeat, the pattern and rhythms established for us by Him at conception. 

Deuteronomy 32: ⁴⁶ and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. ⁴⁷ For it is not a ^[l]futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”