WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING
Torah Portion: Parashat Vaetchanan
Shabbat: July 29, 2023 | Av 11, 5783
Torah: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11
Prophets: Isaiah 40:1-26
New Covenant: Matt. 23:31-39; Mark 12:28-34
TODAY’S PRAYER OF AGREEMENT
Jesus’ Prayer For All Believers
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me”. John 17:20-23
The Heart of Heaven | Further Thoughts on Parashat Vaetchanan
In our Torah for this week (Vaetchanan), Moses recalled the awesome revelation of the Torah at Sinai, describing how the mountain "burned with fire unto the heart of heaven" (בּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ עַד־לֵב הַשָּׁמַיִם) when the Ten Commandments were inscribed upon the two tablets of testimony (Deut. 4:11-13). The sages say that the tablets represented a heart, as it says, "write them on the tablet of your heart" (Prov. 3:3), and God's word is likened to a fire that reveals the great passion of God's heart for us (Jer. 23:29; Deut. 4:24). Tragically, the two tablets were smashed after the people lost sight of the heart of heaven (לב שמים), and therefore God requires a broken heart - teshuvah - to behold his glory once again. Therefore we see that Yeshua died of a broken heart upon the cross for our return to God, when the fire of his passion burned unto the very heart of heaven, and in his mesirat ha'nefesh we see the greater glory of God...
חסד ואמת אל־יעזבך
קשׁרם על־גרגרותיך
כתבם על־לוח לבך
che'·sed ve'·e·met al-ya·az·voo'·kha
kosh·reim al-gar·ge·roh·tey'·kha
koht·veim al-loo'·ach lee·be'·kha
"Let not love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart."
(Prov. 3:3)
Prov. 3:3 Hebrew page (pdf) & Reading🔊
John J. Parsons