עֵקֶב
Ekev/ IF /As a Result Of
Deuteornomy 7:12-11:25
HafTorah Portion Isaiah 49:14-51:3
Brit Chadasha Romans 8:31-39

    This Torah portion begins with the blessings of obedience.
     Deuteronomy 7:16 commands the people not to serve the other gods of the people, but to also have no pity upon them, which might seem like a strange command. This stems from the fact that God chose Israel to be a holy nation set apart to worship and serve Him alone. Involvement with the pagan surrounding nations posed a serious threat to God’s standard of His people, as their practices could lead Israel astray into idolatry and immorality.  Also, Deuteronomy 7:1-6 outlines commands against making treaties with these nations, intermarrying with them, or showing them mercy, as it states: "For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly". 
     And a most horrific practice included child sacrifice, temple prostitution, and various forms of sexual immorality, which was and is the total opposite to God's covenant with Israel. Deuteronomy 7:16 ‘Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the Lord your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.’
     Deuteronomy 7:17-18 has the word IF and may allude back to the ten spies: ‘If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’— 18 you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember…’ And Deuteronomy 7:21 ‘You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.’
     In Deuteronomy 8:3 gives the, reason for the sparseness in food, which was to humble the people and continues with the verse that Yeshua quotes to HaSatan in Matthew 4:1-4.
     Deuteronomy 8:3 ‘So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.’
     Matthew 4:4 ‘But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ 
      In Deuteronomy 8:4 Moshe reminds the people that their garments did not wear out and the feet did not swell, referring to the 40 years of wilderness. ‘Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.’
      Garments/clothing can allude to signs of royalty, peace, praise, wedding attire and holiness.
      Isaiah 61:10 ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.’
     Revelation 3:5 ‘The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot His name out of the book of life. I will confess His name before my Father and before His angels.’
     Zechariah 3:3 ‘Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” 
And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.”
     Matthew 22:11-12 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
     Revelation 3:18 ‘I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.’
    Job 29:14 ‘I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.’
    Revelation 19:13-14 ‘He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.’
    Deuteronomy 8:7-9 speaks of the good land of fountains of water and the seven species.   Deuteronomy 8:10 is the command for the blessings of food after we eat and are full. 
     Deuteronomy 8:11 begins with a stark warning to not forget. It’s so easy, as life gets fleshly better; as our houses, our income, details of our lives enrich, that we ‘forget’ the God we serve and His commands. Chapter 8 closes with a stark warning: to remember and ‘if’ we forget, the consequences that follow. 
     Deuteronomy 8:18-20 ‘And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.’
     Chapter 9 retells Israel’s rebellion and chapter 10 retells the incident regarding the second pair of tablets. Ekev closes with a beautiful promise. 
     Deuteronomy 11:24 ‘Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the River Euphrates, even to the Western Sea, shall be your territory. 25 No man shall be able to stand against you; the Lord your God will put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.’

Eikev/As a Result Of
Deuteornomy 7:12-11:25
HafTorah Portion Isaiah 49:14-51:3
Brit Chadasha Romans 8:31-39

     Va’etchanan, the last Torah portion contained the Shema  in Deuteronomy 6:4. Shema! Listen! It also appears in the first sentence of Eikev, in Deuteronomy 7:12.  But it follows a very small word with huge meaning, ‘IF’.  “It shall come to pass, if you listen/shema to these laws.”
     The word Shema is really untranslatable into English as it means so many things in the Hebrew: to hear, to listen to pay attention to, to respond and to obey. In the book of Devarim it appears over 92 times, and is often preceded by or followed with ‘IF’. 
     In Eikev, Moses continues, setting out the principles of the covenant the Israelites made with God, and what it demands of them as a chosen nation in the Promised Land. 
     ‘IF’ they are faithful to the covenant, ‘IF’ they listen, ‘IF’ they obey- then they will be blessed materially as well as spiritually. But they should not attribute their success to themselves or their righteousness. 
     ‘IF’ appears in the Bible no less than 4,711 times, and some say it's one of the most powerful words in the scriptures. It's often used in an "if-then" situation where "if" refers to a condition or situation, and "then" refers to the result.  As in Matthew 6:14-15, "if" is used to describe the condition of forgiving others, and "then" describes the result of God's forgiveness. ‘For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.’ And also in Leviticus 26:18 ‘If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.’      
     Shema! Listen! Obey!
Job 34:16 ‘If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say.’
Psalm 81:8 ‘Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me!’
Psalm 95:7 ‘For He is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice…’
Mark 4:23, Revelation 13:9 ‘If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.’
Deuteronomy 28:13 ‘The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully.’
1 Samuel 12:14-15 ‘If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God. If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.’
Jeremiah 17:24, 27 ‘But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me,” declares the LORD, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it.’
Hebrews 3:15 ‘As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’
John 14:15 ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments.’
John 8:36 ‘Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’
James 2:17 ‘Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’
Proverbs 23:15 ‘My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself.’
John 15:18 ‘If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.’
2 Chronicles 15:2b ‘The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.’
Psalm 66:18 ‘If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear…’
     Deuteronomy chapter 8 instructs us to remember, lest we forget, and ends with an ‘IF’.  Deuteronomy 8:19 ‘Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.’
     Deuteronomy chapter 9 reviews Israel’s disobedience. In Deuteronomy 9:1-7 it begins with Shema! And ends with not by Israel’s righteousness but God’s.
     Deuteronomy 10 contains the second pair of tablets and the essence of the Torah. Chapter 11 shows love and obedience rewarded. 
     In Deuteronomy 11:6 Korach and his followers are remembered, ‘and what He did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and all the substance that was [b]in their possession, in the midst of all Israel.’
     In Deuteronomy 11:12 God gives comfort. ‘…a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year.’
     In Deuteronomy 11:13-15  there is another ‘if-then’ situation. ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,  then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.  And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’
   This parsha also contains the seven species also known as Shiva' at Ha'minim in Hebrew, and are traditionally eaten on Jewish holidays such as Tu Bishvat, Sukkot, and Shavuot. The term “seven species” is not mentioned in the Bible; this is a post-biblical expression: “Bikkurim are brought only from seven kinds [species], but none [may be brought] from dates grown on hills, or from valleys-fruits, or from olives that are not of the choice kind” (Mishna3)
     Deuteronomy 8:6 instructs us to keep the commandments of God, to walk in His ways and to fear/yirah/awe Him. He bringing us into a good land, of water, fountains, springs and filled with the seven species.  Beyond their role in Scripture, agriculture and tradition, the Seven Species of Israel also have immense spiritual value. According to ancient tradition, each of the fruits represents a unique attribute of God and a different spiritual uniqueness.  
Wheat/Hita.  Represents Kindness, Psalm 147:14. Wheat is considered so special that when made into bread it has its own blessing.
Barley/Serua.  Represents Restraint Numbers 5:15.  Mentioned 30 times in the Tanakh and a sign of the beginning of spring.
Grapes/Anavi’im.  Represents Joy, Numbers 13:23. Considered a symbol of redemption and renewal. The characteristic of the grape is joy.
Figs/Tei’anim. Represents Eternity. Micah 4:4. The fig is mentioned 57 times in the Tanakh and is considered a symbol of peace.
Pomegranates/Rimon.  Represents Humility, Glory, Exodus 28:33. The word Rimon has its root in Ram which means high or elevated and is the symbol of the Kingdom of Israel.
Olives/Zeitim. Represents Foundation, Genesis 8:11-12. The land of Israel is also known as the land of olive oil. Used to anoint kings it is also a symbol of hope, fruitfulness, beauty, goodness, peace and a long life.
Dates-Honey/Tmarim.  Represents Royalty, Exodus 3:8. The date palm tree was depicted on coins minted by the Macabees after their victory over the Greeks. The inner pillars of the Holy Temple were decorated with beautiful hand carved date palm leaves.
     It is taught that in general, the seven species can be split into two types: 1) grain; and 2) fruit from trees. Grain is necessary for sustenance. Fruits, on the other hand, are not necessary, but they add pleasure to life. Both are important, and therefore both are included in the blessing for the land of Israel.