Eikev: The Heel of Following Wisdom

0:00Let's pray. Avinu Shebashamayim, our Father in heaven, we bless, we sanctify you. We exalt you. We thank you for your word and for your name. We thank you that you taught us Lord, that mankind cannot live on manna alone, but by every word that comes from your mouth. To be led by the Ruach. We thank you that you teach us and enable us to experience a circumcision of the heart. And we thank you that you give us clear instruction to walk in. That our our feet can follow in. And I pray today that that would become exceedingly clear. Only in your word with your light shining on it in Yeshua's name. Well, Shabbat Shalom, everybody. And again, it's just so so good to see your faces. Love to see your faces. And it's good to be here today. So, I have a question for you. I have sometimes I like to start off with a question. If you had a choice between wisdom or wealth, what would you choose? And it can't be both. Uh either you could receive a wisdom or wealth, which one would it be? >> Wisdom. >> Wisdom, I hear. Hochma. But you know, that that wealth is like, oh, it'd be good to be rich if I was a

1:30rich man, right? It'd be good to be rich. Yes. Tension competing, right? Well, that brings us to a story. A sage once asked this, "Who are greater, the wise or the rich?" And the sage answered, "The wise." And the questioner scoffed, "Then why do we see more wise people standing at the doors of the rich instead of the other way around, rich people standing at the doors of the wise. And the sage answered back, because the wise understand the value of wealth while the rich well, they don't always understand the value of wisdom. And that takes us into our parsha this week and this reality that we picked up on last week. Embody hokhmah, wisdom, and binah, understanding expressed through covenant fidelity must become a way of life and and Mosha spoke about that last or in last week's parsha that it's because of our wisdom and our understanding that the peoples around us will know and see our witness. It will attest to the greatness of our God and his faithfulness when we are hearing keeping and doing his commandments and his word, which are one of the same. But this week, the parsha opens up to

3:07take wisdom, hokhmah, and place it into a new environment. And this is one that some of us are very familiar with, especially in the West. Prosperity. What happens to the heart when prosperity arrives? That's the question that the Torah asks us today. The name of our parsha, as we said, is Ekev. And its immediate context is because or as a consequence of. It is because you do this that you you hear and do. It's because of that that we will be who we will be and God will bless us because of that. It's a clear actionable verb as we It's because as we move forward, the verbs of course being keeping, doing, and walking in His commandments. But, the akev is the because. Because you do this. And it says here, "V'haya akev tishme'un." Then it will happen as the result of your listening or hearing God's word. But, akev as we said earlier means the heel. When we go back to the root of it and its first mention of it throughout the Torah, it can mean the heel, the roots. Well, when we think about the heel, we know that it's the the lowest weight-bearing extremity in the body and it enables the body to have stability,

4:41to stand upright. It enables us to walk a path. Without healthy heels, we can't walk. We which Those are weight-bearing. Eliezer understands what it's like to have something weight-bearing broken, right? But, it's not the heel, so. So, here in akev Moshe says this, "So, now Israel, what does Adonai, your God, ask of you?" And this is important for us to know. What does God ask for us from us? "Ki im yir'a et Adonai Elohecha la-lechet bechol derachav." As Barbara so elegantly chanted earlier, fear and then follow. The word yirat, fear, revere. Revere your God. That's the command right there. That's the beginning of it all. Yirat Adonai. And this is where the wisdom tradition comes in now to illuminate the word Akev. Reishit Hochma Yirat Adonai. This is Tehillim, Psalm 110 or 111:10, actually. The fear or the the reverence of Adonai is the beginning of Hochma, wisdom. We're all pretty familiar with that verse that have read the Bible, right? So, we know that the beginning is Hochma. And this is Yirat. The fear of God is the very beginning of wisdom. That's the entry point. When we think about in Yeshua's time, there were

6:22Gentiles that were following they were following the the Israel's God, and they were called God-fearers because they revered God. And so, they they eventually eventually they they earned the name to be God-fearers. And this is the same idea. They understood that the fear of God or the reverence of God is the beginning of all Hochma. That's the very first point. But wisdom itself can't remain a concept. It has to become concrete. Wisdom itself has to reach the heel. It has to reach how or the heels how we walk forward in God, and that's where it all begins with Hochma. It's not merely head knowledge. Oh, he knows so much. He's been around a really long time. Well, that's good stuff. But in our Torah portion, it's wisdom embodied in the mitzvot. And we And here's your verbs. Shamar, keep. Asah, do. And the third one is Halakh, walk out. And that's how we are identified as God's people. Those three verbs. It's in your notes, and there's notes in the in the back if you need them. So, as we think about our Torah portion today, I want to ask you, which of these two would be harder for the heels to follow

7:53the path of wisdom? These two, in the wilderness or in the promised land? What do you think? How many say in the wilderness was harder? Raise your hand. Not that many. How many say in the promised land? Raise your hand. Okay. Well, more think the promised land. Yeah, I know. You're sensing some irony, aren't you? Okay. Yeah. Well, that's good. Well, let's think about this for a moment. So, in the wilderness, a dry and terrible land, the Torah tells us, poisonous serpents and scorpions. That's kind of scary, right? I don't really like those things. Don't really don't see them that often here, but hunger and thirst. How about that? These are necessities, right? Enemies, we have Amalek and other enemies there. But, look up. What do you see? The cloud. What do you see? The fire. The presence of God. Oh, there's today's mana. Catch the mana. It's coming down right now. We want meat. There comes an east wind. The quails are coming in. We got punished for that one, so. What's wrong with you? What's wrong with the mana? Dependence on God is what we're talking about. Hashem's provision, a requirement for

9:14survival. If I didn't rely on Hashem's provision, I can't eat. I can't have shalom from my enemies. I have to depend on him. It's a requirement. Now, I know some didn't care. And they blew through that stop sign, but still, it's a requirement. No argument there. Now, let's move to the promised land. We plant. We cultivate. We wait for rain. When is it going to come? Harvest. We build houses and dwellings. We fight some battles. Not all at once because God said this is going to take time. It's not going to be like when you're in the wilderness. It's going to be little by little we're going to drive them out. What does that mean? You're going to have to walk in God here. It's going to take some time. And then the mana stops. And what does that mean? Well, we need some good challah bread bakers then, right? Yeah, big difference, isn't it? Dependence on Hashem is now become something different. Akev. Must now go down to the heels and walk forward in him. It's different than an absolute requirement. Now, it becomes a choice that you have to walk in him. Akev, the way you walk. The way you

10:44follow. And this is why it's all about discipleship. Following. Moshe tells us, you will build houses, cultivate fields, acquire livestock, accumulate wealth, and enter the good land in which I am giving you, he says. You will lack absolutely nothing. That sounds pretty good, right? Who wants to lack absolutely nothing? Isn't that the American dream? I just thought of that. Wasn't that clever? So, which is the greater trial now? What do you think? Yeah, I think it's starting to come clear, isn't it? And the Torah says this in in 8 Deuteronomy 8:12. Pan to a hall was a vata uvatiim toviim tivna. Oyashta. Otherwise, when you have eaten and are full and you have built good houses and lived in them, well, what happens then? Well, your herds and flocks, they're going to multiply. Your silver and gold, your kesef is your money will multiply. Everything you possess will multiply. You will become affluent. Affluent, like prosperous, rich. I'm rich, right? In the promised land. Well, all right, I'll calm down now. But the Torah says, you will eat and be satisfied. Veakhalta. And you will bless Adonai your God.

12:26Uverakhta et Adonai Elohecha. You will eat and be satisfied and you will bless Adonai your God. Birkat Hamazon, right? Food blessings. These are why we bless God when we eat. We remember that lest my heart become haughty before God. And the B'shallach portion, we see that the two followers of Yeshua don't see him until they actually sit down for a meal and they bless the matzah or the bread and the cup, right? They don't see him until they're actually breaking bread. When they eat is when they see him. There's something to that. And abundance and satisfaction is not antithetical to our faith. It's part of God's blessing. These things are good. They're tov. They are good. The danger is what abundance can do to the heart. And that is precisely what Mosha warns us about. If you're going to follow the path of Adonai, your heels are going to set forth in motion, you have to watch out for when things are abundant. That's the warning today. Eventually, we see that there's a danger here. Koheiv otzem yad the asali et hakha'il hazeh. My power and the might of my hand has made this wealth. That's Mosha's warning

14:06today in verse 17. So, we see here what happens when Hashem's provision is redefined as my achievement, the work of my hands, what I have done. That's a clear distinction. In the wilderness, Israel said this, "We are the people Hashem has rescued." But in prosperity, the temptation becomes we are the people who have succeeded. "We are victorious. We are rich. We are prosperous." is what they might say. Now, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, here chimes in. He observes in Akeid Mosha's warning suggests that the greater trial is not poverty, but rather, surprisingly, affluence. The deepest spiritual battle may begin after we settle down, become secure, and we no longer face the same visible threats. Sacks draws on another scholar, prominent 14th century Arab historian, also a social thinker, his name was Ibn Khaldun. He has observed that successful civilizations often begin with sacrifice, shared purpose, and social cohesion. But then, they become affluent. As comfort sets in, concern for neighbors and the poor can diminish. And the social fabric beneath them begins to weaken. And that's where Khaldun observed that

15:54in civilizations, they crumble. They have a tendency to to deteriorate the moral fabric of society within. But Mosha had already spoken about this in the Torah. Of what happens to the human heart. This is where it all starts. This is the part we are familiar with, but it's important to bring it all together. Mosha says this in verse 14, "Your heart becomes lifted up." Varam levavecha. Varam, or we could say room, your heart is haughty. Faith erosion meet forgetfulness. Comfort weakens gratitude. Success becomes self-importance, and wealth begins to alter the way we believe and the way we see our own identity. A deformation of the heart starts to take place. It's no surprise that Mosha's leading us in a different direction called a milah, circumcision, uh the heart. So, Judah Lev of Prague, we call him the Maharal, he teaches that wealth can either liberate one from dependence or enslave. A person can possess riches or riches themselves can possess the person. This is so ironic but true. And that, if it starts to possess you, then it becomes a delusional state of pride and self-importance.

17:40The 10th century sage and Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon writes that the pursuer of wealth is liable to place his trust in mammon, forgetting to make mention of his master. So, what is it going to be? Mammon or your true master? But then it can be flipped and mammon can become your master. Is the warning. Bachya ben Asher adds that wealth is like a fire. The more wood, or prosperity, wealth, one adds to it, the more the fire blazes towards un- unbridled greed. This passion for limitless acquisition can give birth to a desire for control, to dominate, to oppress others who are less fortunate or less well-off. This is all coming and emanating from the heart or what happens. But interestingly, Ahab here is a different story. We are commanded to to love the immigrant, the ger, because we too were once gerim. We were immigrants or strangers in Egypt. And what did we have in Egypt? We had a tyrant that was over us that did exactly these things. We know what it means to be vulnerable. We know what it means to be under the hand of a tyrant. Pharaoh was the very first one to say, "Me and I. Who is God?"

19:20arrogantly like that. He was the first one to say that. When money no longer becomes a tool to serve God, it becomes mammon. And mammon is dangerous. Mammon doesn't merely ask to be used, rather it asks to be trusted. And eventually, it asks to be served. So, this is where Yeshua's teaching not in our best or portion today, but I'm going to take you to Luke 16 comes front and center in Ekev. In this story, Yeshua tells his talmidim about a crooked manager who mismanaged his master's resources. So, what does he do? When his master finds out, he starts cutting deals with all of his clients, his customers. He calls one debtor and asks, "How much money do you owe my master?" "100 measures of olive oil." "Okay, take your bill and write it down. Make it 50." He calls another one over. "How much do you owe?" "100 measures of wheat." "Okay, take your bill and write it down. Make it 80." And then comes the surprise. The master finds out. And he praises him. What? Not because he was dishonest, but because he acted shrewdly. And then Yeshua turns to the sons of light who are there among him with the look.

21:11You see, the worldly manager understood something about wealth that even God's own covenant people were in danger of forgetting. Wealth is temporary. It's transient. It belongs to another even when it's in our own hand. And wisdom is revealed when you do with it properly. Deal with it properly while it's in your hands. And Yeshua says this, "If you cannot be trusted with unrighteous mammon or wealth, meaning worldly, who will trust you with true wealth?" See, that's what Ahav is bringing you today. The true wealth that comes from God. Now, if you have not been trustworthy with what belongs to another, in this case, God himself for us, who will give you anything of your own?" Now, medieval Jewry, as you we're we're navigating the conversation here, right? Through history. Just want you to pay attention to that. And medieval Jewry comes in now and developed the teaching known as the doctrine of deposit. Now, think of yourselves as a spiritual bank. And we are all trustees. God deposits his wealth into people who chooses as a trust. If the trustee manages God's deposit properly, then God's capital is well used and

22:51preserved. But if not, then the human trustee is liable for misappropriation of funds, even robbery, as the sages of the medieval times saw it. And Moshe says this, But zakhar to et Adonai Elohecha, but you are zakhar to remember Adonai, your God. Ki hu hanoten lakh lakha koakh. It is for he who gives you power to make wealth. Let us sot khayil l'maan haqim et berito. In order to establish his covenant. See, God gives us the power to make wealth in order to establish his covenant. This is so important. In order to establish, meaning it's for covenant fidelity, it's for covenant use is why we have it. Doesn't mean we can't enjoy it, but it does make us responsible for our transactions before God.

24:07Do not miss that. That's important. To establish his covenant. That's why. Wealth is not the covenant. Wealth is not the destination. Wealth is a tool placed in the servant's hand. Service to covenant. And then Yeshua gives us the charge that makes perfect sense now as we see it. No servant can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon. Because otherwise mammon becomes your master. The question is not whether we should possess resources. Course we should. It's rather who is serving whom. Wisdom much must reach the heel as the sages saw it. If you're right out of an eye, the fear of God is the beginning of Hokma, wisdom, then we must take our finances and everything all of our resources and submit it to God. And that becomes our wisdom. We use the wisdom that we receive to know that I have to be wise with these funds. What God is doing here. So now I ask you the question again. Wisdom or wealth, which one is it? Which one would it be? Wisdom, Hokma, right? That's right. Because that's true wealth. The wise understand the value of wealth. But the wise also understand the lure of

25:48prosperity. We've all felt it that have done well and succeeded at times. The feeling, the emotions that set in. The comfort that sets in. We all feel that. It's normal. But to understand what's going on there. The thing about wealth is that it does not transcend wisdom. You can't use wisdom to acquire wealth. But you you can't You can use wisdom to acquire wealth. Because if you think about it, if I'm if I'm wise, well, wealth may come. But can you use wealth to acquire wisdom? And the answer is no. You can't use wealth to acquire wisdom. In the fact we see that in the you know Job. You cannot use it. It doesn't work. It's the other way around. So Moshe says this, circumcise the foreskin of your heart. Circumcise it. Make it righteous before God. And you must revere Adonai your God. Et Adonai Elohecha tira eto to avod uvo tidbak. So there's dvekut, dvek. You must revere Adonai your God, whom you shall worship, to whom you shall cleave, and that cleaving is in God's wisdom. And eventually that wisdom must reach the heel. And the heel is what enables us to follow our God. So as we close today, I want to

27:58leave you with these three questions to think about. What is prosperity or the pursuit of prosperity doing to my heart? It may apply, it may not. But at some point it will. And to know what what is it? What what would it be? And the second question is this, do I possess what Hashem has placed into my hands or does it possess me? And that's an important question to to ask. And then three, third question, are the resources that God has applied trusted to me governed by wisdom and directed towards the mission that Hashem has given me? That's the third question. So, those are three questions to ponder today. That what is prosperity and the pursuit of it or comfort to over pursuit of comfort, something like that. Is that something I'm wrestling with? And then understand who truly owns wealth. Is it us or is it God? And then the third is the governance of wisdom. But that has to start with Yirat Adonai. Because all of the wealth in the world cannot buy wisdom. But rather wisdom can at times be used to possibly gain wealth if God allows. So, to recap, wisdom or wealth, which is more valuable?

29:50And we realize that for sure Hochma is more valuable than any Kesef, any silver or gold. Zahav. And we saw that our sages teach us that wealth needs wisdom to govern it because prosperity can deform the heart. And it will if we don't bridle it. And then Torah gave us the path and here's the verbs I want to leave with you today. This is how we circumcise the heart. Yirat, that's revere God. Halach, we walk in him. That's our motion that takes to heels to be healthy. The Akev Halach. Ahav, we love. We love the Lord our God and we and each other. This is a covenant fidelity love. But it's also emotional. Cuz it's near and dear to our heart. But it's a loyalty, a fidelity to God. We avad, we serve God. Or we could say that's our worship or avodah. And then lastly is devakut or davak, and that is to cling, to cleave to our God. Revere, walk, love, serve, and cling. And that's how we embody God's mitzvot. Yeshua gives us the charge as we walk forward. Whatever wealth or prosperity takes hold of in our lives, we must remain a servant of God's mission and our calling, and that's to shoot true discipleship.

31:32To submit it to God in every which way. Wisdom must be governed. It must govern or wisdom must govern how we use all of these resources as we move forward. And we cannot allow the blessing that's spoken of in today's Torah portion to carry us away into the wind. But rather stand in the other wind, the ruach, the spirit of God. The true wind that gives us wisdom. Wisdom begins with yirat Adonai, but eventually wisdom must reach akev tehillah. Let's pray. Avinu Shebashamayim, we bless and sanctify your name in the heights of heaven. And right here on earth, we thank you so much for chokhmah. We thank you that yirat Adonai, just revering you as our God, as our creator. The awe of God. Knowing that that you have our best interest in mind. And that we are your children. I pray that you would empower us and give us clarity on how to walk and keep your midst void at all times, that we would grow into that. Today. As we take it seriously. We thank you and praise you and you should have stayed. Everybody says. Shabbat Shalom.