D'varim 44-6

Words/things

Deuteronomy 2:31 – 3:14 

The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.

Deut. 2:31 NIV

Is there cooperation between heaven and earth?

The Eternal said to Moshe that He had begun to deliver king Sechon and his land into Moshe's hands and then He says that he had to begin to occupy it to possess it. This reveals to us that there is an intimate relationship between what happens in the spiritual world and what happens on earth.

It's interesting to note that in this occasion the Eternal uses the verb "to begin". In other instances He says, “given” or “is giving” or “will give” the land to the sons of Israel. Time doesn't exist for the Eternal. Everything He says He has already done even if it can't be seen in the visible world, according to Hebrews 2:8 "AND PUT EVERYTHING UNDER HIS FEET." In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him." (NIV)

The Eternal doesn't exist within time. But all the creation is subject to space and time even though they are not measured in the same way in the physical world as in the spiritual world.

The fact that the Eternal is not subject to time is reflected in the Hebrew writing of the Torah. There is a grammar phenomenon in the Torah called vav conversive. When there is a vav before a verb, the verb has to be understood in an inverted way.

I'll explain: if the verb is written in future tense, when there is a vav before it, it has to be understood as past tense. The same happens if the verb is written in past tense, then the vav inverts it to refer to the future. For example, if it's written עשה – asah, (he) did – without a vav before it; it has to be understood as (he) did. But if there is a vav before the verb – ועשה, ve-asah – it has to be understood as "and He will do". The same happens if the verb is written in future tense yaaseh – יעשה, He will do. When placing a vav, which means "and", before the verb, it normally turns into past tense ויעש – va-yaas, and He did.  

This kind of grammatical irregularity is only found in the Torah. This teaches us that what will be already was and what already was will also be, as it is also written in Ecclesiastes 3:15: “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.” (NIV)

In this way we see that the Eternal is outside of time, and the Torah, which came from Him and contains everything the Eternal wanted to reveal to this world about Himself, is also out of time in a way. The Torah is eternal.

The passage that we highlighted today shows us that what the Eternal had started to do is also what man has to start to do. The way I understand it is that the Eternal had already ordered His angels to fight the spiritual forces upon the kingdom of Sechon. But in this case, the Eternal not only wanted a war in the spiritual realm but also a war in the realm of earth, parallel to the war that had already started.

This also teaches us that when there is a movement in the heavens, men are going to be successful if they are able to cooperate with the angels sent by the Eternal. There is a great secret in this.

If men are able to detect and know what Heavens are doing and act accordingly, a very powerful effect, both in the heavens and on earth will be produced.

When the Eternal revealed to His prophet Moshe what He had begun doing and ordered the sons of Israel to do the same, there was nothing that could stop that action and the war was a total success, with no casualties among the sons of Israel.

May we be sensitive to listen to what the Spirit says at all times so we can cooperate with whatever Heaven is doing and successfully fulfill the Eternal's will in our lives and in our nations.

Blessings,

Ketriel