Deuteronomy 28:2:  And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.

I have fallen so behind and will sum up the remainder of Deuteronomy’s enemies here. The next Torah Portion on the roster was Ki Tavo, meaning “When You Come,” and clearly describes the enemy of curses. My son asked me recently, ‘If suffering happens to the righteous and the wicked alike, then what’s the point? I told him, ‘That is true; we all suffer the same, but only the righteous are blessed.’ The blessings have nothing to do with the world to come; they are all about this world. The blessings and curses recorded in Deuteronomy 28 describe a life filled with divine favor and what it looks like to live outside of that favor. This particular chapter does not paint a pretty picture of a life lived without applying Divine wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. It does say that enemies will gather against you, you will have to labor, and the righteous will fall; in fact, a righteous human falls seven times. From what we know about the number seven and its often symbolic representation of completeness, this particular verse would communicate to us that a righteous human completely falls short of the mark. Still, we get back up and keep going.

Proverbs 24:16: For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.

The Torah Portion named “Nitzavim” follows, and within these passages of Scripture, the enemy unveiled is when we use free will to choose curses and death. I have a loved one in and out of prison, and honestly, it is not choosing sobriety, peace, and righteousness in the joint; it is what you will choose when you are free and have all of the options at your fingertips. That shows what is truly in your heart when you are free and able to decide for yourself.

“Vayalekh” speaks of times when God hides His face from us. This disconnect happens when we turn away from the covenant. The Chassidic Masters explained that it is a sad day when the Holy One hides His face from you, but it is even worse if you don’t even notice. (link)

Deuteronomy 31:18: And I shall hide my face from them.

“There are times when G-d hides His face. But then there are times when G-d hides His face, and we don’t even realize it: we dwell in darkness and think it is light. This is a double galut, a concealment within a concealment.”

Next, we read Deuteronomy chapter 32:1-52, the Torah Portion called “Ha’azinu”. Within the following few verses, we learn about the enemy of witnesses. The Bible requires that every case involving justice have two or more witnesses (Dt 19.15). Moses calls heaven and earth as witnesses to the covenant (Dt 30.19). Yeshua says that the Spirit, blood, and water are witnesses of Him (Jn 5.8). The congregation of Israel is a witness against itself; we are witnesses to the world of Yeshua and His good works. There are many witnesses in life to our true nature, and if you are not walking in truth, your actions and words will witness against you.

In the last Torah Portion in Deuteronomy, we have “V’zot HaBerachah”, found in Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12. These verses implore every believer to pursue holiness while remaining human. There is a saying that goes like this, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.” The idea behind this statement is that our goal was never to escape humanity or the earth; it was to bring heaven to earth, to sanctify humankind, and to become and create a dwelling for the Divine Presence. In our pursuit of holiness, let’s keep our feet tethered to the ground.

My intention for the last year was to travel through the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, in search of Israel’s enemies. What I discovered and shared with you is that I never found a celestial enemy. I did, however, find multiple enemies in humans. Deceit, pride, violence, slander, envy, hatred, greed, self-striving, division, rebellion, and more. These enemies arise when humanity fails to fulfill its purpose of co-ruling with the Holy One over the earthly nature and the earth. When we obey the word of God, we establish it as truth and plant it into the universe as a seed that produces good fruit. There are two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God. Humans are subjects of both kingdoms, which explains why we are often adversarial towards one another. One type of humanity pursues the needs of the flesh —lust, power, and riches; the other pursues peace, love, and divine favor. For further study, I would recommend reading through the five books of the Psalms and highlighting every mention of an enemy. You will find that the Psalmists also describe prayers of deliverance from slander, lies, violence, and evil humans planning mischief in their hearts.

Psalm 140:1-5: Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men, who plan evil things in their hearts; They continually gather together for war. They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah. Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men, who have purposed to make my steps stumble. The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set traps for me. Selah.

We are already two Torah Portions into the next cycle. I will be writing a prayer for each Torah Portion this year. Prayer is powerful; it alters things. A lot of people think they do not know how to pray or believe that they can do it wrong. You can’t. Prayer is a gift that asks you to be vulnerable. God doesn’t want you to say fake, pretty things. He wants the real you to talk, to pour out your heart in truth. He wants you to spend quality time asking Him for help, thanking Him, and sharing everything with Him. Maybe if I post a prayer for each portion, it will encourage you to talk to the Holy One as you walk along the way, as you wake up, and as you lie down. Thank you for coming to this little neck of the web woods and following along.

Blessings,

Brianna