The restoration of Israel is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant He made with him. The land promised to Abraham and his offspring is covered in the Palestine Covenant. The promised land resides in Palestine and God mandated this land of Israel to them.
Deuteronomy 29:1 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.
Deuteronomy 29:7 -13 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do. 10 “All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water—12 that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
This is the second covenant that God made concerning the land promised to Israel. These three tribes had stayed on the east side of the Jordan River. Jesus the Christ was a minister to these of the circumcision and the promises made by God to the descendants of Abraham.
Deuteronomy 30:1-6 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 “Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
When they returned from their final dispersion all of this will come to pass and be fulfilled in the return of Jesus. God divinely brought them back to Israel and there they will be restored. In Jesus the Christ their King they will be fully redeemed.
Ezekiel 34:11- 16 ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. 16 “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”
The Jews are the sheep of Israel the chosen people of God they are a holy nation by His divine intervention.
Deuteronomy 34:17-20 17 ‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. 18 Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? 19 And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.” 20 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: “Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.
All the nations that came against Israel will be judged. Jesus will rule in His righteousness and in peace. Carla
The wording here treats the covenant represented by Deuteronomy as somewhat distinct from the covenant Yahweh made with Israel at Horeb (Sinai; Exodus 20–24). However, the distinction is primarily the audience of each covenant. Deuteronomy articulates Yahweh’s laws to the second generation—the children of those who had stood at Sinai (Horeb), whereas former laws, as represented by Exodus and Numbers, were addressed to the former generation. All the laws Yahweh gave through Moses are the terms of the covenant, so the covenants are essentially identical. Faithlife Study Bible
The Hebrew phrase translated as these are the words of the covenant can be interpreted as a conclusion to the previous chapters or as an introduction to chapters 29–32. In the land of Moab is a reference to the beginning of Deuteronomy (1:1–5). Once again, in chapters 2-8 Moses reviewed the history of God’s merciful acts to the people of Israel. NKJ Study Bible
Deuteronomy 5:2–3 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.
Deuteronomy 4:26–32 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you…
Deuteronomy 6:5–6 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
Deuteronomy 11:26–28 “Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today…
Jeremiah 29:14 I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive.
One day, talking with a friend in the grocery store, we shook our heads about our world’s fragile nature, as if to say, “Where do we find sanity and sanctuary? And where do find hope?”
“It helps when I distinguish between big world and small world,” he said to me.
With that, a light bulb came on. You see, with big world, news is in your face and stoked with annoyance. And often, anger. No wonder we feel as if our control is demoted. And we ask, how can I ever make a difference in a broken world?
Well, that’s just it, we make a difference in the small world. The small world is the place where we stand. Today. Where we care and give a damn. And hug and give, and try and love, and fall down and get up, and repent and cry, and embrace and challenge, and reconcile and heal.
As our New Year begins, I hope for you moments of reflection. Moments to acknowledge and give thanks. And the permission to be gentle with yourself.
On a podcast yesterday, my friend Charlie Hedges asked if I had any New Year resolutions. And I said, I want to honor the “small world” places where living with a soft heart matters. To honor, means literally “to make space”. Yes. I want to make space, for places of sanctuary, empathy, inclusion, compassion and kindness. Sabbath Moments
Entering the New Year
God of all time,
help us enter the New Year quietly,
thoughtful of who we are to ourselves and to others,
mindful that our steps make an impact
and our words carry power.
May we walk gently.
May we speak only after we have listened well.
Creator of all life,
help us enter the New Year reverently,
aware that you have endowed
every creature and plant, every person and habitat
with beauty and purpose.
May we regard the world with tenderness.
May we honor rather than destroy.
Lover of all souls,
help us enter the New Year joyfully,
willing to laugh and dance and dream,
remembering our many gifts with thanks
and looking forward to blessings yet to come.
May we welcome your lavish love.
May we cast off the small, vindictive god our fears have made.
May the grace and peace of Christ bless us now and in the days ahead.
Vinita Hampton Wright
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