Parashat Re’eh: See, I Set Before You a Blessing and a Curse

Shalom and blessings, beloved. This Shabbat we read Parashat Re’eh — “See!” — from Deuteronomy 11:26 through 16:17. The portion opens with a single arresting word: Re’eh, “See.” Not “hear about it someday.” Look now, because the choice is in front of you today.

Two Roads, Set Before You Today
“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God … and the curse, if you do not obey” (Deuteronomy 11:26-28). The Lord honors us with a real choice and real consequences. Yeshua taught the very same picture of two ways: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction … the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life” (Matthew 7:13-14). Notice the word today. The choice between blessing and curse is not one dramatic moment in the past; it is set before us every single morning — in what we watch, what we say, how we spend, whom we forgive.

The Place Where He Puts His Name
Again and again this portion repeats a phrase: “the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there” (Deuteronomy 12:11). Israel was not to worship wherever and however felt right — “every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes” (12:8) — but where God chose, in the way God chose. Worship is on His terms, not ours. And where has God ultimately chosen to make His Name dwell? Yeshua told the woman at the well that the hour was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:21-24). In Messiah, God has made His dwelling with us (John 1:14), and we — together — are being built into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). The principle stands: we come to Him on His terms, through the One He has chosen.

Testing the Prophets: Signs Are Not Enough
Deuteronomy 13 gives sobering counsel: if a prophet arises and gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign comes to pass, but he says, “Let us go after other gods” — you shall not listen to him. “For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart” (13:1-3). Miracles alone prove nothing; the test is faithfulness to the God of Israel and His Word. Yeshua warned that in the last days false messiahs and false prophets would perform great signs (Matthew 24:24), and John commands us to test the spirits (1 John 4:1). Beloved, do not be moved by the impressive; be anchored to the Scriptures.

Open Your Hand to the Poor
In the middle of laws about release and remission comes one of the most tender commands in Torah: “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor … you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, but you shall open your hand to him” (Deuteronomy 15:7-8). And then, realism: “There will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand’” (15:11). Yeshua quoted this very verse — “the poor you always have with you” (John 12:8) — not as an excuse for inaction, but as a standing assignment. He Himself, “though he was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). An open hand is the family resemblance of our Father.

Rejoice Before the Lord: The Feasts
The portion closes with the pilgrimage feasts — Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot (Deuteronomy 16:1-17) — and a command we sometimes forget is a command: “You shall rejoice before the Lord your God” (16:11). Joy is not a temperament reserved for the naturally cheerful; it is an act of obedient remembrance. We rejoice because He redeemed us from Egypt — and, in Yeshua, from a deeper slavery still. If your walk with God has become all duty and no delight, the appointed times are His remedy: stop, gather, remember, feast, rejoice.

What Is the Spirit Saying This Week?
Re’eh asks: Which road are you choosing today? Is your worship on His terms or your own? Are you testing what you hear against the Word, even when it comes wrapped in signs? Is your hand open to your poor brother? And when did you last simply rejoice before the Lord?

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse.” — Deuteronomy 11:26

Shabbat Shalom. May you choose the blessing — today, and every day. If this teaching stirred something in you and you would like to go deeper, please reach out — we would love to study it together.

  • Phone: (520) 302-4034
  • Email: Info@thewayofyeshuaministries.org