Parashat Eikev — Because (as a consequence; on the heel of)
עֵקֶב
Eikev (עֵקֶב) means "because (as a consequence; on the heel of)" — taken, as every parashah name is, from the portion's opening words in the Hebrew.
The Readings
Torah Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25 Read →
Haftarah Isaiah 49:14-51:3 Read →
B'rit Chadashah Matthew 4:1-11 Read →
What Happens in Eikev
And it shall come to pass, because — eikev, on the heel of — you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that YHVH your God shall keep with you the covenant and the chesed which He swore to your fathers: love, blessing, and multiplication — the fruit of your womb, your ground, your grain, wine, and oil, blessed above all peoples, with sickness removed. Do not fear nations greater than you: remember what YHVH did to Pharaoh. He will drive them out little by little; and their carved images you shall burn with fire — do not covet the silver or gold on them, nor bring an abomination into your house.
Then Moshe reads the wilderness as a father's schooling: you shall remember all the way which YHVH your God has led you these forty years... that He might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart. He humbled you, and let you hunger, and fed you with manna... that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of YHVH — the verse Yeshua drew like a sword in His own wilderness. Your clothing did not grow old on you these forty years. As a man disciplines his son, so YHVH your God disciplines you. The danger ahead is not the giants but the goodness: a land of brooks and wheat and honey where you will eat and be full — beware lest your heart be lifted up and you say, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. But you shall remember YHVH your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.
And a second correction, deeper still: do not say in your heart, for my righteousness YHVH has brought me in to possess this land. Not for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people — remember how you provoked YHVH in the wilderness. Moshe retells Chorev: the calf, the shattered tablets, his forty days of fasting intercession, and the second tablets. Then the summary that gathers the whole Torah into a handful of verbs: and now, Yisrael, what does YHVH your God require of you, but to fear YHVH your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep His commandments for your good? Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked; for YHVH your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, who executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger. The portion closes with the second Shema passage: a land that drinks rain from heaven, on which the eyes of YHVH are always set — rain in its season for hearts that love and serve.
Main Themes
Man does not live by bread alone Wilderness as fatherly discipline The peril of my power and my might Not for your righteousness — grace remembered honestly Circumcise the heart
Key Events
· The blessings promised for obedience
· The lessons of manna and unworn garments
· The warning against pride in prosperity
· The golden calf retold; Moshe's forty-day intercessions
· What YHVH requires of you
· The promise of rain and of every footstep of land
Key People
Moshe The children of Yisrael
Key Verses
Deuteronomy 8:3 Read →
“He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the LORD’s mouth.”
Deuteronomy 8:18 Read →
“But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today.”
Deuteronomy 10:12 Read →
“Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,”
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