Ki Tavo - Yeshua in the Torah

“And thou shalt come unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him: ‘I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers to give us.’” (Deuteronomy 26:3)

In Ki Tavo, this week’s Torah Portion, we learn about how, upon arriving in the promised land, the people of Israel were supposed to offer up their first fruits. During this offering, they were supposed to say that “I am come unto the land which the LORD swore unto our fathers to give us.” In the days of the final redemption, we will say this again. In those days, we won’t refer to God as the one “who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,” but rather he will be known as the God who “brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them” (Jeremiah 16:14-15). What an awesome that day that will be!


The talmidim (apostles) of Yeshua’s called the first generation of followers the “first fruits” of Yeshua’s legacy. Just as the first people in Israel gathered together for Shavuot, so too did Yeshua’s first followers gather together for Shavuot. Yeshua’s first disciples were the first fruits.


This can be compared to when Hosea 9:10 compares the forefathers to the first fruits, “I saw your fathers as the first-ripe in the fig-tree at her first season.” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the first fruits of our faith, and the early followers of Yeshua were the first fruits of Yeshua’s teachings.

“And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the land, which Thou, O LORD, hast given me.’ And thou shalt set it down before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God.” (Deuteronomy 26:10)

The farmer brought the first fruits of his labor to the Temple Mount to offer it up to God. The ancient name for the Temple Mount is Mount Zion. Isaiah prophesies two things that will happen on the Temple Mount in the Messianic Era:


The first thing it says is that the surviving remnant of Judah will bear fruit:

“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion they that shall escape; the zeal of the LORD of hosts shall perform this.” (Hosea 37:31-32)

The second thing it says is that the nations will come to Mount Zion to worship God and learn Torah:

“And it shall come to pass in the end of days, That the mountain of the LORD’S house Shall be established as the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; And He will teach us of His ways, And we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 2:2-3)

In this day and age, we have had the privilege of seeing the first fruits of these two things, with the establishment of the state of Israel, and the small yet growing group of non-Jewish people who are interested in learning about the Torah.


God told the people of Israel to give two tithes: The first is to the Levite’s and the priests, the second is to the orphan, the widow, the stranger, the poor,


In Deuteronomy 28:15 it says:

“But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.”

In this Torah portion God gives a lot of blessings, but he gives many many more curses. He give the curse of pestilences, droughts, famine, military disaster, siege, and exile. This is why Yeshua urged the people of Israel to repent as much as he did.


In Deuteronomy 28:15 right before the list of curses,the Targum Pseudo-Yonatan says:

“When Mosheh the prophet began to pronounce the words of threatening the earth trembled, the heavens were moved, the sun and moon were darkened, the stars withdrew their beams, the fathers of the world cried from their sepulchres, while all creatures were silent, the very trees waved not their branches. The fathers of the world answered and said, Woe to our children should they sin, and bring these maledictions upon them; for how will they bear them? lest destruction be executed on them, and no merit of ours protect, and there be no man to stand and intercede on their behalf! Then fell the Bath-kol from the high heavens, and said, Fear not, ye fathers of the world; if the merit of all generations should fail, yours shall not; and the covenant which I have confirmed with you shall not be annulled, but will (still) overshadow them.”

In the Targum, Abraham Isaac and Jacob don’t think that their merit will be enough to protect Israel. But God assures them that his covenant with them, the older covenant (In which he promised them the nation of Israel), will not be crossed over by the new covenant (In which God promises to drive out the children of Israel and curse them if they don’t listen to his commandments). As it says in Galatians 3:17-18:

“And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”

No matter what any “new” covenant may seem to say, the Abrahamic covenant promises the coming of Messiah, the Seed of Abraham, and the redemption through God.

Join our email list to stay connected and learn more about Torah, Biblical Hebrew, the Jewish Yeshua, & Conversion to Judaism

Benei Avraham, Dallas Messianic Jewish Congregation | All Rights.Reserved.