Behold
The Bride Who See’s
The Narrow Path Series
Parashat Re’eh (Portion 47) — Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17
“See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse.” (Deuteronomy 11:26)
Moses begins with a single command. Re’eh means “See.”
Israel stood between two mountains. Mount Gerizim was green and fertile, a picture of blessing. Mount Ebal was rocky and barren, a picture of curse. Moses, by Yah’s command, said to Israel, “You shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal” (Deuteronomy 11:29, NKJV). Later Joshua “read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law,” so the entire assembly could hear (Joshua 8:34–35, NKJV). The choice between life and death was made plain.
Yah made it clear. Walk in His ways and live, or rebel and fall into ruin. The same choice stands before us today. The path between blessing and curse is narrow. One way leads to life, the other to destruction. Israel stood at the crossroads, and so do we.
The Covenant Thread
This moment was part of Yah’s everlasting covenant. He told Abraham, “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:7).
The promise was reaffirmed with Isaac and Jacob, and David could say, “He has made with me an everlasting covenant” (2 Samuel 23:5).
The prophets spoke again: “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah… I will put My Torah within them and write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:31–33). “The days are coming” points forward to a fuller fulfillment.
Even now, by the Spirit, this work has begun in those who belong to Messiah: “You are a letter of Messiah… written with the Spirit of the living God… on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). His Torah is being written on believers’ hearts in part. We learn to love His Word and walk in His ways, not from outward pressure but from inward desire. The fullness is still ahead when “they shall all know Me, from the least to the greatest” (Hebrews 8:11).
Through Messiah Yeshua, the promised Seed (Galatians 3:16), we are grafted in to the cultivated olive tree (Romans 11:17). This does not replace Israel. It joins us to the family of covenant so we share the root of the promises, awaiting the day His Torah will be fully written on every heart (Jeremiah 31:33; Romans 11:18).
The Altar on the Mountain of Curse
Joshua 8 records a striking detail. An altar was built on Mount Ebal, the mountain associated with the curse (Deuteronomy 11:29; 27:13). Moses had commanded Israel to set up large stones and whitewash them with lime, and to write on them all the words of this law (Deuteronomy 27:2–8, NKJV). Joshua carried this out, building the altar on Ebal and writing on the stones a copy of the law of Moses in the presence of Israel. Then he read all the words, the blessing and the curse, before the whole assembly (Joshua 8:30–35, NKJV).
Why Ebal? Because Yah provides atonement right where the curse falls. “Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). On the cross, He bore the penalty we deserved. From the place of death came the doorway to life.
Even on the narrow path, when we stumble, Yah has made a way back through Messiah. The path can be hard, but it is never without mercy.
Grace That Removes Guilt
Isaiah cried, “Woe is me, for I am undone… I am a man of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). Then a seraph touched his lips with a live coal: “Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7).
I have felt that too. I confessed, and His Word proved true: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
It is like a courtroom. The Judge declares the fine. Before the sentence falls, Yeshua steps forward and says, “I paid it.” You are free to go.
Freedom is not permission to return to sin. “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:11–12, NKJV). Grace is not a license. It is power to live holy. Grace is Yah’s steady hand on the narrow path, keeping us from the ditch on either side.
The Place He Chooses
Re’eh calls Israel to seek “the place where Yah your God chooses to put His name” (Deuteronomy 12:5). The Bride cannot prepare in any way she chooses. Her worship must be centered where the Bridegroom has placed His covenant name. In Israel’s history this led first to Shiloh and then to Jerusalem. Ultimately it points to the New Jerusalem where Yah will dwell with His Bride forever (Revelation 21:2–3).
Preparation is not self-made religion. It is obedience to where He has placed His name.
Daily Covenant Rehearsals
This portion also gives instructions about clean foods, tithes, and the year of release. These are not random rules. They are rehearsals of covenant life:
Clean foods remind the Bride she is set apart in even the ordinary act of eating (Deuteronomy 14).
Tithes teach her to trust the Bridegroom as Provider and to care for the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow (Deuteronomy 14:22–29).
The year of release shows that debts, rest, and mercy belong to Yah, not to endless striving (Deuteronomy 15:1–11).
Each command is a small step of rehearsal, training the Bride in holiness and faithfulness.
The Appointed Times
Within Re’eh, Deuteronomy 16 highlights the three pilgrimage feasts: Passover and Unleavened Bread, Shavuot, and Tabernacles (Sukkot) (Deuteronomy 16:1–17). Leviticus 23 presents the full calendar, including the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) and the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).
The spring feasts tell the story of redemption and betrothal. The Bridegroom delivers His Bride, brings her to covenant, and gives His vows.
The fall feasts declare the consummation. The trumpet announces the King, atonement cleanses the Bride’s garments, and the great feast celebrates dwelling together in joy.
To miss His appointments is to miss the wedding rehearsal. The Bride who sees understands that Yah has set His calendar, and she prepares her heart accordingly.
The Bride Who Sees
Moses said, “See.” David prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your Torah” (Psalm 119:18). Job declared, “I had heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:5).
It is one house, but the Bride is getting ready in two rooms. In one room, the windows are open and daylight pours in, yet a blindfold remains. This pictures zeal for Torah without seeing the Bridegroom. In the other room, the blindfold is off and the Bride loves the Bridegroom, yet she prepares under indoor light. It seems right inside, but in natural daylight her makeup shows as the wrong shade. The problem is not Yeshua. It is a dim view of Him when His Jewishness and His Torah are out of sight. The Bride needs both open windows and open eyes so the same light fills the whole house, and love for the Bridegroom meets obedience to His Word.
One house, one Bride, one covenant hope in Yeshua, with Israel’s calling honored and the nations welcomed by grace.
Neither is enough. The Bride who truly sees is the one who sees the whole covenant. She sees blessing and curse set before her. She sees the altar on the mountain of curse where atonement was made. She sees that grace is not permission to sin but power to walk in holiness.
When the blindfold is lifted and the windows are opened, the house fills with light. Yeshua is the Living Torah, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). To behold Him is to walk in His covenant light, the narrow path of life.
The Bride’s Mirror
Re’eh means “see.” Yah wants us to hear His voice and also to see the choice before us.
“If anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror… and immediately forgets” (James 1:23–24). The Word shows us who we are and who we are meant to become.
“The unveiled face” is our hope: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Bride who listens, sees, and walks is being made ready for her Bridegroom.
The Bride’s Hope
Even if the Bride looks unprepared today, the hope is certain: “For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Revelation 19:7, NKJV). Yeshua is faithful. He laid down His life to redeem His Bride, and He will wash her with the water of the Word and present her to Himself without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:25–27).
Our hope is not in fixing our own dress. It is in the One who clothes us in fine linen, bright and pure.
Closing Reflection
The command of this Torah portion is simple. Re’eh, see. See the blessing and the curse. See the covenant. See the altar. See the Bridegroom and His Word as one.
The Narrow Path is the way of the Bride who opens her eyes, walks in His covenant, and reflects His light to the world. The day is coming when blindfolds will fall and windows will open, and the Bride will shine in the fullness of His glory. Until then, let us hear, let us see, and let us walk.
The Bride who sees will be ready.
