Ekev
Because
“What God Ultimately Requires: Faith”
Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25
Isaiah 49:14-51:3
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume II
Ekev falls on the heels of the last exhortation seen in last week’s Torah portion, V’et’chanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11), where Moses commanded the people of Israel to faithfully observe the instructions, statutes, and judgments which he had delivered to them from God (Deuteronomy 6:25-7:11). Deuteronomy 7:12 begins with the statement, “Then it shall come about…” (NASU), ekev tishme’un, employing the word ekev, which is a conjunction meaning “to the end,” or “result, reward” (CHALOT).[1] Sometimes it can be rendered as “if” (NJPS) or “because” (ESV). Its usage indicates the results of obedience to the list of instructions given.
The opening verses of our parashah this week describe many of the blessings which are to come from listening to and performing the commandments of God:
“It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. The LORD will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you. If you shall say in your heart, ‘These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. You shall not be scared of them; for the LORD your God is among you, a great and awesome God. The LORD your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. But the LORD your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them” (Deuteronomy 7:12-24).
As you read this opening section from Ekev, you should marvel about what a great and awesome God Ancient Israel truly had, as its Provider, Protector, and Champion against all other gods and principalities. But while rejoicing in all of the wonderful things which the Holy One promised to do for His people—there is one nagging caveat or requirement which should really gain the attention of someone who has read these words. It appears from a straightforward reading of these verses, that the God of Israel required His people to keep His commandments in order for His blessings to be manifested toward them. Does this require obedience to the Torah, so that God’s people might receive His blessings? Let us read it again to see if this is what it says, and consider the implications for our lives today:
“If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers” (Deuteronomy 7:12, NIV).
God told Israel that if the people adhered to His Law then He would remember them. He specifically said that He “will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which he swore to your fathers to keep” (RSV). Can you detect the conditional nature of these blessings, based on Israel’s obedience to His commandments? Is the God of love requiring obedience for Him to pour out His blessings? Or, was He telling Israel what the formula was for avoiding the penalties and curses of disobedience?
If you are a parent, then you should understand that our loving Father is absolutely concerned about the welfare of His children, just as you would be toward your own children. Just as you would institute rules for the well being and care of your family, so has the Lord likewise instituted rules for the well being of His people. God’s admonitions are designed to emphasize the importance of obedience to His Instruction. Moses served as God’s mouthpiece, as he was used to affirm how He gave Ancient Israel the Law, because He wants the very best for His chosen. In a way, just as older children in the family sometimes have to institute a parent’s rules, so did Moses institute the rules for his fellow Israelites.
After forty years of intimacy with the Creator, Moses surely knew the Lord and His ways. But he also knew the nature of the Israelites, as he had guided them through the wilderness sojourn. Moses had seen an entire generation perish in the desert because of rebellion and unbelief, in spite of the visible presence of the Most High in their midst. Even with the daily provision of manna for bread, quail for meat, water from various rocks, protection and victory over enemies, and a myriad of other miracles during the desert journey—Moses had witnessed the unbelief and the consequences of disobedience. Moses grieved over the fact that he would not be able to make the crossing of the Jordan into the Promised Land.
Moses’ concern for Israel’s obedience was heightened by his knowing about a future scattering of Israel due to future disobedience. Just a few chapters earlier in Deuteronomy, we can read a statement which describes what Moses had already perceived:
“The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will lead you away” (Deuteronomy 4:27, WMB).
When you combine this realization with the fact that Moses also knew that his days were coming to an end, the urgency of his appeal is better understood. With some of his last activities on Earth, he continued to exhort Israel to obey God’s commandments in order to receive His blessings. The heart of a shepherd over his flock is evident. Almost to his last breath, Moses continued to repeat the words of instruction which lead to the promises of blessing and happiness.[2]
As the narrative continues, Moses recalled the horrific incident of the worship of the golden calf.[3] This tragic event resulted in Moses breaking the tablets that contained the Ten Commandments. One can only imagine how terrible this display of disobedience was indelibly etched in Moses’ mind. But without breaking stride, Moses went to describe how a loving God, by His own finger, etched the Ten Commandments on two new tablets.[4] By recalling this principal event in the early history of the wilderness journey, Moses was appealing to the Israelites to take note of God’s forgiving love for His people.
It is at this point that Moses issued a rhetorical question to the people, and then answered it. This is a question which has been probing my spirit throughout the week:
“And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, keeping the Lord’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13, NJPS).
The Hebrew verb sha’al, appearing the Qal stem (simple action, active voice), can notably mean “to make a request for something specific, to claim, demand” and “to beg for, demand, wish” (HALOT).[5] It is these admonitions which summarize not only what God required of His people, but also how they can do certain things to fulfill these requirements. If we consider the wider scope of what God asks, it is actually not that difficult—especially if we are Believers empowered by the Holy Spirit:
“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, to keep the LORD’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good? Behold, to the LORD your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein. Only the LORD had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. For the LORD your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons or take bribes. He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him. You shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name. He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen. Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude” (Deuteronomy 10:12-22, WMB).
One of the encouraging things about reading and studying the Bible, is when God’s Word takes you to your knees. When you identify with Ancient Israel in this historical setting on the plains of Moab, statements like these, when taken to heart and meditated upon, can have a profound impact on your walk with the Messiah Yeshua. Questions like these might erupt in your heart, spirit, soul, and mind:
- Do I fear the Lord?
- Do I walk in His ways?
- Do I love the Lord?
- Do I serve the Lord with all my heart and soul?
- Do I keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes?
Are these requirements applicable to you today? If they are, what are you to do?
If you are totally honest with yourself, you probably realize that you fall short of these things—in some capacity—on a regular basis. Certainly, there are times when you might be able to say “Yes and Amen” to these expectations, but can you honestly say you achieve each one of these things consistently?
What happens when your fear of God is minimized? What happens when you do not necessarily walk in His ways, but instead decide to do your own thing? What happens when you place your own selfish interests ahead of His, indicating that you love yourself more than you love God? Do you serve God out of guilt or condemnation, or because your heart and soul are tuned exclusively into serving Him? What happens when you deliberately disobey some of God’s commandments and statutes?
No one, no matter how hard he or she tries, is humanly able to keep all these things. And yet, these requirements are necessary if we are to receive the blessings of God. Some wonder if God is trying to play some kind of trick, or worse, think that He has singled out Israel as the one group of people which is destined to fail according to these requirements.
When you analyze what God asks His people to do, you have to come to the logical conclusion that you are either humanly incapable, or in some cases, not fully willing, to comply with the Lord’s expectations. Once you realize that His requirements are beyond your ability to achieve, you can either turn to Him for answers and ask for mercy and His Divine empowerment, or disregard God and live in a life of obstinance and rebellion against Him.
I urge every one of you to turn to the Lord! You can turn to Him in prayer, and through the confession of your sins, admit that you fail in complying with His Instruction. I believe that our Heavenly Father delights when we are honest with ourselves. With a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart, we can turn to His Word, and discover that this is just what the Lord is looking for in His people. King David, a man after God’s own heart, stated it quite eloquently in Psalm 51—after he had been confronted with his own sins of adultery and murder:
“For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge. Behold, I was born in iniquity. My mother conceived me in sin. Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, that the bones which you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners will be converted to you. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Lord, open my lips. My mouth will declare your praise. For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. O God, you will not despise a broken and contrite heart. Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar” (Psalm 51:1-19, WMB).
While our sins may not be on the level of adultery and murder, the fact still remains that when we are honest with ourselves, we are people who largely do not comply with the simple things which God asks us to do. Sometimes, we may think we are right with God because we are obeying Him in part, and that this constitutes us having a holy and righteous heart. This is especially true today in a Messianic community which largely emphasizes outward observances, but may be lacking in emphasizing ethics and heart attitude. Perhaps some more thoughts from the heart of God, as given by the Prophet Jeremiah, will give us a fuller picture:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? ‘I, the LORD, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings’” (Jeremiah 17:9-10, WMB).
If the heart is so deceitful, what is one to do? I believe that Moses gave part of the answer in his narration, by indicating a number of key things Israel should have been doing as they recognized the hardness of their hearts. Moses knew that the Ancient Israelites were going to fail the test, and would eventually be scattered to the nations—but hope was not lost. In Deuteronomy 10:12-22, Moses gave some important advice to the people, in spite of the fact that they would be punished.
First, Moses told the people of Israel to circumcise their hearts (Deuteronomy 10:16). God was aware of the hardness of people’s hearts and that they must be circumcised—or torn in two—to have a heart of flesh which could serve Him. This is a difficult command to visualize, because it is more than just tearing an outer garment as a sign of grief. What it requires is an honest personal assessment of just how hard one’s heart is toward God and others. By tearing away the calloused places of the hardened heart, one becomes more sensitive to the ways of the Creator.
If we do this, then we can do the second thing that Moses commanded, which indicates that a heart is being softened (Deuteronomy 10:20). We can begin to loosen our necks to the ways of the Lord. A hardened heart is one which is full of pride, and a stiff neck is one which will not bow to the will of God. This is a despicable combination, but sadly one which has prevailed throughout the centuries among many who have claimed to serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The third thing Moses declared, which the people of Israel should have been doing, was to show love for the alien who was going to reside in the Promised Land, because they had once been aliens themselves in Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:19). God knew that Israel should be able to identify with an alien people who lived among them. By loving and empathizing with these people, it would have a softening effect on those uncircumcised hearts. How do any of us identify with the strangers in our communities today, i.e., the downtrodden, the oppressed, and those in despair? Do we show any level of concern for their circumstances?
While these first three remedies might be accomplished to some visible degree, as softened hearts and pliable necks seek to love and welcome the sojourner within the community, Moses went back and restated, in so many words, some of the original expectations, as more requirements were issued (Deuteronomy 10:20-21). Once again, Moses told the people of Israel that they were to fear the Lord. This requirement never goes away. Almost like a broken record, the refrain to fear God is incessantly declared for all to hear. Israel was to revere God and recognize His sustaining power and awesome display of love which continues down through the ages. This is why Proverbs directed,
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10, WMB).
Clearly from this statement, we can conclude that fearing the Lord and recognizing His existence is the beginning of wisdom. Without our reverence and appreciation for Him as the Supreme Being, and for all which He has done is doing, our knowledge is minimal. Certainly, without fearing the Holy One, our ability to understand Him and His ways is greatly impaired.
Moses also spoke about the requirement of service to God (Deuteronomy 11:1). By serving God, His people display a willingness to let Him use them in the circumstances of life in which they find themselves. Through one’s service to the Lord, in whatever capacity, a person put His interests ahead of their own, and learns to be sensitive to what His wishes are for usefulness in the work of the Kingdom. Additionally, you are to cling to Him for all that you are worth. In reality, you do not have anywhere else to turn but to Him for all things in life. By clinging to Him for your life, health, provision, and daily bread—you learn to be solely dependent upon Him for all which life requires. The Psalmist gave a brief explanation of some of the benefits of clinging to the testimonies of the Lord:
“I have chosen the way of truth. I have set your ordinances before me. I cling to your statutes, LORD. Don’t let me be disappointed. I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:30-32, WMB).
When you read these words and the statement that God will enlarge one’s heart—as one clings to His testimonies and follows the way of His commandments—the benefits of obeying Him become apparent.
If these actions appear similar to the other requirements listed earlier, you are hearing correctly. For the most part they are the commands to fear God, serve God, cling to God, and swear by Him. There is no doubt that one can never get away from the commandments which God has issued to His children.
Thankfully, Moses’ exhortation is only part of the answer. If absolute obedience is required for communion with God, then no person can ever commune with Him since no one has ever been humanly able to obey perfectly. The Apostle Paul candidly stated how “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, WMB). We each fall short of compliance to God’s commandments in some regard, no matter how many sacrifices we make. In reality, we will never be able to remember all of our transgressions and iniquities which separate us from a holy and righteous God.
What are we to do? This is an age-old dilemma, which followers of the God of Israel have struggled with since the days the Torah was formally given via Moses. How are we going to honestly comply with its direction, recognizing that there are times when we have disobeyed them?
Thankfully, the Lord knew what He was doing when He directed Moses to deliver His Instruction to Israel. God knew that not one human being, stained by Adam’s transgression, would be able to totally satisfy His requirements.
Why did God do this? Is it because He knew that a part of his plan was to bring forth the Messiah, who in time would be able to perfectly fulfill His requirements. Keep in mind that Adam and Eve were promised a Redeemer who would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15), the first reference to the Messiah in the Bible. Even prior to the time of Moses, faithful followers of God were anticipating a Redeemer to come. Our Heavenly Father, in His mercy to humanity, has consistently been speaking to various people so that they might know that an Anointed One was going to arrive and defeat the works of Satan. Consider that Moses says in Ekev, how what proceeds forth from God’s mouth is what one needs for life:
“You shall observe to do all the commandments which I command you today, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers. You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 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 8:1-3, WMB).
Yeshua Himself quoted these verses in His refutation of Satan in the wilderness (Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). Yeshua did this because He knew and was able to perform His Father’s will. He was humble and able to be completely obedient to Him, in spite of His extreme hunger. He did not command stones to become bread, but submitted to His Father.
Do you understand that God is constantly in the process of humbling and testing His children, in order to determine what is in their hearts? In this simple illustration, Moses reminded the people of Israel that God was intentionally letting them go hungry, so that He could demonstrate His provision through the miracle of the manna in the wilderness. But then, He dropped the ultimate in brain twisters. God told Israel the spiritual fact that people were not to live by bread alone, but more importantly, by everything which proceeded from His mouth. We know from the Messiah’s own words that what ushers forth from the mouth is indicative of what is in the heart:
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, WMB).
Certainly down through the ages, a loving God has brought forth words which exemplify His loving concern for His own. And yet, in so many words, God’s mouthpiece Moses declared words, which to the natural mind, do not often add up. First, God required impossible obedience. Secondly, God required additional impossible obedience to overcome the disobedience. All along the way, Moses joined his statements with declarations that Israel would not be able to comply with these words, and would be scattered to the nations. Just what was God trying to do? Was He trying to confuse His people?
I do not believe that God was trying to confuse His people, but that He repeated His intentions over and over again, because too many were hard of hearing. He was trying over and over again to demonstrate, from the Instruction delivered by Moses to the admonitions of the Prophets, that the only way to fully commune with Him would be through a Redeemer sent by Him. Something else has to be factored in if one is to properly obey Him and receive His blessings, because people are humanly incapable of obeying Him perfectly.
This is a difficult word for fallen humanity to stomach, let alone believe. After all, it takes a great deal of faith to believe that someone else can pay the debt for all of the sins you have committed. And yet, this is the very pattern which was established by faithful ones down through the ages. Remember that it was by faith that Abraham was considered righteous:
“He believed in the LORD, who credited it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6, WMB).
This is the same thing the Prophet Habakkuk stated:
“Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4, WMB).
The pattern for becoming righteous by faith has been established and confirmed by the Prophets. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, we see how faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen:
“And what is faith? Faith gives substance to our hopes, and makes us certain of realities that we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1, NEB).
Faith is something which has nothing necessarily tangible to hold on to, in order to activate it. It is a belief in something which is hoped for, such as the Promised Redeemer. It is a conviction in something which cannot be seen or touched. There is probably no adequate way to describe faith, unless you have faith in something larger than yourself. When it comes to communion—and ultimate reunion with the Creator in eternity—you must have confidence that you have faith in the right thing. Certainly, if you are honest with yourself, you do not want to have faith solely in the human works you have done to seemingly gain approval with God.
One of the most important examples of faith comes from the Patriarch Abraham, when he willingly offered up his son Isaac as a sacrifice, at the simple request of God. Abraham had so much faith in God, believing that God could raise people from the dead, that he was willing to offer up his promised child as a sacrifice. The author of Hebrews attested to the great degree of faith Abraham had:
“By faith, Abraham, being tested, offered up Isaac. Yes, he who had gladly received the promises was offering up his only born son, to whom it was said, ‘Your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac’ [Genesis 21:12], concluding that God is able to raise up even from the dead. Figuratively speaking, he also did receive him back from the dead” (Hebrews 11:17-19, WMB).
As you can see, this week’s Torah reading has taken me through a diverse range of Scriptures, as I have dealt with the teaching of Moses and the requirements he declared to Ancient Israel at this point in the Book of Deuteronomy. I believe this has been a good exercise in returning to the basics of faith we have received, not only in the Torah and the Prophets, but also in the Apostolic Writings. In these texts we see Torah obedient followers of Yeshua the Messiah, who were filled with the Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit, and were empowered to not only obey God more fully—but also expand His Kingdom through the spread of the good news.
Through the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua at Golgotha (Calvary), the Apostles were able to see that their faith in Yeshua’s work was what made them finally acceptable before a holy and righteous God. This did not, however, keep any of them from stopping the Torah obedient life in which they had been reared prior to His arrival. In a like manner, as many of us in the Twenty-First Century return to a foundation in the Scriptures of Israel, it is critical for us to understand that we likewise need to be following God’s Instruction with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. This is not to be an obedience which precedes faith in God—but comes as a result of us believing in God and being empowered by His Spirit, accomplishing the good works He desires of us (cf. Ephesians 2:8-10) via the promise of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-27; cf. Hebrews 8:7-13; 10:14-18). With the Comforter and Teacher indwelling a heart which has been circumcised by the Lord, we should understand more clearly what Moses said when we read this section of Deuteronomy.
Through the comforting promptings of the Spirit, we can each appreciate what truly fearing and revering the Lord is all about, as we pursue Him in prayer and supplication. We should desire to walk in His ways so that we can please Him, as we are being conformed to the image of the great example we have in Yeshua. We can learn to love Him more, as we understand the greater depths of His love for us. We can seek to serve Him with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. Finally, we can each seek to obey His commandments so that He can bless us according to His Word, recognizing that in Yeshua, our sins are forgiven as we confess and repent from our misdeeds.
Those of us who follow the Torah today as Messianic Believers cannot forget Yeshua. Not surprisingly, the issues which the Messianic community faces, largely surface among those who tend to deemphasize Yeshua’s place in a person’s life. A fervent belief in Yeshua is absolutely imperative for a person who wants to study and understand the Torah properly. If we lose sight of the goal of the Torah being Yeshua (Romans 10:4), then we will be unable to correctly fear the Lord, walk with Him, love Him, serve Him, and obey Him properly. If we do not have a steadfast belief in Yeshua and in His accomplished work, then our good works will all be performed in vain.
As this Torah portion so eloquently explains, people do not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Do you feast on His Word to fulfill you every day? Do you “feast” on Yeshua, allowing the Lord to empower you to perform His work here on Earth? I pray that you do so. Enjoy your feast of His Word on this Shabbat, remembering that our God requires faith in His Word to please Him!
NOTES
[1] William L. Holladay, ed., A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden, the Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1988), 281.
[2] Deuteronomy 8:1-20.
[3] Deuteronomy 9:1-29.
[4] Deuteronomy 10:1-22.
[5] Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgartner, eds., The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 2 vols. (Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill, 2001), 2:1372, 1373.