Blessed are You, YHVH our Elohim, You have set us apart by Your commandments and have commanded us to actively study Your Torah. Please YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in our mouths and in the mouths of all Your people Israel. May You open our eyes to see marvellous truths from Your Torah. Thank You for calling us who were once gentiles excluded from the citizenship of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no expectation and without Elohim- but now through the blood of Messiah we have gained access into the covenants and have obtained citizenship into the commonwealth of Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH, Who teaches Torah to His people Israel. Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah.
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Esdras 14: 21 Your Law(Torah) has been destroyed by fire,(the
single greatest tragedy to come upon mankind is the ignorance and destruction
of the Torah) so no one can know what you have done in the past or what you
are planning to do in the future. 22 Please send your Set
Apart Spirit to me, so that I can write down everything that has been done in
this world from the beginning, everything that was written in your Law (Torah).
Then in these last days, people will be able to find the right way and obtain life
if they want to."
The Torah of Israel is
markedly civil and humane in terms of the treatment of slaves. In the Torah,
slaves were given many rights, and slave owners were obliged to maintain these
rights as an act of obedience to YHVH. Slaves were to be given rest on Sabbath days,
given equal opportunity to engage in the worship of YHVH, and had legal
recourse if mis-treated. Indeed, if a slave sustained a severe injury by his
master, he was given his freedom (Ex 21:26–27). Slaves who were not indentured
for life could be redeemed and could even redeem themselves if their means were
sufficient.
In our parashah,(‘’Be
Har’’) the clear contrast is made between one’s “countryman” (ָיךִחָא‘ ,achicha,
literally “your brother”) and people from foreign countries (םִגּוֹיַה תֵאֵמ ,mei’eit
hagoyim, “from the nations”). The Israelite is never to be a purchased slave,
meaning that while he will do the work of a common purchased slave, his position
as a slave or servant ends at the Sh’mittah (sabbatical year, cf. Ex 21:2),
including the Yovel (Jubilee). In other words, he is never to be considered the
property of another Israelite—his position as a slave is only temporary, like
that of a hired worker. The text explains why: “For they are My servants whom I
brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale”
(v. 42). The Israelites belong to YHVH because He purchased them via the
redemption from Egypt. They cannot, therefore, become the property of someone
else. This is not the case with a slave or servant purchased from the pagan
nations, or from the foreigners who may live within the community of Israel.
Such a slave or servant may become the perpetual property of the one who
purchases them, meaning that their families will continue to be the purchased
slaves or servants from generation to generation. “You may even bequeath them
to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as
permanent slaves” (v. 46). Thus, in the Jubilee, only Israelites are released,
not slaves from pagan nations.
There was a saying in
ancient Israel amongst the righteous landowners that ‘’when you purchased a
slave, you purchased a master’’ All landowners needed extra hands to farm their
lands.
וכי ימוך אחיך
Lev 25:35 ‘And when your brother becomes poor, וכי ימוך אחיך and his hand has failed with you, then you shall sustain
him, and he shall live with you, like a stranger or a sojourner.
Lev 25:36 ‘Take no interest from him, or profit, but
you shall fear your Elohim, and your brother shall live with you.
Lev 25:37 ‘Do not lend him your silver on interest, and
do not lend him your food for profit.
Lev 25:38 ‘I am יהוה your Elohim,
who brought you out of the land of Mitsrayim, to give you the land of Kenaʽan,
to be your Elohim.
Lev 25:39 ‘And when your brother who dwells by you
becomes poor, and sells himself to you, do not make him serve as a slave.
Why would a brother
become poor?
He needed to learn that obedience to the
covenant(Torah) brings blessing – see whole chapter of Deut 28 (note disobedience causes dispersion and
slavery vs64-68) If he becomes poor through decisions he made, he should
undergo rehabilitation and come under submission to one who by YHVH’s favour is
living under the blessings of the covenant – The Torah- until he can be
prosperous and self - supporting again. There should be no humiliation or any
form of exploitation during this rehabilitation process.
Maybe poverty comes as a test to humble and to
see what is in our hearts - Deu 8:1
“Guard to do every command which I command you today, that you might live, and
shall increase, and go in, and shall possess the land of which יהוה swore to your fathers.
Deu 8:2 “And
you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether
you guard His commands or not.
Deu 8:3 “And He
humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did
not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by
bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.[a] Footnote: aSee also Mat_4:4
and in Luk_4:4.
Lev 25:40 ‘But as a hired servant,(Heb – sakir – hired
servant) as a settler he is with you, and serves you until the Year of Jubilee.
Lev 25:41 ‘And then he shall leave you, he and his
children with him, and shall return to his own clan, even return to the
possession of his fathers.
Lev 25:42 ‘For they are My servants,(Heb – eved ivri–
servant or slave) whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim, they are not
sold as slaves. Note
significance of the context in which these two Torah portions were given: –
Parashat Yitro Ex 20 – The giving of the Torah- followed by Parashat Mishpatim
Ex 21 – the bondservant – The Torah is best received by bondservants – those
whose ears had been carved open.
Isa
50:5 The Master יהוה has opened My ear,(sign of a bondservant) and I was not
rebellious, nor did I turn away.
Isa
50:6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who
plucked out the beard, I did not hide My face from humiliation and
spitting.
Isa
50:7 And the Master יהוה helps Me, therefore I shall not be humiliated. So I have set My
face like a flint, and I know that I am not put to shame.
Lev 25:43 ‘Do not rule over him with harshness, but you
shall fear your Elohim.
Lev 25:44 ‘And your male and female slaves whom you
have from the nations that are around you, from them you buy male and female
slaves, (if they came into the covenant they were to be treated as Israelites)
Lev 25:45 and also from the sons of the strangers
sojourning among you, from them you buy, and from their clans who are with you,
which they shall bring forth in your land, and they shall be your property.
Lev 25:46 ‘And you shall take them as an inheritance
for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession, they are your
slaves for all time. But over your brothers, the children of Yisra’ĕl,
you do not rule with harshness, one over another. (not everyone wanted to
become an Israelite and bear the yoke of the Torah- Mt 11:28-30)
Lev 25:47 ‘Now when a sojourner or a settler with you
becomes rich, and your brother with him becomes poor, and sells himself to the
settler or sojourner with you, or to a member of the sojourner’s clan,
Lev 25:48 after he has been sold, there is a right of
redemption to him – one of his brothers does redeem him,
Lev 25:49 or his uncle or his uncle’s son does redeem
him, or anyone who is a close relative to him in his clan does redeem him, or
if he is able, then he shall redeem himself.
Lev 25:50 ‘And he shall reckon with him who bought him:
The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the
year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; as the days of a hired
servant it is with him.
Lev 25:51 ‘If there are yet many years, according to
them he repays the price of his redemption, from the silver of his purchase.
Lev 25:52 ‘And if few years are left until the Year of
Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he repays
him the price of his redemption.
Lev 25:53 ‘He is with him as a yearly hired servant,
and he does not rule with harshness over him before your eyes.
Lev 25:54 ‘And if he is not redeemed in these years,
then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.
Lev 25:55
‘Because the children of Yisra’ĕl are servants to Me, they are My
servants whom I brought out of the land of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה your Elohim.
Today, we who are part of
the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12-13) who have been enslaved by the godless
masters of our age, will soon be liberated by the coming of Messiah. It is
therefore critical that we do not further enslave ourselves again by the
idolatrous religious leaders of our age.
Lev 26:1 ‘Do
not make idols for yourselves, and do not set up a carved image or a pillar for
yourselves, and do not place a stone image in your land, to bow down to it. For
I am יהוה your Elohim.
Lev 26:2
‘Guard My Sabbaths and reverence My set-apart place. I am יהוה.
This ‘’seemingly’’ unrelated verse may well suggest
one of the main reasons people fall into slavery – idolatry.
We see in this week’s
Apostolic reading that slavery can also be a choice (early Moravian
missionaries sold themselves as slaves to evangelize the lost) this was a
choice to serve YHVH and their fellow man who were captured and in deep bondage
to idolatry. If you are not able or are unwilling to embrace all of Torah,
you are in the deep bondage of idolatry.
Joh 13:12 So when He had washed
their feet and taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you
know what I have done to you?
Joh 13:13 “You call me Teacher
and Master, and you say well, for I am.
Joh 13:14 “Then if I, Master and
Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
Joh 13:15 “For I gave you an
example, that you should do as I have done to you.
Joh 13:16 “Truly, truly, I say to
you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is an emissary greater than
he who sent him.
Joh 13:17 “If you know these teachings,
blessed are you if you do them.
Joh 13:18 “I do not speak
concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture might
be filled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’
Joh 13:19 “Now I say to you,
before it takes place, that when it does take place, you shall believe that I
am.
Joh 13:20 “Truly, truly, I say to
you, he who receives whomever I send, receives Me. And he who receives Me,
receives Him who sent Me.”
Many will only come into their inheritance in the
kingdom when they first learn to serve with humility those that seem least
deserving.
Art Katz ‘’not much the church does has captured
the attention of the unsaved world – maybe men washing each other’s feet may
capture their attention’’
Art Katz “the kingdom of YHVH will not come to
Africa until the masters learn to serve their servants’’.
See the book of Philemon – Onesimos
a runaway slave. Paul did not condemn slavery, he advocated
kindness towards slaves - Phm 1:15 For he parted from
you for a while, possibly because of this, so that you might have him back
forever (useful as a brother, useful as a slave).
In this regard the
scriptures also have instructions and warnings for slaves:
Eph 6:5 Servants, obey your masters according
to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to
Messiah;
Eph 6:6 not with eye-service as men-pleasers,
but as servants of Messiah, doing the desire of Elohim from the inner self,[a]
Footnote: a Rom_6:16-23.
Eph 6:7 rendering service with pleasure, as
to the Master, and not to men,
Eph 6:8 knowing that whatever good anyone
does, he shall receive the same from the Master, whether he is slave or
free.
Eph 6:9 And, masters, do the same to them,
refrain from threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in the heavens,
and there is no partiality with Him.
Pro 30:21
Under three matters the earth trembles, And under four, it is
unable to bear:
Pro 30:22
Under a servant(eved) when he reigns, And a fool when he is satisfied
with food,
YHVH will often test slaves in order to promote them - Luk 16:12 “And if you have not been trustworthy in what is another
man’s, who shall give you what is your own?
Lev 25:39 And if your
brother who lives beside you has become poor, and is sold to you, you
shall not compel him to serve as a bond-servant - עבדת עבד – this
must be his choice – only feed men can make this choice.
Was it possible for a man to
sell himself into slavery permanently? There seems to be some debate around
this issue. What is the meaning of Bondservant in the Scriptures?
It is one bound to service without wages.
Php 2:5 For, let this mind be in you which
was also in Messiah יהושע,
Php 2:6 who, being in the form of Elohim, did
not regard equality with Elohim a matter to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form
of a servant, (‘’doulos’’ used 125 times) and came to be in the likeness of
men. (In the ‘’Tenach’’ the Hebrew word ‘’eved’’ is used 800 times)
Php 2:8 And having been found in fashion as a
man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, death even of a
stake.
Php 2:9 Elohim, therefore, has highly exalted
Him and given Him the Name which is above every name,
Mar 10:44 “And whoever wishes to be first
among you, shall be servant of all.
Mar 10:45 “For even the Son of Aḏam did not
come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Gal 5:13 For you, brothers, have been called
to freedom, only do not use freedom as an occasion for the flesh, but through
love serve one another.
Gal 5:14 For the entire Torah is completed in
one word, in this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Lev_19:18.
All of YHVH’s counsel and His redemptive plan is best understood by His ‘’bondservants’’ Only servants who had been set free after 6 years
could choose to become bondservants.
Midrash
2 Esdras 7: 20 Let
many perish who are now living, rather than that the law (Torah) of YHVH that
is set before them be disregarded! 21 For YHVH strictly
commanded those who came into the world, when they came, what they should do to
live, and what they should observe to avoid punishment. 22 Nevertheless
they were not obedient, and spoke against him; they devised for themselves vain
thoughts, 2
Esdras 14: 21 Your Law(Torah) has
been destroyed by fire, so no one can know what you have done in the past or
what you are planning to do in the future. (the Torah is the blueprint)22 Please
send your Set Apart Spirit to me, so that I can write down everything that has
been done in this world from the beginning, everything that was written in your
Law (Torah). Then in these last days, people will be able to find the right way
and obtain life if they want to."
YHVH designed His Torah to help us connect
all the ‘’dots’’ to make sense of all that matters, past present and the future.
His ‘’Bondservants’’ are the only group of people who will be worthy to be His
Bride to rule and reign with Him forever and ever.
Being a bondservant means you have laid down
all your rights, even your right to life because He owns you and you have
surrendered yourself to Him and His purposes in order that harmony (or Oneness)
will once again come upon all His Creation.
Zec 14:9 And יהוה
shall be Sovereign over all the earth.[c] In that day there shall be one יהוה,
and His Name one. Footnote: cSee footnote Isa_24:23, also Dan_2:44,
Rev_11:15.
The high calling of a bondservant
requires His favour (grace) and enabling as well as the greatest love known to
mankind – to lay down your life for another – to lay down your life for the
sake of His Truth – His Torah.
Joh 15:12
“This is My command, that you love one another, as I have loved you.[b]
Footnote: bSee Joh_13:34 and Joh_15:17. Joh
15:13 “No one has greater love than this: that one should lay down his
life for his friends.
It is my firm
conviction that these people will be the only people who will be able to endure
with joy the matters that are soon to come upon all mankind and even many of
this faithful remnant may perish with the ungodly in the last days. Who is able
to endure these things?
Mal 3:2 “And
who is able to bear the day of His coming, and who is able to stand when He
appears? For He is like the fire of a refiner, and like the soap of a
launderer.
‘’Such as the
world has ever seen’’
Mat 24:21 “For
then there shall be great distress,[c] such as has not been since the beginning
of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. Footnote: cOr great
pressure, or great affliction.
In this regard
consider the tragic suffering of many believers recorded in the ‘’Gulag of the Archipelago’’
and the ‘’Foxe's Book of Martyrs’’ (YouTube)
Mat 24:22 “And
if those days were not shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the sake of
the chosen ones those days shall be shortened.
Mat 25:23 “His
master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy (bond) servant. You were
trustworthy over a little, I shall set you over much. Enter into the joy of
your master.’
Blessed are you YHVH, our Elohim,
King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and have planted
everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of the Torah –
Amein.