Blessing
for the Torah Reading:
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher
bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,
v’natan
lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim , King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples,and have given us your Torah.
Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)
If we really want to understand
YHVH’s Word we need to understand the Hebraic culture in which it was written
and given. YHVH’s Truth can only be understood and obeyed in Hebraic culture
and understanding. The church and
western culture have confused us concerning YHVH’s truth. Many today are
discovering the true Elohim of Yisrael and His Mashiach as they return to the
Hebraic soil from which His truth was given and revealed to mankind.
(Christianity was meant to be a continuation of the ancient roots and not some
new innovation)
We see this depicted so tragically
in relationships. The church assisted by the culture of this world has created
a new kind of morality apart from the Set Apart Word of YHVH – Torah.
“ Unfortunately, in our modern society,
personal feelings reign supreme in
matters relating to relationships, and this phenomena has deeply
affected those who seek the truth as
well. As a result YHVH’s standards for relationships are viewed as archaic and
unworkable in our modern times. When YHVH’s ways conflict with our feelings and
views, we find ways to “reinterpret” what YHVH has said so we can follow our own
feelings and ideas and then convince ourselves we are actually obeying
YHVH. In this way relationships based on
personal feelings have replaced objective scriptural standards and “feelings”
have replaced the bedrock of obedience to YHVH’s Torah. Little wonder the ears
of so many have grown deaf to the Torah, because the hearts of most don’t feel
the need to listen and obey the unchangeable standard – Torah - that regulates the lives all people in all
eras of time.” Adapted from Tim Hegg.
Our society, especially religious society has bound
people.
Of all people on this
earth a Sabbath people ought to understand best what release is all about.
Speaking about a
Sabbath people YHVH says:
Isa 58:2 “Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to
know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the
right-ruling (mishpatim) of their Elohim. They ask of Me rulings (mishpatim) of
righteousness, they delight in drawing near to Elohim.Isa 58:3 They say, ‘Why have we fasted, and You
have not seen? Why have we afflicted our beings, and You took no note?’ “Look,
in the day of your fasting you find pleasure, and drive on all your labourers.
Isa 58:4 “Look, you fast for strife and contention, and
to strike with the fist of wrongness. You do not fast as you do this day, to
make your voice heard on high. Isa 58:5
“Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his being?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and
ashes? Do you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to יהוה? Isa 58:6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to
loosen the tight cords of wrongness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to exempt
the oppressed, and to break off every yoke? Isa 58:7 “Is it not to share your bread with the
hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you
see the naked, and cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Isa
58:8 “Then your light would break forth
like the morning, your healing spring forth speedily. And your righteousness
shall go before you, the esteem of יהוה would be your
rear guard. Isa 58:9 “Then, when you
call, יהוה would answer; when you cry, He would say,
‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the
finger, and the speaking of unrighteousness, Isa 58:10 if you extend your being to the hungry and
satisfy the afflicted being, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and
your darkness be as noon. Isa 58:11
“Then יהוה would guide
you continually, and satisfy your being in drought, and strengthen your bones.
And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose
waters do not fail. Isa 58:12 “And those
from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the
foundations of many generations. And you would be called the Repairer of the Breach,
the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Isa 58:13 “If you
do turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My
set-apart day, and shall call the Sabbath ‘a delight,’ the set-apart day
of יהוה ‘esteemed,’ and shall esteem it, not doing
your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, Isa
58:14 then you shall delight yourself in
יהוה. And I shall cause you to ride on the
heights of the earth, and feed you with the inheritance of Yaʽaqoḇ your
father. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken!”
And because Yisrael did not obey the covenant the prophet says in the
haftarah portion:
Jer 34:13 “Thus said יהוה the Elohim of
Yisra’ĕl, ‘I Myself made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought
them out of the land of Mitsrayim, out of the house of bondage, saying, Jer
34:14 “At the end of seven years each
one should set free his Heḇrew brother, who has been sold to him. And when he has
served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did
not obey Me nor incline their ear. Jer 34:15
‘And you recently turned and did what was right in My eyes, each man
proclaiming release to his neighbour. And you made a covenant before Me in the
house which is called by My Name. Jer 34:16
‘But you turned back and profaned My Name, and each one of you took back
his male and female slaves, whom he had set free, at their pleasure, and
brought them into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’
Jer 34:17 “Therefore thus said יהוה, ‘You have not
obeyed Me in proclaiming release, each one to his brother and each one to his
neighbour. See, I am proclaiming release to you,’ declares יהוה, ‘to the
sword, to the pestilence, and to the scarcity of food! And I shall make you a
horror to all reigns of the earth. (The great tribulation)
Perhaps we were meant to discover the mystery in this
Torah portion of what it really means to be part of the bride of Messiah. This
Torah portion contains the fine print of our ketubah (marriage contract) – may
YHVH open our eyes to see it and embrace it.
Our Torah portion begins:
Exo 21:1 “These are the right-rulings which you are to
set before them:
א וְאֵלֶּה,
הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים, אֲשֶׁר תָּשִׂים, לִפְנֵיהֶם.
This Torah portion
begins with the letter “vav” which means “and” in Hebrew. This shows a
connection between this section and the previous section of the giving of the
Torah, thus establishing their importance.
“Mishpatim” refers to
YHVH’s assessments and rules of how a society and its people should live and
conduct themselves.
These are to be placed
or established before the “faces” of Yisrael.
Yahshua says of these
laws: Mat 5:18 “For truly, I say to you,
till the heaven and the earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no
means pass from the Torah till all be done.
Exo 21:2 “When you buy a Heḇrew
servant, he serves six years,
and in the seventh he goes out free, for naught.
A Hebraic people are known for guarding the Sabbath
and all its implications. True Sabbath keepers write off debts and release
people on the Sabbath.
It’s a fact of life that people get themselves into
trouble, often through circumstances or bad decisions they make. In the Torah
observant community people who got themselves into serious financial trouble
could sell themselves into the service of a kind benefactor who would in turn
accept 6 years of their labour as payment for debts owed. This new owner would
treat them well, in fact the sages reported that “he who buys a slaves, buys a
master.”
Today we see that there are still many
people who simply cannot manage their lives well and get themselves into all
kinds of trouble. If some kind family member or friend doesn’t help them their
situations growing increasingly more unbearable.
The Hebrew community has an answer for this kind of
dilemma……
This “mishpat” speaks to a higher spiritual
reality. The Hebrew word for “Hebrew servant” is “eved ivri”
ב כִּי תִקְנֶה עֶבֶד
עִבְרִי
The gematria of “eved ivri” and “Mashiach” is the
same – 358.
Messiah was our “eved ivri” in fact the prophet
Yeshayahu hints at this in the following reference to our Messiah:
Isa
50:1 Thus says יהוה, “Where is the
certificate of your mother’s divorce, whom I have put away? Or which of My
creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Look, you were sold for your
crookednesses, and your mother was put away for your transgressions. Isa
50:2 “When I came, why was there no one?
When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was My hand too short to redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver? See, by My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the
rivers a wilderness; their fish stink for there is not water, and die of
thirst. Isa 50:3 “I clothe the heavens
with darkness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” Isa 50:4 The Master יהוה has given Me
the tongue of taught ones, that I should know to help the weary with a word. He
wakes Me morning by morning, he wakes My ear to hear as taught ones. Isa 50:5
The Master יהוה has opened My
ear, and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away (possibly a reference to the
slave becoming a bond slave forever). 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. (Messiah does this for his bride)
Exo 21:3 “If
he comes in by himself, he goes out by himself; if he comes in married, then
his wife shall go out with him.
Exo 21:4
“If his master has given him a wife, and she has borne him sons or
daughters, the wife and her children are her master’s, and he goes out by
himself.
Exo 21:5
“And if the servant truly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my
children, let me not go out free,’
Exo 21:6
then his master shall bring him before Elohim, and shall bring him to
the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl.
And he shall serve him forever.
This kind of response to extreme poverty hardly
enters into the mind of modern messianic believers. There are also very few
people that would even consider selling themselves as “slaves” for a period of
time to rehabilitate themselves. Yet Yahshua made himself a bond servant (he
could have taken his freedom but he did not) to forever be of service to his
bride.
His body too will bear the marks of this forever
and ever. In ancient times when two parties entered into covenant they would
cut themselves and shake hands and then rub sand in the wounds so that they
could form scars. This is where the handshake comes from. When others saw you
carried the mark of a covenant on your hand they would be cautious in their
dealings with you as you may have entered into a covenant with a powerful
person who could exact justice for any wrong doing to his covenant partner.
Maybe the Torah was given over to those who truly
desire to become bondservants. Maybe only those who are bondservants truly
understand the Torah and the Scriptures and will part of the bride of Messiah
one day.
The final book of the scriptures was written to
bond servants.
Rev 1:1 Revelation of יהושע Messiah, which
Elohim gave Him to show His servants what has to take place with speed. And He
signified it by sending His messenger to His servant Yoḥanan,
However even bondservants don’t know when the
Kingdom will be restored to Yisrael.
Act 1:6 So when they had come together, they asked Him,
saying, “Master, would You at this time restore the reign to Yisra’ĕl?”1
Footnote: 1Lk. 1:33. Act 1:7
And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which
the Father has put in His own authority.
Not even Messiah knows the exact time of his
return.
Mar 13:32 “But concerning that day and the hour no one
knows, not even the messengers in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Exo 21:7
“And when a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she does not
go out as the male servants do.
Fathers giving away daughters in marriage were
always financially compensated after an agreed amount was accepted. If there
were no willing husbands or there was a
great financial need in the family the fathers were sometimes forced to sell their
daughters as concubine wives to prospective buyers.
Once again western culture does not see the value
in a father being financially compensated for giving his daughters away in
marriage.Perhaps if men seeking marriage made some kind of substantial financial
commitment to his future father in law, there would be less divorce in our
modern society.
This once again speaks of a higher reality – we as
a bride have been given over to our Messiah – for a price - the life of YHVH’s only brought forth son.
One of the most famous bond slaves that ever lived
– Shaul – wrote the following:
1Co 6:20 For you were bought with a price, therefore
esteem Elohim in your body and in your spirit,1 which are of Elohim.
Footnote: 1See 7:23, 1 Peter 1:18-19.
1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were redeemed from your
futile way of life inherited from your fathers, not with what is corruptible,
silver or gold, 1Pe 1:19 but with the
precious blood of Messiah, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless,
Only now can the scripture begin to really make
sense - BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN TO BOND
SERVANTS.
Exo 21:8 “If
she is displeasing in the eyes of her master who has engaged her to himself,
then he shall let her be ransomed. He shall have no authority to sell her to a
foreign people, because of him deceiving her.
Exo 21:9
“And if he has engaged her to his son, he is to do to her as is the
right of daughters.
Exo 21:10
“If he takes another wife, her food, her covering, and her
marriage rights are not to be diminished.
Exo 21:11
“And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out for
naught, without silver.
Today in these days of
increasing decline these assessments (mishpatim) of YHVH become more ridiculous
in the eyes of modern man. Yeshayahu describes an end time condition that gives
rise to the breakdown in society.
See the following
website on the issue of polygyny:
Once again
maybe Yeshayahu understood the dilemma of our time when he wrote:
Isa 3:12 “My people! Youths exert pressure on them,
and women rule over them. O My people! Your leaders lead you astray1,
and swallow the way of your paths.” Footnote: 1See also 9:16.
Swallowing up your paths
is another way of saying that the true path of Torah truth has been taken away
and so the people will not be able to walk as YHVH has commanded and the people
will be robbed of the many blessings and inheritance YHVH has promised them.
Now maybe we can understand better these “mishpatim.” it is because we
have ignored them and changed them that this world has become an unbearable
place to live in and is going to face a terrible judgment and destruction in
the future.
Isa
24:1 See, יהוה is making the
earth empty and making it waste, and shall overturn its surface, and shall
scatter abroad its inhabitants. Isa 24:3 the earth is completely emptied and utterly
plundered, for יהוה has spoken this word.
Isa 24:5 For the earth has been defiled under its inhabitants,
because they have transgressed the Torot1, changed2 the
law, broken the everlasting covenant3. Footnotes: 1Torot
- plural of Torah, teaching. 2Jer. 23:36. 3This is the
only reason, according to all Scriptures, why the earth shall be burned in the
day of judgment – see also 13:9, 13:11, 26:21, 66:24, Mic. 5:15, Zeph. 1:2-18.
Isa 24:6
Therefore a curse shall consume the earth, and those who dwell in it be
punished. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men
shall be left.
Exo 21:12
“He who strikes a man so that he dies shall certainly be put to death.
Exo 21:13
“But if he did not lie in wait, but Elohim delivered him into his hand,
then I shall appoint for you a place where he is to flee.
Exo 21:14
“But when a man acts presumptuously against his neighbour, to kill him
by treachery, you are to take him even from My altar to die.
Exo 21:15
“And he who smites his father or his mother shall certainly be put to
death.
Exo 21:16
“And he who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand,
shall certainly be put to death. (Human trafficking!)
Exo 21:17
“And he who curses his father or his mother shall certainly be put to
death.
Exo 21:18
“And when men strive together, and one smites the other with a stone or
with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed,
Exo 21:19 if
he rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who smote him
shall be innocent. He only pays for lost time and sees to it that he is
completely healed.
Exo 21:20
“And when a man smites his male or female servant with a rod, so that he
dies under his hand, he shall certainly be punished.
Exo 21:21
“But if he remains alive a day or two, he is not punished; for he is his
property.
Exo 21:22
“And when men strive and they shall smite a pregnant woman, and her
children come out, yet there is no injury, he shall certainly be punished
accordingly as the woman’s husband lays upon him. And he shall give through the
judges.
Exo 21:23
“But if there is injury, then you shall give life for life,
Exo 21:24
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Exo 21:25
burn for burn, wound for wound, lash for lash.
Exo 21:26
“And when a man smites the eye of his male or female servant, and
destroys it, he is to let him go free for the sake of his eye.
Exo 21:27
“And if he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he is to
let him go free for the sake of his tooth.
Exo 21:28
“And when an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall
certainly be stoned, and its flesh is not eaten, and the owner of the ox is
innocent.
Exo 21:29
“However, if the ox was previously in the habit of goring, and its owner
has been warned, and he has not kept it confined, so that it has killed a man
or a woman, the ox is stoned and its owner also is put to death.
Exo 21:30
“If a sin-covering is laid upon him, then he shall give the ransom of
his life, whatever is laid on him.
Exo 21:31 “Whether
it has gored a son or gored a daughter, according to this right-ruling it is
done to him.
Exo 21:32
“If the ox gores a male or female servant, he is to give to their master
thirty sheqels of silver, and the ox is stoned.
Exo 21:33
“And when a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover
it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it,
Exo 21:34
the owner of the pit is to repay, he is to give silver to their owner,
and the dead beast is his.
Exo 21:35
“And when the ox of a man smites the ox of his neighbour and it dies,
then they shall sell the live ox and divide the silver from it, and also divide
the dead ox.
Exo 21:36
“Or if it was known that the ox was previously in the habit of goring,
and its owner has not kept it confined, he shall certainly repay ox for ox,
while the dead beast is his.
Exo 22:1 “When a man steals an ox or a sheep, and
shall slaughter it or sell it, he repays five cattle for an ox and four sheep
for a sheep.
Exo 22:2 “If the thief is found breaking in, and he is
smitten so that he dies, there is no guilt for his bloodshed.
Exo 22:3 “If the sun has risen on him, there is guilt
for his bloodshed, he shall certainly repay. If he has not the means, then he
shall be sold for his theft.
Exo 22:4 “If the theft is indeed found alive in his
hand, whether it is an ox or donkey or sheep, he repays double.
Exo 22:5 “When a man lets a field or vineyard be
grazed bare, and lets loose his livestock, and it feeds in another man’s
field, he repays from the best of his own field and the best of his own
vineyard.
Exo 22:6 “When fire breaks out and spreads to thorn
bushes, so that stacked grain, or standing grain, or the field is consumed, he
who kindled the fire shall certainly repay.
Exo 22:7 “When a man gives silver or goods to his
neighbour to guard, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is
found, he repays double.
Exo 22:8 “If the thief is not found, then the master
of the house shall be brought before Elohim to see whether he has put his hand
into his neighbour’s goods.
Exo 22:9 “For every matter of transgression, for ox,
for donkey, for sheep, for garment, or for whatever is lost which another
claims to be his, let the matter of them both come before Elohim. And whomever
Elohim declares wrong repays double to his neighbour.
Exo 22:10 “When a man gives to his neighbour a donkey,
or ox, or sheep, or any beast to watch over, and it dies, or is injured, or is
driven away while no one is looking,
Exo 22:11 let an oath of יהוה be between
them both, that he has not put his hand into his neighbour’s goods. And the
owner of it shall accept that, and he does not repay.
Exo 22:12 “But if
it is indeed stolen from him, he repays to its owner.
Exo 22:13 “If it
is torn to pieces, then let him bring it for evidence, he does not repay what
was torn.
Exo 22:14 “And
when a man borrows from his neighbour, and it is injured or dies while the
owner of it is not present, he shall certainly repay.
Exo 22:15 “But if
its owner was with it, he does not repay. If it was hired, he is entitled to
the hire.
Exo 22:16 “And
when a man entices a maiden who is not engaged, and lies with her, he shall
certainly pay the bride-price for her to be his wife.
Exo 22:17 “If her
father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he pays according to the
bride-price of maidens.
Exo 22:18 “Do not
allow a practiser of witchcraft to live.
Exo 22:19 “Anyone
lying with a beast shall certainly be put to death.
Exo 22:20 “He who
slaughters to a mighty one, except to יהוה only, is put
under the ban.
Exo 22:21 “Do not
tread down a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of
Mitsrayim.
Exo 22:22 “Do not
afflict any widow or fatherless child.
Exo 22:23 “If you
do afflict them at all – if they cry out to Me at all, I shall certainly hear
their cry,
Exo 22:24 and My
wrath shall burn and I shall slay you with the sword, your wives shall be
widows and your children fatherless.
Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu,
Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam nata-b’tochenu.
Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are you Yahweh, 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, Yahweh giver of the Torah – Ameyn
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject.
