Baruch
ata YHVHEloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu
eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. 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.)
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 needs to learn that
obedience to the covenant brings blessing – see Deut 28.
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.
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 – servant or slave) whom I brought out of the land of
Mitsrayim, they are not sold as slaves. (see “eved ivri’ Hebrew slave in Shemot
22) Note importance of
the context in which the Torah was given – Parashat Yitro is followed by
Parashat Mishpatim……
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, (eved)
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.
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.
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.
This
week’s Haftarah portion:
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 24:2 And it shall be – as with
the people so with the priest, as with the servant so with his master, as with
the female servant so with her mistress, as with the buyer so with the seller,
as with the lender so with the borrower, as with the creditor so with the
debtor;
Isa 24:3 the earth is completely
emptied and utterly plundered, for יהוה has spoken this word.
Isa 24:4 The earth shall mourn and
wither, the world shall languish and wither, the haughty people of the earth
shall languish.
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.
This week’s Apostolic reading:
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 shall come into
their inheritance in the kingdom when they first learn to be faithful with that
which belongs to another. Ultimately everything belongs to YHVH –
Additional
midrash:
Psa 24:1 The
earth belongs to יהוה, And all that fills it – The
world and those who dwell in it.
When we keep the Sabbaths
of YHVH we declare His ownership over of all things.
Luk 16:11
“If, therefore, you have not been trustworthy in the unrighteous mammon,
who shall entrust to you the true?
Luk 16:12
“And if you have not been trustworthy in what is another man’s, who
shall give you what is your own?
The sages taught that when you buy a slave, you buy a master.
The truth is that some people are better off when they are under someone
else’s supervision.
Pro 19:10
Luxury is not fitting for a fool, Much less for a servant to rule over
princes.
Pro 30:21
Under three matters the earth trembles, And under four, it is
unable to bear:
Pro 30:22 Under a servant (eved in Hebrew) when he
reigns, And a fool when he is satisfied with food,
Pro 29:2 When the righteous are in authority, the
people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
Pro 16:20 He who acts wisely concerning the Word finds
good, And blessed is he who trusts in יהוה.
“The Kingdom of YHVH will not
come to Africa until the masters learn to serve their servants.” Art Katz
Heb 6:12 … be not slothful, but followers of them who
through faith and patience inherit the promises.
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 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 – Ameyn)