Baruch atah, YHVH Eloheinu, Melech haolam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu laasok b’divrei Torah.
Blessed are You,
YHVH our Elohim, King of the universe, who has made us set apart through His
commandments and commanded us to engross ourselves in the words of the Torah.
Blessed are You, YHVH, Giver of the Torah – Amein
כי־תצא ‘’when you go out’’ When you go out to ‘’war’’
and when you go out to be confronted by the realities of this life. The Torah
of Messiah is the only reliable ‘’road’’ map we have to navigate our pilgrimage
through this life and in the life to come – in the ‘’olam ha za and in the olam
ha ba’’.
Rabbinic
tradition states that this Torah portion contains more commandments than any
other Torah portion – 74 commandments out of a total of 613 commandments. This
implies that this Torah portion gives us a greater opportunity to live a more
fruitful and fulfilling life - Jas 1:25 But he that looked into the perfect Torah, that of
freedom, and continues in it, not becoming a hearer that forgets, but a doer of
work, this one shall be blessed in his doing of the Torah.
יצר הרע לא דברה
אֶלָּא תורה כנגד Stones Chumash – p1046
‘’The Torah does not only talk against the evil inclination’’
The apostle Paul understood this limitation that was
placed on the Torah by the religious leaders and goes on to explain the liberating
intention of the Torah in his letter to the Romans.
The focus of the Torah was Life in the Spirit and not
bondage to our flesh.
To understand the following scripture in Rom 8 more
clearly let us substitute ‘’flesh’’ for ‘’yetzer ha ra’’ and ‘’life’’ with the righteousness of the
Torah.
Rom 8:1 There is, then, now no condemnation to
those who are in Messiah יהושע,
who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (the
righteousness of the Torah)
Rom 8:2 For the torah of the Spirit of the life in
Messiah יהושע
has set me free from the torah of sin and of death. (which focuses on the
fruit of the evil inclination- you cannot reform your fallen nature you can
only die to it – daily- we do not deny the realty of the flesh; we can only
overcome it by the realty of walking in the Spirit or righteousness of the
Torah of Messiah)
Rom 8:3 For the Torah being powerless, in that it
was weak through the flesh, Elohim, having sent His own Son in the likeness of
flesh of sin, and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 so that the righteousness of the Torah
should be completed in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according
to the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh
set their minds on the matters of the flesh, but those who live
according to the Spirit, the matters of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the
mind of the Spirit is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the mind of the flesh(religion) is
enmity (hatred)towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself to the Torah of
Elohim, neither indeed is it able,
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh are unable
to please Elohim.
Rom 8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the
Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you. And if anyone does not
have the Spirit of Messiah, this one is not His. (the Spirit of Messiah
dwells in the Torah of righteousness)
Rom 8:10 And if Messiah is in you, the body is
truly dead on account of sin, but the Spirit is life on account of
righteousness. Gal 2:20
Rom 8:11 And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע from the dead dwells
in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you. (The Torah was never meant to be
separated from the Apostolic scriptures)
Gal
2:20 I am
crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
If we walk in the light of Romans 8 we will see the
‘’fullness’’ of this Torah portion.
Marrying Female Captives
Deu 21:10 “When you go out to fight against your
enemies, and יהוה
your Elohim shall give them into your hand, and you shall take them
captive,
Deu 21:11 and shall see among the captives a woman
fair of form, אשׁת יפת־תאר and shall delight in her and take her for your
wife,
Deu 21:12 then you shall bring her home to your
house, and she shall shave her head and trim her nails,
Deu 21:13 and put aside the mantle of her
captivity, and shall dwell in your house, and mourn her father and her mother a
month of days. And after that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and
she shall be your wife.
Deu 21:14 “And it shall be, if you are not pleased
with her, then you shall let her go at her desire, but you do not sell her at
all for silver. Do not treat her harshly, since you have humbled her.
This Israeli soldier who captured this woman could have
treated her badly, even killing her – if he acted according to his evil
inclination – after all she belonged to a people who were enemies of Israel.
However, this Israeli soldier chose to act according to the instruction of the
Torah in this matter by extending mercy and kindness to her. He was guided by
the Spirit or righteousness of the Torah and not by his flesh.
Let us place ourselves in that ‘’captive woman’s position
– a gentile ‘’hostage’’ ‘’captured’’ by a loving Messiah Redeemer.
Lam
3:22 The loving-commitments of יהוה! For we have not been consumed, For His compassions have not
ended.
Lam
3:23 They are new every morning, Great is Your trustworthiness.
The only limit to YHVH's mercy is us.
Jas
2:12 So speak and so do as those who are to be judged by a Torah of
freedom.
Jas
2:13 For the judgment is without compassion to the one who has shown no
compassion. And compassion boasts (triumphs) over judgment.
We
cannot ignore or over emphasize grace over sin or sin over grace. You can’t
fake this lie either- We must discern between the flesh (soul) and the Spirit –
Heb 4:12
We
must also take another serious look at Joh 16:8 “And having come,
(the Set Apart Spirit) He shall convict[a] the world concerning sin,b and
concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment – Footnotes: aOr confute
or prove wrong. (People don’t just go to ‘’hell’’ just because
they are evil. Evil people go to ‘’hell ‘’ because they have rejected YHVH’s
‘’grace’’ found and explained in the scriptures.)
Inheritance Rights of the Firstborn
Deu 21:15 “When a man has two wives, (the Torah
does not teach that having two wives is a sin) one loved and the other unloved,
and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and the
first-born son is of her who is unloved,
Deu 21:16 then it shall be, on the day he makes his
sons to inherit his possessions, he is not allowed to treat the son of the
beloved wife as first-born in the face of the son of the unloved, who is truly
the first-born.
Deu 21:17 “But he is to acknowledge the son of the
unloved wife as the first-born by giving him a double portion of all that he
has, for he is the beginning of his strength – the right of the first-born is
his.
Even if this man feels he is justified in not loving his
first wife, he is not allowed to deprive the first born son his double portion
inheritance.
A Rebellious Son
Deu 21:18 “When a man has a wayward and rebellious
son who is not listening to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother,
and who, when they have disciplined him, does not listen to them, (the
parents have tried everything to correct their son, without success)
Deu 21:19 then his father and his mother shall take
hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his
city,
Deu 21:20 and shall say to the elders of his city,
‘This son of ours is wayward and rebellious. He is not listening to our voice,
he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
Deu 21:21 “Then all the men of his city shall stone
him to death with stones. Thus, you shall purge the evil from your midst. And
let all Yisra’ěl hear, and fear. (the righteousness of the Torah is
stoning such a son to death – only true called out Israelites will understand
and obey the righteousness of this command)
Sometimes parents may legitimately fear future
devastating actions of a son who continuously displays violent anti-social
psychopathic behaviour.
A Man Hanged on a Tree Is Cursed
Deu 21:22 “And when a man has committed a sin
worthy of death, then he shall be put to death and you shall hang him on a
tree.
Deu 21:23 “Let his body not remain overnight on the
tree, for you shall certainly bury him the same day – for he who is hanged is
accursed of Elohim – so that you do not defile the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving
you as an inheritance.
Stoning to death was probably the most common method to
execute someone who had committed a capital offense. However, hanging a guilty
person was meant to send a strong message of deterrence. In ancient Israel,
"hanging on a tree" referred to a post-mortem display of
executed criminals, a practice that served as a public warning and a symbol of
divine curse, not the method of execution itself - Babylonian Talmud,
Sanhedrin 45b-46b sin of blasphemy.
The phrase "hung on a tree" in the Scriptures,
particularly in Acts 5:30, 10:39, and Galatians 3:13, is a reference to Yahshua's
execution, using "tree" as a metaphorical or symbolic term for the ‘’cross’’,
and alludes to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, which states that anyone hung on a tree is
under YHVH's curse.
That’s why Yahshua’s body was taken off the ‘’tree’’
before the evening – John 19:31
Various
Laws – reminding
us that YHVH speaks to us in ways that allows us to ‘’connect’’ with Him
through our actions – will we respond in the flesh or in the Spirit?
Deu 22:1 “When you see your brother’s ox or
his sheep straying away, you shall not hide yourself from them. Return them to
your brother without fail.
Deu 22:2 “And if your brother is not near you, or
if you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall
be with you until your brother seeks it, then you shall return it to him.
Deu 22:3 “And so you do with his donkey, and so you
do with his garment, and so you do with whatever your brother loses, which he
has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to hide yourself.
Deu 22:4 “When you see your brother’s donkey or his
ox fall down on the way, you shall not hide yourself from them. Help him raise
them without fail.
Deu 22:5 “A woman does not wear that which pertains
to a man, nor does a man put on a woman’s garment, for whoever does this is an
abomination to יהוה
your Elohim. (The Torah of righteousness requires that there should be no
confusion in distinguishing between a man and a woman)
Deu 22:6 “When you come upon a bird’s nest along
the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother
sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young
– (the so called ‘’least’’ of all YHVH’s commandments)
Deu 22:7 let the mother go without fail, and take
the young for yourself, so that it might be well with you, and that you shall
prolong your days.
Isa
2:4 And He shall judge between the nations, and shall reprove many peoples.
And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither teach
battle any more. Isa 2:5 O house of Ya‛aqoḇ, come and let us walk in the
light of יהוה. Isa 2:17 And the
loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the pride of men shall be brought
low. And יהוה alone shall be exalted in
that day, Isa 2:18 and the idols completely pass away.
The footsteps of Messiah in the last days:
Mishnah
Sotah 9:15b ‘Mashiach Ikvot’’ – footprints of Messiah (when will we hear them?)
And the wisdom of scribes will putrefy, (decay/rot)
and people who fear sin will be held in disgust, and the truth will be absent.
The youth will shame the face of elders, elders will stand before minors.
Normal family relations will be ruined: A son will disgrace a father; a
daughter will rise up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The
face of the generation will be like the face of a dog; a son will no
longer be ashamed before his father. And upon what is there for us to rely?
Only upon our Father in heaven.
Mat
10:34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not
come to bring peace but a sword, (those who cling to the Torah of righteousness
will be attacked)
Mat
10:35 for I have come to bring division, a man against his father, a
daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law –
Mat
10:36 and a man’s enemies are those of his own household.[d] Mic_7:6.
Footnote: dLuk_12:53, Mic_7:6.
Mat
10:37 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,
and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
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.