CHAPTER 21
1. "Now these are the legal procedures [mishpatim] which you shall lay before them:
Legal procedures: In its singular form,the term means "justice". So we could read this as “different types of justice” or “rulings”. They are firm, non-negotiable verdicts. These are laws that will unify the whole society. YHWH’s strong concern for justice among His people comes through very clearly here. Psalms 89:14 and 97:2 say righteousness and justice are the foundation of YHWH's throne. Putting YHWH first (the subject of the last chapter) is the precursor to our approach to one another, but now the latter is the focus. This is all about teaching judges how to rule. These rulings are not meant to be so profound; these are social laws that teach us how to get along with one another in much the same way a parent trains his child to be polite, to make life easier on the rest of the family and community. They build on the ten commandments, and the lesser rulings that may vary from tribe to tribe or clan to clan must be based on these. When all Israel is regathered, who will be able to rule? Who will keep logistics and relations operating in harmony? Only those who know these rules intimately. So we need to train our hearts to no longer see judgment as something foreign. Without rules to make things work smoothly, we will not be able to merge into one nation again. Moshe taught the elders their intricacies, so that they could teach the rest of the people. The rulers of tens, fifties, etc., must make sure individuals do things this way. Walk in these, and you will be participating in the covenant given on Mt. Sinai.
2. "When you buy a Hebrew slave, he may serve [you] for six years, but in the seventh [year] he shall go out as a free man, with no payment.
The first judgment in establishing a proper Israelite society is about slavery—which seems odd after the nation was just freed from slavery. Moshe begins here because slaves have fewer rights and protections than anyone else. They are the most vulnerable to abuse—the last people who would generally be considered in anything—whose opinion would seldom be sought, and who are most likely to be the brunt of injustice because of their social position. But a slave at that time was generally one who sold himself to pay a debt, needed money more quickly than he could earn it, had stolen something and could not afford to make the mandatory restitution (22:2), had made an arrangement in order to acquire land, was an orphan not old enough or intelligent enough to care for himself, or had lost all of his livestock or crop in some disaster. If a relative is able to bail him out, all the better, but in that case he would still be obligated to his relative. This is better than being enslaved to a foreigner, because at least he has basic rights and a contract this way. Yet still he was agreeing to do whatever his buyer would tell him to do for six years. Regardless of how he found himself in this position, even the least of us is still Israel. Those less able to take care of themselves (the poor, the crippled, the widow, the orphan, the blind, the deaf, or just children in general) must be treated rightly. YHWH reminds us that we were slaves in Egypt (Deut. 24:17ff) as a way to drive home the point that we are not to take advantage of those at a disadvantage through no fault of their own. If we treat the least in society properly, it is more likely that there will be justice at other levels as well. If we do not take care of the weak, when it matters most, we too will be left with nowhere to turn for help. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 10:1ff) Y’hezq’El (Ezekiel) 22:6-8 lists the things YHWH considers most wicked, and mistreating the foreigner, fatherless, or widow are second only to dishonoring our parents, and is even worse in His eyes than profaning the Sabbath or treating holy things as ordinary. No one would need a slave in the seventh year because there is to be no active agriculture. The benefit goes both ways, because the buyer will also be free from the obligation of caring for an extra person during this year in which he will not gain income from his crops.
3. "If he comes in alone, he must leave alone; if he was [already] the husband of a woman, his wife must be released with him.
Alone: literally, "with his body". His wife must be released with him: Since he was not at liberty to provide for his own dependents while he pays off his debt through slavery, the one who benefits from his labor is the one responsible to provide for his family for the duration of his enslavement. (Hirsch)
4. "If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall [still] belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.
This is the only way in which the Israelite man is made to feel the degradation of his enslavement. He can have this woman for only six years. The relationships gained in one’s master’s house belong to the master. When he is no longer under this authority, he no longer has the use of that which he received from him. It is really a loan. If one must leave, he must forsake what has benefited him there, or he would be robbing his master of what belongs to him.
5. "But if the slave indeed says, ‘I [have come to] love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go free',
Love means commitment, not necessarily a fond feeling. But the loyalty must primarily be to the master, because the family members might die or be married off to other tribes, and he could be left only with the master. The relationship to his wife could not come without a relationship to this particular master, just as the commandments about how to treat one another come after those about how we relate to YHWH. (ch. 20)
6. "then his master must bring him to the judges, and one shall bring him to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he will serve him perpetually.
Judges: Heb., elohim. In some cases it may be through the priests, as representatives of Elohim (YHWH), but the term here may simply refer to the judges in this context. The master cannot just pierce his ear, even if the slave has expressed this intent; it must be done through the official courts so there is no question. He literally becomes attached to the house (temporarily), and his own body is permanently changed in the process. To keep the piercing open, they would need to put an earring through the hole, and this would serve as a symbolic reminder and show others that he is not being kept as a slave in this house for more than 6 years against his will. Earrings were often used in ancient times to show to whom one belonged and what he served. He is committing his whole lineage to servitude to that family unless they become so skilled that they can buy their own freedom, so he is not expected to make such an absolute commitment early on. It may involve changing tribes as well as households. So it should only be done at the end of his six years so he has time to make sure his master is really benevolent and this is really what he wants, for it is voluntary but irreversible. There might again be some blood on the doorpost (as in Egypt), reminding him that even if he is a slave, as an Israelite he is truly free. The doorposts are the place upon which Israel is commanded to inscribe the words of the Torah [instruction]. (Deut. 6) He would thus be saying, “I am submitting to the rules of this house and the House of Israel.” The part of the Torah that is placed on the doorpost begins with the command to "hear", so the ear is the appropriate place to bear this reminder of Whom we have chosen to belong to, and to submit to, realizing that “a servant will not be corrected by mere words, for though he understands, he may not respond.” (Prov. 29:19) In 1980 the music group Glad carried the thought full circle: “Pierce my ear, O [YHWH]…Take me to your door this day. I will serve no other [Elohim; YHWH], I’m here to stay, for You have paid a price for me; [through Yeshua] You ransomed me. I will serve You eternally; a free man I’ll never be”, for when He freed us, we became His—the most beautiful “bondage” there ever was, because we are bound to the One who loves us best and Whom we have begun to love.
7. "But when a man sells his daughter as a handmaid, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.
She would not be set free after six years as the male slaves would. The probable reason is seen in verse 8: he has paid her father for her with the view to eventually making her his (or his son's) wife. She can only be sold thus during the age when her father would normally provide for her, after which a woman would normally be paid the dowry herself. (Hirsch) She is thus only a servant until she reaches marriageable age; if he then finds her objectionable, she is set free. (v. 11)
8. "If she is disagreeable in the eyes of her master, who has chosen her for himself, then he shall allow her to be redeemed. He shall not have authority to sell her to a foreign nation, since he has dealt with her unfaithfully.
Chosen her: betrothed her to himself. Unfaithfully: He bought her intending to marry her; one would not sell his daughter to be a common slave as Gentiles might, but for the purpose of becoming a bride one day. If she did not please him, he must still keep her in his household, because he has humiliated her and prevented her from marrying another. Allow her to be redeemed: by her father, under whose jurisdiction she remains, since when she is of age her father would not have a right to sell her anymore. (Hirsch) A foreign nation: Aramaic, "another man" or "a Gentile man". A father would probably only do this to his daughter if he was destitute, but this at least allows him to choose a worthy family into which to sell her, so she will still be part of Israel and be well-fed and well-cared for. It was a pragmatic more than emotional approach, but at least he ensures that his daughter will have a husband when she comes of age.
9. "And if he should select her for his son, he must treat her according to the rights of daughters.
Maimonides says this means he himself needs to outfit her with all that a bride needs, since normally her father would do this. Hirsch adds that the Torah normally gives the extreme examples to show that it covers everything up to that point. (Thus the list of rulings begins with the rights of criminals and the lowest of the destitute, showing that the same rights apply to everyone else as well.) If his father has already rejected her (v. 8), the son might treat her with contempt, since she was now a slave, so he must be reminded not to treat her with any less respect than the free woman he might later add to his harem (v. 10). She would still have the rights of a wife, even if neither the owner nor his son chose her as a wife. YHWH does not allow us to turn a Hebrew woman into a common slave. He protects the most vulnerable in special ways.
10. "If he takes another [wife] for himself, her food, clothing, and conjugal rights shall not be diminished.
These are the conditions under which the Torah allows for polygamy if some feel it to be necessary, but it is never encouraged; the ideal is that "the two shall become one flesh". But this command was recognized to be necessary because of how Leah had been treated.
11. "And if he does [want to] not do [any of] these three [things] for her, she shall be set at liberty without [being] paid [for].
These three: marry her, let her be redeemed, or give her to his son in marriage. It does not refer to the list of three things in v. 10, because if she is a wife, the only way she may be released is with a certificate of divorce. (Deut. 24:1, 3)
12. "Whoever strikes a man and causes him to die shall certainly be put to death.
13. "But if it was not premeditated, but Elohim lets him fall into his hand, I will appoint for him a place to which he can escape.
Not premeditated: This is a “heat-of-passion”, spur-of-the-moment blow. If an unplanned death occurs, YHWH takes responsibility because of His sovereign choice of whose life should be preserved. He is in control of everything. It may be that the man was guilty of a greater wrongdoing that no one knew about, and YHWH is serving justice through what seems accidental to us. But spilling a fellow human's blood is serious, and a relative of the deceased has a right to demand blood in return, so (though not detailed until later) cities of refuge would be set up where a case could be tried calmly rather than vengefully while the blood runs hot. (Numbers 35:11ff) But he had to remain there a long time, so his life is still basically “over”. If one’s temper gets the best of him, he is still held responsible for his emotional outbursts. We cannot blame it on our emotions, so we must keep them under control.
14. "However, if a man acts presumptuously against his neighbor in order to kill him by deceit, you must take him away [even] from My altar to die.
Acts presumptuously: Goes beyond his rights; Aramaic, "schemes". Deceit: Aram., "design", i.e., intent. Like the cities of refuge in v. 13, the altar was seen as a place one could go to appeal for mercy. David’s son did this, and his appeal was respected at that point. (1 Kings 1:50-53) One would have to go to the altar anyway to make a trespass offering for involuntary manslaughter. But the killer here had actually premeditated the murder, and then pretended it was an accident, thinking no one would dare to harm him in a holy place—much like the churches in Mafia movies. But there is no place for the selfish to hide. If we planned out the act, we have no right to expect forgiveness. Men are not given the right to commute a sentence when YHWH has defined what justice in a particular case is. (Hirsch) For willful sin, there is no recourse available. Even if he repents, he will pay the price in his body; he cannot get out of this. The only acceptable payment for willful bloodguilt is the killer's own blood. King Shlomoh carried out this sentence in the case of Yo’av. (1 Kings 2:28-35) “Take him away from My altar” may also mean that even the priests (the only ones actually permitted to serve at the altar) are not exempt from this kind of justice.
15. "Likewise, whoever strikes his father or mother shall surely be put to death.
This command pertains not to a small child, but one who is of age to know what he is doing. Some commentators limit the meaning of "strike" to an aggressive blow that draws blood and shows intent to injure or insult, not self-defense. The reason it is so serious is because a parent is a picture of YHWH (our Father) in microcosm, and one who rebels against Him has no higher court of appeal. The rabbis claim that this sentence has never had to be carried out in Israel.
16. "And he who kidnaps a man and sells him or is found possessing him, shall certainly be put to death.
Kidnaps: literally "steals"--as if the man had no more dignity than any other piece of property! It shows that the perpetrator does not care at all for his neighbor. He is not likely to sell him within Israel, where everyone knows this law, but to another country, so he would be taking away his parents’ continuance and his ability to raise children for Israel; their strength will all be spent for foreign pursuits. There is no way to replace a person, so the guilty party must pay with his own life. Thus it behooves one to check carefully into where the slave he buys has come from. This demands walls and gates on the part of the leadership as well; in Israel, there is not to be free passage in and out for strangers. The same punishment is meted out for deceitful murder (v. 14). These are the only two courses of action Yosef's brothers considered in regard to him, so it was logical for them to fear for their lives when they realized they had been found guilty.
17. "Moreover, he who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death.
Curses: the word can simply mean "to esteem lightly”,i.e., not take them seriously--the exact opposite of the fifth commandment ("honor/give weight to your father and mother"). It means not treating them as authoritative. If they cannot even respect the ones who have given them life and who have poured out their lives to sustain them, how will they ever transfer the respect to other authorities? If this pillar of civilization fails, all order in human society will collapse. So YHWH is even stricter here than in verse 15: If we do not even take our parents’ words seriously, the same sentence is meted out as for hitting them. Avshalom is the extreme example of this (the salient example being in 2 Shmuel 15), and David’s soldiers obeyed this command though David himself was hesitant to. May we learn from the threat so the full measure need not be carried out. Contrast the grown Yitzhaq’s obedience in Gen. 22.
18. "And if men are fighting and one strikes the other with a stone or a fist and he does not die, but is bedridden,
19. "if he [later] gets up and walks around outdoors by his own power, the one who hit him shall be cleared of guilt; only he will pay for his convalescence, and the complete cost of his treatment by a physician.
His convalescence: the value of his lost time (what he would have been paid had he been able to work) and/or recovery expenses. YHWH instituted the first "workmen's compensation" and "disability benefits" here, but the responsible party is the one who pays, not the government. One may slap someone who is under his authority if he truly deserves it due to insolence, but not with a fist or anything that could be considered a weapon:
20. "Now if a man strikes his male slave or handmaid with a rod and he dies under his hand, he may certainly be avenged;
Avenged: by a near kinsman, which appears to mean “life for life”. (as in v. 23)
21. "if he only remains [incapacitated] for a day or two, he may not be avenged, because he is his [own] livelihood.
To rule rightly is to understand the distinctions and thus determine what is just in each case. His own livelihood: literally, silver; i.e., the one who gets his work done, so all the losses of income, labor, and time in having to substitute someone else for him are considered punishment enough.
22. "And if men are fighting and [one] stumbles into a pregnant woman and causes her child to be delivered, yet there is no harm done, he certainly may be fined according to whatever the woman's husband chooses to impose on him, and he shall pay via the assessors.
Compare Deut. 32:31. The husband decides how he wants this traumatic experience compensated for, but he must go through the proper channels; the judge makes it an official legal ruling. The following verses discuss the penalties for a natural abortion or injury to the infant or mother that results from such a scuffle, but may have wider application for injuries in other people as well:
23. "But if injury occurs, you shall inflict life [in compensation] for life,
Not all the specifics are given, so that the judge has some latitude to take mitigating factors into account. We stand on the firm foundation of Torah, but the judge must have room to give consideration to specific circumstances. Our unity is based on the foundation, and must meet all the conditions it imposes, but the particular rulings may vary from case to case. All rulings must be based on and limited by the Torah, but they may be done differently in different tribes or different households, without detracting from the validity of any of the other rulings. We have been too slack about many things for too long, so we may need stricter rulings for a while to bring us back into balance. But if the water is not flowing at all, it becomes stagnant and everything dies. And it goes without saying that if we do not know the Torah, we can hardly apply it to other situations. In a community, we are more likely to remember more of the commands.
24. "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25. "burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Burn: or "scar". Since injuring the other person does not restore the eyesight of the afflicted one, nor can he give him his own eye, by tradition the fine is monetary compensation for its value, as assessed by the judges, except in the case of murder, where the entire personality has been destroyed, and thus the murderer must pay with his own life. But what a deterrent! And sometimes there cannot be monetary value placed on a loss. Or if the perpetrator has no money, this does not mean he is free from obligation; he might lose a literal eye in that case. Doing what is best for him and for the community is what "love your enemy” means, and what is best for a selfish, careless person may be to be taught through his own loss the value of other people's well-being. Matt. 5:38-39 does not repeal any of this, but only deepens it. (See note there.)
26. "And if a man wounds the eye of his male slave or the eye of his handmaid, and ruins it, he shall set him free in compensation for his eye.
Thus an eye holds the equivalent value to liberty. I.e.,, a servant's eye—or tooth (below)--is worth a servant:
27. "And if he knocks his slave's or handmaid's tooth out, he shall give him his freedom in compensation for his tooth.
This seems strange if one could be held guiltless if he survives only a few days before dying (v. 21), but it is very demeaning to put one’s eye out, let alone crippling. But why one tooth, when he has many more of them? Teeth were clearly seen as very important. Ancient breads were very coarse, often having charcoal or small stones in them, so teeth would wear down very early in life. As proven by Egyptian mummies, people’s tooth enamel was almost completely gone by the age of 25. False teeth were not as easy to come by, especially for a slave. So to lose a tooth was to lose what would sustain life. Whether he is a Hebrew slave who would eventually go free anyway (v. 2) or not, value is placed upon every life.
28. "Now when an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh may not be eaten, but the ox's owner will be held innocent.
An ox that is stoned is not killed in a manner acceptable [kosher] for consumption. (Compare 22:31) There is often also a connection between animals' character and their acceptability as food. A beast so violent as to gore either humans or other beasts is not to be taken into oneself , for “we are what we eat” and this is a characteristic YHWH wants to make sure we do not make a part of ourselves. Of course, its skin can be used for leather, etc. (v. 34)
29. "However, if he was an ox that had a habit of goring in times past, and the owner was duly warned but he did not keep it confined, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be executed.
In times past: literally, "from yesterday and the third day"; i.e., "the day before yesterday". Confined: literally, keep it fenced in or guarded. If someone wants the privilege of owning such treasures, he is also responsible for how they affect others. We are responsible for what we have control over, and for what we know. If we knew this might expose others to danger, but did nothing to prevent it, it cannot be blamed on someone else. YHWH honors one who says “I am guilty” over one who says, “But so-and-so also shares in the fault!” The latter attitude already cost us Paradise. This guarding also applies to placing limits on those under our responsibility whom we know have weaknesses in certain areas and could be easily tempted. And of course, we have to consider what limits we need to impose on the “animal sides of ourselves”, for when let loose, it can do great harm.
30. "If a ransom [payment] is imposed on him, he shall pay it for the redemption of his soul, according to all that is imposed on him.
In some cases, one is allowed to ransom his life rather than be killed for the crime, but it is up to the judge to determine if the situation warrants it. While many of these judgments are very specific and hold across the board, in others there is room for variability based on the different factors inherent in the circumstances, and it is the judge’s job to decide the extent of the punishment, possibly with input from the survivors if they feel it is not adequate compensation.
31. "Whether it gores a son or a daughter, according to this ordinance it shall be done to him.
If the goring does not kill the victim, but only wounds him, the judges decide what charge would be fair to both the owner and the victim.
32. "If the ox gores a male or female slave, he shall settle with silver: thirty sheqels to his master, but the ox shall be stoned.
For a free man, the rate can vary according to the judgment of the court (v. 30), but for a slave, a price is fixed, so that one may not under-value his worth. (Hirsch)
33. "And if a man opens a cistern [in rock] or digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
Such pits were very common in ancient Israel. Anywhere archaeologists have discovered Israelite settlements, they have been identifiable by the many pits dug there; they were used for storage of grain, dried fruit, etc., when lined with plaster, often even under the floors of their houses. Others were used for latrines, and some for trapping animals. Yeshua assumed an animal that falls in can even be rescued on the Sabbath. (Luke 13:15)
34. "the owner of the pit shall pay; he shall give money to its owner, and the carcass will become his own.
The man's penalty is that he buys something nearly useless because of his own carelessness. He did not think he had time to build a fence; now he must take the time to deal with a carcass before it rots. He could not eat the ox; if it dies without being bled properly first, it is not kosher. He could still use its hide for leather, as in the next case:
35. "And when a man's ox injures the ox of his neighbor, and it dies, they shall sell the living ox and divide its price, and they shall also divide the dead [one].
Simple obedience to the Torah will make us appear the wisest people around. (Deut. 4:6) King Shlomoh asked for wisdom by which to rule YHWH’s people, and it is all right there already in the Torah. His ruling in the case of two women who had a living and a dead baby gained him notoriety as the wisest man in the world (1 Kings 3), but it was based right on this verse.
36. "However, if it was an ox that had a habit of goring in times past, and the owner was duly warned but he did not guard it, he shall certainly repay ox for ox, and the dead [ox] shall be his own.
He trades a living ox for the dead one. This is the equivalent of the modern, “You break it; you’ve bought it!” This chapter is emphasizing personal responsibility—the very thing that in modern courts, people try hard to avoid, even hiring lawyers to avoid it! People are permitted to blame almost any misdeed on the fact that they were once abused as a child, were angry, were in a bad environment, or whatever the excuse. Psychologists tell us that we are not guilty, but we must learn to own it when it is true, and find ways to deal with it—compensating for the reality of what we have done rather than denying it or hiding it. The man whose pit a donkey fell into probably never even thought about the possibility, and that was the problem. We need to consider how what we do could affect other people, not to the point of paranoia, but realistically. Last time we did the thing, there may not have been all the same factors in play. Maybe“he should not have let his donkey be wandering through my property anyway!” But assume things will not always be as they “should”. None of this sounds “religious” at all. Yet this is still about coming near to YHWH. He is speaking about us becoming the kind of people in whose midst He would not mind dwelling, and He does not want to dwell among irresponsible people.
37. "When a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he must repay five cattle for an ox, and four flock animals in place of a sheep.
This thought continues into the next chapter. 22:3 shows that for a stolen animal that is kept alive, the fine is double its value. Animals need to be put out to graze and thus are more susceptible to being stolen, as a higher degree of trust is involved in leaving them in someone else's care, unlike objects secured in one's home. (Hirsch) An ox is worth more than a sheep; only a king or high priest (both very wealthy) are ever required to bring one as an offering. It is more highly valued because while a sheep does provide wool, an ox can accomplish work for its owner. A modern near-equivalent would be stealing a tractor.
CHAPTER 22
1. "If the thief is discovered while breaking in and he is struck with a mortal blow, no blood shall be shed for him.
No one is held liable for his death because in the darkness no one could tell whether or not he was armed, or whether he was friend or foe; the killing is assumed to be self-defense, because whatever the tunneler was using to break in could assumedly be used as a weapon as well. He brings his own death upon himself by choosing to take this risk.
2. "If the sun has risen on him, blood [is due] for him. He must certainly settle. If he has nothing [with which to pay], he can be sold for his theft.
If the sun has risen: If he breaks in in broad daylight and one kills him, the killer is liable to the kinsman redeemer, because robbery in itself is not a sin deserving of death. YHWH's definition of a just restitution is found in verse 4, but he is still taken before the judges for the sentencing to ensure that it is done properly. Every death sentence except the avenging of a relative’s death must be pronounced by the court. If criminals today were sold into slavery rather than having their “room and board” paid for in prison, there would be far fewer robberies!
3. "If the stolen thing is indeed found in his hand alive, whether ox or donkey or flock animal, he shall certainly pay double.
Animals are true wealth if the power or monetary system should crash; one could survive on them for quite a long time. If restoration of a stolen item is no longer possible because it has already been spent or sold (v. 2), the penalty is worse than what it would be if the thief still has the stolen item in his possession and can restore the actual item, but he still must add compensation for the owner’s lost time, work, and psychological duress. To be a proper deterrent, the loss one would incur when caught must greatly exceed the potential gain he would have from what he stole. If he would trouble his neighbor by taking one needed possession from him, two are taken back from him. This whole chapter is an elaboration on the command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” YHWH does not leave it up to us to decide “what love means to me”. He defines what it means. It means to take responsibility for fixing what you broke. Everyone must be involved for this to work. If we catch someone doing wrong, we have an obligation to testify before the judges. Today many use the excuse that they are victims and the crime is therefore not their fault, or they were “temporarily insane”. Psychologists work to prove one is not guilty, in which case no one knows whether he is actually innocent either! They even try to remove the evidence from one’s heart. But this is not the way of Israel. Not feelings, but deeds, are what must be understood and judged. One must not only return what was stolen, but compensate the owner for the trouble not having it in the meantime caused him. Moreover, the community can no longer count on you to be a trustworthy neighbor. The difference here from 21:37, where more animals must be returned, is that in this case the actual original animal is recovered, rather than a “reasonable facsimile”—which might not actually be a true substitute, if one had grown fond of and trained that particular animal already.
4. "If a man damages a field or vineyard [by] letting his own animal run loose and graze in another's field, he shall repay from the best of his own field or his own vineyard.
This could also metaphorically apply to letting the animal nature in ourselves run wild and free. Even if the damaged produce was of very poor quality, one must do more than simply restore the items actually lost ; he must bring his best as compensation (after the very best that is already due YHWH, per Malakhi 1:11ff).
5. "If fire breaks out and catches onto dried-out plants, so that stacked corn or standing grain or field is consumed, the man who started the fire must make restitution.
Breaks out: This refers to an existing fire that spreads beyond the limits intended by the one who started it. In legal terms, “fire” would extend to any inanimate property which can do damage if left unguarded, e.g., a knife left on the roof which harms someone when blown down by the wind. (Hirsch) Yaaqov (James) speaks of the tongue as a fire. Once gossip gets started, it burns out of control. Or the “fire” may simply be unnecessary things that we say which may cause heat between us.
6. "When a man gives money or [other] property to his neighbor to guard, and it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is caught, he must pay double.
7. "If no thief is found, the owner of the house shall be brought before the judges [to determine] whether he laid his hands on his neighbor's possessions.
This assures that not only do the guilty pay, but the innocent are recognized publicly as such. Judges: literally elohim, and this can include YHWH, but since He is the one who gave authority to the courts in Israel, there is no practical difference between the two interpretations. Their ruling may not be overturned. If judges are not just, there results the situation David spoke of in Psalm 69: “Though I have stolen nothing, I still must repay it.” Thus it behooves us to raise up and choose righteous judges.
8. "In every case of liability, for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for clothing, or for anything lost that someone claims is his, the case of each of them shall come before the judges, and whomever the judge declares guilty, he shall pay double to his neighbor.
He both loses the animal he stole and pays two more in addition. Zakkai, who had deceitfully overcharged people, went beyond what was required and paid back fourfold (Luke 19:8), double what he owed. YHWH may have paid him back double for this, because if the great sage Yochanan ben Zakkai was his son (and he lived at the right time to be), then his name was honored not just by those who use the “New Testament”, but by Jews as well.
9. "If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any animal to watch over, and it dies, is injured, or gets caught, and no one sees it,
10. "an oath of YHWH must be [made] between them both that he has not laid hands on his neighbor's possessions, and its owner must accept this, and he will not [need to] make restitution.
Both: The owner himself must also swear that he has not secretly come and done something to the animal in order to get his neighbor in trouble. These oaths were made at the sanctuary altar (2 Chron. 6:22), and would be calling down YHWH's judgment upon himself if he were lying (for the courtroom is the chief context for “you must not bear false witness against your fellow”), but one may not simply say, “I give you my word” in this case. If someone says he did not do it, but actually did, YHWH Himself will make sure he loses much more than the designated repayment.
11. "But if it is actually stolen from him, he must repay its owner.
He should have taken measures to guard it.
12. "If it is completely torn in pieces [by beasts], he must bring evidence; he need not make restitution for what was torn.
This holds in cases where the wild beast is too strong for the one being paid to keep the animal to risk trying to rescue it. While stables were often built to keep animals safer, there are seasons when they would be in the field in makeshift sheepfolds which some predators could still enter. This waiving of fault does not apply to something borrowed (v. 13), but something which a neighbor voluntarily leaves in one’s care if his other responsibilities are too great. But he would only be exposing the neighbor’s animals to the same risks to which he exposed his own animals.
13. "But if a man borrows [anything] from his neighbor, and it becomes damaged, or dies while its owner is not with it, he must repay it completely.
The initiative in verses 9-12 is on the part of the owner, but here the purpose is for the borrower’s benefit, so he bears more responsibility. Therefore it is not wise to borrow something that is near death or too easily damaged unless one can afford to replace it, in which case it would be better to simply buy his own.
14. "But if its owner is with it, he does not [need to] repay. If it was rented, it came for its price.
I.e., it has been paid for already; Aramaic, "the loss is covered by the hiring fee." If the owner is present, it is assumed that he would be watching out for what affects his own possessions.
15. "If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay her dowry to acquire her as his own wife.
A dowry has the sense of hurrying or eagerly striving to intimately possess someone (Hirsch)--i.e., he should be as ardent to pursue the right legal proceedings as he was to lie with her in the first place. If he talks a girl into sleeping with him, he had better be able to afford whatever price her father might demand, for he has already made her his de facto wife. Betrothal is legally much more binding than our engagement today, and to seduce a betrothed woman would be considered adultery, which has its own consequences.
16. "If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him [in marriage], he must weigh out silver according to the [customary] dowry for virgins.
Refuses: the character of a seducer is such that YHWH allows the father to decide whether he really wants his daughter to have such a husband, and what her violation is worth. He pays for his deed at the full bride price whether he gets to keep her as a wife or not, because one who would thus "deceive" an innocent, inexperienced woman (as the LXX puts it) really deserves nothing.
17. "You shall not allow a sorceress to remain alive.
Sorceress: the term is feminine, probably because a woman, who had less authority in ancient society would be more likely to try to use other means to influence outcomes. This is counted as a form of witchcraft. The term literally means a "whisperer". This points to a broader application. Gossip also "enchants" people and the tone of voice colors their opinion of those whispered about. Secrecy gives it a mystical aura and people feel that they are privy to special knowledge and become arrogant about this as well. This can even be done by implanting ideas through questions rather than overt statements: “I can’t quite pinpoint it, but did you notice something strange about…?”
18. "Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal shall surely be put to death.
This is one way in which the people of Kanaan polluted the Land, and the reason the Israelites had to purify it by destroying the people infected with the diseases this practice brought.
19. "One who slaughters offerings to an elohim shall be completely destroyed, unless [of course] it is to YHWH alone.
Slaughters offerings: This includes partaking of what someone else slaughtered to false elohim. We cannot partake of YHWH’s table as well as the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:19), so the Jews built “fences” such as not eating with Gentiles at all. Exceptions had to be made when YHWH did something very special (Acts 10:15, 28), but in general this way they did not have to wonder whether the meat they were invited to eat has been offered to idols. Destroyed: or put under the ban, isolated; literally, singled out and dedicated to destruction—maybe not executed every time, but at least sent "outside the camp", where he is exposed to all the dangers with no recourse to the community's protection; YHWH then arranges for exactly how that one is to be destroyed. (R. Webster)
20. "You must not mistreat a foreigner. You must not oppress him, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
A foreigner: either a temporary inhabitant, or a newcomer to the community who does not have inherited property. I.e., “What goes around comes around”, and all the more as Israel returns, we must be careful not to crush people by putting too much of a burden on them all at once (Acts 15), though of course we cannot let them bring pagan practices onto our territory either. We do not want to let a newcomer be slack about changing where they can, but we must always remember that our fathers, too, had inherited lies, and YHWH let us learn at a reasonable pace as well.
21. "You shall not humiliate any widow or orphan.
Humiliate: by making them feel their dependent position, i.e., their lack of protection. (Hirsch) The prohibited act is related linguistically to "dumbness", since the widow has lost her public voice when her husband has died; she has no one to speak directly for her. In Jewish tradition, for a limited time a mourner is permitted special privileges such as walking out the “in” door of the Temple grounds so that others may notice and offer their condolences and alms, because, unlike those who have merely lost property, this person has suffered the loss of connection with another soul, and only they have thus truly lost anything. (R. Webster) One of the very reasons YHWH exiled Israel was because they failed to obey this command. (Yirmeyahu 7:6; 22:3, 15) Widows and orphans have a special place in YHWH’s heart, and He will avenge anyone who mistreats them even if no human authority catches them. If one has a son or a brother-in-law, one is not considered completely a widow, and if one has a grandfather or an uncle, one is not truly an orphan, because there is someone designated to care for him or her. A child with a mother but no father, however, still has no covering, and the community is responsible to plead their cause.
22. "If you [do] afflict him, if he cries out to Me [the least bit] at all, I will certainly hear his cry,
The literal text is more poetic in classic Hebraic style: "If he cries crying, I will hear hearing!"
23. "and My anger shall grow hot, and I will destroy you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your own children fatherless.
This is poetic justice at its best: the punishment fits the crime, though no court system is even included in this equation. Take care of the weaker ones, or someone stronger than you will pick on you and you'll learn how it feels. YHWH has a special concern for the weak and helpless. In Psalm 94, the wicked are defined specifically as those who oppress the widow or fatherless (Y’hezq’el/Ezek. 22:6ff says it is as bad as profaning the Sabbath; compare Yeshayahu 1:17, 23.) Yaaqov (James) 1:27 says pure religion is caring for them in particular when they need it. The responsibility for their protection falls on the whole community, because the “you” and "your" here are plural. Make sure they receive the same justice as everyone else—not more, but no less. The weak need to be strengthened, not to be kept in a position of weakness so that they are a constant drain on society.
24. "If you lend money to My people--the poor [person who is] with you--you may not act as an extortioner toward him; you must not impose interest on him.
Those most likely to be taken advantage of are YHWH’s special possession and not to be trifled with. Because the world is not what He originally designed it to be, and is no longer friendly toward the weak and powerless, He takes up their plight in an especially watchful manner. The word for “lend” means to join or unite by intertwining, possibly because both parties are partaking of the same resources. Thus lending of possessions is meant to unify people, not divide them as it would if these two prohibitions were ignored. Acting as an extortioner means harassing him as a money-lender does in regard to when he will be paid back. But if someone has been very helpful to you, you probably owe them a lot in other ways anyway, so if you can give rather than lending, so that one who is truly weak financially is not obligated, this may be all the better for the relationship.
25. "Indeed, if you even take your neighbor's garment as a guarantee, you must return it to him by sundown,
The square outer garment with only a slit cut for the head also doubled as a blanket. It is the responsibility of the holder to go return it; he should not wait until the owner comes begging for it, humiliating him even further. But how much better if we are trustworthy people so that no one needs to take anything from one another as a pledge.
26. "if that is his only covering. It is the [very] protection for his skin; what will he lie down in? And it has been [decided] that if he cries out to me, I will listen, because I am compassionate.
Outcries for justice seem to be especially efficacious in bringing YHWH's "hand" to bear on a situation of need. They "make waves" in the heavenly realms in a special way. Y’shua shrewdly advises us, if someone takes our shirt, to suggest that he take our coat also, for this will cause any true brother to be ashamed of what he has done and rise to the occasion of obeying this command.
27. "You shall not make light of the judges, nor curse the ruler of your people.
Make light of: or "slight". Neither the lowly nor the mighty are to be despised; this comes out more clearly in chapter 23. Judges: literally elohim ("mighty ones”), which includes YHWH. Curse: or speak negatively about in any sense. We should even show respect for those on our own level simply because they are also Israelites; how much more the leaders, even when they are not “sitting in the gate” for judgment? Disrespect is contagious, so if you think something he says is not to be taken seriously, ask him about it in private to be sure. In Israel, the elder is one who is most learned and takes the most responsibility for his fellows, not necessarily the oldest.
28. "You shall not delay to offer [the first of] your abundant produce or your vintage; you shall give Me the firstborn of your sons.
Delay: hesitate, procrastinate. If it is in your power to help others, do not hold back what you have that could meet their need (Prov.3:27), if the only reason you are keeping it is for security down the road—a need which may never even come about. (Luke 12:21) Vintage: or juices, but the word can also mean tears, which would indicate on another level that we should not be too slow to confess our sins. It also applies to the firstfruits of our energies; they should be devoted to the Kingdom before they are offered or sold anywhere else. Firstborn of your sons: He would later amend this somewhat, but at this point it may have been a test to see if Israel would trust YHWH after what Pharaoh had done to their firstborn sons.
29. "You shall do the same with your oxen and your sheep; [the firstborn] may be with its mother for seven days, but on the eighth day it must be given to Me.
This sets the stage for the proper interpretation of 23:19.
30. " This way, you will be people set apart unto Me. Nor shall you eat meat that is torn [apart by beasts] in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
People set apart: having a higher responsibility to be pure and undefiled than might be required of other people. Our holiness is directly linked to what we take into ourselves—or do not. The Hebrew term for "torn" is treifah, which has also come to have the broader meaning of any type of meat that is not kosher. It is only unclean beasts that rip apart other animals. A slightly different command says we can sell to non-Israelites an animal that dies a natural death, but not eat of it ourselves. (Deut. 14:21) We would not sell rotten meat to anyone, but YHWH does allow a double standard here, possibly so the animal’s life will not have been a complete waste. The sages say that dogs are given this meat as a reward since they did not bother the children of Israel during the Exodus. (11:7) Dogs have their value, too, but not to the point of warranting their being treated as if they were one’s own children. The Hebrew word for "glad news" is also the same as "meat" here, so on a deeper level this indicates a Gospel in which people who have not kept themselves pure have divided the parts they thought valuable from the parts they had no use for. So we who wish to be the pure gift set apart for the Father (v. 30) should leave such a "Gospel" to the Gentiles (for which “dogs” used to be an epithet) and not partake of it ourselves. It will benefit them more than their former paganism, but it is not pure enough for those who really want to be holy.
CHAPTER 23
1. "You must not bear a false report. You must not put [in] your hand with a wicked one in order to be a violent witness.
Bear: take up, support, assist, or carry on. Aramaic, "listen to"; LXX, "receive". Hirsch says it includes even taking it into your mind for consideration. Supporting a false accusation is tantamount to being an accessory to murder. So don’t even “put up with” it. False: literally, worthless (which has no basis or which there is no benefit in listening to). Is it worth repeating? Also, consider the source. Even if it is true, if we spread it further, we are joining hands with everyone who has repeated it before we do. Do they have the right motives in spreading this report? Violent: or malicious; the Hebrew term is hamas.
2. "You shall not follow a crowd to do wicked things, nor shall you testify in a lawsuit as swayed by a majority to bend [the rules].
Hirsch renders this, "You shall not follow an exact majority to give an adverse decision." This precludes a mob mentality, in which people get caught up in the anger of the moment and later no one considers himself responsible for his actions. But someone did throw a match on the fire, and truly anyone who played a part is as responsible for going along with evil as the one who started it. Individuals cannot use the excuse that a wrong practice is simply the policy of a group they belong to; they must choose to do the right thing. And we must not assume something is right just because the majority agrees, even in a nation with the background of Torah. Y’hoshua and Kalev were an excellent example of this.
3. "Neither shall you favor a poor man in his cause.
Favor: show partiality; LXX, "spare". Justice is not to be influenced by either greased palms or pity for the underdog just because the rich corporation can afford to pay and the plaintiff is poor. Truth and the merits of the case itself are to be the only deciding factors. It is not justice to rule against the rich if he is in the right in this case. Not everyone who has gone through a hard time is upright; there are great widows and orphans and there are rotten ones, but in Israel, they are all your responsibility. Be realistic so we can truly serve one another. But since there is another command regarding the needy in v. 6, this could also mean we should not support a case that there is not strong evidence to back up. An accusation with only one witness is not accepted in Israel.
4. "If you encounter your enemy's ox or his lost donkey, by all means return it to him.
Encounter: has the sense of being unexpected. Who one's "enemy" is is delimited by the parallelism of the next verse: it is not the Amaleqites, with whom YHWH has sworn eternal enmity. YHWH will deal with outsiders and their evil deeds; they are technically not sinning, because they are not under the Torah and therefore have no target to miss. This is an enemy within Israel—someone whose personality just does not mesh well with yours, or who has a lawsuit against you (as in the context of vv. 3 and 6); you must not let his animal fall into danger just to spite him. Have pity on the animal, who has no say over who its master is. Nor dare you follow the temptation to slaughter it and eat it since it would bring you revenge on someone who has done you wrong. You do not have the option of not getting involved. YHWH has seen fit that you know about the situation, so it is your responsibility to do something about it. This is also about helping a fellow Israelite regain control of his “animal” thoughts or actions which have become unrestrained, causing him to go astray—and may be why he is your enemy. Bearing his burden even though you do not get along will most likely improve your relationship with him too.
5. "When you see the donkey of someone who hates you unable to stand up under its load, do not leave it alone and neglect [to help] him; you shall by all means release him from it.
If it remains off its feet for very long when overloaded, its internal organs will be under too much strain and it will die. When Y’shua speaks of someone compelling you to go one mile (Mat. 5:41), he may not always be referring to a Roman soldier but to someone whose donkey’s load needs to be lightened. Of course, your enemy will not be able to carry the load by himself, but will need help. Y’shua is telling us not to just do the minimum required, but help him carry the load as far as he needs us to. (R. Webster)
6. "You shall not pervert the judgment of the needy in his lawsuit.
This is the opposite of verse 3, referring to someone who has the disadvantage. Another way Israel provides for the needy is to tithe into storehouses administered by the Levites for refugees, widows, or orphans. Those who were handicapped were given a place by the elders where they could sit and beg, so that those who had something to give would know where to find them. If those with excess cannot find someone to take care of, they will miss a blessing. They should not have to come hunt them down. This is the honorable thing to do rather than just sit home idly, and it allows others to be blessed for their act of giving. Even the weak thus had a “job”, and were expected to perform at a certain level. And they should not be so ungrateful as to praise YHWH when they are provided for, but fail to thank the one who did not have to feed them, but did anyway.
7. "Distance yourself from a fraudulent matter, and do not execute the innocent or the righteous, because I will not exonerate the guilty.
Fraudulent matter: or, lying word—here, a false witness in court. Righteous: Aramaic, "one whom you had already dismissed from the lawsuit", i.e., who has been acquitted of guilt. We can also “kill” him by destroying his reputation, which is worth far more than wealth (Prov. 22:1; Qoheleth/Eccles. 7:1). It often begins with greed or envy, and builds until one is convinced that the only right course of action is to destroy the honor of the one he envies.
8. "Nor shall you take a bribe, because the bribe blinds the clear-sighted [ones] and causes the words of the righteous to waver.
Bribe: literally, a gift—do not even accept that if you are a witness or judge, because the line between them is too blurred. It can extend far beyond finances to being pressured into any form of compromise by the threat of harm or deprivation. Flattery can be a bribe as well. When you give in, you become complicit with those who lured you into it. This includes failing to speak out against wickedness in the lives of those from whom one gains his livelihood.
9. "And you shall not oppress a foreigner, because you know what it feels like to be a foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
A hallmark of Avraham and his children is hospitality. We must not take advantage of the neediest. or anyone who is in our land, unless he has come to rob you. Remove anyone from immediate danger, and do not deny them a place among us if they are willing to respect the rules of the house.
10. "And for six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce,
The Land must not be oppressed either, by being asked to produce every year. It needs its rest too.
11. "but the seventh, you shall let it rest and lie fallow, and the needy among your people may eat, and what is left over from them, the living creatures of the field shall eat. You shall do the same to your vineyard and olive grove.
Alt., "allow it to relax and withdraw (your hand), leaving it untended". Normally the poor are allowed to eat the deliberate remnants left on the edges of the field, but in the sabbatical year they may eat the choicest of the crops. It is in essence not one's own during that year. The owner too may eat what grows by itself, but may not harvest more than is immediately needed. We would expect everyone to be glad for this year-long respite and an occasion to catch up on study, especially of the Torah, but it was not practiced the first time around, assumedly because people simply could not believe that YHWH would keep His word. However, if the people have been righteous, the sixth year would have produced an abundance like the manna on the sixth day, so they would not even depend on these “volunteer crops”. This, just like the first Sabbath the manna did not appear (16:4), is a test of what we really believe. Staying too busy also lets us avoid our brothers and sisters, and the scrutiny of our own hearts; this therefore gives an occasion to pay attention to our spirits rather than just our bodies. It is a time to leave behind all that we were and focus on who we are to become.
12. "You may do your work for six days, but on the seventh day you must desist, so that your ox and your donkey may have a break, and the son of your handmaid and the foreigner among you may be refreshed.
Son of one’s handmaid: probably the child of a temporary marriage such as spoken of in 21:4, and thus is fatherless as well, having had a father who was freed from his servitude but a mother who was not. He is therefore on two counts one of the weakest members of society, and is just one (albeit interesting) example of anyone whose rest depends on your allowing it. But in any case, give the child of your servant time to enjoy his parents’ presence too. Desist: If we cannot stop when YHWH says to stop, how will He trust us to move forward when He says “go”? Refreshed: based on the word for "breathed upon" (see Yochanan/John 20:22), and related to the word for “soul”. There is a Hebrew tradition that on the Sabbath one receives a second soul, and this text is its basis. Such concern for the animals that work for us is unique to Torah among ancient writings. It does not say "so that YOU may rest", but if one's slaves and animals can be rejuvenated, how much more their owner?
13. "Now in all that I have said to you, be watchful, and do not mention another elohim by name; it shall not be heard [coming] from your mouth.
Another elohim: Aramaic, "the abominations of the nations". This is not as easy as one might imagine. In English, we are naming pagan elohim more often than we realize it. The days of our week are named after Roman gods, and the concepts of fate, destiny, chance, luck, fortune, and even the word “good”, all stem from not only the names but the ideas of pagan deities. We think of the name "God", as only a translation, but it sounds exactly like "Gad", the god of "fortune" (Yeshayahu/ Isa. 65:11 in Hebrew), so use of this term is at best questionable, since it did refer to a pagan deity (and the English form came more directly from a later Teutonic deity) whose name is meant to be obliterated. (This does not apply to the tribal name Gad, which is never used in the context of a deity. It also does not mean we cannot read aloud the names of other deities if they appear in the Scripture, but the idea is to distance oneself as far as possible from anything having to do with the idol.) YHWH has revealed His name; why must we use substitutes if we are careful only to use His name in the most reverential manner? He does not leave room for carelessness, because there are no legitimate alternatives.
14. "Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast unto Me.
Celebrate: literally, "dance in a circle". The cycle is the repetition of the feast each year, and the word for “year” itself is based on "folding over" or "duplication". (See note on 12:14.) As in a spiral notebook, the cycles keep us coming back to the same plane, but also keep us moving forward or upward. The word for times" here is really "feet" or “legs” (regalim) or "paces", thus literally, "three feet ". Why feet? Because the men are to walk to Yerushalayim for a pilgrimage at these times. A stool with three feet is the most stable available, even if one of the legs is shorter than the others. Yeshayahu/Isaiah 52:6 raves about "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the one who brings glad news." Nahum 1:15 repeats this, then immediately ties the feet to the feasts:"O Judah, keep your solemn feasts, perform your vows." Feet and mountains are again linked in Yeshayahu 58:13-14... "If you turn your foot away from ... doing your own pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy [day] of YHWH, honorable... then... I will cause you to ride upon the heights of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Yaaqov your ancestor." Passover (Heb, pesakh) comes from a root meaning "to skip" (also related to feet), since the death angel "skipped over" the houses with the blood on them (ch. 12). So keeping these feasts is an integral part of the "glad news". In Romans 10:15, when Paul quotes Yeshay. 52:6, we derive additional insight from the Greek text: "How beautiful" means "belonging to the right hour or season"--the festivals, which in Hebrew are called "set times" or "appointments" (v. 15). In the conceptual Adam Qadmon, a "man" who symbolizes the repair and reconstruction of the shattered image of YHWH that the first Adam lost, its feet are the part of the body that is called the Kingdom (malkhut). All things are to indeed be put under Messiah's feet. The linking of the feasts with feet begs the question, "You have stood up; now where will you walk?"
15. "You shall [be especially careful to] keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of the Aviv, because in it you came out from Egypt. And they shall not appear before Me empty- [handed].
Keep: more properly, guard—a much stronger term. Aviv: when the heads of barley are green and nearly ripe. Empty-handed: In Hebrew, the word for “thanks” is related to one’s hand, because it is expressed not just through words but through returned actions. Our thanks are not complete until we put our hand to them and do something to demonstrate our gratefulness. A thanks offering is above and beyond the required offerings. YHWH made it easy on us by putting two of the festivals right after the firstfruits are harvested. But “empty-handed” also refers to coming only out of a sense of duty, because then we are really not affected by it; He wants us to come in expectation of what He intends to teach us through it.
16. "Also the feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labor (that which you sow), and the Feast of Ingathering, at the turn of the year, [at the time] when you gather your produce in from the field.
Feast of Harvest: Shavuoth; Feast of Ingathering: Sukkoth. Turn of the year: or the "going out", "departure", or "proceeding forth". It is actually two weeks into the beginning of the year, but the Hebraic mindset considers the whole transitional time from one year to the next as part of both last year and this one. In Hebraic thought, times overlap rather than one stopping before another begins. It is also the end of the growing season, marked by the harvest. Produce: literally, "work" or “deeds”. Thus it depicts the reaping of the benefits or consequences of our actions.
17. "Three times in the year every one of your males shall appear before YHWH the Master.
"Times" here is from a different than in verse 14; it means "strokes", as in a rhythmic beat. Males are required to come; women are invited to, but the option is left open, so expectant or nursing mothers or those with ritual uncleanness which would be especially problematic at these times cannot be made to feel guilty for not coming. One of these festivals is about sowing seed (v . 16), which is the male’s role in the family , though this is not at all like the pagan festivals which used lewd fertility rites to coerce the gods to provide for them. In Israel sexuality is limited to one’s spouse—a picture of holiness that touches our everyday lives. Zola Levitt found that every significant aspect of the development of a human fetus falls on one of the appointed feasts if the child is conceived on the first of this month of Aviv. If the proper moment is missed, it is like coming to a classroom two hours late; you can study there on your own, but the teacher will not be present. On these appointed beats, you may enter the dance. It is interesting that many who now follow YHWH's calendar were first drawn into it by celebrating a Passover seder and seeing the rich depth of meaning that rarely comes out in a mere "communion" service, which is a memorial thereof. Males: from the word for "remember", so Hirsch says it means the adults, who are in the position of passing the chain of tradition along to the next generation.
18. "You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice along with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of My feast be left over until morning.
YHWH does not want anything that is brought to His altar to be “puffed up”—that is, to appear to be more than it really is. Blood is "the life of the flesh"; the two pictures cannot mix. The word for leavened bread actually means "sour" in Hebrew, suggesting that a feast cannot be mixed with a sour attitude either. "Fat" is actually "cream" or "fertile abundance", i.e., the choicest or best. Do not give Him leftovers after we have decided what we want for ourselves. Therefore we should not leave the celebration until the morning arrives, for the festivals begin at sundown; we must give our all in joyful worship as soon as His appointment begins. "Be left over" can be translated "pass the night" or "lie overnight", suggesting the common pagan festivals which included lewd fertility rites. The fertility that comes from YHWH will not be attained in this way.
19. "The very first [beginning] of the firstfruits of your tilled ground you shall bring to the House of YHWH your Elohim. You shall not raise a kid [goat] to maturity on its mother's milk.
I.e., do not wait until the firstborn of your flock animals is weaned to offer it as the firstfruit sacrifice; 22:28-29 specifies that it be offered up on the eighth day of its life, in the context of, “Do not delay! Do it as soon as possible!” A goat is specified because if one leaves the kid until it is weaned, it increases the milk supply, and thus we take benefit from something that is set apart unto YHWH. "Raise" here can also mean "boil", and milk represents the Torah (Heb. 5:12-13; 1 Kefa/Peter 2:2; 1 Cor. 3:2) which we are to pass along to lay the foundation for each new generation. This therefore teaches us not to overwhelm new followers of YHWH with the Torah--i.e., not placing all the requirements on them at once, so as to smother them, but teaching bit by bit as counseled in Acts 15. Exodus 16:23 makes a clear distinction between baking and boiling; only the latter is forbidden here (for boiling a baby animal in what was meant to nourish it is simply cruel). A particular goat’s milk may not be used in this way—its own mother’s. But this is in no way forbidding every case of mixing of milk and meat products. Poultry does not give milk, and a there is no way this could refer to cooking chicken with a dairy product from a cow. Meat represents the deeper understanding of Torah that comes with maturity, but it in no way conflicts with the simple understanding, and so the picture should not teach otherwise. It is not wise to store meat in a vessel that once stored milk, because bacteria remain there which will make the meat spoil very rapidly. But every one of the three places this command is given (here, 34:26, and Deut. 14:21), the context is bringing firstfruits to the Temple, not diet.
20. "Behold, I am about to send a messenger before you, to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.
This messenger appears to be Y’hoshua. (See next note.)21. "Be observant before him, and listen to his voice. Do not provoke him, because he will not carry away [the guilt of] your [willful] rebellion, because My name is right within him.
Be observant: from the same word as "guard you" in v. 20, i.e., "If you pay attention to him, he will pay attention to you." Listen to his voice: compare Deut. 18:18. Adam was cursed (Gen. 3:17) because he obeyed his wife’s voice instead of YHWH’s. The Garden of Eden was at the same location as the “place” mentioned in v. 20; Israel’s obedience there will repair the damage done by Adam. The specific type of rebellion mentioned in conjunction with entering the Land (Y’hoshua 24:18-20) is turning away to serve other elohim. He will not carry away the guilt: There may be forgiveness, but there will be a price to pay, in this life, if not in terms of our position in the Kingdom. My Name is right within him: Y’hoshua means “YHWH is salvation”.
22. "If you fully listen to his voice and do all that I say, I will be a hater of those who hate you, and I will be one who creates distress for those who cause you distress,
This sounds much like His blessings to their forefathers: "Those who curse you I will curse." His voice...all that I say: these two concepts are one and the same. Y’shua also makes such equations in Yochanan 14:15, 21-23; 16:27, saying he spoke only what he heard from the Father. Thus, although he is not the Father, everything he says lines up perfectly with our Father's will.
23. "because My messenger will go before you and enable you to attack the Emorites, Hittites, P'rizzites, Kanaanites, the Hiwites, and the Y'vusites, and I will cut them off.
24. "You must not bow down to their gods, nor serve them. Nor shall you act like they do. Rather, by all means you shall pull down and completely smash their pillars,
"Pillars": Heb., matzevoth--tall stones standing upright--often as phallic symbols--to signal places of pagan worship, precursors to the steeples that were left on churches that took the place of pagan temples when the great syncretism took place under Constantine in disobedience to this command, which tells us to distance ourselves from the lifestyles of pagans (which goes far beyond mere imitation of their worship methods; that is already forbidden in Deut. 12:2-4). But the root word behind “pillars” is “to firmly establish”. Metaphorically, then, this refers to anything that is ”written in stone” for a pagan religion. Anything they have firmly established is a “sacred cow” to be killed (unless they are customs taken from Israel, as is often the case in both the church and Islam).
25. "and YHWH is the one you shall serve. He will bless your food and water, and I will remove sickness from your midst.
Food: literally, "bread", but the Hebrew word for bread still means "meat" in Arabic, so it is a generic term for food as well. But bread is a picture of community and water is a picture of the Torah. Without either one, sickness (or simply, frailty) will be prevalent in and among us. If we are sick, it is a reminder that we are in still exile when it is time to be taking steps to leave that exile behind. Turning back to these commands will speed that up.
26. "There will be no one in your Land who miscarries or who cannot have children; I will let you live out the full number of your days.
The full number: that is, 120 years (Gen. 6:3).
27. "I will send the terror of Myself before you, and I will confuse all the people upon whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
Turn their backs: that is, to run away. Of course, we should expect the opposite of all of these things to be true if we do not keep our part of the covenant.
28. " And I will send hornets before you, and they shall drive out the Hiwites, the Kanaanites, and the Hittites before you.
Hornets: the word is from the same root as "leprosy", probably due to the welt the hornet's sting causes.
29. "I will not drive them all out from before you in one year, so that the Land may not become a wasteland and the wild beasts become too numerous for you.
YHWH considered all the factors involved in this conquest!
30. "I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and can possess the [whole] Land.
YHWH had a use for the people already living there, wicked though they were, because someone had to maintain the Land for Him, since his Land could not become desolate or overgrown with thorns and weeds, lest ordinary natural dangers overtake us. The picture is that if we fully give Him priority in one matter, He renews our minds and we have room for more. Each step gives us greater strength to take the next part of the territory. If all of our enemies were gone, but we did not have knowledge to fill the void, the wild beasts would take over. (Compare Mat. 12:43-45.) We must not just eradicate paganism, but replace it with righteousness. The Apostles made allowances for those who were again finding out that they were Israel and wanted to come back to the covenant their ancestors forsook: they did not require complete observance all at once, but said we should learn week by week from Moshe's writings (Acts of the Envoys 15:20-21), and assumedly take on the obligations as we digest their meaning, so we can concentrate on really making each a part of ourselves. He has given us the present time to learn step by step how He expects us to live in His Land, so that this time when we arrive we will do things right.
31. "And I will establish your border from the Red Sea, as far as the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert all the way to the [Euphrates] River, because I will deliver the people of the Land into your hand, but you must drive them out before yourselves.
YHWH would make it possible, and stands as our guarantor, but we have to lay claim to what He offers. This has never yet been completely fulfilled. In David and Shlomo’s time it came pretty close, but it waits for when the rest of Israel joins Yehudah so all of Israel can participate.
32. "You shall not make a treaty with them or with their elohim.
Treaty: or agreement; literally, cut a covenant. His will cannot be accomplished through what would require us to compromise things that really matter. YHWH is not a diplomat in these matters:
33. "They shall not [be allowed to] remain in your Land, so they will not cause you to wander from the Way, because if you serve their elohim, it will certainly be a snare to you."
Snare: a trap or noose, by which you will hang yourselves. What He says is for our own benefit. Considering the actions of the man Kanaan (Gen. 9:24), one can only imagine what his descendants worshipped. What an individual Israelite does affects the whole nation. So even if you can survive in an environment of compromise, that is not the only consideration; if it harms a weaker brother, you have no freedom to do so. (Rom. 14:10-21; 1 Cor. 8:11-13) Anyone not walking in Torah is not someone any Israelite should have intimate dealings with. (2 Cor. 6:14)
CHAPTER 24
1. And He told Moshe, "Come up to YHWH--you, Aharon, Nadav, and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and prostrate yourselves from a distance.
Seventy: representative of the whole ‘House of Yaaqov” as they entered Egypt. (Gen. 46:27) But they could only go so far. Yet the leaders were required to ascend first, and they may have been nervous because they now had to approach where they thought they would not have to go, after YHWH accepted the people’s request not to have to hear from Him directly. But part of the calling of a leader is to take greater risks; they cannot wait for someone else to go first. The call to come higher is part of their responsibility; the most honorable things rarely come easily. But being closer to YHWH is in itself a great reward. These men are worshipping YHWH on behalf of the millions who remain below. Their names give us clues about how to come nearer: The last is Avihu, which means “He is My Father”. Many think they accept YHWH as such, but it includes acknowledging His authority over the whole household; what He says comes first, even before what our biological parents say. Accepting this enables us to ascend. The second step upward is Nadav, which means generous, but in a spontaneous, voluntary sense; if it is done out of a sense of duty or guilt, it is not truly generosity, and would not help others ascend as well. The highest name listed among those who ascend is Aharon, which means “the light bearer”. His entire life was about others—representing Israel before YHWH and representing YHWH to Israel. His descendants were responsible to teach all of Israel—the best way to bring light.
2. "Then Moshe shall come close to YHWH by himself, but they may not approach, nor may the people go up with him."
Only Moshe, representative of the Torah, could ascend all the way. He literally went up into the clouds as Y’shua did. The term used here for “come close” most often refers to sexual intimacy. That is not what is taking place here, but it is the best term in Hebrew for coming absolutely as close as one can get. Y’shua had the same kind of intimacy with the Father, being called YHWH’s son, and saying he was “in the Father” and the Father “in him” to the point that they are “one”. Such terms are understandable to people founded in Torah accounts such as this one, and greatly misunderstood if seen outside this context. Few ever come so close to YHWH. Even Moshe only did so sporadically. Y’shua lived his entire life in full surrender to YHWH’s will. Both did it on behalf of all of Israel. It was possible for them to ascend on the people’s behalf, but in no way did it automatically cause them all to ascend as well. It did not relieve them of any responsibility. Moshe’s closeness to YHWH may have covered them, but no one should be satisfied to stay at the lowest place. How can we call ourselvces Y’shua’s followers if we do not actually follow him up, saying he did it all for us? All of Israel is called to be a royal priesthood! But being called and actually being it are two different things.
3. So Moshe came and recounted to the people all the words and all the legal rulings, and all the people answered with one voice and said, "We will carry out all the words which YHWH has spoken!"
They were acting "as one man". But they had only heard a small part of what YHWH had to say, and they already expressed willingness to obey it all. They would not turn out to be consistent in doing so, but it was brave of them to make such a promise before they even knew all it would entail. It is dangerous hear His words if we do not intend to do what He says.
4. Then Moshe recorded all the words of YHWH, and he rose early in the morning and built an altar underneath the mountain, and twelve memorial pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
"Recorded all the words...": This calls into question the tradition that an Oral Torah was also given on the mountain but not written down until the second Temple had been destroyed. However, Moshe was shown the plan of what the Tabernacle should look like (25:40), and undoubtedly the oral tradition did preserve something closer to the original understanding of the exact nature and meaning of many commandments, and is instructive for us today who are returning to it after such a long absence. However, the written form we have today in the Talmud includes much duplicity of opinion and cannot be as authoritative as the words which Moshe did write down. Being actually under the mountain symbolized the wedding canopy, and here the covenant was ratified. But how could they go underneath the mountain? Velikovsky cites the Talmud and Midrashim as describing the mountain "quaking so greatly that it appeared as if it were lifted up and shaken above the heads of the people, and the people felt as if they were no longer standing securely on the ground, but were held up by some invisible force…The presence of a heavenly body overhead caused this phenomenon and this feeling.” He also states that when Devorah (Judges 5:5) says the mountain melted, it was probably not speaking of a mere volcanic flow, but of the rock itself turning into a flowing mass. Psalm 18 tells us the very foundations of the hills were shaken. (This is what Yeshua was referring to when he said that if we trust in YHWH, we can say to this mountain, “Be removed.” We can fear YHWH without fearing His motives, and at that point the Torah becomes no longer a threat but a wedding canopy under which Moshe could later bring the people; see Deut. 4:11.) Suspended between heaven and earth, like Kefa walking on the water, they were not subject to any other laws of the universe if responding directly to its Creator. Not being bound by ordinary limits, they were a picture of what life could be like if they continued to trust Him rather than thinking about how “impossible” it is to keep His laws. He turns us back over to the laws that we do respect, and as Yaaqov says, one who is double-minded should not expect to receive anything from YHWH. This juxtaposition of the mountain being held up and the sacrificial bulls in v. 5 was memorialized by the twelve molten bulls that supported the laver ("sea") in the Temple (1 Kings 7:44; 2 Chronicles 4:4). Twelve pillars: Aramaic, "monuments"; such pillars have been found around Jabal al-Lawz in Saudi Arabia, the more likely site of the real Mt. Sinai, along with an altar. Such pillars were forbidden if they marked the worship-site of another elohim, but here they were merely a marker to show that Israel—and YHWH--had been there. They may have also been used as posts for the rope that may have cordoned off the mountains before YHWH gave the go-ahead to approach. (19:12-13, 23)
5. Then he sent young men from the sons of Israel, and they offered up ascending offerings and peace offerings, and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to YHWH.
Young men: Aramaic, "firstborn". Prior to YHWH's selection of Levites as His priests, the priests of Israel were the firstborn of each family. (13:2; Numbers 3:41) Y’shua is permitted to offer sacrifices on our behalf because, after the older order, he has the rights of a firstborn. But it was wise of Moshe to have the very young learn the practices that picture giving of oneself. The children who have not absorbed Egypt’s ways can more easily be established in the pure worship of YHWH. If the young are not taught to uphold the covenant, it will end with this generation. Ascending and peace are the only two kinds of offerings that have been brought to YHWH up to this time; they may have been the types that Yithro taught Moshe. (18:12) Ascending offerings are often called burnt offerings, and they were indeed fully consumed, but the idea of burning is not expressed at all in Hebrew, which instead puts our focus on the whole animal going “up in smoke” as a picture of our own ascending to YHWH. Peace: or “completeness” offerings. In these, the blood and fat are offered to YHWH, but the meat is eaten in His presence. They have bulls in the wilderness, despite all their complaints about having no meat, because Moshe had told them YHWH might require any or all of the animals they had, so they had not eaten of any of them before this. He provided manna so that the animals that could be used to express closeness to Him could be reserved for this purpose.
6. And Moshe took half of the blood and put it in basins, and he sprinkled half of the blood on the altar.
The same thing that he does to the altar, he does to the people; the altar represents YHWH for the purpose of ratifying the covenant.
7. And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, "We will do all that YHWH has told [us], and we will listen."
The book of the covenant: which he had just written down. (v. 4) Do: or accomplish—a better focus, because doing alone does not mean we have completed the task. Listen: Aramaic, "accept". The order is not listen and then decide whether to do. Rather, we obey because of Who He is, but we need to pay attention to the actions it commands, for they are a door that opens us to knowing YHWH Himself. We cannot know why He tells us to do something until we experience it, and the understanding of the reason comes in the doing. Then by doing, we will hear the next step in His instruction, thus ascending to a higher level still so we can “do” once again and grow closer to Him as we learn from it. Our ancestors decided to accept His offer, and included us in the commitment. Though they later left the covenant, Yeshua made it possible for us to return to it.
8. Then Moshe took the blood and dashed it abundantly over the people, and said, "Look! Here is the blood of the covenant which YHWH has cut with you concerning these words."
This has all the elements of a renewal of the covenant He had made with Avraham, and Yeshua initiated his renewal in similar terms. (Luke 22:20) Cut: In a typical near eastern covenant of that time, animals were cut in half (cf. Gen. 15) and the two parties to the covenant walked between them to symbolize, "this is what should be done to me if I do not uphold the responsibilities I am taking on." The house of Israel was split in two because of not upholding it. Blood had already been thrown against the altar to symbolize YHWH’s acceptance of His part of the covenant. Now it is the people’s turn to declare that they will stake their lives on it as well. The only other time blood is put on people is when the priests are ordained. (Lev. 8:23) All Israel is to be a "Kingdom of priests". (Ex. 19:6) Life is in the blood, so this is like a wedding ring; it says, "My whole life is now about this covenant." A bull was one’s most valuable possession in that day, so this is what they offered to YHWH.
9. Then Moshe and Aharon ascended with Nadav and Avihu and 70 of the elders of Israel.
Now they are finally ready to obey YHWH’s command in verse 1. They came as representatives also of the 70 nations (Gen. 10; Deut. 32:8) to which the descendants of Israel would be scattered, allowing some from all those nations to be grafted into the root of Avraham. (Genesis 12:3)
10. And they saw the Mighty One of Israel, and under His feet was a [white] tilework of sapphire like the essence of heaven for clarity.
Saw: But all we have described is His feet. But after learning about the foundations for judgment (21:1ff) which they were to stand on, they must have wondered what YHWH stood upon, and it turns out to be the same foundation. These judgments will help us to see clearly if we apply them to our thought patterns. Clarity also reminds us of the tradition that before Adam and Chawwah fell, their bodies were covered with irridescence. "Mighty One": Elohim in Hebrew, emphasizing the judging aspect of YHWH. It was only the feet of his disciples that Yeshua washed when he ratified the renewed covenant in his own blood. Sapphire: related to the word for "book" (sefer--something written; this is also the term translated “recounted” in v. 3), recalling the Book of the Righteous (note on 23:7), YHWH’s throne itself is made of a sapphire. (Yehezqel 1:26) "Essence" here can mean "body", "bones" or "limbs", and "members", which immediately calls to mind the Body of the Restored (Last) Adam, of which Yeshua is the head, and whose "feet" (23:14) are YHWH's Festivals and Kingdom. We are becoming his Body as the bones rattle back together (Ezk. 37) and form the whole of Israel, one tree with all its limbs, bound together as the joints and sinews find their proper place and begin connecting all the attributes of YHWH's image embodied in each one. (Eph. 4:16) They will finally take their place with him in the heavenlies yet standing on earth, and then (the only permissible image of) YHWH (Gen. 1:27; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15) will be one (united back together) again. (Zech. 14:9) This word for "body" is based on a root meaning "vastly numerous", which was YHWH's promise of what Avraham's descendants--physical and metaphorical (Galatians 3:7)--would be (Gen. 22:17).
11. But he did not stretch out his hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; rather, they saw the Mighty One, yet they ate and drank.
Nobles: those who withdrew or were reserved; set apart ones (these 70 who were specially called aside to come a step closer to YHWH than the rest of the congregation). Aramaic: "The leaders... were not injured, and they perceived the glory of Elohim.” Like Hadassah (Esther), they knew they could die, but still went into the King’s presence, and were spared because their attitude was right. (Compare Yirmeyahu 23:4; Zech. 10:9, 10; Amos 9:9) Since even Moshe could not see YHWH and survive (33:20), this had to be His representative who makes visible what we can know about Him. (Yochn. 1:18; 14:9; Col. 1:15) Eating a meal together was the common way to enact a covenant in the known world at this time. Again, eating together is an act of intimacy; why else do a man and woman on a “date” always eat together? (Compare Gen. 26; 31:43ff, and Matithyahu 26.) YHWH’s prescribed feasts and even our Sabbath meals are expressions of our commitment to His covenant. These meals are shared with YHWH, so bring Him our best.
12. Then YHWH said to Moshe, "Come up to Me on the mountain, and when you get there, I will give you the slabs of stone and the Torah, and the commandments which I have written in order to teach them."
Teach: Torah means "instruction" rather than “law” as such. Their purpose is not just to make us obey, but so we can learn to know His principles. We keep His words alive by continually breathing them out to the rest of His people.
13. So Moshe rose up, accompanied by Y’hoshua his attendant. Then Moshe ascended to the mountain of Elohim.
The last time we saw Y’hoshua, he was fighting for Israel against Amaleq. Now he suddenly (as far as the text is concerned) appears out of nowhere. He had probably accompanied Moshe from the start, but now he is a picture of the covenant being renewed and strengthened, for Y’hoshua is the same name of which Y’shua is a shortened form. Though he is a war hero in his own right, he attends menially to Moshe’s every need, in complete submission as his protégé and student. Moshe represents the Torah, and the two travel together because they are in agreement. (Amos 3:3) Wherever the Torah is, we will find the Messiah; they cannot be separated. YHWH did not mention bringing him, unless he is one of the 70, but Moshe assumes he should. After this, Y’hoshua is not mentioned until they come down (32:17), but he turns out to have been with Moshe behind the scene the entire time he was on the mountain. We could say no distinction is made between them, yet they are distinct. Y’shua also did not seek his own glory, placing our focus on the Father. (Yochanan 8:50) And as we return to the Torah, more focus is placed on it than on him, yet he is the one who made it possible to get back into YHWH’s favor.
14. And he told the elders, "Wait here for us until we return to you. Look, Aharon and Chuwr are with you. If any ruler has a [legal] issue, let him approach them."
The "light-bearer" and the one whose name means "white linen" stand in Moshe's place as the final arbiters while he is on the mountain. These are the two men who held up Moshe’s hands while Y’hoshua fought in battle. (17:10) Chuwr seems to have a higher priority here than even Nadav and Avihu, who were specifically summoned by name. Tradition says Chuwr was Miryam’s husband or son. He may have been the chief among the 70 elders. Those who serve most are given the most authority. Wait here: Compare Avraham in Gen. 22. Many people below would not wait for Moshe (ch. 32), and did not survive to experience the blessings of Torah.
15. So Moshe ascended into the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.
YHWH had set His rainbow in the cloud to remind Him that destruction was not His goal, but restoration. (Yochanan 3:17) The rainbow is also a symbol of the restored Adam--all the scattered colors of the one white light brought back together again. Jewish tradition says Moshe put on this "new man" (since the Torah told how to rebuild him), and thus was not destroyed, and for this reason his face glowed when he descended again--because he was able to look YHWH in the face. He had become part of that new Adam.
16. And the weightiness of YHWH settled onto Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. Then He called to Moshe on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud.
Even Moshe needed a buffer of 6 days before hearing from One so holy as YHWH. The Sabbath is a time when YHWH reveals more of Himself than on other days, but Moshe spent the other six days preparing himself for this, putting himself in a position to receive on this day. After each Sabbath, we should begin preparing for the next step which we will ascend on the next Sabbath. He spoke from within the cloud that concealed. Prov. 25:2 says it is YHWH’s prerogative to conceal a word, but kings have authority to uncover them; the Israelites were told to gather a word per day. (16:4) So though no physical manna is gathered on the Sabbath, a different type is. But this cloud had been formed when Israel said they did not want to deal directly with YHWH’s presence. We asked for it! The cloud protects, but it also obscures our view. We can only see Elohim (His rulings and judgments), but not His YHWH aspect; only Moshe got to see this, His merciful side, because only he dared to look beyond the cloud, coming closer to hear what He is actually saying, and found the heart of what He intends by it.
17. And the appearance of the weightiness of YHWH was like fire burning at the top of the mountain before the eyes of the sons of Israel.
Notice the burned part of the mountain on ethe photo. It is not a volcanic mountain. To them it looked like certain death, but not to Moshe. So it is with the Torah. From outside it looks foreboding--like it will burn us alive. Yes, parts of us are indeed burned up, but only the useless dross, and then we end up purer. It does consume us, but with life, not death, once we enter into it and continue walking in it. By tradition, the Torah was given on the day that would later be Shavuoth (Pentecost). Weightiness: or importance, authority. Top: literally "head". A fire appeared to be upon the heads of Yeshua's followers on another Shavuoth centuries later.
18. Then Moshe came into the midst of the cloud, and he ascended into the mountain, and Moshe was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Into the mountain: probably in the cave where Eliyahu later had a similar experience of YHWH. (1 Kings 19) Such a cave has been found on Jabal al-Lawz. Forty days and nights: This is how long it rained during the Noachian deluge, and how long Yeshua fasted in the wilderness to get ready for his temptation. Forty is the number of preparation and transition. What would be spoken in this cloud is meant to change Israel—to remove the Egyptian ways and slave mentality from us. YHWH took His bride out of the grasp of a rival lover, but it was not so she could remain far off (Yeshayahu/Isa. 64:6-7). He brought us out so we could be near Him!
TORAH PORTION
Mishpatim
(Exodus 21:1 - 24:18)
INTRODUCTION: YHWH first follows up on the Ten Commandments with another reminder that when we are bound to the One we love best, we are truly free. As Bob Dylan sings, now matter how free you seem to be, you are always serving someone or something else. Being on your own soon becomes not just fruitless but as damaging as an ingrown toenail. We need the guard rails YHWH gave us, restrictive as they might seem, to keep us from the ever-present precipice that would lead to certain ruin, as things stand now.
Though we are a redeemed people, we live in a fallen world, and things do go wrong, so the Torah becomes very practical here, showing us how to deal with one another in the most effective ways which will preserve justice, dignity, and relationships as smooth as are possible in this age, because being part of a meaningful community is better than being free to do whatever we want. It doesn’t take long for it to become obvious that we really only have the resources to do a few things we want, unless we step on other people to get to them, and that causes still bigger problems.
The main point in interpersonal conflicts is to take responsibility for the things we do wrong, as we all sometimes do. The Torah shows us how to do that in a way that is fair to all parties involved. As each of us shows a good-faith willingness to do his part, others respond in kind and we see one another not as rivals in court cases as the world would, but as co-discoverers of the amazing rules of justice YHWH gave us that can bring back the equilibrium that was lost so that we can keep on learning His ways together as friends and not enemies.
Another way to make friends out of enemies is by treating one another’s possessions with dignity, no matter what their owner has done to us, especially when those possessions are alive (i.e., livestock). If someone rescues the animal of someone hostile to him, it begins to erode away the hatred and thus solves problems on a deeper, more permanent level than just one-time restitution can do, as important as that is, too. Torah brings systemic healing, not just symptom relief.
But even when we want to be friends, we can still get on each other’s nerves at times. But those are the kind of times that “iron can sharpen iron”. Our rough edges still have a place—for a while. This is depicted in YHWH’s statement that He won’t clear our newly-taken land out all at once, so that the wild animals don’t become too many for us. For each of us is a microcosm of the Land. There is a new Ruler, but all the inhabitants have to be educated to that fact. Every part of our lives has to be brought under the new King’s authority, but if we try to do it all at once, it will be too shallow and the animals will come and gobble up the seed from off the surface. The Apostles had a sense of this when they said, “Let’s not impose too many rules on those who are returning from among the nations. Just give them four principles by which we can all sit at the same table, and let them learn the rest little by little, so it won’t overwhelm them and make them give up altogether.” If we learn each new aspect of truth in depth, it will take root and flourish while we go on to the next part.
When handled rightly, in the right context and the right quantity, the fire will warm us, not burn us to a crisp. The parameters will be a joy because they give us a focus rather cramping our style. The bonds will be not be bondage but ties that bind our hearts together. And we will be willing to say, “Yes, I’ll be glad to” even before we hear what He wants us to do—because when we ate with Him and He did not consume us, we have tasted and seen that He is good, and have experienced the fact that trusting Him is a blessing, not a gamble.
Plateau partway up Mt. Sinai, where the elders waited while Moshe went further up
Down from the Mountaintop
Once the Torah comes down from Sinai, it really does move right into the thick of mundane, everyday life. Now we’re in the realm of bulls goring other bulls—or people—and fires spreading to someone else’s field and hazards one might encounter while walking through such a field. It’s now about what to do if someone doesn’t obey the command, “Thou shalt not steal!” It doesn’t have much of the religious glitter anymore.
But that’s just the point. The Torah is for every part of life. Why do we need to light a light where it isn’t dark? It is not meant to be compartmentalized in the “religious” category, or it would be pretty irrelevant to everything else—and “everything else” is where Israel is called to reintroduce holiness.
The Torah is a handbook on how to do that. I say “handbook”, because it does not address every possible scenario, but gives examples of the type of response a holy heart should have to all kinds of situations one might find himself in as real, live human beings try to move together through the world we find ourselves in. A key to a large percentage of these principles, which later got restated as the “golden rule”, is that if you know how bad something feels, you should not do it to others. (23:9)
YHWH is very concerned about how we treat each other! Negligence is so serious a matter to Him that in some cases it is a capital offense. (Exodus 21:29) As Yeshua told us, “He who is faithful in what is least will also prove faithful in the big things.” (Luke 16:10) It appears (21:30) that in some cases, there is reprieve from the death penalty if the victim is willing to let him pay a fine, but then he is obligated to whatever amount they decide he must pay. If his negligence results in a dead animal, the negligent person is responsible for the cleanup and removal of the corpse. All of these things should make us think twice before being careless or cutting corners.
The name of this Torah portion essentially means “legal procedures” or “right ways to judge”. They reflect a finely-tuned balance, exemplified by the two principles that the poor are not to be favored because they are poor, but neither may their cause be ignored if it is genuine, though the influential may feel otherwise. (23:3, 6) The world started as chaotic, and YHWH brought it into order. We often mess up that order, but there are ways of restoring the equilibrium without starting wars in the process.
For example, here we are told that there is a proper order to obtaining repayment for offenses one suffers: it is to be done through the court system, not on one’s own. (Ex. 21:22; 22:8-9, et al) If you are feeling oppressed, the key is not to try to retaliate, but to call out to YHWH for help. He cares (22:23, 27), but we also have to care enough about being freed from the oppression to humble ourselves and ask for His help. And usually the way to get His help is through the authorities He has constituted, for that keeps everything above board. Thus, all the more, it behooves those authorities to prove faithful in making sure they do judge rightly.
Jodell Onstott points out that, though this purpose is not stated in the text here, the plenary gatherings to be convened three times a year (23:17) often turned out to be times when any important matter involving the whole nation could be discussed, with all the men of fighting and “voting” age present. This way, those making the decisions could be held accountable by all the people, and not be able to sneak things through unnoticed.
Exodus 23:7 tells us to distance ourselves from a “false word” or “deceitful matter” (d’var sheqer). I.e., don’t try to see how close you can get to wrongdoing without actually doing it; that is putting yourself on very dangerous footing. Instead, stay as far from it as you can—even if you seem to be the only one. (23:1-3)
But a false word may also mean an idea that is based on the wrong philosophy, and a lot of words in English come from pagan ideas, which were often personified in their gods. By telling us not to even speak the name of those deities, YHWH forces us to rethink whether the words we might have otherwise used without thinking about where they came from might be based on the wrong ideas altogether. (23:13) In other words, exercise right judgment at every level!
In this portion, the judges are even called “elohim” at times, possibly to highlight the fact that they are representing YHWH Himself as “lesser judges”. May all of Israel’s judges prove worthy of that title.
Study questions:
1. How does the command regarding the year of release (Exodus 21:2) parallel the Sabbath? What new wrinkle does it add to Torah’s view of marriage (21:3)? Why do you think someone who sold himself to pay off a debt would not be permitted to take his family with him when he goes free? Why is his family not considered truly his until he commits to remain with the household of which they are a part?
2. What seems to be the assumption (21:8-11) which would explain why a woman would not be set free after 6 years as a man would (21:7)?
3. What two types of justice can you see at work in 21:13?
4. How do 21:15 and 21:17 throw additional light on what 20:11 means?
5. What are the penalties listed in 21:20-34 aiming to deter? What should result if we take them to heart?
6. What command given much earlier in the Torah is 21:28 an example of?
7. Where it is not possible to recover what is lost, how would judges determine a fair compensation? For at least one capital offense the perpetrator is permitted to ransom his life with money. (21:30) Do you think similar payment could be made for lesser offenses in the “eye for an eye” category (20:21-25) so there would not be more maimed people in Israel? Why or why not?
8. Why is someone who kills a thief by day culpable but not if he does so by night? (22:1-2)
9. What principles about restitution found in 22:3-14 can we carry over into other analogous situations?
10. From 22:15-16, does “casual sex” seem to be a valid concept to YHWH? To what authority is a man who engages in it responsible?
11. Who do Exodus 22:20 and 23:9 suggest is one possible reason YHWH allows us to undergo certain experiences?
12. Does YHWH want us to take into account a person’s means and existing stressful situations when determining how to treat them? (22:21-16; 23:6) What parameters does Ex. 23:3 put on this?
13. Does the majority rule in YHWH’s economy? (23:2)
14. Is “Finders, keepers” a valid idea? (23:4)
15. Is YHWH concerned about animals’ rights and the environment? (21:33, 35; 23:11-12) What limits are put on these in Torah? (e.g., 22:30; 23:29)
16. What changes may be needed to your vocabulary in order to obey 23:13?
17. How are the seventh day and seventh year pictures of the Age to Come? (23:10-12; compare Yeshayahu 58:3-7; Rev. 14:13)
18. How do 23:16-19 suggest a way to obey the last part of 23:15?
19. Why do you think only males are required to come to the three annual pilgrimage feasts? (23:17) Does this preclude women from coming when they are able?
20. At what point do property rights end? (23:24)
21. How does 23:29-30 relate to things we battle to overcome within ourselves?
22. If no one can see YHWH and live (Exodus 33:20), who is the “Elohim of Israel” whom the elders saw (24:10)? How does the use of the term “elohim” as “judges” (21:6; 22:7, 8, 27) throw light on Renewed Covenant passages where the term seems to be applied to Yeshua (e.g., Yochanan20:28)? How might this correct a common misunderstanding?
The Sidewalk
for Kids
This Torah portion might seem scary, with the mountain shaking and on fire and lots of loud noises! No wonder the Israelite people didn’t want to get to too close! But Moshe dared to go close and meet YHWH, and he found that He wasn’t an ogre. In fact, some of the other leaders did come part-way up the mountain and although no one can see YHWH’s face and survive (because it is just too bright and powerful for our bodies to handle), they caught a glimpse of His “feet” and lived to tell about it. In fact, they even got to share a meal with Him. He just showed us His scary side because He wants us to be serious about what He has to tell us, because it is the secret to our staying alive and having the best life that is possible in a world that is no longer as safe as it was meant to be.
It actually turned out to be an adventure! They just had to wait until the right time. When your Mom and Dad tell you that you’re not big enough for something other people get to do or not ready for it yet, it’s not because they’re being mean. It’s because there are things that are very dangerous until we have what it takes to keep from losing control of them. But when we are ready, YHWH is glad to give us the most beautiful gifts, because He knows we will treat them right instead of getting them dirty or damaging them.
YHWH actually lifted the mountain off the ground so that at the right time, the people could come underneath it. It became their wedding canopy (khuppah) instead of something that threatened to fall on them, because YHWH wanted Israel to be His very special treasure, just like a bride. If our attitude had been wrong, the mountain might have fallen on us, but if we do things the way YHWH says to do them, He is very glad to do everything He can—and that is a lot—to make things work out the best possible way for us.
This was a very clear way they could see that something big had changed. Things worked differently when they let YHWH be in charge. Pharaoh didn’t own them anymore. They were free—but only as long as they recognized that YHWH was their new owner. He wasn’t mean like Pharaoh was. He loves Israel, but if we step outside of the covering of His authority, we would not really be free, but wandering aimlessly, at the mercy of all the dangers in the world, from weather or food shortages or from other people who would try to enslave us--and none of them is as merciful as YHWH is.
Have you ever heard the American folk-tale of Rip van Winkel? In this gem of historical fiction, a man drinks something that makes him sleep for 20 years. While he is asleep, the American Revolution takes place. When he wakes up, he is still saluting King George, when in fact there is another George now in charge—a George named Washington! He no longer has to pay taxes to the king, and the man now in authority wants him to be all that he can be.
Maybe that’s why our Torah portion starts out with a man choosing to remain a slave to the man who gave him a wife that he loves and who has been better for him than when he was out on his own making big mistakes that made him poor. So he connects himself to that house—really—by having his ear “nailed” to the door while it is being pierced, because something you will find out as you grow up is that serving only yourself is not really freedom, because without the instructions YHWH gave us in the Torah, we are always going to get ourselves into deep trouble if we do what we think we want, because since good and evil got mixed up when Adam and Eve ate that fruit, the only way to find our way back to good that is not mixed with evil is to follow the very specific paths that YHWH set up for us and stay within the lines—if we want the picture we are coloring with our lives to be beautiful instead of looking like a scribble.
YHWH picked the best home available in the world at that time to give us—a place that was not too hot and not too cold, had lots of potential for growing crops, lots of stones to build houses, and lots of really big trees to build with too. It was right at the place where three continents come together, so they could get places easily, but more importantly so that people going through to get somewhere else could see how well the laws YHWH had given to Israel were working and giving us ways to get along with each that worked better than the ideas other people could come up with.
Abraham Lincoln, another great American (but this time a real person), said that the way he wanted to get rid of his enemies was to turn them into his friends.
Well, the Torah tells us how to do that. If you see your enemy’s animal stuck in a ditch, in danger of dying, or struggling to get up because of how heavy his load is, you should go and help him. It’s pretty hard to keep hating someone who has just come and gotten himself all sweaty and dirty in order to keep you from losing your most valuable possession! You would want to do something nice for him, wouldn’t you? And he would then want to do something nice back…and on it goes until we are no longer keeping score and just trying to do what is right not just for ourselves but for everyone else too.
The Renewal of MISHPATIM
This portion starts out mostly with restitution for wrongs done, intentionally or unintentionally. This standard has not changed. Colossians 3:24-25 tells us, “He who does wrong shall receive for the wrong he has done, and there is no respect of persons.”
But we must address Yeshua’s famous “but” after quoting “an eye for an eye”, which appears in this passage, among others. “Do not resist one who is evil” is not the best translation here (Mat. 5:38-39), which is part of what caused the confusion and suggested that he was negating or contradicting Torah. “Don’t try to get even with one who makes things hard on you” would be a better rendering. He is highlighting a problem that is built into the “letter of the law”: the human tendency to try to use the wording cruelly to one’s own advantage or as an excuse for spitefulness and revenge. As with the entire “Sermon on the Mount” in which his comment is found, he turns the focus from the surface commands (or in some cases, interpretations) to the heart of the matter: the attitudes behind them.
“An eye for an eye” was meant as much to limit vengeance as it was to ensure closure and compensation for the victim. The point of this series of commands is the legal obligation to take one’s responsibility seriously. It sets a high price for reckless behavior that does not take others’ welfare into account, as a deterrent, so that, if someone will not do the right thing because it benefits his neighbor, he will at least do the right thing because doing wrong will cost him too much. But, as when he pointed out that lust was the real problem behind the adultery and underlying hatred is what leads to murder (so we should deal with the root issues before they get far enough to cause outward damage), so here, he is saying, “Don’t approach justice with an attitude of ‘one-upmanship’. Yes, bring your legitimate complaint to the court and expect appropriate compensation for another’s negligence. Accept the payment of a legitimate legal debt. But let that be enough; restore balance, but don’t do it to get even.”
That may sound like a fine line, but it’s all in the attitude. He takes it a step further to show the contrast: “If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other one to him too.” The slap is really the prerogative of a teacher—something this generation does not understand. His job is to do whatever it takes to wake you up to the reality of the direction you are going or the point you are not seeing. (Dell Griffin) If he makes it difficult for you, Yeshua says, be grateful for his concern; overlook the sting of his reprimand, because the blow you will get from reality if you neglect his instruction will hurt a lot more.
The same goes for anyone who brings to life for you the proverb, “iron sharpens iron.” (27:17) My Philadelphia hometown music group Glad, in a 1980 song by that name, showed that they understood the meaning well: “The only lasting love begins with honesty, but don’t become discouraged when we disagree… As we get closer there might be pain… Have patience while we bear the pain; holding on, we know our hope is not in vain… We can never remain the same… To be changed into his likeness, there’s so much we must be shown, and we were never meant to grow alone.” (Bob Kauflin and Ed Nalle)
Yeshua’s tongue-in-cheek comment about cheeks tells us it’s more about how we treat people than whether the compensation is exact, if we are on the receiving end. (For the compensator, precision is important as a matter of integrity.) Do you care as much about what your response to an injury will do to the relationship as you do about making sure you get repaid? As I often tell my children, “The relationship with your sibling is more important than anything he did to you.” Paul even says it is to our shame that we’d take a brother in Messiah to a court that knows nothing of biblical values, over some physical or emotional damages. “Why not rather take the loss” than wrong someone back by holding a grudge against one who loves YHWH and is loved by Him? (1 Corinthians 6:1-7) Is it really worth the stain it will put on the reputation of the group Yeshua said would be known by our love for one another?
The next set of laws is probably where we got the term “jurisprudence”, for the wisdom of these rules shines so brightly in today’s unjust, corrupt legal system. David was probably thinking of these laws when he wrote his psalms (40, 94, 119) that glow with fervent thanks to YHWH for giving us His views on justice and judgment; they save us so much trial and error, giving us a fast track to what works best in this fallen world where we need both severe deterrents to wrongdoing and encouragement to bravely do right. And those from all the ages who have borne the brunt of the world’s injustices, when standing before YHWH’s throne after the whole of this era of earth’s history is over and all scores have been evened, will sum it all up with, “Just and true are Your ways, O King of those who are set-apart!” (Revelation 15:3)
Our generation needs to hear Exodus 22:27, especially in election years: “Do not make light of the judges, nor curse a ruler of your people.” Whatever we may say after their terms, ads that characterize incumbents as “fakes and frauds” are not acceptable in YHWH’s economy. A sitting ruler is to be respected for his position to uphold the dignity of the idea of proper authority, whatever his quirks. If we let this slide, we will have anarchy, and that would be catastrophic in a sinful world where self-governance is all but non-existent. Those without the new spirit that only YHWH can give must be governed in one way or another, not allowed to set their own standards by whatever whim runs wild today. “Be subject to the higher powers…[They] are put in place by YHWH… servant[s] of Elohim to exact penalties and punishment on those who do wrong.” (Romans 13:1-4) He gives a people the leaders they deserve or, mercifully, the rulers they need. The worst government is better than no government, until the time when it is safe for all to be free. We have seen much evidence that too much freedom results in corruption, with a few notable exceptions, and if we dig into those who do succeed in curbing their own hearts, we will probably find that their integrity comes only from the One who redeemed them.
“If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you must surely bring it back to him again.” (Ex. 23:4-5; at least have compassion on an animal in distress, no matter how you feel about its owner!) And you thought “Love your enemy” originated in the New Testament, somehow contradicting a strict requirement for retaliatory score-keeping before that? Yeshua—and Paul, for that matter--only made overt what was there in the commandments all along. That is because to love someone is not to have fond feelings for him, but to choose his welfare over your own inclination to be vengeful—i.e., to give him what he needs, whether or not it is what he wants. “If your enemy is hungry, feed him!” (Romans 12:20) That way you short-circuit his reason for wanting to steal from you or make you look bad before he even gets to that point. But, surprise! This verse is also a quote from the Hebrew Scriptures. (Proverbs 25:21) Again, it is not new, just renewed and further explained and exemplified. Could you call it a sequel?
“Do not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their doings; but utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces the monuments that symbolize them.” (Ex. 23:24) Again, the Renewed Covenant takes it a step further. Since the root of idolatry is a philosophy in the mind, we go to the heart of the matter: “The weapons of our warfare are not physical, but, through Elohim, are effective to bring radical change, to the point of pulling down strongholds, casting down ideologies and every lofty defensive wall that lifts itself up against the knowledge of Elohim, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of the Messiah.” (2 Cor. 10:4-5) That solves the surface problems as well.
Because of Transgressions
“The Torah cannot nullify the covenant which was confirmed 430 years beforehand, so as to make the promise of no effect…Why then the Torah? It was added because of transgressions, until the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.” (Galatians 3:19)
Some (including some of those I associate with regularly) postulate that the “blood of the Covenant” (Exodus 24:8) ratified only the “book of the Covenant” (24:7) which included everything from the Ten Commandments up to this point; it is this to which the people agreed after Moshe read it to them. (24:7) Soon afterward, while Moshe was getting the sapphire stones on which YHWH wrote this covenant, the people made the golden calf, which made a lot more rules and offerings necessary than would otherwise have been required of us. That, they say, is the (kind of) transgression which necessitated a second book—that of the Torah (instruction) as contrasted with the book of the Covenant (in the same category as the covenant with Avraham 430 years earlier)—and this Torah was what Paul said was only needed until Messiah came.
Maybe they are right; it is tempting to think this portion of the Torah (and part of the last) might be all that is permanently binding on us since Messiah took care of the need for the rest. I have not studied this out fully enough yet to know whether I agree with that theory. It does seem to explain more of the book of Hebrews, and there is some evidence that a good many of the “religious” aspects of the Torah were indeed added to keep us distracted from our tendency to let our eyes wander toward what other people worship. But they may have been needed for more than that--just to keep us alive and Israel intact until the first untainted blood since Adam could make a more complete, one-for-one atonement for humans than animals ever could, rendering the stand-ins irrelevant now except as analogies to teach the details of what Messiah accomplished.
But, truth be told, very few if any of these court-procedures (mishpatim), even in this first part of the message from Sinai, would have been necessary if it had not been for Adam’s and Chawwah’s transgressions, which filled the whole world with the material of which court cases are made. Even the appointments with YHWH (23:14-17), which are not particularly about sin, might not have been needed if we had just remained in His presence all the time in the Garden, meeting with Him at least once every day (as we can deduce from Genesis 3:8). The blood offerings and firstfruits which are confirmed here (23:18-19) were not needed until the first family was outside the gates of Eden. (Gen. 4:3ff) And it goes without saying that none of these torn beasts or thefts, injuries and damages (except maybe an occasional animal falling into a hole someone had just dug) would ever have occurred were the earth and its creatures not all out of kilter because of the ripples caused by our first parents’ transgressions.
So even these rules are only necessary in a fallen environment, and Yeshua has provided for the rectification of that as well. That’s not to say these procedures will never be necessary in his Kingdom; there will be many nations to teach the principles of justice, and these give the best terse examples of what that means. But let’s use them as stepping stones to get out of the mindset which rendered them necessary in the first place, as we use the provision YHWH made through him for the “renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2) so that such cases will become progressively fewer and farther between, until they neither hurt nor destroy because the whole earth is full of the knowledge of YHWH. (Isa. 11:9; 65:25)
We Can’t Improve
on the Torah
The prohibitions of kidnapping or human trafficking (Exodus 21:16) could hardly be more up to date and relevant today. Nor has the problem of bribes (23:8) gone away after 3,500 years. Human nature does not change without direct intervention from YHWH, and even those He has given “new birth” still have the baggage of the “flesh” needing to be curbed. But today’s most common solutions to crime are not doing a very good job.
How does jail time help the robbed victim if the jailed robber is not in a position to earn money to make restitution? (22:2-3) The Torah’s solutions would preclude overcrowded prisons and instead actually satisfy the one wronged. It’s more about compensating the victim than punishing the perpetrator, per se. But the lesson is inherent; he who stole to avoid buying one thing ends up having to buy two, to offset the disruption he caused.
If the perpetrators of non-accidental injuries, rather than insurance companies, had to pay for the damages and down-time from the job (21:18-19), we would have a much better deterrent to people acting foolishly. The goring-ox laws (21:28-37) would probably be more often applicable to the owners of biting dogs nowadays. And having to pay a dowry when seducing a virgin, marry or not (22:15-16), would decimate promiscuity quickly.
The death penalty (21:12-31) is not popular. But why? Only the guilty think it’s not fair; those protected by it don’t! Yet what better deterrent could there be? Don’t commit these crimes, and you won’t be executed, and everyone is better off. The only real problem is those who, like Jezebel, would abuse the laws with false accusations. (1 Kings 21) But the solution is not to do away with the deterrent, but to fine-tune the forensic tools and ensure that those we put in power are moral and just rather than corrupt. Even “an eye for an eye” is fair for both parties too. The penalty is actually a fine (21:22), not a second, vengeful injury. And even a slave who is injured is compensated with his freedom. (21:26-27) You never heard of that in the last few centuries!
Freedom is actually always the goal of the kind of slavery allowed by Holy Scripture. (Ex. 21:2-6) It is not capture-and-sell like the seagoing trade in the early modern era; that is forcefully precluded in 21:16. This is someone selling himself into indentured servitude to pay off a debt. The time is strictly limited, the debtor gets a benefit equivalent to payment, and the slave ends up debt-free. That is as win-win as such a situation can get. I know of no payoff plan today (except those that cheat the lender) which succeed that quickly, because compounding interest also keeps the borrower enslaved to the lender (Prov. 22:7) for an ever-increasing length of time unless something breaks the cycle like this.
YHWH got very upset when some people agreed to comply with this principle but then reneged. (Jeremiah 34) As in Egypt, He did hear the cry of the disadvantaged. (Ex. 22:22-26) His response was to, with poetic justice, “release” those oppressors—not from debt, but from their land and into the kind of bondage they had put others in. (Compare Ex. 22:23; disobedience to 23:10-11 contributed also.) But neither is someone always in the right just because he is at a disadvantage. (23:3, contrast v. 6)
Nehemiah 5 shows a good example of the reason for the law against charging interest (22:24). The returnees from exile could not pay their taxes because of a drought that left them no crops to sell, so they had to borrow from their neighbors to pay the tax, but neighbors charging interest was only deepening the problem, threatening to leave the next generation in debt. Neighbors don’t treat each other like creditors, YHWH says.
Torah gives us all rights, but they’re not called that; it has a higher basis: righteousness (what is right). Majority rule is not enough; the crowd can be wrong (23:1-2). Justice must be the primary factor in all decisions. (23:7)
The Torah even gives the land rights: Letting it rest (23:10-11) naturally prevents soil depletion like we see today; hence the need for artificial fertilizer that has more side effects than benefits. YHWH knew what He was doing.
These are all good for society, and they’re out in the open for all to see. “Moshe told the people all the words of YHWH” (24:3) and “Moshe wrote down all the words of YHWH.” (24:4) No esoteric additions passed down only to the elite or the experts.
We might wish He had given us more of the “how” of some statutes, but the “how” is never exactly the same in any two cases anyway, because life situations are never “one size fits all”.
Other parts of Torah set the limits on how far we take each. If Moshe left the interpretation flexible, we should too.
YHWH is the
Deciding Factor
This portion offers some unusual glimpses behind the fabric of life as we think of it.
Involuntary manslaughter is portrayed as Elohim allowing the victim to “encounter the hand” of the killer, who in this case is not counted a murderer. (Ex. 21:13) In other words, for some (possibly-unrelated) reason, YHWH judged that person worthy of death (possibly because of something no one would ever catch him doing), so He allowed the killer’s hand to slip.
He is cluing us in on the fact that there are really no accidents. Nothing “just happens”. Can we carry this across to all the events in our lives—to the lesser mistakes we consider accidents that also have consequences for which we might blame ourselves? If He is sovereign in all that occurs, we can have a worry-free outlook.
Not that we should be flippant or irresponsible. Those who kill someone truly inadvertently are given a safe place to go, but they do have to stay there. (21:13) Not only would their lives be in danger from vengeance if they were at large; they may not have been as careful as they should have been, so they are kept from the larger society so they’ll endanger fewer people. In a fallen world, this may be as “win-win” as such a situation can get.
YHWH allows people free will, and many make choices that can harm others, but such are held accountable and given consequences that should make those considering the same action cringe in terror of carrying it out. (21:14-17) The word mishpatim refers to this kind of ruling dispensed in a court of law. Justice must be the bottom line.
“If a thief is caught breaking in, and is struck so he dies, no one is held guilty of his blood.” 22:1) This exception to Genesis 9:5, given by YHWH Himself, only applies under cover of darkness (22:2), when he is “assumed to be armed and possessed of hostile intent.”* I.e., it is counted as self-defense. YHWH takes into account nuances like the difference between criminal motive and a mistake. Men may assume guilt by association, but He has mercy and won’t even let us make an animal suffer just because it belongs to one who hates us. (23:5; beasts of burden have a right to rest, v. 12, and some animals are innocent enough to furnish the blood to ratify covenants.—24:8)
But innocent blood, if intentionally spilled, cries out directly to YHWH for justice (Gen. 4:10)—a very deep concept that merits further study. Similarly, the outcry of a wrongly-judged widow or orphan (one who has lost a provider to death) is also especially heard by YHWH, and He will get personally involved. (22:22) We who know how it feels to be oppressed (and to experience YHWH’s hearing our cry) should be all the more careful to do them justice. (23:9; 3:9)
When the loss of something one was holding for a neighbor could not be avoided, an oath sworn to YHWH that one was not irresponsible is counted sufficient to keep the guardian from being held liable. (22:9-10)
In all of these, YHWH Himself is a crucial factor in our being able to carry out the precepts He gave. It is specifically because we are His people that we may not charge each other interest. (22:24) He, not any man, wrote all of these laws. (24:12) Some of them would not even work if He were not in the equation. For some sentences to be rightly decided, He must be consulted (assumedly through the priests through the urim and thummim or judges who have been well-trained in His ways), for only He knows all the extenuating circumstances. (See 21:6, 22; 22:8-9, where in a very plausible reading the judges themselves are called elohim, possibly because they have that much power to decide the course of one’s life**). The Author knows best how to interpret each.
With YHWH in the picture as the heart of the process, we can rest assured that though justice may not be immediate, it will not fail to come. (Jer. 23:5) “You caused judgment to be heard from Heaven; the earth heard and became still when Elohim rose to judgment [mishpat], to rescue all the afflicted of the earth… since the rage of man will [turn out to] bring You thanks, and the remainder of rage You will restrain.” (Psalm 76:8-10) Even Satan has strict limits on how far he can go and must get His permission! (Iyov/Job 1:6-2:6) Comforting truths indeed!
Take YHWH into account in all your decisions, judicial or personal, and He’ll reciprocate, even making your enemies His own. (23:22, 27) Put Him first and everything else you need will be thrown in as a bonus, with none of the grief we might experience if we relied on our own devices. (23:25-26; compare Prov. 10:22; Mat. 6:33)
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*The author, Nathan Albright, continues, “If… caught, he would have to pay full restitution… The debt of a thief is not to ‘society’, but to his victims. The same is true for the debt of murderers, rapists, kidnappers, false witnesses, and adulterers, and any other sort of criminal. It was the victim (or the family of the victim) who was wronged by the crime, and it was they who were to receive, automatically, restitution for their losses from the criminal.” And he must give them not just any, but the best of his own possessions to compensate (22:4)—the same standard for what we bring to YHWH Himself. (23:19)
**The term elohim is also used in this way in 22:27 if we read it as a parallel to the phrase about rulers among our people (though here it is ambivalent and could very well mean both YHWH Elohim and human judges who represent Him). This also goes a long way in explaining Psalm 82:1-6 and also how Yeshua, elsewhere clearly established to be a man who, though in complete tandem with YHWH, is distinct from Him (e.g., Mat. 9:8; 1 Tim. 2:5; Acts 2:22; Heb. 4:15; James 1:13), can, without the more common eisegesis, be called “elohim” in a very few instances, where judgment indeed is the salient factor. (e.g., John 20:28)
Real Liberty and Justice and their Counterfeits
We who have grown up in free societies have often taken for granted the principles in this passage. Justice had been the norm for us—not always equally applied, but always held up as the ideal, so these concepts seemed almost as if they could go without saying. They had become the norm, second nature, even self-evident.
But where did we get that consensus? Right here! This is the foundation for all the freedom and justice we have known. YHWH not only commands justice, but explains why some actions are just and others are not. (e.g., Ex. 23:8-9—“Do not…because…”)
But the consensus is gone. We are now getting our turn to taste corruption amid ever-increasing travesties of justice, where the righteous are painted as aggressors and thieving mobs go unpunished, where truth is censored and illegal, egregious acts are not only allowed to run unimpeded, but are protected and favored by government.
Why? Precisely because slowly the confidence in Scripture’s authority was undermined within the sanctuaries. Secular society, recognizing that it was no longer even valued by its guardians, unseated it completely, and increasingly forbade even its mention. Now we look back at these once-normal standards with the longing for an all-but-bygone era. It is now much easier to see why so many outsiders were attracted to come live among and learn from Israel. They had more freedom as visitors among the Israelites than they had as citizens in their own countries. (Ex. 23:12) A day of rest was considered a luxury in even as civilized a society as Rome, and in Egypt it had been thought of the lazy men’s way. (Ex. 5:8) No wonder not a few immigrated permanently. They knew how bad it had been without Torah!
YHWH made astounding promises to those who simply obey. (23:25-28) Yet Israel lost interest back then too!
Why would anyone leave behind such a joyful, peace- and prosperity-generating ethos for a clearly-backward paganism? Why were warnings against idolatry even necessary among people who’d experienced the freedom YHWH brought?
They were allured by the hedonistic pleasures pagan temples offered, but once they were hooked, the demons behind those idols (Lev. 17:7; 1 Cor. 10:20) demanded back the children this indulgence produced--as mandatory human sacrifices. Even if they repented later, that was something that could never be undone. But don’t think you’re off the hook if you’ve avoided that; the allure of philosophical giddiness has the same effect, all too familiar to all who remember the history of the last century where promises of “justice” and freedom from “oppressive” religion ended in the wholesale, horrific slaughter of millions upon millions who were duped into thinking they were being liberated.
Thus the haftarah (Isaiah 66): YHWH brushes off the great temples originally built as testimony to His glory (66:1) if they are no longer frequented by those for whom justice is not just a pragmatic ruse abandoned once it has been used to gain power. Instead He says, “this is the one to whom I will pay attention: one humble and remorseful in spirit, who even trembles when I speak.” (66:2) To those who stay true to His ways when it is unpopular or even dangerous, He says, “Your relatives who hate you, who make you outcasts for My Name’s sake, have said, ‘May YHWH be honored!’ But He will make Himself evident in your joy, and they will be put to shame.” (66:5)
This is comforting as we are beginning to experience persecution in nations that once knew YHWH, but now mock His ways as outmoded, though still giving lip service to a nebulous “justice” that strangely matches whatever politico-social agenda may be in vogue, and sits in judgment on those who stay true to the original. But this has been going on for ages; it’s nothing new. But YHWH’s principles of justice don’t change with the times. They have constant, specific content, and they work.
Yet they’ve been abandoned so fully that to reverse this will require nothing less than “birthpangs” (66:7-8)—a time of great difficulty and stress. But the baby cannot be held back once it begins (66:9), and what is “born” will be a transformation as complete as “fresh heavens and a fresh earth” (66:22). “I… have sent those… who survived [this cataclysm] to … inform those among the nations of My authority.” (Isa. 66:19) Even the arrogant who thought they were free to break the rules will be under the original Definer of justice. His true justice will flood the whole earth.
But just verdicts entail winners and losers. How you experience them will depend on which side you take: “YHWH’s [helping] hand will be made known to those who serve Him, but His indignation to those hostile to Him.” (66:6, 14) Rebels to whom justice was done will remain on display in absolute ignominy. (66:24) “I… will… bring them what they dread, because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen…” (Isa. 66:4) But those who side with Yerushalayim will experience the beneficial side of justice—an overwhelming joy (66:10) that makes one forget the birthpains. (Yochn. 16:21)
“This is what YHWH says: “Here I am, holding out … the offer of total well-being…” (66:12) There is still time to get on the right side of His justice, but don’t count on the window being open much longer.
