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Yitro / Jethro
Exodus 18:1-20:23
Isaiah 6:1-7:6
Hebrews 12:18-24
In Exodus chapter eighteen Yitro, Moses’ father-in-law, comes to meet Moses with Zipporah and their two sons. In this chapter, Yitro questions Moses regarding the judging of the people. After he witnesses Moshe sitting alone, he gives his advice: ‘Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” Exodus 18:19-23.
In his advice is a very powerful statement: Exodus 18:20 ‘Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave.’ Teach them how to behave. In the Chumash it says: ‘You shall caution them regarding the decrees and teachings and you shall make known to them the path in which they should go and the deeds that they should do.’
In Exodus chapter 19, Moses is making his way to Mount Sinai. There is an interesting dialogue between Moshe and Adonai. ‘The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.” Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or He will break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and told them.’ Exodus 19:20-25.
Adonai tells Moshe that even the priests must consecrate themselves. At that point Moshe reminds God that He put the limits around the mountain for it is holy, a holy site.
Exodus chapter 20 contains the giving of the Ten Words. Prior to God giving His testimony to Moses, He declares in Exodus 19:3-6: ‘Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now if you obey Me fully and keep My covenant, then out of all nations you will be My treasured possession. Although the whole earth is Mine, you will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.’
This is another parsha that clearly draws a line in the sand between being a people to Him and not being a people to Him.
What makes us a special treasure? In Exodus 19:5 He specifically states: ‘…If you obey Me and fully keep My covenant…’
One who is unlearned might ask, what is His covenant? Isn’t it the New Testament?
The New Testament is not a new covenant but rather a manifestation of the Torah. Within the New Testament there are letters from Rabbi Shaul, containing answers to question we are unaware of. There are words and advice from the apostles/ talmadim. There is prophecy and of course there are the Words of Messiah. The words of Messiah echo The Father, The Torah, for Yeshua clearly states in the book of John that He is the Living Word. John 1:1-5 ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ John 1:14 ‘The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.’ In John 7:16 ‘Yeshua states that the doctrine is not His, but He who sent Him.’
What was/is the Word? It is the Torah, which contains creation, the Exodus, the Passover, the Sabbath, the clean and unclean, the moadim/feasts of God, His judgments, statutes and right-rulings. If we follow Yeshua, then we follow the Torah. If we ignore or denounce the Torah, the ways of Elohim, then we denounce Yeshua.
The walk and way that man has made according to Jesus is not the walk and the way of Yeshua/ Elohim. That walk and the way is according to the creator of the universe – Elohim.
Malachi 3:16-17 ‘Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be My treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.’
1 Peter 2:9-10 ‘But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.’
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יִתְרוֹ
Yitro / Jethro
Exodus 18:1-20:26
HafTorah portion Isaiah 6:1-7:6
Brit Chadasha Hebrews 12:18-24
What is holy? The Hebrew word is Kadosh. What is a holy nation/ goy kadosh? How do we define those words? There are two obvious appearances in the Torah. The first of anything made holy appears in relation to Shabbat – the day God Himself proclaimed holy – and the second is the inner chamber of the sanctuary known as the holy of holies. It is in these contexts that we are best able to learn what holiness means when applied to God and His people. How is Shabbat Holy? It is a period of time that we are commanded to ‘rest,’ to not work, to set the time apart, to be one with God, thus keeping it holy. We become the created, not the creators. We cease from our accomplishments, and we move into the realm of worship to Almighty God. We pause the ‘me’ time and step into the ‘holy of holies’ with Him. Our purpose on that day is to worship Him on the holy/kadosh day that He created.
As was the Tabernacle. Essentially this was a large portable tent, a framework and all the glorious materials of purples and gold. Wherever it was erected, it defined a certain space as holy, meaning, set aside for God. Within that space nothing was to come between the worshiper and God. In particular, priests had to avoid contact with death or anything resembling it. This particular space contained the ‘holy of holies’.
These two instances of holy teach us that not every space or time is holy. Holiness is the time and space we make for God, because of God. It is a concept that is often misunderstood, argued against and dismissed. The Greeks and Romans could not grasp the thought of holiness without a ‘thing’. One teaching is that when the Roman General Pompey invaded Jerusalem and entered the Temple, he was amazed to find that the holy of holies was empty. He expected to find the Israelites’ holiest idol in it. The idea that empty space without an idol to worship was holy was impossible for him to grasp.
This confusion and basic denial occurs for those that that dismiss Shabbat. They cannot grasp the idea of a holy day, as in a space of time; therefore, it is dismissed as ‘done away with’ or ‘replaced’. But one cannot replace what God ordained. They can only deny or ignore it.
How did the Israelites become a holy nation with holy people? That is the meaning of the phrase goy kadosh - a holy nation. At Sinai the Hebrew people, until then a large grouping of individuals of the great Exodus, became the people of God because of His Torah written to them, and so to us.
Exodus 19:5-6 ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Deuteronomy 14:12 ‘For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.’
Deuteronomy 26:19 ‘…and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.”
Deuteronomy 28:9 ‘The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.’
The Ten Words are in this parsha, Exodus 20:1-17, which explains to His people the premise of being set apart. These Divine instructions are from the Creator to His created – simple enough to follow, yet so often argued with, especially the fourth declaration. The Sabbath. Is it because, like the Roman General, people can’t grasp the concept of a space in time holy?
The Sabbath is referred to in certain cultures as merely a day of rest. The Hellenistic view is that ‘any day will do’ as long as you take a ‘day of rest’. They refer to the Sabbath as ‘a Sabbath’ not ‘The Sabbath’. However, we see in Genesis 2 that it was/is a specific day, a specific space in time. Genesis 2:1-3 ‘Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.’ This unique space in time, a thing no one can see, touch or hold, is holy unto The Lord, is created and sanctified by Him, for Him and His people.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.’
Luke 4:16 ‘And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.’
This unique space in time, a thing no one can see, touch or hold, is ‘holy unto The Lord’, and is created and sanctified by Him, for Him – and His people.
יִתְרוֹ
Yitro / Jethro
Exodus 18:1-20:26
HafTorah portion Isaiah 6:1-7:6
Brit Chadasha Hebrews 12:18-24
A Holy Nation
This Torah portion begins with Moshe’s father in law, Yitro, upon hearing all that God had done, he returns to Moshe with Zipporah and their two sons. Moshe tells Yitro all that God performed to deliver His people out of Egypt. In Exodus 18:11-12 Yitro makes a profound statement regarding the pride of those that fell: ‘Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” 12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.’
As Yitro observes the difficulty and hours that Moshe spends judging the people, he says, ‘it is not good…’ Exodus 18:17. He instructs Moshe to appoint leaders of quantities, large to small, with the most difficult of the tasks to be presented to Moshe. Within these instructions, Yitro adds the most important of all teachings of a leader; ‘And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do.’ Exodus 18:20. This was to teach the people the Torah and the way they should walk. The second instruction was to appoint men of truth/emet. ‘Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.’ Exodus 18:21. Men of the truth of God vs. their own set of truths.
These instructions lead up to Exodus 19. In Exodus 19:3-6 God makes profound statements. He uses the visual of flight; of how He set the children of Israel on Eagles wings and thus brought the people to Him. Not out of bondage for themselves to do as they please, but out of Egypt to serve and worship Him. ‘And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
In the verses Exodus 19:5-6 there are connecting words: obey/keep/special-treasure/be to me/a holy nation. This concept is repeated through-out Scripture. The holiness of Elohim was never meant to leave His people. To be a holy set-apart people, we must echo the God we serve and His ways. We change the ways, we change the covenant, we make common the holiness of God.
Deuteronomy 7:6 ‘For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.’
Deuteronomy 28:9 ‘The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways.’
Deuteronomy 14:2 ‘For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.’
Isaiah 62:12 ‘And they will call them, “The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord”; And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.”
1 Peter 2:9 ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellences of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…’
1 Peter2:9 is especially remarkable; for as Peter/Kefa quotes the Torah, he also reminds the people that they were called out of darkness/hoshek/bondage into the Light/Or/Torah/Yeshua.
The holiness continues in Exodus 19:10-20 as God prepares the people to receive the Ten Words. God instructs Moshe to tell the people to be ready the third day, the Lord will come down on the third day, and on the third day there were thunderings and lightning.
1 Corinthians 15:4 ‘That He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…’ Hosea 6:2 ‘After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live before Him.’ Luke 24:7 ‘That the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Mark 14:58 ‘We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Matthew 16:21 ‘From that time Yeshua began to show his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’
Exodus 20, the last chapter of Yitro contains the Ten Words, the declaration of the truth/emet of the very voice of God. This is the Covenant, the Brit that God made with His people.
Over time, the word Covenant in the Western civilization became diluted to more of a contract meaning. This play on words changed the original purpose of the Ten Words, as it was easy to change and transform some of the exact meanings. The Fourth Commandment in particular. This covenant has now been made into a contract: any day will do – whatever fits your lifestyle.
In a contract, two or more people come together, each pursuing their self-interest, to make a mutually advantageous exchange. In a covenant, each party comes together in a bond of loyalty and trust to do together to achieve the purpose of the covenant. It isn’t an exchange; it’s a moral commitment. It is more like a marriage than a commercial transaction. Contracts are about interests; covenants are about truth and strength. Contracts benefit; covenants transform. Contracts are about “Me” and “You”; covenants are about “Us.” At Sinai, God remained God and the Israelites remained human, yet each entity abiding by the covenant to reach the final goal. A symbol of covenant is the havdalah candle: multiple wicks that stay separate but produce a single flame.
Nehemiah 1:5 ‘I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments…’
Nehemiah 9:32 “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness.’
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 ‘But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.’
1 Kings 8:23 ‘He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart.’
May you be blessed as you study Yitro, and strive to be that Holy Nation of People.
יִתְרוֹ
Yitro / Jethro
Exodus 18:1-20:23
The Ten Words…
Chapter 19 of this Torah portion begins to pave the way for the giving of what our society calls the Ten Commandments. This is really a misnomer. The Ten Commandments are the most famous religious-and-moral code in history. Until recently they were displayed in most American courtrooms. They still adorn most synagogue arks. However, the “ten commandments” are not Ten Commandments. The Torah calls them aseret hadevarim in Exodus 34:28. Tradition calls them aseret hadibrot, meaning the “ten words” or “ten utterances”.
Exodus 19:3-6 is so profound as Elohim clarifies His intent and His people: ‘And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
Adonai continues with a remarkable correlation to 1 Corinthians 15:4 and Yeshua’s statement in John 2:19. : ‘Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.’ Exodus 10:11. The ‘third day’ is an important reference to note that Adonai chose.
Exodus chapter twenty begins the giving of the ‘Ten Words’. Unfortunately, they have been altered by the Catholic system of religion one way and the Protestant system of religion another way. Last year, my commentary on Yitro expounded on this deviation.
The ‘10 Words’ begin with a foundation, continue with substance and end with another foundation.
God begins His Covenant with: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This is a premise, a beginning, a territorial statement of the God we serve and what He did, a God who did something. Remember in the last two Torah portions He brought us out of bondage/Egypt to worship Him -His way. This is an important facet to remember – that it was He who released us from bondage.
The Ten Words end with the commandment: ‘“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Why not end with the obvious most hateful as in ‘You shall not murder?’
Because ‘envy’ births the negative actions. Envy is one of the prime drivers of violence in society. Envy/covet led Cain to murder Abel. Envy lay at the heart of the hatred of the brothers for Joseph. They resented his special treatment by Jacob, the coat of many colors and the dreams that exalted him above the brothers. Esau was jealous and plotted to kill Jacob. Korach was jealous of Moshe. Envy drove Jezebel eventually to her own demise. Rachel and Leah were jealous of each other’s love from Jacob. Hamman was jealous and hated Mordechi. The governors were jealous and hated Daniel. King Saul envied David, and the Pharisees were envious of Yeshua. Yeshua gives an example of envy in the story of the prodigal son and Rabbi Shaul rebukes the Corinthians for jealousy. And of course the beginning of the emotions envy/jealousy and coveting was/is the great liar – Lucifer.
What can we learn from this? That coveting is the beginning of the downfall of man and we fall into the snare of the enemy.
This parsha ends with an instruction regarding idols in our lives and idols of the heart: ‘Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make anything to be with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.”
Interesting that God tells Moshe to remind the people that He has talked to them from heaven, thus reiterating His authority in all and above the earth. He clarifies this with the commandment to not make an idol that would be linked to Him. What exactly is that? In the Hebrew the sentence is: “You shall not make images of what is with Me.”
Rashi teaches that God is referring to the cherubs, the golden statues that would be atop the Ark in the Tabernacle. These figures were to be placed in the holiest of holies, however, that did not entitle the people to be free to make them at their want and will, whenever they thought it would help them rise to the level of piousness. It was and is forbidden to duplicate what is to be only over the Ark.
Many today equate the cherubs to ‘angels’. And many today worship angels, collect angels and even pray to angelic beings. This would be in direct conflict with Exodus 20:23.
May we learn to listen, hear and be doers of The Word.
Baruch HaShem~