Parsha
Ki Tetze
Deuteronomy 21:10 -
25:19
Please
pray this
Prayer
before reading
Prayer
In
the name of Yahushua
Our
Messiyah,
I
pray for the Spirit of Understanding
The
Spirit of Knowledge and
The
Spirit of Wisdom
As I
read through this Parsha
That
the Truth of Torah may
Come
forth. Amen
Torah portion Ki Tetze is the 49 Portion, in this
portion ABBA YAHVEH want to reveals to us how we can aspire to the level of umateh elokim beyadi, where we have the spirit
of power to ward off judgment and suffering.
Most of us are not at this level as yet, but as we
experience each Portion in its fullness, we will achieve spiritual maturity.
Every believer who believe in Messiyah Yahushua, are in one of the sixth day
days of Creation.
Whatever day of Creation we are in, this Torah
Portion gives us the ability to cast aside judgment with the Spirit of
Authority, according to the day of creation we experiencing.
What is the principle behind developing this spirit
of Authority, we can reread it in Torah Portion Berasheet. If we go back to the
third day of Creation, when the Spirit of Counsel and Authority begins to
develop. As children of the light, we are either in the Light or some darkness.
Yet, there is a mixture of light and darkness called dusk. There are also
various level off light starting at 6 am and climax at 12.00 noon.
The name יהוה Yud, Hei,
Vav, and Hei is a channel for mercy
“Racham”: in Kabbalah, this is understood as Right Column energy. The Name
Elohim “gods” indicates judgment, which is left Column energy. Putting it more
directly, the desire to Share, the Light of ABBA YAHVEH is Right Column energy.
The Desire to receive for the Self Alone is Left Column energy.
As believers, we must remind ourselves that the
purpose of Creation was given to us the free will to engage in a spiritual
battle between our ego: the desire to share verse the desire to receive.
Whenever we act according to Torah, or should I say
righteously we diminish our natural desire to receive, but increase the desire
to share. When it is said that there is a right way to do things, on a
spiritual level we are pointing out the potential to elevate the Right Column
over the Left Column.
In every situation we always have two choices: we
either allow the left to rule over the right or we can say no and allow the
right to rule over the left. I am going to deny the natural intent of the ego
to receive for its selfish purpose. Every day we are given numerous opportunities
to decide whether we are going right or left.
In this chapter
provision is made,
·
For the putting
away of the guilt of blood from the land, when he that shed it had fled from
justice verse 1-9.
·
For the
preserving of the honor of a captive maid verse 10–14.
·
For the securing of the right of a first-born
son, though he were not a favorite verse 15–17.
·
For the restraining and punishing of a
rebellious son verse 18–21.
·
For the
maintaining of the honor of human bodies, which must not be hanged in chains,
but decently buried, even the bodies of the worst malefactor’s verse 22, 23.
In this passage the Torah respond to the often
inflamed passion of a soldier in battle. If he sees a woman among the enemy and
feels a desire for her, the Torah is providing an avenue, the parameter in
which it should be done. What is the process of elevating an unsaved woman to
the status of a wife? Rather than risk sin that would lead to further spiritual
contamination, the Torah provide a avenue to acquire a wife from among the
gentile nation.
Deu 21:10 “When you go out to fight against your enemies, and יהוה your Elohim shall give them into your hand,
and you shall take them captive, - By
this law a soldier is allowed to marry his captive if he pleased. Because of
the desire of our hearts Moses gave us this permission, lest, if we had not had
liberty given us to marry such, they should have taken liberty to defile
themselves with them, and by such wickedness the camp would have been troubled.
As believers we are
in a constant state of war, with our evil inclination of our ego. When we go to
war against our enemy, and YAHVEH TSEBAOTE delivers them into our hands, it is
not only talking about an external enemy.
It is addressing the
benefit of fighting our own ego, the desire to receive for selfish reasons. It
is through this struggle and our awareness of why we are engaged in it that
ABBA YAHVEH will give us the victory. ABBA YAHVEH will deliver our enemy into
our hands.
Deu 21:11 and shall see among the captives a woman fair of form, and shall delight in
her and take her for your wife, - That they should not abuse themselves by doing it
too hastily, though the captive was ever so desirable: "If thou wouldest have her for his wife, it is true he need
not ask her parents’ consent, for she is thy captive, and she is at his
disposal.
But, he shall have no intercourse till with
her, until he has clean herself up. This allowance was designed to bring the
woman into a holy statue as he was, an honorable and generous affection to a
comely and amiable person, though in distress; therefore he may make her his
wife if he will, but he must not deal
with her as with a harlot.
Deu 21:12 then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head
and trim her nails, - After she was
brought to his home, she must shave her head, meaning that her old covering was
now been replace by a new one.
The new hair growth is signal that she now have a new
redeem status, she is no longer under the old covering, of Idol worship.
Deu 21:13 and put aside the mantle of her captivity, and shall dwell in your house,
and mourn her father and her mother a month of days. And after that you shall
go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife. - "Thou shall not marry (have sex with) her of a
while, but keep her a full month in thy house. This he must do either, for in
letting her alone for a while to mourner her father he does much better.
This was done in
token of her renouncing idolatry, and becoming a proselyte to the Jewish
religion. The shaving of her head, the paring of her nails, and the changing of
her apparel, signified her putting off her former conversation, which was
corrupt in her ignorance, that she might become a new creature.
She must remain in
his house to be taught the good knowledge of YAHVEH and the worship of him: and
the Jews say that if she refused, and continued obstinate in idolatry, he must
not marry her (have sex with her). The
professors of religion must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, 2 Co. 6:14. The Hebrew concept of marriage and the
Christian concept are different. In the Hebrew custom once a man penetrates a
woman she becomes his wife. He must now go and pay the bride price to her
father.
Deu 21:14 “And it shall be, if you are not pleased with her, then you shall let her go
at her desire, but you do not sell her at all for silver. Do not treat her
harshly, since you have humbled her. – Here is were a lot of women have problem with this
verse, if the man is not please with her. This have nothing to do with like or
dislike, it has to do with he ability to conform to his belief system.
First he already choose her because she is beautiful, now
she have to prove that she is will to adopt his faith. It has nothing to do
with physical pleasure. He cannot sell her to someone else if he had already
had sex with her.
Having sex in the Hebrew community is to take her for a
wife, it have nothing to do with going in front of a Pastor and saying “I do.”
This is the teaching of Christianity.
Deu 21:15 “When a man has two wives, one loved and the other
unloved, and they have borne him children, both the loved and the unloved, and
the first-born son is of her who is unloved, - The case here put is very instructive. The Law of
Moses did not restrain a man from having more than one wife. Moses himself had
two. Observe the supposition here: If a man has two wives, it is a thousand to
one but one of them is loved and the other.
Hated means that is
manifestly loved less as Leah was by Jacob. Leah was not loved less, Rachel was
Jacobs’s first choice. But Jacob knew that once he had sex with her she was his
wife.
It is also
surprising that there was no mention of a wedding, only a feast then he when in
to her, and she became his wife.
The two condition for a
union was meet, the bride price was paid and the consummation after.
Christian would like
to tell you that you must get married first, this concept was invented in the
11th century; see Oxford
However, Rachel and Leah
both gave their maidservant to Jacob to be his third and forth wife of Jacob.
Were is the jealousy?
This verse teaches IF, not he should, but IF he does, even
though he might like one more than the other, he cannot give the one he like
son the first born privilege, when the son of the not so like woman, is the
actually first born. Let us be careful of the commandment of man.
Deu 21:16 then it shall be, on the day he makes his sons to inherit his
possessions, he is not allowed to treat the son of the beloved wife as
first-born in the face of the son of the unloved, who is truly the first-born. - The law in this case is still binding on parents;
they must give their children their right without partiality. In the case
supposed, the eldest son, though the son of the less-beloved wife, must have
his birthright privilege, which was a double portion of the father’s estate,
because he was the beginning of his strength that is, in him his family began
to be strengthened and his quiver began to be filled with the arrows of a
mighty man (Ps. 127:4), and therefore the right of the first-born is his.
Deu 21:17 “But he is to acknowledge the son of the unloved wife as the first-born by
giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his
strength – the right of the first-born is his. – In this verse we see EL YAHVEH make a law that applies
to the showing of favoritism to our children. It is human nature to have
emotions, and sometime it takes the better of us. I have seen even in my own
family were favoritism destroy family - Jacob
had indeed deprived Reuben of his birthright, and given it to Joseph, but it
was because Reuben had forfeited the birthright by his incest, not because he
was the son of the Lead; now,
what Jacob did was just, he establish a precedent for others to do the same
thing.
It is establish here
that when the father makes his will, or otherwise settled his estate, the child
shall not fare the worse because of his mother unhappiness in having less of
her husband’s love, for that was not the child’s fault.
Parents ought to
make any difference in dispensing their affections among their children, than
what they see plainly YAHVEH makes in dispensing his grace among them.
Since it is the
providence of YAHVEH that makes heirs, the disposal of providence in that
matter must be acquiesced in and not opposed. No son should be abandoned by his
father till he manifestly appears to be abandoned of YAHVEH, which is hard to
say of any while there is life. Just look at Esau and Jacob.
Deu 21:18 “When a man has a wayward and rebellious son who is not listening to the
voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have
disciplined him, does not listen to them, - A law for the punishing of a rebellious son.
Having in the former law provided that parents should not deprive their
children of their right, it was fit that it should next be provided that
children withdraw not the honor and duty which are owing to their parents, for
there is no partiality in the divine law.
How the criminal is
here described. He is a stubborn and
rebellious son. No child was to fare the worse for the weakness of his
capacity, the slowness or dullness of his understanding, but for his
willfulness and obstinacy.
Deu 21:19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to
the elders of his city, to the gate of his city, - There is a well known statement that
we must separate this state from the church. In this verse we see the Elders of
the Church running the city.
Deu 21:20 and shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is wayward and
rebellious. He is not listening to our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard. - If
he carry himself proudly and insolently towards his parents, show contempt
against their authority, slight their reproofs and admonitions, disobey the
express commands they give him for his own good, hate to be reformed by the
correction they give him, shame their family, grieve their hearts, waste their
substance, and threaten to ruin their estate by riotous living, this is a stubborn
and rebellious son.
He is particularly
supposed to be a glutton or a drunkard. This intimates either that these
were sins which his parents did in a particular manner warn him against, and
therefore that in these instances there was a plain evidence that he did not
obey their voice. Lemuel had this charge from his mother, Prov. 31:4.
In the education of
children, great care should be taken to suppress all inclinations to
drunkenness, and to keep them out of the way of temptations to it; in order
that they should be possessed with the dread of detestation of that beastly
sin.
That his being a glutton
and a drunkard was the cause of his insolence and obstinacy towards his
parents. There is nothing that draws men into all manner of wickedness, and
hardens them in it, more certainly and fatally than drunkenness does. When men
take to drink they forget the law, they forget all law (Prov. 31:5), even that
fundamental law of honoring parents.
Deu 21:21 “Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. Thus you
shall purge the evil from your midst. And let all Yisra’ĕl hear, and fear. - What
judgment is to be executed upon him: he must be publicly stoned to death by the men of his city.
The paternal authority was supported, and YAHVEH, our common Father, showed
himself jealous for it, it being one of the first and most ancient streams
derived from him that is the fountain of all power.
This law, if duly
executed, would early destroy the
wickedness of the land. (Ps. 101:8), and prevent the spreading of the
gangrene, by cutting off the corrupt part in time.
For those that were
bad members of families would never make good members of the commonwealth. It
would strike an awe upon children, and frighten them into obedience to their
parents, if they would not otherwise be brought to their duty and kept in it.
All Yisrael shall hear. The
Jews say, "The elders that condemned him were to send notice of it in
writing to all the nation over.
In such a court, such a day, we stoned such a one, because he was a
stubborn and rebellious son.’’ And I
have sometimes wished that as in all our courts there is an exact record kept
of the condemnation of criminals, in perpetual
rei memoriam, that the memorial may never be lost.
So there might be
public and authentic notice given in print to the kingdom of such
condemnations, and the executions upon them, by the elders themselves, in terrorem—that all may hear and fear.
Deu 21:22 “And when a man has committed a sin worthy of death, then he shall be put to
death and you shall hang him on a tree. - A
law for the burying of the bodies of malefactors that were hanged. The hanging
of them by the neck till the body was dead was not used at all among the Jews,
as with us; but of such as were stoned to death, if it were for blasphemy, or
some other very execrable crime, it was usual, by order of the judges, to hang
up the dead bodies upon a post for some time, as a spectacle to the world, to
express the ignominy of the crime, and to strike the greater terror upon
others, that they might not only hear and fear, but see and fear.
Now it is here
provided that, whatever time of the day they were thus hanged up, at sun-set
they should be taken down and buried, and not left to hang out all night;
sufficient (says the law) to such a
man is this punishment; let it go no further.
Let the malefactor
and his crime be hidden in the grave. YAHVEH would thus preserve the honor of
human bodies and tenderness towards the worst of criminals.
The time of exposing
dead bodies thus is limited for the same reason that the number of stripes was
limited by another law: Lest thy
brother seem vile unto thee. Punishing beyond death YAHVEH reserves to
himself; as for man, there is no more that he can do. Whether therefore the
hanging of malefactors in chains, and setting up their heads and quarters, be
decent among Messianics that look for the resurrection of the body, may perhaps
be worth considering.
Yet it is plain
there was something ceremonial in it; by the law of Moses the touch of a dead
body was defiling, and therefore dead bodies must not be left hanging up in the
country, because, by the same rule, this would defile the land.
There is one reason
here given which has reference to Messiyah. He that is hanged is accursed of YAHVEH, that is, it is the
highest degree of disgrace and reproach that can be done to a man, and
proclaims him under the curse of YAHVEH as much as any external punishment can.
Those that see him
hanging between Heavens and earth will conclude him abandoned of both and
unworthy of either; and therefore let him not hang all night, for that would
carry it too far.
Now the apostle,
showing how Messiyah has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being himself
made a curse for us, illustrates it by comparing the brand here put on him that
was hanged on a tree with the death of Messiyah, Gal. 3:13.
Deu 21:23 “Let his body not remain overnight on the tree, for you shall certainly bury
him the same day – for he who is hanged is accursed of Elohim – so that you do
not defile the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance. - Moses, by the
Spirit, uses this phrase of being accursed
of YAHVEH, when he means no more than being treated most ignominiously,
that it might afterwards be applied to the death of Messiyah, and might show
that in it he underwent the curse of the law for us, which is a great
enhancement of his love and a great encouragement to our faith in him.
This passage is
applied to the death of Messiyah, not only because he bore our sins and was
exposed to shame, as these malefactors were that were accursed of YAHVEH, but
because he was in the evening taken down from the cursed tree and buried (and
that by the particular care of the Jews, with an eye to this law, Jn. 19:31),
in token that now, the guilt being removed, the law was satisfied, as it was
when the malefactor had hanged till sun-set; it demanded no more. Then he
ceased to be a curse, and those that were his. As the land of Yisrael was pure
and clean when the dead body was buried, so the church is washed and cleansed
by the complete satisfaction which that Yahushua made.
Chapter 22
The laws of this chapter
provide,
I.
For the
preservation of charity and good neighbor-ship, in the care of strayed or
fallen cattle verse 1 – 4.
II.
For the
preservation of order and distinction, that men and women should not wear one
another’s clothes verse 5, and that other needless mixtures should be avoided
verse 9–11.
III.
For the
preservation of birds verse 6, 7.
IV. Of
life verse 8.
IV.
Of the
commandments verse 12.
V.
Of the reputation
of a wife abused, if she were innocent verse 13–19, but for her punishment if
guilty verse 20, 21.
VI.
For the
preservation of the chastity of wives verse 22. Virgins betrothed verse 23–27,
or not betrothed verse 28, 29. And, lastly, against incest verse 30.
Deu
22:1 “When
you see your brother’s ox or his sheep going straying away, you shall not hide
yourself from them. Return them to your brother without fail. - The kindness that was commanded to be shown in
reference to an enemy (Ex. 23:4, etc.) is here required to be much more done
for a neighbor, though he were not an Yisraelite, for the law is consonant to
natural equity. Am I my brother’s keeper? Yes I am. Who is my brother? A fellow
Hebrew, one who believe in the same Elohim as I do.
An enemy can be
someone who also believes in the same god, but sees thing different from you.
Deu 22:2
“And if your brother is not near you, or if
you do not know him, then you shall bring it to your own house, and it shall be
with you until your brother seeks it, then you shall return it to him. - That strayed cattle symbolize anything that your
neighbor lost, it should be brought back, either to the owner or to the pasture
out of which they had gone astray.
This must be done in
pity to the very cattle, which, while they wandered, were exposed; and in
civility and respect to the owner, nay, and in justice to him, for it was doing
as we would be done by, which is one of the fundamental laws of equity.
The Pure Religion
teaches us to be neighborly, and to be ready to do all good offices, as we have
opportunity, to all men. In doing this, we must not seek trouble, but, if we
knew who the owner was, must take it back ourselves. For, if we should only
send notice to the owner to come and look after it himself, some mischief might
befall it before he returns.
Deu 22:3
“And so you do with his donkey, and so you
do with his garment, and so you do with whatever your brother loses, which he
has lost and you have found. You are not allowed to hide yourself. - We must not mind expense, as the good Samaritan did,
but, if they knew not who the owner was, must take it home and feed it till the
owner was found. If such care must be taken of a neighbour’s ox or ass going
astray, how much more of ourselves going astray from God and his duty.
We should do our
utmost to convert him (Jam. 5:19 Brethren, if anyone among
you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 20let him
know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from
death and cover a multitude of sins.), and restore him, considering
ourselves, Gal. 6:1 Brethren,
if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one
in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2Bear
one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Yahushua. That lost goods should be brought to the owner.
Deu 22:4
“When you see your brother’s donkey or his
ox fall down on the way, you shall not hide yourself from them. Help him raise
them without fail. - The Jews say, "He that found the lost goods was
to give public notice of them by the common crier three or four times,’’
according to the usage with us; if the owner could not be found, he that found
the goods might convert them to his own use.
He would do very
well to give the value of the goods to the poor. Those cattle in distress
should be helped. This must be done both in compassion to the brute-creatures
(for a merciful man regarded the life
of a beast, though it be not his own) and in love and friendship to our
neighbor, not knowing how soon we may have occasion for his help. If one member
may say to another, "I have at present no need of thee,’’ it cannot say,
"I never shall.’’
Deu 22:5
“A woman does not wear that which pertains
to a man, nor does a man put on a woman’s garment, for whoever does this is an
abomination to יהוה your Elohim. - Here are several laws in these verses which seem to stoop very low, and
to take cognizance of things mean and minute. Men’s laws commonly do not so: The law takes no cognizance of little
things; but because YAH’S providence extends itself to the smallest
affairs, his precepts do so, that even in them we may be in the fear of YAHVEH, as we are
under his eye and care.
Yet the significance
and tendency of these statutes, which seem little, are such that,
notwithstanding their minuteness, being fond among the things of YAH’S law,
which he has written to us, they are to be accounted great things.
The distinction of
sexes by the apparel is to be kept up, for the preservation of our own and our
neighbor’s chastity.
Nature
itself teaches that a difference be made between them in their hair, 1 Co. 11:14 Does
not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor
to him? and by the same rule in
their clothes, which therefore ought not to be confounded, either in ordinary
wear or occasionally.
Some think it refers
to the idolatrous custom of the Gentiles: in the worship of Venus, women
appeared in amour, and men in women’s clothes; this, as other such superstitious
usages, is here said to be an
abomination to YAHVEH.
It forbids the
confounding of the dispositions and affairs of the sexes: men must not be
feminate, nor do the women’s work in the house, nor must women be viragos,
pretend to teach, or usurp authority,
1 Tim. 2:11, 12.
Probably this
confounding of garments had been used to teach the difference between sexes,
opportunity of committing uncleanness, and is therefore forbidden; for those
that would be incline to do so, is protected from sin must keep themselves from
all occasions of it and approaches to it.
Deu 22:6 “When you come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the
ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the
eggs, do not take the mother with the young. – In taking a bird’s-nest, the dam must be let go. The
Jews say, "This is the least of all the commandments of the law of
Moses,’’ and yet the same promise is here made to the observance of it that is
made to the keeping of the fifth commandment, which is one of the greatest, that it may be well with thee, and that thou
mayest prolong thy days; for, as disobedience in a small matter shows a
very great contempt of the law, so obedience in a small matter shows a very
great regard to it.
He that let go a bird
out of his hand (which was worth two in the bush) purely because YAHVEH bade
him, in that made it to appear that he esteemed
all YAH’S precepts concerning all things to be right, and that he could
deny himself rather than sin against YAHVEH.
But doth YAHVEH take care for birds? 1
Co. 9: 9For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle
an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about?. Yes,
certainly; and perhaps to this law our Savior alludes. Lu. 12: 6“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not
one of them is forgotten before YAHVEH,
Are not five sparrows sold for two
farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before YAHVEH?
This law, forbids us
to be cruel to the animals, or to take a pleasure in destroying them. Though YAHVEH
has made us wiser than the fowls of
Heavens, and given us dominion
over them, yet we must not abuse them nor rule them with rigor.
Let go the dam to breed again; destroy it not, for a blessing is in it,
Isa. 65:8. 2. It teaches us compassion to those of our own kind, and to abhor
the thought of every thing that looks barbarous, and cruel, and ill-natured,
especially towards those of the weaker and tender sex, which always ought to be
treated with the utmost respect, in consideration of the sorrows wherein they
bring forth children.
It is spoken of as
an instance of the most inhuman cruelty that the mother was dashed to pieces upon her children (Hos. 10:14),
and that the women with child were
ripped open, Amos 1:13. 3. It further intimates that we must not take
advantage against any, from their natural affection and the tenderness of their
disposition, to do them an injury.
Deu 22:7 let the mother go without fail, and
take the young for yourself, so that it might be well with you, and that you
shall prolong your days. - The mother could not have been
taken if her concern for her eggs or young (unlike to the ostrich) had not
detained her upon the next when otherwise she could easily have secured herself
by flight. Now, since it is a thousand pities that she should fare the worse
for that which is her praise, the law takes care that she shall be let go. The
remembrance of this may perhaps, some time or other, keep us from doing a hard
or unkind thing to those whom we have at our mercy.
As believers nothing
should be done to cause the extinction of a spices. By taken both the mother
and the young, is a step in the extension of the spices..
Deu 22:8 “When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, so
that you do not bring blood-guilt on your house when one falls from it. - In building a house, care must be taken to make it
safe, that no one might receive any injury from a fall. The roofs of their
houses were flat in those day for people to walk on, as appears by many
scriptures; now lest any, through carelessness, and someone should fall off,
them, the owner must compensate them for there injury.
The wall or
protected fence must be three feet and a half high; if this were not done, and
injury followed, the owner, by his neglect, brought the guilt of blood upon his
house.
How precious men’s
lives are to YAHVEH, who protects them, not only by his providence, but by his
law. How precious, therefore, they ought to be to us, and what care we should
take to prevent hurt from coming to any person.
The Jews say that by
the equity of this law they were obliged (and so are we too) to fence, or
remove, every thing by which life may be endangered, as to cover draw-wells,
keep bridges in repair, and the like, lest, if any perish through our
carelessness, their blood be required at our hand.
Deu 22:9 “Do not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seed, lest the yield of
the seed which you have sown and the fruit of your vineyard be defiled. – In this verse
the laws of odd mixtures are here
forbidden. Much of this we met with before, Lev. 19:19.
There appears
nothing at all of moral evil in these things, and therefore we now make no
conscience of sowing wheat and rye together, plowing with horses and oxen
together, and of wearing linsey-woolsey garments; but hereby is forbidden
either, A conformity to some idolatrous
customs of the heathen. That which is contrary to the holiness and purity of an
Yisraelite.
They must not
gratify their own vanity and curiosity by putting those things together which
the Creator in infinite wisdom had made asunder: they must not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers, nor mingle themselves with the unclean, as an ox with
an ass. Nor must their profession and appearance in the world be motley, or party-colored,
but all of a piece, all of a kind.
Deu 22:10 “Do not plough with an ox and a donkey together. – In ministry we must not have a clean
and an unclean person working together. A Ox is a kosher animal while a donkey
is not.
Deu 22:11 “Do not put on a garment of different kinds, of wool and linen together. – As belivers we must not have two or
many different standards. We cannot be holy on Sabbath and the other sixt day
we operate by the standard of the world. We cannot be holy on Passover and the
Feast day and forget abou a righteous life the other days fof the year. We
cannot only attend the Assembly only during the High Holy days, and forget the
others days. Our garment must be all linen or all wool.
Linen symbolize holyness, for it does not produce swet
when it is worn, wool on the other hand cause the body to produce sweat, which
is a form of uncleanness.
Deu 22:12 “Make tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover
yourself. - The law concerning fringes upon their garments, and
memorandums of the commandments, which we had before (Num. 15:38, 39), is here
repeated. By these they were distinguished from other people, so that it might
be said, upon the first sight there goes an Yisraelite, which taught them not
to be ashamed of their country, nor the peculiarities of their religion, how
much so ever their neighbors looked upon them and it with contempt: and they
were also put in mind of the precepts upon the particular occasions to which
they had reference; and perhaps this law is repeated here because the precepts
immediately foregoing seemed so minute that they were in danger of being
overlooked and forgotten.
The fringes will
remind you not to make your garments of linen and woolen. Luke 8:43 Now
a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her
livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44came from
behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood
stopped. We see in this scripture Yahushua
wore fringes.
Deu 22:13 “When any man takes a wife, and shall go in to her, and shall hate her, - In the Hebrew culture a woman does not
date, she stay home until her father finds her a husband. The young man or man
would ask her father permission for her to be his wife, if it is agreed upon by
her and her father, the man must paid the bride price and take her home and
have a wedding feast to celebrate the occasion.
If on the night of the consummation, he find that she was
not a virgin as she said she was, this would become her uncleanness.
If on the other hand if she was a virgin, and he despise
her then, this is the protection for the woman. The man cannot go and bad mouth
her as the next verse implies.
Deu 22:14 and shall make abusive charges against her and bring an evil name on her
and say, ‘I took this woman, and when I came to her I did not find her a maiden,’ – Here is the false charge against
her, after he had sex with her, he suddenly accuse her of not been a virgin.
Deu 22:15 then the father and mother of the young woman shall take and bring out the
proof of the girl’s maidenhood to the elders of the city at the gate. – In those days a woman who is a
virgin had to wear a special cloth the first time she had sex, and she had to
return it to her father to say that he provided the man with a virgin.
In those days unlike today, there were no casual sex, it
was totally unheard off. Her special bed cloth had to be worn by her, and it
was a special honor for a young woman to possess virginity on that special
night.
The father or mother would wait outside for the cloth to
be present to them before they would return home. It would have been a
tremendous insult for the woman parent to have given a woman who was not a
virgin up for marriage.
The whole essence of a young woman and her parents was to
protect her virginity.
Deu 22:16 “And the girl’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this
man as wife, and he hates her.
- The father shall present the cloth with the proof of his daughter virginity
to the elder.
Deu 22:17 ‘And see, he has made abusive charges against her, saying, “I did not find
your daughter a maiden,” and yet these are the proofs of my daughter’s
maidenhood.’ And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. – This is a form
of the Wedding feast of the Bridegroom, when he returns for His five wise
Virgins, and yes five. If he does not find us virgins he will not take us to be
His wife.
A man cannot label a daughter of Yisrael as unclean after
he had sex with her. Ladies this is a very serious thing not to be a virgin on
your wedding night. If she is guilty, she will be punish, however if she is
not, the man that false accused her will be punish severely.
Deu 22:18 “And the elders of that city shall take that man and punish him, -
slander is a serious punishment. A woman who is not a virgin on her wedding
night is a serious charge, the husband better be sure and the woman must take
very great care to keep herself a virgin for her husband.
Deu 22:19 and fine him one hundred pieces of silver and give them to the father of
the young woman, because he has brought an evil name on a maiden of Yisra’ĕl.
And she is to be his wife, he is not allowed to put her away all his days. – Notice the
punishment, one hundred silver coins must be paid to the father of the young
woman. The added punishment, is if she even becomes the biggest nag in the
world, he cannot divorce her.
Deu 22:20 “But if the matter is true, that the girl was not found a virgin, - if the
accusation is true. A woman can break her hymen by riding a horse, care must be
taken by the woman to prevent this.
Deu 22:21 then they shall bring out the girl to the door of her father’s house, and
the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done
wickedness in Yisra’ĕl, to whore in her father’s house. Thus you shall purge
the evil from your midst. – In the redeem community it is
unheard off for a young woman not to be a virgin, and the first man that had
sex with her she automatically become his wife.
The breaking of her hymen at intercourse is the blood
covenant she makes with the man. This blood covenant must not be broken, unless
he dies, then she may take another man as a husband.
If she was not a virgin then she must be stoned for she
have committed adultery, more that one man have had sex with her.
Deu 22:22 “When a man is found lying with a woman married”Not a virgin” then both of
them shall die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman. Thus you
shall purge the evil from Yisra’ĕl. – Here is the rest of the story. If a man had sex with a
woman who is not a virgin and her husband is not dead, then both of them shall die. Or if the second man had
consensual sex with each other, then both of them shall die.
If the first husband is providing food, cloth, shelter
and sex to the woman and another man had sex with her and she agree to it, both
shall die, unless he was not told.
Deu 22:23 “When a girl who is a maiden is engaged to a husband, and a man finds her in
the city and lies with her,
- Even if a young woman is engage and she is still a virgin she is consider a
married woman. It is as if she had consummate or establish a blood covenant
with the man.
Deu 22:24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and shall
stone them to death with stones, the girl because she did not cry out in the
city, and the man because he has humbled his neighbour’s wife. Thus you shall
purge the evil from your midst. – If the man knew that she was his neighbor fiancée, and he still went
ahead and had sex with her, death for them both. However, if she cried out
during the rape, she is not guilty
Deu 22:25 “But if a man finds the girl who is engaged in the field, and the man seizes
her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. – When a woman is
engage she usually wore a special cloth, signifying that she is under
authority. If she is in a place were she is alone and she got raped, then only
the male must be put to death.
Deu 22:26 “But you shall do no matter to the girl. The girl has no sin worthy of death
– for the matter is like a man who rises against his neighbour and kills him – If she was
wearing her dress to show that she was under authority, she is not to be put to
death.
Deu 22:27 for he found her in the field, and she cried out, the engaged girl, but
without anyone to save her. – The Hebrew system is a fool proof system.
When we see a woman by her dress we can ascertain whether she is under
authority or not. We can tell who is a widow and who is not.
Deu 22:28 “When a man finds a girl who is a maiden, who is not engaged, and he seizes
her and lies with her, and they are found out, - This is a woman who do not wear the head covering that
say she is under authority.
Deu 22:29 then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl’s father fifty pieces
of silver, and she is to be his wife because he has humbled her. He is not
allowed to put her away all his days. – Here we see a very interesting proposal,
if the man rape the virgin who is not engage or given to a man.
If he had sex with her and break her hymen, he must pay
the father fifty shekels. There is also
another punishment. If she is the worst wife in the world, he cannot divorce
her, for he did not ask her father for her first.
Deu 22:30 “A man does not take his father’s wife, nor uncover his father’s skirt. – This verse speaks of forbidden
relationship. Children of these relationships are considered to be an
abomination. Just ask David and Basheba first son, it had to die, because it
was a product of adultery.
Having sex with one’s step-mother is
forbidden, this is forbidden under penalty of excision, no union, sexual
relation should take place. The robe of his father, this euphemism refers to
the widow of his father. The word robe
symbolizes a requirement to marry in fulfillment of the command of yibum
see 25:5. The marriage canopy or robe, it indicates that he is using his
garment to shelter his bride and bring her into his household.
Chapter 23
The laws describe in this chapter provide,
I.
For the
preserving of the purity and honor of the families of Yisrael, by excluding
such as would be a disgrace to them verse 1-8.
II.
For the
preserving of the purity and honor of the camp of Yisrael when it was abroad
verse 9–14.
III.
For the encouraging and entertaining of slaves
who fled to them verse 15, 16.
IV.
Against
whoredom verse 17, 18.
V.
Against usury verse 19, 20.
VI.
Against the
breach of vows verse 21–23.
VII.
What liberty a
man might take in his neighbor’s field and vineyard, and what not verse 23, 25.
Deu
23:1 “No
one wounded, crushed or whose member is cut off does enter the assembly of יהוה . – A man whose
reproductive organs have been severely damage, so that he is impodent, may not
marry. If, however, the disability came
about through natural means, such as a birth defect or illness, this
prohibition does not apply.
Deu 23:2 “No one of illegitimate birth does
enter the assembly of יהוה , even a tenth generation of his
does not enter the assembly of יהוה . - Contrary
to the popular misconception, a mamzer
is not someone born out of wedlock. Rather, it is someone born of a union
between a man and a woman whose union could not be supported b Torah, such as a
brother and sister.
A Mamzer and all of his or her descendant may never marry into
the nation of Yisrael for ten generation. They may however, marry converts from
other mamzerim.
The Jewish writers understand, not all that were
born of adultery or fornication, but all the issue of those incestuous mixtures
which are forbidden, Lev. 18. Although it was not the fault of the woman, yet,
to deter people from those unlawful sexual relations and unlawful lusts, it was
very convenient that their posterity should thus be made infamous. By this rule
Jephthah, though the son of a harlot, a strange woman (Jdg. 11:1, 2), yet was
not a bastard in the sense of this law.
Deu 23:3 “An Ammonite or Mo’aḇite does not enter the assembly of יהוה , even a tenth generation of them
does not ever enter the assembly of יהוה , - The Ammonites and Moabites, the posterity of Lot, who, for his outward
convenience, had separated himself from Abraham, Gen. 13:11. And we do not find
that he or his seeds ever joined themselves again to the children of the
covenant.
Even though Lot was
part of the family, his descendant we not part of Abraham descendant, this is
what is meant by unequally yoke. It is like those in the Holy Place taking a
wife from someone in the Outer Court. Two different spiritual levels.
Deu 23:4 because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came
out of Mitsrayim, and because they hired against you Bilʽam son of Beʽor from
Pethor of Aram Naharayim, to curse you. - The charge at
the great day is for an omission: I
was hungry, and you gave me no meat. The Moabites had done worse, they
hired Balaam to curse Yisrael.
Deu 23:5 “But יהוה your Elohim refused to
listen to Bilʽam, and יהוה your Elohim turned the curse into a blessing
for you, because יהוה your Elohim loves you. - It
is true Elohim turned the curse into a
blessing, not only changing the word in Balaam’s mouth, but making that
really turn to the honor and advantage of Yisrael which was designed for their
ruin. But though the design was defeated, and overruled for good, the Moabites’
wickedness was not the less provoking. YAHVEH will deal with sinners, but
according to their endeavors, Ps. 28:4.
Deu 23:6 “Do not seek their peace nor their good, all your days, forever. - The reason of this quarrel which Yisrael must have
with them, so as not to seek their
peace, is because of the unkindness they had now lately done to the camp
of Yisrael, notwithstanding the orders YAHVEH had given not to distress or vex
them, ch. 2:9, 19.
Deu 23:7 “Do not loathe an Eḏomite, for he is your brother. Do not loathe a Mitsrite,
because you were a stranger in his land. - The Edomites
and Egyptians had not so deep a mark of displeasure put upon them as the
Moabites and Ammonites had. If an Edomite or Egyptian turned proselyte, his
grand-children should be looked upon as members of the congregation of YAHVEH
to all intents and purposes.
Deu 23:8 “The children of the third generation born to them do enter the assembly of יהוה . – These verses teaches that one that
cause another to sin is worst than his army someone who kill, because sin
causes the sinner to lose his share in the Kingdom to come.
Edom sent against Yisrael Numbers 20:20, and Egypt murder babies, but their offspring
are permitted to enter in third generation, while Ammon and Moad, who accused
Yisrael to sin, are prohibited after ten generation, Numbers 25: 1 – 8.
Deu 23:9 “When the
army goes out against your enemies, then you shall guard yourself from every evil
matter. - Yisrael was now encamped, and this vast army was
just entering upon action, which was likely to keep them together for a long
time, and therefore it was fit to give them particular directions for the good
ordering of their camp. The charge to them was to be clean. They must
take care to keep their camp pure from moral, ceremonial, and natural
pollution.
From moral pollution
: When the host goes forth against thy enemy then look upon thyself as
in a special manner engaged to keep thyself from every evil thing.
The soldiers
themselves must take heed of sin, for sin takes off the edge of velour; guilt
makes men cowards. Those that put their lives in their hands are concerned to
make and keep their peace with YAHVEH, and preserve a conscience void of
offence; then may they look death in the face without terror.
Soldiers, in executing their commission, must
keep themselves from gratifying the lusts of malice, covetousness, or
uncleanness, for these are wicked things, and they must keep themselves from
the idols, or accursed things, they found in the camps they plundered.
Even those that tarried at home, the body of
the people, and every particular person, must at that time especially keep from
every wicked thing, lest by sin they provoke YAHVEH to withdraw his presence
from the host, and give victory to the enemy for the correcting of his own
people. Times of war should be times of reformation, else how can we expect YAHVEH
should hear and answer our prayers for success? Ps. 66:18. See 1 Sa. 7:3.
Deu 23:10 “When there is any man among you who is not clean because of an emission in
the night, then he shall go outside the camp. Let him not come into the midst
of the camp. - From ceremonial pollution, which might befall a
person when unconscious of it, for which he was bound to wash his flesh in
water, and look upon himself as unclean
until the evening, Lev. 15:16. A soldier, notwithstanding the constant
service and duty he had to do in the camp, must be so far from looking upon
himself as discharged from the observance of this ceremony that more was
required from him than at another time.
There are three
stages in any conflict: the preparation stage; the battle stage; and the win or
lost stage. In Ki Tetze only two stages are mention, the preparation and the
end. Why there is no mention of the battle stage? Torah says “if we go out to battle we have already won.”
What this means is that if we are will to confront our enemy,
we will find that our enemy do not realy exist. When we truly understand that
despite what things seems to be, there is no challenge. Every thing around us
are only a tiny sparks of Light trapped in a puffed up delusion, we have
already won.
Deu 23:11 “And it shall be, when evening comes, that he bathes with water. And when
the sun sets let him come into the midst of the camp. - had
he been at his own house, he needed only to wash his flesh, but, being in the
army, he must go out of the camp, as one concerned to keep it pure and ashamed
of his own impurity, and not return till after sunset. By this trouble and
reproach, which even involuntary pollutions exposed men to, they were taught to
keep up a very great dread of all fleshly lusts. It were well if military men
would consider this.
Deu 23:12 “And you
shall have a place outside the camp, where you shall go out, - From natural pollution; the camp
of YAHVEH must have nothing offensive in it. It is strange that the divine law,
or at least the solemn order and direction of Moses, should extend to a thing
of this nature; but the design of it was to teach us: Modesty and decorum;
nature itself teaches us to distinguish ourselves from beasts that know no
shame.
Cleanliness of,
though not niceness, yet neatness, even in their camp. Filthiness is offensive
to the senses YAHVEH has endeud us with, prejudicial to the health, and wrong
to the comfort of human life, and an evidence of a careless slothful temper of
mind. Purity from the pollutions of sin; if there must be this care taken to
preserve the body clean and sweet, much more should we be solicitous to keep
the mind so.
Deu 23:13 and you shall have a sharp implement among your equipment, and when you sit
down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your excrement. -
This is were solders get the idea of carrying a shovel on their gear.
Deu 23:14 “For יהוה your Elohim walks in the
midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you. Therefore
your camp shall be set-apart, so that He does not see unclean matter among you,
and shall turn away from you.
- A reverence of the divine majesty.
This is the reason given here: Forיהוה thy
El walketh by HIS ark, the special
token of HIS presence, in the midst of
thy camp; with respect to that external symbol this external purity is
required, which (though not insisted on in the letter when that reason ceases)
teaches us to preserve inward purity of soul, in consideration of the eye of יהוה , which is always upon us.
By this expression
of respect to the presence of יהוה among them, they were taught both to fortify
themselves against sin and to encourage themselves against their enemies with
the consideration of that presence. A regard one to another. The filthiness of
one is noisome to many; this law of cleanliness therefore teaches us not to do
that which will be justly offensive to our brethren and grieve them. It is a
law against nuisances.
Deu 23:15 “You do not hand over to his master the slave who has escaped from his
master to you. - Orders are
here given about five things which have no relation one to another: The land of
Yisrael is here made a sanctuary, or city of refuge, for servants that were
wronged and abused by their masters, and flee to them for shelter from the
neighboring countries.
We cannot suppose
that they were obliged to give or entertainment all the unprincipled men that
ran from service; Yisrael needed not (as Rome at first did) to be a peopled.
But, they must not
deliver up the trembling servant to his enraged master, till upon trial it
appeared that the servant has wronged his master and was justly liable for
punishment.
It is an honorable
thing to shelter and protect the weak, provided they are not wicked. YAHVEH
allows HIS people to patronize the oppressed. The angel bid Hagar return to her
mistress, and Paul sent Onesimus back to his master Philemon, because they had
neither cause to go away, nor was either of them exposed to any danger in
returning. But the servant here is supposed to escape, that is, to run for his
life, to the people of Yisrael, of whom he had heard (as Benhadad of the kings
of Yisrael, 1 Ki. 20:31) that they were a merciful people.
To save himself from
the fury of a tyrant; and in that case to deliver him up is to throw a lamb
into the mouth of a lion.
If it appeared that
the servant was abused, they must not only protect him, but, supposing him by
willing embracing their religion, they must give him all the encouragement that
might be to settle among them.
Care is taken both
that he should not be imposed up on in the place of his settlement, let it be that
which he shall choose and where it liketh him best, and that he
should not exchange one hard master for many, thou shalt not oppress him.
Thus would he soon find a comfortable difference between the land of Yisrael
and other lands, and would choose it to be his rest for ever. Note, Proselytes
and converts to the truth should be treated with particular tenderness, that
they may have no temptation to return.
Deu 23:16 “Let him dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within
one of your gates, where it is pleasing to him. Do not oppress him. – The new convert have the luxury of
choosing which tribe they want to be in. There are lots of people from various
walks of life, who are on a spiritual path, who work constantly to give the
spirit dominance over the flesh. But what about those people who are slave to
others, those who the Zorah calls Neshamot
ha’ashukot, those soul that are slaves to the flesh, as this verse entails.
We have to power and the authority to rescue them from the slavery to the
flesh.
There is only so much we can give to others interms of
either helping them understand or giving them tools to do their own spiritual
works. In Ki Tetze we develop and learn how to free souls that are not strong
enough to free themselves.
It will help us in doing battle with the flesh, when we
realize that in every human being there is a spark of the CREATOR. Even in a
person who is dominate b the flesh, the Sparks of the CREATOR is still there,
the problem is that it is covered over by more darkness.
When we can rescue or release the sparks of the CREATOR
inside a person or situation, the problem will disappears, regardless of the
circumstances. Our spiritual maturity will determine whether someone of something
is a challenge or not. A small shift in our faith is enough to reveal to us
that our problems is only an illusion. Just like it take a small needle to
burst a balloon.
On the Shabbat of ki Tetze, we need to ask for a deeper
revelation, a deep understandingnthat we might know difference between what is
real and what is an illusion. The spirit of Wisdom will give us the ability to
identify what aspect of our ego we need to resist.
Whatever blessing we want to receive, must be awaken
while we are still in the month of Elul, the month of teshuvah, of repentance, for Rosh Hashanah marks the first day of Tishrei, the Torah time of judgment.
Deu 23:17 “None of the daughters of Yisra’ĕl is to be a cult prostitute, nor any of
the sons of Yisra’ĕl be a cult prostitute. – In this verse we see another
common byproduct of war, is sexual promiscuity, which is anathema to the Hebrew
concept of holiness.
This passage forbids practices that undermined the Hebrew
sanctity. It should be noted that, however, that this passage like the previous
one, applies to all times; it is mention here because it deals with situations
that occur very often during wars, when men are together without their wives
for a long time.
Deu 23:18 “Do not bring the gift of a whore or the pay of a dog to the House of יהוה your Elohim for any vowed offering, for both
of these are an abomination to יהוה your Elohim. –
In this verse we are instructed not to bring the gifts of a whore or the
wages for a dog as tithes. It cannot be used during a Feast Celebration. That also
means that we cannot steal money and give it as offering.
Deu 23:19 “Do not lend at interest to your brother, interest of silver, interest of
food, or interest of whatever is lent at interest. – Yet he may lend to the stranger. Just as
the Torah is not for the gentiles, even though it is for them. The Torah is for
those who are saved, but it is also available for everyone who become saved.
Deu 23:20 “To a foreigner you lend at interest, but to your brother you do not lend at
interest, so that יהוה your Elohim might bless you in all that you
put your hand to in the land which you are entering to possess. - The matter of usury is here settled. We must not
lend upon usury to an Hebrew. They had and held their estates immediately from
and under YAHVEH, who, while he distinguished them from all other people, might
have ordered, had he so pleased, that they should have all things in common
among themselves.
but instead of that, and in token of their
joint interest in the good land he had given them, he only appointed them, as
there was occasion, to lend to one another without interest, which among them
would be little or no loss to the lender.
Because their land
was so divided, their estates were so settled, and there was so little of
merchandise among them, that it was seldom or never that they had occasion to
borrow any great sums, only what was necessary for the subsistence of their
families when the fruits of their ground had met with any disaster, or the
like.
In such a case, for
a small matter to insist upon usury would have been very barbarous. Where the
borrower gets, or hopes to get, it is just that the lender should share in the
gain; but to him that borrows for his necessary food pity must be shown, and we
must lend, hoping for nothing again, if we have wherewithal to do it, Lu. 6:35.
They might lend upon usury to a stranger, who
was supposed to live by trade, and (as we say) by turning the penny, and
therefore got by what he borrowed, and came among them in hopes to do so. By
this it appears that usury is not in itself oppressive; for they must not
oppress a stranger, and yet might exact usury from him.
Deu 23:21 “When you make a vow toיהוה your Elohim, do not delay to pay it, for יהוה your Elohim is certainly requiring it of you,
and it shall be sin in you. –
The performance of the vows wherewith we have bound our souls is here required;
and it is a branch of the law of nature. We are here left at our liberty
whether we will make vows or no: If
thou shalt forbear to vow (some particular sacrifice and offering, more
than was commanded by the law), it
shall be no sin to thee.
YAHVEH had already
signified his readiness to accept a free-will offering as a vowed, though it
were but a little fine flour (Lev. 2:4, etc.), which was encouragement enough
to those who were so inclined.
But lest the
priests, who had the largest share of those vows and voluntary offerings,
should sponge upon the people, by pressing it upon them as their duty to make
such vows, beyond their ability and inclination, they are here expressly told
that it should not be reckoned a sin in them if they did not make any such
vows, as it would be if they omitted any of the sacrifices that ABBA YAHVEH had
particularly required.
YAHVEH would have men to be lax in his
service, and all their offerings to be free and cheerful. We are admonish under the highest
obligations, when we have made a vow, to perform it, and to perform it
speedily: "Thou shalt not be
slack to pay it, lest if it be delayed beyond the first opportunity the
zeal abate, the vow be forgotten, or something happen to disable thee for the
performance of it.
That
which has gone out of thy lips as a
solemn and deliberate vow must not be recalled, but thou shalt keep and perform it, punctually and fully.’’
The rule of the
gospel goes somewhat further than this. 2 Co. 9:7, Every one, according as he purposed in his heart, though it have
not gone out of his lips, so let him
give. Here is a good reason why we should pay our vows, that if we do
not ABBA YAHVEH will require it of us,
will surely and severely reckon with us, not only for lying, but for going
about to mock him, who cannot be mocked. See Eccl. 5:4.
Deu 23:22 “But when you abstain from vowing, it is not sin in you. – Sometime if we refrain from vowing, one may
well think that it is meritorious to vow as a means of forcing oneself to do
good deeds. To this the Torah says that the opposite is true. Rather than
making a vow and take the chance of forgetting, delaying, or violating them, it
is better not to vow at all.
Even if the likelihood of performing good deeds is
therefore lessened, no sin is committed by not doing something one is not
obligated to do.
Deu 23:23 “That which has gone from your lips you shall guard and do, for you
voluntarily vowed to יהוה your Elohim what you have promised with your
mouth. - Allowance is here given, when they passed through a
cornfield or vineyard, to pluck and eat of the corn or grapes that grew by the
road-side, whether it was done for the necessity of hunger, only they must
carry none away with them.
Therefore the disciples were not censured for
plucking the ears of corn it was well enough known that the law allowed it, but
for doing it on the Sabbath day, which the tradition of the elders had
forbidden.
This law intimated
to them, what an abundance of corn and wine they should have in Canaan, so much
that a little would not be missed out of their fruits: they should have enough
for themselves and all their friends.
It provided for the support of poor travelers,
to relieve the fatigue of their journey, and teaches us to be kind to such. The
Jews say, "This law was chiefly intended in favor of laborers, who were
employed in gathering in their harvest and vintage; their mouths must not be
muzzled any more than that of the ox when he treads out the corn.’’
It teaches us not to insist upon property in a
small matter, of which it is easy to say, What is that between me and thee?
The traveler were not allowed to go beyond the boundary to the middle
of the field to reap the crop.
Deu 23:24 “When you come into your neighbour’s vineyard, you shall eat to the
satisfaction of your desire, but do not put any in a receptacle of yours. - It
was true the grapes which the passenger ate were none of his own, nor did the
proprietor give them to him; but the thing was of so small value that he had
reason to think were he present, he would not deny them to him, anymore than he
himself would grudge the like courtesy, and therefore it was no theft to take
them.
It used them to
hospitality, and teaches us to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate,
and not to think every thing lost that is given away. Yet, it forbids us to
abuse the kindness of our friends, and to take the advantage of fair
concessions to make unreasonable encroachments: we must not draw an ell from
those that give but an inch. They may eat of their neighbour’s grapes; but it
does not therefore follow that they may carry away.
Deu 23:25 “When you come into your neighbour’s standing grain, you shall pluck the
heads with your hand, but do not use a sickle on your neighbour’s standing
grain. – What this verse is
elucidating is that a traveler may stop and pluck an apple or grapes or any
thing that can be eaten, from a farm by the road, buy he is forbidden to
harvest it, or put any in his pockey, and leave the area.
Chapter 24
In this chapter we have,
I.
The toleration
of divorce verse 1-4.
II.
A discharge of
new-married men from the war verse 5.
III.
Laws concerning
pledges verse 6, 10–13, 17.
IV.
Against
man-stealing verse 7.
V.
Concerning the
leprosy verse 8, 9.
VI.
Against the
injustice of masters towards their servants verse 14, 15. Judges in capital
causes verse 16, and civil concerns verse 17, 18.
VII.
Of charity to
the poor verse 19, etc.
The laws of this chapter, of which some
are new and some additions to previously stated
ones, are directed towards the establishment of a some of the right and
ethical practices that would be necessary for the nation to function
harmoniously and successfully in the Land.
Among them are laws of marriage, respect
for personal freedom, fair treatment of workers, and special consideration for
the feeling and welfare of the most dependent member of society.
Deu 24:1
“When a man takes a wife and shall marry
her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found a
matter of uncoveredness in her, and he shall write her a certificate of
divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house, - If
a man takes a young woman and had sex with her and find that she is not a virgin,
then there are step for him to take. The flow of this verse implies that the
circumstance dictate that he should divorce her, for if a husband knows that
his wife is guilty of immoral conduct, even though he does not have witnesses
to prove it to the satisfaction of a court, he should end the relationship.
Divorce
can only be effected only through a document that is written by the husband or
his agent.
The word
for divorce means to cut off, which implies that a divorce must sever all legal
bonds between them the husband and wife. This implies, that he must stop
providing food, housing and sex with her, yes this include money.
Deu 24:2
and if she left his house and went and
became another man’s wife,
- It is only at that time she is free to become sexual active with who-so-ever
the wants. However after she have had another man, she cannot return to the
former husband. Women Liberation Movement does not like this law. She cannot
take half his possession when she is sent away.
Deu 24:3
and the latter husband shall hate her and
write her a certificate of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of
his house, or when the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, - notice
this verse did not say that the husband must give her half of his estate. The
only thing he must give her is a certificate of divorce. If the next husband
find the same fault in her, he may also send her away, sending her way means
back to her fathers house.
Deu 24:4
then her former husband who sent her away
is not allowed to take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled, for
that would be an abomination before יהוה . And do not bring sin on the
land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance. - A
man cannot have sex with a woman, again if another have had her since he last
had her. This is an abomination.
Deu 24:5 “When a man has taken a new wife, let him not go out into the army nor let
any matter be imposed upon him. He shall be exempt one year for the sake of his
home, to rejoice with his wife whom he has taken. – When a man takes a new wife, whether the
first wife or the second one, he should not be allowed to go to war for one
year.
If having more that one wife is a sin, then all the
children of Jacob would be children of adultery. We also know that children of
adultery cannot enter the country for ten years.
Deu 24:6 “No one takes in pledge the lower or the upper millstone, for he would be
taking a life in pledge. – As believer we must never take for a pledge anything
that a person might used for his or her survival.
Some necessary orders are given here about
pledges for the security of money lent. They are not forbidden to take such
securities as would save the lender from loss, and oblige the borrower to be
honest. They must not take the millstone for a pledge, for with that they
ground the corn that was to be bread for their families, or, if it were a
public mill, with it the miller got his livelihood; and so it forbids the
taking of any thing for a pledge by the want of which a man was in danger of
being undone.
Consonant to this is
the ancient common law of England, which provides that no man be distained of
the utensils or instruments of his trade or profession, as the axe of a
carpenter, or the books of a scholar, or beasts belonging to the plough, as
long as there are other beasts of which distress may be made (Coke, 1 Inst.
fol. 47). This teaches us to consult the comfort and subsistence of others
as much as our own advantage. That creditor who cares not though his debtor and
his family starve, nor is at all concerned what become of them, so he may but
get his money or secure it, goes contrary, not only to the law of Messiyah, but
even to the law of Moses too.
Deu 24:7 “When a man is found kidnapping any of his brothers of the children of Yisra’ĕl,
and treats him harshly or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die. Thus you
shall purge the evil from your midst. - A
law against man-stealing. It was not death by the law of Moses to steal cattle
or goods; but to steal a child, or a weak and simple man, or one that a man had
in his power, and to make merchandize of him, this was a capital crime, and
could not be expiated, as other thefts, by restitution, so much is a man
better than a sheep, Mt. 12:12.
It was a very
heinous offence, for. It was robbing the public of one of its members. It was
taking away a man’s liberty, the liberty of a free-born Yisraelite, which was
next in value to his life. It was
driving a man out from the inheritance of the land, to the privileges of which
he was entitled, and bidding him go serve other gods, as David complains
against Saul, 1 Sa. 26:19.
Deu 24:8 “Take heed, in an outbreak of leprosy, to diligently guard and do according
to all that the priests, the Lĕwites, teach you. As I have commanded them, so
you shall guard to do. - A memorandum
concerning the leprosy. The laws concerning it must be carefully observed. The
laws concerning it was first given in, Lev. 13:14. We commanded to go to the priests
and Levites, but the people are also
charged that in that, in case of leprosy, to apply to the priest according to
the law, and to abide by his judgment, so far as it agreed with the law and the
plain matter of fact.
The plague of
leprosy being usually a particular mark of YAH’S displeasure for sin, he in
whom the signs of it did appear ought not to conceal it, nor cut out the signs
of it, nor apply to the physician for relief; but he must go to the priest, and
follow his directions.
Thus those that feel
their consciences under guilt and wrath must not cover it, nor Endeavour to
shake off their convictions, but by repentance, and prayer, and humble
confession, take the appointed way to peace and pardon.
The particular case
of Miriam, who was smitten with leprosy for quarrelling with Moses, must not be
forgotten. It was an explication of the law concerning the leprosy. Remember
that, and, "Take heed of sinning
after the similitude of her transgression, by despising dominions and speaking
evil of dignities, lest you thereby bring upon yourselves the same judgment.’’
Deu 24:9 “Remember
what יהוה your Elohim did to Miryam on the way when you
came out of Mitsrayim. - "If any of you be smitten with a leprosy,
expect not that the law should be dispensed with, nor think it hard to be shut
out of the camp and so made a spectacle; there is no remedy: Miriam herself,
though a prophetess and the sister of Moses, was not exempted, but was forced
to submit to this severe discipline when she was under this divine rebuke.’’
Thus David, Hezekiah, Peter, and other great men, when they had sinned, humbled
themselves, and took to themselves shame and grief; let us not expect to be
reconciled upon easier terms.
Deu 24:10 “When you lend your brother a loan, do not go into his house to get his
pledge. - Some necessary orders are given in this verse
about security of a pledges. They are
not forbidden to take such securities as would save the lender from loss, and
oblige the borrower to be honest.
They must not take
the millstone for a pledge verse 6, for with that they ground the corn that was
to be bread for their families, or, if it were a public mill, with it the
miller got his livelihood; and so it forbids the taking of any thing for a
pledge by the want of which a man was in danger of being undone. Consonant to
this is the ancient common law of England, which provides that no man be
distained of the utensils or instruments of his trade or profession, as the axe
of a carpenter, or the books of a scholar, or beasts belonging to the plough,
as long as there are other beasts of which distress may be made (Coke, 1
Inst. fol. 47).
This teaches us to
consult the comfort and subsistence of others as much as our own advantage.
That creditor who cares not though his debtor and his family starve, nor is at
all concerned what become of them, so he may but get his money or secure it,
goes contrary, not only to the law of Messiyah, which is the law of Moses too.
Deu 24:11 “Stand outside, and let the man to whom you lend bring the pledge out to you. - They
must not go into the borrower’s house to fetch the pledge, but must stand
without, and he must bring it. The borrower (says Solomon) is servant
to the lender; therefore lest the lender should abuse the advantage he has
against him, and improve it for his own interest, it is provided that he shall
take not what he pleases, but what the borrower can best spare. A man’s house
is his castle, even the poor man’s house is so, and is here taken under the
protection of the law.
Deu 24:12 “And if the man is poor, do not sleep with his pledge. - That a poor man’s bed-clothes should never be taken
for a pledge. This we had before, Ex. 22:26, 27. If they were taken in the
morning, they must be brought back again at night, which is in effect to say
that they must not be taken at all. "Let the poor debtor sleep in his own
raiment, and bless thee,’’ that is, "pray for thee, and praise YAHVEH for
thy kindness to him.’’
Deu 24:13 “By all means return the pledge to him at sundown, and he shall sleep in his
own garment, and shall bless you. And it shall be righteousness to you before יהוה your Elohim. - Poor debtors ought to be sensible (more sensible
than commonly they are) of the goodness of those creditors that do not take all
the advantage of the law against them, and to repay their kindnesses by their
prayers for them, when they are not in a capacity to repay it in any other way.
"Nay, thou
shalt not only have the prayers and good wishes of thy poor brother, but it shall be righteousness to thee before YAHVEH
thy EL,’’ that is, "It shall be accepted and rewarded as an act of
mercy to thy brother and obedience to thy EL, and an evidence of thy sincere
conformity to the law. Though it may be looked upon by men as an act of
weakness to deliver up the securities thou hast for thy debt, yet it shall be
looked upon by thy EL as an act of goodness, which shall in no wise lose its
reward.’’
Deu 24:14 “Do not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, of your brothers or
of the strangers who is in your land within your gates. – In
this verse, Masters are commanded to be just to their poor servants.
They must not
oppress them, by overloading them with work, by giving them undeu and
unreasonable rebukes, or by withholding from them proper maintenance. A
servant, though a stranger to the commonwealth of Yisrael, must not be abused:
"For thou wast a bondman
in the land where thou wast a stranger verse 18, and thou knowest what a
grievous thing it is to be oppressed by a task-master, and therefore, in
tenderness to those that are servants and strangers, and in gratitude to that
ABBA YAHVEH who set thee at liberty and settled thee in a country of thy own, thou shalt not oppress a servant.’’
Let not masters be
tyrants to their servants, for their Master is in Heavens. See Job 31:13. 2.
They must be faithful and punctual in paying them their wages: "At his day thou shalt give him his
hire, not only pay it in time, without further delay. As soon as he had
done his day’s work, if he desire it, let him have his day’s wages,’’ as those
laborers (Mt. 20:8) when evening had
come.
He that works by
day-wages is supposed to live from hand to mouth, and cannot have to-morrow’s
bread for his family till be is paid for this day’s labor. If the wages be
withheld, it will be grief to the servant, for, poor man, he sets his heart upon it,. or, as the
word is, he lifts up his soul to it,
he is earnestly desirous of it, as the reward of his work (Job 7:2), and
depends upon it as the gift of YAH’S providence for the maintenance of his
family.
Deu 24:15 “Give him his wages on the same day, and do not let the sun go down on it,
for he is poor and lifts up his being to it, so that he does not cry out
against you to יהוה , and it shall be sin in you. - A compassionate master, though it should be somewhat
inconvenient to himself, would not disappoint the expectation of a poor servant
that was so fond to think of receiving his wages. But that is not the worst. It
will be guilt to the master. "The injured servant will cry against thee to
YAHVEH; since he has no one else to appeal to, he will lodge his appeal in the
court of Heavens, and it will be sin to thee.’’
Or, if he do not
complain, the cause will speak for itself, the "hire of the labourers which is kept back by fraud will
itself cry,’’ Jam. 5:4. It is a
greater sin than most people think it is, and will be found so in the great
day, to put hardships upon poor servants, labourers, and workmen, that we
employ. YAHVEH will do them right if men do not.
Deu 24:16 “Fathers are not put to death for their children, and children are not put
to death for their fathers, each is to die for his own sin. – In the plain
sense of the word, the torah commands that parents cannot be killed or punish
for the sins of their children, and vice versa. It was common practice for
tyrant to wipe out a family of those who opposed them.
Deu 24:17 “Do not twist the right-ruling of a stranger or the fatherless, nor take the
garment of a widow. - It was in an extraordinary case, and no doubt by
special direction from Heavens, that Saul’s sons were put to death for his
offence, and they died rather as sacrifices than as malefactors, 2 Sa. 21:9,
14. 2. In common pleas between party and party, great care must be taken that
none whose cause was just should fare the worse for their weakness, nor for
their being destitute of friends, as strangers, fatherless, and widows: "Thou
shalt not pervert their judgment, nor force them to give their very raiment
for a pledge, by defrauding them of their right.’’ Judges must be advocates for
those that cannot speak for themselves and have no friends to speak for them.
Deu 24:18 “But you
shall remember that you were a slave in Mitsrayim, and that יהוה your
Elohim redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this word. – The commandment is not for the unsaved, it is for those who are called
out of Egypt. To be prepared to be the Bride. Therefore EL YAHVEH has a right
to Command us.
Deu 24:19 “When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the
field, do not go back to get it. Let it be for the stranger, for the
fatherless, and for the widow, so that יהוה your Elohim might bless you in all the work of
your hands. - The rich are commanded to be kind and charitable to
the poor. Many ways they are ordered to be so by the Law of Moses. The
particular instance of charity here prescribed is that they should not be
greedy in gathering in their corn, and grapes, and olives, so as to be afraid
of leaving any behind them, but be willing to overlook some, and let the poor
have the gleanings.
"Say not, ’It
is all my own, and why should not I have it?’ But learn a generous contempt of
property in small matters. One sheaf or two forgotten will make thee never the
poorer at the year’s end, and it will do somebody good, if thou have it not.
Deu 24:20 “When you beat your olive trees, do not examine the branch behind you. Let
it be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. – In this verse
we see a provision been made for the poor. That after we harvest our field we
must leave a few behind for the poor. In Yisrael people usually beat the tree
with a long stick to shake the olive off. We must not over beat our trees.
Deu 24:21 “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean behind you. Let
it be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow. - Say
not, ’What I give I will give, and know whom I give it to, why should I
leave it to be gathered by I know not whom, that will never thank me.’ But
trust Yah’s providence with the disposal of thy charity, perhaps that will
direct it to the most necessitous.’’ Or, "Thou mayest reasonably think it
will come to the hands of the most industrious, that are forward to seek and
gather that which this law provides for them.’’
"Say not, ’What should the poor do with grapes and olives? It is
enough for them to have bread and water;’ for, since they have the same senses that
the rich have, why should not they have some little share of the delights of
sense?’’ Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on purpose for Ruth, and YAHVEH
blessed him. All that is left is not lost.
It is also forbidden
for the owner to pick a bunch of single grapes, or go over a branch that had
ready been harvest.
Deu 24:22 “And you shall remember that you were a
slave in the land of Mitsrayim. Therefore I am commanding you to do this word. – We were one a slave to a very brutal slave
master, whoes object is to destroy us, this new Master promise us an
everlasting future, therefore He has the right to command us.
Our redemption walk
is not a walk where we can do anything we want. We are require to follow a
strick regiment of behaviour which will prove our faithfulness.
Chapter 25
In this chapter we see a:
I.
A law to
moderate the scourging of malefactors verse 1-3.
II.
A law in favor
of the ox the treads out the corn verse 4.
III.
For the disgracing of him that refused to
marry his brother’s widow verse 5–10.
IV.
For the punishment of an immodest woman verse
11, 12.
V.
For just
weights and measures verse 13–16.
VI.
For the
destroying of Amalek verse 17, etc.
Deu
25:1 “When
there is a dispute between men, then they shall come unto judgment, and they
shall be judged, and the righteous declared righteous and the wrongdoer
declared wrong. - Here
is, a direction to the judges in scourging malefactors. It is here supposed
that, if a man be charged with a crime, the accuser and the accused (Actor and Reus) should be brought face to face before the judges, that the
controversy may be determined.
If a man were
accused of a crime, and the proof fell short, so that the charge could not be
made out against him by the evidence, then he was to be acquitted: "Thou shalt justify the righteous,’’
that is, "him that appears to the court to be so.’’
If the accusation be
proved, then the conviction of the accused is a justification of the accuser,
as righteous in the prosecution.
If the accused were
found guilty, judgment must be given against him: "Thou shalt condemn the wicked;’’ for to justify
the wicked is as much an abomination to YAHVEH as it is to condemn the
righteous, Prov. 17:15. 4.
If the crime were
not made capital by the law, then the criminal must be beaten. A great many
precepts we have met with which have not any particular penalty annexed to
them, the violation of most of which, according to the constant practice of the
Jews, was punished by scourging, from which no person’s rank or quality did
exempt him if he were a delinquent, but with this proviso, that he should never
be upbraided with it, nor should it be looked upon as leaving any mark of
infamy or disgrace upon him.
Deu 25:2
“And it shall be, if the wrongdoer is to be
beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence
with the number of blows according to his wrong. – If the guilty person
is liable of lashes, the court must be careful to ascertain the sinner’s
physical condition, and if he cannot safely tolerate all thirty-nine lashes, he
receives only as many as he can endure, even a few as three.
Deu 25:3
“Forty blows he gives him but no more, lest
he beat him with many more blows than these, and your brother be degraded
before your eyes. –
Untill he was punished, the Torah call him a sinner, but as soon as he was degraded
by suffering, he is called a brother.
This
teaches us that while a fellow Hebrew should not tolerate wrongdoing, he must
be forgiving when the evil is purge.
Based on
Psalms 04:35 we pray for sin not sinners to disappear from the earth.
Deu 25:4
“Do not muzzle an ox while it is threshing. – This commandment seems to be totally
unrelated from the rest of the passage. The juxtaposition teaches some of the
guidelines for the sort of transgression that incurs lashes.
Among
them are that, like muzzling, it must be a negative commandment; that it
involve a physical act; and it be an act that cannot be undone by a subsequent
positive commandment.
An
example of the last requirement is the sin of theft, which is attached the positive commandment to
return the stolen item.
Deu 25:5
“When brothers dwell together, and one of
them has died, and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not become a
stranger’s outside. Her husband’s brother does go in to her, and shall take her
as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. – This is one of those unheard of
commandment, that will not be practice today. Can you ever image telling a
woman today that she must become her brother in law wife and raise up offspring
for her dead first husband.
Deu 25:6
“And it shall be that the first-born son
which she bears does rise up for the name of his dead brother, so that his name
is not blotted out of Yisra’ĕl. - Under that command we have reason to think men
had no clear or certain a prospect of living, on the other side death as we
have now, to whom life and immortality
is brought to light by the gospel.
Therefore we could be the more
desirous to live in our posterity, whose desire was in some measure gratified
by this law we found out that, though a man had no child by his wife, yet his name should not be put out of Yisrael,
that is, out of the pedigree, or, which is equivalent, remain there under the
brand of childlessness.
The Sadducees put a
case to our Savior upon this law, with a design to perplex the doctrine of the
resurrection by it (Mt. 22:24, etc.), perhaps insinuating that there was no
need of maintaining the immortality of the soul and a future state, since the
law had so well provided for the perpetuating of men’s names and families in
the world. The Sadducees at that time had no understanding of the Law, for they
did not believe in life after death.
This verse implies
that we must all have some inheritance in the world to come. What better
inheritance we should have than our own sons or daughter.
Deu 25:7
“But if the man does not desire to take his
brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders,
and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in
Yisra’ĕl, he does not agree to perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’ - If the
brother, or next of kin, declined to do this good office to the memory of him
that was gone, what must be done in that case? He shall not be compelled to do
it. If he like her not, he is at liberty to refuse her, which, some think, was
not permitted in this case before this law of Moses. Affection is all in all to
the comfort of the conjugal relation; this is a thing which cannot be forced,
and therefore the relation should not be forced without it. Yet he shall be
publicly disgraced for not doing it.
Deu 25:8
“The elders of his city shall then call him
and speak to him, and he shall stand and if he say, ‘I have no desire to take
her,’ – it is up to the court to decide which course of action.
Ordinarily, they will try to persuade him to fulfill the commandment to take
her as a wife, but if they feel it is unwise to do so then verse 9 would apply
to him.
In this
situation the man might have had a wife already. The impedance for a man not to
have a second wife is money. Can he afford to purchase a house and support her.
In this case it is not about that, for his dead brother already provide that
for her.
His main
objection is about is supplying a son or daughter for his dead brother.
This
also means that the woman would have been a young woman, still in her prime,
still robust in appearance. Then why should he not help his brother secure an
inheritance.
Notice
that there is no commandment for a woman who could not produce a child, for it
was know that a man could have more than one wife.
If the
first husband die, the woman can still live in the house she was given by her
husband. She however, cannot take another man, except for his brother into that
house.
She
could not take the house with her and leave the community, that house must stay
within the husband family that is why the dead man’s brother is the right
choice for her.
In these
scripture we see an example of how the Kingdom of Heavens operates. This
practice would never be allowed to happen today.
Deu 25:9
then his brother’s wife shall come to him
in the presence of the elders, and remove his sandal from his foot, and shall
spit before his face, and answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does
not build up his brother’s house.’ – Had he fulfilled the commandment of Yibum, he would have demonstrated his
desire to keep his brother spiritually alive, but now that he spurned the
opportunity, it is as if his brother is
now irrevocably dead.
To
symbolize that he should now grieve for the loss he has caused, the widow removed
his shoes, which is a symbol of mourning and spits on the ground in his
presence.
Some
version of Scripture say that she spits in his face, this is the difference
between the Hebrew and an the English translation. At no time would the Torah
allow a woman to insult a man as the English version do. This is also why the
Torah says that we must not add or take away from scripture, by adding our own
interpretation.
Deu
25:10 “And in Yisra’ĕl his name shall be
called, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’ - Those justly suffer in their own reputation
who do not do what they ought to preserve the name and honor of others. He that
would not build up his brother’s house deserved to have this blemish put upon
his own, that it should be called the house of him that had his shoe loosed,
in token that he deserved to go barefoot.
In the case of Ruth
we find this law executed (Ruth 4:7), but because, upon the refusal of the next
kinsman, there was another ready to perform the duty of a husband’s brother, it
was that other that plucked off the shoe, and not the widow, Boaz, and not
Ruth.
Deu
25:11 “When men fight with one
another, and the wife of one shall draw near to rescue her husband from the
hand of the one attacking him, and shall put out her hand and seize him by the
genitals, - A law for the punishing of an immodest woman.
The woman that by the foregoing law was to complain against her husband’s
brother for not marrying her, and to spit on the ground before him and the
elders, needed a good measure of assurance; but, lest the confidence which that
law supported should grow to an excess unbecoming the sex, here is a very
severe but just law to punish impudence and immodesty.
The instance of it
is confessedly scandalous to the highest degree. A woman could not do it unless
she were perfectly lost to all virtue and honor.
The occasion is such
as might in part excuse it; it was to help her husband out of the hands of one
that was too hard for him. Now if the doing of it in a passion, and with such a
good intention, was to be so severely punished, much more when it was done
wantonly and in lust.
Deu
25:12 then you shall cut off her hand –
your eye does not pardon. - The
punishment was that her hand should be cut off; and the magistrates must not
pretend to be more merciful than YAHVEH: Thy eye shall not pity her.
Perhaps our Savior alludes to this law when he commands us to cut off the
right hand that offends us, or is an occasion of sin to us.
Better put the
greatest hardships that can be upon the body than ruin the soul for ever.
Modesty is the hedge of chastity, and therefore ought to be very carefully
preserved and kept up by both sexes.
Deu
25:13 “You shall not have in your bag
differing weights, a heavy and a light. - A law against deceitful weights and measures: they
must not only not use them, but they must not have them, not have them in the
bag, not have them in the house; for, if they had them, they would be strongly
tempted to use them. They must not have a great weight and measure to buy by
and a small one to sell by, for that was to cheat both ways, when either was
bad enough.
Deu
25:14 “You shall not have in your house
differing measures, a large and a small. –
This verse indicate that we
have to be meticulously honest in business with each other. The month of Elul
is about truth. If we are truthful about who we are and what we have done, then
on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, only the things we have forgotten to consider will be judge.
Therefore
in the month of Elul, we have to make
sure that we remember, whatever truth we dring to the light, will not be judge.
Deu
25:15 “You shall have a perfect and right
weight, a perfect and right measure, so that they prolong your days on the soil
which יהוה your Elohim is giving you. - as we read of those that made the ephod small, in which they measured the corn they sold, and the shekel great, by which they weighed
the money they received for it, Amos 8:5. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight.
That which is the rule of justice must itself
be just; if that be otherwise, it is a constant cheat. This had been taken care
of before, Lev. 19:35, 36. This law is enforced with two very good reasons:
That justice and equity will bring down upon
us the blessing of YAHVEH. The way to have our days lengthened, and to prosper,
is to be just and fair in all our dealings Honesty is the best policy.
Deu 25:16 “For all who do these, and all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to יהוה your Elohim. - That fraud and
injustice will expose us to the curse of YAHVEH. Not only unrighteousness
itself, but all that do unrighteously, are an abomination to YAHVEH. And miserable is that man who is abhorred
by his Maker. How hateful, particularly, all the arts of deceit are to YAHVEH,
Solomon several times observes, Prov. 11:1; 20:10, 23; and the apostle tells us
that YAHVEH is the avenger of all such
as overreach and defraud in any
matter, 1 Th. 4:6.
These two sets of verse about honesty and Amalek is
telling us that if we cheated a neighbout, then we are likely to worry about
the power of Amalek bringing judgement into our lives.
We can ward off these judgement in the month of Elul if
we do the right things, if we look beyond the appearance and do not fool
ourselves.
Deu 25:17 “Remember what Amalĕq did to you on the way as you were coming out of
Mitsrayim, - The mischief Amalek did to Yisrael must be
remembered always. When it was first done it was ordered to be recorded (Ex.
17:14–16), and here the remembrance of it is ordered to be preserved, not in
personal revenge (for that generation which suffered by the Amalekites was
gone, so that those who now lived, and their posterity, could not have any
personal resentment of the injury),.
In a zeal for the
glory of YAHVEH (which was insulted by the Amalekites), that throne of YAHVEH
against which the hand of Amalek was stretched out. The carriage of the
Amalekites towards Yisrael is here represented, as very base and disingenuous.
They had no occasion
at all to quarrel with Yisrael, nor did they give them any notice, by a
manifesto or declaration of war; but took them at an advantage, when they had
just come out of the house of bondage, and, for aught that appeared to them,
were only going to sacrifice to YAHVEH in the wilderness.
Deu 25:18 how he met you on the way and attacked your back, all the feeble ones in
your rear, when you were tired and weary. And he did not fear Elohim. - As very barbarous and cruel; for they smote those
that were more feeble, whom they should have succored. The greatest cowards are
commonly the most cruel; while those that have the courage of a man will have
the compassion of a man.
As very impious and
profane: they feared not YAHVEH. If they had had any reverence for the majesty
of the EL of Yisrael, which they saw a token of in the cloud, or any dread of
his wrath, which they lately heard of the power of over Pharaoh, they durst not
have made this assault upon Yisrael. Well, here was the ground of the quarrel:
and it shows how YAHVEH takes what is done against his people as done against
himself, and that he will particularly reckon with those that discourage and
hinder young beginners in religion, that (as Satan’s agents) set upon the weak
and feeble, either to divert them or to disquiet them, and offend his little
ones.
Deu 25:19 “Therefore it shall be, when יהוה your Elohim has given you rest from your
enemies all around, in the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you to possess as an
inheritance, that you blot out the remembrance of Amalĕq from under the
Heavens. Do not forget!
- This mischief
must in deu time be revenged. When their wars were finished, by which they were
to settle their kingdom and enlarge their coast, then they must make war upon Amalek, not merely to
chase them, but to consume them, to blot
out the remembrance of Amalek.
It was an instance
of YAH’S patience that he deferred the vengeance so long, which should have led
the Amalekites to repentance; yet an instance of fearful retribution that the
posterity of Amalek, so long after, were destroyed for the mischief done by
their ancestors to the Yisrael of YAHVEH, that all the world might see, and
say, that he who touched them touched
the apple of his eye.
It was nearly 400
years after this that Saul was ordered to put this sentence in execution (1 Sa.
15), and was rejected of YAHVEH because he did not do it effectually, but
spared some of that devoted nation, in contempt, not only of the particular
orders he received from Samuel, but of this general command here given by
Moses, which he could not be ignorant of. David afterwards made some destruction
of them; and the Simeonites, in Hezekiah’s time, smote the rest that remained
(1 Chr. 4:43); for when YAHVEH judges he will overcome.
Haftarah
Isaiah 40:1-11
We have in this
chapter the commission and instructions given, not to this prophet only, but,
with him, to all YAHVEH’s prophets, and to all Messiyah’s ministers, to
proclaim comfort to YAH’s people.
This did not only
warrant, but enjoin, this prophet himself to encourage the good people who
lived in his own time, who could not but have very melancholy apprehensions of
things when they saw Judah and Yerushalayim by their daring impieties ripening
apace for ruin, and YAHVEH in HIS providence hastening ruin upon them. Let them
be sure that, notwithstanding all this, YAHVEH had mercy in store for them.
It was especially a
direction to the prophets that should live in the time of captivity, when
Yerushalayim was in ruins; they must encourage the captives to hope for
enlargement in due time.
Gospel ministers,
being employed by the blessed Spirit as comforters, and as helpers of the joy
of the Messianic faith, are here put in mind of their business.
Isa 40:1
“Comfort, comfort My people!” says your
Elohim. – Comfortable
words directed to YAH’s people in general. The prophets are instructions by
their Commander and Chief (for HE is YAHVEH EL of the holy prophets,
Rev. 22:6) to comfort the people of YAHVEH; and the charge is doubled, Comfort
you, comfort you, not because the prophets are unwilling to do it (no, it
is the most pleasant part of their work), but because sometimes the minds of
YAH’s people refuse to be comforted, and their comforters must repeat things
again and again, ere they can fasten any thing upon them.
There are a people
in the world that are YAH’s people. It is the will of YAHVEH that HIS people
should be a comforted people, even in the worst of times.
It is the work and
business of ministers to do what they can for the comfort of YAH’s people.
Words of conviction, such as we had in the former part of this book, must be
followed with words of comfort, such as we have here; for he that has torn will
heal us.
Isa 40:2 “Speak
to the heart of Yerushalayim, and cry out to her, that her hard service is
completed, that her crookedness is pardoned, that she has received from the
hand of יהוה double for all her sins.” - Comfortable words directed
to Yerushalayim in particular: "Speak to the heart of Yerushalayim
; speak that which will revive her heart, and be a cordial to her and to all
that belong to her and wish her well.
Do not whisper it,
but cry unto her: cry aloud, to show saints their comforts as well as to
show sinners their transgressions; make her hear it:’’ "That the days of
her trouble are numbered and finished: Her warfare is accomplished, the
set time of her servitude; the campaign is now at an end, and she shall retire
into quarters of refreshment.’’
Human life is a
warfare (Job 7:1); the Messianic life is not much more. But the struggle will
not last always; the warfare will be accomplished, and then the good soldiers
shall not only enter into rest, but be sure of their pay. "That the cause
of her trouble is removed, and, when that is taken away, the effect will cease.
Tell her that her
iniquity is pardoned, YAHVEH is reconciled to her, and she shall no longer
be treated as one guilty before him.’’ Nothing can be spoken more comfortably
than this, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. Troubles
are then removed in love when sin is pardoned.
"That the end
of her trouble is answered: She has received of YAHVEH double for the
cure of all her sins, sufficient, and more than sufficient, to separate
between her and her idols,’’ the worship of which was the great sin for which YAHVEH
had a controversy with them, and from which he designed to reclaim them by
their captivity in Babylon: and it had that effect upon them; it begat in them
a rooted antipathy to idolatry, and was physic doubly strong for the purging
out of that iniquity.
Or it may be taken
as the language of the divine compassion: His soul was grieved for the
misery of Yisrael (Judges 10:16), and, like a tender father, since he
spoke against them he earnestly remembered them (Jer. 31:20), and was ready
to say that he had given them too much correction.
They, being very
penitent, acknowledged that YAHVEH has punished them less than their
iniquities deserved; but he, being very pitiful, owned, in a manner, that
he had punished them more than they deserved.
True penitents have
indeed, in Messiyah and His sufferings, received of the YAHVEH’s hand double
for all their sins; for the satisfaction Messiyah made by his death was of
such an infinite value that it was more than double to the demerits of sin; for
YAHVEH spared not HIS own Son.
Isa 40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of יהוה ;
make straight in the desert a highway for our Elohim. - The time to favour Zion, yea, the set time, having
come, the people of YAHVEH must be prepared, by repentance and faith, for the
favours designed them; and, in order to call them to both these, we have here
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, which may be applied to those
prophets who were with the captives in their wilderness-state, and who, when
they saw the day of their deliverance dawn, called earnestly upon them to
prepare for it, and assured them that all the difficulties which stood in the
way of their deliverance should be got over.
It is a good sign
that mercy is preparing for us if we find YAH’s grace preparing us for it, Ps.
10:17. But it must be applied to John the Baptist; for, though YAHVEH was the
speaker, he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, and his business was
to prepare the way of YAHVEH, to dispose men’s minds for the reception and
entertainment of the gospel of Messiyah.
The way of YAHVEH is
prepared, by repentance for sin; that was it which John Baptist preached to all
Judah and Yerushalayim (Mt. 3:2, 5), and thereby made ready a people prepared
for the YAHVEH, Lu. 1:17.
The alarm is given; let all take notice of it
at their peril; YAHVEH is coming in a way of mercy, and we must prepare for
him. If we apply it to their captivity, it may be taken as a promise that,
whatever difficulties lie in their way, when they return they shall be removed.
This voice in the
wilderness (divine power going along with it) sets pioneers on work to level
the roads. But it may be taken as a call to duty, and it is the same duty that
we are called to, in preparation for Messiyah’s entrance into our souls. We
must get into such a frame of spirit as will dispose us to receive Messiyah and
His gospel: "Prepare you the way of the YAHVEH.
Prepare yourselves
for Him, and let all that be suppressed which would be an obstruction to his
entrance. Make room for Messiyah: Make straight a highway for Him.’’ If he
prepare the end for us, we ought surely to prepare the way for him. Prepare for
the Saviour; lift up your heads, O you gates! Ps. 24:7, 9.
Prepare for the
salvation, the great salvation, and other minor deliverances. Let us get to be
fit for them, and then YAHVEH will work them out. Let us not stand in our own
light, nor put a bar in our own door, but find, or make, a highway for him,
even in that which was desert ground.
Isa 40:4 “Let every valley be raised, and every
mountain and hill made low. And the steep ground shall become level, and the
rough places smooth. - This is that for which he waits to be gracious. We
must get our hearts levelled by divine grace. Those that are hindered from
comfort in Messiyah by their dejections and despondencies are the valleys that
must be exalted. Those that are hindered from comfort in Messiyah by a proud
conceit of their own merit and worth are the mountains and hills that must be
made low.
Those that have
entertained prejudices against the word and ways of YAHVEH, that are
untractable, and disposed to thwart and contradict even that which is plain and
easy because it agrees not with their corrupt inclinations and secular
interests, are the crooked that must be made straight and the rough places that
must be made plain.
Let but the gospel
of Messiyah have a fair hearing, and it cannot fail of acceptance. This
prepares the way of the Messiyah; and therefore YAHVEH will by HIS grace
prepare HIS own way in all the vessels of mercy, whose hearts HE opens as HE
did Lydia’s.
Isa 40:5 “And the esteem of יהוה shall be revealed, and all flesh together
shall see it. For the mouth of יהוה has spoken.” - When this is done the glory
of YAHVEH shall be revealed. When the captives are prepared for deliverance
Cyrus shall proclaim it, and those shall have the benefit of it, and those
only, whose hearts YAHVEH shall stir up with courage and resolution to break
through the discouragements that lay in their way, and to make nothing of the
hills, and valleys, and all the rough places.
When John Baptist
has for some time preached repentance, mortification, and reformation, and so
made ready a people prepared for YAHVEH (Lu. 1:17), then the Messiyah Himself
shall be revealed in His glory, working miracles, which John did not, and by
His grace, which is His glory, binding up and healing with consolations those
whom John had wounded with convictions.
This revelation of
divine glory shall be a light to lighten the Gentiles. All flesh shall see it
together, and not the Jews only; they shall see and admire it, see it and bid
it welcome; as the return out of captivity was taken notice of by the
neighbouring nations, Ps. 126:2. And it shall be the accomplishment of the word
of YAHVEH, not one iota or tittle of which shall fall to the ground: The mouth
of YAHVEH has spoken it, and therefore the hand of YAHVEH will effect it.
Isa 40:6 The voice said, “Cry out!” and he said, “What do I cry?” “All flesh is
grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. – By this accomplishment of
the prophecies and promises of salvation, and the performance of them to the
utmost in due time, it appears that the Word of YAHVEH is sure and what may be
safely relied on. Then we are prepared for deliverance when we depend
entirely upon the word of YAHVEH, build our hopes on that, with an assurance
that it will not make us ashamed: in a dependence upon this word we must be
brought to own that all flesh is grass, withering and fading.
The power of man,
when it does appear against the deliverance, is not to be feared; for it shall
be as grass before the word of YAHVEH: it shall wither and be trodden down. The
insulting Babylonians, who promise themselves that the desolations of
Yerushalayim shall be perpetual, are but as grass which the spirit of the Lord
blows upon, makes nothing of, but blasts all its glory; for the word of YAHVEH,
which promises their deliverance, shall stand for ever, and it is not in the
power of their enemies to hinder the execution of it.
Isa 40:7 “Grass shall wither, the flower shall
fade, when the Spirit of יהוה has blown on it! Truly the people is grass! – The power of man, when it
would appear for the deliverance, is not to be trusted to; for it is but as
grass in comparison with the word of the Lord, which is the only firm
foundation for us to build our hope upon. When YAHVEH is about to work
salvation for his people he will take them off from depending upon creatures,
and looking for it from hills and mountains. They shall fail them, and their
expectations from them shall be frustrated: The Spirit of YAHVEH shall blow
upon them; for YAHVEH will have no creature to be a rival with him for the
hope and confidence of his people; and, as it is his word only that shall stand
for ever, so in that word only our faith must stand. When we are brought to
this, then, and not till then, we are fit for mercy.
Isa 40:8 “Grass shall wither, the flower shall
fade, but the Word of our Elohim stands forever1.” Footnote: 11 Peter 1:24-25. - The word of our EL, that
glory of YAHVEH which is now to be revealed, in the gospel, and that grace
which is brought with it to us and wrought by it in us, shall stand for ever.
This is the
satisfaction of all believers, when they find all their creature-comforts
withering and fading like grass. Thus the apostle applies it to the word
which by the gospel is preached unto us, and which lives and abides for ever as
the incorruptible seed by which we are born again, 1 Pt. 1:23-25.
To prepare the way
of the Lord we must be convinced. Of the vanity of the creature, that all flesh
is grass, weak and withering. We ourselves are so, and therefore cannot save
ourselves; all our friends are so, and therefore are unable to save us. All the
beauty of the creature, which might render it amiable, is but as the flower of
grass, soon blasted, and therefore cannot recommend us to YAHVEH and to HIS
acceptance.
We are dying
creatures; all our comforts in this word are dying comforts, and therefore
cannot be the felicity of our immortal souls. We must look further for a
salvation, look further for a portion.
Of the validity of
the promise of YAHVEH. We must be convinced that the word of YAHVEH can do that
for us which all flesh cannot, that, forasmuch as it stands for ever, it will
furnish us with a happiness that will run parallel with the duration of our
souls, which must live for ever; for the things that are not seen, but must be
believed, are eternal.
Isa 40:9 You who bring good news to Tsiyon, get
up into the high mountain. You who bring good news to Yerushalayim, lift up
your voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say to the cities of
Yehuḏah, “See your Elohim!” – It was promised in verse 5
that the glory of YAHVEH shall be revealed; that is it with the hopes of
which YAH’s people must be comforted. Now here we are told,
How it shall be
revealed. It shall be revealed to Zion and Yerushalayim; notice shall be given
of it to the remnant that are left in Zion and Yerushalayim, the poor of the
land, who were vine-dressers and husbandmen; it shall be told them that their
brethren shall return to them.
This shall be told
also to the captives who belonged to Zion and Yerushalayim, and retained their
affection for them. Zion is said to dwell with the daughter of Babylon
(Zec. 2:7); and there she receives notice of Cyrus’s gracious proclamation; and
so the margin reads it, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, etc.,
meaning the persons who were employed in publishing that proclamation; let them
do it with a good will, let them make the country ring of it, and let them tell
it to the sons of Zion in their own language, saying to them, Behold your
EL.
It shall be
published by Zion and Yerushalayim (so the text reads it); those that remain
there, or that have already returned, when they find the deliverance proceeding
towards perfection, let them proclaim it in the most public places, whence they
may be best heard by all the cities of Judah; let them proclaim it as loudly as
they can: let them lift up their voice with strength, and not be afraid
of overstraining themselves; let them not be afraid lest the enemy should hear
it and quarrel with them, or lest it should not prove true, or not such good
tidings as at first it appeared; let them say to the cities of Judah, and all
the inhabitants of the country, Behold your EL.
When YAHVEH is going on with the salvation of
his people, let them industriously spread the news among their friends, let
them tell them that it is YAHVEH that has done it; whoever were the
instruments, YAHVEH was the author; it is their YAHVEH, a YAHVEH in
covenant with them, and he does it as theirs, and they will reap the benefit
and comfort of it.
"Behold him,
take notice of his hand in it, and look above second causes; behold, the YAHVEH
you have long looked for has come at last (ch. 25:9): This is our EL, we
have waited for Him.’’
This may refer to
the invitation which was sent forth from Yerushalayim to the cities of Judah,
as soon as they had set up an altar, immediately upon their return out of
captivity, to come and join with them in their sacrifices, Ezra 3:2-4.
"When the
worship of YAHVEH is set up again, send notice of it to all your brethren, that
they may share with you in the comfort of it.’’ But this was to have its full
accomplishment in the apostles’ public and undaunted preaching of the gospel to
all nations, beginning at Yerushalayim. The voice crying in the wilderness gave
notice that he was coming; but now notice is given that he has come. Behold
the Lamb of YAHVEH; take a full view of your Redeemer. Behold your King,
behold your EL.
Isa 40:10 See, the Master יהוה comes with a strong hand, and His arm rules
for Him. See, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. – What that glory is which
shall be revealed. "Your EL will come, will show Himself,’’ With the power
and greatness of a prince.
He will come with
strong hand, too strong to be obstructed, though it may be opposed. His strong
hand shall subdue his people to himself, and shall restrain and conquer his and
their enemies. He will come who is strong enough to break through all the
difficulties that lie in his way.’’
Our Messiyah
Yahushua was full of power, a mighty Saviour. Some read, it, He will come
against the mighty one, and overpower him, overcome him. Satan is the strong
man armed; but our Messiyah Yahushua is stronger than he, and he shall make it
to appear that he is so, for.
He shall reign in defiance of all opposition:
His arm shall rule, shall overrule for him, for the fulfilling of his counsels,
to his own glory; for he is his own end.
He shall recompense
to all according to their works, as a righteous Judge: His reward is with him;
he brings along with him, as a returning prince, punishments for the rebels and
preferments for his loyal subjects.
He shall proceed and
accomplish his purpose: His work is before him, that is, he knows perfectly
well what he has to do, which way to go about it, and how to compass it. He
himself knows what he will do.
Isa 40:11 He feeds His flock like a shepherd, He gathers the lambs with His arm, and
carries them in His bosom, gently leading those who are with young. - With the
pity and tenderness of a shepherd. YAHVEH is the Shepherd of Yisrael
(Ps. 80:1); Messiyah is the good Shepherd, Jn. 10:11.
The same that rules
with the strong hand of a prince leads and feeds with the kind hand of a
shepherd. He takes care of all his flock, the little flock: He shall feed
his flock like a shepherd. His word is food for his flock to feed on; his
ordinances are fields for them to feed in; his ministers are under-shepherds
that are appointed to attend them.
He takes particular
care of those that most need his care, the lambs that are weak, and cannot help
themselves, and are unaccustomed to hardship, and those that are with young,
that are therefore heavy, and, if any harm be done them, are in danger of
casting their young. He particularly takes care for a succession, that it may
not fail or be cut off.
The good Shepherd
has tender care for children that are towardly and hopeful, for young converts,
that are setting out in the way to heaven, for weak believers, and those that
are of a sorrowful spirit. These are the lambs of his flock, that shall be sure
to want nothing that their case requires.
Messiyah will gather
them in the arms of his power; his strength shall be made perfect in their
weakness, 2 Co. 12:9. He will gather them in when they wander, gather them
up when they fall, gather them together when they are dispersed, and gather
them home to himself at last; and all this with his own arm, out of which none
shall be able to pluck them, Jn. 10:28.
He will carry them in
the bosom of His love and cherish them there. When they tire or are weary, are
sick and faint, when they meet with foul ways, he will carry them on, and take
care they are not left behind. He will gently lead them. By His word H e
requires no more service, and by his providence he inflicts no more trouble,
than he will fit them for; for he considers their frame.
Brit Chadasha
Mark 1:1-14
Mar 1:1
The beginning of the Good News of יהושע Messiyah, the Son of Elohim. - The Brit Chadasha is the divine testament of the Messiyah, to which we adhere
above all that is human. It is the good new of Messiyah Yahushua the
Son of YAHVEH.
It is the good new;
it is YAH’s word been establish, the Word is still faithful and true;
see Rev. 19:9; 21:5; 22:6. It is the good word, and well worthy of
all acceptation; it brings us glad tidings.
It is the good
new that Yahushua HaMasjiach, the anointed Saviour, the Messiyah
that was promised and expected, had been achieved. The foregoing good new began
with the generation of believers that does not need the Blood of a Lamb to
atone for their sins.
It is called the Good New of the Messiyah,
not only because He is the Author of it, and it comes from Him,
but because He is the Subject of it, and it treats wholly concerning
Him. This Yahushua is the Chief Son of YAHVEH, He achieved this
byfulfilling the requirement or the standard for one to become a perfect son,
by been obedient to the Torah.
That truth, the
Torah is the foundation on which the Good News is established, and which it is
written to demonstrate; for is Yahushua
had not become a son of YAHVEH our faith
is vain.
What the reference
of in the Brit Chadasha is to the Old, and its coherence with it. The
Good News of Messiyah Yahushua begins with His Glorification, and so we
shall find that it goes on, just as it is written by the prophets
in verse 2, for it saith no other things than those which the prophets and
Moses said should come (Acts 26:22), which was most proper and powerful for
the conviction of the Jews, who believed the Torah prophets to be sent of YAHVEH
and ought to have evidenced that they did so by welcoming the
accomplishment of their prophecies in its season.
The same
accomplishnent is of use to us all, for the confirmation of our faith both
ibefore and after Messiyah Glorification, for the exact harmony that there is
between both shows that they both have the same divine original.
Quotations is taken
from two prophecies, that of Isaiah, which was the longest, and that of
Malachi, which was the latest (and there were above three hundred years
between them), both of whom spoke to the same purport concerning the
beginning of the Good News of Yahushua HaMashiach, in the ministry of John.
Mar 1:2 As it has been written in the
Prophets, “See, I send My messenger before Your face, who shall prepare Your
way before You,1 Footnote: 1Mal. 3:1. - Malachi,
in whom we had the Torah farewell, spoke very plainly concerning John Baptist, who was to give the Brit
Chadasha welcome. Behold, I send my messenger before thy face. The
Messiyah Himself had taken notice of this, and applied it to John (Mt. 11:10),
who was YAH’s messenger, sent to prepare Messiyah’s way.
Mar 1:3 a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of יהוה , make His
paths straight.’ ”1
Footnote: 1Isa. 40:3. – Isaiah, the most evangelical of all the prophets, begins
the evangelical part of his prophecy with this, which points to the beginning
of the of Messianic erra, (Isa. 40:3). The voice of him that crieth in
the wilderness, Matthew had taken
notice of this, and applied it to John, ch. 3:3.
But from these two
put together here, we may observe, that Yahushua, is the Word which dwell
among us, bringing with him a treasure of grace, and a sceptre of
government.
When YAHVEH sent one
of HIS Son into the world, who fulfilled all the requirement of Torah. He
became the Messiyah, He took care of all the requirement for our Justification,
Deliverance, Santification, and Glorification,
and when We accept Messiyah into our heart, He takes care,
effectual care, to prepare the way before us.
The application of
His grace shall not be fustrating for us, nor not everyone may accept the
comforts of that grace, but such as are convicnce of sin and humiliation for
it, it is prepared for those comforts, and disposed to receive them.
When the paths that
were crooked by sin, are made straight in Messiyah (the mistakes
of the judgment rectified, and the crooked ways of the affections), then
way is made for Messiyah’s comforts.
Mar 1:4 Yoḥanan came immersing in the wilderness and proclaiming an immersion of
repentance for the forgiveness of sins. – It is in the wilderness of our spiritual journey,
for such that was in the world, that Messiyah’s
way is prepared, and theirs that follow that Path, like that which Yisrael
passed through to Canaan. The messengers of conviction for some and terror for
others, John was to prepare Messiyah’s way, are YAH’s messengers, whom
HE sends and will own, and must be received as such.
They that are sent
to prepare the way of Messiyah, in such a vast howling wilderness as
this is, have need to cry aloud, and not spare, and to lift up their
voice like a trumpet.
Mar 1:5 And all the country of Yehuḏah, and those of Yerushalayim, went out to him
and were all immersed by him in the Yardĕn River, confessing their sins. – What the beginning
of the Brit Chadasha was. The besorah began with John Baptist; for the law
and the prophets were, until John, the only divine revelation, but then the
kingdom of MESSIYAH began to be preached, Lu. 16:16. Peter begins
from the baptism of John, Acts 1:22. The Good News did not begin so
soon as the birth of Yahushua, for he took time to increase in
Spiritual wisdom and stature, not so late as His entering upon His public
ministry, but half a year before, when John began to preach the same doctrine
that Messiyah afterward preached. His baptism was the dawning of theMessianic
Erra.
Mar 1:6 And Yoḥanan was clothed with camel’s
hair and a leather girdle around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey. – In Yohanan’s way of living
there was the beginning of the Messianic erra, for it emphasise great
self-denial, mortification of the flesh, a holy contempt of the world, and
nonconformity to it, which may truly be called the beginning of the
Messianic erra in any soul. John was clothed with camels’ hair, not
with soft raiment; was girt, not with a golden, but with a leathern girdle;
and, in contempt of dainties and delicate things, his meat was locusts and
wild honey.
The more we sit
loose to the body, and live above the world, the better we are prepared for
Yahushua HaMashiach.
Mar 1:7 And he proclaimed, saying, “After me comes One who is mightier than I,
whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen. - In John’s preaching
and baptizing was the beginning of the Messianic Erra
doctrines and ordinances, and the first fruits of them.
He preached the remission
of sins, which is the great Messianic privilege; showed people their need
of it, that they were undone without it, and that it might be obtained.
He preached repentance, in order to achieve it; he told people that
there must be a renovation of their hearts and a reformation of their lives,
that they must forsake their sins and turn to YAHVEH, and upon those terms and
no other, their sins should be forgiven.
Repentance for
the remission of sins, was what the
apostles were commissioned to preach to all nations, Lu. 24:27. He
preached Messiyah and Him Crucified, and directed their hearers to expect
Him speedily to appear, and to expect great things from Him.
The preaching of the
Messianic Gospet is Good News, and that was John Baptist’s preaching. Like a
true gospel minister, he preaches. The great pre-eminence Messiyah is advanced
to; so high, so great, is Messiyah, that John, though one of the greatest
that was born of women, thinks himself unworthy to be employed in the meanest
office about him, even to stoop down, and untie his shoes. Thus
industrious is he to give honor to him, and to bring others to do so too.
Mar 1:8 “I indeed did immerse you in water, but He shall immerse you in the
Set-apart Spirit.” - The
great power Yahushua HaMashiach is invested with; He is coming
after me, but He is Spiritually mightier than I, mightier than the
mighty ones of the earth, for He is able to baptize with the Holy Spirit;
He has the power to give the Spirit of YAHVEH, and by Him govern
the spirits of men.
The great promise
of Messiyah Yahushua make the Good New of the Word to those who have repented,
and have had their sins forgiven them, a new person. They shall be baptized
with the Holy Spirit, shall be purified by His graces, and refreshed
by His comforts.
All those who
received the Messianic doctrine, and submitted to its institution, should be baptized
with water, as the manner of the Jews was to admit proselytes, in token of
their cleansing themselves by repentance and reformation (which were the
duties required), and of YAH’s cleansing them both by remission and by
sanctification, which were the blessings promised. Now this was afterward to be
advanced into a gospel ordinance, which John’s using it was a preface to.
In the success of
John’s preaching, and the disciples he admitted by baptism, there was the beginning
of a the Messianic Assembly. He baptized in the wilderness, and
declined going into the cities; but there went out unto him all the land of
Judea, and they of Yerushalayim, inhabitants both of city and country,
families of them, and were all baptized of him.
They entered
themselves as John disciples, and bound themselves to his discipline; in token
of which, they confessed their sins; he admitted them his disciples, in
token of which, he baptized them. Here were the start of the Messianic
Church, the dew of its youth from the womb of the morning, Ps.
110:3. Many of these afterward became followers of Messiyah, and preachers of
his gospel, and this grain of mustard-seed became a tree.
Mar 1:9 And it came to be in those days that יהושע came from Natsareth of Galil,
and was immersed by Yoḥanan in the Yardĕn. - We have here a brief account of Yahushua
HaMashciach’s baptism and temptation, which were largely related Mt. 3 and 4.
His baptism, which was his first public
appearance, after he had long lived obscurely in Nazareth. O how much hidden
worth is there, which in this world is either lost in the dust of contempt
and cannot be known, or wrapped up in the veil of humility and will
not be known! But sooner or later it shall be known, as Messiyah’s
was.
See how humbly
he owned YAHVEH, by coming to be baptized of John; and thus it
became him to fulfil all righteousness. Thus he took upon him the
likeness of sinful flesh, that, though he was perfectly pure and unspotted,
yet he was washed as if he had been polluted; and thus for our
sakes he sanctified himself, that we also might be sanctified, and be
baptized with him, Jn. 17:19.
See how honorably
YAHVEH owned Him, when He submitted to John’s baptism. Those who justify
YAHVEH, and they are said to do, who were baptized with the
baptism of John, he will glorify, Lu. 7:29, 30.
Mar 1:10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens being torn
open and the Spirit coming down on Him like of the Menorah. – He saw the heavens
opened; Matthew saith, The heavens were opened to him. Messiyah
lived under an Open Heavens all His life except when He was on the Cross it was
closed to Him for three hours, when darkness fell. He then cried out Mat 27:45 From
noon until three o'clock in the afternoon, all the Land was covered with
darkness. 46 At about three, Yahushua uttered a loud cry, "Eli! Eli! L'mah
sh'vaktani? (My EL! My EL! Why have you deserted me?)". This Open
Heavens concept is an unbroken relation with the FAHER. Yahushua was walking on
Earth as if He was walking in the Heavens. It was shut to Him of three hours
for He took the sins of all of humanity. That was why He said if there was any
other way, to take this cup from Him. It was not that He was afraid of dying,
what Yahushua was afraid of most, was the seperation from His Father.
As believers we too should dred this seperation that sin
causes between us and our Father.
He saw the Spirit
like a dove descending upon him. Then we may see heaven opened to
us, when we perceive the Spirit descending and working upon us. YAH’s
good work in us is the surest evidence of his good will towards us, and his
preparations for us. Justin Martyr says, that when Messiyah Yahushua was
baptized, a fire was kindled in Jordan: and it is an ancient tradition,
that a great light shone round the place; for the Spirit brings both light
and heat.
Mar 1:11 And a voice came out of the heavens,
“You are My Son, the Beloved, in whom I did delight.” - He heard a voice which was
intended for his encouragement to proceed in his undertaking, and therefore it
is here expressed as directed to him, Thou art my beloved Son. YAHVEH
lets Him know, That HE loved Yahushua never the less for that low
and mean estate to which he had now humbled himself; "Though
thus emptied and made of no reputation, yet he is my beloved Son
still.’’
The whole purpose of
creation is to create many perfect sons. Yahushua achieved this concept
absolutly perfect. That is why He is the Messiyah, who sits at the Right Hand
of the Father. Notice what Yahushua says in Revelation 3:21 I will let him who
wins the victory sit with me on my throne, just as I myself also won the
victory and sat down with my Father on his throne. This means that anyone
of us who achieve perfection in this life, we will earn the right to sit with
Him on the Throne.
Father YAHVEH loved
Yahushua very much so that HE glorified Him and gave Him a seat beside
HIMSELF. YAHVEH will be well pleased with us when we too have overcome,
by learning to overcome the world.
Mar 1:12 And immediately the Spirit drove Him
into the wilderness. – His temptation. The good Spirit that
descended upon Him, led Him into the wilderness. Mark observes this
circumstance of his being in the wilderness, that Messiyah was with
the wild beasts. The frothy days Yahushua spent in the wilderness was a
fast-forward version of the 40 years journey of the Children of Yisrael in the
Wilderness.
It was an example of
Our Father’s care of us, that Yahushua was sent to undergo this final proof of
the True Son ship.
In that wilderness, the evil spirits
were busy with him; Yahushua was tempted of Satan; not by any
inward injections (the prince of this world had nothing in him to fasten
upon), but by outward solicitations. Solicitude often gives advantages to the tempter,
therefore two are better than one. Messiyah Himself was tempted, not
only to teach us, that it is no sin to be tempted, but to direct us
whither to go for succour when we are tempted, even to Him that suffered,
being tempted; that He might experimentally sympathize with us when we
are tempted.
The good spirits
were busy about him; the angels ministered to him, supplied him
with what he needed, and dutifully attended him. The ministration of the good
angels about us, is matter of great comfort in reference to the malicious
designs of the evil angels against us; but much more doth it befriend us, to
have the indwelling of the spirit in our hearts, which they that have, are so born
of YAHVEH, that, as far as they are so, the evil one toucheth them not,
much less shall be triumph over them.
Temptation are like
test it is given to us to see what is on the inside of us. The Spirit that
comes upon us after the temptation, depends on the resistance we give to the
temptation.
Mar 1:13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tried by Satan, and was with
the wild beasts. And the messengers attended Him. - In this sense the wild beast
are indicative of the presence of the fleshly inclination. At the place of our
greatest victory is the place of our greatest temptation.
Mar 1:14 And after Yoḥanan was delivered up, יהושע came to Galil, proclaiming the
Good News of the reign of Elohim, - A general account of Messiyah’s preaching in
Galilee. John gives an account of his preaching in Judea, before this (ch. 2
and 3), which the other evangelists had omitted, who chiefly relate what
occurred in Galilee, because that was least known at Yerushalayim.
When Yahushua began
to preach in Galilee; After that John was put in prison. When he had finished
His testimony, then Yahushua began His. The silencing of Messiyanic
ministers shall not be the suppressing of Messiyah’s gospel; if some be laid
aside, others shall be raised up, perhaps mightier than they, to carry on the
same work.
What He preached; The
gospel of the kingdom of YAHVEH. Yahushua HaMashiach came to establish the
kingdom of YAHVEH among men, that they might be brought into subjection to
it, and might obtain salvation in it; and He set it up by the
preaching of His gospel, and the power that goes along with it.
The great truths
Yahushua preached; The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of YAHVEH is at
hand. This refers what the Torah promises, in which the kingdom of the
Messiyah was promised, and the time fixed for the introducing of it.
The Yisralites were
well versed in those prophecies, what
they did not know is the time of its fulfilment . They did notl observe the
signs of the times, as to understand it themselves, and therefore Yochanan and
Yahushua gives them notice of it; "The time prefixed is now at hand;
glorious discoveries of divine light, life, and love, are now to be made.
A new dispensation far more spiritual and
heavenly than that which you have been under, is now to commence.’’ YAHVEH
keeps time; when the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of YAHVEH is at
hand, for the vision is for an appointed time, which will be
punctually observed, though it tarry past our time.
No comments:
Post a Comment