Shemot (Exodus)
|
Meaning
|
Day Four
|
Haftara
|
B'rit Hadashah
|
1 Our Father, we receive Your Words and hide Your commandments with us; 2 we incline our ear unto wisdom, and apply our hearts to understanding; 3 We cry after knowledge and lift up our voices for understanding; 4 we seek it as silver; and search for it as for hidden treasures; 5 We declare that we shall understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. Declaration of Proverbs 2:1-5
Exodus 23:1-19 (NASB) 1
1 "You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 "You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute. 4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. 5 "If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him. 6 "You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute. 7 "Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty. 8 "You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just. 9 "You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt. 10 "You shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield, 11 but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove. 12 "Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves. 13 "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth. 14 "Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me. 15 "You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before Me empty-handed. 16 "Also you shall observe the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field. 17 "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD. 18 "You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning. 19 "You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God." You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.
We have a similar sort of reading as yesterday, dealing with what is basically a code of law set down by Yahweh for Israel. Right in the middle of those instructions for daily life, that at times, become routine and mundane, as if, “ho-hum, okay we have it, responsibility and always thinking of others before we think of ourselves”, right in the middle of that we have an eye-opening, bold and imperative command:
13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. Exodus 23:13.
It’s almost like Yah breaks though to regain the attention of Israel so that they can take Him seriously: “Now listen up! Be circumspect about what I’m telling you. Circumspect? Circumspect from the Hebrew in that sentence is a verb: שָׁמַר shâmar, shaw-mar' a primitive root; properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.:—beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).
It means: “Be wary. Guard your code of law carefully. Take everything into account and exercise caution about what I’m telling you: Don’t be messing about with those other gods and don’t even mention their names!” Doesn’t this sound like this was even more important to The I AM than the ability of Israel to “keep every part of the law”? It reminds me of the first commandments all over again:
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. . Exodus 20:2-3.
He was talking about real gods. We often call them false gods but that almost makes it sound like there is nothing more to them but the material they’re made from. Perhaps we might say they’re real false gods. But then that sounds like an oxymoron. Oxymorons are figures of speech in which apparently totally contradictory terms appear together. To me an oxymoron would be like: We live in a “winter wonderland”. These days, it is winter, and it ain’t no 'winter wonder land'!
We can’t just keep calling them “false gods” because it keeps the reality just out of reach for us and we can continue on in what someone coined, ignorance that is bliss. The fact of it is that every Buddha statue you see has a negative spiritual power behind it. The black stone2 that is set in the eastern corner of the Kaaba of Islam, in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, has a negative spiritual power behind it. Consider every ancient small ‘g’ god in Egypt. Every “false” god we can think of has a negative spiritual power behind it. Yesterday, we spoke about witchcraft that is absolutely FULL of “cursed” or “demonized” objects. This whole notion of blessing and cursing is another reality that the mainline church hasn’t addressed. (Actually, either the mainline churches don’t touch on it at all or else they go right off on the opposite tangent with meetings where gold dust falls and devotees roll in uncontrollable laughter.)
One woman who was a witch and who moved into the kingdom of God from the kingdom of Lucifer testified that the first thing that she did was go through all of her house and belongings and separated every thing: jewelry, books, candles and every bit of paraphernalia that was part of her Luciferian path, and destroyed it all. It was cursed and the occult spirits behind these objects, had she kept them, would have given the enemy legal permission to stay in her life and create strongholds between her and God, the I AM. So we can realize that when God speaks of those other gods, we can know that the power behind them is very real and it is Lucifer! We can choose not to accept this at our peril. All of these commands for living an upright and moral life for Israel was to keep them free of any association with those other gods whose spirit behind them was in truth, Satanic.
It appears that our Father LOVES the cycles of six days work, seventh day: rest. And why shouldn’t it be so, when He instituted this command right at the beginning?
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 1:31-2:1-3.
Contrary to what the mainline church and the world tells you, the seventh day sabbath came a long time prior to Mt Sinai. The Sabbath isn’t a “Jewish” invention! We could call it rightly, a Biblical fact. Our text today continues on with the moed or “set times” of God.
14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) 16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD. Exodus 23:14-17.
I think that we can be reasonably dogmatic about the statements that God makes about the sacrifices and consider that what He says here is diametrically opposed to how the pagan nations were sacrificing to their gods. Verse nineteen bans boiling a young goat in the milk of its mother. This was banned because it was the practice of the pagan nations to do such a thing and then spread the ashes over their fields to invoke and appease their gods of fertility. Israel was not to assume any of the practices of the pagans around them. They were to be “a kingdom of priests” and a “peculiar” people and we must remember that the term peculiar in the original language of Hebrew is “treasure”, that is: something of high value, like a jewel. The rest of the small ‘g’ gods could have the rest of the nations who were either foolish or deceived enough to follow them, but Israel would belong to Yahweh.
The 'do's' and 'do not' language is plain. With all the sort of 'laws' outlined so far in our journey through Torah another year, I can't see where this 'code' is any different than a lot of the 'laws' that are on our books right now. How can a great number of believers look at these and say, “That's just for the Jews. We don't have to observe the law.” These are many of the very same laws that we live under right now in our respective countries! But because it's in the Bible and was originally promulgated for Israel, the rest of the believers get all huffy about “the law”. What would happen if we decided that our country's law codes weren't meant for us? Let's just say we threw out all the laws around liability and and breach of trust by defrauding our grandmother out of her savings. This example is based on an authentic case of a grandson in one of Canada's largest cities.
He literally stole his grandmother's fortune and when she went to the bank on a routine shopping day, she had a zero balance. She was so upset several days later when the police came to her house with a warrant for her own grandson, who lived with her, she had a cardiac event and died. She had no idea the thief was one in her own household and family. There was no way for that grandson to say, “Well, I'm not under that law.” He was charged with fraud and his case was tried in the courts. It just doesn't work for people in the secular world. So, how can believers say, “I'm not under Biblical law” when if you read it all carefully in Torah, all the moral statutes, ordinances and judgments are practically the same. Think about it. I'm not touching on the rites that came into use once the temple was raised up. If it is true what they teach in that first year law class, that the concept of tort law came to us via the Roman government, then from where did Rome get the same concepts?
13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. Exodus 23:13.
It’s almost like Yah breaks though to regain the attention of Israel so that they can take Him seriously: “Now listen up! Be circumspect about what I’m telling you. Circumspect? Circumspect from the Hebrew in that sentence is a verb: שָׁמַר shâmar, shaw-mar' a primitive root; properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.:—beward, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep(-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch(-man).
It means: “Be wary. Guard your code of law carefully. Take everything into account and exercise caution about what I’m telling you: Don’t be messing about with those other gods and don’t even mention their names!” Doesn’t this sound like this was even more important to The I AM than the ability of Israel to “keep every part of the law”? It reminds me of the first commandments all over again:
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. . Exodus 20:2-3.
He was talking about real gods. We often call them false gods but that almost makes it sound like there is nothing more to them but the material they’re made from. Perhaps we might say they’re real false gods. But then that sounds like an oxymoron. Oxymorons are figures of speech in which apparently totally contradictory terms appear together. To me an oxymoron would be like: We live in a “winter wonderland”. These days, it is winter, and it ain’t no 'winter wonder land'!
We can’t just keep calling them “false gods” because it keeps the reality just out of reach for us and we can continue on in what someone coined, ignorance that is bliss. The fact of it is that every Buddha statue you see has a negative spiritual power behind it. The black stone2 that is set in the eastern corner of the Kaaba of Islam, in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, has a negative spiritual power behind it. Consider every ancient small ‘g’ god in Egypt. Every “false” god we can think of has a negative spiritual power behind it. Yesterday, we spoke about witchcraft that is absolutely FULL of “cursed” or “demonized” objects. This whole notion of blessing and cursing is another reality that the mainline church hasn’t addressed. (Actually, either the mainline churches don’t touch on it at all or else they go right off on the opposite tangent with meetings where gold dust falls and devotees roll in uncontrollable laughter.)
One woman who was a witch and who moved into the kingdom of God from the kingdom of Lucifer testified that the first thing that she did was go through all of her house and belongings and separated every thing: jewelry, books, candles and every bit of paraphernalia that was part of her Luciferian path, and destroyed it all. It was cursed and the occult spirits behind these objects, had she kept them, would have given the enemy legal permission to stay in her life and create strongholds between her and God, the I AM. So we can realize that when God speaks of those other gods, we can know that the power behind them is very real and it is Lucifer! We can choose not to accept this at our peril. All of these commands for living an upright and moral life for Israel was to keep them free of any association with those other gods whose spirit behind them was in truth, Satanic.
It appears that our Father LOVES the cycles of six days work, seventh day: rest. And why shouldn’t it be so, when He instituted this command right at the beginning?
31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 1:31-2:1-3.
Contrary to what the mainline church and the world tells you, the seventh day sabbath came a long time prior to Mt Sinai. The Sabbath isn’t a “Jewish” invention! We could call it rightly, a Biblical fact. Our text today continues on with the moed or “set times” of God.
14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. 15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:) 16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. 17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD. Exodus 23:14-17.
I think that we can be reasonably dogmatic about the statements that God makes about the sacrifices and consider that what He says here is diametrically opposed to how the pagan nations were sacrificing to their gods. Verse nineteen bans boiling a young goat in the milk of its mother. This was banned because it was the practice of the pagan nations to do such a thing and then spread the ashes over their fields to invoke and appease their gods of fertility. Israel was not to assume any of the practices of the pagans around them. They were to be “a kingdom of priests” and a “peculiar” people and we must remember that the term peculiar in the original language of Hebrew is “treasure”, that is: something of high value, like a jewel. The rest of the small ‘g’ gods could have the rest of the nations who were either foolish or deceived enough to follow them, but Israel would belong to Yahweh.
The 'do's' and 'do not' language is plain. With all the sort of 'laws' outlined so far in our journey through Torah another year, I can't see where this 'code' is any different than a lot of the 'laws' that are on our books right now. How can a great number of believers look at these and say, “That's just for the Jews. We don't have to observe the law.” These are many of the very same laws that we live under right now in our respective countries! But because it's in the Bible and was originally promulgated for Israel, the rest of the believers get all huffy about “the law”. What would happen if we decided that our country's law codes weren't meant for us? Let's just say we threw out all the laws around liability and and breach of trust by defrauding our grandmother out of her savings. This example is based on an authentic case of a grandson in one of Canada's largest cities.
He literally stole his grandmother's fortune and when she went to the bank on a routine shopping day, she had a zero balance. She was so upset several days later when the police came to her house with a warrant for her own grandson, who lived with her, she had a cardiac event and died. She had no idea the thief was one in her own household and family. There was no way for that grandson to say, “Well, I'm not under that law.” He was charged with fraud and his case was tried in the courts. It just doesn't work for people in the secular world. So, how can believers say, “I'm not under Biblical law” when if you read it all carefully in Torah, all the moral statutes, ordinances and judgments are practically the same. Think about it. I'm not touching on the rites that came into use once the temple was raised up. If it is true what they teach in that first year law class, that the concept of tort law came to us via the Roman government, then from where did Rome get the same concepts?
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance… 18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. 22 Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. Psalm 33:12;18-22.
1 NASB www.lockman.org for daily reading and KJV in commentary unless otherwise specified
2 Black Stone of Mecca, Hajj - Crystalinks
2 Black Stone of Mecca, Hajj - Crystalinks
Daily Torah Bites ©
anne@anchorchurchsurfside.com