The Kingdom Pattern in Torah (pdf)
Ki Tetze Slides (pdf)
Ki Tetze Notes (pdf)
Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
Overview of Ki Tetze (“When You Go”) Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19
With last week’s and this week’s Portions, we are getting a glimpse of the organization of Yehovah’s Kingdom. Last week we saw the restrictions placed upon the King (yes, even the King has rules He must obey!); and we saw the organization of the judicial system (Yeshua referred to this as occurring in the Millennial Kingdom in Matthew 19:27-8:
“Then Peter answered and said to Him, ‘See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?’ So Yeshua said to him, ‘Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’”
And this week’s Portion is a list of 74 of the 613 total Torah commandments that Kingdom citizens must follow. We see these referred to as a “rod of iron” by which the Nations (those who have rejected Torah) believe Yeshua will rule over them in the Kingdom (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:26, 12:5 & 19:15). This Portion is almost entirely “laws”…one right after another; there is no narrative to break up the “laws” so I have summarized them in the same machine-gun fire in which they are written.
Chapter 21 – The Captive Wife & Other Laws
Last week’s Portion listed the rules of conduct for warfare; and this week we see the rules of conduct for Israelite soldiers taking captive women. The soldier is not to take her on impulse (like the pagan armies would) but rather show her respect and dignity, and to allow her to mourn the loss of her parents. She cannot be taken by force but is to be given the honor of marriage; she is not to be treated as a slave and cannot be sold. She was to shave her head and let her fingernails grow long – apparently forcing the conquering soldier to look past the initial stages of his lust and her sexual allure. If he still desired her after a month of baldness and long nails, then he can go forward with the wedding. These are sound Biblical principles that must be applied to any relationship.
Additional laws listed in this chapter include:
The firstborn’s inheritance rights
How to treat a rebellious son
Proper burial and dignity of the dead
Chapter 22 – The Laws Continue
Requirement to return lost property
Respect for the givers of life
If you take eggs from a nest, first remove the mother bird. The Rabbis consider this to
be the “least commandment”, which Yeshua referred to in Matt 5:19
Your duty to protect others from injuring themselves on your property
The prohibition of mingling (seed, fabric and animals)
Women are not to wear a man’s (warrior’s) equipment. This is not prohibiting women
from wearing pants – it’s about mingling…not Yehovah’s fashion statement!
Also listed are the judicial procedures for adultery, for the rape or seduction of an unmarried girl, and for a husband who falsely accuses his wife of infidelity
Chapter 23 – More Laws
The laws continue with:
The list of those who are to be excluded from the congregation of Israel:
Those who are infertile
Those who are illegitimate children (until the 10th generation)
This is the reason that Saul was Israel’s first King. The lineage of Judah was “defiled” when he had intercourse with his daughter-in-law Tamar and she bore him twin (illegitimate) sons: Perez and Zerah (Genesis 38). Counting the descendants of Judah through Perez (in both Matthew 1:3-6 and Ruth 4:18-22), we see that David was the 10th generation from Judah; this means that David was the first generation eligible to inherit the right to be King of Israel. At the time that Israel was crying out for “a king like all the Nations around us”, David was too young to ascend to the throne, so Saul (from the Tribe of Benjamin) became Israel’s first King. Yehovah keeps the same “laws” that He has given to us to keep!
More laws follow:
Requirements to maintain sanitation in the camp”
“For I walk through the camp also.”
Prohibition against killing an escaped slave
Prohibition of male and female temple prostitutes
Prohibition of offering the proceeds of illegitimate activities to Yehovah
Proper treatment of a debtor
Prohibition of interest on a loan
Chapter 24 – More Laws
Laws of divorce
Torah neither prohibits nor condones it…just acknowledges that it will happen
The only legitimate reason for divorce is sexual immorality
A divorce for any other reason will result in adultery if either party remarries
More laws:
One year freedom from commitments for newly married
Do not take for a pledge a man’s ability to earn a living
Laws concerning kidnapping
Reminder of quarantine laws concerning leprosy
Do not take the dignity of borrowers
Do not hold back the wages of your employees
You are responsible for your own actions – nobody else is!
Do not pervert justice for the poor
Restatement of the Law of Gleaning
Penalty for “minor” offences: 40 lashes
Torah given to Moses in 40 days
Moses atoned 40 days for Golden Calf
Do not abuse those who are producing for you
Chapter 25 – More Laws
Procedure for the Levirate (the Latin word for “brother-in-law) Marriage; we have not seen this before, so we will explore in detail:
If a man dies leaving a wife, then it is the duty of the man’s brother to marry her and raise up children in the dead brother’s name. We see an example (a negative one) of this in Genesis 38:1-10 with the sons of Judah; and we see a positive example with Ruth and Boaz in Ruth chapters 3 & 4.
More laws:
Do not destroy the dignity of another
Specifically, the covenant of circumcision
Always use honest weights and measures
The Portion concludes with the obligation to “remember what Amalek did to you on the way out from Egypt…..that you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget.”
When Israel first left Egypt, they were attacked by Amalek (Exodus 17:8-16) even before they arrived at Mt Sinai. Amalek’s battle plan was to attack those at the rear of the march: the stragglers, the weak, and the lame. We see here that the Israelites, led by Joshua, defeated Amalek as Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms in intercession; but apparently it was not a complete destruction. The Book of Esther also gives us a (symbolic) picture of Amalek’s destruction: Mordechai (descendant of Benjamin) defeated Haman (the Agagite – a descendant of Amalek (I Samuel 15:32-33)). Even though the descendants of Amalek may no longer be known, the spirit of Amalek is very much alive and at work today. So Yehovah’s instruction to Saul (I Samuel 15:1-3) has yet to be completely carried out. And His instruction in this week’s Portion is to “remember what Amalek did to you…” is also an instruction for Israel to do something about it!
Haftarah Reading (Isaiah 53:3-12)
Every week, in synagogues around the world, the same Haftarah (meaning “parting” or “taking leave”) reading accompanies the reading of the Torah Portion. Over the centuries, the Rabbis have established these Haftarah readings so that every congregation would be reading the same verses every week. There are several different ones (with a few weekly deviations); I am using the version from Chabad.org; if you are following Firstfruits of Zion you may notice an occasional week with a different Haftarah reading. The point I’m trying to make is that somebody else has chosen these Haftarah readings…not me! I’m just trying to keep on the same schedule as Chabad does… except this week – when Orthodox Judaism deliberately ignores the verses that bring the greatest consolation to mankind!
This week’s Haftarah continues the theme of consolation during this time between the 9th of Av & Yom Teruah. Last week’s Portion ended in Isaiah chapter 52 and, according to Chabad, this week’s Portion starts with Isaiah 54 …skipping over the chapter that reveals God’s greatest consolation for Israel and for all mankind. So this week we will deviate from the normal reading chosen by the Rabbis and we will read from Isaiah chapter 53, where the Prophet Isaiah details the sacrifice of Messiah Yeshua & tells us God’s purpose in that sacrifice. We read from Isaiah 53:3-12:
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgressions of My people He was stricken. And they made His grave with the wicked—but with the rich at His death, because He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Brit Chadashah (Matthew 21:33-41)
(These Brit Chadashah (“New Covenant”) readings have, obviously, not been chosen by the Rabbis….they are all mine!)
Last week’s Portion showed the organization of Israel’s government through the use of judges, kings, priests & prophets; this week’s Portion complements this picture by listing the rules of conduct for Israel’s citizens. And when Yeshua establishes His Millennial Kingdom – when the “kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our LORD” – He will follow this same pattern for the organization of His government & for the rules of conduct for the Citizens of His Kingdom. In fact, Yeshua gave us a preview of these Kingdom conduct rules in His Parable of the Vinedressers; we see here what will happen when the citizens of the Kingdom fail to obey the rules of the Kingdom. We read from Matthew 21:33-41:
“Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?” They said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” Yeshua said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”