Book-of-the-Covenant-Details (pdf)
Covenant vs Law (pdf)
Mishpatim Slides (pdf)
Mishpatim Notes (pdf)
Overview of Mishpatim (“Judgments” – Exodus 21:1 – 24:18)
Since Genesis chapter 2, Yehovah has been instructing His People in the things that He wants us to do. Yehovah told Adam the reason that he was created: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” From the beginning, Adam’s (and our) purpose here on Earth was to have dominion over it and to protect it from harm. Had Adam done that then the serpent would never have been in the garden to tempt Eve…and the Bible today would be a much shorter book!
Yehovah gave them dietary instructions: in the Garden He gave them the fruit of the trees and the grain of the fields; then after The Fall and their expulsion from the Garden, He limited their diet to just the grain of the fields…. implying that the fruit trees were only available in the Garden And after The Flood, He restored to them the fruit from the trees, and He added the flesh of animals who observed the original dietary rules (those who ate fruit and grain – but no meat-eaters!). And the instruction He gave to Adam He repeated to Noach and sons: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the Earth.” But what is missing from Yehovah’s original instruction to Adam? Man no longer had dominion over the Earth; Adam lost that to Satan at the fall, so Noach was not given that commandment. But… Yeshua took it back from Satan at His resurrection and gave it back to us. Halleluyah!!
He separated Abram’s Family from the rest of the Nations and took them for His Own (Deuteronomy 32:8 & 9); He promised Abraham, Isaac & Jacob that they would have a large family, their own land and government over that land.
Each time Mankind (and we) took the wrong turn, Yehovah, in His Mercy, would point them (us) in the right direction…and give us more instructions (laws) to train us to walk on the paths that He has chosen.
So in these two Torah Portions (last week’s and this week’s) we see the conclusion of His instructions as He has chosen Israel and He has proposed marriage to them. But this marriage covenant is a conditional one, unlike previous covenants. So, the covenant conditions that started last week (in chapter 20) conclude this week (in chapters 21-23).
Chapter 21
This chapter starts with the Hebrew letter vav which means “and”, so the contents of this chapter connect with chapter 20 which outlined the “commandments.” And the chapters of this week’s Portion (21-23) give detailed applications of those commandments – they are “judgments” (which is the meaning of the name Mishpatim) that are based upon the original Ten Commandments.
These judgments start with instructions concerning the relationship between a master and his
Hebrew slaves. It is an amplification of the first commandment: “I am the LORD your Yehovah, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
Israel had been in Egypt for a total of 215 years and been delivered from Pharaoh’s slavery after a period between 80 and 140 years…so what better topic could Yehovah start with here! The slavery described here is far different from the slavery that occurred in the U.S. in the 18th & 19th Centuries. When a Hebrew man or family ended up in poverty because of “bad luck” or poor business decisions, it was the obligation of the “wealthy” to take the man (and family) into his household and give him (them) an opportunity to “work off” the debt. But more importantly, he was to train him to make sound financial decisions so, when he would be released at the end of the sixth year of the Sabbatical Cycle, he would not make the same mistakes that landed him in bankruptcy. It was the obligation of the “wealthy” to provide this type of support and training to their “unfortunate” brothers…just like they were not to harvest all of their crops, but leave the edges and corners of the fields for the poor to gather and eat.
Next are instructions concerning violence to people and to animals. We see here examples of specific situations that emanate from “Do Not Murder” and “Honor Your Father and Mother” and we see the consequences of breaking these Commandments. There are even penalties or “fines” enumerated in specific instances.
Chapter 22
The chapter starts with a series of scenarios concerning man’s responsibility for property – both his and his neighbor’s. These instructions are expanded from “Do Not Steal.” Notice that here Yehovah certainly endorses the concept of ownership of property…Yehovah is a Capitalist!
The balance of the chapter consists of a series of moral offences that are amplifications of the Noachide Laws found in Genesis 9:4-6. From these verses the Rabbis have enumerated seven Noachide Laws: 1) Do not worship idols; 2) Do not curse Yehovah; 3) Establish courts of justice; 4) Do not murder; 5) Do not commit adultery; 6) Do not steal; and 7) Do not eat the flesh of a living animal. You can see that these also form the basis of the Ten Commandments.
Chapter 23
This chapter starts with instructions concerning truth in justice – amplifying “Do Not Bear False Witness” and “Do Not Take the Name of the LORD Your God in Vain.”
It then moves on to establish the seven-year Sabbatical Cycle for the land, which started in Genesis 2 with the Seventh Day Shabbat and “Remember the Shabbat Day to Keep it Holy.” It was Israel’s failure to keep these instructions (and the Jubilee Year – Leviticus 25:8-17) that resulted in her expulsion from the Land and taken into the 70-year Babylonian Exile (II Chronicles 36:15-21). Israel had not kept the seventh year as holy for 490 years; therefore Yehovah said, “You owe me 70 years of rest for the land….and I’m going to take them all at once” (my paraphrase).
Three additional mo’edim (meaning “appointed times” and is translated as “feasts”) are added to the Passover which we saw in Exodus 12. These three feasts are: the Feast of Unleavened Bread (immediately following Passover); the Feast of the Harvest (or “Weeks” or “Pentecost) which is 50 days after Unleavened Bread…more or less; we’ll cover that in detail when we get to Leviticus 23; and the Feast of Ingathering (or Tabernacles which is six months after Passover. They are known as the “Shloshim Regalim” (literally, “three legs”) when all able-bodied Hebrew men were to travel to Jerusalem (using their legs) to appear in the Temple with their first fruits offering of their harvest. Again, we will cover these details in Lev 23. Notice the last sentence in verse 19: “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” The Rabbis have interpreted this to mean that you are not to mix milk and meat (no cheeseburgers or lasagna); and the ultra-orthodox go so far as to have two completely separate kitchens and dining rooms: one for milk and one for meat. But look at the context: it is not talking about dietary laws but rather the offering of sacrifices. This specific act of boiling a kid in its mother’s milk was associated with a particular pagan ritual…and Yehovah here is forbidding us to engage in that pagan sacrifice; so let’s not read more into this verse than the context indicates is there!
The chapter (and the Covenant conditions) end with Yehovah’s promise to deliver the Hebrews into The Land – by means of “His Angel”…another direct reference to Yeshua!
Chapter 24 – The Covenant Confirmed
Yehovah called Moses, Aaron and his two sons Nadav & Avihu (we will hear more about them in Leviticus 10) and 70 of the Tribal leaders up to Mt Sinai. Moses went to the top to meet Yehovah and the rest of the men stayed only part way up the mountain to worship. Moses wrote all the words that Yehovah had told him in the Book of the Covenant (verse 7) and returned down the mountain to the people and told them the “words” (chapter 20) and the “judgments” (chapters 21-23) which Yehovah had given him; and the people said, “All the words which the LORD has said we will do.” These are the first two elements of the covenant confirmation. Then they sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings, and Moses sprinkled (actually, “splattered”; it was a flailing process that scattered blood over everything nearby) half of the blood on the altar. This is the third element of the covenant confirmation: the shedding of blood. The rest of the blood was “sprinkled” on the people as Moses said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words.” Compare this to Yeshua’s words (Luke 22:20) at His last Passover Seder: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.” He’s saying the very same words that Moses said 1,500 years earlier at Sinai!
Moses returned to the mountain and, along with Aaron, his two sons, and the 70 princes of Israel, “they saw the God of Israel… But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw Yehovah, and they ate and drank.” …and lived to tell about it! This is the fourth and final element of the covenant confirmation.
Then Moses, with Joshua this time, went back up the mountain for 40 days to receive the stone tablets containing all of the Book of the Covenant; he left Aaron and the 70 princes of Israel at the foot of the mountain to wait for his return.
The Haftarah Jeremiah 34:8-22
The Haftarah picks up on Yehovah’s instructions concerning the treatment of Hebrew servants from this Torah Portion. Under King Zedekiah, the people had agreed to release their Hebrew slaves after six years of service; but they went back on that agreement and forced their freed slaves back into service. The Prophet Jeremiah prophesied Israel’s expulsion from the Land for this failure (among others) to release their slaves according to Yehovah’s instruction. We read from Jeremiah 34:8-11 & 17-22:
“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them: that every man should set free his male and female slave—a Hebrew man or woman—that no one should keep a Jewish brother in bondage. Now when all the princes and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should set free his male and female slaves, that no one should keep them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and let them go. But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.” Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, “At the end of seven years let every man set free his Hebrew brother, who has been sold to him; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you.” But your fathers did not obey Me nor incline their ear. Then you recently turned and did what was right in My sight—every man proclaiming liberty to his neighbor; and you made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. Then you turned around and profaned My name, and every one of you brought back his male and female slaves, whom you had set at liberty, at their pleasure, and brought them back into subjection, to be your male and female slaves.’ “Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,’ says the Lord—‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth. And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it— the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies shall be for meat for the birds of the heaven and the beasts of the earth. And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army which has gone back from you. Behold, I will command,’ says the Lord, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’ ”
The Brit Chadashah Luke 22:14-20
In the Brit Chadashah, we see Yeshua confirming the New Covenant with His Disciples using the same four elements that we see in this week’s portion. Yeshua had taught them all of the Covenant conditions during the 3-1/2 years of His Earthly ministry; all the people agreed to them, there was the final Passover meal, and it was Yeshua’s shed blood that sealed the Covenant! We read this covenant confirmation from Luke 22:14-20:
“When the hour had come, He sat down, and the [b]twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”