Mishpatim “judgements”
It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.
As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.
Torah Portion Name and Readings-
Mishpatim is the Hebrew word for “judgements”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Exodus starting in chapter 21 verse 1 and going through chapter 24 and verse 18.
Prophets and New Testament-
It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Jeremiah in chapter 34 verse 8 through verse 22, and chapter 33 verse 25 through 26.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of Matthew in chapter 26 with verses 20 through verse 30.
Torah Portion Overview-
In this torah portion we receive more of the laws given at the mountain as part of the Old Covenant or First Covenant. The law is given for having Hebrew slaves. They are not to be owned perpetually but instead are to serve only six years. On the seventh year they are to be set free. However, if a slave loved his master and the wife whom the master had given him then he could pledge to serve him forever. He would become his bondservant, having his ear pierced with an awl at the door. Then God issued laws that would protect female slaves. If a man bought a female slave to be a wife and she did not please him he was not allowed to sell her to a foreigner. She is allowed to be redeemed. If he bought her for his son then he must treat her as a daughter, a member of his own family, not as a slave. If he does marry her and then takes another wife he is still required to provide for her and give her marital right, and if he is guilty of breaking this law then she is permitted to go out and be free. The next set of laws were designed to protect life. They prohibited murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and other crimes. Of note even an unborn baby is protected, where if a man hurts the child because of a fight then the harm done to the baby is to be done to the man. Then the torah covers what to do if an animal harms a person or another animal. It instructs how to punish for neglect (leaving an open pit). Restitution laws are then covered. Restitution laws cover theft, harm of land or property, and of note, fornication. Fornication would be seen as stealing what should belong to another man, and robbing the woman of a future husband. Thus protective measures are set out. Those who practice magic (sorceress), and those who commit bestiality are to be put to death, and those who sacrifice to another god are to be devoted to destruction, that is, completely destroyed with all their goods and property. Next social justice laws are put forth. We can see that God cares about the way we treat each other! Here He lays out protections for those who are the least, from the stranger to the widow or orphan. God cares about those whom society may not normally care about. We get laws about justice and showing kindness to your enemy. Over and over we get commands that are to show Israel as a just society, from not lying in court to not making unjust rulings against the poor, or listening to false accusation. Then we receive the laws of the seventh year, a Sabbath year where the land can recover from being farmed. Here we see that God desires even to protect the earth, which makes sense, since He cares for all of His creation. We are commanded not to invoke (in an oath) the name of the other gods. Then we are given the laws about the three pilgrimage feasts; Unleavened Bread, Feast of Harvest (First Fruits), and Ingathering (Tabernacles). It is clear from the names that they are harvest festivals! Yahweh created feasts around the natural times of man, giving him times of refreshing after such great labor as harvest time. We get some sacrifice laws, and then a command to listen to and obey the Angel of the Lord that goes before Israel. Israel is reminded not to serve other gods and the blessings that would follow if they remain faithful to Yahweh and His covenant. God promised that He would drive out the inhabitants of the land slowly so that the people would not be overwhelmed. However, since there were going to be people there, they were not to make a covenant with them! Then comes the covenant! They make sacrifices in worship to Yahweh and the Elders of Israel come up the mountain and eat a covenant meal and are not harmed. Finally the torah portion ends with Moses going up on the mountain alone into the clouds and is gone for forty days and forty nights.
Today I want to talk about the Angel (messenger) of the Lord that would go with them and whom would have the name of Yahweh within Him.
“I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. “But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.”
Exodus 23:20-22 (NRSVue)
Who is this angel, and why was He brought in to be with Israel? Wasn’t the presence of Yahweh already with Israel as the cloud? Why bring in another?
Some scholars have suggested that the reference to the Messenger of the Lord here is a reference to Moses himself, but I view this argument as very weak. As T. Desmond Alexander explains in Apollos Old Testament Commentary, Exodus vol. 2 explains:
“In contrast to the idea that the ‘messenger’ is Moses, others have suggested that here the ‘messenger’ is ‘an expression of God himself’ (Durham 1987: 335; cf. e.g. R. G. North 1967: 113–143; Niehaus [1995: 191–195], who concludes that the ‘language used to portray the guardian angel of Exodus 23 strongly indicates that the angel and Yahweh are one’ [195]). Keil and Delitzsch comment that the mal’āk was not a ‘created spirit … but the manifestation of Jehovah Himself’ (1872: 152). Likewise, V. P. Hamilton remarks:
‘I am inclined to give mal’āk its normal meaning—a supernatural, nonhuman figure who is both distinguished from Yahweh and fused with Yahweh—and to connect this reference to a divine mal’āk with other references to him in Exodus (3:2; 14:19; 32:34; 33:2). (2011: 435; cf. Crüsemann 1996: 180; Ausloos 1998: 85; Stuart, who refers to the angel as ‘the angel who is Yahweh’ [2006: 542])’
Indirect evidence that points towards the angel being a manifestation of YHWH himself comes in the LXX translation, which intentionally makes minor modifications in order to distance the angel from YHWH.”
He further explains:
“The nature of these modifications suggests that the original MT reading was viewed by the LXX translator as associating the angel too closely with YHWH. If this was not the case, the subtle changes made by the translator would not have been necessary.”
We can see then that there is a close connection to Yahweh with this messenger. We see further that the messenger is most likely connected to the idea of the logos. As William H. C. Propp explains in the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary, Exodus 19-40: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 2A:
“Like our passage, Deuteronomy and Deuteronomistic literature prefer the hypostasis of Yahweh’s šēm ‘Name.’ Yahweh is not physically manifest on Earth, nor is his presence represented by a statue. Rather, he is symbolized by the word yahwe(h). Here the Hebrew concept of šēm ‘name’ approaches our notion of “idea” (or Greek logos). Moreover, at least for a poet, the “Name” may have the physical characteristics of a person. Compare the ambiguous anthropomorphism of Isa 30:27, “See, Yahweh’s Name coming from a distance, its/his nose (anger) flaring … its/his lips full of wrath, its/his tongue like a consuming fire” (Luzzatto).”
John connects the idea of the logos, the Word, to Jesus.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1 (ESV)
I believe this is the messenger, I believe that Jesus is the Messenger of Yahweh that has the name of Yahweh within Him, that is, He is Yahweh! All throughout the Gospels Jesus made it clear that He is One (echad) with the Father.
“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
John 5:17-18 (ESV)
Even more than this, He did not just claim to be One with the Father, He also claimed to be “I AM”, the name that was applied only to Yahweh.
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.”
John 8:58-59 (NRSVue)
Question: In light of Jesus being the 'I AM', how can we find strength in our identity as His followers during difficult times?
Jesus is I AM, Yahweh, and has been given the Name that is above every name!
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11 (NKJV)
“God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 1:20-23 (NRSVue)
What name is above all others. Yahweh, there is no other name. Thus I believe that Jesus is the “messenger” of Yahweh that led the children of Israel and was there to lead them into the promised land.
What does this mean to us today? Today we do not live in Israel, we live scattered all over the world. We are scattered, but we have the promise of hope that we will one day go into the Kingdom. Thus we should look to Jesus, the messenger of Yahweh, who is here to guide and lead us into this land, His Kingdom. We wait in hope for that day. Until then, we look to Christ, we hope in Him, and we wait on Him.
Question: How can we actively listen to the guidance of Jesus as our Messenger today in our daily lives?
Question: What are some practical steps we can take to ensure we are attentive to the voice of Jesus?
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Exodus 21:1 The laws of Hebrew slaves, they are to serve for six years then be released.
Exodus 21:5 The laws of permanent Hebrew slaves (bondservants).
Exodus 21:7 The laws of female Hebrew slaves.
Exodus 21:12 The laws about murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, cursing mother and father, assault, and harm to an unborn baby, and assault against a slave.
Exodus 21:28 The laws about an animal causing harm to a person or animal, and an open pit (neglect).
Exodus 22:1 Restitution laws; theft, harm of land or property, and fornication.
Exodus 22:18 Crimes that deserve the death penalty.
Exodus 22:21 Societal justice laws.
Exodus 22:28 Miscellaneous laws; respect God and rulers, do not delay offerings, firstborn sons and animals belong to God, do not eat meat mangled by beasts.
Exodus 23:1 Justice in court, kindness to your enemies, do justice.
Exodus 23:10 The laws of the seventh year.
Exodus 23:13 Do not invoke the name of the other gods.
Exodus 23:14 The laws of the three primary feasts; Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Ingathering (Tabernacles).
Exodus 23:18 Sacrifice laws.
Exodus 23:20 Listen to and obey the Angel of the Lord that goes before Israel.
Exodus 23:24 Do not server other gods but serve Yahweh and you will receive blessings and not curses.
Exodus 23:27 God will drive out the inhabitants of the land and you shall not make a covenant with them.
Exodus 24:1 The covenant sacrifices are made and the elders eat a covenant meal and Moses goes up on the mountain.
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Jermiah 33:25 God will remember His covenant with David.
Jeremiah 34:8 Yahweh is going to punish Judah for breaking their oath and enslaving their brothers and sisters.
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
Matthew 26:20 At Passover Jesus informs the disciples of His betrayal (by Judas).
Matthew 26:26 Jesus makes a new covenant at Passover.
Bibliography
William H. C. Propp, Exodus 19–40: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 2A of Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 287-288.
Eugene Carpenter, Exodus, vol. 2 of Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), 129-131.
T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, ed. David W. Baker and Gordon J. Wenham, vol. 2 of Apollos Old Testament Commentary (London; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2017), 531-533.
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