Shoftim “Judges”
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-
Shoftim is the Hebrew word for “judges”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Book of Deuteronomy starting in chapter 16 verse 18 and going through chapter 21 verse 9.
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 Isaiah in chapter 51 verse 12 through chapter 52 verse 12.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of John in chapter 14 with verses 9 through 20.
Torah Portion Overview-
At the end of his life Moses prophesied that Yahweh would raise up another prophet like Himself. The people would not directly hear the voice of Yahweh but instead He would raise up prophets who would speak for Him.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 (ESV)
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers--it is to him you shall listen-- just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Clearly this speaks of the many prophets, from Isaiah and Jeremiah to Micah and Jonah. These prophets would speak for the Lord. Yet Peter pointed out that the ultimate prophet that would be raised up was Jesus Christ!
Acts 3:19-23, 26 (ESV)
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people… God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Yeshua came to us as a man and prophet, yet He was so much more! Most of His life here on earth His glory was masked, yet there was one time when He revealed not only who He was but also His full glory (as much as can be seen by men).
Matthew 17:1-3, 5 (ESV)
“And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him…He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
Notice that when Yeshua was shown in His glory that the Father didn’t even mention Moses and Elijah. Indeed Yeshua was to be a prophet like Moses, but even more, a prophet greater than Moses! There are many comparisons between Moses and Jesus, the first of which is the formation of the old covenant and the new covenants which both involved a sacrifice. However the Sacrifice of Jesus was so much greater because it was His very own flesh and blood!
Exodus 24:7-8 (ESV)
“Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Compare this to Jesus at Passover before His death at the cross, the great and final sacrifice.
Matthew 26:26-28 (ESV)
“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
They each brought us covenant, but whereas the old covenant was great and contained the giving of the Torah, the new covenant was so much greater because it would contain the Torah written on the hearts of men!
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (ESV) (see also Ezekiel 11:17-21, 36:24-28)
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
When Moses was here the Glory would come down and speak to Moses face to face (Exodus 33:11). Indeed, until John and Jesus Moses was the greatest man ever born, because He spoke face to face with Yahweh! However Jesus is so much greater because He did not need the Father to descend in order to speak with Him, indeed, the Father was in Him!
John 10:38 (ESV)
“but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Thus having the Father and Spirit in Him He could say that He spoke the words of God! The Father truly put His words in His mouth!
John 14:10-11 (ESV) (see also John 17:8)
“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”
Just as the words of God spoken through Moses were law and instructions, Torah, so too the words of Jesus were directions and law directly from God! Thus, His word is equal to the Torah! Heaven and earth were a witness of the Torah (Deuteronomy 4:26, Matthew 5:18). Indeed, the Torah will pass away after heaven and earth do, but the words of Yeshua will not! Thus His words are greater than the Torah!
Matthew 24:35 (ESV)
“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
This is because He is God, Yahweh in the flesh! Previously the word of God came through an intermediary, Moses, but now it comes from the living God! Previously the law was written on tablets of stone, but now it is written on tablets of flesh, on our heart!
2 Corinthians 3:3 (ESV)
“And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
It is not only the method of delivery that can be compared. Loving Jesus in the new covenant means keeping his commandments just like loving God in the Torah meant keeping God’s commandments.
John 14:15, 21, 23-24, 15:10, 12-14, 16-17 (ESV) (compare to Deuteronomy 5:10; 6:5–6; 7:9; 10:12–13; 11:13, 22, 1 John 5:3)
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments… Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him… Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me… If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you… You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
We can also compare the signs of Moses. Moses had three signs he was to give, the staff turning into a serpent (Exodus 4:2-5), his hand becoming leprous and being restored (Exodus 4:6-8), and lastly the water turning to blood (Exodus 4:9). Interestingly Moses performed the first sign (Exodus 7:8-13), and the third sign (Exodus 7:14-25), but it doesn’t say he performed the second sign. Perhaps this was because Yahweh knew that they would not hear his voice or believe the sign (Exodus 4:8-9). When Yeshua came to earth He performed these same signs, but in reverse! First, He turned water into wine (John 2:1-12), then He healed leprosy by touching it with His hand (Matthew 8:3). But what of the first sign of Moses, the staff turning into a serpent? Although the word tannin can mean serpent, dragon, or crocodile, Eugene Carpenter explains in the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary for Exodus vol. 1 that it was most likely a uraeus serpent, a cobra, featured on the crown of Pharaoh. Serpents not only symbolized power, but were also throne guardians. It is my opinion that this sign was meant to say to Pharaoh, “your protection is removed, your gods are nothing, and I will devour you” (just as the serpent had devoured the other serpents)!
When Jesus came to this earth He came to, among other things, judge the gods of this world.
John 16:11 (ESV)
“concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
He did this at the cross, when He stripped all power and authority away from them through His death and resurrection! Thus, the prophecy of Daniel had been fulfilled!
Daniel 7:13-14 (ESV)
“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
Thus Yeshua, at His death and resurrection performed the final sign of Moses, by destroying the power of the enemy and crushing the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:14-15)!
We can immediately see that these signs are greater! For instead of bringing death by turning water into blood He brought joy by turning water into wine. Not only could He heal His own hand from leprosy but He could touch those devoured by the disease and heal them! And not just judging the gods of Egypt but judging the gods of the whole world! Indeed, Jesus is the prophet like Moses, but He is also the prophet greater than Moses!
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Deuteronomy 16:18 Laws for judges and officers
Deuteronomy 16:21 Improper sacrifices and idolatry and its punishment
Deuteronomy 17:8 Priests and Judges are to render judgements
Deuteronomy 17:14 Laws for Kings
Deuteronomy 18:1 The Priest’s and Levite’s portion
Deuteronomy 18:9 Prohibited foreign cult worship practices
Deuteronomy 18:15 The Prophet like Moses
Deuteronomy 19:1 City of Refuge laws
Deuteronomy 19:14 Laws of boundary marker and witnesses
Deuteronomy 20:1 Laws of war and conquering
Deuteronomy 21:1 Laws on cleansing for murders that are not solved
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Isaiah 51:12 The Lord will comfort His people (Jerusalem) who was judged
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
John 14:9 The Father is in the son and does works, and Jesus will do works for us if we ask in His name
John 14:15 Keep Jesus commands, He will send the Holy Spirit
John 14:18 Jesus will not abandon us and will return
Bibliography
Peter C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1976), 262.
J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 5 of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1974), 234–235.
I. Howard Marshall, “Acts,” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos, 2007), 547–548.
William H. C. Propp, Exodus 1–18: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, vol. 2 of Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 322.
Eugene Carpenter, Exodus, vol. 1 of Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016), 363–364.
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