Modern, Western readers find many of the laws in this Torah portion harsh, primitive, or otherwise distasteful. The laws reflect a different world from our own. When the Torah begins to speak in a matter-of-fact manner about the institution of slavery, about selling one’s daughter, about repaying measure-for-measure, it disconcerts the modern reader. He is tempted to comfort himself with the notion that the unpleasant laws have been done away with by the New Testament and replaced by kinder, gentler, and nobler virtues.
On the contrary, the mouth of God spoke every commandment of Torah. Human society may change, but God does not change. Each mitzvah is holy and eternal. Every commandment distills His essence and communicates a pure revelation of His person. The study of the commandments is the study of God.
As soon as we begin to discard commandments, we have begun editing God and reshaping the Almighty into an image which we deem more appropriate. The Torah contains both law and revelation. It provides a rule of conduct, but at the same time, it expresses God in human terms. If a person realizes that Torah is God’s own self-disclosure to the world, he will appreciate the enormous gravity of declaring that same Torah null or void. Even the smallest commandment of the Torah is suffused with godliness. To declare a commandment irrelevant or obsolete denies the eternal and unchanging nature of God.
The Torah contains laws about murder, abuse, murdering one’s parents, slavery, bestiality, incest, and a host of disagreeable things. How can this be a holy, godly revelation of the Infinite Light? The Apostle Paul explained, “All things become visible when they are exposed by the light” (Ephesians 5:13).
The Talmud reminds us that “the Torah was not given to angels.” Instead, God gave the Torah to flawed and sinful human beings. The Torah speaks directly into human society with all of its wrinkles, and it speaks in the language of the flawed and imperfect in order to infuse godliness into the world. It has descended from a very high place (God) to a very low place (man), yet it has still retained its godly essence. That godly essence might be wrapped in garments of human concern (such as the laws of slavery or compensation for negligence), but if one takes the trouble to unwrap the commandment, it will blaze forth in his hands with the brilliance of heaven.
Paul alludes to the dichotomy of the holy, concealed within matters of the profane. He tells Timothy that the Torah is good if one uses it “lawfully,” that is in the administration of justice:
But we know that the [Torah] is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that [Torah] is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching. (1 Timothy 1:8-10)
January 21, 2022 Exodus 38:24-25 All the gold that was used in all the work of the holy place, that is, the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. And the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred and […]
JANUARY 20, 2022 Exodus 38:21 This is the inventory of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, which was counted according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest. There are many things recorded in Scripture that, at first glance, seem to be laborious and […]
JANUARY 19, 2022 Exodus 38:8 He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. The Laver that was in the court of the Sanctuary was where washing and cleansing would occur as the priests readied themselves […]
JANUARY 18, 2022 Exodus 37:6 He also made the mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits was its length and a cubit and a half its width. All of our lives, we have heard the cover of the Ark of the Covenant referred to as the “mercy seat.” As a child I always wondered what […]
JANUARY 17, 2022 Exodus 37:1-2 Then Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits was its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a molding of gold all around it. We have noted on many occasions […]
JANUARY 16, 2022 Exodus 36:8 Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on the tabernacle made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and of blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim they made them. I have always found it interesting that the curtains of the Sanctuary, as well as the veil, were […]
Jewish tradition maintains that the first commandment is the commandment to believe in God. Christian tradition has the first commandment as the prohibition on worshipping other gods. Eastern Orthodox reckoning agrees that the second commandment is a prohibition on idols. All of these commandments teach us to worship God alone and not to make representations of Him or any other gods. God explains these commandments by saying, “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5).
Does this mean that God is jealous in the sense of a petty, selfish jealousy that takes offense when attention and affection are directed anywhere else? Of course not. God is jealous in the sense that a loving husband is jealous over his wife.
If your spouse told you, “I don’t care whether you see other people; it doesn’t bother me,” you would be alarmed that he or she no longer holds your wedding vows as sacrosanct. It would bother you that your spouse had such little affection for you that infidelity was not even an issue. It would be a clear and certain sign that your spouse cared little for you or for your relationship.
The Hebrew word for jealousy (kana, קנאה) is also translated as “zeal.” The term “jealous God” could be translated as “zealous God” or even “impassioned God.” God is passionately in love with His people. He is like a steadfast and faithful husband who does not waver in his affection or commitment to his bride. Because of that, He will not tolerate the worship of other gods, nor will He allow for the worship of idols. He feels the same way about idolatry and paganism that a faithful husband would feel about his wife having an affair.
God’s fidelity should encourage us to adopt the same standard of jealous devotion to Him. Just as a faithful and steadfast wife would shun the affections of other men and refuse their flirtatious gifts and suggestive advances, we should be resolved to give no room to idolatry in our lives.
God is passionately in love with us. We should return that passion.
Yitro – יתרו : “Jethro” Torah : Exodus 18:1-20:23 (26) Haftarah : Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6 Gospel : Mark 7-8
JANUARY 15, 2022 Exodus 36:6-7 And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done—indeed too much. Let us consider something: have you ever been in a church service where the minister had to instruct the people to stop bring their offerings? Have you ever been […]
JANUARY 14, 2022 Exodus 35:30-32 The Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, […]
