Torah Portion Ki Tavo – Build an Altar of Stone

The video version is available at: https://youtu.be/vQzYGxKSUeQ

Reading – Deuteronomy 27:1-13

 

By Dan and Brenda Cathcart

As Moses begins to conclude his final instructions to the children of Israel, he gives them an unusual command. They are to build an altar of stone on a mountain in the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 27:5 NKJV 5 "And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them.

This seems to contradict earlier instructions when the children of Israel were told to build the altar in front of the tabernacle out of acacia wood overlaid with bronze. Further, they were not to bring their offerings anywhere except to the tabernacle where God’s presence dwelled in their midst. So, why did God tell them to build this other altar? Why was it built out of unhewn stone? Is there any significance to where it was to be built? What is the purpose of this altar?

The Promised Land is a shadow of the original Garden of Eden. Both the Garden of Eden and the Promised Land are set apart from the rest of creation. This separation is found from the beginning. To start with, both Adam and the nation of Israel were formed outside the land, and God prepared the land before bringing them into the land.

Genesis 2:8 NKJV 8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

Once Adam was in the Garden, he was to tend and keep it.

Genesis 2:15 NKJV 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

The word “keep” is translated from the Hebrew word “shamar,” number 8104, meaning to place a hedge around, to guard, protect and preserve. Adam was to guard, protect, and preserve the garden. This implies that there existed something that could harm the garden. I’m sure Adam was to protect the garden from the serpent, but he failed miserably!

Like Adam, the nation of Israel was formed outside the land, specifically in Egypt. God promised Jacob that his descendants would become a nation while in Egypt.

Genesis 46:3 NKJV 3 So He said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.

When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, it was for the purpose of taking them as His people and placing them in the land that He had prepared for them.

Exodus 6:7-8 NKJV 7 'I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 'And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.'"

God brought them out of Egypt and led them to Mt. Sinai where He took them as His people and set them apart from the rest of the nations. Moses repeats this promise to the children of Israel as they are camped in the plains of Moab ready to enter the land stating that on that very day, they had become His special people.

Deuteronomy 26:18-19 NKJV 18 "Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, 19 "and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken."

Like with Adam, the children of Israel were given charge over the land of Israel. They were to tend the land while acknowledging that all the blessings of the land were from God.

Deuteronomy 26:9-10 NKJV 9 'He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, "a land flowing with milk and honey"; 10 'and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which you, O LORD, have given me.' Then you shall set it before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God.

Part of their task of caring for the land was to protect it from being defiled in the manner of the previous inhabitants of the land.

Leviticus 18:24-25 NKJV 24 'Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 'For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.

Adam failed in his task to tend and keep the Garden; Israel failed in her task to protect the land from defilement. Adam was exiled from the Garden; Israel was exiled from the land.

The Garden of Eden had a unique feature. There were two special trees planted in the garden: the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:9 NKJV 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Adam and Eve were allowed and, perhaps, even encouraged to eat from the tree of life, but they were forbidden from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17 NKJV 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would lead to death! And, as we know, it also led to their exile from the Garden!

The Promised Land doesn’t have the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, God set apart two mountains that stood opposite one another as well as a mountain on which He would eventually place His name. The mountain where He would place His name became the location of the temple above the city of Jerusalem. The two mountains that are set opposite one another are Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal. The children of Israel were to go to these two mountains when they entered the land and place God’s blessings and curses on the mountains.

Deuteronomy 11:29-30 NKJV 29 "Now it shall be, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 "Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, beside the terebinth trees of Moreh?

Moses explains that the mountains are near the terebinth trees of Moreh where Abraham first entered the land, received God’s promise to inherit the land, and built an altar.

Genesis 12:6-7 NKJV 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal are in the center of the Promised Land in the midst of the mountain range that extends all the way from the northern border of Israel through to its southern tip. The mountains basically run parallel to the Jordan River from its headwaters near Dan to its destination in the Dead Sea.

The context of Moses’ instruction to place the blessing on Mt. Gerizim and the curse on Mt. Ebal is that a choice is presented for the children of Israel. They could choose to obey God and receive His blessing, or they could choose to disobey God and receive His curse.

Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NKJV 26 "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 "the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 "and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known.

The names of these two mountains, at first glance, don’t seem to add anything to the message. The name “Ebal,” number 5858, comes from a root word meaning “bald.” The name “Gerizim,” number 1630, means to cut up.  The nineteenth century theologian Adam Clarke comments on the meaning of the names Gerizim and Ebal stating that Gerizim seems to point to those who cut down things perhaps referring to harvesters or reapers, and that the baldness of Ebal points to its barrenness. In his lifetime, travelers to the land of Israel confirmed that Mt. Ebal was indeed barren, and Mt. Gerizim fruitful. Clarke comments on the metaphorical meaning of these names:

… fertility shall ever be the consequence of the faithful obedience of its inhabitants, and a proof of the blessing of God upon it; … its barrenness shall be a proof that the people have departed from their God, and that his curse has in consequence fallen upon the land.[i]

The city of Shechem inhabits the valley between the two mountains. The name Shechem, number 7927, means ridge. It is the same as number 7926 meaning the neck as in the place between the shoulders, a place of burdens, or a portion. Shechem is a place between the shoulders where a burden is carried. In its geographical position between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, it is the place where both Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal can be seen. The consequences of choosing to obey or disobey God’s commandments are visible to the eye. The portion that will be allotted to Israel would be determined by the decision that the children of Israel make. In another metaphor, the two mountains on the shoulders of Shechem are the two voices of the good and evil inclination sitting on our shoulders seeking to influence our actions.

This takes us to the stone altar that God commanded that the children of Israel were to build. Before building the altar, they were to write the words of the Torah on large stones.

Deuteronomy 27:2-4 NKJV 2 "And it shall be, on the day when you cross over the Jordan to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, that you shall set up for yourselves large stones, and whitewash them with lime. 3 "You shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have crossed over, that you may enter the land which the LORD your God is giving you, 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' just as the LORD God of your fathers promised you. 4 "Therefore it shall be, when you have crossed over the Jordan, that on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, and you shall whitewash them with lime.

The stones were to be set up on Mt. Ebal, the barren mountain from which the curses were to be shouted. The children of Israel were also to make a special altar out of unhewn stones on Mt. Ebal where they were to bring their burnt offerings and peace sacrifices.

Deuteronomy 27:5-7 NKJV 5 "And there you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones; you shall not use an iron tool on them. 6 "You shall build with whole stones the altar of the LORD your God, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. 7 "You shall offer peace offerings, and shall eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God.

This altar was not to be made or fashioned by the work of man; it was to be made entirely of stone provided by God. It was not to be decorated with precious gems or ornately carved images. Since it was built with stones that had not been worked at all, it probably wasn’t outwardly beautiful. The altar was all about the works of God, not the works of man. In Nebuchadnezzar’s vision in the book of Daniel, a glorious statue made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay represented the kingdoms of man. This statue was destroyed by an unhewn stone. In Daniel’s interpretation of the vision, the statue represented the kingdoms of man, and the unhewn stone represented the eternal kingdom of God.

Daniel 2:44-45 NKJV 44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 "Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold-the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.

After completing the altar, the children of Israel were to bring their burnt offerings and their peace sacrifices. The burnt offering is an offering given entirely to God which allows the one bringing the offering to draw near to God. The whole offering is placed on the altar and burned with the smoke of the offering ascending to God as a pleasing aroma.

The peace sacrifice is a joint meal between the man bringing the offering, his family, friends, the priest who offers it, and God. A peace sacrifice is a reminder of the covenant between God and the children of Israel. They were to eat and rejoice before the LORD!

The stone altar was not the altar to which they were to bring their sin and guilt offerings. The stone altar was an altar where sin did not hinder their approach to God. When they had resisted sin’s call and were living according to God’s commandments, they could bring their offerings to the altar on the barren mountain while seeing the fruitful mountain across the valley. They could rejoice in their covenant with God!

This takes us back to Adam and the Garden of Eden. Adam was given the right to eat from all the trees in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He could eat before the LORD and rejoice in all that God had given him. Instead, Adam chose to disobey God and eat from tree that was forbidden to him. Fellowship with God was broken; Adam and Eve couldn’t draw near to God.

The book of Joshua describes how the children of Israel carried out the instructions Moses gave them. They started by building the altar and offering burnt offerings and peace sacrifices. Then Joshua wrote the Torah on the stones in the presence of all the people and set them up on Mt. Ebal. Afterwards, the tribes divided according to the instructions Moses had given, with half at the base of Mt. Gerizim and half at the base of Mt. Ebal.

Joshua 8:33 NKJV 33 Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel.

As the Levites called out the blessing, all the people answered with “Amen!”

Deuteronomy 27:14-15 NKJV 14 "And the Levites shall speak with a loud voice and say to all the men of Israel: 15 'Cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen!'

There was a total of twelve curses to which Israel was to agree. Twelve is the number of perfection in government. There were twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles, and, in the New Jerusalem, there will be twelve gates and twelve foundations. The New Jerusalem, like the Garden of Eden, is to be undefiled. Nothing will enter the city that in any way causes an abomination. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can go through the gates.

Revelation 21:27 NKJV 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

The twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the lamed which, in the ancient Hebrew, was a shepherd’s staff. The shepherd’s staff represents control and authority. The lamed is also the number thirty. Joseph was thirty when Pharaoh gave him authority over all Egypt. David was thirty when he began to reign. Yeshua was thirty when He began His ministry. When our shepherd Yeshua returns and sets up His kingdom, He will reign with all the authority of God the Father and will govern with perfect justice and righteousness.

After the twelve curses, Moses reminds the children of Israel that if they obey God’s commandments, God will elevate them above other nations.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 NKJV 1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2 "And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God:

The recitation of four blessings follows. This seems a bit lopsided, there are twelve curses but only four blessings! However, four is the number of the physical completion or fullness of creation. In the book of Revelation, those who are redeemed are described as coming from the four divisions of mankind: every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. The fourth letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the dalet which, in ancient Hebrew, is the door. Yeshua said that He is the door through which we enter the kingdom of heaven.

In the Garden of Eden, each day Adam was able to see the trees of life and the knowledge of good and evil in the center of the garden. He, also, had a choice to continue to serve God or to choose to usurp God desiring to be like Him and choosing for himself what was good or evil.

In the Promised Land, the altar on Mt. Ebal in the heartland of Israel served to remind the children of Israel of the consequences of their choice to either serve God or not to serve him. If they choose to serve God, they are in fellowship with Him and can approach Him with confidence.

We don’t have trees or mountains as reminders of the consequences of our choices. We have the written Word of God as well as the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us in our decisions. As Joshua was about to die, he gathered the people one more time to Shechem at the base of Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal and urged the people to carefully choose whom they would serve.

Study Questions:

Teaching Questions

 

1.      We mentioned many ways that show that the Promised Land is a shadow of the Garden of Eden. What are some other ways in which the Promised Land points to the Garden of Eden?

 

2.      Why did God choose Mt. Ebal and Mt. Garizim on either side of Shechem for the children of Israel to build this altar? Many other events happened at Shechem. How do these events reflect the blessings and curses?

 

3.      The statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision was destroyed by a stone that was not worked by man. How does this connect to the altar of unhewn stone? How do both of these stones point to Yeshua?

 

General Portion Questions

 

4.      The Torah portion opens with the commandment to bring the first fruits to God and recite the history of Israel in the first person, that is as if they had actually experienced those events in Deuteronomy 26:1-15. What is the significance of reciting this history while bringing the first fruits offering?

5.      The blessings that God promises to Israel are in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. How are these blessings connected to the offering of first fruits and the recitation of their history?

 

6.      What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What indicators are there in this Torah Portion that point to Messiah Yeshua?

 

© 2023 Moed Ministries International. All rights Reserved.

---

[i] Adam Clarke. Commentary on the Bible. 1831.

Torah Portion Ki Tetze – Building the Family of God

The video version is available at: https://youtu.be/iGRFK1OSqTI

Reading – Deuteronomy 21:10-21

 

By Dan and Brenda Cathcart

The previous Torah portion dealt with the selection and conduct of the leaders Israel is to place over them. This Torah portion deals with the behavior of the people as they enter the land. Moses had already warned the people to follow God’s commandments to do what is right and good when they entered the land so it would go well with them.

Deuteronomy 6:18-19 NKJV 18 "And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the LORD swore to your fathers, 19 "to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

As we read some of these instructions, we cringe. However, in the context of the culture of the day, these commandments seemed radical in that they protected the vulnerable, upheld the sanctity of the family, and promoted unity and cooperation within the nation.

There are many specific rules contained in this Torah portion and we cannot cover all of them. Instead, we will focus on those involving the family. Paul tells us that we are the children of God.

Romans 8:16 NKJV 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

He tells us that, together, through Yeshua, we are all one family.

Ephesians 3:14-15 NKJV 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

What, then, can we learn about these instructions about the relationships within our biological families, our spiritual families, and our position as children of God?

The Torah portion opens with Israel going to battle against their enemies and defeating them. All that the enemy owns now belongs to Israel. The spoils are divided among the victors, but what happens to the women? In the prevailing culture and, indeed, up to modern times, the women were routinely raped and then killed, used in prostitution, or abandoned to die. In Israel, they were not allowed to rape a captured woman.

Deuteronomy 21:10-13 MKJV 10 When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God has delivered them into your hands and you have taken them captive, 11 and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire to her, that you would take her for your wife, 12 then you shall bring her home to your house. And she shall shave her head and dress her nails. 13 And she shall put off the clothing of her captivity, and shall remain in your house, and shall sorrow for her father and her mother a full month. And after that you shall go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.

Notice that the assumption is that she would not be taken as a slave or a concubine, but that she would be taken as a wife. Okay, we would look at this and think that the woman is being taken advantage of and forced into a relationship of which she has no choice. But in that day, to be taken as a wife was to be honored and respected.

The woman was to shave her head and dress her nails. To us, this just sounds weird! Shaving one’s head is an act of mourning, but what does it mean to “dress” one’s nails? Many translations interpret it to mean trim the nails. The Hebrew word translated as dress or trim is the word “aw-saw,” number 6213, meaning to make or do in a variety of applications. So, she was to “make or do” her nails. The Stone Edition Chumash translates the phrase as “let her nails grow” as a further act of mourning. This mourning was to last thirty days. This serves two purposes; the man has thirty days to reconsider his decision to marry her, and the woman has the time to mourn the loss of her family and culture and get used to her new life. The NKJV Study Bible comments on this practice.

This ritual was intended to give the woman time to adjust to the new culture and to mourn over the forceful separation from her family. It was also a symbol of cleansing. She was preparing to become part of a new community.

After the mourning, she was to remove the garments she wore when she was captured and be given new garments fitting a wife. Putting off the old garments provides additional separation from her old life. The new garments reflect her new position as a wife in Israel. As a wife in Israel, she has more rights and protections than a wife would have in her previous culture. In fact, in this particular marriage, she could be set free to go where she chooses, but she could not be sold into slavery.

Deuteronomy 21:14 MKJV 14 And it shall be, if you have no delight in her, then you shall let her go where she will. But you shall not sell her at all for silver, you shall not make a slave of her, because you have humbled her.

So, what does this have to do with us today? Women are not taken as captives and forced into marriage during or after a war. This situation shows how God makes provision for the vulnerable. There was no one more vulnerable in war time than an unprotected woman. We can also see this situation as Yeshua in the role of Israel defeating his enemies in battle. He sees a “beautiful woman,” literally the “form of a beautiful woman,” and takes her as his wife. In the outline of a beautiful woman, Messiah sees the potential of this life created in the form of God. This bride can be thought of as the Gentile church brought into Israel as a wife, or even as each one of us won by Messiah by defeating the hold Satan had over us. The woman becomes a part of Israel through her marriage. First Fruits of Zion in Shadows of the Messiah explains this metaphorical meaning.

“The Messiah can be compared to the conquering warrior who sees a spark of beauty within one of the captives and takes her into his household. In that sense, the captive symbolizes the believer who becomes a member of the Assembly of Messiah, which is also called the Bride of Messiah. He takes her as both His trophy of conquest and His true love.”

Paul tells us that when we accept Yeshua as our Messiah, we become new creatures.

2 Corinthians 5:17 MKJV 17 So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

We are allowed to mourn the passing of our old lives, but we are not to continue to mourn or look back. We are to put on the garments of the wife of Messiah. Isaiah refers to Jerusalem as the bride of Messiah who is no longer forsaken and brings delight to the LORD.

Isaiah 62:4 NKJV 4 You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; For the LORD delights in you, And your land shall be married.

The next instruction protects the position or right of the firstborn son.

Deuteronomy 21:15-17 MKJV 15 If a man has two wives, one beloved and another hated, and they have borne him sons, the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son was of her that was hated, 16 then it shall be in the day when he makes his sons to inherit what he has, he may not cause to inherit the son of the beloved first-born before the son of the hated one, he who is truly the first-born. 17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated as the first-born by giving him a double portion of all that he has. For he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the first-born is his.

As Jacob, David, and Solomon all found out, having multiple wives and having sons by all of them leads to jealousy and strife within the family. In this next instruction related by Moses, if a man has more than one wife, he is not to show favoritism to the sons of the wife he loves more than the wife he doesn’t love. We can easily see a reference to Jacob. He loved Rachel and didn’t love Leah. He favored Joseph, his son by Rachel, which provoked jealousy in his other sons including his firstborn son Reuben.

Ideally, a man will only have one wife. Yeshua states that in the beginning, marriage was between one man and one woman.

Mark 10:6-7 NKJV 6 "But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' 7 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,

Solomon, who wrote the book of Proverbs, had many wives. These wives ultimately turned his heart away from the LORD. In hindsight, it seems that he regrets taking so many wives. He cautions his son to take only one wife and cherish her.

Proverbs 5:18-20 NKJV 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. 19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. 20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress?

In our culture, having multiple wives happens through divorce or through the death of a wife. When a man remarries, he is not to favor the children of the new marriage over those from his first marriage. We often hear of a man totally neglecting the children of a first marriage and giving all of his love and attention to the “new” children! Blending two families is not easy in any circumstances, however neglecting the older son or showing favoritism to the younger son or sons only adds to the difficulty.

We can gain a deeper understanding of this instruction when we remember that God called Israel His firstborn son.

Exodus 4:22 NKJV 22 "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn.

How has Israel received the double portion of the firstborn? When God set the boundaries of the nations, He set them according to the number of the sons of Jacob and, from all the nations, He chose Jacob or Israel as His inheritance.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 NKJV 8 When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

When Jacob died, he split the inheritance of the firstborn. Joseph, the son of his second wife whom he loved, received a double portion of the land through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Judah, the qualifying firstborn son of Leah after the three older sons were disqualified received the kingdom itself!

Genesis 49:10 NKJV 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

Yeshua, the ultimate firstborn of Israel, the son of Judah, the son of David is God’s firstborn and only begotten son.

John 1:14 NKJV 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Yeshua is also the firstborn of the resurrection.

Colossians 1:18 NKJV 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Not only does a father have responsibility to a son, but a son has responsibility to his father. The son is to respect his father and live a life obedient to Torah.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NKJV 18 "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 "then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 "And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.' 21 "Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

This commandment should generate fear in the heart of every parent! How awful to have to call for the death of one’s own son due to a life of rebellion and dissipation! In reality, this commandment was probably never carried out. First Fruits of Zion in Shadows of the Messiah comments on the purpose of this decree.

“The sages teach that this commandment was never actually carried out. Instead, it represented an extreme standard to warn parents about the grave responsibility of raising their children in an upright manner.”

As parents, the most important task that God gives to us is to teach our children the Torah. The Torah instructs that we are to teach our children God’s ways.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 NKJV 6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

We have a responsibility to bring them to an early knowledge of God and the knowledge that Yeshua is their Messiah. The greatest joy a parent can know is that their children know the LORD and have received Yeshua as the Savior and master.

Once again, David is an example of a parent who failed in his mission to raise his children responsibly. His oldest son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar. His third son, Aminadab who was Tamar’s brother, killed Amnon. The Bible then records that David failed to demand accountability from his fourth son Adonijah.

1 Kings 1:6 NKJV 6 (And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?" He was also very good-looking. His mother had borne him after Absalom.)

At another level, Israel as God’s son, was stubborn and constantly rebelled. The Psalmist warns the generation to come not to be stubborn and rebellious like their fathers.

Psalms 78:5-8 NKJV 5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; 6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, 7 That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments; 8 And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

God, who is Israel’s parent, could have denounced Israel and had Israel destroyed according to this commandment in Deuteronomy. However, God has not and will not totally destroy Israel. He will punish and chastise Israel until they turn and repent of the ways they have turned from God.

This applies not only to Israel as a nation, but to each of us individually. Isaiah tells his readers that everyone has strayed from God, and the just punishment for our sins is death.

Isaiah 53:6 NKJV 6 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.

This leads us to the one obedient Son, Yeshua. His detractors tried to label him as a rebellious son who was a drunkard and a glutton.

Luke 7:34 NAS95 34 "The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, 'Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'

Far from being the rebellious son, Yeshua was the son who obeyed God even though it led to His death on the cross for the iniquity of us all.\

Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Paul tells us that we need to have the same mind as Yeshua and practice obedience so that we can be proved as children of God in whom no fault is found.

Philippians 2:12-15 NKJV 12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

God set standards for the children of Israel as they entered and took possession of the land. Many of these decrees involved the function of the family. As we, like the captured bride, are included in the family of God, we also need to uphold those standards so that we may be found blameless and harmless and able to shine as a light in the world.

Study Questions:

Teaching Questions

 

1.      The title of this teaching is “Building the Family of God.” How is this Torah portion, and this section in particular, about building the family of God?

 

2.      How does the commandment about taking a captive woman as a wife apply metaphorically to the believer in Messiah Yeshua?

 

3.      In the book of Hosea, the northern kingdom of Israel spoken of as Ephram is characterized as a rebellious son. Read Hosea 11:8-12 and 14:1-8. How does God treat this rebellious son? How is this an example for us?

 

General Portion Questions

 

4.      In the teaching, we quoted Isaiah 53:6 where Isaiah declares that “All we like sheep have gone astray” and are deserving of punishment. The Torah portion, Deuteronomy 22:1-3 includes the instruction to return a brother’s lost ox or sheep to its owner. How would this apply to believers as members of God’s flock?

 

5.      In this teaching, we look at taking a captive woman as a wife as a way God makes provision for the vulnerable. What other provisions does God make for the vulnerable in this Torah portion?

 

6.      What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What indicators are there in this Torah Portion that point to Messiah Yeshua?

 

© 2023 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.

Torah Portion Shoftim – When You Say I Will Set a King Over Me

The video version is available at: https://youtu.be/GeVfLzXDSec

Reading – Deuteronomy 17:14-18:7

 

By Dan and Brenda Cathcart

The name of this Torah portion is Shoftim which means judges. In this section of the Torah, Moses is relating God’s instructions about the appointment of leadership once they take possession of the Promised Land. This portion contains the specific instruction on establishing judges in every town to handle questions about keeping the commandments and handling disputes between fellow Israelites. It also contains instruction about the selection and affirmation of the king, the priest, and the prophet. The offices of king, priest, and prophet are established so that the children of Israel will not follow after the ways of the Canaanites who were already in the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 18:9 NKJV 9 "When you come into the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations.

What can we learn about how to live our lives today through these instructions? Yeshua, as the divine Son of God, fulfills all three roles of king, priest, and prophet. What do these instructions reveal about Yeshua’s mission?

The first line of defense against falling into the ways of the abominations of the Canaanites is to choose a strong leader. God preferred that the children of Israel accept Him as the king, but He also knew that they would want a person in the role of Moses, someone between them and God. So, before it even happened, God set up the criteria for a king.

Deuteronomy 17:14-15 NKJV 14 "When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,' 15 "you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

There are two important criteria here in these verses. The first is that God is the one to choose the king, and the second is that the king is chosen from among the tribes of Israel. This process would later be carried out by Samuel when he selected Saul as the first king, and then later, when he chose David to replace Saul. In the first choice of Saul, God gave the children of Israel what they wanted in a king. They should have been more careful and thoughtful of their choice, but to them, Saul looked like the perfect king.

1 Samuel 9:1-2 NKJV 1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. 2 And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

Saul was a charismatic character. He had a powerful and influential father from the tribe of Benjamin. Saul was good looking, and he was taller than average, so he stood out among the people. But Saul suffered from vanity; for him everything was about the outward appearance. I’m sure that you have encountered people very much like that in your lifetime. Saul worried about what the people would think of him, so he did things in a way that made him look good before the people instead of doing what was right. He didn’t do things according to God’s ways.

God rejected Saul and sent Samuel out to select a new king. God sent Samuel to the sons of Jesse from the tribe of Judah. At first Samuel looked to Eliab, the oldest son of Jesse. But God instructed Samuel to look deeper than just the outward appearance. God was looking for a king with integrity. Someone who would acknowledge and keep God as the head and ultimate leader.

1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

When God chooses a leader, God looks at the heart of that leader. This is especially true of a king. God is looking for an individual who has a deep desire and commitment to His commandments, statutes, and judgments. When Yeshua chose the twelve disciples for His inner circle, He did so after spending time in prayer.

Luke 6:12-13 KJV 12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles;,

We need to take these instructions to heart ourselves. When we choose leaders over us, we must choose from among our fellow believers and let God lead us to His choice! Once the king is chosen, Moses lists three specific things that a king should not do.

Deuteronomy 17:16-17 NKJV 16 "But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, 'You shall not return that way again.' 17 "Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.

The first thing that Moses listed was that a king was not to multiply horses. But what does that really mean? In ancient times, horses were the engine that drove the war machinery. To multiply horses, was to build up military strength and to rely on that strength to defeat any enemies. We do know that God is not against armies; He ordered the counting of the twelve tribes of Israel according to their armies, twice! Both censuses of the children of Israel in the wilderness were of the men who were able to go to war. God, however, is always the one who actually brings the victory. At the crossing of the Red Sea, God swallowed up the army of Pharaoh, specifically his chariots, his horses and war machinery. It was God, not the armies of Israel that brought the victory at the Red Sea. Moses instructed them to always look to God for their victory over their enemies, and not the power of their own armies or even the armies of their allies.

Deuteronomy 20:1 NKJV 1 "When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

The battles that we face are not won by the strength of our arms, but by the power of God. The apostle Paul tells us that once we have prepared for battle, we are to stand firm in God’s power.

Ephesians 6:10-11 NKJV 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

The second instruction that Moses gave the children of Israel regarding their chosen king was that the king was not to multiply wives. This was for a very good reason; multiple wives could turn his heart away from God! Both David and Solomon had multiple wives, and in each case, it led to disfunction and strife within the family. In David’s case, it led to rape, murder, and treachery. In Solomon’s case, his wives directly led to Solomon’s heart being turned away from God, just as God had warned them.

1 Kings 11:4 NKJV 4 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.

We can look at Moses’ warning about many wives as being similar to having many loves in our lives. These loves can be a distraction for us and serve to turn our hearts away from God.

Lastly, Moses cautioned the king against multiplying riches. Multiplying riches can cause the same problems as multiplying horses and wives. When one lays up riches, it leads us to rely on our own wealth and influence instead of God’s provision. Great wealth can cause our hearts to turn away from God. The wealth of this world is fleeting and temporal, but the wealth of God is eternal. Yeshua tells us to multiply our treasures in heaven instead of the treasures on Earth.

Matthew 6:20 NKJV 20 "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

The last thing that Moses instructs the children of Israel about their king is that he is to write his own copy of the Torah and read it every day.

Deuteronomy 17:18-20 NKJV 18 "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19 "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 "that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his  days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

David tells us that he meditated on God’s word day and night!

Psalms 119:147-148 NKJV 147 I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word. 148 My eyes are awake through the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word.

Keeping God’s words in this way keeps us humble and reminds us that all that we have comes from God. This is especially critical for a king to remember. When we follow God’s word, we know that we live in His kingdom!

Moses now turns his attention to instructions about the priesthood. He tells the children of Israel that the LORD is the inheritance of both the priests and the entire tribe of Levi.

Deuteronomy 18:1-2 NKJV 1 "The priests, the Levites-all the tribe of Levi-shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. 2 "Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them.

The entire purpose and focus of the priesthood and the Levites are their service to God. Nothing is to distract them from this service. They do not receive a division within the Promised Land and are not farmers working every day to tend the land. They are not artisans, shopkeepers, or merchants either. The Levites received the LORD’s portion because of their service to the LORD.

Deuteronomy 18:5 NKJV 5 "For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever.

God set apart the Levites to minister in the name of the LORD. We have looked at their duties in previous Torah studies in the books of Leviticus and Numbers. Moses again reminds the people of their responsibility to provide for the Levites. However, this responsibility goes both ways; the Levite is responsible for being faithful in carrying out his duties. And it must be done from the heart.

Deuteronomy 18:6-7 NKJV 6 "So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD chooses, 7 "then he may serve in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do, who stand there before the LORD. 

Those who stand to minister before the LORD must do so out of a sincere desire. The word “desire” is #185, av-vaw', meaning longing, desire, lust after, or pleasure. Those who serve the LORD, must have a longing to do so!

Finally, Moses tells the children of Israel that God will answer their desire and send them a prophet like him who will mediate between them and God.

Deuteronomy 18:15-16 NKJV 15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 "according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.'

Moses spoke to God face to face. He went directly into God’s presence and heard the words. He didn’t need to rely on dreams or visions as the other prophets do. We saw in the book of numbers that God reaffirms His special relationship with Moses when He chastises Aaron and Miriam for speaking against Moses.

Numbers 12:6-8 NKJV 6 Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. 7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?"

Moses was always faithful to speak only God’s words to the children of Israel instructing them repeatedly to follow God’s commandments, statutes, and judgments. The entire book of Deuteronomy can be looked at as an admonishment to follow the Torah that God gave to them.  Moses had already described how to tell whether a prophet was a true prophet of God or a false prophet. He said that the false prophet will try to teach a different Torah.

Deuteronomy 13:1-3 NKJV 1 "If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 "and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods' -which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' 3 "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

A false prophet may be able to perform signs and wonders just like a true prophet. But a false prophet will introduce and teach them to follow other gods and abandon their love for the LORD. Yeshua’s own words are that His followers are to love the LORD their God with all their heart, soul, and mind.

Matthew 22:37-38 NKJV 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment.

This is a primary reason that believers in Yeshua as their Messiah need to know the whole word of God. The only way to test a prophet is to measure the would-be prophet against God’s full and complete word! The apostle John warns against false prophets in his letters to the churches.

1 John 4:1 NKJV 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Now, what about our second question? What do these instructions given by Moses reveal about Yeshua’s threefold mission. When Yeshua was on the Earth, He fulfilled the role of the true prophet. He, like Moses, spoke with God face to face. The voice of God spoke from out of the cloud of God’s glory and testified that Yeshua is the beloved Son of God.

Luke 9:34-35 NKJV 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!"

Just as with Moses, they were to hear and obey His words. Yeshua taught that Israel was to return to the LORD their God and to love Him with all their hearts as they carried out God’s commandments.

With Yeshua’s death and resurrection, He began His role as High Priest, not a high priest like Aaron, but a high priest of a higher order! An eternal priest before God in heaven.

Hebrews 5:9-10 NKJV 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest "according to the order of Melchizedek,"

Yeshua’s role of High Priest is ongoing. Today He is continually making intercession for us in the heavenly Tabernacle.

Hebrews 7:24-25 NKJV 24 But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

The angels of God brought an important message to the disciples gathered at Yeshua’s ascension. They were told that Yeshua will return to this earth, arriving as our eternal king.

Acts 1:10-11 NKJV 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

Moses’ instructions to the children of Israel about the duties and responsibilities of their chosen earthly king, are a shadow of the ultimate king who will rule in perfect righteousness.

Yeshua has been chosen by God from among His brethren from the tribe of Judah. When He returns, He will not rely on force of arms or the wealth of this world. He will come seeking His one and only true bride who has made herself ready. As the Living Word of God, He knows the heart of God. As the ultimate king of Israel, He does not need to write His own copy of the Torah, because He is the living Torah and will follow it perfectly as He rules in truth and righteousness from Jerusalem.

Study Questions:

Teaching Questions

 

1. Paul gave some criteria for selecting a leader in 1 Timothy chapter 3. Other than these instructions, how else did Paul address this issue with the early believers, and practice this concept in his own life? What would and should this mean for us in today’s context? How do we apply this in choosing our leaders?

 

2. God chose a strong leader for the children of Israel in Gideon and used him to win a decisive battle over the Midianites. What qualities of faith did Gideon demonstrate when God first appeared to him in the wine press as related in Judges 6:11-20?

 

3. Why was it important that a king should write his own copy of the Torah rather than just have one on hand for him to refer to when needed?

 

General Portion Questions

 

4. Moses told the children of Israel that the Levites, and in particular, the sons of Aaron, did not receive an inheritance in the land. They were instead to minister in the name of the LORD. The word minister is #8334, Shaw-rath meaning to serve in a menial capacity. How did Yeshua minister in the name of the LORD?

 

5. Deuteronomy 19:14 deals with land boundaries established when they took possession of the land. What other boundaries did God establish with them? What boundaries does God establish for us?

 

6. What other insights did you gain from this teaching? What indicators are there in this Torah Portion that point to Messiah Yeshua?

 

© 2023 Moed Ministries International. All rights reserved.