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Does the Torah promote vigilantism (taking the law into your own hands)? Some years ago, those who were against Torah would ask facetious questions like, “If I see my neighbor mowing the lawn on the Shabbat, do I have permission to kill him?” This ridiculous line of argument even ended up as an episode plot for a popular show (“The Midterms,” The West Wing, October 2000).
Are these judgments ignorant and obsolete? For example, in this section of the Torah refers to daughter literally as their father’s silver. Are daughter just the property of their fathers freely passed around and bought and sold?
We just read the “Big 10,” the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). Torah reading מִּשְׁפָּטִים Mishpatim (“judgments,” Ex. 21:1–24:18) covers case law results from the Ten Commandments. It covers how to live them out in a world of idolatry (yes, it’s even a modern problem), cruelty, oppression, selfishness, disrespect for authority, apathy and envy.
The mispatim in Exodus 21–24 also are further expanded upon in the rest of Exodus and most of Leviticus. They are also brought up again in Deuteronomy for “born again” Israel, the second post-exodus generation.
The Ten Commandment tablets were most often referred to as the “Tablets of the Testimony” (Ex. 31:18; 32:15; 34:29). These laws help us discern God’s righteousness and wisdom.
When we go other the haftarah (parallel passage to the Torah reading) in Jeremiah, we will see how the three-fifths clause of the US Constitution was the “poison pill” inserted into the Constitution to bring about the eventual abolition of the abhorrent practice. Frederick Douglass saw the wisdom of the Constitution’s 3/5th’s clause and how it would tear down the institution of chattel slavery in the United States by acknowleding the inherent humanity of the African slaves while at the same time denying their captors the use the humanity of their slaves to vote against their interests.
So, what do these instructions mean to me today?
“These are the מִּשְׁפָּטִים mishpatim”:
- This phrase starts the “Book of the Covenant” (Ex. 24:7), which runs from Exodus 21–23.
- God’s directions are often referred to as מִצְוֹתָיו וּמִשְׁפָּטָיו וְחֻקֹּתָיו mitsvateiv umishpateiv v’khuqoteiv (Deut. 8:11, His commands, His statutes and His ordinances).
- The word משפט mishpat can be understood to mean judgment, decision or case.
When compared with U.S. law, we can see this pattern of three:
- U.S. Constitution
- U.S. Code (created by Congress)
- U.S. Supreme Court case law
We see in our own secular case law that they often contradict each other and bad case law has to be overturned by good case law.
We go over this every year so that we can learn from the Torah and build upon it, not to twist it or take away from it. If we expect our legislators to treat the US constitution with respect, how much more do we expect the Apostles, the prophets and Messiah Himself to treat the Torah with respect?
Here are some examples of case law in Torah, how they apply the literal word of Torah to situations that don’t fit the letter.
- Moshe (Moses) settled the משפט — case — on Zelophehad’s daughters’ inheritance (Num. 27:5).
- Yehoshua (Joshua) took over משפט before Eleazar the priest and Urim from Moshe (Num 27:21).
- Shlomo (Solomon) builds a אוּלָם הַמִּשְׁפָּט ulam ha-mishpat (hall of justice), i.e., a courthouse.
- Psalm 119 uses משפט in 22 places together with תורה. This could point to decisions that come from God also being as weighty and instructive as His commands and instructions.
The lesson we get from these cases and others is the mishpatim are first situational, but not irrelevant because there are Torah principles which underlie them.
So, we must be careful in the Torah to determine what is for a given situation or for all situations. Even today, it’s important to figure out whether a higher court’s ruling is “narrow,” only for a given case or specific situations, or “broad,” creating precedent for application of legal principle to other cases.
Now we will jump into a section that makes us very uncomfortable in Ex. 21:1-11, which is about slavery.
This is not justification of polygamy. This section talks about a man loving his wife, not his wives. The Messiah has a bride, not brides. All the way back in Genesis, we are told that a man is to cleave to one wife. When Samuel warns the people about what a king will do, one of his warnings is that the kings will multiply wives and that was a warning, not a rubber stamp. We see how Shlomo brought about his downfall by taking many wives from the nations around Israel.
What does the “sustainability” movement teach us about the heart condition that also should have controlled masters’ behavior with their slaves or their animals? When you speak with employers, they warn that if they mistreat and abuse their employees, their machinery, or their animals, they do not make money, they lose money.
We are all called to learn from our own mistakes and the mistakes of others. We don’t have an excuse to repeat them. We have to change our course, we have a decision point. We have to repent and turn back rather than move forward and justify ourselves and our errant behavior.
Sages determined that the “law of the Jewish slave” applied only in the Land of Israel and only within and active יוֹבֵלYobel (Jubilee) system for release of debts and servitude, based on Lev. 25:39–46; Deut. 15:12–18.
Why must these elements be in place before there can be a righteous slave economy? There must be a way for a slave to gain their freedom. If people are enslaved with no hope of freedom, that burdens and oppresses the human spirit. These rules of slavery tell us something about God. They tell us that God will provide us a way out of a bad situation, as we read in 1Corinthians 10:
“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1Corinthians 10:12–13 NASB)
The Yobel is explained in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
“‘If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave’s service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner; he shall serve with you until the year of jubilee. ‘He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers. For they are My servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt; they are not to be sold in a slave sale. ‘You shall not rule over him with severity, but are to revere your God. “… As for your male and female slaves whom you may have — you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. Then, too, it is out of the sons of the sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land; they also may become your possession. You may even bequeath them to your sons after you, to receive as a possession; you can use them as permanent slaves. But in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity over one another.’” (Leviticus 25:39-46)
On face value, it seems that it stinks to be a sojourner in Israel that being native born gives you a higher status than a sojourner.
In the ancient world, your only collateral was yourself or your children. That is harsh but that was the way of society at that time. God is teaching us to help those in a bad situation and to have mercy. God showed them mercy so they are to show mercy to others.
If you are an employer, or a creditor, how are you treating your employees or those who you have extended credit?
“‘If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you shall set him free. When you set him free, you shall not send him away empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your wine vat; you shall give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. It shall come about if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he fares well with you; then you shall take an awl and pierce it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also you shall do likewise to your maidservant. It shall not seem hard to you when you set him free, for he has given you six years with double the service of a hired man; so the LORD your God will bless you in whatever you do.’” (Deuteronomy 15:12-18 NASB)
The Torah shows us that it behooves us to treat our employees with respect, treat them well so they will want to stay with us and work for us. Eliezer, for example, was a loyal servant who was so beloved by Abraham that he was almost an adopted son. Abraham is our righteous example and gives us insight into God’s rules about how masters should treat their slaves. Masters should build up their slaves and treat them with kindness, not bleed them dry with cruelty.
Jeremiah 34: Grave consequences for swearing on God’s name in vain
Later kings of Yisrael disregarded the Yobel release of servants, so God for a time disregarded His removal of Yisrael from the “house of bondage,” sending the nation into exile. The masters took advantage of the system without extended the mercy Torah requires. We read about this in Jeremiah 34:8–22. The historical context is found in 2Kings 25; Jeremiah 39 and 52.
The people in Jeremiah’s day had forgotten how God started the 10 commandments.
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 20:2 NASB)
These rulers and priests had invoked God’s name to release these slaves and then went back on their word to the servants and to HaShem and dragged them back into slavery. This treachery profaned God’s reputation.
When these leaders rounded up the slaves they had freed, they committed the crime of kidnapping, which in Torah is a death penalty offense. This is why Jeremiah was so incensed. This is why Jeremiah warned them that because of their treachery, that Nebuchadnezzar would kidnap them and take them away. They didn’t show mercy to their slaves and Nebuchadnezzar would enslave them without mercy as well.
We are to have as much mercy on those needing mercy as God had on Yisrael in Mitsraim, as the people cried out to the LORD for mercy from that bondage.
Are we living the Torah sustainably?
There are accounts in the American South of slave owners matchmaking to breed more workers. Yet, how many American slaves from the heart could say, “I love my master”? Very few, based on the historical record.
Yeshua taught that God’s second-greatest commandment is “love your neighbor as [you love] yourself” (Matt. 22:39; Mark 12:31; quoting Lev. 19:18).
Yeshua taught about forgiveness — releasing our “debts” against people — through a parable on indentured servitude, as recorded in Matthew 18:21-35.
Yeshua taught that the closer we get to knowing God, the more we are called friends and not just servants. The servant doesn’t know what the master is doing but friends share their thoughts, feelings and plans with each other.
We must have mercy on others if we want God to have mercy on us.
In our world today, do we really live “sustainably” and not just the nebulous secular idea of it? Do we treat God’s laws as something to sustain or something to disregard and burn in the name of secular modernity?
Yeshua is the direct image of the Father? Is the image of Yeshua the image of oppression or of mercy? We can read about justice but how do we apply it with faith, mercy and trust? The Torah is not a stain on history but the way that humanity is preserved. As we read in the book of Revelations, the only thing that will survive out of this world is what proceeds out of the mouth of God. Facebook, Twitter, or even the US constitution will not survive.
Exodus 22:2–15: Laws on property
Next, we will briefly review these selected judgments:
- Burglary: (Ex. 22:2–4). Self-defense vs. homicide. We see this discussion in modern law that holds it’s not OK to shoot someone in the back as they run away from a burglary or robbery.
- Negligent animal husbandry (Ex. 22:5): Replace it with the best! You acknowledge what the other person lost and by giving them the best of what you have to replace it, you learn to be more careful next time. We are to make it better than right when we do act negligently.
- Negligent wildfire (Ex. 22:6): Take responsibility for your mistakes. We’ve seen that a number of the 2019 massive wildfires in California and Australia were arson or accidents.
- Stewardship of others’ property (Ex. 22:7–9):
- Come before אלוהים elohim (Ex. 22:9): The Hebrew word elohim is usually translated “God” or “gods,” depending on context. So are these Mishpatim passages referring to God or judges of Israel?
- A similar usage of אלוהים shows up in in Psa. 82:6; Isa. 41:23; John 10:34. Yeshua (Jesus) quoted the “you are elohim” passage from Psalm 82 while defending His comment that He is the Son of God. We see the that Yeshua is noting that if the leaders of Israel at the time of Psalm 82 couldn’t handle their responsibility to discern truth as delegated “elohim” of Israel from Elohim in Heaven, then how much more were the elohim of Israel in Yeshua’s time missing the actions of Heaven’s true Delegate in the Son of God?
One of the key ways that people on the outside will see God’s wisdom is if we get along with each other, handling our disputes without recourse to secular courts, and act in accordance with God’s instructions of mercy.
Summary: Tammy