Joy in the Messiah

Ki Tetze / When You Go Out
Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19
Isaiah 54:1-10
1 Corinthians 5:1-5

     This parsha contains seventy-four of the 613 Torah commands.
     Deuteronomy 21 closes with the Torah command concerning a burial. ‘If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ²³ his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.’ Deuteronomy 21:22-23. 
     The central thought was that the Messiah would not hang on a cross, accursed by God and men.  The soldiers mocked Yeshua and others sneered at him: ‘And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Messiah, the chosen of God.” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine, ³⁷ and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself.” ³⁸ And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew:  THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. ³⁹ Then one of the criminals who were hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Messiah, save Yourself and us.” Luke 23:36-40, Matthew 27:32-44, John 19:18-23. 
     They thought: ‘The one who was crucified and cursed could not have been the Messiah.’  
     Kefa/Peter knew that paradox when he boldly tells the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, that “the God of our fathers raised Yeshua from the dead - whom you had killed by hanging Him on the tree.” Acts 5:30; 10:39; 1 Peter 2:24. So did Rabbi Shaul/Paul who “preaches a crucified Messiah, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles” in 1 Corinthians 1:23. 
     In Galatians 3:13 Paul declared and is quoting from Ki Tetze:  “The Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ´Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree´.”  
     Both Peter and Paul used the phrase “hang on a tree” which we read in Ki Teitzei.  Rabbi Shaul, raised as a Pharisee in Jerusalem, knew this and knew that Yeshua hung accursed on the cross. Giving the correct interpretation, he knew that God raised Yeshua from the dead and thereby demonstrated that He is the Messiah, meaning that the curse Yeshua carried on the cross was not His own, it was ours, the sins of the world. By willingly taking the curse of the law of sin and death on our behalf, He redeems us.  Hebrews 9:13-10:18.
     As Joseph from Armithea removed the body of Messiah, he demonstrated Deuteronomy 21:23, ‘his body shall not remain overnight on the tree…’ as we read in Matthew 27:57-60, Mark 16:42, Luke 23:50-54 and John 19:38.
     Redeeming us from the curse of the law of sin and death is not releasing us from the blessing of living in obedience to Torah; rather it is bringing us back to Torah.

Ki Tetze / When You Go Out
Deuteronomy 21:10-29:19
Isaiah 54:1-10
1 Corinthians 5:1-5

     The Returning Bride
     Ki Tetze contains seventy-four of the 613 commands of the Torah, many of these mitzvots are a repeat while others are listed for the first time. Ki Tetze narrows the path of our aliya returning to our Maker. Everything from God is simple and good, and yet often we distort His word. From the greatest to the very least, we find the mitzvot of the ‘bird’s nest’.  This is one of the few mitzvots that prolong our days. “If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; ⁷ you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.” Deuteronomy 22:6-7.
     Ki Tetze also contains the laws concerning some specific aspects of marriage, divorce and death.  In Deuteronomy 24:1-4 the Torah states: ‘When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, ² when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, ⁴ then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.’
     Keeping this in consideration, there are some specific verses that will connect us as the adulterous bride, the divorce, death and remarriage of the pure bride to God.
     Hosea 2:2-5 ‘Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
³ Lest I strip her naked and expose her, as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness,
And set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. ⁴ “I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of harlotry. ⁵ For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers…’
     God could only divorce Israel if He had once been wed to her. In the Book of Jeremiah, God specifically stated that He gave the northern Kingdom of Israel a certificate of divorce and put her away.
     Jeremiah 3:6-10 ‘The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. ⁷ And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸ Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. ⁹ So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.’
     Jeremiah 3:14 tells the people to return to ‘The Husband’ - “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.’
     Jeremiah 31:32 ‘…not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.’
      In the Brit Chadasha James reiterates that we committed adultery and went after other gods.
     James 4:4 ‘Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?” Who did we, who are we committing adultery against?
      We were given a get, a writ of divorce in order to be married to the husband who died and rose again. According to the Torah, the only way the adulteress wife, the Northern Kingdom Israel could be released of her fate of having been put away shlichah וְשִׁלְּחָ֖הּ and divorced kritut כְּרִיתֻת֙ by Adonai was for the husband to die.
    We can understand Rabbi Shaul’s (Paul) explanation of this in the book of Romans. He explains how a woman is covenanted to her husband only as long as he lives. When he dies, she is free to remarry at will.
     Romans 7:1-3 ‘Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.’
      Rabbi Shaul explains how the wife is freed from the “law of the husband” (the marriage contract), which had kept her out of the covenant relationship with her former husband. He is only speaking of the cancellation of divorce status; he is not suggesting that the entire Torah is null and void.  The wife/widow is free to remarry. We too are then free to re-marry as the Torah becomes once again our Ketuba.
     2 Corinthians 11:2 ‘For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Yeshua I might present you as a pure virgin.’
     Hosea 2:19-20 ‘I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord.’
     Revelation 19:7 ‘Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.’
     Without the resurrection, Israel would have had to marry one of her many gods, but not be able to remarry the very one who promised Himself to her FOREVER, for that was the One who gave the get, the writ of divorce. Now risen from the dead, all of the lawlessness/Torahlessness of our adultery during our first marriage was removed and forgiven, done away with by Yeshua as He took on our sins.
     Isaiah 53:5 ‘But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.’
     1 Peter 2:24-25 ‘…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. ²⁵ For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’   
     Colossians 2:14 ‘…having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.’
      What was the debt that stood against us?  Our adultery, and the writ of divorcement, the get.
     1 Corinthians 15:3 ‘For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Yeshua died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures…’ What was the Scriptures Rabbi Shaul is referring to?  The Torah! Yeshua died for our sins according to the Torah.
    The explanation in Romans 5:10 is very clear: ‘For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.’
     We were enemies of Adonai and against His Ways. However, we were reconciled by Yeshua’s death, and are saved unto God and His Torah through the Messiah’s life.  Adultery – divorce – death - life.
     In John chapter 4, Yeshua is dialoging with a Samaritan woman at a well. She asks for the ‘Living Water’ (Yeshua, the Living Torah) at which point the conversations continues, ‘He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” ¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied. Yeshua said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” John 4:16-18.
    What a metaphor for us! We were married, with the Torah as our Ketuba, yet we committed adultery with other gods.  We were divorced and put away. Now it is time for us to return to our husband- The Husband.     

      There is verse that has become very popular at weddings, for wedding rings, banners in the home, etc.   Song of Solomon 6:3. ‘I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.’
     But there is a deeper realization. Taking the first letter of each word in the verse:

     אני לדודי ודודי לי    Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li     You get:    א-ל-ו-ל    E-L-U-L

     Elul is the month that leads up to the High Holidays, Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur.  It is when we are in the season of Awe. This acronym is no coincidence. What is the significance of the month of Elul and what is its connection to Ani L’dodi?
      During the season of Awe, leading up to the fall Moadim, the sages teach that “the King is in the field.” This means that God, the king, makes Himself accessible to us. They teach that God says during Elul, “If I am your beloved, then you are Mine. Return to Me and I will return to you.”  Elul is the month that signifies “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine.”

Ki Teitzei / When You Go Out
Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19
HafTorah portion Isaiah 54:1-10
Brit Chadasha 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

The Master Plan…

     For every action there is a reaction. Even the smallest of actions creates a reaction. The range and variety of Parshat Ki-Tetze is astounding.  This parsha seems to jump from one topic to the next. It deals with both the mundane and the unusual, darting from topic to topic, from war to marriage from housing to clothing, from weights and measures to Amalek. There is the story of the rebellious son, who is sentenced to death - and then the daily law of tzitzit.  There are the laws of rape alongside the instruction to assist on a roadside breakdown. The mixture of all these laws is amazing. Which leads us to question the order of Ki Tetzei. How do we link everything together? What is the master plan?
     There seems to be no order in and between the listing of the Laws within this parsha.  As we see within the chapters.
Devarim 21:10-23                                Laws of family life
Devarim 22:1-12                                  Laws of kindness between an individual and other human beings
Devarim 22:13-23:9                            Laws of the sanctity of marriage
Devarim 23:10-24:22                          Laws of holiness and correct conduct
Devarim 25:1-19                                  A general group of societal laws.

     Yet, we see that "One mitzva leads to another mitzva; a single sin to yet another sin" as The Mishna states and explains why one should "run" to a light mitzva and "flee" from a light transgression. The reason is that one mitzva will lead to another etc.  There is also a second clause in the Mishna " the reward of a mitzva is a mitzva and the recompense of a sin is sin.” Doesn’t God reward our mitzvas with an opportunity to do another.  Our action causes a reaction.
     In Deuteronomy 22:1-12 between the law of helping an ox or donkey, men and women not cross dressing, the parapet, mixing seeds, plowing with an ox and a donkey yoked, the wool and linen, and the law of tzitzits; is the smallest of mitzva of the mother bird. There is a negative command and a positive command back to back with the promise of long life.  ‘If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young. ⁷ You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.’ Deuteronomy 22:6-7.
     So, what is the Master plan within KiTetzei? God grants each person the ability to keep the Torah, just as a master gives his servant the tools with which to carry out his job.  His plan is that we simply obey even the most mundane laws within the Torah portions. The question might be asked: What difference does it make if we take the eggs from under the mother bird or when she is gone? The answer would be compassion.
     God’s chesed began in the Torah. During the encounter with Adam and Eve, God had the authority and the opportunity to begin again, to annihilate the two for their rebellion and deception. He had every reason to dismiss the serpent to dust for his deception and twisting of The Word. But he showed compassion and mercy on the three.  But His chesed, His compassion began even before that. During creation God made a planet, the earth for man with all it’s goodness for man. And in creation was the birth of Shabbat, showing the infinite depth of His mercy for man to experience shalom.