This week’s Torah portion follows the awesome events connected to the giving of the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai. The 10 Commandments are a summary of the Sinai Covenant, but they are not all of the Sinai Covenant. There are others laws that must be obeyed. This part of the Torah starts out with the Lord speaking to Moses, great teacher and mediator: These are the mishpatim – ordinances, judgments, rules which you (Moses) are to set before them (Israel).
The great Creator God is not only awesomely powerful, but He is also good and always does what is right. Human beings, like God, are moral beings, and are expected to know the difference between right and wrong.
Making proper moral judgments is very important.
Personal responsibility is very important.
Treating every other human being properly is very important.
Each individual is to be treated properly. There are rules for slaves because slaves are to be treated fairly. We might have control over them, but they ultimately belong to the Creator, and they are made in the image of God, and they must be treated properly.
There are rules concerning personal injury. It is important that proper restitution is given. The punishment must fit and not exceed the crime. It must be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
The great Creator God is wise and subtle, and looks not only on our actions about also at our hearts and motivations. And, He expect us to act the same way. People are to be treated fairly if they didn’t intend to commit a crime. A distinction is to be made between manslaughter and murder; and the consequences for the two are very different.
The property of each individual is to be respected. There are laws concerning proper restitution for theft or damage due to negligence or property damage, like when a man digs a pit but does not cover it, and an ox or donkey falls into it.
The personal safety of others is to be respected. Serious punishment is to be meted out as a result of gross negligence, as when an ox that previously was in the habit of goring, gores another man so that he dies. In that case of gross negligence the ox and the owner are both to be put to death.
Young women are to be respected. There are laws about taking responsibility for immoral actions, like when a man has sexual relations with a young woman who is not married. He must pay a dowry to her father and marry her if the father finds him acceptable.
Foreigners, widows, orphans and the poor must be respected and treated fairly.
The Lord is to be respected. Leaders the Lord raises up are to be respected. Those who serve the Lord are to be supported by the gifts and offerings of the community.
Even our enemies are to be respected. If our enemy’s ox or donkey wanders away, we are to return it to him.
Justice and law, which are a blessing to all of the people, are to be respected and must not be corrupted through bribery or lies.
The land, which belongs to God and supports the people, is to be respected, allowing to rest during the seventh year.
The slaves and foreigners, and even animals, are to be respected by allowing them to rest on the Sabbath.
If we respected the Lord and followed these good principles, He would reward us with blessings and victory and success and prosperity. We would enter the land of Israel and have victories over the corrupt Canaanites. Our boundaries would be enlarged to fulfill the land promises made to the fathers.
Moses wrote down these rules and read them to the people, who responded: Kol ah-sher dee-ber Adonai nah-ah-seh v’neesh-mah! All the words which the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient! The people accepted their responsibility to fulfill all of the Sinai Covenant in its entirety. Fantastic!
Animals were sacrificed. Moses took some of their blood and sprinkled it on the altar and on the people. The covenant was firmly established by words and commitments and by blood.
To celebrate this great agreement between God and Israel, Moses and Aaron, and Aaron’s sons Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elder of Israel, went up Mount Sinai and were able to see God revealing Himself there in a human-like form! They actually saw a visible manifestation of God, and enjoyed a meal celebrating this agreement in the presence of the Creator! How cool is that! And, if He could take on a human-like form, what is to prevent Him from fully joining Himself to humanity by Incarnation, and make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah?
After they went down Mount Sinai, the Lord asked Moses to go back up and get the stone tablets of the 10 Commandments, which are a summary of the Sinai Covenant. A cloud covered the mountain, and God’s magnificence presence, which was like a consuming fire, remained on Sinai for six days; on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. Moses went up the mountain, and entered the cloud, and remained there for 40 days, getting instructions about building the Tabernacle and other laws from the Creator.