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This week’s Torah portion is entitled Kee Taytzay, which means, “when you go out,” and covers Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19.
This passage deals with issues related to morality, marriage, divorce, following through on vows, and other issues. We will not be able to cover every topic presented in this passage, so I would suggest that you read through it to get the full picture.
Chapter 21 deals with the issue of a woman captured in battle. If the soldier is pleased with this woman, she should be brought to his house, but be given a month to mourn her family before marriage can take place. We also read that if a man has two wives, one loved and one unloved, and if the unloved wife has the firstborn son, the husband is not to bestow the firstborn’s inheritance on the second son, who is the son of the woman he loves. The firstborn must receive his just inheritance.
Chapter 22 contains various laws, such as returning a lost animal to its rightful owner, helping an animal, such as an ox, who has perhaps fallen down in a ditch, to get out of that ditch and be returned to its owner. We also read about not sowing a vineyard with two different kinds of seeds, not plowing a field with a donkey and ox combination or wearing a garment of two mixed materials, such as wool and linen.
The second half of this chapter deals with issues such as a challenge to a newly married bride’s virginity, punishment for a man who sleeps with a married woman, punishment for a man who forces himself on a woman who is engaged to be married and also a commandment for a son not to have marital relations with his father’s wife.
Chapter 23 begins with those who must be excluded from assembling before the Lord, such as eunuchs, those of illegitimate birth and Ammonites and Moabites, who hired Balaam to curse the Israelis (you can read about this in Numbers 22). But Edomites should not be deprived of assembling since they are related to Israelis nor should the Egyptians since our people lived in the land of Egypt for a time. The sons of the 3rd generation of both of these people will be allowed to enter the Lord’s assembly. The end of this chapter has some further laws regarding money. No earnings from prostitution, male or female, should be brought as an offering to the Lord. Israelis should not be charged any interest, but interest may be charged to a non-Israeli. And, if a vow is made before the Lord, it must be followed through for it will be required by the Lord.
Chapter 24 starts with laws regarding divorce, such as if a man marries a woman, but later finds something objectionable and writes a certificate of divorce and she goes out and marries another man, and he ends up having issues and writes a certificate of divorce, the woman cannot return and be married to her first husband. Additionally, if a man marries, he will not have to immediately go into military service, but can have one year to spend with his new wife. The rest of this chapter also contains some additional laws, such as not taking a hand mill or millstone as a pledge, because this will disrupt the method of earning a living from the person it is taken from. There is an admonition against kidnapping someone, being careful about the infection of leprosy, not oppressing a hired servant and making sure that a hired person’s wages are paid for his labor on that day before sunset. The orphan, the alien and the widow must be allowed to have justice so none of their garments must be taken as a pledge for a debt. Also, after the harvest is reaped and some of the barley or wheat remains in the field, it must be left for the more unfortunate.
Chapter 25 continues with additional laws, such as the number of lashes given a man if he loses a dispute based on a judge’s decision, that number being no more than 40 lashes. We also read about levirate marriage, when a family containing brothers lives together, and one of the brothers dies and if he and his wife have no son, then the other brother should marry her. We read that in the case where the brother does not want to marry the other brother’s widow, there would be quite an issue, with the elders of the city getting involved and if he still refused to get married despite the elder’s urging, he would be considered disgraced in society as one who refused to build up his brother’s house.
Finally, at the end of the parasha, we have a reminder that we should never forget about Amalek, who attacked the Israeli people from behind, where the old and weak were located, as we were leaving Egypt. Even though the Lord would give the Israelis rest from their other enemies, all of Amalek’s descendants needed to be blotted out.
Here are some thoughts regarding parasha Kee Taytzay:
We need to conduct our lives in a morally upright way. The moral decline in this country keeps accelerating. In this atmosphere, with things deteriorating around us, we need to be ever more diligent that we are living lives based on the guidance found within the Bible.
This parasha contains admonitions for both marriage and divorce. Yeshua had something to say about both subjects. In Matthew 19, when He is asked if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause, and that Moses said that certificates of divorce should be given, Yeshua says, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; …” There are many instances even today that when we harden our hearts in marriage, which means being prideful, we start the process of eroding our marriages. We slowly stop communicating with our spouse, we stop working on what we can do to better the marriage and, in our minds, the problem with our marriage is not us, but the other person. We can’t change our partner, but we can change ourselves and work on what we can do to better the marriage. We need to put away our pride and unselfishly commit ourselves to making our marriage the best it can be.
As I read through this parasha, with all the instructions it contained, I was reminded of John 14:6, where Yeshua said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life…” Our parasha contains instructions that, when they were followed, allowed for a more successful life because people were obeying God’s commandments. This this is very reminiscent to what Jesus said in John 14:6. We need instructions for our lives to live in a godly manner, in other words, we need a WAY, a path, a roadmap to guide us. This is the guidance found in the Bible. When we follow that path or roadmap for our lives, it leads us to the TRUTH, which is Yeshua, which then leads to LIFE, life eternal because we have found our way to His saving grace.