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This week’s Parasha is entitled Mishpatim meaning “judgments” and covers Exodus chapter 21 verse 1 through chapter 24 verse 18.

In last week’s Parasha, the Israelis received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Now, they receive the code of civil laws, which are to govern their lives and are practical outward expressions of the Ten Commandments that preceded them.

Adonai did not want His people to just go about blindly, but instead He provided them with laws that set wise and protective boundaries. Adonai brought order to Israel, and we all know that without order everything eventually will fall apart.

The presentation of Jewish civil law begins with the laws concerning slavery. This portion of Scripture emphasizes the seriousness with which God regards the dignity of all human beings, and the limits of slavery. I believe Adonai addressed the issue of slavery first because slavery had been Israel’s experience for the previous 400 years. They were all too familiar with it, and it was etched into the national conscience.

We condemn slavery today, yet in ancient times it was a widely accepted practice. But God desired to place it in its proper perspective. In that day, slavery could be beneficial or harmful, depending upon a nation’s laws, and the character of the individual slave owner.

A slave owner who reverently followed the Torah would be far more likely to be considerate of the welfare of his slaves than one who did respect the Torah. It’s likely that an ungodly master saw their slaves as disposable property. Therefore, God instituted these rules of justice over slavery that protected human dignity and individual rights. Those rules essentially made the slave owner responsible for the care and well-being of indentured servants.

Furthermore, it restricted the length of time someone could be a slave. Hebrew slaves could only be required to serve for six years, and must be released in the seventh year. This law pertained even to the Hebrew indentured servants who were working off a debt incurred by theft.  It also applied to those who fell into poverty and could not repay their creditors.

The laws given in Mishpatim were intended to create within Israel a profound respect for every human being and to set this nation apart from the nations surrounding them. Ideally, people from other nations would see and wonder why Israel prospered so well, and why their people were content and blessed, they could be pointed to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, the One True God.

The next few chapters cover various regulations related to marital rights, food, clothing, the death penalty, physical injury, and restitution. There were also laws governing property, safe-deposits (that is money or belongings, including animals, given to a neighbor for safe keeping), laws about sexuality, care for the needy, reverence for God, observing the Sabbath, and laws about the annual holidays.

All of these laws and commandments concern our relationship with God and our relationship with one another. We learn in Parasha Mishpatim that God wants to be involved in all of our relationships, and expects us as Christians and Messianic Jews to behave in appropriate ways in our personal and professional relationships.

The teaching ends by showing us how Adonai prepared the people to live in their new Land of Promise. They were not to follow the gods of the neighboring lands, and they were to remain Holy to the Lord.

Between Genesis and Deuteronomy there are a total of 613 commandments, laws and regulations. But Yeshua taught us that all of these commandments, laws and regulations can be summed up within two Great Commandments: loving Adonai with all of your heart, soul and might, and loving your neighbor as yourself.

Yeshua did not come to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it.  The Law revealed our sinful nature and our inability to follow it. Because of this, the sacrificial system was instituted by God to provide atonement for our sins. But animal sacrifices only provided temporary covering. Adonai, in His infinite love for us, at the appointed time sent His only Son to dwell among us. Messiah Yeshua came and showed us what the Torah is all about, and He lived it out perfectly, without violating a single law.

Adonai then allowed Him to become the ultimate sacrifice for all time.

Yeshua took the punishment that you and I and all of mankind deserve, and suffered an excruciating death. The Lord raised Him from the dead and He sits at the right hand of Abba Father to this day, interceding on our behalf. When we transfer our loyalties to Yeshua by believing in Him with our hearts and confessing with our mouths that He is Lord, we receive the atoning sacrifice and we ourselves are covered by His blood until the day we pass from this world. Yeshua showed us how to operate in love and not in condemnation.

We can be trying so hard to keep all the rules, all the mishpatim, to the letter and yet still miss the intent of the Torah if we are doing it all without love. Rabbi Paul went as far as to say that if we don’t have love for others, then we are nothing.

I pray that this week, we will all go out in love and show people the goodness of God.

Shabbat Shalom.