“Moses came and told the people everything the Lord had said, including all the rulings. The people answered with one voice: ‘We will obey every word the Lord has spoken,” (Ex. 24:3).

 The portion of the Torah traditionally called מִּשְׁפָּטִים/Mishpatim, meaning rulings/judgments, (Ex. 21:1 – 24:18) contains a wide range of ethical, civil, and religious laws; so many in fact, that it is difficult to find a unifying thread from the beginning to the end of the portion. The portion immediately follows the Sinai Revelation, with its resulting Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are apodictic in nature – that is to say they are firm divine commands, either you will do, or you will not do. The commands of Mishpatim are understood to be casuistic in nature – meaning they address a wide range of situational case law that may be necessary for communal life. Casuistic laws are conditional statements, if/then statements, as an example, “If someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, then he is to pay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep” (Ex. 22:1, 21:37 in a Hebrew Bible). If the act is confirmed, the “if” statement, the necessary resulting action is defined for those overseeing the case by the conclusion, the “then” statement. 

 In Christian theology, much of the Torah is classified in three categories: moral, civil, and ceremonial. While these categories can generally be helpful, they can also be restricting for a proper application of God’s instruction in the life of faith. It is commonly accepted that all ceremonial laws have been set aside (Col. 2:14), yet in these laws we discover the tithe. While I will not specifically address the issue of tithing in this context, the principal of tithing speaks directly to charity and giving as developed in the New Covenant (Lk. 21:1-4; cf. 2 Cor. 8—9). Moreover, the commands of the Torah remain normative to the Lord’s covenant people, even when they may not be literally normative during a specific period. 

 Still, in Mishpatim the common thread that links these moral, civil, and ceremonial laws together is the fallen nature of humanity. The children of Israel, as a nation of newly freed slaves from Egypt, needed their hearts, minds and communal relationships reformed. The Lord directed them away from the self-satisfying motives that often influence the human dynamic. He set limitations on the actions of humanity: you could not take something because your desired that something; you could not take someone because you desired them; you could not kill because you were angry; you could not steal because of need; you could not pervert justice because of wealth or poverty.

 The commands recorded in Mishpatim were to reform and disciple the Lord’s people. The apostle Paul speaks to this in his Epistle to the Galatians. The Torah was to be a guardian, a custodian until the Messiah came (Gal. 3:24-25). Upon the Messiah’s arrival, it was time to walk in faith-obedience to the lessons learned from the pedagogue (the Torah as teacher of God’s way), in the freedom provided by Messiah Yeshua/Jesus by grace through faith. I have often framed Paul’s teaching in this way. When we are children our mother and father teach us basic principles for living: look both ways before crossing the street; don’t put your hand in the fire; treat others with kindness. When we mature, while we may not consciously think of those lessons, they are still engrained in our hearts and minds, and we apply them to life. 

 The heart is not changed, however, by the Law. The heart recognizes its need for change by the Law when it beholds the Lawgiver and seeks forgiveness. Deuteronomy 30:6 recognizes the change of heart, and the receipt of the Lord’s sovereign grace, as the circumcision of the heart – a change only He can accomplish. The apostle Paul notes in Romans 2:29b, “and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter …” We can attempt, by our own self-righteous attitudes, to keep the Law perfectly – a type of self-circumcision – and still fall short of the glory of God (Ro. 3:23); or we can rely on His sovereign grace to forgive, transform, and guide us by His Word as we, in union with Christ, seek to hear and obey. 

Mishpatim can cause confusion, and even frustration, with its numerous commands (some fifty-three commands, 23 positive and 30 negative); but for those in Christ, these commands help us to walk in, and apply correctly, the great commandment “to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength,” and “to love our neighbor as ourselves.” As our minds are transformed by the pedagogue (the Word of God by the Holy Spirit), we begin to recognize the deep wisdom of these numerous conditional statements found in Exodus 21:1 – 24:18, and how they can guide us in communal life among not only our brethren in Messiah, but also the surrounding community as well.

Maranatha. Shalom. 

“Moses said this to the people of Israel. But they wouldn’t listen to him, because they were so discouraged, and their slavery was so cruel” (Exodus 6:9).

 As Exodus 6 opens, the Lord appears to Moses and announces, יְהוָה אֲנִי, “I am the Lord.” He explains to Moses that to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob he appeared as שַׁדָּי אֵל, “God Almighty.” In rabbinic literature, the divine, personal name of the Lord, יהוה, is recognized as a revelation of the Lord’s compassion, mercy, love and justice; while God Almighty speaks to his power and provision. It is in these opening verses (Ex. 6:2-8) that the Lord again acknowledges the plight of his covenant people, and his plan to rescue and redeem them from the hands of the Egyptians. From the land of bondage, he will deliver them to the Promised Land, where the children of Israel will dwell in the inheritance promised to the patriarchs.
 
At the Lord’s direction, Moses takes this announcement to the children of Israel, but as the Torah recounts, “they wouldn’t listen to him” (Ex. 6:9). Why would they not listen? In Exodus 5, after Moses speaks to pharaoh, the harshness of the labor of the children of Israel only intensifies, it does not diminish (Ex. 5:6-23). After witnessing such an escalation, Moses boldly goes before the Lord and says, “For ever sense I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he had dealt terribly with this people! And you haven’t rescued your people at all” (Ex. 5:23). The Lord then responds, “Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. With a mighty hand he will send them off; with force he will drive them from the land” (Ex. 6:1).
 
When we give close attention to the flow of the Torah narrative, we recognize that the Lord had a plan – one that involved an intensification of the pressure, before the promised relief. As they received the news of their coming deliverance, the children of Israel would not listen, in fact they could not listen, why? The Torah notes that they had become discouraged after receiving news of a deliverance that did not seem to come. Yet, the Torah gives a short visual explanation as to their hardness of ear. As the Torah says, רוּחַ מִקֹּצֶר, Israel had “shortness of spirit/breath.”
 
We can understand רוּחַ מִקֹּצֶר in two ways – 1) they were fatigued spiritually, and 2) they were fatigued physically (out of breath). It was this spiritual and physical fatigue that caused the children of Israel to not heed the words of Moses. The pressure of the bondage was so great that they gave up hope of ever being delivered.
 
The majority of the world’s population live with a daily struggle for the basic necessities of life – food, water and shelter. With the urgency of this reality ever-present, the thought of a better life, hope for a future change in circumstance, is a burden that many cannot assume. Still, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wants to speak into that circumstance, and he desires to ease that burden by giving those trusting in him the strength of body and spirit to overcome.
 
Israel didn’t know how they were going to overcome. The Lord, however, was not expecting them to overcome in themselves, but rather, in him. Psalm 105:37 reminds us, “He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.” Israel was powerless to overcome, but when they trusted in the Lord, he not only enriched their lives, he healed their fatigue of breath and spirit.
 
There is an old rabbinic proverb that says, “From the greatest pressure comes the greatest treasure.” The Lord knew when he sent Moses that Israel was fatigued in body and spirit – as it was the place that he needed them to be. We are unable to deliver ourselves from the harsh realities of this life, or the spiritual bondage that ensnares humanity. When we recognize our limitations, we look for a Savior, a Deliverer. Messiah Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).
 
In these short verses we recognize that we all have something in common with the enslaved children of Israel – struggle and burden. Christ is the shelter from the burden and struggle. He takes the stress of the yoke upon himself and gives us pause to breathe and learn from him. This is not just a rest for the body, but also our soul. How do we receive this rest? “Come to me” beckons Jesus.
 
Let us not lose hope for a different future, it is Christ who secures the future of those who believe on him. This hope from him will change how you live now, and how you experience what is to come, while we wait patiently for what will be. When you are faced with those daily struggles, stop, pray, and remember to breathe in the hope of Messiah.

Maranatha. Shalom.