Please forgive me for not doing my job with the Torah Portions on this blog.I have been too distracted with different things. Please forgive me.
I am going to do my best to write something every week.
Speaking of the Torah Portion, here it is!
This Torah portion is the 17th reading from the Torah.
It is named Yithro (יתרו),
which is the literal Hebrew behind the name Jethro.
The title comes from the first words
of the first verse of the reading, which says,
“Now Yithro, the priest of Midian, Moshe’s father-in-law,
heard of all that Elohim had done for Moshe and for Yisra'el His people.”
(Exodus 18:1).
The portion tells the story of Yithro’s visit to the camp of Yisra'el,
then relates the great revealing at Mount Sinai,
where Elohim gives Yisra'el the Ten Words and invites the people
to enter a special covenant relationship with Him.
This Portion is one of the most important because it is
the start of our ketubah(agreement) with Him.
The portion starts with a man named Yithro. He is Moshe's father in law.
But he was also a priest for the nation of Midian, a pagan nation.
He had worshiped other gods but he also had bloodline to Abraham,
which is why when he hears what happened with Moshe and
the children of Yisra'el he says it the way he does:
And Moshe told his father-in-law all that YHVH had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Yisra'el’s sake,
all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how YHVH had delivered them.
9 And Yithro rejoiced for all the good which YHVH had done for Yisra’el,
whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.
10 And Yithro said, “Blessed be YHVH, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people
from under the hand of the Egyptians.
11 “Now I know that YHVH is greater than all the mighty ones,
indeed in the matter in which they acted proudly, above them.”
(Exodus 18:8-11)
He clearly knew who YHVH was, and all that happened to Moshe
and Yisra'el was just conformation that YHVH was above all others.
He confirms that He believes in YHVH and
YHVH alone by sacrificing a burnt offering to Him
and eating bread with Aharon and the elders of Yisra'el;
Exodus 18:12
Then Yithro, the father-in-law of Moshe, brought a burnt offering
and other slaughterings unto Elohim.
And Aharon came with all the elders of Yisra’el to eat bread
with the father-in-law of Moshe before Elohim.
Now, as we go through the rest of this chapter, I find it very interesting about the presence that Yithro has on Moshe and the children of Yisra'el.
Read Exodus 18:13-27, then continue on...
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When Yithro saw what Moshe had to do everyday, ruling the children of Yisra'el all day, judging every matter big and small,
YHVH put something in him to tell Moshe.
Yithro realized the stress that it was already putting on Moshe.
Put yourself in Moshe's place for a second.
You are the leader of 3,000,000+ men, women, and children.
Now imagine if 1/10,000ths of the people
need something to be ruled upon that day.
That's 300 people a day!! That would mean that if you spent 3 minutes with each person's matter, you would be judging for 15 HOURS!!
And that's with just 0.0001% of the population.
Imagine if 500 people had a matter, or 1,000.
Moshe had to have been so tired. That is why Yithro told him that it wasn't good for him to be ruling these people by himself.
He wasn't trying to do it in an authoritative way.
He was actually doing it as a father-in-law, loving his son-in-law.
If he didn't do this, Moshe probably would have been
worn out very quickly and he would have probably died!
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Next we go on to chapter 19.
The stage is getting set for the marriage covenant between YHVH and the children of Yisra'el. But before YHVH speaks the words of the covenant,
He makes sure that Yisra'el is ready for what is about to take place.
Exodus 19:3-8
And Moshe went up to Elohim, and YHVH called to him from the mountain, saying,
“This is what you are to say to the house of Yaʽaqob,
and declare to the children of Yisra’el:
4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
5 "And now, if you diligently obey(SHEMA) My voice,
and shall guard(SHEMAR) My covenant,
then you shall be My treasured possession above all the peoples
– for all the earth is Mine –
6 And you shall be to Me a reign of priests and a set-apart nation.
Those are the words which you are to speak to the children of Yisra’el.”
7 And Moshe came and called for the elders of the people,
and set before them all these words which YHVH commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together and said,
“All that YHVH has spoken we shall do.”
So Moshe brought back the words of the people to YHVH.
By saying that they were going to do all that YHVH was spoken, Yisra'el was putting themselves under the ketubah(covenant, agreement).
They were "almost ready" for the marriage.
The last thing they had to do was to set-apart(kadosh) themselves
for 3 days and to wash their garments.
Finally, they were ready. Now comes the some
of the most important words in all of Scripture.
Without this, no other command stands.
Saying this isn't relevant for today
is like saying that your own life doesn't matter.
Why?
Because these instructions are considered to be the backbone of Torah, the explanation of the two greatest commands,
Love YHVH and Love your neighbor as yourself.
Before we read this entire section, I want to point out
something from the beginning of verse 2;
“I am YHVH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.”
The Ten Words, begins with an unusual four-letter word: “Anochi”.
Verse 2 begins in the Hebrew with; “Anochi YHVH Elohecha…” or literally,
“I YHVH your Elohim brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery”.
There is no “who” in the Hebrew. The word “Anochi” means “I”.
But, “ani” is the common Hebrew pronoun for “I.”
So, why did YHVH use “Anochi”?
Well the letters, Aleph-nun-kaf-yud, are an
acronym for “Ana Nafshi Ketovit Yehovit”.
This literally means, “My Soul Wrote Gave” or,
“My Soul I wrote and Gave to You”.
In what we're about to read, the Ten Commandments,
is the very soul (Nafshi – the personal form of Nefesh)
of our Creator and King.
In fact, by inscribing His very “Soul” into His Words, we can see how these Words of His renew our minds and transform us.
That is why we cannot say that this no longer matters.
This is HIS SOUL, his very LIFE.
Baruch HaShem YHVH!
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Now here we go. Before we go on, let we give you a
little basics into what this covenant is...
This is the Mosaic Covenant.
In this covenant Elohim promises:
1.To make the children of Yisra'el His special possession among all people if they obey Elohim and keep His covenant [Exodus 19:5]
2.To make the children of Yisra'el a
kingdom of priests and a holy nation [Exodus 19:6]
3.To give the children of Yisra'el the Sabbath
as the permanent sign of this covenant [Exodus 31:12-17]
As parts of the term of this covenant,
Elohim gives them the 10 words(instuctions, commands).
Here we go...
Exodus 20:1-17
And Elohim spoke all these Words, saying,
2 “I am YHVH your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
3 “You have no other mighty ones against My face.
4 “You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath,
or which is in the waters under the earth,
5 you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, YHVH your Elohim am a jealous El, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing kindness to thousands,
to those who love Me and guard My commands.
7 “You do not bring the Name of YHVH your Elohim to naught, for YHVH does not leave the one unpunished who brings His Name to naught.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart.
9 “Six days you labor, and shall do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of YHVH your Elohim.
You do not do any work – you, nor your son, nor your daughter,
nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle,
nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11 “For in six days YHVH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.
Therefore YHVH blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.
12 “Respect your father and your mother, so that your days are prolonged upon the soil which YHVH your Elohim is giving you.
13 “You do not murder.
14 “You do not commit adultery.
15 “You do not steal.
16 “You do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You do not covet your neighbor's house, you do not covet
your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant,
nor his ox, nor his donkey, or whatever belongs to your neighbor.”
This is the foundation of the covenant He has with us and us with Him.
Again, without this we cannot be with Him. I stress this very,
VERY much because it is becoming more and more apparent
throughout the world that people believe that they can
disobey these commands and still go and be married with Him.
People are being deceived into this "He loves you, so do whatever you want" type of life. Yahshua clearly states over and over
again that He didn't come to do away with these laws.
In fact, this is the same covenant that He has with us!
Without this, we do not have Him in us.
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The last thing in this portion that I want to mention is in verses 18-20: And all the people saw the thunders, the lightning flashes, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the mountain smoking.
And the people saw it, and they trembled and stood at a distance,
19 And said to Moshe, “You speak with us and we hear,
but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die.”
20 And Moshe said to the people,
“Do not fear, for Elohim has come to prove you,
and in order that His fear be before you, so that you do not sin.”
When the children of Yisra'el saw this, they got very, very scared.
They immediately ran off and told Moshe to speak for them.
This I believe would become Yisra'el's downfall
and why they stayed in the wilderness for 40 years.
Remember, they would go on to complain to Moshe over and
over again and they would accuse Moshe of him taking them
to the wilderness to die even though it was YHVH who took them.
But without YHVH speaking directly to them, they could not have
that experience that Moshe had of speaking face-to-face with him.
But, as we know, there was a purpose for all this.
Because of this, the prophecies could be fulfilled and Yahshua could come to earth to be our Messiah. Because of this, they were scattered,
and because of this, they will be regathered. Because of this, Yahshua came, and because of this Yahshua will return.
And most of all, because of what happened,
we have a opportunity to be with Him FOREVER, as His bride!
HalleluYAH!!
Have a blessed Shabbat!
Shalom!
Christian Montanez Dodd
Servant and Emissary of Yahshua, Child of YHVH
HalleluYAH!!