The Torah reading on February 22, 2025, is called in Hebrew Mishpatim – 'judgments.'
The portion of Mishpatim reading is from Exodus 21:1- 24:18.
We will be reading Haftarah: Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26 from the prophets.
We will read the Gospel of Matthew 26:20- 30 from the New Testament. Every teaching of Yeshua and the Apostles is solidly based on the Hebrew Bible.
The Torah reading on Shabbat is very special to our congregation every week. Yudah Bachana often invites guests to come up and say the blessings before and after, and some local readers come to read the Torah portions of that Shabbat. Typically, we read three of the sections of the Torah.
Like all Israel who attend synagogues, we will read this Torah portion, which is the entrance to the actual laws, instructions, and commands. These are the divine collection and instructions for living in a democratic and righteous society under God's instructions.
The setting is significant. It is one of the most dramatic events in Israel's history, and I would say not dramatic only for Jews. Israel crossed the Red Sea and received the Torah from God directly. Everyone was there: the young and older children, the stone masons and the shepherds of the sheep, the scribes and the merchants, the righteous and the unrighteous, and doctors who often were from the tribe of Levi.
The giving of the Torah has Moses going up and down the mountain a few times in a short period of time. Moses was 80 years old when he climbed the mountain in a short time seven times until he brought the mountain.
The Torah was given to all of Israel and some non-Israelite tribes at the foot of the mountain of Sinai. We all need to realize that God's word from Genesis to Revelation is not a monopoly of Israel. Here is a small list of those nations and tribes that joined with Israel and stood with Israel during the conquest of the land of Canaan, and in the end, melded by marriage and culture with the nation of Israel and even fought side by side in the wars of Israel.
1. The Mixed Multitude ("Erev Rav") – Exodus 12:38 mentions that a "mixed multitude" went up with the Israelites when they left Egypt. This group consisted of non-Israelites, likely Egyptians and other enslaved or oppressed peoples, who joined Israel. According to Jewish tradition, some of them genuinely accepted the Torah at Sinai, while others caused trouble, such as in the incident of the Golden Calf.
2. The Kenites (Cainites) and Rechabites – The Kenites were a Midianite tribe, some of whom were connected to Moses' father-in-law, Jethro (Yitro). Judges 1:16 states that the Kenites settled among the Israelites. They later helped Israel in battles, such as in the time of Deborah and Jael (Judges 4-5). The Rechabites, a subgroup of the Kenites, are praised in Jeremiah 35 for their faithfulness to their ancestor's traditions.
3. The Gibeonites (Hivites) – Though initially from Canaan, the Gibeonites (descendants of the Hivites) deceived Joshua into making a covenant with them (Joshua 9). They became woodcutters and water carriers for the Tabernacle. Despite their deception, they remained allied with Israel and were later protected by King David (2 Samuel 21).
4. The Calebites (Kenizzites) – Caleb, the spy who remained faithful to Joshua, is identified as a Kenizzite (Numbers 32:12, Joshua 14:6, 14). The Kenizzites were an Edomite tribe, yet Caleb and his family fully integrated into Israel and even received a portion of the land (Judah's territory).
5. The Midianites (Some Groups, Not All) – While some Midianites were enemies, others were allies. Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, was a Midianite priest who acknowledged the God of Israel (Exodus 18). His descendants, such as the Kenites, lived in Israel and contributed to its military and religious leadership.
6. The Pharaonic Egyptians Who Joined Israel – Some Egyptian converts likely joined Israel at Sinai and later became part of the nation. Isaiah 19:25 even prophesies a future in which Egypt will be part of God's people.
These groups show that non-Israelites who aligned themselves with Israel and its God were welcomed into the community, fought alongside them, and even received land among them. The Torah's inclusive vision allowed righteous Gentiles to join Israel, reinforcing that God's covenant was not exclusively ethnic but also based on faithfulness to His laws.
What is most impressive and remarkable about the Torah that God gave to Israel under the shadow of Mount Sinai is that God started this set of laws and judgments with how Israel should treat the non-Israelites enslaved people. The Um Namu laws, the oldest laws from Mesopotamia, are even older than the laws of Hammurabi. They indicate that the dogs of the ancient Babylonians received more rights and kinder treatment than their slaves. No law parallels the Israelite laws, not in Mesopotamia, Canaan, before the Israeli conquest, or Egypt.
Every time I read God's laws, I am filled with excitement. My faith jumps, thanking God that I am a disciple of Yeshua. God's word is my stand against all those who use the Bible to hit the public on the head and who make God a racist and mean judge who seeks to limit our freedoms with racial hate and narrow-mindedness. I must state this clearly, and if I am successful, some of you need to repent, maybe of things that happened before the Civil Rights laws of the John F. Kennedy era of the early 1960s.
I confess that my very first experience in the United States of America in September 1962 was unpleasant and shocking to me, a 16-year-old small, skinny, new Jewish Disciple of Jesus, my Messiah. Incidences of racism and discrimination followed me from Valdosta to the farmer's market in Atlanta, Guthrie, Kentucky, and Jacksonville, Florida. I can say clearly and loudly that Brother Bill Long and his first wife, Laura, were the best examples for me as a newborn baby in Christ.
This prayer list is too limited in space for me to share how important this Torah portion of Mishpatim, "judgments," is for us. It is even very relevant for the 21st Century with iPhones, iPads, computers, and smartwatches that are smarter than Archimedes, the great Greek scientist and philosopher.
The second thing that caught my mind and heart, like the whale that swallowed Jonah the prophet, is the laws for children that hit or curse their parents. These laws in our Torah portion probably never happened in practice. The reason is that children were instructed by their parents and also their teachers of these laws and warned not to curse their parents or raise an arm against their parents because the courts of Israel in those days would employ those God-given laws. My father had intended to kill me because I cursed him with the worst of the curses in the Bible. You can look it up yourself in 1 Samuel chapter 20. My mother went out to the street (Bethlehem Road in Jerusalem) screaming, "He is killing our son!" - Some neighbors came and pulled my father off of me, and my father started to cry like a baby, and no one could calm him for more than an hour. The Moroccan Jews, who were our neighbors, came and hugged my father and did their best to calm him. They all said, "Joseph, according to the Torah, to die by the hands of heaven, but not by the hands of his loving father!" I was crying, my father was crying, and some of the neighbors were crying. Everyone in the room got an education and said Baruch, we learned so much about our children from you, and we promise to teach them what God commanded Moses!
You see, dear brothers from around the world that read this Jerusalem prayer list, the Torah is for our instruction and education. In all the history of the courthouse in Jerusalem, it is stated that if there were one execution of a guilty person per year, the Sanhedrin would be named a deadly Sanhedrin. And it was not recorded that from the time of Jesus until the destruction of the temple, any Jew was executed by a judgment of the Sanhedrin. Many hundreds and even thousands of Jews were crucified by the Romans, even without a trial. 1000 Jews were crucified on the Jericho road, five hundred on each side of the road in one day of the 9th of the month Av, after the fall of Jerusalem. There were several times that hundreds of Jews were executed at one time. The most famous event was the crucifixion of 800 Jews in the city of Ashkelon on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The word "Torah" means "teaching" ) its use was not for execution but for education, to prevent crime, and to put respect and fear upon Israel to be a holy, prosperous, and obedient nation.
It would be wise and practical for young families of Christians around the world to sit on Friday nights and read the Torah portions before dinner with their wives and children. I can assure you that it would be a super tool for keeping your family healthy and strong, your children better educated, and your family respected.
As a child in Jerusalem, our next-door neighbors were Orthodox Jews. They knew that my family did not keep anything Jewish and enjoyed eating pork and shrimp and other foods that God forbids. So, our neighbors first invited my whole family, all four of us, to join them on Shabbat. My father didn't like the Orthodox Jews at all. But, I went to the neighbors alone, especially during the holidays. They had two boys, one a little older and the other younger than me. I envied my neighbors. There was something special about a family that sat and talked about God, the Torah portion, and the Reading from the prophets. My family, on Friday evenings, ate what was considered good food and drank alcohol, and the alcohol soon put them to sleep and dragged them to bed.
Please don't deny yourselves and your children the privilege to have a good dinner on Friday evenings and read some from God's word with your children. You can't imagine how important this is for your whole family. You don't have to read the entire Torah portion, but just a passage you want to read with your family and keep it going every opportunity to do this. You and your family will earn the dividends as your children grow up and multiply as they do the same with their children. If done right with love, kindness, and commitment, you will always be blessed by God and your children and grandchildren.
Don't wait to learn the Bible in your church. The church is excellent, but it is not a warm home in the family circle where your children can ask you, "Father, what does it mean to be holy?" (Look it up in chapter 19 of Leviticus.)
Shabbat Shalom.
These new videos and podcasts were published since our last news letter.
Shalom Y'all a New Testament Bible Study (Two Mountains - Beth Shulam) https://youtu.be/KzsdXXfzoW8
Gospel to Go Podcast (There was no King in Israel - Joseph Shulam)
This Thursday there will be a new Weekly Torah Portion
This Friday there will be a new Shalom Y'all New Testament Bible Study
Comments