The Torah portion (or “parsha”) for this week is called “Mishpatim” in the Hebrew, for “Ordinances”.
Some here may find the audio podcast of this teaching, done by myself and Jeff Gilbert, particularly interesting. It was recorded from the “Talking Torah” room on Paltalk. In particular, I contend that this portion is one of the most “politically INcorrect” in all of Scripture, and also among the most ignored. It is also the place where the entire basis for what was once, back when we were a nation of “law, not of men”, called the ‘Common Law’ can be found:
Talking Torah teachings – Mispatim – 29 January, 2011
[ “Talking Torah” on Paltalk is a weekly gathering of “Torah-Observant Believers” in Messiah. It is live each Shabbat (Saturday) beginning at 7:00 AM Mountain Time, 8:00 AM Central with a recorded study. The live teachings begin at 9:00 AM Mountain. This week, Jeff Gilbert did the first session, and I followed live thereafter. Both of us also participate in a weekly “Torah Teachers Round Table” program on KPJC Radio, Salem, Oregon, which is podcast on Hebrew Nation Radio, as well as a number of other daily and weekly shows. Many of those links and podcasts are on the audio/links page here.]
This section of Scripture follows immediately after the giving of the “Ten Words”, or “Ten Commandments”. If those instructions are understood in the context of, first, how we are to “love YHVH”, and then how we are to “love our neighbor”, then “Mishpatim” is a teaching on HOW that is to be done.
Even the ordering of what YHVH tells His people is important! Note that the Commandments can be understood as a summary of how, having been “brought out of bondage” by His “mighty hand”, we are to live as free people. Thus, the very next section is a “double-edged sword” of His Truth — because the next thing He outlines concerns the “other side of the coin”:
Those who fail to walk in obedience can enter again into bondage. But those who learn to walk as bondservants to the Most High can “dwell in His house forever”.
And His ordination of marriage is a key part of that understanding as well.
