The Torah portion (or “parsha”) for this week is called “Mishpatim” in the Hebrew, for “Ordinances”.<\/p>\n
Some here may find the audio podcast of this teaching, done by myself and Jeff Gilbert, particularly interesting.\u00a0 It was recorded from the “Talking Torah” room on Paltalk.\u00a0 In particular, I contend that this portion is one of the most “politically INcorrect” in all of Scripture, and also among the most ignored.\u00a0 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:<\/p>\n
Talking Torah teachings – Mispatim – 29 January, 2011<\/a><\/p>\n [ “Talking Torah” on Paltalk is a weekly gathering of “Torah-Observant Believers” in Messiah.\u00a0 It is live each Shabbat (Saturday) beginning at 7:00 AM Mountain Time, 8:00 AM Central with a recorded study.\u00a0 The live teachings begin at 9:00 AM Mountain.\u00a0 This week, Jeff Gilbert did the first session, and I followed live thereafter.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Many of those links and podcasts are on the audio\/links page here.]<\/p>\n This section of Scripture follows immediately after the giving of the “Ten Words”, or “Ten Commandments”.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n Even the ordering of what YHVH tells His people is important!\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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”:<\/p>\n Those who fail to walk in obedience can enter again into bondage.\u00a0 But those who learn to walk as bondservants to the Most High can “dwell in His house forever”.<\/p>\n And His ordination of marriage is a key part of that understanding as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mishpatim is arguably one of the most UN-PC Torah portions in all of Scripture. It forms the basis for most of the concepts which were later called the “common law” in the British Empire and then the colonies of America. Continue reading