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MISHPATIM “Judgments”
13 Feb 2010
Exodus 21:1-24:18
Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26
Mathew 5:38-42
In the previous Torah portion the Ten Commandments are
given. Here, the primary focus is civil and tort law. HaShem is telling
Moshe how to apply the Law He has just given.
These laws are to show G-d’s people how to deal with
various subjects that will arise in the society as they enter into the
Promised Land. Some of these concern dealings with the Jewish servant,
murder and manslaughter, striking or cursing father or mother, kidnapping,
personal injury, damage to personal property, compensation and
restitution, witchcraft, idolatry, seduction, oppression of children and
widows. Also mentioned are laws regarding justice, money loans, and
tithes, returning lost animals to their owner, helping an animal who has
fallen under its load, not cursing judges or those in leadership. The
main holidays of Shabbat, Pesach, Shavuot and Succoth are then discussed.
Finally, the Torah portion leaves with the promise from
HaShem that He will lead them safely into the Promised Land and that if we
keep His commandments, He will rid the land of all our enemies. Moshe
ascends Mt. Sinai to receive G-d’s Law.
A person becomes a bondsman by selling himself as an escape
from extreme poverty (Lev 25:39); also
in
Exodus 21:2
"If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the
seventh he shall go out
as a free man without payment. Deuteronomy
15:12
"If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, is sold
to you, then he shall serve you six years, but in the seventh year you
shall set him free.
Or he may be a thief who is sold by the court to raise
funds to pay back his victims. Those who became bondsmen were, at one
time, happy and even successful people in their endeavors. Many of us in
America fall into this category; all seems to go well. Suddenly, problems
begin to develop. They grow larger and larger. As time goes by these
problems grow so large that they seem to blot out the sun (and the Son) in
our lives. Life becomes hopelessly gray and foreboding. What do we do?
Do we sell ourselves into servitude? Do we despair and give up and curl
up in some back alley or some deep wooded area? Perhaps, like David in
Psalm 13:1, we feel that G-d has forgotten or is hiding His face from us.
We may feel that something has happened to our relationship with G-d.
Perhaps His favor has left us. As we see in Scripture, this is not an
isolated experience that we alone suffer. Even though our stories are
different, our difficulties are common to the human experience. At times
we feel that everything is closing in on us and too much to handle. We
feel forsaken by our G-d.
These difficulties tend to cause us to lose perspective. 1
Kings 19:1-4 is when Elijah, even though he had known triumph previously,
let fear take his over his perspective. He ran away and hid in the
wilderness, rather than trusting in G-d’s saving power.
In 2 Kings 6:13-17, the Scripture tells us that the city
was surrounded by a great army. Elisha’s servant was afraid, until he was
shown a great company of horses and chariots of fire, G-d’s angels.
We, like Elijah, Elisha’s servant and David, tend to focus
on our troubles. We need to remember the promise of G-d, “Lo, I am with
you always.” We need to be assured that G-d knows our trials. We have to
remember that when the light goes out and all we can see is our problem,
we must focus on what G-d sees and the possibilities that He has set
before us as He closes the door on our old lives and opens the door to our
new life in Him. We must trust Him and see beyond our circumstances. He
will give us strength as we exercise our faith in Him.
Shavua Tov
Rabbi Z.
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