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YITRO
“Jethro”
6 Feb 2010
Exodus
18:1-20:26(23)
Isaiah
6:1-7:6, 9:5-6
Mathew
5:17-32
Hebrews
12:18-24
This
Parasha begins with the arrival of Yitro (Jethro) bringing Moshe’s spouse
and two sons with him. Having heard of the great miracles that HaShem did
for the B’nai Yisrael, Children of Israel, Yitro rejoices. He then gives
his son-in-law very good advice. He encouraged Moshe to appoint men who
fear HaShem, men of truth, hating covetousness, to be rulers of thousands
of hundreds of fifties and of tens (Ex 18:19-22). The nation assembles at
Mt. Sinai, where they commit themselves as a bride to her bridegroom (Ex.
24:7) where they say, “We will do and obey everything that the L-rd has
commanded,” thus as (Ex 19:5-8) tells us that they would become Am
Segulah ( A Treasured possession. In Isaiah 1:21 and Jeremiah 3:1-5
we see how the people of G-d, the bride, were accused of adultery when
they turned to idols.
We
must be aware of this sin. James tells us not to be friends or conjoined
with the world (4:14). We are to be a nation that is called to glorify
HaShem. Precious are G-d’s people. We are set apart; therefore we need
to not allow sin into our lives.
A
few years ago I read an article in the Jewish Journal. It
discusses Exodus 20:24-26 where HaShem tells the priests that they need to
put a ramp up to the altar. They were not to use stairs because that
would reveal their nakedness while serving G-d. In this, we can see that
we must not allow even the slightest appearance of sin or allow it into
our lives. Many people today hear that it is all right to sin as long as
you practice “safe sin.” Examples would be getting drunk is OK as long as
someone has a driving buddy who is sober. Drugs are OK if you use clean
needles. Sexual deviation and promiscuity are OK as long as you take
precautions. For us, the bride of Messiah and the Children of the Most
High G-d, the Bible, and specifically the Ten Commandments, tell us that
we need to make a full commitment. All of the Ten assert that, “I am
the Lord your G-d and you shall have no other gods before Me.”
Most
of us do not have physical idols, but lusts of the flesh abound. These
show that many worship the idol of self-indulgence. We must not allow
selfishness, lusts or sin to enter into our holy temples. The scriptures
say that when lust is conceived, it brings forth sin; when sin is
finished, it brings forth death…for the wages of sin is death (James
1:15). But the gift of G-d is life. Let us follow His words that bring
forth life and leave death where it belongs in the lake of fire.
Shavua Tov
Rabbi Z.
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