Mishpatim - משפטים :
“Judgments”
Torah : Exodus 21:1?24:18
Haftarah : Jeremiah 34:8?22; 33:25?26
> Gospels : Mark 9
Adapted from Torah Club Volume
One
Unrolling the Scroll
Things get backward if we start to believe that we must keep
God’s Law in order to be saved. Instead, we should keep God’s Law
because we are saved.
This week’s Torah portion contains a lot of laws. Exodus 21?23
reads like an ancient legal code. Of the 613 commandments that the
sages traditionally derive from the Torah, more than fifty of them
are found in this week’s portion.
For some reason, many Christian teachers seem to view the laws
of the Torah as if they are a bad thing. It is commonly taught that
the law is the opposite of grace. You might hear someone say, “We
are no longer under the law. We are under grace.” The implication
is that since we have received the Messiah, we need not concern
ourselves with the laws in the Old Testament. We can call this idea
“Grace vs. Law.”
Let’s think about the Grace vs. Law idea. What do we mean when
we say that we are not under the law? Does that mean we do not have
to keep God’s rules? For example, does it mean that we can commit
adultery and theft? Of course not. No one would say that. So what
does it mean?
The Grace vs. Law concept is derived from the writings of Paul.
In his epistles, it seems that Paul pits the two in opposition to
each other. He often says things like “Before faith came, we were
kept in custody under the law” (Galatians 3:23) and “If you are led
by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (Galatians 5:18). One
might misunderstand these statements to mean that Christians do not
need to keep God’s rules. Of course, that would be absurd. Paul
realized that some people might misunderstand his teaching, so he
cautioned us not to suppose that grace gives us free license to sin
against God:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace
may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still
live in it? (Romans 6:1?2)
Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the
contrary, we establish the Law. (Romans 3:31)
If Paul was not teaching believers that they did not have to
keep God’s rules, what was he talking about? In Paul’s day, many of
the Jewish believers taught that before Gentiles could be part of
the kingdom of heaven, they needed to become Jewish. The idea that
a Gentile must become Jewish before being saved is what Paul calls
being “under the law.” Paul believed that Gentiles became sons of
Abraham and part of the people of God through faith in Messiah.
They did not need to earn that status by becoming legally Jewish.
They did not need to first come “under the law” in order to enter
the kingdom.
The Bible does not actually teach the idea of Grace vs. Law.
Grace is God’s free gift of salvation for those who believe in His
Son. Law is His loving instruction for how His people should live.
Grace vs. Law is a false dichotomy. They are not opposed to each
other. They are meant to work hand in hand.
The Torah deems striking or cursing one’s parents as such a
grave sin that it is worthy of death (Exodus 21:15). This may seem
shocking to us. There is no indication that the parent was killed
or even badly hurt in the altercation with the child. The mere act
of hitting one’s father or mother is enough impudence that God
deems it as bad as murder. This shows us how God’s values are
sometimes different from ours. Of course, we would never advocate
striking one’s father or mother, but neither would we feel
comfortable putting someone to death for doing so. Family
counseling, yes. Anger management classes, sure. Death by stoning?
Probably not.
God sees it differently. When He says, “Honor your father and
your mother” (Exodus 20:12), He means it.
Similarly, Exodus 21:17 says, “He who curses his father or his
mother shall surely be put to death.” In God’s book, it is just as
much of a sin to curse one’s parents or to strike them as it is to
murder someone.
The extreme punishment for striking or cursing one’s parents
teaches the importance that biblical religion places on the
integrity and decency of the family. Rebellion, violence and
insolence against one’s parents, whether physical or verbal, is as
much a threat to the fabric of society as murder and
kidnapping.
In today’s world, society teaches children, particularly
teenagers, to disrespect their parents. It is normal to hear
teenagers speak to their parents with impertinent and insolent
words. It is embarrassing to be around a family where the children
are out of order. Children who disrespectfully speak back to their
parents are a public disgrace to their family. As a society, we
have lost the biblical value of honoring father and mother. The
apostle Paul warned that in the last days, a spirit of
rebelliousness would be unleashed upon the world. He said that men
will be “arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, irreconcilable” (2 Timothy 3:2?3). He advised us
to “avoid such men as these” (2 Timothy 3:5).
Paul’s recommendation is good child-rearing advice. If you don’t
want your child to grow up to be disrespectful and mouthy toward
you, don’t have him socialize with other children who are
disrespectful to their parents. It’s a serious matter. If you knew
that your son’s peers were murderers and kidnappers, you would not
allow him to be under their influence for even a moment. According
to the Bible, children who scorn their parents are just as bad.
