Yitro – Once Upon a Week

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Yehuda Bachana.

The Torah Portion “Jethro” begins after the war with Amalek. The News of a mysterious nation, that came out of Egypt and is wandering in the desert is spreading widely among the nations dwelling in the wilderness of Paran and Zin. Later on in the bible, we will read about the Moabite king Balak, who also heard these stories, and decided to hire the services of Balaam, because he and his people were afraid.

Balak was not alone, there were others, like Rahab, who spoke to Joshua’s spies, saying:

Jethro, a Mediante priest, also heard the news about the signs and wonders and the mighty hand of God, that saved the nation of slaves from the Egyptian oppression. So, Jethro leaves for the desert, along with his daughter Zipporah and two of his grandchildren - Moses’ wife and sons. He wants to see with his own eyes, what is happening there.

And, already at the beginning, a few questions rise up. Did Moses and Zipporah separate? Did they divorce? Or maybe Moses left her and their sons back in Midian, in order not to risk them, when he was about to confront the mighty Egyptian Pharaoh? May be Moses was worried that his family might become involved in the confrontation with the greatest power of the world.

But according to Exodus 4, this was not the reason. Because there we read that when Moses was on his way back to Egypt, he took with him his wife Zipporah and their two sons. And even more so, Zipporah saved his life, when she circumcised the boys.So, when and how did Zipporah return to Median? How long did the whole negotiation process and the plagues take until the final redemption?

And what happened to Zipporah and Moses’ sons after our Torah Portion? These questions will remain unanswered, because we simply do not know. The Jewish Midrash says, that Moses’ sons Gershom and Eliezer were privileged to enter the Promised Land, but this is not clear from the Torah itself.

It is strange, because we are used to knowing, everything about our nation’s founding fathers, including what they were thinking. In their stories, we read about Sarah’s laughter, about the fight with Hagar, and her sending Hagar to the wilderness with Ishmael, and so on. But here we witness a major change. Until now we talked about family, about our fathers.

As a family we communicate in an intimate way, even gossip a bit. But now we are a nation, from now on, our story will focus on what is relevant for the entire nation, the entire society, and much less on juicy personal details. Moses is in transition between the two - nation and family, and he still functions and operates in a family mode, as a tribe chief. As such, Moses tries to consult and to judge the whole nation by himself.

When Jethro saw this, he advised Moses to change this habit, because one person is not able to lead and to judge the entire nation, even if he is a dedicated leader, and is willing to work hard for his people. Even then, it will not be sufficient, and there is a need to build a power hierarchy, from small issues to big.

So, Jethro advised Moses to choose trustworthy people, who are honest and seek justice; leaders who are not greedy and cannot be bought, and will deal with others justly. It starts from the bottom. If a judge or a leader feels that the issue is too big for him, he should bring it higher up, because at the top of this pyramid stands Moses.

And we have to remember, that some problems were too complicated, even for Moses, and he had to ask God for a solution. A good example is the request of Zelophehad’s daughters, found in the book of Numbers, in the Torah Portion Pinchas. There we read:

Here we learn an important lesson in humility, and Moses was the humblest person we know, as it is written:

His humility is also reflected in the ability to listen to others. If Moses listened to the advice of others, how much more should we listen and learn from others. Even the most talented and the smartest people are still limited in their abilities and their knowledge. In every society and in every nation, there are things that need to be changed, improved or learned. This is why it is important to listen and to accept good advice. We can learn something from every person.

Our story continues, and on the third month after the Exodus, the children of Israel approached Mt Sinai! What a moment! What an awesome event; exciting and frightening at the same time. God’s fire ascended from Mt. Sinai and filled it with smoke. There were sounds of trumpets, voices and thunder. In our Torah Portion, the nation of Israel receives the ten commandments. What are they, the 10 commandments? What makes them into the heart of Torah?

This truth needs to be expressed through our faith and our actions.

The 10 commandments start with the definition of who God is. He is the one, who had redeemed us from Egypt, who has made us with his own hands.Among the 613 commandments of the Torah, there are “do” and “do not do” commandments. Reward is promised for keeping certain commandments, and yet there is a punishment for breaking the others that is supposed to stop us from doing what’s forbidden.

And then we come to the last commandment – “do not covet”, which is the sin of thought.We see here that man cannot judge “do not covet”. For example, in the New Testament, in Acts chapter 5, we read about Ananias and Sapphira, who joined a messianic kibbutz or a messianic community of sorts. All its members have sold their property and lived together.

However, Ananias and Sapphira “coveted” money. They wanted, desired, “coveted” money, so they stole a part of it and lied about the real value of the property they had sold. The Apostles in the New Testament didn’t accuse them of “coveting”, as it is impossible. But Peter accused them of lying; they lied to the Holy Spirit.

“Do not covet” is very different from commandments, like “do not murder” or “do not commit adultery”, because the later ones are clear, black and white type of commandments. However, Yeshua and the New Testament, emphasize commandments like “Love you neighbor as yourself”, and also “do not covet”.

These commandments talk about our feelings, but how can a person control his thoughts or his feelings? In the New Testament, Yeshua wants us to understand that the Torah is very deep; that it is much more then “do” and “do not do” regulations. The Torah is deep and it touches a man’s heart. This is the great revelation, brought to the world by Yeshua and the New Testament.

Although it is not really new, because the Torah and the Prophets say God will write His Law on our hearts. Yeshua and the New Testament requires and hold us responsible for the fundamental change. Yeshua brought new depth to the literal meaning of the commandments. He demands from us, to write God’s Law on our hearts.

Yeshua proclaims:

Yeshua didn’t come to abolish the Law, the Torah, but he came to write it on our hearts. And this is what he teaches us: The commandment “do not murder” was not canceled, on the contrary, its meaning and requirements became greater, because according to Yeshua, it also prohibits killing a person’s soul, we should not hurt others and/or not cause them to feel worthless or useless. It does not come instead of the simple “do not murder”, but adds to it another dimension.

And When Yeshua teaches us “do not commit adultery”, he does not cancel the commandment, but writes it on our hearts. We have to take it to heart, and if we are looking at the other person with lust, Yeshua says, that we already committed adultery in our heart and broke the commandment.

The Sermon on the Mount starts at Mathew chapter 5 and continues till chapter 7. It consists of rules, instructions and requirements; what we call in Judaism “halachot”, or guidelines. When I read the Sermon on the Mount, I understand that Yeshua asks us to take God’s commandments to heart, to internalize them. We have to adopt God’s word not only outwardly, but make them part of our inner being, part of our very existence.

In chapter 31 Jeremiah promised us a “New Covenant”. What does it mean? Does God speak of a new set of rules, or does it mean, that we have to take God’s given commandments to heart? Does Jeremiah speak of love, our love for the Word of God and our desire to uphold it?

The Letter to the Hebrews is quoting Jeremiah’s prophesy of the new covenant twice, in chapter 8 and 10. Chapter 8 has probably the longest quotation in the New Testament, and for what reason? The author of Hebrews, sees the similarity between his time and the days of Jeremiah, right before and during the destruction of the First Temple.

Jeremiah prophesied about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, while the letter to Hebrews was written close to, or right after the destruction of the Second Temple and the downfall of Jerusalem. And then, as in the time of Jeremiah the prophet, the religious leadership was corrupt, and people were on their way to exile. Fear and uncertainty are filling the hearts of the people of Israel.

The letter wants to give hope to the exiles who survived the destruction, the same way, Jeremiah did. Yes, the people are going to exile, but God did not abandon his people. The day will come, the covenant will be renewed, and the people of Israel will come back to their inheritance. People in those days, as well as we are now, are facing a strange reality, a reality without priests, without the Temple, without sacrifices.

A Reality without proper purification.

When the letter to Hebrews was written, the Temple was destroyed and the institution of earthly priesthood came to an end. So, the purpose of this letter, was to transfer the priestly service and purification to a heavenly high priest, to Yeshua, who is sitting at the right hand of God.

The Letter to Hebrews, chapters 8 to 10, are focused on the questions of man’s purity, cleanness from sin and the laws of priesthood and sacrifices.

This New Testament epistle does not deal with the substance of the Torah, but rather with the idea that the blood of the Messiah purifies our lives and cleans us from sin, so although we do not have a High Priest on earth, we have something better, we have a perfect sacrifice - Yeshua the Messiah.

In the past, every year, over and over again, we had to bring a sacrifice for every sin and for every impurity. Not anymore! Yeshua is the ultimate sacrifice, He sacrificed himself once and for all.

In a perfect way, He became the sacrifice for the sins of the entire world.

This interpretation of the Letter to Hebrews, makes us all pure and clean before God.