Yitro – Torah with Joseph

Read the transcript below, or watch a video of the teaching by Joseph Shulam.

Shalom, dear brothers and sisters. We’re continuing the study of God’s Word from the five books of Moses following the same readings that are read in every synagogue in the world, and this next week, we’ll be reading the Parashah, the portion of “Jethro” from Exodus 18:1 to Exodus 20:23. That’s the portion that is read in every synagogue on this next Shabbat. So my dear friends, we are again in one of the very, very important portions, the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai.

The children of Israel crossed the sea, the Sea of Reeds, the Red Sea, on dry land. They saw their enemies, the Egyptians, drown with their chariots and their horses and their army in the sea. And now they’re at the foot of Mount Sinai. About ... A short time has passed since they left Egypt, a couple of months, and now they’re at the foot of Mount Sinai, they saw their enemy drowned and they are still complaining about food and drink, water and food, and God supplies them miraculously with water in chapter 17. Again, a very interesting story where God says “I will stand on the rock and you strike the rock and water will come out of the rock.”

This is the first time that water comes out of the rock, and the second time is in the Book of Numbers, but what is extremely interesting is that they continued to complain, human nature doesn’t change so quickly and so easily, and I have witnessed that in the Sinai desert, taking groups of pastors, evangelical, born again, charismatic, full of the Holy Spirit pastors with me on journeys to Mount Sinai, long before there were roads, and I saw the same phenomena with Gentile pastors, like the Jewish people that left Egypt from slavery to freedom, 40 years in the wilderness, a testing period.

Jethro – The Midianite Priest

Okay. So chapter 18:1 to chapter 20:23. The portion called “Jethro.” It starts with a very interesting situation. Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, the father of Zipporah, the wife of Moses, in the wilderness, is joining the camp of the Israelites. He is a priest of Midian, not a Hebrew, not a Jew, not an Israelite, he is a pagan priest, but he observes what is happening with Moses that Moses is not able to keep up with the work that he has to do adjudicating and leading the people of Israel through the wilderness.

And he gives advice to Moses, good advice, the kind of advice that any MA in business administration could give you easily, that you have to delegate, don’t try to do everything yourself, as the boss, delegate, train younger generation people to take over some of the tasks that you are supposed to do, appoint judges and policemen and administrators to administer this great power that God has given you over the people of Israel.

So Jethro gives this advice to Moses, saying, “If you don’t do that, if you don’t delegate authority to the younger, to other people, you’re going to collapse,” “you won’t be able to lead these people.” Moses takes that advice from this Gentile pagan priest, and to me, this is very interesting, very important. Why? Because we all tend, the Jews tend, and the Christians tend to be very, very sectarian.

Each American sect, I should say, not sect, “denomination,” but most of the denominations, you could define them as sects, because of their attitudes toward one another, mainly because of their attitudes toward one another. Because we tend to be devoted to our churches, and not to God Himself or to His son, Yeshua, the Messiah.

We Believe in One God

If we were really devoted to God and to Yeshua, we would all believe and give space for differences of opinion, which existed even in the lifetime of Yeshua among His own disciples, they didn’t agree with everything, and sometimes He had to reprimand them for their sectarian attitudes, like in Luke chapter nine, He did condemn them for their sectarian attitudes, because we believe not in one God that is our God, our private God that we can put Him in our pocket, we believe in the God that created the Heavens and the Earth, and He’s the God of all, of men and of animals, of the stars and the Moon and the Sun.

Yes, we believe in a God that is one, and He’s the God of all. And He sent his divine son, because He loved this world with all of its mess, with all of its ugliness, with all of its pollution, with all the weaknesses of men, and the sinfulness of men, God still loves the world folks. And He still won, and the fact that the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai starts with a Gentile, pagan priest, giving advice to Moses himself, is very important to me, because it shows that God is not only the God of the Jews, but He’s also the God of the Gentiles, all the time, from the very beginning. And that’s what the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans chapter 3:29, he asked this rhetorical question.

“Is God the God of the Jews only? He said ‘Not, by any means, He’s also the God of the Gentiles.’” And we forget that. We forget it as Jews, and the Gentiles forget it, there’s Gentiles but he’s also the God of the Jews and the God of Israel, and that hasn’t changed. And we need to, you know, stress this truth universally among all Christians and all Jews, as well.

Israel’s Mission Statement

And then God tells Moses in chapter 19 of the Book of Exodus, I’m reading from Exodus chapter 19:3-6:

This declaration is the mission statement of the children of Israel, given at the foot of Mount Sinai. I’m repeating this because most Christians don’t realize that this is the mission statement that God gives Moses and the children of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai before He gives them the Law. Before Moses goes up again in the mountain, and comes down with the 10 commandments, carrying them carved on rock in his own hands, after he broke the first set, because of the rebelliousness, and the idolatrous attitudes, and the building of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai by Aaron and the priests.

God says, “No, I am giving you a mission. “And your mission is to be a kingdom of priests. “My choice possession, my treasure, “in order to serve all the other nations.” That’s what priests do. This is what God gives Moses the commission before He gives the Law. But before they are able to receive the Law still in chapter 19:10-13 of the Book of Exodus, you can’t have encounter with God in a nonchalant way.

You Must Be Prepared to Meet With God

Yeah, you can’t meet God without preparation, purification, sanctification, and this is something that Christians have forgotten, especially now in some of the movements in the West, they think God is their buddy, and that they could put Him in their shirt pocket, and they can appear before Him, you know, wearing shorts made out of jeans cloth with holes in them. No, you wouldn’t go meet the President of the United States that way, would you? You would dress up specially, would clean up specially, you would take a shower, you would put some aftershave or perfume for the women, for such an important encounter.

So God says, “Tell to Moses, “tell the children of Israel to consecrate themselves today “and tomorrow, and to wash their clothes.” The rabbinical commentaries on this say to wash your clothes means to be immersed. Your flesh is your clothes, to be immersed and to be ... The Greek word baptized, yes. Prepare yourself to meet God because God is going to appear, and you will hear His voice and see the thunder that comes out of the mountain and the noise and the earthquake that comes out of the mountain when God speaks, it’s a scary occasion, just like when God spoke to the apostles at Mount Zion on the Feast of Pentecost, when Peter and the apostles and 120 of the disciples of Yeshua in Jerusalem gathered in that upper room.

Giving of Law Parallel to Pentecost

They all were scared when the wind and the shaking of the mountain took place. That’s a parallel occasion, like the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. So as He told him, “Sanctify yourself, purify yourself, “wash yourself, take care that you don’t touch the mountain “take care that you don’t become defiled, “take care that you’re not defaming the presence of God.”

We all need to be more careful when we talk about being in the presence of the Lord. And then Moses actually goes several times up and down the mountain, and then the last time he comes down, carrying those tablets of stone that were carved with the finger of God, the 10 commandments. And they all hear the voice of God speaking from the mountain.

And in verse 18 of chapter 20 of the book of Exodus, it says:

“…And they saw the torches over their heads,” “…and they heard the voice of God,” “…and each one understood in his own way,” “…the revelation of God,” which is the same phenomenon that happens at Mount Zion in Acts chapter two. We’re going to elaborate on this dear brothers and sisters in the future when we talk about the 10 commandments, but in detail.

But for now, I just want to remind you, this portion of Jethro has in it the giving of the Law and that giving of the Law doesn’t come, as I said, nonchalantly, it’s a very special occasion. It’s an occasion that brings us to Jeremiah chapter 31 when God promises to the children of Israel and to the tribe of Judah, that He’s going to give a new covenant. He’s going to give - write His Torah, His Law on our hearts. Yeah. And remember when you read Jeremiah 31:31 and on, read to the verse 37, don’t stop at verse 34 like most Christians do, because it’s the same context, the same occasion, and Christian tradition has cut themselves short stopping at verse 34.

Jews Received New Covenant

Remember also that the New Covenant was not given to this or that other Christian denomination. It was not given to the Church of Constantinople or the Church in Rome or the church of Elkhart, Indiana, or the church of Westminster, London. It was given to the House of Israel, and to the House of Judah, the same people that received the Law on Mount Sinai received the New Covenant.

It was not given to the Christians, it was still given to Israel, and the continuation that is missed by most Christians, chapter 31 of Jeremiah from verse 35 to 37, the Christians avoid on purpose by their tradition. This text affirms that God is still the God of Israel and that He will never leave them, as long as the Sun appears by day, and the Moon and the stars by night.

Jew and Gentile Together

God is still the God of Israel. And you, my Christian brothers in Korea and around the world should know what Paul the Apostle said in Ephesians chapter 2:11-13. He said you were once Gentiles dead in your trespasses, but now through the blood of Yeshua Hamashiach, the blood of Jesus Christ, now you, who didn’t have eternal hope, you didn’t have a covenant, and you were outside of the Commonwealth of Israel, now, through the sacrifice of Yeshua Hamashiach, of Jesus Christ, all these things that you didn’t have as pagans, now you have received, including the hope of eternal life, including covenants in the plural, and including being grafted in, added into that Commonwealth of Israel, the family of Israel, the community of Israel, you belong together with the nation of Israel as the people of God - Jews, and Gentiles together under the blood of Jesus, receiving atonement, forgiveness of sins, have become one, as a part of the people of God, not replacing Israel, but joining Israel. And may God give you revelation and strength, keep reading the Torah, and the prophets, and the New Covenant in Yeshua’s name. Amen.