Justice and Torah

[JewishHeart]

Justice and the Torah
Copyright By: Sean Steckbeck

Much of the Christian church has been talking as of late about restoring its Jewish Roots and joining itself more with the messianic movement. As Paul emphatically states in Romans 11, the church needs its Jewish Roots. In our attempt to make the Torah apply today in our lives as believers and as those in the Jewish Roots movement (messianics or Christians) we have scrutinized almost every law, whether it be by applying Oral Torah and Halacha or whether it be by applying a base of a Kariate messianic theology. Some have even gone to extent of creating a messianic Beit Din. I believe that this very paradigm is what Shaul was trying to stop in writing to the Galatians:

(Gal 4:10) Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

The word for observe here is par-at-ay-reh'-o which in the Greek which means to inspect scrupulously. In other words, Shaul wasn’t saying that keeping the feasts has now ceased, rather he was warning against concentrating and dissecting scrupulously the smaller issues of Torah. Even King Hezekiah was granted favor before G-d even though he celebrated the feasts at the wrong time and put the wrong priests in place. I am not saying we should do these lighter issues wrong, but I am saying it should be second place in our paradigm of concentration. I believe what Yeshua, Shaul, and the disciples taught were to create a scrupulous base off the weightier issues of Torah. Many of the weightier issues include first of all Messiah Yeshua at the center, the forgiveness of sins, the presence of G-d, the calling of Israel and the Jewish people, the restoration of all things, the nature of G-d, and justice.

At the heart of every human being is a deep question. Why did my brother die? Why did my mother die? Why did they have to get cancer? Why was she raped? Why was this good man murdered? Why did the Holocaust happen? Why the earthquake or 9-11? Why did G-d allow my stocks to crash in the market? Why is there poverty and hunger in the world? If G-d is so good, why do bad things happen? This is truly a weighty issue of the Torah, JUSTICE!!!

We know that the root of all injustice is sin. One of the words for transgression in Hebrew is ‘Pesha’ ((פשע . In Modern Hebrew ‘pesha’ is the word that is used for crime. I was talking once to some Orthodox friends of mine who pointed out that Pesha is actually a biblical acronym for P- Pri (Fruit) Sh- Shel (belonging to, of) A-Atz (tree) or “fruit of the tree.” Even though Judaism claims it doesn’t believe in ‘original sin’, here is an Orthodox concept that point to the premise of ‘original sin.’ What is even more amazing is that I looked up the word used in Isaiah 53, “He was wounded for our transgressions,” and it too used the word ‘Pesha’!! So we know as believers that justice first comes about by cutting off “ the fruit of the tree” or getting to the source of injustice. We know that G-d told Adam that when he ate from the “Pesha” that he would surely die. Thank G-d that now Messiah Yeshua has broken that curse that Adam chose in the beginning. We now do not have to die, but live in Messiah Yeshua! We now have eternal life! So here we are living in Messiah Yeshua, but we see that there is still injustice. Let us now look at what Acts 3:21 calls “the restoration of all things.”

Isa 11:3 and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
Isa 11:4 but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
Isa 11:5 and righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
Isa 11:6 the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
Isa 11:7 and the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8 and the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.


Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4 and he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.

Here we see a future clash of three major themes: The Torah, Judgment, and Justice (eternal peace) under Messiah’s earthly rule. For those of whom believe the Torah has ceased they will find themselves mistaken, but for those who do not accept the lawyer and judge, Yeshua the Messiah, I am afraid that this will be even worse – especially when the law has been broken by all.

In every place eternal peace and justice is mentioned, judgment precedes it. So as we look at the parable of the wheat and the tares that Yeshua taught, we can see that it is G-d’s mercy that has kept Him from sending His justice and judgment. So every time we ask G-d “why” the bad stuff is still happening, we are actually asking G-d to send His judgment. Basically, the parable of the wheat and tares explain the fact that an enemy sowed tares after the master sowed only good seed (the tare seeds represent sin and the grown tares represent those affected by it). In order to not harm that which G-d has chosen (the wheat), he doesn’t judge unrepentant sinners until harvest time –judgment (Matthew 13:24-30). Messiah Yeshua did, however, already pay a great price in order that there will be a judgment and justice to come. Only the Son of G-d, Yeshua the Messiah, has been given dominion to judge and bring peace to this world as a result of His death and resurrection.

Joh 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
Joh 5:23 that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Joh 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father that hath sent me.

Here we see the Son has emphatically stated that He is the one to judge and not even the Father. We saw earlier why the Son has chosen to be patient to bring judgment (lest we all not be given a chance). Yeshua came as Messiah Son of Joseph the suffering servant the first time; he will later come as reigning King and Son of David. What gives Yeshua as Messiah the right to bring judgment?

Rev 5:2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loosen its seals?
Rev 5:3 and no one in Heaven, nor on the earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book or to look at it.
Rev 5:4 And I wept very much, because no one was found worthy to open and to read the book, nor to look at it.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals of it.

WHY?

Rev 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.

There it is!!!! Yeshua is worthy to bring judgment and peace to this world because He was slain!!! The victory at the cross also included the right to bring judgment and peace into this world. He also brought redemption to all mankind preceding the judgment!!! The slain Lamb has gained the victory to restore this world to perfection, to utopia, to justice!!! It is now just a matter of time.

Another phrase that stood out to me in this scripture is that the elders wept whenever they first realized that somebody had to be worthy to open the scrolls. The scriptures make it sound like it was a desperation and hopelessness on behalf of the elders. WOW!!! Do we love judgment that much!!! As believers we should love both judgment and mercy. We should cry out for justice and thank G-d for mercy. It is about time when all the tears will be wiped away, the great judgment will take place, and justice will rule on the earth. I love judgment! We have a great Judge!!

Justice Now

So now Yeshua has taken the curse and power of sin away, but the fruit of it remains until judgment day. There is still murder, there is still rape, and there is still injustice. What do we do between the cross and the judgment? G-d has ordained us both ministers of grace and reconciliation, and also ministers of justice. He has given us the power of the Holy Spirit to enforce the justice partly until the judgment. Every time we pray for the sick, every time we feed the poor, every time we lead somebody to Messiah, every time we revere what is written in Torah, every time we make a choice towards integrity, every time we obey the voice of the L-rd, and every time we pray for an outpouring of the Spirit we are actually ministering and restoring justice to the Land. Righteousness and Injustice will grow together until the great harvest and judgment, but our job is to cause righteous growth.

I love when David says in the Psalms how he loves the law of G-d, how the judgments of the L-rd are good, and how His statutes are perfect. Psalm 19 and 119 are two of many examples. Torah was also made to restore and maintain temporary righteousness in the Land. This is why the law of the L-rd, the Torah, will never cease. One day it will govern Messiah’s kingdom rule of justice (Isaiah 2). As believers we are to keep Torah in order to bring forth justice in the land, simply keeping Torah is loving G-d and loving others as Yeshua said. There is the smaller issues of Torah that basically explain the ritual calling of the Jewish believers in Messiah, which will also bring an amazing justice to the land (Romans 11), but as gentile believers we are to keep the simple law of love and to revere what is Torah’s call to all people and its moral obligations. This is part of the making of a minister of justice.

In Hanukah in Israel we sing a song that says we have come to cast out the darkness by the fire and light we have in our hands. I believe Yeshua is the light of the world and believers has this light within them. Each good deed we do in the name of Messiah is also light. Light always overcomes darkness and injustice. Even a small flicker overcomes the darkness in its path. Let us bring justice to this world by Messiah Yeshua and every deed we do in His name until that great day. This is Torah! This is Justice! This is the heart of the Messiah!

 

[Yasatora]

The highest value of Torah is in its justice
The highest value of the judge is in His mercy
The highest value of Yeshua is in His divinity
Perfect Judge able to provide Perfect Justice with mercy
All we have to do is accept the offer.
By the Grace of God go I

 

[debi b]

Matt 23
For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Rev 15:3
They sing the song of Moses (Deut 32), the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!

We would do well to understand Deut 32.

 

[JewishHeart]

Debi,

I agree with this:

Matt 23
For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Thus I wrote this:

I am not saying we should do these lighter issues wrong, but I am saying it should be second place in our paradigm of concentration.

 

[JewishHeart]

Debi,

very interesting point about the song of Moshe. Do you have anything about this? I would like to look into it.

 

[Yasatora]

Yes, the new song....what are they singing?

 

[ShirChadash]

Matt 23
For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

Rev 15:3
They sing the song of Moses (Deut 32), the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!

We would do well to understand Deut 32.

Interesting Debi. reminds me of Rev 12:17

[font=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, AND have the testimony of Jesus Christ.[/font]

 

[debi b]

I hesitate to even begin. This is just my thoughts on a few things.
Deuteronomy is like one long conversation, it is hard for me to think of it in pieces. You have to get a running start at chapter 32. It is like the climax of what was to be said.

Deut. 26:16
This day the HASHEM your Elohim has commanded (participle = continuous occurrence) you to do these statutes (chukim) and judgments (mishpatim); you shall therefore keep (guard) AND do them with ALL your heart, and with ALL your soul.

We could talk about this verse for a long time. There is soooo much there. We are to do ALL these things with everything we have. Anything short of that is not and never was pleasing. When we reduce Adonai’s chukim and mishpat to mechanical, ritualistic, intellectual acknowledgment we diminish Him and the message He wanted to communicate to the one participating and the one observing. When we do HIS things HIS way we become a reflection of HIM. The goal is to figure out what that means. I sincerely think it takes a lifetime….

Chapter 27 talks about setting up the stones to write the Torah on.

27:8
And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this Torah very plainly.

The phrase “very plainly” is inadequate to express the Hebrew here (especially in light of how it is used throughout the rest of scripture, particularly prophetic texts).

Chapter 28 goes through the blessings and curses. I find it interesting that the curses are much longer than the blessings. In Nehemiah when they are coming back they bind themselves to the curse.

Nehemiah 10:30
They join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse, and an oath, to walk in HaElohim’s Torah, which was given by Moshe the servant of HaElohim, and to observe (guard) AND do all the commandments of HASHEM our Adon, and his judgments (mishpatim) and his statutes (chukim);

Walk and guard and do. These are important words. It is interesting to me that they didn’t need to be reminded of the blessings, it was the curses. When we only focus on blessings we are looking at one side of a coin, there are two. And I think it is important to understanding why we find “The Song of Moshe” in Revelation. There is much said about the fear of Adonai. It has a purpose.

Psalm 111:10
The fear of HASHEM is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do his commandments; his praise endures for ever.

Why is it important? Without fear of consequences a person generally doesn’t develop discipline and internal self control. Without those qualities you aren’t very teachable.

There are so many important things to say about Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Another time….

In chapter 29 we start zooming in to the climax, but we aren’t there yet. Verse 9 - 10 defines who he is talking to.

You stand this day all of you before HASHEM your Elohim; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, Your little ones, your wives, and your stranger (gere)who is in your camp…

So many people ask today, “where do I fit in, I am not Jewish?” A proper understanding of who a gere is would clear that up forever! There are times when the “NT” is addressing issues and we make an assumption that the common understanding of the day is an accurate reflection of Torah. Sadly we don’t often know Torah well enough to really understand what is being said.

Deut 29:13-14
And not with you alone will I make this covenant and this oath;
But with him who stands here with us this day before HASHEM our Elohim, and also with him who is not here with us this day…

WHO IS NOT HERE = people in the future = you and me

Deut 29:17 – 19
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the HASHEM our Elohim, to go and serve the gods of these nations… And it should come to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart… HASHEM shall blot out his name (from the book of life) from under heaven.

Chapter 30 we should all be familiar with. Paul quotes it. And draws some very important conclusions.

Is this interesting, boring, rambling? Should I continue?

 

[Yasatora]

I hesitate to even begin. This is just my thoughts on a few things.
Deuteronomy is like one long conversation, it is hard for me to think of it in pieces. You have to get a running start at chapter 32. It is like the climax of what was to be said.

Deut. 26:16
This day the HASHEM your Elohim has commanded (participle = continuous occurrence) you to do these statutes (chukim) and judgments (mishpatim); you shall therefore keep (guard) AND do them with ALL your heart, and with ALL your soul.

We could talk about this verse for a long time. There is soooo much there. We are to do ALL these things with everything we have. Anything short of that is not and never was pleasing. When we reduce Adonai’s chukim and mishpat to mechanical, ritualistic, intellectual acknowledgment we diminish Him and the message He wanted to communicate to the one participating and the one observing. When we do HIS things HIS way we become a reflection of HIM. The goal is to figure out what that means. I sincerely think it takes a lifetime….

Chapter 27 talks about setting up the stones to write the Torah on.

27:8
And you shall write upon the stones all the words of this Torah very plainly.

The phrase “very plainly” is inadequate to express the Hebrew here (especially in light of how it is used throughout the rest of scripture, particularly prophetic texts).

Chapter 28 goes through the blessings and curses. I find it interesting that the curses are much longer than the blessings. In Nehemiah when they are coming back they bind themselves to the curse.

Nehemiah 10:30
They join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse, and an oath, to walk in HaElohim’s Torah, which was given by Moshe the servant of HaElohim, and to observe (guard) AND do all the commandments of HASHEM our Adon, and his judgments (mishpatim) and his statutes (chukim);

Walk and guard and do. These are important words. It is interesting to me that they didn’t need to be reminded of the blessings, it was the curses. When we only focus on blessings we are looking at one side of a coin, there are two. And I think it is important to understanding why we find “The Song of Moshe” in Revelation. There is much said about the fear of Adonai. It has a purpose.

Psalm 111:10
The fear of HASHEM is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do his commandments; his praise endures for ever.

Why is it important? Without fear of consequences a person generally doesn’t develop discipline and internal self control. Without those qualities you aren’t very teachable.

There are so many important things to say about Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Another time….

In chapter 29 we start zooming in to the climax, but we aren’t there yet. Verse 9 - 10 defines who he is talking to.

You stand this day all of you before HASHEM your Elohim; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, Your little ones, your wives, and your stranger (gere)who is in your camp…

So many people ask today, “where do I fit in, I am not Jewish?” A proper understanding of who a gere is would clear that up forever! There are times when the “NT” is addressing issues and we make an assumption that the common understanding of the day is an accurate reflection of Torah. Sadly we don’t often know Torah well enough to really understand what is being said.

Deut 29:13-14
And not with you alone will I make this covenant and this oath;
But with him who stands here with us this day before HASHEM our Elohim, and also with him who is not here with us this day…

WHO IS NOT HERE = people in the future = you and me

Deut 29:17 – 19
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the HASHEM our Elohim, to go and serve the gods of these nations… And it should come to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart… HASHEM shall blot out his name (from the book of life) from under heaven.

Chapter 30 we should all be familiar with. Paul quotes it. And draws some very important conclusions.

Is this interesting, boring, rambling? Should I continue?

For I am sure His yesterday was maybe 3-5 thousand years ago, and as he spoke he was talking to us, who were not even a twinkle in our great great great......yad yad yad parent's eye.