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This week’s parasha is entitled Ki Teitzei, meaning, “When you go out,” it is from the book of Deuteronomy 21:10 -25:19. This parasha opens at the conclusion of the second of three discourses that Moses gave to Israel. The topic of this discourse is what God expects of Israel. Here, Moses goes into his final subject and provides clarification of the Social Laws given by Adonai.
While the context of today’s commentary deals with laws and regulations for the Israelis to follow as they enter the Promised Land, a broader meaning can be found in the sense that as these laws and regulations are followed, they give us glimpses of the wonder and Grace of Yeshua.
Moses says to Israel You might fight against your enemies, and the Lord your God might let you defeat them and take them as captives. You might see a beautiful woman among the captives who you want to be your wife. You must then bring her into your house where she will shave her head and cut her nails
She must take off the clothes she was wearing when she was captured in war. She will stay in your house and be sad about losing her father and her mother for a full month. (This points to ceremonial purification.) After that, it is permitted to go to her to be her husband, and she will be your wife.
If an Israeli soldier sincerely desired one of the captives he could have her only through marriage. This helped protect the dignity of the women captives and the purity of the Israelis soldiers. Israelis were not to rape, plunder, or otherwise mistreat captives as other armies did.
If we look past this natural history, and into the spiritual, we would clearly see Yeshua, our Messiah, gathering from the Gentile world a bride for himself, to form one with the Jews.
Are we not His by lawful captivity? Were we not enemies to God by wicked works? If he has brought us home to His house, we would desire grace to renounce all our former idolatry, by cutting the nails and shaving the head, and putting off the old self of our captivity, which is corrupt, and putting on the new man, which after Messiah, is created in righteousness and true holiness.
I see Messiah drawing His bride to himself in faithfulness, loving-kindness, with merciful judgment! And, allowing us to remain in His kingdom forever, and for this may our souls praise, worship and serve Him forever.
Versus 22-23: A man could be guilty of a sin that must be punished by death. People might kill him and hang his body on a tree because the one who hangs on a tree is cursed by God.
“Note”: The hanging occurs after the death. Hanging was not done to cause the death as it often is in our day.
These hangings were tied in with a Divine curse, hanging added to the dreadfulness of the punishment. Hanging was done to further shame the evildoer.
Scripture says that the one who hangs on a tree is cursed by God. This has a prophet’s voice. This is a Gospel sign. This points exclusively to Yeshua Crucified.
It only tells of the fact; that He, who came to bear God’s Curse, should be hung upon a tree. It pictures His special mode of dying. A cross shall be the evidence that Yeshua there-on suffered the Law’s full penalty, for sins of the world.
In chapter 22 verses1-4, Moses, in this paragraph, demands acts of neighborly kindness. This kindness was to be shown to “a brother.” He may be a brother by kinship, an unknown individual, or an enemy, Yeshua said in Matthew 5:44, that we are to love our enemies.
The Shema says, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The basis of our love to another would be found in loving Adonai with all the heart, mind, and strength.
When we obey God’s Word, we make Yeshua Lord of our life. Because Yeshua is the Word of God. He is the Laws, Statutes, Covenants, Precepts, Judgments, Commandments, and the Shema.
Chapter 23:9,14, says “When you are in camp, at war with your enemies, you are to stay away from everything that would make you unclean.
Because Adonai moves about in your camp to rescue you and to hand over your enemies to you. Therefore, your camp must be a holy place. “The Lord should not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you.”
This should speak volumes to us; our highest priority should be to keep our camp, our temples, and our lives clean from everything that would be offensive to a holy God.
There are so many areas in our life that could be cleansed and sanctified so that the presences of the three-in-one God would abound.
We should turn from wickedness and unto faithfulness, with true confession and repentance, turning to cleanliness and righteousness, resulting in more light, so that the God of all grace may bless our efforts.
A man might marry a woman, and then find some secret thing about her that he does not like. If that man is not pleased with her, he must write the divorce papers and give them to her. Then he must send her from his house.
But suppose the new husband also does not like her and sends her away. If that man divorces her, the first husband may not take her again to be his wife. Or if the new husband dies, her first husband may not take her again to be his wife. She has become unclean to him. If he married her again, he would be doing something the Lord hates.
But look at the faithfulness, the grace, the mercy of Adonai towards unfaithful and adulterous Israel. In the books of Hosea and Jeremiah, Israel turned her back on the Lord to serve false gods over and over again, and then Adonai would hold back his favor and Israel would repent and The Lord would take her back again, and again, and again.
What a graceful, merciful and forgiving Savior we have in Messiah.
Chapter 25:11, Two men might be fighting against each other. One man’s wife might come to help her husband, but she must not grab the other man’s private parts. If she does that, cut off her hand. However, don’t feel sorry for her.
The wife was trying to help her husband; however, this action could mutilate the man fighting her husband and diminish his reproductive abilities.
God did not tolerate this vile act. It could be said that Adonai here is giving a hand and helping the unborn.
If your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It is better for you to lose part of your body and have eternal life than to have two hands and entered into to hell. There, the fire never stops.
In closing, there is no situation that the Word of God does not cover, whether it be physical, spiritual, mental or financial, God’s Word should govern every area of our existence. He has provided for us in all things. He loves us so much that there’s no problem, no situation that He doesn’t want to be a part of. He wants to be Lord of all, shouldn’t we as believers in Yeshua, want to surrender all?