Audio & Outline Notes for Parashat Mishpatim

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Outline Notes:

I. Introduction

A. Roots and Fruits -The purpose of the mitzvot for New Covenant believers

1. It has been said that just before the visit of Winston Churchill to Israel, the inhabitants of the city of Tel Aviv uprooted trees from the Petah Tikva area and replanted them in the ground in their area to make an impression. During the visit there were very strong winds which uprooted the trees and so the truth was exposed. Churchill turned to the Mayor Mr. Meir Dizengoff and said to him: "Mr. Dizengoff, without roots it won't work"!
2. If a tree is to bear fruit , it must have roots. In order to look towards the future we must remember and learn from the past.

B. Parashah Abbreviated Outline

1. Following the revelation at Sinai, G-d legislates a series of laws for the people of Israel. These include the laws of the indentured servant; the penalties for murder, kidnapping, assault, and theft; civil laws pertaining to redress of damages, the granting of loans, and the responsibilities of the "Four Guardians"; and the rules governing the conduct of justice by courts of law.
2. Also included are laws warning against mistreatment of foreigners; the observance of the seasonal festivals, and the agricultural gifts that are to be brought to the Holy Temple in Jerusalem; the prohibition against cooking meat with milk; and the mitzvah of prayer. Altogether, the Parshah of Mishpatim contains fifty-three mitzvot -- 23 imperative commandments and 30 prohibitions.
3. G-d promises to bring the people of Israel to the Holy Land, and warns them against assuming the pagan ways of its current inhabitants.
4. The people of Israel proclaim, "We will do and we will hear all that G-d commands us." Leaving Aaron and Hur in charge in the Israelite camp, Moses ascends Mount Sinai and remains there for forty days and forty nights to receive the Torah from G-d.
5. This week's Torah reading also includes Parshat Shekalim (Exodus 30:11-16), which speaks of the half-shekel each Jew contributed to the Sanctuary.

C. Review:

1. The Revelation at Sinai is considered to depict the marriage between God and the people of Yisrael - Shemot 19:1-24:4; BT Taanit 26b; cp. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 54:1 
2. HaShem's wedding pledge/ proposal  - Shemot 19: 4- 6

   a. I will carry you on eagle's wings - v.4

   b. You are my most beloved treasured possession - Am Segulah - v.5

   c. A kingdom of ministers - v6a cp. 1 Peter 2: 9-10

   d. A holy nation set apart for a special purpose - v. 6b cp. Rev 19: 7

3. Yisrael's unified wedding pledge - Na'aseh V'nishma" ("we will do and we will understand").  First they committed "we will do" and only after "will we understand."  This teaches us that the goal of Judaism is deed - to perform the mitzvot, regardless if we understand them or not. Shemot 19:8 cp 19:1 (Unified)
4. The Midrash Mekhilta comments, "This teaches that the Divine Presence went forth to meet them like a bridegroom who goes forth to meet the bride."  According to this rabbinic understanding, God married the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai!  Moses stood there as the best man, the clouds were the huppah, the wedding canopy, and the Ten Commandments were the ketubbah, the wedding contract binding God and the Jews in a public commitment of love and mutual caring

D. This Parashah is a continuation of of God's wedding vows (21:1-23:33) and His Bride's wedding vow (24:3; 7)

1. The marriage covenant is sealed with a blood sacrifice - 24:4b-8
2. What a remarkable idea!  The metaphor of Sinai as marriage conveys that the core of our relationship with God is the consequence of a mutual love affair. God loves us and we respond by loving God in return. Because of this passion between the Jews and God, God offers a brit, an eternal covenant that will link us through the ages.  The terms of our relationship are spelled out in great detail in the Ten Commandments and the other 603 mitzvot found in the rest of the Torah.

E. If you love me, you will keep my commandments - Yochanan 14:14- 27

II. If you love me, you will keep my commandments

A. Definition of commandment: The word also means "connection": a deed that connects the human being who performs it with G-d, who commanded it. As a connection between man and G-d, as a bridge between Creator and creation, a mitzvah is a deed of cosmic significance, a deed of infinite value unto itself. As Maimonides said, "A single person performing a single mitzvah could be the deed that tips the scales and brings redemption to the entire world and all of creation."

B. Types of commandments

1. The word "judgments" (mishpatim) is a technical term in Torah referring in general to social legislation of the kind which, had it not been given by G-d, man could have devised for himself on rational grounds.
2. The word  "testimonies" (edut) is a technical term in Torah referring in general to commandments such as the Shabbat and the festivals, which though they are rationally comprehensible, could not have been invented by man
3. The word (chukim) is a technical term in Torah referring laws whose purpose lies altogether beyond our understanding such as the law of the red heifer.- Numbers 19:2

C. The Brit Chadashah's point of view on the validity of the mizvot/ Torah

D. Yeshua did not come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. He came to fulfill them - Matityahu (Matthew) 5:17- 20

a. Fulfill means to reveal the inner intentions and deeper dimensions of the mitzvoth of the Torah and the ethical demands of the prophets

b. Fulfill means to complete or fill in the gaps of our understanding and give the true application of a principle

c. Fulfill means to strengthen the foundation of The Torah and the Prophets, not to weaken it.

E.  The Ruach HaKodesh gives us the power to keep the inner intention of the mitzvoth, which is to love one another as Yeshua loved us. Yochanan 14: 15- 15: 14

III. Conclusion

A. Roots and Fruits

B.  If you love me, keep my commandments by loving one another and your neighbor as I have loved you.

C.  The Spirit and The Bride say, "Come!" Rev 20: 17