Embracing Death

Exodus 18:1-20:23, Yitro, “Jethro”

As always, I tend to try to see how the title of the parsha may be a theme that runs its way through the reading.  This week, I came to a kind of interesting concept.  It may be a little far reaching, but maybe not.  I will let you be the judge.  In any event, I think the end message has value.  I pray it is a blessing.

As I entered into the reading, the first thing that hit me was what Jethro was doing.  He was taking Moses’ wife and children to meet him so that they could enter the promised land together.  The first thought that came to me was Moses having his bride brought to him as he made his decent upon the land.  This immediately gave me an image of Revelation 19 where Yeshua is descending down from heaven, through the clouds, on his white horse, with the trumpet call, and the bride is carried away to the marriage supper.

The question hit me, could this section of scripture be a foreshadowing of what will ultimately take place when Yeshua returns to set up the millennial kingdom?  Throughout history, the sages have seen Moses as a messiah of likeness.  As such, making this connection is very in tune and in harmony with rabbinic imagery. 

As I pressed forward, I kept in mind that there are other characters to this story.  More importantly, I remained open to asking the Holy Spirt to reveal what can we take from all this that provides something that is real and tangible in our pursuit of God and a deeper relationship with Him? As I contemplated the other characters, I was led to Isaiah 49:22 where we read: “Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations and set up My standard to the peoples; And they will bring your sons in their bosom, And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.” (NASB).

So, there you have it.  From what I am seeing, the two children are the individual sides of the one new man making up the whole house of Israel.  In this image, the “whole house of Israel” is made up of those who are the natural descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob together with those believers who have allowed themselves to be “grafted” to His people.  In this, Jethro represents the nations that will have their eyes opened to the truth of who He is.  In this, they will fulfill these prophecies as they facilitate the delivery of the “nation”, this time in the fullness of her maturity (as the bride), to the real Messiah (Yeshua), when He descends upon Israel to set up His kingdom.

This gets a little more fun when we start looking at the names of the two children.  Moses’ first son was named Gershom meaning “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land”, and the other son was named Eliezer meaning “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”  From how I am seeing this, the first child represents the natural relatives.  Since the time of Yeshua, we have been sojourners in a foreign land.  His name represents the very words that the natural children of Israel will speak as we are gathered into Him.  From there, I am seeing the second child as representing those believers who have grafted themselves into the “nation”.  Historically, when a person, other than that of the natural blood line of the patriarchs, wanted to join themselves to the “nation” they would go through a formal “re-birth”.  In this re-birth, they would go through a mikvah (basically what we know of as baptism).  In this, they would go under the water as children of their earthly family.  As they passed through the waters, they joined themselves to the “nation” and took on a new identity.  When they emerged from the water, for all intents and purposes, they had from all perspectives, been fully adopted into the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This is an image of those Egyptians who left Egypt, passed through the waters of the red sea with the children of Israel, and who moved out into the desert with them as they began this journey with Him. 

In this context, the second child’s name makes perfect sense. They no longer see their father as their natural father, but Abraham.  In grafting themselves to the “nation” they escaped Egypt along with those that were natural descendants just as if they were one in the same.  Together, they were all set free from the sword of Pharaoh through the help from the God of “their” father Abraham.  Again, I realize I am taking some creative license with all this, but this is what I love about Hebraic thought.  This kind of thought is commonplace within midrash and Hebraic life.

So, now that we have the stage set, let’s get into the meat of what I think is really important.  In what I am seeing, the two sons and the wife in this story are separate and distinct at this point in time.  However, by the time of the second coming of Yeshua and the establishment of the messianic kingdom, they will become one and the same.  The “nation” will no longer be two distinct children, but one bride.  What keeps the children “separated” is our heart condition toward Torah.

Even within the messianic community the debates and arguments still exist between what is and is not “required” of the gentile believers.  From here I am going to take us to Acts 15 and move into a really important concept.  Instead of interpreting this from the angel of traditional debate, I am going to move in from the other side.  The angle I am going to approach this from is relative to people like me.

I am fully Jewish.  Both my mother and father are blood relatives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I am Levitical on my mother’s side.  So, according to Acts 15, what is my “obligation” to Torah observance?  If we take the argument that Acts 15 is about establishing that natural descendants have a different obligation than those grafted in sheerly based on our blood line, I think we are missing a really big point.  Obligation is a legal term that implies guilt when not honored.  Guilt is connected with knowledge and understanding.  Yeshua hits this point in John 15:22 where He says ““If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have guilt, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (NASB).  This ties back to Leviticus 4:13-14 where we read “Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error and the matter escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and they become guilty; when the sin which they have committed becomes known” (NASB)

This concept is further clarified in Numbers 15:30-31 where we are told “‘But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.  ‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’” (NASB)

According to some, their interoperation of Acts 15 would have me fully yoked and obligated to Torah simply because I am a blood relative of the patriarchs.  The reality is, I grew up very secular with only limited exposure to Torah.  According to Leviticus, Numbers, and what Yeshua says in John 15, I am only obligate to what I am aware of.  In this case, when I came to faith, I was only marginally more aware than the average gentile.  It simply isn’t biblical to impose a higher “obligation” onto me than anyone else just entering the faith.  At the same time, if Torah is life and our wisdom, why wouldn’t God want gentiles to move into Torah to the same depth as me?  I believe this is an approach that leads to the fulness of the bride in all of her maturity as the image of the one new man with both the natural and grafted children coming together as one for the testimony to the nations.

I believe this is the heart of Acts 15 where in verses 19-21 James makes this statement “Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles…….. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

For me, what James is stating is fairly obvious.  Here is how I would paraphrase it.  “Hey guys, these gentiles are currently involved in some really unholy living, they worship other gods, and they are involved in occult practices.  There is no way that God is expecting them to step out of that life and into full Torah compliance overnight.  We are saved by faith and so are they.  Ultimately, these four restrictions are adequate to break the spiritual strongholds and move them into a position of being able to receive Torah into their hearts. I believe with those strong holds broken, sitting under Torah weekly is all they need.  The Holy Spirit will talk to them, reveal what is their next step in Torah compliance, and grow them into strong disciples and followers of Him.”  Now that we are 2,000 years into the disbursement, I believe this mentality is as applicable to natural descendants as much so as any gentile.

The interesting thing is that, according to Torah (Leviticus 4 and Numbers 10) this is really the heart of the covenant from the very beginning.  So, with all that said, let’s circle back to this week’s reading.  But first, we need to look at one scripture form Romans.  In Romans 8:12 Paul discusses how we must allow our flesh driven lives to be re-conformed through the interaction of the Spirit.  He shares that a mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God because it does not subject itself to the Law of God.  Ultimately, in verse 12-15 he states that “we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again”. (NASB)

As soon as I read that section of Romans my mind immediately went back to this week’s parsha and the moment that came after God had shared the tenth of the commandments that He was speaking out to the people.  In Exodus 20:19 we read, “Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.” (NASB)

I believe that Paul was specifically referring to this moment in time when he wrote the words of Romans 8:12-15. These verses connect the “fear” to “death” whereas the true spiritual path is to embrace the death as he points out “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die” (NASB).  You see, the children of Israel knew something about accountability, and it goes right back to Numbers 15:30-31.  They understood that if God talked to them directly, they would be fully accountable.  In that place of accountability, they would have to bend their knees to what God spoke, and in so doing, allow Him to remold their lives in a way that their flesh simply did not want to be changed.  This remolding is what Paul speaks of as death in Romans 8.

Going back to the prophetic implications I put forth at the beginning of this blog, here is what I propose. Fear of change comes from a spirit of slavery to sin.  This is the image of a spiritual child.  The bride on the other hand is a representation of Yeshua’s priesthood during the messianic area.   During this time, His priesthood will have fully embraced Torah with the heart felt understanding represented by a fully matured wife.  This maturity only comes when we allow ourselves to move beyond a fear of death and into a place of actually embracing it.  When we move into a place of embracing death, we set the stage for a deeper relationship with Him as was intended with the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Sadly, the majority of us continue to lean on our religious teachers instead of truly seeking dialogue with Him.  I believe at the bottom of this is the same fear that the children of Israel suffered and that same spirit that Paul speaks of.  Ultimately, God will give us new hearts and make us into the bride that He chose us to be, we will join Him when He sets up His kingdom, and we will rule with Him from Israel.  At the same time, we have a choice to become those kinds of disciples today. 

I pray that as we allow these concepts to work their way deep into our souls, that we allow the Holy Spirit to reveal to us where we too are walking in the fear of death, still being held hostage to the desires of the flesh, and pulled away from a deeper relationship with God through the sin natures we were born into.  I pray that as He reveals these things to us that we step up in courage, become expectant of what is possible, and chase after the life that is available on the other side of death.  In and through this, I pray that we become a testimony and a blessing to the world as we demonstrate the freedom of embracing Torah, dying to the flesh, and being His bride NOW.  Amen Amen