IT'S WAR!
Shabbat Shalom Kol
Yisrael. It is our pleasure to present this week's Torah Parsha commentary by
Nazarene Yisraelite Rabbi T. (Mordecai) Mitchell, Rabbi and Rosh Zaken of B'nai
Yeshurun Nazarene Yisraelite Synagogue, Kittanning, Pa., board member of the
Union of Nazarene Yisraelite Congregations. It is our sincere hope and prayer
that these commentaries encourage, inspire, and strengthen the body of Messiah
in Kol Yisrael. This week our Parsha is Ki-Tetze (When you go out... )
Debarim (Deuteronomy) 21:10 25:19. Our Haftarah portion is YeshaYahu
(Isaiah) 52 13 to 54:1 10. Our suggested Brit Chadasha readings are:
MattithYahu 5:31 32; 19: 3 12 I Corinthians 9:4 18. Please add Tehillim
(Psalms) 27 and 51.
Transliterated, the
opening words of the first verse of this Parsha are: Ki tetze
l'milchamah, meaning literally, When you go out to
war...
Yisrael had many
enemies, nations, tribes and people who wanted nothing less that its total
destruction. On numerous occasions, the men of ancient Yisrael, as they were
preparing to enter the Promised Land and even after they entered The Land, went
to war against their enemies.
Yisrael could not be
defeated militarily, however, some of its more cunning enemies learned that this
small but mighty nation could be defeated from within Yisrael was often its
own worst enemy. If we recall two previous Parshot, Balak and
Pinchas, the evil Balak (whose name means destroyer) realized that
he could not defeat Yisrael militarily, so he hired Baalam to curse the
nation. When that plan failed, Balak's third plan was to seduce the young men of
Yisrael with the beautiful but idolatrous (and immoral) young women of his
kingdom, thereby causing Yisrael to go into whoredom. His insidious plan worked,
at least in part, until Yisrael received a traumatic wake up call from Pinchas,
but not before 24,000 died in a plague.
Today, as we find
ourselves in the beginning years of what is called the 21st century,
we, as spiritual Yisrael must realize that we are still in a state of war.
Today, our enemy is the same enemy fought against by ancient Yisrael. It is the
real enemy the Sitra Achra, or The Other Side, the habitation of ha-satan
and his demon spirits.
Ephesians 6:12
Because we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against authorities, against world rulers of the darkness of
this age, against spiritual matters of wickedness in the
heavenlies.
We must realize that
this thing called the Sitra Achra, or the Other Side, is not only very real,
both physically and spiritually, but it is also extremely subtle. However, not
so subtle references to the Other Side are there for all to read in the Brit
Chadasha (New Testament, or more properly, the Renewed Covenant). Yet such
references are often glossed over by the casual reader. One such example is
found in Mark 4:35 41.
35
And on the same day, when evening had come, He said to them,
Let us pass over to the other side.
36
And having left the crowd, they took Him along in the boat,
as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And there was a great
windstorm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already being
filled.
37 And He was in the stern,
asleep on a cushion. And they woke Him up and said, Teacher, is it no concern
to You that we perish?
38
And having been awakened, He rebuked the wind, and said to
the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great
calm.
39 And He said to them, Why are
you so afraid? Have you not yet belief?
40
And they feared exceedingly, and asked each other, Who then
is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?
The reading continues
in 5:1: And they came to the other side of the sea,...
First, we should note
that in verse 35, Yahshua said Let us pass over to the other
side. He did not say ...to the other side of the sea...
as we read in 5:1
As their boats ventured
out into the water a great storm arose. We read that there ...was a great
wind storm...
The first thing that
Yahshua did upon being awakened was to rebuke ...the wind...
The word wind is
sometimes translated from the Hebrew word ruach, meaning spirit. In Acts 2:2
we know that the Ruach haKodesh (Holy or Set-Apart Spirit) came to the assembled
believers in the form of ...a rushing mighty wind...
In Acts, the wind was
representative of Yahweh's Ruach HoKodesh, but in the account in Mark 4, we see
that this wind was threatening and destructive. It instilled great fear. No
fear or destruction is part of the Wind mentioned in Acts 2.
The incident in Mark 4
was designed by Yahshua to introduce, if you will, His talmudim to the very real
world of the Sitra Achra and to show them just how powerful it was (and is) and
just how powerless they could be against it without His intervention. We can
indeed go out to war, but there are certain battles for which we
are woefully unprepared. Certain battles we have no hope of winning without the
direct intervention of Almighty Yahweh through His Son, our Messiah,
Yahshua.
The incident was also
designed to prepare them for what was to happen next. As they entered the
country of the Gadarenes, they met a wild man, who came to them ...out of
the tombs... In other words, this man was a virtual prisoner of, and
filled with, the unclean spirits of dead works. We are talking here of the dead
works of this thing called religion. (We are speaking of 'religion' versus
Spirituality). In verse 3 we read ...no one was able to bind
him...
Dead religious works
have a powerful strangle hold on the devotees of religious practices that reject
or are not in harmony with Torah. Cleansing from such dead works is the subject
of the Red Heifer of Bemidbar (Numbers) 19. The ashes of the Red Heifer, when
mixed with water, cleansed one from contact with the dead. We must look at such
passages with spiritual eyes, and see them on a Sod level.
Note too that the
number of unclean spirits cast out of this man was ...legion,
meaning 10,000. In Tehillim (Psalms) 91:7 we read that ...ten thousand
(shall fall) at your right side... In Talmudic
literature, it is written that there are 10,000 unclean spirits for every human
on the face of the earth.
The demons pleaded with
Yahshua to be allowed to attack a herd of pigs, and He consented. Once
possessed, the swine, in a sudden mad frenzy, made a suicidal rush over a cliff
and into the sea to drown.
The word sea is
mentioned several times in the above passages. We should understand the sea as
the sea of humanity. Going back to Mark 4, after Yahshua rebuked the wind (the
evil ruach) he simply said to the sea Peace, be still! The seas
of humanity will rage and foment as long as they are under the control of the
evil ruach. However, once the evil ruach is rebuked, the sea is able to be
calmed. There can be no peace in the world today as long as the evil ruach of
anti-nomianism is allowed to control the hearts (and bodies) of men.
We also note in Mark 5
that once the legion was cast out of the man he asked to follow Yahshua. But
Yahshua refused, telling him that he had another mission to go to the cities
of Decapolis (a ten-city region). Does ten have a familiar ring to
it?
In ZekarYah 8:23, we
have the account of the ...ten men from all languages of the
nations... These are of course the Ephrayimite peoples. Therefore, we
can conclude that the ten city region of Decapolis is a clear reference to the
ten tribes, or Ephrayim. This man must tell his fellow citizens, Ephraymites,
how he was freed from a legion of demons. He bore witness of how he was freed
from the corrupting and captivating influence of evil.
Evidentially, however,
he would have his work cut out for him, for in Mark 5:17 we read: And they
began to plead with Him (Yahshua) to leave their
borders. Although they had witnessed an astounding miracle of great
deliverance, the Gadarenes evidentially were not ready or willing to also be
released from the demonic influence that was permeating their land.
Let us return to our
Parsha in Debarim 21:11.
Verse 11 speaks of the
...woman fair of form... or the beautiful captive.
The beautiful woman represents several different ideas. She represents our
desire for the material or carnal desires. She represents negativity, which is
often disguised as something desirable.
However, woman in
Scripture also represents worship. We have Yisrael represented as a virtuous
woman who will be the bride of the returning Messiah. We have the five wise and
the five foolish virgins, and we also have the woman who is great whore
of Babylon, representative of worldly religion.
This captive woman of
Debarim 21, however, is in a different category. She is from a people who are
close to Yisrael, neighbors, perhaps even distant relatives. Some of her customs
and lifestyle are similar to the ones practiced by Yisrael, however, she is
still a foreign woman and not quite part of Yisrael.
Yahweh instructs the
Yisraelites what to do with this captive woman they desire so much in short,
she has to be cleaned up. She must undergo a complete transformation. We must
cast ourselves in the role of this woman. In order to become a worthy member of
Kol Yisrael, we must divest ourselves of virtually every aspect of our former
lives. As a part of the cleansing process, the woman was required to shave off
all her hair, pare her nails, and change her entire wardrobe. I hope we can view
this transformation through spiritual eyes, especially so during this month of
Elul.
The Captive woman is to
also ...mourn her father and her mother a month of
days...
During the month of
Elul we are urged to read Psalm 27 every day of the month. In 27:10 we read:
When my father and my mother have forsaken me, then Yahweh will take me
in.
This verse hints at a
necessary separation between the religious doctrines we have been taught since
childhood, and for generations, and the truth and light of Torah spirituality.
We, as the beautiful captive woman, must realize that: YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 16:
19b Our fathers have inherited only falsehood,
futility, and there is no value in them.
Once we come to this
startling (and perhaps painful) revelation, we are ready to be transformed from
the beautiful captive woman, or woman fair of form (worldly religion) into the
woman (Spiritual Yisrael) who will be the Bride of Messiah. Here we can also see
a strange paradox. Although the woman of fair form was a
captive, she was in a very real sense, someone who was rescued, rather than
taken captive. She was released from her former captivity to the freedom of a
new life.
In order to fulfill our
proper spiritual role, we need constant reminders physical reminders. As the
woman of fair form put off the garments of her captivity, she necessarily put on
the garments of freedom, which served to remind her of her new status. This is
why Yahweh saw fit to institute the Mitzveh of Tzith-tzith or tassels, as we
read in Debarim 22:12 Make Tassels on the four corners of the garment
with which you cover yourself.
The wearing of
Tzith-tzith is not a Jewish custom. It is not a suggestion. It is a Biblical
command from Almighty Yahweh Himself. We cannot separate the physical from the
spiritual or vise versa. If we recall ZekarYah 8:23. the ten men took hold of
the ...edge of the garment... of a Yehudite. (a
Jew). The phrase edge of the garment in Hebrew is Tzith-tzith.
So, correctly translated, the ten men held onto Tzith-tzith, and declared their
intent to ...go with the Yehudite (Jewish) man, in other words
to follow His customs, to do things His way.
I find it apalling that
the some false teachers of Yisrael take a stand against Tzith-tzith and
arrogantly declare, We are not Jews. They teach such un-Scriptural notions as
If you have the Holy Spirit you don't need Tzith-tzith. Such idea is found
nowhere in the Bible and is against Yahweh's Torah.
Yes, we are at war
(sometimes even against our own 'brethren'). We must prepare to
Ki-tetze, or Go out... But where are the battle
lines?
Earlier we said that
Decapolis means a region of ten cities. It can also mean, simply,
everywhere. The battle we face is indeed everywhere. But what does this mean?
Again, simply put, it means that we must declare and demonstrate our
Spirituality everyday, not just on Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh or Moedim. We must
prepare for spiritual battle in the work place, in the school, or shopping
malls, where ever and everywhere. We must be prepared at all times to tell our
fellow Yisraelites (the Gadarenes) what a great work Yahweh had done in our
lives. How He has cleansed us from a veritable legion of unclean spirits -- the
same spirits that deceived and blinded the eyes and stopped the ears of our
forefathers.
During Elul we have the
opportunity to make our transformation, and our preparations for war, very
personal. This must be done because our relationship with Almighty Yahweh must
be deeply personal.
May Almighty Yahweh
bless us all as we seek to learn more of His ways and allow truth to free us
from error, and cleanness from uncleanness.
It is no coincidence
that Ki-tetze has a Gematria value of 30 (Ki) and 491
(Tetze), a total of 521. In Debarim 32:31 we have the phrase, (And
I) make alive also having a Gematria value of 521. It is
Ki-tetze, going forth to war, that makes us alive.
Tetze, has a Gematria of 491, and in Vayyiqra (Leviticus) 23:24 we
have Tabernacles or Booths --
HaSuccoth also having a Gematria value of 491. Part of our warfare
preparation is attending Sukkot.
...Go out to War
and win!
Please tune into our
Pal Talk Bible studies at 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time Erev Shabbat and
again at 1 p.m. EDT Shabbat afternoon. Once in Pal Talk click on the
designation Religion and Spirituality, then click on Other. Our
room is Bnai Yeshurun.
Questions or comments
regarding this week's Parsha commentary or prayer requests may be addressed to
Rabbi Mitchell by e-mail at: yoel@windstream.net
Also, please visit: www.bnaiyeshurun.com (Nazarene
Israelite).
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