17th Portion
[28 Jan - 3 Feb 2024]
Theme of the Book of Exodus:
About pursuing the instructions in order that we can build a dwelling place for Yeshua.
Meaning of "Yitro" = "Jethro"
This week's Torah portions:
Sunday: Exodus 18:1-12
Monday: Exodus 18:13-23
Tuesday: Exodus 18:24-27
Wednesday: Exodus 19:1-6
Thursday: Exodus 19:7-19
Friday: Exodus 19:20-20:14
Shabbat: Exodus 20:15-26 & Isaiah 6:1-7:6 & Isaiah 9:5-6
Apostolic Writings:
Matthew 8:5-20
Daily Bread for Busy Moms portions:
1 Kings 7-12
Psalms 98-103
Luke 22-24
John 1
This parashat the Israelites camped at Mount Sinai. And this portion starts with Yitro - Moses's father-in-law. When Yitro heard about how Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, he took Moses's wife and two sons and went to Midian to meet up with Moses & the Israelites.
When Yitro came to Moses, Moses told him about God's hand over them and what He has done for them up until that point. The next day Yitro saw how much weight Moses carried on his shoulders on behalf of the Israelites. All of Israel came to Moses to seek his counsel.
After Yitro saw it, he told Moses that he could not continue like that and told Moses that he will have to delegate some of the load to others. Yitro realised that Moses won't be able to keep it up on his own forever. Yitro advised Moses to appoint others to help him to provide council to the Israelites. After Moses has done so, Yitro went back to Midian.
Moses had a encountering with God on the mountain. God told Moses to go and tell the Israelites that He will make them a holy nation, a nation of kings and priests unto all the nations.
Remember that in the beginning of the book of Exodus, God gave the 7 promises to the Israelites and one of those promises was that He will take them to be His nation. And in this portion, Abba confirms it.
We then read that the Israelites were instructed to not come close to the foot of Mount Sinai. Only Moses and Aaron were allowed on the mountain during that time. Abba then spoke the Ten Commandments over them.
When we (yes to this day it's valid for believers) adhere to the Ten Commandments, we will have wisdom on how to handle the situations we face.
It's safe to say that one commandment is not more important than the other right?
And before you say that the above statement is wrong based on Matthew 22:36-39, which says:
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."
We have to also read verse 40 which says:
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Which means that those two are the most important once, because if you obey them - the rest of the commandments would automatically follow. You cannot (don't) love God with all your heart, soul and mind, when you compromise on His instructions. I love how Scripture confirms Scripture.
In John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Thus if we obey the "first and great commandment" - by loving Abba with all out being, then we will obey His commandments.
One of those commandments is honouring the Sabbath. Which is not on a Sunday. I'll just leave the link to the Shabbat blog here (As we don't have time to jump into it in this blog).
Back to this week's Torah portion! The Israelites received the Ten Commandments and they were overwhelmed by all of it. So they asked Moses to rather intercede for them with God because it was too much for them to handle.
The portion was finished off confirming again that the Israelites were not allowed to have any graven images / idol worship statues. Today we know the same applies and it's not only regarding physical images and statues but also idols in our hearts.
From Kol Kallah's teaching - they sum it up so well... at the start of this week's portion - they had mankind's order in place. Moses was the one who sat and listened to everyone and gave instructions / solutions / ideas on how the people should handle their situation or what they should do about it.
And then Yitro, Moses's father-in-law said that Moses should set up a council to help him with the people's questions and concerns as Yitro realised that Moses wasn't able to keep it up on his own. Moses accepted Yitro's plan, probably because he was tired and overworked and saw Yitro's plan as a solution. But that plan was never God's plan! If Moses simply waited on God a while longer - he would have seen God's plan come into action - without him (Moses) having to make plans of his own.
God came to set order in place. An order of His instructions. When we have His instructions written on our hearts, we will know how to act and how to live our lives. And in today's time and age - since we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us... we still have His instruction written on our hearts.
1 John 2:27 says "But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him."
Which confirms that when we truly have His instructions written on our hearts - when it's your hearts desire to honour God with your life - then the Holy Spirit will guide you in all of your ways.
It doesn't mean that we don't need teaching from others, and that we now know it all. When we look at the original Hebrew and Greek in which the Bible was written. We then know that what this verse meant was that when we receive / hear / listen to teachings and we take it to heart - that we will be able to discern for ourselves. Someone won't have to instruct me to do something. They might give me a teaching on a topic. But the Holy Spirit will give you the discernment which will move you to act and live according to the instructions. If we have to give a theme to the entire Bible it would be to "choose life!"
And once the instructions which I've heard (via teachings / Bible study, etc.) becomes life to me - I will no longer need anyone to instruct me what to do. Once it has become life for me, I would automatically pursue that!
When you discover information or listen to teachings, you have to make your own decisions. We need fellowship and we need spiritual mentors. And what we learn from them, we have to take to heart and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we'll be able to discern and apply it to our lives.
So back to this week's Torah portion... Now that the Israelites received the Ten Commandments, the instructions was supposed to be written on their hearts. Which would have made Moses's job much easier - as they wouldn't have to wait to ask Moses how to handle things. They had the Ten Commandments and therefore they were able to discern how they should be living!
If they applied it, it would not have been necessary for Moses to set up the counsil. But the sad part is that the Israelites didn't allow God to enter their hearts and allow His instructions to become the foundation / base of what their lives were. And therefore they still needed the council to advice them on how to live and manage their lives. If we think about it - it's slavery!
God gave us freedom! He gave His instructions and the ability for us to discern. But the Israelites (and us today) didn't take it to heart. And therefore more systems had to be set in place to ensure that we live according to His instructions. We have literally placed ourselves in bondage / slavery. When God's heart for us since the beginning of times were to live in freedom!
We can summarise this portion with one word: order.
We have to ask ourselves - according to which order are you living your life? According to man's order or according to God's?
If you are new here, you can follow the Torah portions with us every week!
(Simply click on the one you want to read)
Portion 17: Yitro (This blog you are reading now)
