This week's scriptures: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19; Isaiah 54:1-10; Matthew 5:27-30; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5
This week's Torah portion contains a large number of different "miscellaneous laws". Christians might be tempted to scan them quickly and, respectfully noting with interest what Moses taught to the ancient tribes of Israel, move on to what might seem more relevant.
Yet, would Paul the Apostle have done this? Or would he have meditated carefully on each law so that he could understand it in the context of the New Covenant?
Paul's Awakening
We don't have many examples to go on. I wonder what Paul discussed with the congregations of believers that are not recorded in his letters, expounding the Torah in the light of the New Covenant. Wouldn't you have liked to listen in to some of those unrecorded sermons?
He had the advantage of being schooled in the Torah by Rabbi Gamaliel before the blinding light on the Road to Damascus enabled him to understand that Jesus was the perfect and final focus of the Torah. Then, later, he would understand how the Holy Spirit would write the Torah on the hearts of Jesus' disciples.
Feeding Oxen and Paying Ministers
One example of his teaching that we do have illustrates how Paul understood the heart principles of Torah in a practical way. In our Torah portion this week, Moses taught, "you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain" (Deut 25:4). Paul took the heart principle of this 'law' to show Timothy that ministers of the Gospel are deserving of double honour and worthy of being paid (1 Tim 5:17-18). Most of us would not have drawn this link between feeding oxen and providing for ministers of the Gospel.
It is a pity we do not have some more examples, but this means we are left to do the work ourselves. Paul did not turn the New Testament into a New Covenant rulebook. If he did, we might find ourselves returning to the written law overmuch rather than the life of the Spirit. Instead, there is balance to achieve between the foundation of the Old Covenant and the fulfilment of the New. We have our own studies to do in order to be able to understand Torah from a heart perspective.
My view is that the Holy Spirit, who writes Torah on our hearts, uses the written Torah as a prompt in our meditations. By careful study of even what seems remote and irrelevant in Scripture, we will find ourselves gradually becoming like Paul, handling the entire Bible like a skilled workman.
Parapets and Protection
Let's take another seemingly 'miscellaneous' law and draw out a deeper meaning.
When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it. (Deut 22:8)
Taken literally this seems hardly applicable to our houses in the West with their pointed roofs, especially with our weather, when no-one would go up on our roof for recreation! Yet, the heart principle comes straight from the second of the greatest commandments – "you shall love your neighbour as yourself". This aspect of love is concerned with their safety when they visit you, perhaps sharing a meal with you in the evening sun, on your roof. Yet, when we realise this is about health and safety, we realise it is but one example of the many ways we must build protection around our neighbours.
Nations that have been impacted deeply by the truths of the Bible have also been safety-conscious, conforming to this principle of parapets perhaps without even realising it – guards on machinery, insulation on electric components, nailing carpets down, safety equipment, search and rescue organisations, medical care, etc. These are all 'safety parapets' of protection.1
Going Deeper
There are deep spiritual parallels too. Consider the call of the watchman in Ezekiel 33:
When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man you shall surely die!' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, the wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. (Ezek 33:8)
Here the 'parapet' is the word of warning that the watchman has been told to deliver by the mouth of the watchman - a metaphorical parapet. The word of God is a spiritual protection, in the same way as a physical parapet on a roof is a physical protection. Both are matters of life and death and related to responsibility for the blood of another.
How much blood is on the hands of our nation's leaders (both physical and spiritual) for the way protection has been taken away from many areas of the nation's life in the present day? It even begins in the protective environment of the womb, where 'parapets' have been taken down in our generation. Lifeblood of unborn children has been shed by the liberalisation of our abortion laws. That is how serious it is to maintain the heart principles of Torah.
And Yet Deeper
Nearing the end of his ministry Paul was able to say,
Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:26-27)
When he sat under Gamaliel and studied Torah he would surely have know the importance of the parapet on a flat roof. With that principle of protection growing by the Spirit in his heart he also knew the depth of responsibility to fulfil his ministry. The word of God became a protection to those who received it – in this life and for the future life to come. This is responsibility for the blood (life) of others as much as a parapet on a roof.
Our Ministry Too
All of us who are given a portion of ministry in the world and church have this same responsibility, to bring protection to others afforded by the proclamation of the word of God, as God himself directs.
Oxen and parapets are just two example from the 'miscellaneous laws' of our Torah portion this week. Let's take time over the entire portion this week and see what other spiritual truths the Lord plants and waters in our hearts.
Author: Dr Clifford Denton
1It is important to distinguish between Spirit-led care for others and the wrongly motivated hyper-consciousness of health and safety so rife today. The latter may be motivated by exactly the opposite of love for one's neighbour (e.g. concern to protect oneself from legal battles caused by an accusation of some form of negligence, itself often motivated by greed by someone pursuing an exaggerated claim for compensation).