Please follow and like us:

Ki-Teitzei

When you go out
“Love Thy Neighbor”

Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19
Isaiah 54:1-10 (or finish at 52:13)

excerpted from TorahScope, Volume II

Ki-Teitzei is traditionally considered during the month of Elul, as one is preparing his or her heart for the Fall high holidays. It is during this forty-day season of repentance or teshuvah, which lasts from 01 Elul through the Ten Days of Awe (01-09 Tishri) preceding Yom Kippur (10 Tishri), that many of our Jewish brethren turn, or in some cases return, to the God of Israel, and review their personal relationship with Him. For a Messianic community which studies the Torah portions on a weekly basis, this is a good example to follow. In some respects, this forty-day period is almost like an annual inspection of one’s soul, to determine where a person stands in his or her relationship not only with the Almighty, but with one’s fellow human beings.

The Book of Deuteronomy is an important review of the Torah—and a great tool for instruction—as hearts are being prepared for not only the Day of Atonement, but also the season of joy which envelops the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot. While Believers in Yeshua do not necessarily approach the Fall high holidays in the same way as non-believing Jewish people, the fact remains that meditating upon God’s Word is of great personal benefit. The Psalms are replete with statements to this regard:

“but his delight is in the LORD’s law. On his Torah he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:2, WMB).
“I will meditate on your precepts, and consider your ways” (Psalm 119:15, WMB).
“I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes” (Psalm 119:48, WMB).

Last week in Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9), the text dealt with the theme of justice in national civil matters, as instruction for judges, kings, priests, and prophets was described. This week, Ki-Teitzei deals primarily with matters which pertain to individuals, their families, and their neighbors on a more personal level.

As you read through these chapters of Deuteronomy in Ki-Teitzei (Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19), you are confronted with a wide array of instructions, including but not limited to: family laws,[1] laws of kindness,[2] laws about the holiness of the camp,[3] how to handle fugitive slaves,[4] laws prohibiting prostitution,[5] interest on money lent,[6] vows,[7] gleaning in neighbors’ fields,[8] divorce,[9] pledges,[10] treatment of workers,[11] individual responsibility,[12] avoiding injustice to the stranger,[13] instructions relating to orphans and widows,[14] judgments short of capital punishment,[15] kindness to animals,[16] the laws of levirate marriage (for a deceased brother),[17] flagrant immodesty,[18] honest weights and measures,[19] and finally remembering Amalek.[20]

This is a wide breadth of topics to consider. I would encourage you to take the time to read and consider these passages, because these commandments have helped to inform and guide many of the civil codes and social structures founded in the Judeo-Christian world. While there is a diversity of instructions witnessed in Ki-Teitzei, the overall theme we witness focuses on how one should handle affairs between people from all walks of life, namely, one’s family and neighbors. Where the emphasis appears on how to love God, these commandments give us a clearer understanding about how we are to love our neighbors.

Consider the question of the lawyer or Torah teacher to Yeshua, asking for His opinion about the greatest commandment:

“One of them, a Torah scholar, asked him a question, testing him. ‘Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ Yeshua said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” [Deuteronomy 6:5]. This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]. The whole Torah and the Prophets depend on these two commandments’” (Matthew 22:35-40, WMB).

Here, the greatest commandments detail how we are to love God unconditionally, and then we are to love our neighbors unconditionally. Yeshua responded to the lawyer by first quoting from the Shema:

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5, WMB).

Yeshua then amplified His answer by stating that the second commandment was the application of the first. As one begins to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, and might, it will manifest itself tangibly by evidence of loving one’s neighbor. If you turn to where loving one’s neighbor is first detailed in Leviticus 19:9-20, you will notice that many of the actions which are described in this passage are also a part of this week’s Torah portion. Just listen to how some of this week’s themes come forth in Leviticus 19:9-20:

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am the LORD your God. You shall not steal. You shall not lie. You shall not deceive one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of your God. I am the LORD. You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD. You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people. You shall not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. You shall keep my statutes. You shall not cross-breed different kinds of animals. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; don’t wear a garment made of two kinds of material. If a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave girl, pledged to be married to another man, and not ransomed or given her freedom; they shall be punished. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free” (Leviticus 19:9-20, WMB).

Do you hear some of these same themes further articulated in Ki-Teitzei? Proper gleaning of crops, payment of wages, how to sow crops, and dealings with virgins and others, are just a few of the topics considered in this passage from Leviticus. Ultimately, the overwhelming theme of Leviticus ch. 19 is the concept of loving your neighbor as yourself. By demonstrating fairness and love when dealing with your neighbor—or even your enemy—on a wide variety of personal issues, you demonstrate obedience to this commandment. Consider how this week’s Torah reading lists some commandments with how to help one’s neighbor with a lost animal:

“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother. If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother comes looking for it, and you shall restore it to him. So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost and you have found. You may not hide yourself. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again” (Deuteronomy 22:1-4, WMB).

Putting others’ needs before your own, is definitely an indication that one loves his or her neighbor.

Another example comes from the concept of equal weights and measures. The essence of honesty is expressed as God extends a reward for equality, but regards inequality as an abomination:

“You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you. For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 25:13-16, WMB).

Consider this: Do you truly love your neighbor if you have unequal weights and measures? Yeshua’s saying, commonly called “the Golden Rule,” essentially summarized the command to love one’s neighbor. The concept of doing to others as you would have them do to you, is a major theme of Yeshua’s teaching in His Sermon on the Mount:

“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged. For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye. Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Therefore, whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the Torah and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:1-12, WMB).

Here in this passage, Yeshua brought great understanding to His listeners about some of the critical components of loving one’s neighbor. The parallel account in Luke’s Gospel offers some different dimensions of what it means to love one’s neighbor, which must be considered:

“But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also. Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again. As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful” (Luke 6:27-36, WMB).

Earlier, I discussed how meditating upon the Torah is beneficial to the soul. But what about meditating upon the words of Yeshua—the Word of God made flesh? After all, many times throughout Gospels, Yeshua helped clarify what was meant by what Moses originally directed in the Torah. The question asked of the Lord in Matthew 22:35-40 cited earlier, where Yeshua made His declarations about the greatest commandments, was preceded by another question about one of the passages from this week’s Torah portion. Here, the Sadducees questioned Yeshua about remarriage in light of Deuteronomy 25:5:

“If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, and take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. It shall be that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel. If the man doesn’t want to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’ Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him. If he stands and says, ‘I don’t want to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his sandal from off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall answer and say, ‘So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ His name shall be called in Israel, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed’” (Deuteronomy 25:5-10, WMB).

This is how Yeshua dealt with them asking about this:

“On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him, saying, ‘Rabbi, Moses said, “If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother” [Deuteronomy 25:5]. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh. After them all, the woman died. In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.’ But Yeshua answered them, ‘You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” [Exodus 3:6, 15, 16]? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.’ When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. One of them, a Torah scholar, asked him a question, testing him. ‘Rabbi, which is the greatest commandment in the law?’ Yeshua said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” [Deuteronomy 6:5]. This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” [Leviticus 19:18]. The whole Torah and the Prophets depend on these two commandments’” (Matthew 22:23-40, WMB).

The Sadducees, who denied anything supernatural such as the resurrection (Acts 23:8), asked the Lord about a hypothetical case where a widow ended up marrying seven brothers. They were actually trying to trick Yeshua into saying something which would discredit Him. The Sadducees’ shock came when Yeshua admonished His questioners with the succinct statement that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (WMB). This profound statement was meant to shock the Sadducees into reconsidering their perverse thinking, as the Patriarchs were still to be considered as “living,” presumably in some kind of disembodied temporary state until the resurrection.

Yeshua taught that what mattered the most was evidenced in one’s heart attitude toward God and toward one another. It is critical that such love is evidenced by us. If one is unable to demonstrate love toward a human being who can be seen—then how can we truly love a God whom we cannot see? This is why I would like to close with some thoughts on love from the Apostle Paul. Here in 1 Corinthians 13, sometimes regarded to be the famous “love chapter,” Paul described the essence of agapē love. Each of us needs to consider whether our love for our neighbor is evidenced by this type of love:

“If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known. But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13, WMB).

If we cannot say that we love our neighbor by these standards, is it possible that we cannot love others as we would have them love us? This is something for each of us to think about as we evaluate our relationship with God in this season of repentance. I pray that we would be continually conformed to the loving image of His Son, who not only loved His neighbors—but died for everyone so we all could live!