Terumah: Heave offering — תרומה

Thoughts on Torah for Last Week:
 
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Exodus 21-24
In this portion, God begins to reveal the specific rules for His people that further define the Commandments set out in chapter 20.  This portion is titled “Judgments”, but God’s legal system is comprised of His covenant, law, commandments, statutes and judgments. Some of the rules that God reveals in the Torah appear on the surface to be alarming, but for a God who wants us to Love Our Neighbor as Ourselves, we need to do a better job of understanding what God is really saying.  

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Some people take these seemingly alarming rules in the Torah to demonize the law and persuade others to ignore it; and, count it as archaic and barbaric. But if we will do a better job of understanding God and ourselves, we will see that God knows what He is doing and we will see the wisdom, compassion and divinity in His Law.


God’s Legal System
As previously stated, God’s Legal system is comprised of His covenant, law, commandments, statutes and judgments.  This system of law is summarized in the following table:

God's Covenant ​Promises for Obeying the Law

V

Torah Body/Code of Law

V

Commandments ​Major Divisions of the Law

V

Commands/Statutes Specific Rules of Conduct

V

Judgements Legal Consequences for Violating the Law

Changing Our Paradigm
A paradigm is a set of beliefs about how we see the world.  When we see a statement in the Bible that seems unacceptable, we need to step away from what we think the surface meaning is  and see why a compassionate and wise God would say or require such a thing.  This process will help us to adjust our beliefs about how we see the Bible that is more in line with His intent.
 
Slavery
This portion starts off with one of those seemingly “alarming” topics - slavery.  However, slavery in the biblical sense was more like contractual servitude.  A person voluntarily became a servant in exchange for economic security, with some people, this is acceptable and maybe even be desirable. This was not forced bondage.  The law provided basic human rights for these contracted servants.   This video by 119 Ministries is a good analysis on the topic.

 
Moreover, we see statements like "When a man sells his daughter as a slave” people fly off the handle.  An important principle to remember is that free will was always apart of God’s law.  The daughter had the final say as to whether to accept or decline a proposal.  This video segment from Fiddler on the Roof is an example about how free will can mitigate where there seems to be an unreasonable demand of the law.

Hebrew Study

English	Hebrew	Transliteration	Strong's
Covenant	בְּרִית	brit	confederacy, confederate, covenant, league ​ From barah (in the sense of cutting (like bara')); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh) -- confederacy, (con-)feder(-ate), covenant, league.
Law	תוֹרָה	to-rah	bullock, ox ​ Or torah {to-raw'}; from yarah; a precept or statute, especially the Decalogue or Pentateuch -- law.
Commandments	מִצְו֤וֹת	mits-vot	which was commanded, law, ordinance, precept From tsavah; a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law) -- (which was) commanded(-ment), law, ordinance, precept.
Statutes	חֻקִּים֙	Chu-keem	appointed, bound, commandment, convenient, custom, decreed, due, law, From chaqaq; an enactment; hence, an appointment (of time, space, quantity, labor or usage) -- appointed, bound, commandment, convenient, custom, decree(-d), due, law, measure, X necessary, ordinance(- nary), portion, set time, statute, task.
Judgements	מִשְׁפָּטִים֮	mish-pa-teem	adversary, ceremony, charge, crime, custom, desert, determination, discretion, From shaphat; properly, a verdict (favorable or unfavorable) pronounced judicially, especially a sentence or formal decree (human or (participant's) divine law, individual or collective), including the act, the place, the suit, the crime, and the penalty; abstractly, justice, including a participant's right or privilege (statutory or customary), or even a style -- + adversary, ceremony, charge, X crime, custom, desert, determination, discretion, disposing, due, fashion, form, to be judged, judgment, just(-ice, -ly), (manner of) law(-ful), manner, measure, (due) order, ordinance, right, sentence, usest, X worthy, + wrong.

Isaiah Chapter 17
Disaster overtakes the people of Ephraim (America, UK) and their allies for forgetting Jehovah and loving idols.

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Resource Links for this Week's Portion

TORAH: Exodus 25:1-27:19
GOSPELS: Mark 12:35-44

Listen and Read the Portion
First Fruits of Zion

​​Commentary with Nehemia Gordon
​

HAFTARAH: Isaiah Chapter 18

Commentary with Avraham Gileadi, PhD