#48 SHOFTIM DEUTERONOMY 16:18-21:9

 

Shoftim means, "judges." This portion occurs in the Jewish month of Elul, just before the High Holy Days, the Fall feasts of God. It is a suitable time to think about doing better in life by following God and keeping God’s commandments. The Jews have a prayer book for this time of year. It would be good to do something in preparation for Yom Kippur (the day of forgiveness of sins – the Day of Atonement). According to the Jewish writings, Moshe came down the mountain with the second set of tablets on Yom Kippur. He went up the mountain several times, but only two times to bring down the tablets of God’s commands with him. The first time Moshe came down with the tablets, some in Israel were committing idolatry and he threw the tablets down. The second time, the people were not sinning.

 

People can be stubborn, but in the second case they repented. Many people get accustomed to the way they live. Those that say they follow the Torah often follow extra misapplied laws and do not follow the Torah the way they should. Christians do the same thing. They are accustomed to following the pagan practices passed down by the Roman Empire. Those that follow the extra misapplied man-made laws and those who follow the pagan practices for the most part do not want to change.

 

Yeshua said in Matthew 5:20 NKJV, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." What did the Pharisees do in Yeshua’s time? They kept these extra misapplied laws religiously instead of focusing on the Torah. The same is true about Christianity. Many do not follow the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus), but instead the teachings of their denomination. What are we supposed to do? Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NKJV says, "What does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good."

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