Shoftim (Judges) Deut. 16:18-21:9 HafTorah: Isaiah 51:12-52:12

This Torah portion is always read on the first Shabbat of the Hebrew month of Elul. This year, this month of Elul began on Tuesday evening. It is a time of reflection, soul searching and repentance leading up to the High Holy Days.  These days of repentance should give all of us the push to look back over our life and deal with those sins that have been forgotten or just swept under the rug. It is a time to be completely honest with ourselves and with G-d. It is a time to set our spiritual house in order. I would urge you to spend time during these days to ask the Heavenly Father to shed His light on anything that needs to be dealt with.

1.What guidelines did the Torah set out for any future king of Israel? What would be the result if these guidelines were followed? Did any of Israel’s kings fail to follow these guidelines?

Also in I Samuel 8:5-7 we read where Israel went to Samuel and demanded he pick a king to set over them to judge them like all the other nations. Samuel was upset by this request and prayed to G-d about it. What caused this reaction since here in our portion today we read where G-d gave His permission based on the guidelines we have read? 

In D’Varim/Deut. 17:14-20 we read the steps a king of Israel must follow. 1. He shall not have many horses. In other words his faith must be in G-d, not in his military might. Psalms 20:7, “Some trust in chariots some in horses but we trust in the name of the L-rd our G-d.” 

2. He shall not have many wives. The number of wives a person had could reflect on his perceived importance. It also was used to make women seem more like a possession and not as a partner in the marriage. Sometimes kings would take wives from other nations and signed alliances with that nation.  This would be a avenue of bringing false gods into Israel.

3. He shall also not amass a fortune (silver). It is more difficult for someone to keep their balance when they have great riches. It is also easy to become arrogant and self-absorbed. 

4. The king must be Jewish and not a foreigner. 

5. He must also write his own Torah scroll and read it every day so he would not forget G-d’s word. He shall learn to fear G-d. 

In D’Varim/Deut. 17:19-20 we read the result of following these steps.  “That his heart be not lifted up above his brothers.” So these verses are saying, if the king follows these steps the results will be that he will not succumb to the thought that he is higher than his brothers. In other words, he will maintain a humble spirit rather than see himself better than his subjects. When we as believers look at Yeshua’s life we can see how He completely fulfilled these qualifications as King of Israel and King of the Jews. It is interesting that the Romans used that title when Yeshua was crucified. 

When we look throughout history it is easy to see that pride and vanity were the common traits of many or maybe all earthly kings. To be seen as humble never entered into the picture. In fact, it was looked at as a weakness. The commandment that a king must be humble ran contrary to all other thoughts on who a king was to be. 

So what made this such a revolutionary concept? It meant that kings and all of us must begin to see ourselves as not being the center of the universe. It is the belief that there is a G-d in whose presence we stand and He, not us, is the center of the universe. 

Avraham said in Genesis 18:27, “behold I am but dust and ashes.” He uttered these words just before he went to G-d to plead for the citizens of Sodom and the cities of the plains. Avraham was in no way hampered or felt useless, but he did recognize that G-d was the final word. 

Now, what caused Samuels reaction? G-d told Samuel to listen to the people for they had rejected Him not Samuel. The problem arose when the people said that this king would judge them like all the other nations. I think we can learn an important lesson in these verses. Who is our king? To whom do we bow down in our own life? Sometime we begin to think that we can handle all of the temptations of our world today. We read, watch, participate in things that we are confident will not really affect us in our spiritual life.

2.What are the attributes of a person who is humble? Where in our Torah portion is a humble person described?

Deut. 17:20 says, “That his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”

Now humbleness is not thinking you are dirt. There is a fundamental difference in the two Hebrew words, Anivut – humility and shiflut which means the feeling of having no worth. Humility is not low self-regard. That is shiflut. 

Humility means you are secure enough to not need to be constantly reassured by others. You don’t need to prove yourself by showing you are more clever, smarter, more gifted or successful than others.  You are secure because you know you are loved by G-d. Your goal is to follow His will not compare yourself to others. 

You understand that “it’s not all about me.” A narcissistic person is the opposite of a humble person. Narcissism and loss of faith go together. If we lose faith in G-d what is left at the center of everything – ME.

Our world today is filled with people trying to fit in, to be accepted, to be part of a group, to be praised. Things like Facebook profiles, selfies and other forms of trying to stand out have left many people feeling insecure and having low self-esteem.

G-d has a better way. He loves us and has a plan for our lives. That is what should be our concern. Pride is concerned with who is right, who is better. Humility is concerned with what is right. My prayer for us all is that our faith remain strong, that our days are spent doing His Will.

3. In Deut. 18:15 we read, “The L-rd your G-d will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.”  Who do you think this mysterious prophet is and why?

We need to look also at Deut. 34:9-10 where we see the same promise of a prophet to come whom the L-rd knew face to face. So who is this person, this prophet?

Some say they were talking about Joshua. Some say it was not a single person but a succession of prophets. However, when we look at this closely we can see a few qualifications that fit only one person. This person would need to be a prophet who heard directly from G-d like Moshe did. He would need to fill the role of Redeemer of Israel as Moshe was. He would need to be a man of unsurpassed humility like Moshe was. So who have we heard of, who have we known that fits all of these roles? This prophet was faithful to His calling as Moshe was faithful to his. The early apostles understood that this prophecy of a prophet like Moshe was referring directly to Yeshua.

We read these words in Hebrews 3:1-3, “Therefore holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Yeshua, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all his house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.”

4.Lastly, let’s look at the eye for an eye commandment in D’Varim/Deut. 19:21 and compare it to Matthew 5:38-40. How can we reconcile these two scriptures? Does the Messianic verses cancel out the Torah commandment?

To get a clear picture here we must determine if they both are talking about the same subject. In our verse from the Torah what was the subject? The Torah here is speaking of a crime and what was the appropriate punishment. What is revolutionary here is that limits were set on punishment. If there had been a crime and someone lost a tooth or an eye from an assault the punishment was limited to an equivalent sentence. The assailant could not be put to death. His punishment had to be limited to fit the crime.

Now, when we come to the Messianic scriptures what is Yeshua saying?  Some have used these verses to support pacifism—the belief that any violence, including war, is unjustifiable. This has led some believers to not join the military, serve as policemen, work in government, or even practice self-defense. He is not talking about a crime but rather about our responsibility to love our neighbor and our enemies. He is not saying we should not defend ourselves but to react out of G-d’s love.

Yeshua was forbidding personal retaliation.  He was dealing with how we respond when evil is committed against us personally.