FAMILY
PARENTS
- Ex.20:12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which YHWH your Elohim is giving you.
Prov.28:24 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, This is no sin – he is in the same class as lawless robber and a destroyer.
Eph.6:1 Children, obey your parents as His representatives, for this is just and right. “Honor your father and mother”, which is the first commandment with promise: “That it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
Col.3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to YHWH.
1Tim.5:8 Moreover, anyone who does not provide for his own people, especially for his family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Mtt.15:5 But you say, “If anyone says to his father or mother, ‘I have promised to give to YHWH what I might have used to help you,’ then he is rid of his duty to honor his father or mother.” Thus by your tradition you make null and void the word of YHWH!
- Lev.20:9 A person who curses his father or mother must be put to death. Having cursed his father or his mother, his blood is on him.
- Lev.19:3 You shall fear every man his mother, and his father.
Prov.1:8 Hear, my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother. For they shall be a chaplet of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Prov.23:22 Listen to your father, who gave you life; and don’t despise your mother when she gets old.
- Ex.21:15 Whoever attacks (strikes) his father or mother must be put to death.
Mtt.15:4 For YHWH commanded, saying, “Honor your father and your mother”; and, “He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.”
FAMILY COVENANT
- Gen.1:28 YHWH blessed them: YHWH said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth.” Gen.9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply. Swarm in the earth, and multiply therein.
- Gen.2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.
RESPONSIBILITY OF A MAN IN FRONT OF AN UNENGAGED OR AN ENGAGED LADY
- Ex.22:16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. But if her father refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the money for her dowry.
This verse is talking about people who experience mutual attraction. To pay a ransom and marry a girl and take her under his financial responsibility is the price any man has to pay for seducing a girl. Due to the sin of the sexual relationship outside of wedlock, a man has no right to leave a woman with whom he has already become one flesh. The girl has to understand that after she entered into a sexual relationship with a man, she is left with only one sensible and right choice in the eyes of YHWH : to become his wife since she already belongs to her one and only man who left a ‘genetic mark’ on her (phenomenon Telegonia).
- Deut.22:25 If a man finds a betrothed young woman in the field, and the man forces her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman. There is in the young woman no sin deserving of death, for just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the field, and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
- Deut.22:28 If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, that is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found. Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he hath humbled her. He may not put her away* all his days (he will never be allowed to divorce her).
* ‘not put her away’ or ‘will never be allowed to divorce her’ – is a guarantee that the girl will not be alone and dishonoured.
This verse is not talking about a marriage between a girl and her rapist. Raping a girl will not lead a man to marry her. The emphasis in this commandment is on the responsibility of a man for his action. This commandment protects a girl by giving her an official right to marry him on her. The key phrase here is ‘they be found’. This phrase implies that a sexual act happened on a basis of a mutual consent since a girl was not screaming for help and there is no evidence of a rape (in comparison to Deut.22:25 or commandment №8 in this chapter).
BRINGING UP CHILDREN
- Deut.6:6 And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be first in your own minds and hearts. You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. Deut.11:19 And you shall teach them (words of YHWH) to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up. Gen.18:19 For I have chosen him (Avraham), so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of YHWH and to do what is just and righteous, so that YHWH may bring Abraham what He has promised him.
Prov.4:1 My children, listen to me. Listen to your father’s instruction. Pay attention and grow wise, for I am giving you good guidance. Don’t turn away from my teaching. For I, too, was once my father’s son, tenderly loved by my mother as an only child. My father told me, “Take my words to heart. Follow my instructions and keep my commands, and live.”
Prov.13:24 He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly (early).
Prov.19:18 Discipline (chasten) your children while there is hope. If you don’t, you will ruin their lives.
Prov.23:13 Don’t fail to correct your children (youngsters). They won’t die if you spank them. Physical discipline may well save them from death.
Prov.22:15 A youngster’s heart is filled with foolishness, but discipline will drive it away.
Prov.23:14 You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell.
Prov.29:15 The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
Prov.29:17 Discipline (chasten) your son, and he will give you rest. Yes, he will be your delight.
Ps.71:17 O Elohim, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I have constantly told others about the wonderful things you do.
Eph.6:4 And parents, do not provoke your children to wrath but train them up in the discipline and instruction (Torah) approved by our Master.
Hebr.12:6 For YHWH disciplines those He loves, and He punishes those He accepts as His children. As you endure this divine discipline, remember that YHWH is treating you as His own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined? If YHWH doesn’t discipline you as He does all of His children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really His children after all.
- Deut.21:18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
It is very unlikely that parents would condemn their children to be given a death sentence. However, this commandment shows that children need to have a fear of YHWH, since even their parents have the choice to use this as a last resort: to bring them to the elders of the city for judgment which could result in the death sentence. This commandment protects the parents from the unbearable behaviour of their children. According to the Fifth commandment: ‘Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land YHWH your Elohim gives you’ (Ex.20:12).
- Deut.6:20 Some day your child will ask you, “What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which YHWH our Elohim has laid down for you?” Then you will tell your child, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and YHWH brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. YHWH worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes. He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us. YHWH ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear YHWH our Elohim, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today. For we are righteous when we obey all the commands YHWH our Elohim has given us.”
- Ex.12:24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which YHWH will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service (Passover feast/Pesach). And it shall be, when your children say to you, “What do you mean by this service?” that you shall say, “It is the Passover sacrifice of YHWH, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.”
DIVORCE BILL
- Deut.24:1 If a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her (about her that is shameful), and he writes her a letter of divorce (divorce bill), puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, and when she departs out of his house she goes and marries another man, and if the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a letter of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies, who took her as his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled. For that is an abomination before YHWH.
Mtt.1:19 Yosef her fiance, being a just man and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly.
Mtt.5:32 And I tell you, whoever dismisses and repudiates and divorces his wife, except on the grounds of unfaithfulness (sexual immorality), causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorcee (on a wife that he has already divorced once) commits adultery.
Torah says that IF (the commandment begins with the word ‘if’) there is a problem which makes it impossible for two spouses to live together then in order to prevent a bad ending YHWH gives an instruction to write a letter of divorce. ‘A letter of divorce’ gives both the man and the woman an official right to start building their personal lives all over again. However, no one should use this right as a reason to get a divorce intentionally just in order to marry someone else (refer to chapter VIII, section on Adultery where Yeshua talks specifically about this: Luk.16:18, Mk.10:11).
It is important to note that in a ‘letter of divorce’ a man’s decision and his unwillingness to live with his spouse is very serious and it is irreversible (since after divorcing him his wife will not be able to return to him). What follows this is that according to the Torah marrying the same wife for the second time is an abomination before YHWH. ‘Letter of divorce’ is not YHWH’s plan for humanity! To be one flesh with a person is YHWH’s main commandment (Gen.2:24)! To get a letter of divorce in Israel’s family was the last measure in solving family problems. Since people were very serious about the covenant of marriage in those times, in a case when marriage was turning out to be not very successful it was more common to use the terms ‘beloved’ and ‘unloved’ wife as a solution to the problem. An example was Jacob’s (the forefather of 12 tribes) wives Leah and Rachel: Gen.29:31 or the section of this chapter about Inheritance (Deut.21:15). The commandment about the letter of divorce does not support or approve of the man’s desire to divorce his wife for a reason that would only be pleasing to him. A serious reason for the letter of divorce was in a case when a woman has committed adultery (‘to found some indecency in her (about her that is shameful’). This is what Joseph wanted to do after he found out that Mariam was pregnant (Mtt.1:19).
Yeshua also confirmed this in the Sermon on the Mount (Mtt.5:32) by saying that ‘whoever marries a divorcee, commits adultery’ implying that marriage to a woman whom a man had already divorced once and not implying a marriage on a different divorced woman since this was not considered as breaking the commandment of Torah. Therefore, even though this is acceptable in the eyes of YHWH, however it is not His primordial plan, as it says above.
Similarly, this commandment conveys a direct relationship to the House of Israel. Quiet often in the scripture YHWH Elohim and Israel are portrayed as a husband and a wife, respectively. According to the scripture and Elohim’s commandment, YHWH gave Israel a letter of separation (Jeremiah 3:8), which completely and irreversibly demolishes any relationships between them. However, there is a possible condition that is not known by many, which enables them to be reunited again through the death and resurrection of the husband in his restored and renowned body. This is what apostle Paul (Shaul) signified when he was referring to the letter of separation to those familiar with the law: Rom.7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the Law!), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.
Thereby, one is claimed adulterous if she divorces her living husband and marries another man. Whereas if her husband dies, she is liberated from the law and is allowed to remarry again. The impossible became possible: through the death and resurrection of Yeshua, the House of Israel that was scattered and evolved into gentiles, has been granted a forgiveness and was given a chance to come back into the family of the Almighty! Consequently, the letter of separation was abolished and all the accusations toward the adulteress were dropped. The apostle Paul (Shaul) meant that a wife was free from the condemnation of the law which would call her an adulteress (and NOT from the Torah itself as some theologians argue nowadays).
CHEATING, LIES AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS
- Deut.22:13 If any man takes a wife and goes in to her, and then scorns her and charges her with shameful things and gives her an evil reputation, and says, I took this woman, but when I came to her, I did not find in her the tokens of a virgin, then the father of the young woman, and her mother, shall get and bring out the tokens of her virginity to the elders of the city at the gate. And her father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he hates and spurns her. And behold, he has made shameful charges against her, saying, I found not in your daughter the evidences of her virginity. And yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city, and the elders of that city shall take the man and rebuke and whip him. And they shall fine him 100 shekels of silver and give them to the father of the young woman, because he has brought an evil name upon a virgin of Israel. And she shall be his wife. She will remain his wife, and he is forbidden from divorcing her as long as he lives. But if it is true that the evidences of virginity were not found in the young woman, then they shall bring her to the door of her father’s house and the men of her city shall stone her* to death, because she has wrought criminal folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
* ‘stone her to death’ – this verse is not saying that if for some reason a man does not find his wife to be a virgin on the first night then this woman must be put to death. This verse refers to a serious lie and a violation of the faithfulness vow, which the groom did not know about until he came into be with his bride. Even if the girl lost her virginity before the wedding for some reason but she admitted it and repented of it, she was not put to death since every person had a chance, and has a chance, to repent and change. Capital punishment was a last resort in relation to a rebellious and impudent behaviour of a person who lost all reverence of YHWH. The commandment ends with the words ‘you shall put away evil from among you’. In this case, a woman could have been put to death only if there were witnesses of her adultery and if it actually took place.
MARRYING A PAGAN WOMAN
- Deut.7:3 Nor shall you make marriages with them (the Hittites/Hitti and the Girgashites/Girgashi and the Amorites/Emori and the Canaanites/Kena’ani and the Perizzites/P’rizi and the Hivites/Hivi and the Jebusites/Y’vusi, seven nations greater and mightier than you). You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn away your sons from following Me, that they may serve other gods. So will the anger of YHWH be kindled against you and He will destroy you quickly.
2Cor.6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith). For what partnership have right living and right standing with YHWH with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness? What harmony can there be between the Messiah and B’liya’al (Belial)? Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?
- Deut.21:10 When you go forth to battle against your enemies and YHWH your Elohim has given them into your hands and you carry them away captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and desire her, that you may have her as your wife, then you shall bring her home to your house, and she shall shave her head and pare her nails (in purification from heathenism) and change all her clothes, and shall remain in your house and bewail her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband and she shall be your wife. And if you have no delight in her (prior to coming in to her), then you must let her go free.
This commandment is directed towards an unlawful relationship with the woman who was taken captive. ‘Let her go’ applies only to a case when a man hasn’t gone in to be with her yet. It is permitted to lawfully marry any woman except for those who belonged to one of these seven nations: Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites и Jebusites (Deut.7:1). This could happen only if the woman herself wanted to marry, if she was surrounded by love and care. This is why a month was given for her to familiarize herself with the new society and to get convinced that it was a more just society than the pagan one where she came from.
The emphasis of this commandment is on the following: first, on the men’s sensitivity towards the woman who lost her parents; this is why the Fifth commandment was the first thing that a woman learned about, regarding the house of her future husband; second, an instruction regarding how her appearance needed to change (her hair and fingernails) and how to turn away from idolatry and become a member of YHWH’s society.
RESTORING BROTHER’S SEED
- Deut.25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, his widow is not to marry someone unrelated to him. 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. And the firstborn son shall succeed to the name of the dead brother, that his name may not be blotted out of Israel. And if the man does not want to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to continue his brother’s name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of my husband’s brother.” Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him (try to reason with him and confront him). And if he stands firm and says, “I do not want to take her,” then shall his brother’s wife come to him in the presence of the elders and pull his shoe off his foot and spit in his face and shall answer, so shall it be done to that man who does not build up his brother’s house. And his family shall be called in Israel “The House of him whose shoe was loosed.”
This verse describes a situation in which a woman’s desire for her husband’s name to be continued in Israel. Since her husband’s brother would have a similar genetic make up, marrying her husband’s brother would be the only way for her husband’s name to be continued. This is why this verse does not talk about forcing one to marry his brother’s wife but about preserving a man’s kin.
It is interesting to note that Boaz was Judah’s descendant and Judah’s son Onan was the one who refused to restore his brother’s seed through Famar (foreigner): Gen.38:8 And Judah said to Onan, ‘Go in to your brother’s wife and marry her, and raise up an heir to your brother.’ This way, through Boaz’s obedience YHWH reversed that which Onan (Boaz’s forefather) did: Boaz redeemed Ruth and restored the seed of her husband (his brother) through which later King David was born and also Joseph, Mariam’s husband. It is interesting to note that coercion to marriage is not allowed; however, the woman has a right to shame him who refused to restore her husband’s seed.
INHERITANCE
- Num.27:8 If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest him in his family, and he shall possess it.
- Deut.21:15 If a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other unloved, and both the beloved and unloved wives have borne him children, and if the firstborn son is the child of the unloved wife. Then, when it comes time for him to pass his inheritance on to his sons, he may not give the inheritance due the firstborn to the son of the beloved wife in place of the son of the unloved one, who is in fact the firstborn. But he must acknowledge as firstborn the son of the unloved wife by giving him a double portion of everything he owns, for he is the firstfruits of his manhood (he is the beginning of his strength), and the right of the firstborn is his.
This commandment is not about the popularity of polygamy but about the rightful heir in a case when two sons aspire to inheritance. It is interesting to note that this commandment served to protect the nation from war which could have arisen from quarrels about inheriting the throne. This proves how important the Law (Torah) is for the society even though many people consider it “ancient” and “not applicable”.
MAN’S AUTHORITY
- Num.30:3 If a young woman makes a vow to YHWH or a pledge under oath (binds herself by some agreement) while she is still living at her father’s home, and her father hears of the vow or pledge but says nothing (holds his peace), then all her vows and pledges will stand. But if her father refuses to let her fulfill the vow or pledge on the day he hears of it, then all her vows and pledges will become invalid. YHWH will release her because her father would not let her fulfill them. If she marries after she makes a vow or has made some rash promise or pledge, and her husband hears of it but says nothing to her, then she has to make good on whatever she vowed or pledged. (If her husband learns of her vow or pledge and raises no objections on the day he hears of it, her vows and pledges will stand). But if her husband refuses to accept her vow or impulsive pledge on the day he hears of it, he nullifies her commitments, and YHWH will release her.
- Num.30:11 And if a woman vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath and her husband heard it and does nothing to stop her or prohibit her (holds his peace), then all her vows and every pledge with which she bound herself shall stand. But if her husband refuses to accept it on the day he hears of it, her vow or pledge will be nullified, and YHWH will release her.
1Cor.14:34 Let the wives remain silent when the congregation meets. They are certainly not permitted to speak out but should take a secondary place. Let them remain submissive and subordinate, as also the Torah says.
These commandments do not humiliate or restrict the rights of women, but rather give them the support and spiritual protection from their fathers or husbands. Husbands need to take care of their wives and to take a solution to their problems on themselves, because the Torah teaches so.
- Num.30:10 If, however, a woman is a widow or is divorced, she must fulfill all her vows and pledges no matter what.
- Num.30:14 So her husband may either confirm or nullify any vows or pledges she makes to deny herself. He establishes them because he said nothing (doesn’t speak up day after day) to restrain her on the day he heard of them. But if he shall nullify them after he hears of them, then he shall be responsible for and bear her iniquity.
1Cor.11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is the Messiah, and the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of the Messiah is YHWH.
1Cor.11:5 But a woman dishonors her husband if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head (in a way that shows a lack of respect for the authority of her husband).
Spiritual covering on the woman’s head: the Torah shows a man’s spiritual role in the family very clearly. Man is the head of the family and he is responsible for the final decisions and for what he said – established or declined. This is an eternal principle. Does a wife have an ability to hear YHWH’s voice? Of course she has, but her husband has the spiritual authority to decline or confirm that which the woman heard from YHWH, thereby taking the responsibility for what she heard onto himself. The woman’s responsibility is whether she has obeyed her husband in a certain situation. The same principle applies to unmarried women where their father is the head of the family and has a right to confirm or reject any vows that his daughter made. This verse certainly does not refer to a husband or father who is a non-believer and who are manipulating a woman to turn away from her faith in YHWH or to push her towards sin. “If you want to be my follower you must love Me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple.” (Lk.14:26). In this verse Yeshua was referring to a choice to follow YHWH’s Word even if one’s family members are demanding something else in the name of “loving them”.
JEALOUSY OR SUSPICION
- Num.5:12 If any man’s wife goes astray and commits an offense of guilt against him, and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and it is kept secret though she is defiled, and there is no witness against her nor was she taken in the act, and if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife who has defiled herself – or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife though she has not defiled herself – then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; but he shall pour no oil upon it nor put frankincense on it (symbols of favor and joy), for it is a cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion, a memorial offering bringing iniquity to remembrance. And the priest shall bring her near and set her before YHWH. And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water. And the priest shall set the woman before YHWH, and let the hair of the woman’s head hang loose, and put the meal offering of remembrance in her hands, which is the jealousy and suspicion offering. And the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings the curse. Then the priest shall make her take an oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, then be free from any effect of this water of bitterness which brings the curse. But if you have gone astray and you are defiled, some man having lain with you beside your husband, then the priest shall make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman, YHWH make you a curse and an oath among your people when YHWH makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. May this water that brings the curse go into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away.” And the woman shall say, “So let it be, so let it be.” The priest shall then write these curses in a book and shall wash them off into the water of bitterness. And he shall cause the woman to drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her bitterly. Then the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy and suspicion out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the offering before YHWH and offer it upon the altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering as the memorial portion of it and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. And when he has made her drink the water, then if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, the curse water which she drank shall be bitterness and cause her body to swell and her thigh to fall away, and the woman shall be a curse among her people. But if the woman is not defiled and is clean, then she shall be free (from the curse) and be able to have children. This is the law of jealousy and suspicion when a wife goes aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled, or when the spirit of jealousy and suspicion comes upon a man and he is jealous and suspicious of his wife. Then shall he set the woman before YHWH, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. The husband shall be free from iniquity and guilt, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.
Mk.4:22 For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.
1Cor.11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Messiah’s body.
It’s very obvious that today we don’t need to bring any sacrifices. Yeshua ‘did once for all when He offered up Himself’ (Hebr.7:27) and ‘had offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down at the right hand of YHWH’ (Hebr.10:12). In this commandment YHWH shows us that the cost for a woman cheating on her husband is barrenness or a ‘curse among her people’. It is interesting to note and to draw a comparison with the book of Revelations where YHWH Elohim (Jealous One) gives a cup of bitter water to the harlot and then to the people: Rev.17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, ‘Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’ So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication: Rev.8:11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
BLESSING THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
- Num.6:23 This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel: May YHWH bless you and watch, guard and keep you. May YHWH make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you. May YHWH lift up His lift up His face toward you (carry His wholeness of being toward you) and give you peace (He will set in peace all you need to be whole and complete). And they shall put My Name* upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
* ‘name’ in Hebrew: שֵׁם (shem) also means ‘character’, ‘reputation’. This is why the phrase ‘shall put My Name upon the children of Israel’ literally means: ‘to put the character of Elohim’ upon them. All who obey the commandments (the Torah) of YHWH – reflect His character. An example of this is Yeshua.