Torah Portion: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

Ki Tetse (‘When you go out’)

The publishers of some well-known English translations of our Bible have inserted a subheading before verse 22 of chapter 21 – Miscellaneous laws. The very idea that such subheadings can summarise what follows is an unfortunate mistake.

In this case, it might lead one to begin this section of Torah with the idea of reading quickly through what was important a long time ago but is now superficial and irrelevant in the light of the New Covenant. Nothing could be further from the truth!

These individual verses are doorways into profound heart-truths which can be understood through prayerful meditation that can take us criss-crossing through the scriptures.

Gender Roles

How appropriate for our day, for example, is the single verse beginning “A woman shall not wear anything pertaining to a man”, and ending, “all who do so are an abomination to the Lord” (Deut 22:5). Looking at this at surface level, one may try to imagine what clothes men and women wore in Moses' day and stop there: not only is this hard to do, but modern-day men and women seem quite at ease wearing similar types of clothing.

Yet, when one turns the pages of the Bible one finds, for example, that clothing is associated with calling and office – with the different responsibilities of men and women. One therefore has to look below the surface, to discover that this simple verse of Scripture opens out a heart principle that there are distinct roles for men and women in God's created order and it is an abomination to Him to tamper with this order.

One can follow this theme here and there through the scriptures and deepen an understanding. One could also pause to consider, more meaningfully than many people of our generation have done, the order of family declared by Paul in Ephesians 5 and 6. One verse is a doorway to profound truth.

On Oxen and Parapets

One of our favourite examples of this seeking after profound and still-relevant heart-truths from the Torah is an exposition of chapter 22 verse 8 in my book, The Covenant People of God.¹ We quote this in full from the section 'On Oxen and Parapets':

Another seemingly remote example (this time, however, not quoted in the New Testament) is Deuteronomy 22:8 - “When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.” Is this principle now to be taken literally, [is it] to be of no effect, or does it speak of a general principle? This is an excellent example of loving our neighbour and a perfect example for Middle Eastern houses with flat roofs, so that there are circumstances even today where it is what we should do quite literally.

However, through meditating on the principle, it speaks of care for safety in every area of our interaction with our neighbours. It challenges our heart as to whether we care for our neighbour, and hence challenges our maturity in our spiritual rebirth ie. our new covenant understanding. Parapets speak of fire extinguishers, first aid boxes, guards on our machinery, and careful safety precautions in all that we do. The Torah principle is a profound and perfect prompt to a general principle that can be applied in millions of circumstances…

Indeed, we can go further, from the practical to the spiritual. For example, we as parents should put scriptural principles into the lives of our children so that they have spiritual guard rails in their lives. This is the principle that Ezekiel was to bring to his nation as a watchman (Ezekiel 33) so that he would be free of bloodguilt. This is also what Paul meant when he declared himself to be free of bloodguilt because he had declared the whole counsel of God to the people (Acts 20:18-26). He set up a spiritual parapet for their protection, just as we should in our families and fellowships.

I would add one more point in light of our search for the Jewish roots of our faith, so that we do not despise too readily what was achieved through the Church. I can take my example from Britain, my own nation, but it applies to other countries where the Gospel message took root in the fabric of the nation, including the USA. For over a thousand years, from the time of King Alfred the Great, the laws of Britain have reflected the heart of Torah. Alfred the Great caused the Ten Commandments and other parts of the law of Moses to be written into our law books. This is why, for example, we developed a consciousness for health and safety in our industries. The heart of the teaching about parapets has been applied in our nations albeit that we have forgotten when and how.

Now, as we seek to recover and make more explicit what Torah is in our churches, we must not forget our heritage…we can recognise that there has been a Torah impact to our nations, and hence a hope for recovery in these days of growing Torahlessness. Furthermore, we must be among those who add depth to the lives of believers and not be those who lead them to a new form of superficiality.

Scripture-Searching

Why not, this week, look at one of these basic Torah principles yourself, and trace the theme as it weaves its way deeper and deeper into a profound heart-principle through the entire Bible? This is how the Old Covenant forms a foundation for the New Covenant. For some this could be a new beginning of understanding how the entire Scripture is bound together in unity of purpose.

References

1 Originally published in 2001 by Tishrei International, in partnership with Prophetic Word Ministries. Available in full as a PDF from the Tishrei website.