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Parashah 49: Ki Teitzei (When you go out)

Parashah 49: Ki Tetze - Deuteronomy 21:10 through 25:19.


Haftarah (Writings and Prophets): Isaiah 52:13 - 54:10.
B'rit Hadasha (New Testament): Matthew 5:31-32, 19:3-12, 22:23-32;
Mark 10:2-12, 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; 1 Corinthians 9:4-18; Galatians 3:9-
14; 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

Summary & Overview


TORAH
o Deuteronomy 21:10 | Female Captives
o Deuteronomy 21:15 | The Right of the Firstborn
o Deuteronomy 21:18 | Rebellious Children
o Deuteronomy 21:22 | Miscellaneous Laws
o Deuteronomy 22:13 | Laws concerning Sexual Relations
o Deuteronomy 23:1 | Those Excluded from the Assembly
o Deuteronomy 23:9 | Sanitary, Ritual, and Humanitarian Precepts
o Deuteronomy 24:1 | Laws concerning Marriage and Divorce
o Deuteronomy 24:5 | Miscellaneous Laws
o Deuteronomy 25:5 | Levirate Marriage
o Deuteronomy 25:11 | Various Commands

Last week we discussed the need for Overseers and Judges who make up the
Body of Messiah during a similar time as the time in the Book of Judges. We
looked at the first four Judges, their position on the greater timeline and what
their main tasks will be. We looked at different Judges, particularly those
representing leaders who need to govern us living in the Age of the Gentiles,
which started after the First Coming of Messiah, and continues to this day. Then
we looked at the Judges who will govern us during the time of the Great
Tribulation, such as Gideon whose main task was to manage issues among
family members, in other words, relationships.

In this Torah Portion we will study the issues, dynamics, guidelines and
Commandments regarding different relationships.

Covenant Relationships
This Parashah is in the context of going to war.
Ki Tetzeh appears to be just a list of random
instructions leaping very quickly from one topic
to the next, with no real logical sequence. One
detail, however, jumps out when you consider
the Parashah in its entirety. Ki Tetzeh is about
relationships between men and women,
parents and children, employers and
employees, lenders and borrowers, and even
between humans and animals. The context of
war is relating to the war that is raging against these relationships mentioned
here and how the enemy wants to destroy YHVHs people by destroying their
relationships. The overall contents of this Torah Portion consist of 4 1/2 Chapters,
covering 31 topics and contains 74 Commandments (out of 613),
more Commandments than any other Torah Portion.

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Relationship between Husband and Wife
The fact that there are so many Commandments
within the theme of relationships implies that all
these commandments exist to help humanity to
have the right kind of relationship with each
other, between different kinds of people and the
roles they fill. Relationships become more
complex when they become more intimate,
especially between two people from the opposite
sex. This is because a man and woman are
created with differences that complement each
other. When they enter into a relationship, they
could be said to make up a whole soul, as they become one flesh, just like the
human form called Adam, before the separation of man and woman took
place. This reuniting of these two complementary parts is what we know as the
Marriage Covenant.
Gen 2:21-24 And YHVH Elohim caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,
and he slept. And He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh underneath.
(22) And Elohim made the rib (which He had taken from the man) into a
woman. And He brought her to the man. (23) And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because
she was taken out of man. (24) Therefore shall a man leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh.
YHVH took a rib from him and made (built) it into a woman. One of his ribs is
translated from the two words echad tselah and echad means
unity. Rib is the Hebrew word tselah meaning rib, side and to limp. This
can be translated as follows:
And He took from the unified sides (echad tselah) and closed
up the flesh underneath. 22 And Elohim made the side, (which he
had taken from the man) into a woman.
Another point of note is that the more intimate a relationship, the more complex
the relationship becomes, and the more Commandments are required to ensure
that this relationship works. These Commandments make up the Covenant
between these parties, and if you think the Marriage Covenant is just one piece
of paper with signatures on them, you are mistaken. The Marriage Covenant,
just like any other contract, has clauses preceding the last page where the two
parties agree and sign, indicating that they agree and will comply with these
clauses that make up the Contract or Covenant. This means that:

ADAM = Man + Woman

Marriage is the process to combine these two halves or sides back together
again to create ADAM. To make this an unbreakable unity, it needs to be
achieved by a Covenant, making Marriage a Covenant Relationship. Here is a
beautiful word picture that explains marriage between a man and a woman.

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Man or husband in Hebrew is esh sya. Woman in Hebrew is the word ishah

hsa. There are two letters that are the same, the Aleph Shin sa. There are two
letters that makes one a male and the other a female. Adding a yod( y ) to the Aleph-
Shin makes it a male or husband, and adding a hey (h) changes it to a female or
woman. The two letters that are different is are the yod-hey that makes the word Yah,
which is the short form for YHVH.

Yah (YHVH)
hy

ishah (Woman) esh (Man)


hsa sya
If you want to remove the male and female attributes from this equation, you have to
remove the yod from the male and the hey from the female, leaving two similar
words eesh sa and eesh sa, connecting fire with fire. This is an ungodly

marriage between two parties that are not opposites and who do not have Yah hy in
common. Removing YHVH from the Marriage Covenant is like playing with fire, calling
down the judgement of fire, like what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah.
Homosexuality was one of the primary reasons why those two Cities were destroyed by
fire because that was what their relationships were based on, namely fleshly fire or lust.

My People are Divorced because of a Lack of


Knowledge
The problem with marriage today is that we are only accepting the last page of
the Contract and never read the clauses, and yet again, the people of
YHVHs marriages perish because of a lack of knowledge.
Q Where do we find the rest of the Marriage Contract?
It is found in the Torah, and those who study and know the Torah will know their
obligations as husbands, and their obligations as wives as well as their
obligations as fathers and their obligations as mothers. Modern society dictates
what is acceptable and what is not,
according to man, not YHVH, and modern
Christianity embraces these humanistic
views with a shocking result of marriages
ending up in divorce. Weve all heard the
claim: Christians are just as likely to divorce
as non-Christians. This statement is often
attributed to a 2008 study by the Barna
Research Group that indicated that those
who identified as Christian were just as
likely as non-Christians to be divorced.

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In 2008, the Barna Group released some troubling statistics: 33% of Christians
are divorced versus 30% of atheists/agnostics. This caused some teeth-
gnashing among religious leaders as they sought to understand and explain
these numbers.
To make it a fair comparison the same
research shows that Christians marry
more often than atheists and agnostics.
84% of Christians are married or have
been married, versus only 65% of
atheists/agnostics. This changes the
percentages to 40% of Christians who
get married, also end up being
divorced, versus 46% of atheists. Only
6% difference but still shockingly high
confirming the initial statement that
Christians are just as likely to divorce
as non-Christians.
I believe Christian marriages fail because most modern Christians do not read
the Manuel for Marriage or the clauses of the Contract they are entering into.
These clauses are found in the Old Testament that is no longer relevant
according to the majority of Christian Doctrine. Statistics prove that man is a liar
and YHVHs truth still stands regarding this matter. If you believe the lie then
your marriage is at risk because you are ignorant of the details of your marriage
Contract in the Torah.
Q What should we as Christians or followers of YHVH do about it?
A good solution is to repent and study the Torah which is the first step to a
healthy relationship. The Scripture says YHVH hates divorce (Mal 2:16) and
teaches husbands and wives to live together in mutual submission (Eph 5:21),
loving, sacrificing and forgiving one another as YHVH does for us.
On the positive side, good marriages have become more valuable for those who
have them. What gives something its value is based on whether it is in demand
and its availability. Another contributing factor is that value is gained over time,
like an ancient artefact. Relationships are the same, and can take years to
develop into something of great value. YHVHs Torah helps to preserve and
protect these relationships because they are valuable from YHVHs point of
view.
Q Why are relationships important?
First and foremost, no life would be sustained if the basic or fundamental
relationship between a man and a woman did not exist, to ensure that life is
sustained even after their death. This means that the marriage relationship
sustains and produces life, on a physical level making it the highest form of
relationship.

The marriage relationship is a Covenant between two parties who sustain and
bring forth life. The same applies looking at it from a spiritual level where the
Covenant relationship between man and the Creator brings forth and sustains
life.

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The Creator is identified as the One through Whom all things are created, which
makes Yshua the Messiah the Creator, and in this analogy of the Marriage
relationship, the Groom and man the Bride. The physical marriage covenant is
similar to the spiritual marriage covenant that functions in the same way and
produces the same result or outcome.
As mentioned before, the Marriage Covenant is based on a Contract with
clauses that share information to protect the Covenant and the relevant parties
involved in that Covenant or Contract. If one of the parties is ignorant of the
requirements to sustain the outcome of this Covenant, then the outcome will not
be realised and the relationship that makes this outcome possible, will be
compromised or damaged, not producing or sustaining life as per the intent.
On the other hand, if you change any of the clauses, then a similar
catastrophic outcome can be expected that will result in death and damage to
the relationship. The Marriage Covenant YHVH put in place carries the blueprint
of all covenant relationships that are based on the premise to produce life. Man
wants to change this fundamental truth and building block for life by distorting
its clauses with humanistic and selfish ideas, and in the process, destroy the
knowledge and principles of how to set up relationships that sustain and
support life.
All relationships will be affected and distorted by changes to the Marriage
Covenant, even mans idea of what a relationship with YHVH needs to be like.
By saying this, you can assume that the guidelines within YHVHs Word
regarding Marriage are the basis and DNA of all relationships, even our
relationship with YHVH, and the enemy wants to alter that DNA to ultimately
destroy all relationships and all life. Without proper relationships, there will be no
life.

Relationships in the Body of Messiah


We looked at the concept of the Marriage Relationship between a Groom and
His Bride that reflects the relationship between Yshua and the Body of Messiah.
This means that Yshua, the Groom, has a relationship with a collective Body
made up of many Believers and followers of Messiah Yshua. For the Bride to be
represented as one Body there has to be unity between all the members of
that Body, which relates to the right kind of relationships between every
member. This means the relationship between members of the Body of
Messiah, who represent one Body, is just as important as the relationship
between the individual and Yshua.
Matt 25:45 Then the King will answer, Truly I tell you, whatever
you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.
Q What is the health of the relationships in the Body you are part of?

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There need to be healthy relationships between
the members of the Body for it to function
effectively. The main requirement for these
relationships is based on what is known as the
Fruit of the Spirit. We have all read the verse that
says; walk by the Spirit, and you will not
carry out the desire of the flesh Gal 5:16. To
walk in the Spirit is actually to walk in the fruit of
the Spirit or to express the attributes of YHVHs
Spirit or Character as you walk (Halachah),
conduct yourself every day, especially towards
other people.

Prov 16:32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; And
he that rules his spirit, than he that takes a city.
Gal 5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against
such things, there is no law. Now those who belong to Messiah
Yshua have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
This verse does not imply that you do not need the Torah because you walk in
the Spirit. It says that there is no Law in the Torah that forbids you to do these
things listed here, so you are permitted to do them. If you do these things, you
will not sin against your neighbour. This will be possible through the fruit of self-
control where you control your flesh, not lashing out at someone but exercising
patience and gentleness, for example. The flesh is the enemy within that causes
you to become weak, and this weakness will result in sin against your brother or
sister in Messiah, damaging the relationship between you and ultimately
destroying the unity within the Body of Messiah. Your actions have a ripple
effect that results in larger consequences than you think. This is why YHVH is
very firm about protecting relationships among the brethren.
Prov 6:16-19 There are six things that YHVH hates, seven that are
an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make
haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who
sows discord among brothers.
The seventh one is the worst of them all, and the one YHVH sees as an
abomination; sowing discord among brethren, destroying unity and breaking up
relationships within the family of YHVH. Repentance and forgiveness are key in
repairing these broken relationships.

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Matt 6:14-15 For if you forgive others their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you, but if you do not forgive others
their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.
Eph 4:32 And be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
Elohim for Messiahs sake has forgiven you.
Lev 19:18 You shall not avenge, nor bear any
grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your
neighbour as yourself: I am YHVH.
People will always disappoint or hurt you, intentionally or unintentionally, that is
why it is key to forgive one another because we are prone to fleshiness and will
stumble and sin against a brother of sister in Messiah. Some people hide
behind this verse, pointing out to those they hurt, to forgive them, but never
learn to walk in love towards others.
Q Why is forgiveness important?
If you hold a grudge, you are holding onto something that is connected to
another person through negative emotions. A grudge is caused by an event that
involves people that did you wrong in some way or another. Holding on to these
emotions still, connects you to, and reminds you of that person and that dreadful
event in the past. You mind works with pictures, where thoughts and emotions
are triggered through visual stimuli. Whenever something happens in your day,
or you see something that reminds you of that person or event, you relive those
emotions associated with that grudge you filed way in your memory.
This becomes a major problem when you have more
than one grudge you hold on to, and it will trigger
one or more negative emotions every single day that
will make you miserable, reliving the past. This will
cause you to constantly live in the past and is the
main reason why people are depressed today and
why people cant cope and commit suicide.
Forgiveness is the only way to liberate yourself from
this cold and lonely prison cell you lock yourself into,
every time you allow these bad memories to
consume your thoughts. Forgiving someone does not change the past or even
the person, but it changes you, releasing and liberating you from these negative
thoughts and emotions. Then you will be free to face every day with joy and
hope, embracing and loving life, the way YHVH intended. Ask YHVH to help you
to deal with people against whom you still hold a grudge so you can receive the
key that will set you free from this emotional bondage.

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Sliding into Sin
Last week we looked at the Cycle of Sin and how sin and Serve
rebellion let you slide into the hands of the enemy, YHVH
bringing a curse that leads to oppression and
bondage. Any sin starts with a thought that is Thoughts
entertained until it manifests through your words or Death
Desire
actions.
Jam 1:14-15 But each one is enticed when he is
drawn away by his own desires and trapped.
Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth
to sin. And sin, when it has been accomplished, Curse Actions
Bondage Sin
brings forth death.
So we see that our thoughts have consequences that
trigger a domino effect that cause your actions to follow which causes you to fall
into bondage. It is one thing to fall, but a serious matter if you do not stand up
and return to YHVH because that state of sin and bondage will lead to spiritual
death. Desire is conceived in the mind, thinking thoughts that stimulate fleshly
desires.
Thought is the word chashab meaning
to fabricate; to think, regard, value, compute,
consider, count, devise, esteem, find out,
imagine, invent, regard, think. Chashab is first
found in Scripture in Gen 15:6 where it says;
and he believed in YHVH; and he counted
(chashab) it to him for righteousness This
means that thought without faith is not leading
to righteousness, but instead sin and bondage.
Faith is the solution to govern your fleshly
thoughts and contain them within the truth you believe.
Whether good or bad, a thought or an action is not an isolated incident. Each
one leaves a mark upon our heart that has a real effect on your future. Could
this be why this week's Parashah concludes with a warning to destroy Amalek,
depicting the flesh or evil heart?
Deut 25:17-19 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you
were coming out of Mitsrayim, how he met you on the way and attacked
your back, all the feeble ones in your rear when you were tired and
weary. And he did not fear Elohim. Therefore it shall be, when YHVH
your Elohim has given you rest from your enemies all around, in the
land which YHVH your Elohim is giving you to possess as an
inheritance, that you blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under
the heavens. Do not forget!

Amalek meaning dweller in a valley and comes from the root word
amal, which means dweller in a valley, to be a burden, to vex and wear
down. If you read the account of the Amalekites attack on Israel in Numbers,
we see that they attacked first the old, the women and children, those
considered the weakest.

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They intended to wear down the children of Israel and defeat them. By
including the description of Moses becoming tired and unable to hold up his own
arms, it paints the picture of wearing down. The numerical value of Amalek is
240, which is associated with the following words:
safeq qpus meaning doubt.
patsa [cp meaning wound.
In our own lives, isnt that what the enemy does to us? He keeps
pecking away, wearing us down; trying to get us to drop our
arms, let our guard down, to doubt. These attacks are designed to
wound you and thus wear you down. Then, he strikes full force. When you're
tired and worn out from the battles of life, perhaps even doubting that you've
heard from YHVH at all, that is when he strikes.

YHVHs Commandments Reveals His Wisdom


Every single Commandment came from the mind of YHVH and is founded upon
wisdom. The Commandments that seem not to apply to us today contain hidden
wisdom, and when uncovered, will help you to deal with everyday situations that
are not found on the surface level in the Scripture. These Commandments
reveal the Mind of YHVH, how He thinks and applies wisdom to deal with lifes
complexities. Every answer you need and every solution to every problem is
contained in the pages of the Torah and the Hebrew Language. This makes the
Torah a multidimensional Book that transcends time, containing truth, wisdom,
prophetic events, warnings and the very character of YHVH. You will truly know
YHVH and be transformed if you embrace all that is written in His Book of Life.

There are four levels of interpreting Scripture that will uncover the wisdom
Hidden within the Commandments. These four levels are based on the Hebrew
acronym PaRDeS, which is made up from four words; pashat, remez, drash and sod:
1. Pashat Face value interpretation, understand it as it is written. We read about
7 Churches in Revelation and there was 7 Churches existing in that time in those areas.
2. Remez Referring or hinting to other verses, connecting thoughts where thoughts rhyme.
The women at the well in Genesis connecting to the woman at the well in Matthew.
3. Drash Know as allegorical meaning where something can be like something else. For
example, the seven Churches in Revelation can reflect each one of us, interpreting each
commendation and reproof, how they apply to me on a personal level.
4. Sod Hidden meaning that can only be revealed through the Hebrew text and symbolic
understanding of the Aleph-Bet letters and numbers.

Paul gave us a good example in 1 Cor 9 revealing the wisdom gleaned from the
Commandment regarding the ox:
1 Cor 9:9-12 For it is written in the law of Moses, You shall not muzzle
an ox while it treads out the grain. Is it oxen God is concerned
about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no
doubt, this is written, that he who ploughs should plough in hope, and he
who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.
Q - What does the ox have to do with us?

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Paul explains this Commandment from a drash level, interpreting that
something can mean something else. The connection is made through
symbolism. In this case, he compared an ox with people. We all know that
an ox is used to plough the land so that seed can be sewn so there can be a
harvest. The ox plays a vital role in producing the harvest, which represents
people or souls. Some people are like the ox that plays a vital role in the
Kingdom, but they are not always appreciated and can be overworked .
Paul is highlighting this fact by explaining the Commandment that says not to
muzzle the ox, meaning that people should not be mistreated or overworked
for the benefit of the harvest in the Kingdom.
The reason for this is so that people will be effective and the work expanding
the Kingdom can be sustained. This example clearly shows us how a
Commandment that has nothing to do with you has hidden wisdom that
applies to you in some way or other. Do not take away from His Torah but
rather embrace the wisdom behind the things you think do not apply to you.
Q Why do we read and study YHVHs Commandments?
Reading and studying the Commandments is like a doctor
looking at an X-Ray. He is not looking for things that are
perfect, he looks for anomalies, and then zooms in to see
what the problem is. Your life is like an X-Ray viewed through
the screen of the Torah, revealing all the anomalies in your
life through the text. YHVH will draw your attention to these
things so that you can deal with it or learn something from it.
Whenever you read a Commandment that sounds strange or that is not directly
applicable to you, your first reaction should be, there is something more,
something beneath the surface that will apply to me. Ask YHVH to reveal these
hidden gems behind every anomaly and every Commandment, so you can know
Him first of all, and gain wisdom to live this life and be perfect before Him.
David, a man after YHVHs own heart, had the following to say about YHVHs
Commandments as stated in Psalm 119:
34 Giveme understanding, and I shall keep Your Torah; Indeed, I shall
observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me walk in the path of Your Commandments, For I delight in it.
47 And I will delight myself in Your Commandments, Which I love
97 Oh, how I love Your Torah! It is my meditation all the day.
98 You, through Your Commandments, make me wiser than my enemies;
105 Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Yshua is our Beloved (david) King Who is the Son in Whom the Father is well
pleased. Let us follow in His footsteps and have the same attitude towards
YHVHs Word and His Commandments.

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