Mishpatim (Exodus 21:1 – 24:18)
“Moses came and told the people everything the Lord had said, including all the rulings. The people answered with one voice: ‘We will obey every word the Lord has spoken.’” (Exodus 24:3).
The portion of the Torah traditionally called “mishaptim” (rulings) contains a wide range of ethical, civil and religious laws; so many in fact, that it is difficult to find a unifying thread from the beginning to the end of the portion. The portion of Mishpatim immediately follows the Sinai Revelation, with its resulting Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are apodictic in nature – that is to say they are firm divine commands, either you will do or you will not do – not only in action but attitude in heart. The commands of Mishpatim are understood to be casuistic in nature – meaning they address a wide range of situational case law that may be necessary for communal life. Casuistic laws are conditional statements, if/then statements, as an example, “If someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, then he is to pay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep” (Ex. 22:1). If the hypothesis is true, the “if” statement, the necessary resulting action is defined for those overseeing the case by the conclusion, the “then” statement.
In Christian theology, much of the Torah is classified in three categories: moral, civil and ceremonial. While these categories can generally be helpful, they can also be restricting for a proper application of God’s instruction in the life of faith. It is commonly accepted that all ceremonial laws have been abrogated by their fulfillment in Christ (Colossians 2:14), yet in these laws we discover the tithe. While I will not specifically address the issue of tithing in this context, the principal of tithing speaks directly to charity and giving as developed in the New Covenant (Luke 21:1-4; cf. 2 Corinthians 8—9), and the heart attitude motivating the act of charity. Still more, the commands of the Torah remain normative to the Lord’s covenant people, even when they may not be literally normative during a specific period of time.
In Mishpatim we find the common thread that links these moral, civil and ceremonial laws together is the fallen nature of humanity. The children of Israel, as a nation of newly freed slaves from Egypt, needed their hearts, minds and communal relationships reformed. The Lord directed them away from the self-satisfying motives that often influence the human dynamic. He set limitations on the actions of humanity: you could not take something because your desired that something; you could not take someone because you desired them; you could not murder because you were angry; you could not steal because of need; you could not pervert justice because of wealth or poverty.
The commands recorded in Mishpatim were to reform and disciple the Lord’s people. The apostle Paul speaks to this in his Epistle to the Galatians. The Torah was to be a guardian, a custodian until the Messiah came (Galatians 3:24-25). Upon the Messiah’s arrival, it was time to walk in faith-obedience to the lessons learned from the pedagogue (the Torah as teacher of God’s way), in the freedom from the sin nature provided by Messiah Yeshua/Jesus by grace through faith. I have often framed Paul’s teaching in this way. When we are children our mother and father teach us basic principles for living: look both ways before crossing the street; don’t put your hand in the fire; treat others with kindness. When we mature, while we may not consciously think of those lessons, they are still engrained in our hearts and minds, and we apply them to life.
The heart is not changed, however, by the Law. The heart recognizes its need for change by the Law when it beholds the Law-giver and seeks forgiveness. Deuteronomy 30:6 recognizes the change of heart, and the receipt of the Lord’s sovereign grace, as the circumcision of the heart – a change only He can accomplish. The apostle Paul notes in Romans 2:29b, “and true circumcision is of the heart, spiritual not literal…” We can attempt, by our own self-righteous attitudes, to keep the Law perfectly – a type of self-circumcision – and still fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); or we can rely on His sovereign grace to forgive, transform and guide us by His Word as we, in union with Christ, seek to hear and obey.
Mishpatim can cause confusion, and even frustration, with its numerous commands (some fifty-three positive and negative commandments); but for those in Christ, these commands help us to walk in, and apply correctly, the great commandment “to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul and strength,” and “to love our neighbor as ourselves.” As our minds are transformed by the pedagogue (the Word of God by the Holy Spirit), we begin to recognize the deep wisdom of these numerous conditional statements found in Exodus 21:1 – 24:18, and how they can guide us in communal life among not only our brethren in Messiah, but also the surrounding community as well.
“Though a Christian is not under the condemning power of the law, yet he is under its commanding power.” Thomas Watson
Shalom;
Dr. J.D. Elwell