What's up with portion Yitro

Shouldn't this portion be called Esharot ha'devarim?

Going through the portion it's obvious that the highlight is Elohim descending on Mount Sinai and delivering the Ten Words known as the Ten Commandments.

So, what's up with naming the portion after Moses' father-in-law Yitro, Jethro?

Portion naming convention

The standard convention for naming the Torah portion is that the name is found in the first few lines of the portion.

But if the Torah is Elohim's word, why wouldn't He name it something better? The words are from Elohim, the chapters, verses, name of the portion are all done by people. The hope is that those people were inspired who made these insertions into the Scripture, but they are still insertions.

Yitro's Clues

We learn three important aspects about Yitro from the text.

1. And Yitro the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moshe, heard all that which Elohim had done for Moshe and for His people Israel, that Yehovah had caused Israel to go out from Egypt. (Exo 18:1)
2. And Jethro rejoiced regarding all the good which Yehovah had done to Israel whom He had delivered from the hand of Egypt. And Yitro said, Blessed be Yehovah who has delivered you from the hand of Egypt, and from the hand of Pharaoh; He who delivered the people from under the hand of Egypt. (Exo 18:9-10)
3. Now I know that Yehovah is greater than all the gods; truly, in the way in which He acted proudly against them. (Exo 18:11)

 1) Yitro was a priest of and in Midian and we know that when El first appeared to Moshe He said,

"When you bring out the people from Egypt: You shall serve God on this mountain." (Exo 3:12)

That mountain was in Midian where Yitro's sheep were kept. Israel was camping in Yitro's backyard. Unlike many other tribal leaders, Yitro allowed them to do so. He showed hospitality to the millions of Israelites.

2) In contrast to other leaders, "Yitro rejoiced regarding all the good Yehovah had done..." Other leaders saw the hordes of Israelites as a threat, and were afraid they would eat up all the food and drink all the water.

Yitro heard what happened, and rejoiced. He greeted his son-in-law, the leader of the Israelites and brought Moshe's wife and children to the camp. Yitro even offers sage advice to Moshe on how to deal with the massive numbers of people seeking rulings to help out.

3) Yitro acknowledges, "Now I know that Yehovah is greater than all the gods." This statement reveals that Yitro knew enough about other gods that recognizing what Yehovah had performed in Egypt and beyond Yitro was convinced Yehovah was greater.

Who is greater?

There has been an ongoing contest for millenia over who is greater. We see it in the plagues in Egypt. Yehovah showed that He was mightier than all of the gods of Egypt one by one. That contest continues today.

There is no question in the minds of followers of Messiah that Yehovah who created all things, and by whom all things continue to exist is Supreme. (see Col 1:16) Not everyone believes that though.

The Creator can make the Rules

If Elohim created all things, and all things are His, then He has every right and the responsibility to set down rules. Just as an earthly father sets house rules, so does our Heavenly Father.

Did you ever hear your father or mother say something like, "As long as you live in my house, you will obey my rules!"? I heard it. A parent has the authority to set rules and expect them to be obeyed.  Our Father sets rules and says the same thing. As long as we are in His household, we need to obey His rules.

What's the alternative?

"If you are unwilling to obey my rules, you need to get out of my house." That's not a bad thing when you turn eighteen or twenty, and it's time to leave the nest, but when it is Father Elohim, and He tells you to get out, you're in trouble.

Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness! (Mat 7:21-23)

When Paul wrote, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Php 4:13) those all things includes keeping the commandments, instructions, and feast days of Elohim.

Portion Beshalach (sent away) January 19, 2019

Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt, bondage, and servitude. They leave rejoicing. They are escaping from under the lash of their Egyptian taskmasters.

Let My People Go

Sometimes we forget there was more to God's instructions to Pharaoh. It wasn't just "Let my people go," but "Let my people go that they may serve me."

In the Apostolic Writings Paul tells the Corinthians,

"You are bought with a price; don't be the servants of men." (1Co 7:23)

Israel was not freed from slavery, they were bought with a price, and that price was the death of all the firstborn of Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his army and chariots. It was a high price.

The price paid by Egypt had to be high, because it foreshadowed the price that would be paid by Yeshua, a price nobody else could pay.

Sweetened Water

The bitter waters of Marah. It's a redundancy. Marah is Hebrew for bitter. The waters were bitter. What made the waters bitter? It could have been a high salt content, a high mineral content, or the water could have contained a concentration of poison such as the metalloid arsenic.

"And he cried to Yehovah, and Yehovah showed him a tree. And he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. He made a statute and an ordinance for them there, and He tested them there. And He said, 'If you carefully listen to the voice of Yehovah your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and you give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will not put on you all the diseases which I have put on Egypt; for I am Yehovah your Healer.'" (Exo 15:25-26)

Drinking bitter water leads to death. That's why sailors can't drink salt water, the salt accumulates in the body and without fresh water to flush it, it becomes toxic. The tree Moses is shown is symbolic of the tree Yeshua was crucified on. That tree took the bitterness of death away from us.

"But now having been set free from sin, and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life in Messiah Yeshua our Lord." (Rom 6:22-23)

Hear and Do

Did you notice what Moses told the people?

"If you carefully listen to the voice of Yehovah your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and you give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes..."

They weren't told, "Hey Pharaoh's dead, now you can do whatever you want and live however you want." But that is the message that I hear a lot today. "I don't have to keep those commandments, I'm under grace, not under the law."

That's a deception!

I find it fascinating that the same people who tell me "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," turn around and say "Nobody can keep the law." So, you can do all things, except do what Father tells you to do, through Christ who strengthens you? That doesn't seem right, does it?

It seems to me that if Christ was going to strengthen you to do anything, it would be to do what God our Father tells us to do. After all it was Yeshua who said, "If you love me, keep my commandments," and John,

"By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not heavy." (1Jn 5:2-3)

I encourage you to learn what Father's house rules are as found in the Torah, and keep them. They are not difficult to keep, and He promises blessings for obedience. Just like our earthly dad's often say, "If you live in my house, you obey my rules."