War and Grace
Deut 20:8 “And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Who is the man who is afraid and tender of heart? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brothers faint like his heart.’
Everyone is not the same, yet we tend to criticize each other so easily. Some men are ready and built for fighting, some woman as well! But if you are not, there is no shame in that. YHWH openly commands the officers to send everyone home who is “tender of heart”. YHWH shows His Strength and Power best the worse the situation seems to be. At the end of the day, it is not us, our power, our numbers, our genious plans that wins wars for YHWH – He wins His own wars! In Judges 7 verse 3 we read, “And now, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him turn back, and leave Mount Gil‛aḏ.’ ” And twenty-two thousand of the people turned back, while ten thousand remained.” 22,000 people went home! That was not the end, YHWH sent more people home after that.
Deut 20:3-4 “Do not let your heart faint, do not fear, or tremble, or be afraid before them, for YHWH your Elohim is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’”
Washing Hands
Deut 21:6-9 “And let all the elders of that city nearest to the slain man wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the wadi. And they shall answer and say, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it. ‘O YHWH, forgive Your people Yisrael, whom You have redeemed, and do not allow innocent blood in the midst of Your people Yisrael.’ And the blood-guilt shall be pardoned to them. “Thus you purge the guilt of innocent blood from your midst when you do what is right in the eyes of YHWH.
Some people suggest that Pilate was mocking this ritual with Yeshua. But whether he was or he wasn’t, it does make your heart sink reading it in Matthew 27:24 And when Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but rather an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this Righteous One. You shall see to it.” And all the people answering, said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
With the ritual, the elders/leaders (1) wash their hands (2), declare they did not do it (3), they did not see it (4), ask for forgiveness (5).
He, Pilate the leader (1) washed his hands (2), declare the Man (Yeshua) Righteous, his (Pilate’s) hands did not do this (3), they (Jews) will see (4) and do it, they answered that His Blood will be on them (5).
Rebellion and Community
Deut 21:18-19 “When a man has a wayward (stubborn) and rebellious son who is not listening to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have disciplined him, does not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city
If we had this rule, of a community standing together to try and guide and discipline children that have a rebellious spirit, the children would probably heed very quickly to the advice and learn to respect his father and mother. This is so important to YHWH, that He added this to the 5th commandment. Not at the bottom of the list, but rather right up there. First the command to love YHWH and His Name and no other gods, then Sabbath, then your Parents. It does not matter who or what your parents are or what they have done, the rule stands – respect and honor them. It is beautiful to see that the parents are not alone in this struggle, they have the elders and the community to stand by and help. Because this is a very serious issue, something that YHWH won’t compromise on.
The Hebrew word for rebellious is MARA H4784 – mārâ, and the first time we saw this word used is when Moses (like the Parent) called the Israelites rebels when they complained for water in Numbers 20:10 “And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; H4784 must we fetch you water out of this rock?” There are a few times the people are called rebels. The word MARA means to provoke, be disobedient, be bitter, rebel, contentious, stubborn, revolt, backslide, withdrew
