Ki Tetze (When you go out)
The parashah of this week contains 72 of the 613 commandments; more than any other parashah which tells us that it is filled with G-d commandments from Moshe Rabbeinu in order for us all to have a better life. Some have interpreted that G-d’s commandments in Torah are something bad. This has always been the trouble with those religions which do not understand Torah but think of the Torah as a burden instead of as a giver of life. The passage that I would like to bring emphasis to in Ki Tetze speaks of Messiah and has been used by Rabbi Shaul in the Messianic Writings in Galatians 3:13. In Devarim 21:22-23 it is written: 22 If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, 23 you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under G-d's curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your G-d is giving you as an inheritance.
This Law of Moses of someone who was to be executed by hanging and exposed on the tree (al eitz wi li) was given as a warning sign to kahal Israel that this would happen to anyone who would desecrate the Name of G-d. The Roman Empire perfected this type of punishment. The Jewish understanding of hanging on a tree was that a pole was planted straight into the ground and a cross bar or beam was placed on top like a T. The arms of the person would be tied to the top of the T and his arms would be the only thing holding him up thus causing him to die by asphyxiation. The rabbis would say that in this type of death a man couldn’t even bend his knees to make his final repentance because his sin was too great. The Roman method of nailing the wrists and feet was in order to prolong and increase the pain thus making the process far more grotesque. When they wanted to speed up death they would break the person’s legs so that he would die quickly.
Yeshua as we know was the “scapegoat” for the Jewish community but since the Jews were not allowed carrying out the death penalty on their own they handed him over to the Romans. His falling into the hands of the Romans fulfilled a dual purpose. The religious power of the day, the Pharisees were able to justify his death in this way since for them, he had committed many unforgivable sins. Although the Torah stated that the offense of blasphemy was punishable by stoning (Leviticus 24:11-16) this was outlawed by the Romans for them therefore they used the provision in the Torah whereby an offender could be hung on the tree according to Roman law if he was found guilty of being a rebel wanting to overthrow the Roman Empire and Caesar. Yeshua died being judged by the world and in this judgment the world took their stance against G-d.
In the Messianic Writings, Rav Shaul writes in Galatians 3:10-14 On the other hand, all those who depend on the works of the Torah are under a curse, since Scripture says: Accursed be he who does not make what is written in the Torah effective, by putting it into practice. (Deut. 27:26) 11 Now it is obvious that nobody is reckoned as upright in God's sight by the Torah, since the upright will live through faith; 12 and the Torah is based not on faith but on the principle, whoever complies with it will find life in it. 13 Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah by being cursed for our sake since Scripture says: Anyone hanged on a tree is cursed (Deut. 21:23), 14 so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles in Messiah Yeshua, and so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Some of the commentators use this passage to give the understanding that the Torah is not good for people, and the only thing it does is to condemn them. The logic of this narrative is in the transformation of our Messiah whereby he is the ransom for all of us. In 2 Cor. 5:21 we read, “21For our sake He made the sinless one a victim for sin, so that in him we might become the uprightness of God.” Here Yeshua is acting on our behalf as an exchange. In Devarim 21:23 the Hebrew construction allows for multiple interpretations and could be understood as: “he who is hanged is accursed of God”, it may be also understood as: “he who is hanged is a curse against God” (cf. San. 6:4), or as: “he is hanged (because of) a curse (which he made) against God.” Rab Shaul is using this argument; Yeshua hanging on the tree represents God’s punishment for Yeshua’s (implied) sin; not because he himself cursed God, but because sin and death are Chillul HaShem (anathema) to God. The curse in this case is constituted by death itself, and then death is accursed. Then the Torah is not accursed as many interpret directly or indirectly, but totally the contrary it is Holy, Righteous, and Good!
Shimon Kefas or Peter in Acts 5:3030 it was the God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, whom you executed by hanging on a tree. And Acts 10:39: Now we are witnesses to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and they killed him by hanging him on a tree” and in 1 Peter 2:24-25: 24 He was bearing our sins in his own body on the tree, so that we might die to our sins and live for uprightness; through his bruises you have been healed. 25 You had gone astray like sheep but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls. (Isa 53: 5,6)
Nothing that Yeshua did was done in a vacuum or had no root in the Torah. With this we can clearly see that our Messiah Yeshua fulfilled a very important role as the mediator between G-d and man and his talmidim only understood his role after he revealed it to them after he had risen from the dead. Our sin was placed upon him (who was completely innocent) by G-d Himself so that he could be our kapparah. The fact that he as a man was willing to take all this upon himself makes him most worthy of receiving all the honor, praise and respect that we can give him.
May G-d add blessings to His Word!