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Today we continued study of the Statutes relating to the 6th Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill".
We studied Statutes 428 - 438 which talk about the kinsman redeemer, brotherhood, and dealing with our enemies...
Here are a few highlights from class today:
The Torah-Principle of Being our Brother’s Keeper:
Cruelty and violence by a brother against a brother was first introduced into the human story by Cain, who murdered his brother Abel. Cain’s sin against his brother is not limited to violent rage. He is also completely careless of what brotherhood means.
In response to God’s haunting question, “Where is Abel, your brother?” Cain spits back with his perverse question, “Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9).”
The Torah has set up its audience ingeniously here. It baits us to answer Cain. It begs us to respond, bringing us to wish we could shout back through the eons: “Of course you are your brother’s keeper! That hateful rejection of your familial responsibility is the very thing that bore the horrendous fruit of murder, allowing you to spill Abel’s innocent blood!”
While the Torah at first appears to leave Cain’s question unanswered, it actually reveals the answer both directly and indirectly. This set of Statutes gives a direct response to Cain’s question regarding one’s responsibility for the well-being of one’s brother. We are our brother’s keeper, before Yahweh!
But let us
also notice the subtler response to Cain’s question, as the story unfolds
further. At the close of Cain’s story, the Torah recounts the generations
between Adam and Noah, from which Cain is conspicuously absent. After Abel’s
murder, Adam and Eve beget another son, Seth. Seth, in turn begets Enosh, who
begets Kenan, who begets Mahalalel, who begets Jared, who begets Hanokh, who
begets Methuselah, who begets Noah, from whom, as survivors of the flood,
we are all descended.
In the Torah record of human history, we find a recitation of our common ancestry, which underscores the depth and breadth of our responsibilities to one another as powerfully as the Golden Rule. After Cain, the Torah starts human history over again. It leads us through the generations of begetting, impressing upon us that our history is fundamentally a relational one that is rooted in a common ancestry, a single family of humanity.
And in this original familial relationship resides our profound responsibility to one another. “Let there be no mistake,” the begettings seem to say. “The ‘neighbors’ for whom you must care are not only the people around you, but the entirety of this human family from which you are also a descendent. Each member of this family is your ‘brother.’ And there is no one, therefore, that we are free to abandon, in distress, nor ignore in an hour of need.
As Yahshua demonstrated in His parable of the Good Samaritan, godly brotherhood is a responsibility that transcends citizenships, racial boundaries, or close family ties. When someone is abused “on our watch” (we know and can do something about it), Yahweh’s question to Cain echoes to us down through time: “Where is your brother?” And whether we directly (we were the abuser) or indirectly (we stood by without intervening) participated in a crime against a brother, before Yahweh, we are our brother’s keeper.
The consequences for shirking this godly brotherhood are the same for anyone, as it was for Cain. But true brotherhood and the fulfillment of this set of Statutes is demonstrated most profoundly, by God Himself:
· Hebrews 2:11 - “For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers.”(ESV)
·
Romans 8:29
– “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the Image
of His Son, in order that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.”
(ESV)
The Kinsman-Redeemer:
The
term kinsman-redeemer is a combination of two words.
- The word kinsman has the same root as what we call next of kin today. It’s seen especially in documents involving inheritance, like in bank details. It requires information about your closest living blood relative or beneficiary of an investment. In Biblical terms, “kinsman” is a term which not only involves people who are literally in the same family or clan, but also it is one’s “neighbour”, as Messiah revealed in His story of the Good Samaritan. So one’s “neighbour” is also one’s “brother”.
- A redeemer is
someone who buys back and legally regains the possession of a property or
even a person that was sold to another to repay debts. The redeemer pays
the price for what is being recovered, which the indebted one could not
pay for himself.
· The Parable of the Good Samaritan demonstrates brotherhood, which connects with the meaning of “kinsman”:
o
Luke 10:36
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell
among the thieves?
o Luke 10:37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Yahshua unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
The Biblical term “kinsman-redeemer” is the result of putting those two words together and means the closest blood relative or neighbour who willingly pays the debtor’s redemption price.
The Bible
does not sanction slavery or even the acquisition of someone’s land forever –
even when the person lost their inheritance, land and possessions due to their
own foolishness or mismanagement of their assets. But when someone had debts
too great to repay, provision was made for them and for their lost property to
be redeemed.
Yahweh has
demonstrated how this set of Statutes are to be lived out, on an epic scale. As
the human race, the Bible refers to us as carnal and “sold under sin” (Romans
7:14, NKJV). We are personally sold in servitude to hell, in a debt so great
that we cannot legally get ourselves out of it. We lost our planet in this debt
and all that is under our possession.
Yahshua is
our Kinsman-Redeemer. The Name Yahshua itself means “the Salvation of Yah”. He came
to save us from the slavery of Satan and sin. He Redeems us, individually. And
He has legally gained the right to reclaim our planet, and restore saved
mankind to his original possession, in the New Earth (Matthew 1:21, Isaiah
41:14).
Christ paid
our redemption price. Peter says, “you were not redeemed with corruptible
things as silver and gold… but with the precious Blood of Yahshua Christ.” What
a staggering Price for our redemption! (1 Peter 1:17,18 NKJV). And how great is
the brotherly Love of Yahweh to have paid such a Price to deliver us from our
sin-debt!
If you would like more information on how LOVE is a Spiritual Warfare Weapon (as mentioned in class, along with the other Fruits of the Spirit), check out my old blog posts in the Heaven's Arsenal Series. These blog postings from this series were first posted in 2016:
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 1: "The Sword of the Word"
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 2: "Praise" (as a Weapon)
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 3: The Power of Confession
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 4: The Power of Love
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 5: The Power of Love - my Story...
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 6: The Power of Love - Love your Enemies (my story continued)...
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 7: The Power of Love - Love your Enemies continued (my story continued)...
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 8: The Power of Love Defeating Bitterness
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 9: The Power of Love Defeating Bitterness (continued)...
Heaven's Arsenal - Part 10: The Power of Love - a G.R.E.A.T. Response to Trials
