Yitro (Jethro)
Exodus 18:1 - 20:23

Who is Ken Johnson and what does he have to do with this week’s Torah portion? Unless his Hebrew name is Yitro, I do not think that we find his name in the text! Ken Johnson is a pastor of a small church in southern Ohio who was involved in a well publicized court case about the right to place the Ten Commandments in a public place. As a result of this court case, a campaign was begun to raise the public awareness of the Ten Commandments via placards and billboards. This week’s Torah portion is about the giving of the Ten Commandments to the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai . When you study the torah as a whole, it is quite obvious that the events at Mt. Sinai form the core of the Torah. All of Genesis as well as the story of the Exodus of the Jewish people out of Egypt serve as the historical context for the giving of the Torah and the rest of Exodus through Deuteronomy serve as an explanation of the Ten Commandments. Pastor Johnson’s efforts to raise the public awareness of the Ten Commandments is evidence of the fact that whether a person is an Orthodox Jew or a believer in Yeshua, these words of Torah transcend cultural and religious boundaries. They are the very words of God given to mankind via the Jewish people. All of the laws in the Bible and for that matter all of the moral laws of mankind find their basis in the "Ten Words". What is also interesting about the historical event of the receiving of the Torah it that God breaks into history in front of the whole nation. God communicated with human beings in a historical context.

We see some interesting similarities between the giving of Torah at Sinai and the coming of the Messiah. The Brit Chadasha tells us that Yeshua is the "Word made flesh". (jn 1). We could say that Yeshua is the living Torah. Just as God broke into history in a very unique way at Mt. Sinai , so He broke into history in another unique way in the person of Yeshua. I have often wondered why people have such a difficult time believing the events surrounding the life and nature of Yeshua but at the same time, have no difficulty accepting the fact that Moses met with God, had several conversations and received tablets of stone that God Himself carved out!?! In addition, just as the Ten Commandments are considered the Word of God by many people around the world, both Jewish and Gentile, so Yeshua is believed to be the Messiah, by not only some Jewish people but Gentiles as well. We see here that just as the Ten Commandments transcend culture and religion, so Yeshua transcends culture and religion as well.

May this portion remind us that Yeshua is indeed the living Torah, the Messiah of Jew and Gentile alike.

Shabbat Shalom!