PAR'SHAT SHOFTIM: ESTABLISHING RELIGIOUS LEADERS: A TORAH COMMAND!

The Torah commands us to establish religious leaders upon ourselves (Par'shat Shoftim).

 

The western civilization seems to more and more reject the notion of religious leadership. Due to the history of religious leaders of all religions abusing their authority, we can understand people's position. Gamaliel the 3rd, of the Yavneh Academy in 2nd century Israel, is notorious for setting in stone the edicts that would until today push the nascent Nazarene movement away from its Jewish brothers. Later, the Gentile Nazarenes, egged by religious leaders such as John Chrysostom and later Constantine took over the baton persecuting the Jewish Yeshua disciples, practice continued by reformer martin Luther who stood against any Jewish practice within his idea of discipleship to Yeshua.

 

It is important to realize that the problem was not the command to establish religious leaders upon ourselves, but rather the evil inclination of man towards independence from leadership, especially the leadership of the Torah.

 

Looking at the landscape of the religious world today, we can safely say that in all monotheistic religions (and monotheism is a Torah teaching which stems from Hashem's proclamation in a polytheistic world, "Hear ye Israel, the Lord your God is one God"), both the idea of individual autonomy and of leadership have failed to unite their religious bodies. An over emphasis of leadership leads to separatism and sectarianism, while the principles of autonomy lead to spiritual anarchy and heresies.

 

As usual, the wise balance of truth lies between two extremes, a wise balance elusive to us due to our human weakness and prideful tendencies to want to individualize ourselves.

 

Soon, the true king Messiah will return and teach us all the wise precept of leadership. In those, we will not fear to establish leaders upon ourselves because righteousness will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

 

May it be soon Abba; even in our days!  

 

 

THE HEART OF HASHEM

Matthew 7:21

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven”.

The rulings contained in Exodus 21-24 provide us with a big window into the heart of the Father. How more sensible our world would be if it acknowledged Hashem’s wisdom in His approach to government. This is the problem today with the Bible: so few ever tried it! Maybe they will one day, probably out of desperation when the best of man’s efforts will have only led to catastrophe, as they seem to presently do.

For millennia the world has not been able to care for its poor. Even today, with all our sophistication, at its best, all the world has to offer is a ‘slave-master’ economy based on cruel usury (Proverbs 22:7) which is forbidden in God’s eyes (Exodus 22:25-27). In the Torah, lending to the poor in need is not an option, it is a commandment witch Yeshua reiterated in, Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you (Matthew 5:42). An idea for the Messianic communities would be to emulate Jewish communities and create interest-free lending funds. As times worsen, we certainly need to pool our resources. Hashem is the Generous One; He cares for the downtrodden; He has compassion on the poor and gives freely. As disciples, we should emulate Him and be the same.

Another ruling that we should be careful to observe is "You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people (Exodus 22:28). Miriam was afflicted with Biblical leprosy as a result of disobeying this commandment (Numbers 12). If the English wording in this verse seems strange, it is because the original Hebrew in the text of this whole chapter merges the identities of God and of ‘Judges of the people’ into one. In essence, in cursing or blessing the spiritual authority Hashem sets upon us, we curse or bless Him.

This commandment is still relevant and here is an important precedent for it. After Paul publicly reviled a corrupt Sadducee High-Priest who was trying to unjustly condemn him and had even smitten his face, the apostle apologized saying, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest”. Paul then justified his apology quoting from Exodus, “for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people (Acts 23:5).'" This is a condition-less commandment.

Even if the ruler seems to you curse-worthy, you are not to curse him with gossip, criticism, or open challenge. Let’s say you don’t like the way things are in your congregation, after humbly presenting your point to the persons involved, if things don’t change, just leave and go where you can feel happy. It is certainly a sin to openly challenge leaders and create a mutiny. If you do it, it will surely happen to you in return, either in your congregation or in your family. Hashem will see to it. May we learn to live by His rulings; Yeshua did!

THE BALANCE OF A MAN

1Timothy 3:2-6 (CJB)

A congregation leader must be above reproach, he must be faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, orderly, hospitable and able to teach. He must not … get into fights; …, he must be kind and gentle. He must not be a lover of money … if a man can't manage his own household, how will he be able to care for God's Messianic Community? He must not be a new believer, because he might become puffed up with pride and thus fall under the same judgment as did the Adversary.

In Genesis 2:18, Hashem intentions towards Adam in creating Eve are either lost in translation, or in the personal bias of the translator. A more literal reading would say, "I will create someone to be 'against' him". It seems that the help man most often needs is in the form of someone who is ‘against’ him; not someone who necessarily fights him, but someone who challenges him and is a balance to him. Because of this, Judaism even advises to not trust the teaching of a Rabbi who is not married. 

A wise man will invite the counsel of his wife; she really is the one who knows him best. If he willingly listens to her, not only his life will be more harmonious, but he will make wiser decisions. But a wise woman needs to learn how to ‘fitly’ advise her husband. If she nags him or makes him feel inferior, he’ll turn off and she won’t be able to fulfill her God-given duty.  She also needs not to do it as an attempt to control him. If because of control issues, passiveness, or a lack of wisdom a wife is not able to advise her husband, she fails in her main reason for being. The same goes for a wife who fans her husband, which a woman usually does that because she wants to bask in his glory. Such a woman will be responsible for her man's downfall. A beautiful example of a married relationship in American History is that of the second president of the United States John Adams, and his wife Abigail Adams. It is even said that one time Georges Washington asked Abigail Adams' help to try to convince her husband of an important piece of diplomatic strategy.

When Roman Emperor Tiberius started commandeering the Senate, one senator protested and compared his governing body to an unheard and ignored wife. If a man, if a leader does not have a wife, he should at least be able to listen to the counsel of those wise people God put around him. It is a wise man who surrounds himself with people who are wiser than him. Paul was not married, but he worked within counsel. Though he took some liberties, he went to Jerusalem to make sure that his race was not in vain. He sought the approval of his own apostolic leaders (Galatians 2:2). 

Sad to say though, many leaders in their pride, fear, and insecurity surround themselves with passive people who adulate them, or with those who find an interest in the relationship, so they will not balance a leader or a teacher. Even if they try, they eventually will give in. The leader knows it and it will be his downfall in the sight of God if not in the sight of men.

May God give us leaders men who have a right spirit before Him; leaders whom the position of office does not corrupt with pride; true humble ministers of Hashem’s flock who only wish to serve.

LEADERSHIP IN THE KINGDOM!

Acts 6:3

Look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Flabbergasted Jethro looks at Moses single-handedly dealing with every problem in the camp. He foresees problems, and even danger in that kind of leadership. Jethro conjectures that eventually people will learn to lean too heavily on Moses, and that His son-in-law will not last very long. At that rate, he will burn out quickly. Jethro, who is a spiritual leader in his own rights, suggests a lower court to be established to care for simpler cases. Moses would then share the load of leadership with others.

God’s leadership is not autocracy. In God’s Kingdom even a King has advisors, and a wise king leans on the council of his advisers as a cripple does on a cane. God’s style of government is not democracy either. The ‘will of the people’ is not supreme; the will of Hashem is! God’s government is usually made up of a leadership teamwork; a group of upright people elected by the congregation. It is to be no less than three people, so a tie vote between them is less likely. Also a man and his wife either tend to have a dominant party or they fan each other, so a couple generally does not provide a good balance for judgment. Also, no one person is perfectly well-rounded so this leadership teamwork should be composed of people exerting different views and ways of looking at things. They should also be filled with a spirit of humility so they can yield to each other’s counsel and advice.

We can see this pattern as God’s leadership all throughout the Scriptures. Even Yeshua used it. He did not keep the whole burden on Himself but established a group of disciples, who also went to preach, exhort, exorcise, and heal people. He even said that they will sit on twelve thrones judging the tribes Israel, so even Yeshua shared the responsibility of judgment. Peter and the disciples later followed that same example and asked the congregation to submit seven people that they could ordain as leaders (Acts 6:1-7). These forms of congregation leadership follow the ‘Jethro’ pattern, and if Yeshua Himself did it, why shouldn’t we?

The answers to that question are varied and can be scary. We will try to answer them in later articles. In the mean time, may God give us leaders, men and women of integrity whose sole desire is to do whatever needs to be done, either it be to step in or to step aside, that His Kingdom be established on earth as it is in Heaven.