Congregation Beth Ha'Mashiach
(House of the Messiah) - Worshipping ADONAI
& His Messiah, Yeshua Ha'Mashiach
Living & teaching as our
Messiah taught us to Live
Messianic
Congregation serving Northeast Atlanta Georgia (Gwinnett, Barrow, Dekalb,
Rockdale, Walton)
Phone 770
554-2867 - email:
rabbi@cbhm.org
Ki Tetze – כי תצא : “When you go” Torah : Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19 Haftarah : Isaiah 54:1–10 Gospel : Acts 13–15
A Glutton and a Drunkard
Thought for the Week:
This commandment, however, reminds us that before God, we are all “stubborn and rebellious” sons and daughters. We are wayward at heart and disobedient to our Father in Heaven. As a result, we have all
merited a death sentence before the heavenly court.
Commentary:
One of the troubling laws of the Torah is the commandment of the rebellious son in Deuteronomy 21:18–21. The Torah says that if a son refuses to heed his parents and indulges in a life of lasciviousness, the
parents are to bring him to the elders of the city and have him tried and stoned. Obviously, this is an adult son still under the authority of his father’s house—in other words, a teenager. The Torah lists five
qualifications. The son must be stubborn, rebellious, disobedient, a glutton and a drunkard.
In Luke 7:34, the Master alludes to this passage when He says, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard…’” These are two of the criteria the Torah
requires for putting a rebellious son to death. In reality, the Master was neither a drunkard nor a glutton. In this passage, Yeshua was contrasting His approach to piety with that of John the Immerser. Unlike
Yeshua, John practiced a severe asceticism. He ate only locusts and honey. The Master ate and drank freely. The same people who criticized Yeshua for eating and drinking freely regarded John’s behavior as
demonic. Regarding John’s asceticism, Yeshua remarked, “For John the Immerser has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’” (Luke 7:33) In other words, the opponents of the
gospel of repentance dismissed John on the basis that he was an ascetic, and they dismissed Yeshua because He was not an ascetic. Accusing Yeshua of being a glutton and drunkard, the enemies of His message
attempted to associate Him with the rebellious son of Deuteronomy 21.
The commandment to stone a stubborn and rebellious son has a reputation of being one of the harshest commands of Torah. The sages teach that this commandment was never actually carried out. Instead it
represented an extreme standard that was a warning to parents to raise their children in an upright manner. That might seem harsh too, but it is a reminder of the reality of the human condition. We are all
doomed rebels before God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
Yet in order that we might be spared, God has given His own Son, His submitted and obedient Son, to face that death penalty on our behalf. Paul says that, “the free gift of God is eternal life in the Messiah
Yeshua our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) What reversal of expectation that the only Son of God, utterly obedient to the Father, received the penalty due the rebellious son!
Shadows of the Messiah "things into which angels long to look." (1 Peter 1:12)
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