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Ki Teitzei (When You Go Forth)
(Sefer Devarim) Deuteronomy 21:10 -
25:19
21:10- "When thou go forth to war
against thine enemies, and YHVH thy
Elohim has delivered them into
thine hands, and thou hast taken
them captive,
11-
And see among the captives a beautiful
woman, and has a desire unto her, that
thou would have
her to thy wife;
12-
Then
thou shall bring her home to thine
house; and she shall shave her head, and
pare her nails;
13-
And
she shall put the raiment of her
captivity from off her, and shall remain
in thine house, and
bewail her father and her mother
a full month: and after that thou shall
go in unto her, and be her
husband, and she shall be thy
wife.
15-
If a
man have two wives, one beloved, and
another hated, and they have born him
children, both
the beloved and the hated; and
if the firstborn son be hers that was
hated:
16-
Then it shall be, when he makes his sons
to inherit that which he has, that he
may not make the
son of the beloved firstborn
before the son of the hated, which is
indeed the firstborn:
17-
But he shall acknowledge the son of the
hated for the firstborn, by giving him a
double portion of
all that he has: for he is the
beginning of his strength; the right of
the firstborn is his.
22:22- If a man be found lying with a
woman married to an husband, then they
shall both of them die,
both the man that lay with the
woman, and the woman: so shall thou put
away evil from Yisrael.
23-
When a damsel, a virgin, is betrothed to
a husband, and a man find her in the
city and lie with her;
24-
Then ye shall bring them both out unto
the gate of that city, and ye shall
stone them with stones
that they die; the damsel,
because she cried not, being in the
city; and the man, because he has
humbled his neighbor's wife: so
thou shall put away evil from among you.
25-
But if a man find a betrothed damsel in
the field, and the man force her, and
lie with her: then the
man only that lay with her shall
die:
23:17- There shall be no whore of the
daughters of Yisrael, nor a sodomite of
the sons of Yisrael.
18-
Thou shall not bring the hire of a
whore, or the price of a dog, into the
house of YHVH thy Elohim
for any vow: for even both these
are abomination unto YHVH thy Elohim.
21-
When thou shall vow a vow unto YHVH thy
Elohim, thou shall not slack to pay it:
for YHVH thy
Elohim will surely require it of
thee; and it would be sin in thee.
25:5- If brethren dwell together,
and one of them die, and have no child,
the wife of the dead shall not
marry without unto a stranger:
her husband's brother shall go in unto
her, and take her to him to
wife, and perform the duty of an
husband's brother unto her.
6-
And it shall be, that the firstborn
which she bears shall succeed in the
name of his brother which
is dead, that his name be not
put out of Yisrael.
17- Remember what Amalek did unto thee
by the way, when ye were come forth out
of Egypt;
18-
How he met thee by the way, and smote
the hindmost of thee, even all that were
feeble behind
thee, when thou was faint and
weary; and he feared not Elohim.
19-
It shall be that when YHVH thy Elohim
has given thee rest from all thine
enemies round about
the land which YHVH thy Elohim
gives thee for an inheritance to possess
it, that thou shall blot
out the remembrance of Amalek
from under heaven; thou shall not forget
it."
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"And I find more bitter than
death the woman, whose heart is
snares and nets, her hands,
bands: whoso pleases Elohim
shall escape from her; but the
sinner shall be taken by her."
(Ecclesiastes 7:26)
"The mouth of strange women is a
deep pit: he that is abhorred of
YHVH shall fall therein."
(Proverbs 22:14)
"Such is the way of an
adulterous woman; she eats, and
wipes her mouth, and says, I
have
done no wickedness."
(Proverbs 30:20)
"Give not thy strength unto
women, nor thy ways to that
which destroys kings."
(Proverbs 31:3)
"Can a man take fire in his
bosom, and his clothes not be
burned? Can one go upon hot
coals, and his feet not be
burned? So he that goes in to
his neighbor's wife; whosoever
touches her shall not be
innocent."
(Proverbs 6:27-29)
"But whoso commits adultery with
a woman lacks understanding: he
that does it,
destroys his own soul."
(Proverbs 6:32)
"For man also knows not his
time: as the fishes that are
taken in an evil net, and as the
birds that are caught in the
snare; so are the sons of men
snared in an evil time, when it
falls suddenly upon them."
(Ecclesiastes
9:12)
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Ki Teitzei
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Summary:
1. Going Forth in the Harmony
Befitting a Bride of Eternity :
Understanding that with His people's
progression into a new land and with it,
the inevitability of the encounter with
foreign women, HaShem makes use of the
physical attraction between a man and a
woman to make clear an eternal
principal, i.e. the relationship of the
Creator and the created. It is in
parasha Ki Teitsei that sexual conduct
and responsibility are unambiguously
addressed. Indeed, it is fitting for a
man to marry, as Proverbs 18:22
unabashedly declares:
"Whoso finds a wife finds a good
thing, and obtains favor of YHVH."
However, the point of marriage and
companionship was never intended to be a
means to an end but rather to illustrate
an even greater reality of the union
that is to be enjoyed between mankind
and El Shaddai. Unlike this present
world, which glorifies fleeting sexual
appeal through the false premise that
self-indulgence is the ultimate reality,
the Torah and the prophets bring the
household of Faith to a more sublime
conclusion:
Life is actually granted to embrace the
highest degree of love, that with our
Maker, the King of the Universe.
In Songs of Songs 6:3, the
message from the other side of Heaven
resounds melodiously, whispering:
"I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved
is mine: He feeds among the lilies."
Encrypted in this sensual ode,
describing Shlomo HaMelech and the
Shulamite damsel, is the supernal love
which can be demonstrated if and when
the Torah of HaShem is given authority
in an earthly marital bond. To best
epitomize the heart to heart connection
that has been proposed from the Eternal,
the sons of Yisrael have been called to
the responsibility to accurately reflect
the mystery between the soul and the Ein
Sof, viz., He who is without end. Among
the criteria is a compassionate code,
embracing the vulnerability of a woman
through faithfulness and patience.
Be it the union of a bride of
conquest, along with the month given her
to overcome resultant shock, or the
promises reserved to the firstborn, the
children of Yisrael were to model a
sacred trust that exists between HaShem
and the nation. Just as Leah, though
eclipsed in predilection by Rachel, was
granted Heaven's prominence throughout
the ages with Yehudah, the son of the
"hated", destined to lead the tribes, so
would Am Yisrael forever retain its
preeminence among the nations, as it is
written in
Isaiah 54:5-7:
"For thy Maker is thine husband;
YHVH Tzivaot is His name; and thy
Redeemer the Holy One of
Yisrael; The Elohim of the whole earth
shall he be called. For YHVH has
called thee as a woman
forsaken and grieved in spirit,
and a wife of youth, when thou
was refused, says thy Elohim. For a
small moment have I forsaken thee; but
with great mercies will I gather thee."
2. Rules of Engagement, Blameless
Behavior Behooves Betrothal:
While the promises given to
Yisrael are established forever
corporately, there are surely
individual consequences for a history
of reckless behavior demonstrated
through an adulterous heart. With the
Holy call to emulate a faithful bride,
the Torah is poignant about spiritual
fidelity. So clear are the intents for
the sons of Yaakov to walk in holiness
as Leviticus 20:10 lays down the
law governing this spiritual challenge:
"And the man that commits adultery
with another man's wife, even he that
commits adultery with his
neighbor's wife, the adulterer
and the adulteress shall surely be put
to death."
Having received the promise of betrothal
and the hope of a future glory, those
who accept HaShem's offer must now
demonstrate a conduct befitting this
glorious matrimony. It's time to put
away the foolishness of fleshly
fascinations which this corrupt
generation flings before us. We must
let go of our adulterous ways which
provoke the Sovereign One to reconsider
our worth. Rather, let us consider the
crafty ways of the adversary who waves
wells without water before our wandering
eyes, as it is written in Genesis 3:1
"Now the serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which YHVH Elohim
had made. And he
said unto the woman, Yea, has
Elohim said, Ye shall not eat of every
tree of the garden?"
Remembering one ancient tragedy, 1
Chronicles 5:1-2 recalls the forfeiture
of glory due to carnal lusts:
"Now the sons of Reuven the firstborn
of Yisrael, (for he was the firstborn;
but, forasmuch as he
defiled his father's bed,
his birthright was given unto the sons
of Yoseph the son of Yisrael: and
the genealogy is not to be reckoned
after the birthright. For Yehudah
prevailed above his brethren,
and of him came the chief ruler; but
the birthright was Yoseph's." |
