Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Ladder Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times that we're living in. Today, I want to deal with a topic that is grossly misunderstood by most Christians. It's called Torah 101: The Way God Disciplines.

Today, in part one, I'm going to focus on the blessings God promises. Next time, in part two, I'll deal with the admonitions and warnings and why most believers are not experiencing the blessings He promised. First, I need to lay a foundation of Hebrew concepts and terminology that may be new to you.

Because Christianity was severed from our Jewish roots in the third century, there is much about our Heavenly Father that we simply do not understand. Seeing Him through the eyes of our Jewish forefathers is critical because they were the ones He charged with teaching the world all about Him.

The primary resource I'll be referring to is a five-volume set called the Chumash, which is the Torah with an interlinear translation from Hebrew to English and commentary from the most recognized Jewish scholars, known collectively as the Sages. My Chumash is the Schottenstein Edition, and I'll be reading from the volume on Leviticus.

Guest (Female): I have to admit that when I first began studying Judaism in 2006, I didn't understand all the fuss about these Sages and why their opinions mattered so much. Only recently have I come to appreciate their significance. You see, there were no concordances in the early days, and after the temples were destroyed, there was a tremendous need to pass down God's ways accurately, to know how to interpret the Torah and fulfill their covenant with God as Jews.

The scholars who were regarded as Sages could look at a word or a phrase, for instance, and recite from memory all the other references in the Scriptures where that word or phrase was used. Their level of understanding God's Word was truly God-given.

Candace Long: Let's talk about two foundational words and concepts for a minute. The first is the word mishpatim. It is typically translated into English as "judgments." The mishpatim, which is plural for mishpat, are one of the four major pillars of Jewish doctrine. They make up the entire judiciary record of divine law.

These are the formal recorded decrees and verdicts that God made over the course of raising up His people. They are very important to God. This is His judiciary record. Leviticus 19:37 reads, "You shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, My mishpatim, and do them. I am the Lord."

Here's why this is important: By understanding the mishpatim, we can know for a certainty, 100 percent, how God will deal with someone's actions and how He dispenses discipline. It's not a fuzzy thing. His judicial ways are concrete and certain, and they govern His kingdom.

We have to understand, though, that God's discipline is not just an Old Testament thing. On the contrary, it is foundational to the familiar passage in Hebrews 12. Let me refresh your memory. And when I read the word "sons," I'm referring, of course, also to daughters.

"Quote: Do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose courage when you are punished by Him. For the Lord disciplines him whom He loves and chastises every son whom He receives. What son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, then you are illegitimate children. He disciplines us for our good. Later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Unquote."

A second term I want to teach you is a Hebrew phrase, middah keneged middah. It literally means "measure for measure," and it has to do with the fairness and absolute justice of God's discipline. As the Sages point out, His discipline is always measured fairly and proportionally to the sin.

Here are a couple of examples you're familiar with. First, when the spies were given 40 days to search out the land, they came back and gave a terrible report, badmouthing the land that God had promised. The discipline God measured out? They were made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years—one year of punishment for each day they trashed God's provision. Middah keneged middah.

In another example, the Jews were instructed in Leviticus 25 and 26 to give the land a Sabbath rest every seventh year. Now, failure to do so would result in exile, period. God laid out clearly the admonition and warning in the Torah. They had been in the land for roughly 800 years, and for 490 years, they did not honor the Sabbath rest for the land.

Jeremiah prophesied the nation would go into captivity. For how long? For 70 years. Middah keneged middah. Now, these two terms teach us lessons in how to apply the Torah to your life. And understanding them, you'll be able to track down sorrows that you may have brought on yourself and never really realized it.

But once you see it, you are able to repent for those sins, bring them before God, ask forgiveness, and begin to make proper restitution. The consequences will still be there, but you will be able to continue walking uprightly before the Lord in peace.

Not long ago, I was having lunch with two of my students. One of them, who is newly retired, was telling me about the volunteer work she was doing mentoring women who are dealing with an unwanted pregnancy. She revealed that early in her marriage, she got pregnant, and during a prenatal test, the doctor discovered a genetic defect in the fetus.

She ended up having an abortion, not realizing the deep wound that would result—a wound that she ended up stuffing deep inside her for years and years. Only recently had she begun to open up with others and admit her sin and shared how much this volunteer work has meant to her.

She is realizing that God used her confession of terminating a life to make restitution by pouring her life into helping others, and she is healing as a result. That's the heart of God: to restore His children to wholeness when we respond properly to the parameters and fairness of His discipline.

Now, remember Psalm 89:14 that says, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne." God has to uphold His pillars of what is righteous and just. That's where He rules. And these attributes are what divine justice really is. But the last phrase of that psalm is important, too.

It says, "Mercy and truth go before Your face." The principle is that although the Almighty is absolutely just, He is also merciful. Just the other day, as I was preparing for this episode, the Lord brought to mind something I did over 50 years ago that opened the door for me to reap something awful in my later years.

He didn't show me this to shame me but to illustrate that what I'm teaching is His truth—that when we want to serve Him, but we go outside His spiritual laws, He disciplines us measure for measure, just like He does with everyone else.

Now, the bulk of this teaching comes from the Torah portion on Leviticus 26 called Bechukotai, which means "in My statutes." I want to read you how the Sages introduce this section.

Quote: "Leviticus 26 begins the idyllic blessings that await the Jewish people if they live up to their covenant with God and are thus worthy of God's esteem. It then proceeds to the admonitions, a sobering account of warnings, punishments, frustrations, and curses that will be the outcome of any attempt to destroy the covenant."

"Nachmanides notes that the original covenant between God and Israel as a nation was made by the revelation at Sinai and the subsequent 40 days during which God taught the Torah to Moses. Moses recorded these teachings in the Book of the Covenant, Exodus, and ratified that covenant by means of offerings on behalf of the nation. But the people broke the covenant by building and worshipping the golden calf, causing Moses to break the tablets."

"After God accepted Moses' prayers and called him to receive the second tablets and be taught the Torah once more, it was necessary to ratify the covenant anew. This time, it was ratified not by means of offerings but by the stringent warnings of this chapter, which makes it starkly clear that not only Israel's prosperity but its very survival depends on loyalty to God and His commands." Unquote.

Candace Long: Let me make a little commentary here. The Torah is the essence of who God is and contains the foundational principles that govern His kingdom. So, giving the Torah to His people was why He delivered them from Egypt, to come meet with Him for that purpose.

This was what the people agreed to and were honored by this unspeakable privilege. They accepted His invitation and willingly chose to be set apart from all the other nations, to belong to God Himself, to be entrusted with His ways and teach them to the whole world, to us. So, the betrothal at Mount Sinai was a serious and everlasting covenant.

Now, what many believers fail to see is that everything God gave the people in the Torah were divinely imposed obligations to teach Israel how to fulfill their part of the covenant. All of the so-called commandments were not random. They were not suggestions. They were and are the operating system for His kingdom, and they reflect who He is.

Another thing that we miss is that this divine impartation called for Moses to fast for 40 days three different times, back to back. The first 40 days was receiving the tablets and learning the Torah. The second time, after the golden calf incident, Moses was on his face before God, pleading that He would not obliterate the people in His anger.

And the third time was when he went back up the mountain to receive the second tablets and learn the Torah all over again. He was so immersed in God's presence that Moses went 120 days without food and water for our behalf.

Leviticus 26 opens with a long list of blessings. There are 10 verses compared with 29 warnings that follow. Now, many interpret this as saying that there are more curses than blessings, but the Sages note that the blessings were given in general terms, whereas the curses were given in great detail to communicate to the people a sense of awe for the holiness of God. Here's the passage about the blessings, starting with Leviticus 26:3.

Guest (Female): "If you walk in My decrees and My commandments and observe and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. And your threshing shall last to the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely."

"And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove evil beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through it. And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword."

"And I will have regard for you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm My covenant with you. And you shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. And I will make My abode among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be My people."

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt that you should not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect." Unquote.

Candace Long: Now, this sounds like the perfect life. Who wouldn't want this? Now, here are a few things I want to comment on. First, there are eight major takeaways that the Sages take special note of. Number one is the provision of seasonal rains. The provision of seasonal rains doesn't refer just to what's needed to irrigate crops, but God's rains do more.

They even out the earth's climate. They fill up the water supply and provide for our health and well-being. Plus, when these rains come, they won't inconvenience us with floods or interrupt the Sabbath. Number two is agricultural prosperity will be so great you will be busy throughout the entire harvest season all the way to the time to sow next year's grain. The ground will produce steadily without interruption.

Number three: What you grow will totally satisfy your appetite. You'll feel full and satisfied even with a small amount. And the Sages make note here that most sickness comes from overeating. Number four: You will dwell so securely in your land that all the people surrounding you will see how different your land is. And miraculously, no other peoples will encroach.

Number five: The peace your land will enjoy will be great, equivalent to all the other blessings combined. Gone will be every stress due to weather disturbances and loss of crops. Number six: No one will come against you to fight. You will have absolutely no need to ever be afraid.

Number seven: Even the oldest grain that you stored up will improve with age. So, between harvest seasons, there will be absolutely no lack and no nutritional loss of the food. And number eight: God's presence will be tangible in many ways. He will literally walk in your land.

A second thing I want to point out is that many believers tend to pull these verses out of context and start declaring them and praying, "Lord, I decree that I will dwell securely in my land and stand on Your promise that I will have every provision I need." Now, I've certainly heard that kind of prayer. But let's see if they're praying in the right way.

I want you to notice that the entire passage about these incredible blessings is predicated on the opening phrase, "If you walk in My decrees and commandments and observe and do them." That's what brings the blessings. So, let's break this down and see who qualifies to receive them.

What does it mean to walk in God's decrees and commandments? The Hebrew word for "walk" is yalak, and it means "to carry, to bear, or bring something forth." What are decrees? The Hebrew word is chukkah, and it means "appointed customs or ordinances." So, what are those? What are we to carry? What are we to bear and bring forth?

The Sages all agree that the word "decrees" refers to God's people engaging in diligent Torah study. Hmm, how well do we do that? And you remember the word for "commandment." The word is mitzvah. And that word is taken from the Hebrew word tzavah, which means "to set something up in order or to establish something."

So, commandments—or mitzvot, which is the word I use—refer to the 613 things that God set up and established as foundational pillars of the way of life for the Jewish people. We know this as Judaism. Uh-oh, so that really narrows down now as to who can receive these blessings.

So, breaking this out properly tells us that they, the blessings, are promised to those who walk through life willing to carry the divinely appointed obligation to diligently study the Torah, honor the Sabbath, celebrate and attend to the festivals, and guard and protect with intention to observe the ways that God set in order for His people.

I gave a homework assignment in one of my courses where I quoted what Jesus said to His disciples in John 15. He said, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love." And I asked my students, what did Jesus mean by that?

No one answered it correctly. Every answer was long and convoluted, but their bottom line was basically saying Jesus did away with the law. He had two commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Now, that is a perfect Hellenistic answer, but it is not a Jewish one.

The key to the answer is the meaning of the word "keep," as in "keep My commandments." That Hebrew word is shamar, which means to guard, to protect, to attend to, and be busy with. That phrase is used 67 times in the Torah alone. "Keep My commandments, keep My charge, keep My ordinances, keep My Sabbath."

Jesus was speaking the Father's language to His disciples. They understood completely what He was saying: "If you do what Moses wrote that the Father has charged you to do, you will abide in My love." It means, very simply, do the Jewish things.

One of my callings is to give you the wake-up call that it is time to get regrafted into the Jewish tree. It is vital that we return to our roots. This was the final exhortation the Father gave us in the book of Malachi to prepare for the 400 silent years between the Old Testament and the coming of Messiah.

The prophet wrote, "Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I set up for him at Mount Sinai for all Israel." God set it up. Moses recorded it for us. Jesus lived it out to the letter. And the question now for followers of Jesus: What will you do? Protect these things and do them, or dismiss them as irrelevant?

I need to say here that this is not an issue that affects your salvation or whether you'll be in the kingdom, but your answer will have an effect on your assignment in helping build the kingdom with Him. What the Lord is looking for is for a recognition that something has been missing, that you see it, and you are willing to take the first step toward reconciliation with our Jewish heritage.

In closing, I want to recommend two resources I believe can help you take that first step. The first is my 17-page monograph called "Jewish Roots: God's Call to Reconnect." It explains step by step how you can begin to incorporate His ways into your life, and you'll find it at candacelong.com/store.

A second resource is a new course called "Navigating the End Times." I'll put a link to it in the description notes to this episode. You can take either the entire course or you can choose one of the seven teaching modules and just start with one.

To share this episode, you'll find it on my podcast page at candacelong.com/podcast. And if you subscribe to my website, you'll stay connected and get updates on the latest resources and training opportunities. I hope you join me next time for The Way God Disciplines, Part 2: The Warnings. I'm Candace Long, and you've been listening to Lessons in the Ladder Days. God bless.