In My Statutes

• Posted on JunpmThu, 02 Jun 2016 12:50:15 -05002016-06-02T12:50:15-05:0012 17, 2016
• in Bechukotai, Bible, God, Hebrew, Messiah, Study, Torah, Yeshua
• by Hallelujah Girl

---

Help me to succeed, and grant me the wisdom to understand and to fulfill the words of Your Torah. Protect me from my inadvertent mistakes, and cleanse my mind and thoughts to serve you. ~Prayer at the completion of the Priestly Blessing)

“Protect me from inadvertent mistakes,” The importance of this prayer lies in the realization that only G-d can accomplish this for us. Man cannot avoid all errors. When man cannot tolerate criticism he could learn to become a perfectionist. Trying to do our best is a good thing, but mistakes will occur. Mistakes are not pleasant, but they are not devastating. By asking the Holy One to protect us from our mistakes, we realize the reality of our humanness.

“If you will go (halak) in My statutes (Bechukotai) and you will observe (sh’mar) My commandments(mitzvah) and perform (asah) them” ~Leviticus 26:3

Welcome to the final portion of the book of Leviticus. Bechukotai meaning, “In My statutes”, begins at Leviticus 26 : 3 and finishes up at Leviticus 27:34.   A large portion of Parashah Bechukotai deals with the blessings that the nation will receive as a result of there adherence to the Torah. The parashah then proceeds to relate the rebuke that numbers the curses and misfortunes that will fall upon Israel if they stray from the Holy One’s decrees.

Clearly the Holy One has laid out two pathways of life and we and our households must choose which we will take. The Bridegrooms Pathway, which is narrow but promises mind blowing, ever expanding harvests of blessing. It is the path of the King, the one where we sh’ma the Good Shepherds voice, trust His rod and His staff. The other pathway is one of Self Will and Calamity. It is a broad path chosen by the multitudes. The chaos will be frightening at times, along this journey there are guaranteed many difficult challenges, deprivation and disasters.

We learned in the beginning of the book of Leviticus that these are the words the Holy One spoke to Moses to instruct His Bride, the children of Israel, how He desired to dwell with Him and with each other in His Garden. Now we find ourselves at the close of the book the church calls the law and how does it end? With a very detailed list of blessings if you choose that narrow path and an unfortunate list of curses for those on the Self Will pathway.

In My statutes” or  bechukotai is from the root verb chaqaq (khaw-kak), חקה, meaning to cut in, inscribe, decree or engraved upon. The first we find this word is in Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not pass from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff (chaqaq)  from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs will come.”

“go” is translated from the verb root halak (haw-lak) meaning to go, come, walk. This word has so many definitions in Strongs that you might be good to say, Everything you believe/think/imagine doing to everything you can physically do, This is how we are to Live, Think, Speak, and Act should be done ~In Torah!  We first find halak in Genesis 2:14, “The name of the third river is Tigris—it runs (halak) east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. Today the Tigris River forms the eastern boundary of Mesopotamia (meaning, in Greek, “between the rivers”), which is part of the “Fertile Crescent.” It is an ancient river that can have a tendency to flood regularly,  indicating it’s fast flowing waters. Rigorously may be how the Holy One intended us to go or walk in His Statutes.  Behaving casually with the Father, after all,  is not in the blessing section of the chapter.

“Observe” is derived from the word sh’mar (shaw-mar), שמר, meaning to keep watch, preserve, value, cherish, guard, keep watch over, and to do. Genesis 2: 15 is the first we find this word in scripture and can best define it. ” Then the Holy One took the man and gave him rest in the Garden of Eden in order to cultivate it and watch over it (sh’mar).” We are also told to “perform” or asah (aw-saw), עשה. Asah means accomplish, build, construct, give form/shape/substance to. Back to Genesis for asah’s debut, Genesis 1:7, “So the Holy One made (asah) the expanse and it seperated the water that was below the expanse from the water that was over the expanse. And it happened so.” 

“Commandments”  or mitzvah (mits-vah) come from the root word tzavah (tzaw-vaw), צוה . The hebrew letters tsade, vav, hey make up the word tzavah. Tsade represents a man bending in submission to the Holy One upon His life. The vav is a connecting device such as a peg or a nail. The letter hey is a picture of a window which allows two way vision (one can see in or look outside). Together we see connection between decision to submit to the Holy One with tangible visible actions and revealing to the world that the decision has been made. By adding the prefix of the letter mem with its picture of flowing water,  makes mitzvah an ongoing,  living process.

The blueprint or map are the statutes the Holy One desires us to walk. They are right here, in Torah. Rigorously keeping in step with with Him and His ways. Keeping, watching, preserving His Commandments and bringing them to life every day. This is the Bridal Covenant that our Messiah Yeshua fulfilled. Perfection is never going to happen until that day when there is no more sin, but doing our best is a delight to the King.

May your family and your house, each day and at all times, bear the Covenant!

Shalom, Happy Day,

Hallelujah Girl

Tags: #ReadYourBible #ItsAllAboutYeshua #TorahIsTruth, Bechukotai