Leaping for Joy

Let us open our Bibles to Exodus 21. What we have in these next four chapters are numerous laws covering many different areas of life, and while they seem scattered and often unrelated, there is one thing, one feeling we get when they are read together: a strong sense of fairness, justice and of love.

Love of our neighbor, the brotherly love of Philadelphia; it is this love that is enmeshed with a constant concern for the well-being of the one next-door. These laws remind us that we live in a society and that the reader, in particular the believer in Yeshua, is to be reminded that he is the light of the world. He is prompted to recall the reason for his stay and journey on earth: that is to serve, to bless and as King David put it, to bring sinners to be converted to God (Psalm 51:13).

There is one law I want to share with you, one that really stands out from all of them, having such deep implications for the value of life; it is the law concerning a pregnant woman.

See what the law says: it is in Exodus 21:22-23. “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. “But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life.”  The original text is considered one of the most complicated to understand. Can we, for instance, conclude from this verse that abortion is murder? Some did, some could not. Rabbis are usually silent on this matter.

But we may not be asking the right question. While the passage does not really speak specifically about abortion there is something that the text highlights concerning the immense importance of the fetus and of the woman who is carrying that baby.

How is it that in this sea of so many laws, suddenly, a case involving a pregnant woman is brought to our attention: it is because it matters much to God. We see that He considers the fetus as a child, for this is how He calls this living entity.

In the words, gives birth, it is literally; gives a child, yeled. Even if she gives birth prematurely, no matter at what stage of fetal development, this word yeled is used for a son or a daughter of even one grown up. In Genesis 4:23 Lamech speaks of the young man, yeled, who wounded him, implying a certain strength and maturity on the part of this yeled to be able to wound another.

And there are other passages in the Scriptures where the Lord demonstrates that the fetus is considered a living entity with personality and sensitivity to its environment. When Miriam was pregnant with Yeshua and came to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was already pregnant with John the Baptist, we read how John who was then only a fetus reacted to the presence of Yeshua in Luke 1: 41, When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Inanimate objects cannot be filled with joy and even less so, leap for joy at the knowledge of the presence of the Messiah. The fetus then is considered a human being with feelings. And when David meditated on the wonder of the formation of the fetus, he said: I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, My frame was not hidden from You.  Psalm139:14-15

See the words wonderfully made. This is one word in the Hebrew, palah, which speaks of something that is so marvelous and magnificent, from where we get one of the names of God, one we sing every Christmas found in Isaiah 9:6… And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Here, wonderful is peleh, a derivative of palah. This word is used as if to remind us that a child, a fetus is formed, weaved in the image of God. This law about a pregnant woman brings us then to remember the great miracle of Yeshua’s birth.

But is it not strange that this particular law comes right the giving of the 10 Commandments and the giving of the Book of the Covenant? What is also significant is that the whole law ends with a direct mention of the Messiah who is the end of the law as Paul, who was a Pharisees, tells us in Romans 10:4, For the Messiah is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

The Greek word end is telos and here it means a goal. So then, the goal of the law was to see the Messiah Himself. The law was not an end in itself, but it was intended to bring one to faith in the Messiah in whom we have salvation and forgiveness of sin; and this is the message that is given to us right here in Exodus 23: 20-22 where the LORD Himself speaks, “Behold, I am going to send a Messenger before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your sins, since My name is in him”.

Now, who is the Messenger? Your translation may have the word angel, (Heb/ malach). While this word today has come to designate the angels in heaven, this is not the case in the Bible. A malach is one who is sent to bring a message. It is from the word laach meaning to depute, to send, very much like the word apostle in the New Testament.

Who then is this Individual that the LORD declared Him to bear His name? Did He not say in Isaiah 42:8a, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another?”  Who is this whom the LORD asks Israel to obey His voice otherwise, He will not pardon you sins.” Isn’t it God only who can pardon sin?

Judging from their commentaries, the rabbis were very uneasy with this passage. The Talmud and many others say that this is Metatron. (B. Talmud Sanhedrin 38B). But who is Metatron? It is a name, an individual they created to justify the different theophanies occurring in the Hebrew Scriptures. Rashi, a well-known and respected medieval Jewish commentator wrote: Our Sages say: This is Metatron, whose name is like that of his Master. And the Talmud gives a reason: The numerical value of “Metatron” is the same as “Shaddai.”

But see how they needed to create an individual to replace those powerful passages which point to the divine manifestation of the Messiah? Two prominent rabbis, Nahmanides and Maimonides identifies him as the God of Jacob in Gen. 31:11-13,“Then the Angel of God said to me in the dream… ‘I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me”.

In this name Metatron some see a Greek explanation: meta meaning after and thronos meaning throne. We may understand that it is God’s manifestation away from His throne, for the name of God is in Him, as if to say He is God Himself.  In Hebrew some interpretated the name as the one who shows the way referring to the Words of God in vs.23 where we read My Messenger will go before you (Nahmanides). How fitting that the Law ends with Him who fulfilled it for us.

Click Here for the Teaching: Exodus, Sermon 24: The Law of Love