B.

Scott 8/25/12

Shoftim 2012
This weeks Torah portion, Shoftim/Judges covering Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9 is a portion that covers an area that for the most part as believers we have misunderstood and mishandled. Its within this passage that the command is given for judges and officers to be appointed at the gates. In fact, throughout the whole portion, the significant role of the judges and officers continues to be brought up. Its also no coincidence that this portion is falling in the time frame of the 6th month of Elul, a month associated with purging and judging! Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges: Strongs #8199 shaphat to judge, govern, vindicate, punish The 2 letter root comes from #7779 shuwph to bruise or crush; describes the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise (shuwph) thy head, and thou shalt bruise (shuwph) his heel. & is attached to the = serpent Enmity: Strongs #342 eybah enmity, hatred; root (#14) to be willing, to consent & inserted in the middle is the = reference to Yahweh There is something to do with sitting as a judge within the gates and the enmity between the seeds! Sitting as a judge marks you as one who has consented willingly to Yahweh and by walking out the role of the shaphat/judge you are one who crushes and bruises the head of the serpent! *The role of the judges is one specifically involved in the battle between the two seeds! The reason is because of where they are stationed at the gates. o Genesis 22:17, speaking to Abraham thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; o Genesis 24:60, speaking to Rebekah and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. The gates play an intricate part in this battle, and the seed of Abraham (the Hebrews) have been called to be judges and officers within them this is how we possess the gates! Possess: Strongs #3423 yarash to seize, dispossess, take possession of, inherit, occupy; this term is usually in connection with the idea of conquering a land, in particular where Yahwehs promise of a covenant relationship is directly related to Israelite possession of the land of Israel (possession of the land was directly connected to a persons relationship with Yahweh, breaking the covenant lead to dispossession). *Possessing the gates as judges and officers, or the failure to do so, is 1

also directly connected to where we stand in covenant with Yahweh Officers: Strongs #7860 shoter official, officer, a scribe; from an unused root meaning to write *Its on the gates that the Words of Yahweh are to be written! Deuteronomy 6:9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. The position of a judge goes hand in hand with that of a scribe one who has written the Torah! Were being given qualifications for whom Yahweh sees fit to be stationed at the gates. Both the word judges ( & )the word officers ( )contain the root a defection, a revolt; added to this is the of shaphat & the of shoter = the fruit or the offering of our lips. Hosea 14:2 Take with you words, and turn to Yahweh: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive [us] graciously: so will we render the calves/par of our lips. Its at the gates where one who has been involved in defection and revolt now has the opportunity to make the Torah the fruit of their lips! And its from the gates that the Torah is now proclaimed out! *This is why the gates are connected with the battle the gates become the location where the Word/Seed is released and received! This is the significance of leaders who understand and have written the Torah in their lives being stationed at the gates because its their responsibility to make sure that the WORD is going forth offering those who have strayed an opportunity to make teshuva! In the Hebrew this verse has 17 words and 64 letters. 17 = 17) th letter) mouth, speech, words & 64 = to judge, contend, plead; ( dalal) to hang, languish, hang down, be low; its the root of the name Delilah the door ( )to darkness ( ( & rest, quiet, to settle down, resting place *Unlike what weve done in the past as weve judged matters and it has resulted in division, hurt, and destruction opening the door to darkness causing the Bride to be brought low, the goal in sitting at the gates as judges deals with our mouths speaking forth a word that brings rest to the house instead! The failure to do this puts us in the same category as the serpent whose words as well opened the door to darkness and therefore we fail as one whos supposed to be possessing the gates of our enemies! Deuteronomy 16:19 Respect: Strongs #5234 nakar 1 )to recognize, acknowledge, know, respect, discern 2) to act or treat foreign or strange, to disguise, misconstrue, to estrange

Persons: Strongs #6440 paniym face; a term connected with being in the presence of Yahweh, an intimate term (paniym al paniym face to face, like a husband and wife) *One of the commands concerning being a fit judge and officer is that our rulings cause the face/presence of Yahweh to be recognized/acknowledged/known! If we treat our fellow mishpocha as foreigners/strangers weve in effect caused His face to be hidden from our own selves because our relationships with each other are a reflection of our relationship with Him! Take: Strongs #3947 laqach a wife

to take, get, fetch, to bring, marry, to take

Gift: Strongs #7810 shachad present, bribe; = to destroy, to consume & = root meaning oneness, united, unity, root of echad *Its our responsibility to not allow anything in/accept it if its something thats going to destroy the unity of the camp! This is the role of the judges and officers. And if we are allowing these things within the camp, then its affecting our status and eligibility of one who is fit to be taken in marriage, those who are fit to be the bride of Messiah! The focus is not placed upon those that are coming in their sin to the gates; the focus is instead upon those that are sitting in this position of authority! Were required to first judge ourselves and make sure we line up before we can truly be one who is possessing the gates! Blind: Strongs #5786 avar to blind, make blind, put out the eyes of; from #5785 owr skin, hide Hebrew word play with owr light *Allowing the unity of the camp to be destroyed is causing us to become blind towards His light! After all, the gates are where the WORD/Light go forth! This is exactly what happened to Samson, a judge of Israel, when he chose as well to open the door to darkness to lay in the lap of Delilah, his eyes were put out! Samson: Strongs #8123 Shimshown like the sun; the light was put out. Samson was the son of Manoah rest *Notice the parallels, Samson a judge meant to sit in the gates, allowed the light to be put out when he instead opened the door that led to darkness instead of fulfilling his role in order to bring rest and peace to the people! How many of us have been putting the light out as well? Now lets take a look at where we are to be stationed, the gates! Whats the significance of this location? Gates: Strongs #8179 shaar gate; from #8176 shaar to split open, reason, calculate, reckon, to estimate

*It is here that everything that attempts to gain access into the house/camp must pass through and the judges/officers are to split open (to inspect), to calculate and estimate what are the benefits or the consequences for this coming in the house! Other related words continue to reveal the significance of these gates! o #7603 seor leaven; often used as a type of sin The gates control the leaven, hence the reason as potential bridal candidates we must be in possession of the gates so that a little bit of leaven doesnt have the chance to leaven the whole lump! o #8181 sear hair; hair in the Torah is a physical example that teaches us of our spiritual covering! The hair of the adulterous woman is let down as she approaches the gate (Numbers 5:18) pointing towards the fact that she has removed herself out from under the covering of her covenant. *This is why the commandments are to be written on the gates, its the covering for all those that sit there so that they arent found in the position of one who is the adulterous bride! Yet the failure to possess the gates and be under this covering leaves us approaching as the adulteress! The gates are connected with the posts in Deut. 6:9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. Posts: Strongs #4201 mezuwzah doorpost, gatepost; the root of a shekel; both doorposts then together would be + = shekel! shekel is the price of redemption! Its by coming to the gates/doorposts that we are in effect accepting the price thats been paid for our redemption! *Psalm 24:7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Lift up: Strongs #5375 nasa to lift up, bear, carry, take Heads: Strongs #7218 rosh head, top, summit This same phrase nasa rosh is also seen when the children of Israel are numbered in Exodus 30:12 When thou takest/nasa the sum/rosh of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto Yahweh *The ransom was a shekel! The King of Glory is coming to those who are stationed at the gates as the judges and officers, with the covenant as their covering and who have accepted their redemption price, no longer choosing to come before him as an adulteress! The first time the term shaar/gate is used is in Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing [them] rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face

toward the ground; Lot: Strongs #3876 Lowt covering; from #3874 luwt to wrap closely or tightly, enwrap, to envelop; he represents the covering of the flesh (carnal fallen man) Sodom: Strongs #5467 Cedom burning; from an unused root meaning to scorch; notice the 2 letter root at the front of this word #5465) )stocks for the feet, shackles & = womb, closed mem representing a virtuous woman/virgin Sodom is always linked with the city of Gomorrah! Gomorrah: Strongs #6017 Amorah submersion; from #6014 amar to treat as a slave, to bind, to treat a person harshly without humane consideration, without compassion Cognate of #559 amar to say, speak, utter *As those in covenant with Yahweh, its our responsibility to possess the gates and write His commandments upon them to be the covering for all those that come in. By doing so we present ourselves as the virtuous bride! Yet Lot chose to remain under his fleshly sin covering and as one who sat in the gates it shackled all the rest under that covering from being part of the virtuous bride. The words that went forth from these gates instead of bringing rest and unity and peace brought slavery and bound the people! Its no coincidence that this portion falls during the sixth month of Elul, a month of purging to prepare the Bride of Messiah. This month falls under the constellational sign of Bethulah/Virgo, the virgin. The heavenly sign reminds us that in order to be the bethulah, the virgin prepared for the wedding ceremony of the fall festivals, we must first choose to have the Words of Yahweh written upon our gates as our covering, possessing the gates as we stand as judges and officers that proclaim His Word causing the house to make teshuva, to repent and return! Another word for judge is #1777 diyn to judge, contend, plead; = door = Yahweh & = life; its in the judgments that are passed in the camp that the door to the life available from Yahweh is opened! The Torah teaches us the higher goal of the judges and officers to cause the house to be united in teshuva, striving together to be ready to welcome in the King of Glory!