Mishpatim – Congregation Bat-Tzion

Tim Johnson

Feb. 14, 2026

This week’s portion is Mishpatim. This is a wonderful portion of scripture that describes a lot of the righteousness of God that His people are to walk in. It is written in the book of Exodus, and takes place before the Ten Commandments are given.

I have taught this portion at least twice in the past. The first time, I talked about the part where the servant decides to stay with his master. It talks about “Boring a hole through his ear into the door” to show that he now permanently belongs to his master. From there, I went and described the “doulos”, or sold-out bond slave to Messiah from the New Testament that we are called to be.

The next time I taught this portion, I had been thinking about the word “azav”, which means to abandon. So I talked about not abandoning God, and that He promises to not abandon us. From there, I went to a discussion about godliness, which means a true, vital, spiritual relationship with God. Doing things the right way, the way God wants it, from the heart. This is as opposed to religion, which is basically man’s practices trying to do artificial things that seem to us like they would be pleasing to God.

Jeremiah says in chapter 2:

13 For my people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken (azav) me, the spring (fountain) of living waters,

And cut out cisterns for themselves:

Broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

(Scripture quotations are from the NJV Bible (New Jerusalem Version).

This verse is God’s clear way of describing the difference between godliness and religion. We are supposed to be godly, not religious. Going to the fountain of living waters, not hewing out our own cisterns. God will always be there with his living water. By the way, remember Yeshua spoke of living water in:

John 7

37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Ruach, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Ruach HaKodesh was not yet given, because Yeshua was not yet glorified.

So we see from this that what we have today is even better than what was available to believers in the Tanach. Out of our belly shall flow rivers of living water; from the Holy Spirit of God that is within us. That was a promise of Yeshua. The new birth was a new thing he accomplished.

The section of Mishpatim in Exodus, is showing God’s people (of yesterday and today), how to go to the Fountain of Living Waters by walking in His ways.

I don’t know about you, but my flesh gets me “wobbly” from time to time, and wants me to stray away from the righteousness of God, and his ways. It seems tempting sometimes to do things in a way that benefits myself instead of the upright ways that God has instructed me to live.

This week, before I was reading this portion, I was being tempted to lie to Home Depot. You see, we had our friend Jose doing some work in our house, replacing two toilets. But he had accidentally slipped, and broken one of the brand new toilet tanks. So I had gone out and bought another new toilet. I had the notion on the way home of perhaps returning the broken one to Home Depot. It would have been easy to lie, and to say that it was broken when we got it. So I was tempted. I told my wife what I was thinking, and she told me that it would be unethical to do that.

I knew that, but I was tempted anyway.

Then I sat down to read this section, and here, in Exodus, are multitudes of righteous ways of living that God is setting down before the eyes of His people. Here is just one small example:

Exodus 22

4 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten by letting his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard.”

It’s all about responsibility here, and doing the right thing.

This whole section of the Torah is summed up by Yeshua when he said:

Matthew 22

37 Yeshua said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE YHVH YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 A second likewise is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Torah and the Prophets.”

So I repented of my desire to lie, and resigned myself, to do the right thing. I submitted myself to God’s ways, come what may. But then, I had an idea; why not call Home Depot, and see if they’ll take back the toilet anyway? Now you may think me silly, but I’m thinking this may have been the Holy Spirit suggesting to me that I call. So I called. And told them the truth: Jose broke it, can we still exchange it? Lo and behold, they said yes. So it was no problem. Jose, being an honest man, had already said he would take the cost of it out of his pay, but I didn’t want that, and I’m sure he didn’t either. I would have at least shared the cost with him, but thanks to the grace of Home Depot, we were both spared.

I know it’s kind of a silly story, but it made a big difference in my heart to walk uprightly, and not according to my flesh. At first, I didn’t want to do that. Reading the Bible helped me come around to right ways of thinking.

One would think that by now, at this age, we would be beyond all that “temptation” stuff. But we’re not. And the standards of the Torah help us to see the upright ways that we are instructed to walk in. Reading this section of the Torah was not only confrontational to me, but also healing to my heart and soul when I came around to doing the right thing. It’s the right ways, God’s ways that we are to walk in. The problem is, our flesh doesn’t want to do that.

But that’s why we have the Word of God.

II Timothy 3

16 All scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, 17 that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

All scripture. All of it. It’s God-breathed. And that’s literally the way it says it in the Greek. Theo pneustos. God-breathed. And it’s profitable. Profitable for what? For teaching, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And what is the purpose then? That the person who belongs to God… Do you belong to God? I think you do. That that person, who belongs to God, may be complete: Through and through and throughly equipped for every good work.

Following this, in the next verse, Paul continues and says:

II Timothy 4

1 I command you therefore (because we’re equipped for every good work) before God and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who will judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom: 2 proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound teaching, but having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn away to fables. 5 But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.

These are strong words, and we would all do well to heed them. We are in the last days, and people truly are heaping up for themselves teachers after their own lusts. They are indeed turning to fables. But that’s not how the Bible says to do it. We are to proclaim the word. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all patience and teaching… according to the truth of the Word of God. That’s what we are to do. We always notice that it says here to do the work of an evangelist, and that’s true. But it also says that we are to suffer hardship. It’s only recently in my life that I have been realizing that this is a commandment of God, to suffer hardship. We do not always get our way.

From here, I would like to shift gears. Because in our portion, we also have the account of people seeing God. This is many times overlooked because it is so short. I’ll read here the entire chapter. It’s not too long:

Exodus 24

1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to YHVH, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance. 2 Moses alone shall come near to YHVH, but they shall not come near. The people shall not go up with him.”

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of YHVH, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which YHVH has spoken will we do.” 4 Moses wrote down all the words of YHVH, then he rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the sons of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to YHVH. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “We will do all that YHVH has said, and be obedient.” 8 Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which YHVH has made with you concerning all these words.”

9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness. 11 He did not lay his hand on the nobles of the sons of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.

12 Now YHVH said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and mitzvot that I have written, that you may teach them.”

13 Then Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”

15 Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of YHVH settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. 17 The appearance of the glory of YHVH was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel. 18 Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

That was the entire chapter 24 of Exodus. It’s fairly short, and I wanted to give the entire context. This follows all the instructions of the mitzvot that are in the earlier part of this portion.

I guess it always interests me to read about the appearing of God here. There is only one sentence actually describing the scene:

10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.

For those of us who would like to be able to visualize the way things look in heaven, there is not a whole lot of help here. Well, we are told about the floor. And even that is amazing. Sapphires are generally blue. Clear blue, most of them. And that floor looked like it was paved with the sky. What an amazing thing to be able to see. Also, we see here that God has feet. But otherwise, God is not going to go on for chapters describing his abode, or his appearance. We’ll have to wait until later to see that, and I for one am looking forward to it.

There is a small problem here, though. The Gospel of John says that no man has seen God at any time. But here in Exodus it says they saw God and ate and drank. I don’t know what to make of this.

I believe that when we see contradictions in scripture, they are generally due to either problems with the translation or problems with our understanding. I’m thinking this one is an understanding problem. But I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to let this one rest until we understand all things in the future. I will read John here, though, just so we can see it together.

John 1

14 And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we saw his glory; such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of chesed and truth. 15 Yochanan testified about him, and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’” 16 And from his fullness we all received chesed upon chesed. 17 For the Torah was given through Moses; chesed and truth were realized through Yeshua the Messiah. 18 No one has seen God at any time; (there it is) the one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.

So in Exodus, we get a glimpse of God’s abode. And now here in John, we see that the Word became flesh and “tabernacled” among us. This was a form of God dwelling with mankind by way of his son. They saw his glory- the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. That too is amazing. And now we have all received from his fullness, chesed upon chesed. We know that Yeshua our Messiah has declared God to the world. These words that John has written are wonderful in their simple nature. Even here, though, we don’t understand everything. But we can generally understand what God, by the hand of John is saying. We only have glimpses of the great beyond, but we know it is there, because God says so.

I wonder how much of God’s abode Moses saw. Think about that for a minute. I expect God allowed him to see quite a bit, because of all the expectations that were on Moses. But we don’t know that either, except for the descriptions of the appearances of God in the Torah.

There is an account in Isaiah that is interesting.

Isaiah 6

1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw Adonai sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim, each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 One called to another, and said,

“Holy, holy, holy is YHVH Tzva’ot:

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then I said,

“Woe is me! For I am lost,

because I am a man of unclean lips,

and I dwell among a people of unclean lips;

for my eyes have seen the King, YHVH Tzva’ot.”

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. 7 He touched my mouth with it, and said,

“Behold, this has touched your lips;

and your iniquity has been taken away,

and your sins forgiven.”

8 And I heard the voice of Adonai saying,

“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Then I said, “Hineni. Send me!” 9 And he said, “Go, and tell this people:…

Here we see another description of the abode of God in the heavens. Isaiah saw amazing things, and was called to deliver the words of God to Israel. This was not an easy job. It seems to me that God fortified him by bringing him into this scene we just read. Note that we have an amazing heavenly scene, but most of the description is about the seraphim, and even with that we don’t know what they actually look like. We read that the train of his robe filled the temple, but that’s it. That’s the way God does it in scripture. It’s very satisfying to us to see the scene where God called Isaiah, but we still see only a glimpse of what we wish to gaze on. God is making us wait. We wait until we see it in person, unless God wants to show us something.

Paul the Apostle saw some things. In II Corinthians, after he has just described many of the things he had to go through in which he had to suffer hardship, we come to chapter 12:

II Corinthians 12

1 It is indeed not profitable for me to boast; but I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. 2 I know a man in Messiah, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body, I do not know; God knows) such a one caught up into the third heaven. 3 And I know such a man—whether in the body or outside of the body, I do not know, God knows—4 he was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not allowed to speak. 5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in my weaknesses. 6 For if I would desire to boast, I will not be foolish; for I will speak the truth. But I refrain, so that no man may think more of me than that which he sees in me or hears from me.

7 And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. 8 Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And he said to me, “My chesed is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Messiah may rest on me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Messiah’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

There is a lot here. A man… in the body, or outside the body? I believe this is Paul speaking obliquely about himself. And he doesn’t know if it was a vision, or his actual presence in the place that he saw. God knows. God was the one who showed him. The third heaven, I believe, corresponds with what Peter spoke of in II Peter 3. He’s talking about time there, or epochs; not levels of heaven. But this is where Paul was taken up to. It’s the heaven of the future.

He is not allowed to talk about it. In fact, since he was allowed to see it,

“that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively.” We don’t know exactly what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was, but we know he was tormented by it continually.

I knew I wanted to mention Paul in this discussion about the visions of the heavenly realm, but I forgot until I got there that he talks about it in the context of suffering hardships. So now I feel like we have been tied together back into the first part of this teaching. Suffering hardships. Not a nice topic, but the fact is, it’s reality. And the other fact is, that when we do suffer hardships, the power of Messiah rests on us. This is where we acquire our maturity. This is where we get more and more “divorced” from our flesh, and “married” to Messiah. It is when we become weak through our troubles that we become strong in Him. Therefore, he says, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Messiah’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I didn’t write the book. It’s the way God set it up.

Psalm 103

13 Like a father has compassion on his children,

so YHVH has compassion on those who fear him.

14 For he knows how we are made,

he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass,

as a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place remembers it no more.

17 But the chesed of YHVH is from everlasting to everlasting

on those who fear him,

his righteousness to children’s children,

18 to those who keep his covenant,

to whose who remember to obey his precepts.

His precepts, written in the book of Exodus brought me back from my sinful self; back into submission to Him. God is patient, understanding, and kind.

As I consider this topic, of seeing the heavenly realm, I realize there are a lot of sections of scripture throughout the prophets where heavenly images are mentioned. I think because they seem somewhat vague and unintelligible to me that I tend to overlook them. But they are there. I mean, there’s a flying roll in Zecharaiah 5, there are the wheels in Ezekiel and lots of other things. So I guess I’m just hitting a few high points here.

The last place we see visions of the heavenlies in the Bible is in the book of Revelation. There is a whole lot in there, but there is also a lot that I don’t claim to fully understand, so I’ll be brief here. I want to quote chapter 4:

Revelation 4

1 After these things I looked and saw a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, like a shofar speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you the things which must happen after this.” 2 Immediately I was in the Ruach, and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne 3 that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, dressed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads.

5 Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. 6 Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. (sounds like what we saw in Exodus, right?) In the middle of the throne were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind. 7 The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within. They have no rest day and night, saying,

“Kadosh, kadosh, kadosh

YHVH Elohei-Tzva’ot,

Asher hayah, v’hoveh, v’yavoh!”

(Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of Hosts,

who was, and is, and is to come.)

(Very similar to Isaiah, right? Seems like the same place to me…)

9 When the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy one,

to receive the glory, the honor, and the power,

for you created all things,

and because of your desire they existed,

and were created!”

I love this section, because it shows how blatantly obvious and necessary it is to fall down and worship Him who sits on the throne. Once we realize His greatness, it’s the only logical or reasonable response. That’s what it’s really like in Heaven. And that’s where we are called to go, to end up there.

Let’s remain faithful to Him, shall we? Let’s us endure temptation, filling our minds with the Word of God to help us overcome it. Let’s continue to love God with our whole hearts, and our neighbors as ourselves. God has called us to eternity. And God has placed a piece of eternity, and a piece of Him within each of us by way of his spirit. Let’s walk in that.

God Bless You, and

Shabbat Shalom.