18 Mishpatim: Day 3 (Tuesday)
Today's reading is Exodus 22:4 to 22:26.
This is the link to Daily Chumash with Rashi at Chabad.
The Daily Wisdom from the Lubavitcher Rebbe is titled "Fixing Previous Incarnations."
On 10 February 2026 at 7:44 AM EST, Jonathan writes:
Thank you so much, Rabbi Klayman and Rabbi Michael Hillel, for your private words of encouragement and prayer! While I don't expect you to follow me every day, I will nonetheless try to keep you both at the top of mind as I write my entries, so that this evolves as a living conversation between myself and all of those who have in some way been enlightened by the fine work of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute and its associated scholars and rabbis.
My focus in today's reading is on Exodus 22:20 (Exodus 20:19 in the Hebrew numbering system):
"Whoever sacrifices to idols must be put to death. Worship is permitted only to God alone." (Chabad translation)
Let's begin with the simple, literal level of meaning. Here is an interpretation from the Pulpit Commentary on Bible Hub:
"Sacrifice was the chief act of worship; and to sacrifice to a false god was to renounce the true God. Under a theocracy this was rebellion, and rightly punished with temporal death. In ordinary states it would be no civil offence, and would be left to the final judgment of the Almighty."
Another section of Bible Hub adds:
"The phrase indicates capital punishment, reflecting the seriousness of spiritual treason in Israel’s theocracy (Deuteronomy 13:6-11; Leviticus 24:16). Such severity protected the community from contagious idolatry (Deuteronomy 17:2-7). While civil penalties differ under New-Covenant conditions (John 18:36; Romans 13:3-4), the spiritual principle endures: unchecked idolatry leads to eternal separation from God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelation 21:8)."
"Exodus 22:20 confronts us with God’s demand for exclusive worship. Sacrificing to any deity besides the LORD is not a harmless alternative but outright rebellion carrying grave consequences. The verse calls believers to wholehearted devotion, recognizing that only the LORD deserves our sacrifices, trust, and love, and warning that idolatry ultimately destroys those who embrace it."
According to Depths of the Torah (Appendix, G20), Negative Mitzvah 5 - "Not to prostrate oneself before an idol" - is "applicable to and incumbent upon all people, both Jews and Gentiles, in every time and place." This said, the death penalty for idol worship can only be administered in the land of Israel by a Sanhedrin with civil authority.
Some might argue that we are now all in the land of Israel on this planet Earth, that God's angels are the Sanhedrin, and that every one of us succumbs to idolatry of some kind and therefore eventually faces the Angel of Death. What is the end of our idolatry, but the beginning of our immortality?
But now let's move to a deeper level of analysis. In starting this new daily Torah study discipline, could we inadvertently end up sacrificing hours of our time making an idol of Moses, and perhaps even making an idol of the Torah itself, from the perspective of the radical apophatic wisdom tradition?
Turning to AI:
1. Is it possible that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam could all themselves becomes idols that prevent their adherents from seeing the unity of the ineffable God?
2. On the other hand, there must be strong rebuttals to this radical apophasis from the cataphatic wisdom traditions in Judaism, Christianity and Islam?
3. Say more about the difference between a posture of reverential awe and a posture of intellectual mastery in relation to God and how the theologian needs to maintain a balance of both.
4. What about the tendency to make an idol of Moses, Jesus and Muhammed - is this a recognized problem in all three religions?
5. How can we make sure that our serious daily Torah study does not turn into conceptual and intellectual idol worship?
6. Right now, my habit is to turn on my desktop computer at 6 AM after a 12-hour screen fast and start my screen time with daily Torah study. How can I better ritualize this transition to sanctify my entire daytime at the computer as a portal into connecting not only with the Torah, but with the giver of the Torah?
7. From a Messianic Jewish or Christian mystical perspective, is the Giver of the Torah that I pray to encounter through my study the Messiah Yeshua, King of Kings?
8. Part of this shift for me feels like it could require me to stop viewing my workstation as my personal property alone, and start viewing it as the property of a religious order, church, or synagogue - could this be a sign of spiritual maturation into a religious vocation?
Let me stop here. My apologies for all of the Google Gemini links. I won't do that every day. It's just that today I ended up taking an AI deep dive.
"I am a guest at this desk, which belongs to the Kingdom. May I use these tools only for Your glory."
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