Ovadyah Ben Yisrael
From This Week's Torah Portion:
“And I shall set your border from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River, for I shall give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. Do not make a covenant with them nor with their mighty ones. Let them not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me when you serve their mighty ones, when it becomes a snare to you.”
Here's the Sabbath bulletin for this coming Shabbat: https://firstfruits.cc/blog/20....24/02/08/sabbath-bul
Happy (almost) prep day central USA! Today was an overwhelming busy day for me. I look forward to being productive tomorrow in prep for shabbat. I know everyone has earned their day of rest this week. Welcome it with great joy, for it will also be the first day of the 12th month! Where does the time go? What an amazing thing it must be to experience time all at once! Yah is amazing! Shalom!
For every breach of trust, whether it is for an ox, for a donkey, for a sheep, for a cloak, or for any kind of lost thing, of which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before God. The one whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
#exodus 22:9 #mishpatim
If someone falsely accuses someone else of stealing, then the false accuser must be treated as a thief.
God's rule is that a false accuser should always be given the same punishment he intended for his victim. We could avoid a lot of injustice if we enforced that rule in our own civil courts.
If fire breaks out and catches in thorns so that the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, he who started the fire shall make full restitution.
#exodus 22:6 #mishpatim
The key in dealing with accidental damages is restitution. The idea is not to punish someone for making a mistake, but to make it right. Punitive damages for negligence should be strictly limited regardless of the resources of the perpetrator.
A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.
Proverbs 19:28 ESV
If someone mocks God's standards of justice, you can't trust him in anything else either. He has already rejected the only solid, objective standard of morality that exists, so you can never even know how he defines truth and honesty. He can explain it to you all day long and you still can't know because his very life is a lie.
Laziness brings on deep sleep, and an idle soul will starve.
#proverbs 19:15 TLV
Laziness hypnotizes a person and makes him blind to his own needs. Because he failed to recognize his needs beforehand, he won't have what he needs to meet them when the time comes.