The King Is in the Field: Elul, Yeshua, and the Meeting Your Jewish Cousins Are Still Waiting For?

by | Aug 27, 2026 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Beloved, in this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we step into one of the most tender and spiritually rich traditions associated with the traditional Jewish month of Elul: the teaching that the King is in the field. Our Jewish cousins have long understood Elul as a season of teshuvah, introspection, shofar-blowing, and preparation leading into the Fall Feasts. But in this teaching, we ask the question that must be asked: Who is this King that is supposedly out in the field meeting His people where they live, labor, stumble, repent, and long to be restored? And the answer, saints, is not hidden from those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. The King in the field is none other than Yeshua HaMashiyach. He is the Son of David, the Right Arm of Yehovah, the Good Shepherd, the humble King of Zechariah’s prophecy, and the One who stood in the fields of first-century Galilee declaring: “Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

 

Episode Overview

 

I begin this teaching by explaining the traditional Elul picture developed in Jewish thought through Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, often called the Alter Rebbe, who framed Elul as the season when the king leaves the palace and makes himself accessible to ordinary people in the field. Chabad’s teaching on “The King in the Field” presents this as a season when the common person may approach the king without the rigid protocols of the palace, and when the king receives those who come to him with a pleasant countenance and welcoming face.

 

From there, I take you to the Song of Solomon 6:3 connection of “Ani l’Dodi v’Dodi li,” “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine” and the Rabbinic observation that the Hebrew initials of that phrase spell Elul. But we also carefully distinguish between Torah commandment and Jewish tradition. Elul is not a Torah-named month. It is a traditional Jewish designation, and although it contains beautiful imagery and rich spiritual application, it must never be elevated to the level of Yehovah’s Torah.

The heart of the discussion then traces the identity of the King through the Hebrew Scriptures. Isaiah 40 calls Zion and Jerusalem to proclaim, “Behold your God,” and presents the coming One as both the mighty Arm of Yehovah and the gentle Shepherd who gathers the lambs. Zechariah 9:9 presents Zion’s King as righteous, bringing salvation, humble, and riding upon a donkey. Deuteronomy 30:1–6 reveals the deeper promise of teshuvah: Yehovah Himself will circumcise the hearts of His people so they may love Him with all their heart and soul. And Psalm 27, the traditional Elul Psalm, draws us into David’s singular longing: to dwell in the house of Yehovah and behold His beauty.

 

All of these threads converge in Matthew 11:28–30, where Yeshua does not issue a vague, sentimental religious invitation. He speaks as the Elul King in the field. He calls the weary and burdened to come to Him, take His yoke, learn from Him, and find rest for their souls. In its first-century Jewish context, this is the language of discipleship, halachah, covenant faithfulness, and the ancient paths spoken of in Jeremiah 6:16.

 

Main Points Covered

 

·        The Elul tradition is beautiful, but it is still tradition. The month of Elul, with its themes of teshuvah, prayer, charity, shofar-blowing, and soul-searching, can provide rich spiritual application, but it must never be treated as Torah commandment.

 

·        The “King in the Field” imagery points beyond Rabbinic tradition. Rabbi Schneur Zalman’s parable gives us an accessible picture of divine mercy, but the fuller biblical witness points us to the identity of the King: Yeshua Messiah.

 

 

·        Song of Solomon 6:3 frames Elul as covenant love. “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine” becomes the traditional love declaration of the season and helps us understand teshuvah not merely as moral repair, but covenant return.

 

·        Isaiah 40 reveals the King as both mighty Arm and gentle Shepherd. The One who comes with power is also the One who gathers lambs, carries them, and gently leads His flock.

 

 

·        Zechariah 9:9 reveals the humble King. The King comes to Zion not mounted on a war horse but on a donkey, righteous and bringing salvation, accessible to the lowly and the burdened.

·        Deuteronomy 30 shows the deepest work of teshuvah. Yehovah Himself promises to circumcise the hearts of His people so they may love Him and live.

 

·        Matthew 11:28–30 is the Elul invitation in the words of Yeshua. “Come,” “take My yoke,” “learn from Me,” and “find rest” are not Greco-Roman religious slogans. They are Hebraic discipleship language spoken by the King in the field.

 

 

·        Jeremiah 6:16 stands behind Yeshua’s promise of rest. The “rest for your souls” language points back to the ancient paths, the good way, and covenant obedience.

 

·        Psalm 27 directs our attention to the face of Yehovah. David’s longing to behold the beauty of Yehovah finds its renewed covenant expression in beholding the glory of Yah in the face of Yeshua Messiah.

 

 

Key Scriptures and Cited References

 

·        Song of Solomon 6:3 — The “Ani l’Dodi v’Dodi li” declaration traditionally associated with Elul.

·        Nehemiah 6:15 — One of the biblical references where the name Elul appears in Scripture.

·        Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32 — Torah warnings not to add to or take away from Yehovah’s instructions.

·        Romans 3:1–2; Romans 11 — Shaul’s teaching on the advantage of Judah and the oracles entrusted to them.

·        Hebrews 7:14 — Yeshua’s descent from the tribe of Judah.

·        Matthew 15:3, 6; Mark 7:9, 13 — Yeshua’s rebuke of traditions that nullify the commandment of Yah.

·        Matthew 23:8 — Yeshua as the true Rabbi and Teacher of His people.

·        Isaiah 40:1–2, 3, 5, 9–11 — The consolation prophecy, the highway in the wilderness, “Behold your God,” and the shepherd-King.

·        John 10:11–16 — Yeshua’s declaration that He is the Good Shepherd.

·        John 14:9 — “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

·        Colossians 1:15 — Yeshua as the image of the invisible Elohim.

·        Luke 19:44 — Missing the time of visitation.

·        Zechariah 9:9 — Zion’s King coming righteous, bringing salvation, humble, and riding on a donkey.

·        Matthew 21:1–9; John 12:12–16 — Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9.

·        Exodus 12:1–11 — The choosing of the Passover lamb on the tenth day of the first month.

·        Deuteronomy 30:1–6 — Return, restoration, compassion, regathering, and circumcision of the heart.

·        Romans 2:28–29 — True circumcision as circumcision of the heart by the Spirit.

·        Romans 8:1–4 — The righteousness of Torah fulfilled in those who walk according to the Spirit.

·        Deuteronomy 10:16 — The call to circumcise the heart.

·        John 3 — The new birth as the renewed covenant counterpart to Torah’s circumcision-of-heart promise.

·        Matthew 11:28–30 — Yeshua’s central invitation to come, take His yoke, learn from Him, and find rest.

·        Matthew 23:4 — The heavy burdens imposed by the Pharisaic teachers.

·        Jeremiah 6:16 — The ancient paths and the promise of rest for the soul.

·        Psalm 27:1–4, 8 — The Elul Psalm: Yehovah as light and salvation; the desire to behold His beauty and seek His face.

·        Exodus 33:18–23 — Moshe’s desire to see Yehovah’s glory.

·        Job 19:25–27 — Job’s confidence that he will see Elohim.

·        Psalm 42 — The longing to appear before the face of Elohim.

·        Matthew 5:8 — The pure in heart will see Elohim.

·        Revelation 22:3–4 — Yehovah’s servants will see His face.

·        2 Corinthians 4:6 — The knowledge of the glory of Yah in the face of Yeshua Messiah.

·        Isaiah 58:13 — The Sabbath as a delight.

·        John 14:6 — Yeshua as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

·        Chabad.org, “The King in the Field” and “The Parable of the King in the Field” — Background on the Alter Rebbe’s Elul parable and its use in Chabad teaching.

·        Chabad.org, “Ani LeDodi VeDodi Li: The Month of Elul” — Rabbinic/Chassidic framing of Song of Solomon 6:3 as the acronymic and spiritual basis for Elul.

 

Memorable Lines and Pull Quotes

 

·        Beloved, the King in the field is not an abstract Rabbinic metaphor. He has a Name, and His Name is Yeshua.

·        Matthew 11 is not merely a comfort verse. It is the voice of the Elul King calling His people to come home.

·        The difference between the Pharisee’s yoke and Yeshua’s yoke is the difference between a burden and wings.

·        The ancient paths of Jeremiah 6 run straight through the Person and halachah of Master Yeshua.

·        Our Jewish cousins are still waiting for the King to come into the field, but beloved, He has already come — and He is coming again.

·        True teshuvah is not merely turning away from sin; it is returning to the Beloved and submitting to His righteous Way.

Questions for Reflection

 

·        Have I treated Yeshua merely as Savior while resisting Him as Rabbi, Teacher, and King?

·        Whose yoke am I actually carrying — the yoke of men, religious systems, and traditions, or the yoke of Master Yeshua?

·        Am I using this season to examine my soul before Yehovah, or am I simply observing another religious custom?

·        Where do I need Yah to circumcise my heart so that I may love Him more fully and walk before Him more faithfully?

·        Do I truly believe that the King is accessible, gentle, humble, and calling me to come to Him?

·        How should I bear witness to Yeshua as the King in the field before my Jewish cousins and before the world?

 

Closing Exhortation

 

So then, saints, let us receive the beauty of the Elul picture without confusing tradition for commandment. Let us glean the rich spiritual lesson while remaining anchored in Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and the testimony of our Master Yeshua. The King is indeed in the field. He is not hiding. He is not distant. He has come near. And His invitation remains: Come to Me. Take My yoke. Learn from Me. And you will find rest for your souls.

Re’eh: What Does It Mean To Truly See?

by | Aug 6, 2026

Episode Title Re’eh: What Does It Mean to Truly See? Episode Overview Beloved, this week’s Torah Reading is Parashat Re’eh, found in Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17. And the parshah opens with one simple, yet spiritually loaded admonishment from Moshe to the people of Yah:...

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Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About

by | Jul 28, 2026

Episode Title: Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About And greetings, saints of the Most High. In this special installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we take up a Jewish traditional memorial day that many in our faith communities have likely never heard taught,...

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Yeshua and Ki Teitzei: The Torah Fulfilled Through Mercy

by | Aug 21, 2026 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Episode Focus

In this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer, I revisit this week’s Torah Reading, Ki Teitzei, and bring it into conversation with the words of our Master Yeshua in the Sermon on the Mount. And what we discover, Saints, is that Moshe and Yeshua are not speaking against one another. They are not operating from competing agendas. Rather, they are two divinely appointed witnesses testifying to the same eternal truth: Torah is not merely a set of external regulations to be mechanically observed, but the revealed heart, mind, and righteous standard of Yehovah our Elohim.

In His teaching, Master does not come along and diminish Torah. He does not neutralize it. He does not abolish it. Rather, He brings it to its fullest expression by revealing its original, heart-intent. And that original heart-intent is mercy, justice, integrity, compassion, and covenant faithfulness flowing from a transformed Kingdom heart.

Opening Setting

As I record and publish this installment of TMTO, it is a sultry Erev Shabbat in the DFW, marking the 7th day of the 6th Biblical Month on Yah’s set-apart calendar. My intent is to consider Ki Teitzei not merely as an ancient legal instruction, but as a living instruction that continues to reveal Yah’s character and His expectations for His covenant people.

Main Teaching Thesis

The central point of this installment is that Ki Teitzei and the Sermon on the Mount stand together as complementary witnesses. Ki Teitzei gives practical commandments for real life among Yah’s covenant people. Yeshua, in Matthew 5, reveals the deeper Kingdom righteousness that those commandments were always pointing toward. I seek to encourage us to pursue Torah beyond rote compliance and into the inward transformation that Torah was designed to produce.

Key Themes Explored

  • Torah as Yah’s righteous instruction: Ki Teitzei addresses the practical matters of life — marriage, family, economics, justice, warfare, compassion, and community responsibility.
  • The protection of the vulnerable: The Torah reading consistently restrains human hardness and calls covenant people to reflect the compassion of the God of Avraham, Yitschaq, and Ya’achov.
  • Yeshua as the revealer of Torah’s heart: Matthew 5 is not a rejection of Moshe. It is the Master drawing out the deepest intention embedded within Yah’s commandments.
  • Righteousness beyond external compliance: Kingdom citizens are called beyond surface-level obedience into transformed-heart obedience.
  • Mercy as Kingdom strength: Yeshua’s instructions concerning retaliation, generosity, oath-making, and covenant faithfulness reveal strength that the world often misreads as weakness.

Topic Breakdown

1. Ki Teitzei as Real-Life Torah

Ki Teitzei is described as one of the most wide-ranging readings in Torah. It touches the raw, practical, and sometimes messy realities of covenant community living. This is Torah where people actually live — in households, in marriages, in economic dealings, in conflict, in justice matters, and in the responsibility each person bears toward the weaker and more exposed among them.

I aim to emphasize that Torah is not sterile religious legislation. It is Yehovah’s practical revelation for governing a redeemed people. It places restraints upon fallen humanity, protects the vulnerable, and teaches the community to mirror the compassion and justice of their Redeemer.

2. Divorce, Hardness of Heart, and Original Intent

I examine the divorce instructions found in Ki Teitzei and frame them as a concession designed to manage relational brokenness in a fallen world. Yeshua points His disciples back to creation itself — one flesh, covenant loyalty, and lifelong faithfulness — and He identifies hardness of heart as the reason Moshe permitted divorce.

This is a vital distinction. Moshe’s instruction is not being contradicted by Yeshua. Rather, Yeshua is revealing what Yah intended from the beginning. Torah regulated the fallout of human hardness. Messiah calls His taught ones beyond that hardness and back toward covenant wholeness.

3. Vows, Oaths, and Kingdom Integrity

Torah commands that vows made unto Yehovah be honored. Yeshua goes deeper still, telling His disciples not to swear at all, but to let their yes be yes and their no be no. The point is not that Torah’s commandment was flawed. The point is that Kingdom integrity should be so consistent, so clean, and so reliable that oath-making becomes unnecessary.

The Master is pressing His people toward an inner truthfulness that requires no religious reinforcement. In the Kingdom economy, one’s word must be trustworthy because one’s heart has been governed by Yah’s Spirit and aligned with His righteous standard.

4. Retaliation, Proportional Justice, and Radical Mercy

We then turn to proportional justice — eye for eye and tooth for tooth — and I explain that such instructions were intended to limit vengeance and restrain escalation. Torah set boundaries around retaliation in order to protect the weak and preserve justice within the covenant community.

Yeshua takes that justice principle and presses it into the realm of radical mercy. Instead of personal vengeance, He teaches nonresistance. Instead of clinging to one’s rights, He calls His us to give, lend, walk the extra mile, and operate from a posture of Kingdom generosity. This is not weakness, beloved. This is the strength of a people whose identity rests in Yehovah rather than in self-defense and retaliation.

5. Torah Fulfillment, Not Torah Abolition

At the heart of this teaching is Yeshua’s own declaration that He did not come to abolish Torah, but to fulfill it. I stress that fulfillment does not mean cancellation. Fulfillment means bringing Yah’s instruction to its intended fullness, showing what Torah looks like when embodied by a people remade from the inside out.

Torah shows us what righteousness looks like. Yeshua shows us how Yah’s righteousness is to be lived through mercy, humility, integrity, and sacrificial love. This is Kingdom righteousness — not a lifeless religiosity, but a Spirit-shaped life that bears witness to the character of the Most High.

Key Takeaways

  • Ki Teitzei reveals Yah’s concern for justice, compassion, covenant order, and the protection of the vulnerable.
  • Yeshua does not oppose Moshe; He reveals the deepest intention and Kingdom fullness of Torah.
  • Divorce legislation in Torah addresses human brokenness, while Yeshua points disciples back to Yah’s creation intent.
  • Oaths become unnecessary where Kingdom integrity governs the heart and speech of Yah’s people.
  • Proportional justice restrains vengeance, but Yeshua calls His disciples into mercy that overcomes retaliation.
  • Torah fulfillment is not Torah abolition. It is Torah brought to its fullest righteous expression in and through Messiah.
  • The righteousness required of Kingdom citizens must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees because it must flow from a transformed heart.

Cited References

  • Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19 — Torah Reading Ki Teitzei, covering marriage, family order, justice, compassion, economic life, social responsibility, and covenant community conduct.
  • Deuteronomy 24:1–4 — Moshe’s instruction concerning divorce and the certificate of divorce.
  • Matthew 19:8 — Yeshua explains that Moshe permitted divorce because of hardness of heart, while affirming that this was not Yah’s intent from the beginning.
  • Deuteronomy 23:21–23 — Torah instruction regarding vows made unto Yehovah and the obligation to perform what one has promised.
  • Matthew 5:33–37 — Yeshua teaches His disciples not to swear at all, but to let their yes be yes and their no be no.
  • Deuteronomy 19:21 — The principle of proportional justice: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
  • Matthew 5:38–42 — Yeshua teaches nonretaliation, generosity, going the extra mile, and giving to the one who asks.
  • Matthew 5:17 — Yeshua declares that He did not come to abolish Torah or the Prophets, but to fulfill.
  • Matthew 5:20 — Yeshua warns that unless one’s righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, one shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Suggested Reflection

As we consider Ki Teitzei this Shabbat, we must ask ourselves whether we are merely managing external obedience or whether Yah, by His Spirit/His Ruach haKodesh, is forming within us the heart of Kingdom citizenship. Are we simply avoiding transgression, or are we becoming a people marked by mercy, integrity, compassion, humility, and sacrificial love? That, beloved, is where Yeshua takes the Torah conversation. He takes us from commandment on the page to righteousness written upon the heart.

Closing Exhortation

May this teaching move each of us beyond rote commandment-keeping and into the righteousness that reflects the heart of our Master. May we hear Moshe rightly. May we follow Yeshua faithfully. And may our lives bear witness to the Torah fulfilled through mercy, justice, and a transformed heart aligned with the Kingdom of Yehovah. Shabbat shalom and shavu’tov, fellow saints in training.

Re’eh: What Does It Mean To Truly See?

by | Aug 6, 2026

Episode Title Re’eh: What Does It Mean to Truly See? Episode Overview Beloved, this week’s Torah Reading is Parashat Re’eh, found in Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17. And the parshah opens with one simple, yet spiritually loaded admonishment from Moshe to the people of Yah:...

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Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About

by | Jul 28, 2026

Episode Title: Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About And greetings, saints of the Most High. In this special installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we take up a Jewish traditional memorial day that many in our faith communities have likely never heard taught,...

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What the Greek Mindset Stole from Our Bible Reading and How We Get It Back

by | Aug 20, 2026 | Blog, Podcasts

What the Greek Mindset Stole from Our Bible Reading and How We Get It Back

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Beloved, this teaching is about recovering the lens we were never supposed to lose. Most of us were discipled, trained, and conditioned to read a Hebrew Bible through a Greek and Hellenistic framework, and many of us never realized that this inherited lens was shaping what we saw, what we missed, and what we assumed Yehovah’s Word was saying to us.

In this installment of TMTO, we examine what the Greek mindset has quietly stolen from our Bible reading and what we begin to recover when we return to the Hebraic mindset of Scripture: Torah as covenant instruction, Yeshua as the Torah-observant Jewish Messiah, the Bible as one continuous covenant story, and faith as embodied covenant loyalty rather than mere mental agreement.

Episode Focus

I challenge the reader and listener to ask a foundational question: Have we been reading Scripture through the covenantal worldview of the Hebrew writers, or through the abstract, systematic, and philosophical categories of the Greek world?

The point is not to demonize Greek philosophy, nor to suggest that every contribution from the Greek world is evil. Rather, the point is this: when Greek abstraction becomes the controlling interpretive lens for a Hebrew covenant text, the reader often walks away with a document the biblical writers themselves would not recognize.

Key Themes Discussed

  1. The Greek mindset obscured the concreteness of Torah. Torah was never given as an abstract religious ideal. It was given as covenant instruction to be remembered, guarded, walked out, and embodied by Yehovah’s chosen and elect people.
  2. The Greek mindset obscured the Hebraic reality of Yeshua. Yeshua was not a detached philosophical principle. He was and remains the Jewish Messiah, a first-century Torah-observant rabbi, the Son sent in the fullness of time, and the embodiment of everything Yisra’el was called to be.
  3. The Greek mindset fractured the narrative unity of Scripture. The Tanakh and the Brit HaDashah are not two competing religious testaments. They are one covenantal story, one progressive revelation, one crimson thread running from creation, through Avraham, Sinai, the prophets, Messiah, and the restoration of all things.
  4. The Greek mindset muted the voice of the Hebrew text. Words such as emunah, moedim, shamar, and zakor are not merely religious vocabulary terms. They are covenant-action words that call Yehovah’s people into embodied faithfulness.

Why This Matters

If we continue reading the Bible through a Greco-Roman framework, then we will continue asking the wrong questions of the text. We will ask whether Torah still applies to us instead of asking how Yehovah desires His covenant people to walk in His ways. We will ask whether the Feasts have been replaced instead of asking how the appointed times continue to rehearse Yehovah’s redemptive calendar. We will ask whether faith means simply believing the right doctrines instead of asking whether our lives reflect covenant faithfulness before the Great I AM.

And beloved, this is where the rubber meets the road. A Hebraic reading of Scripture does not leave us with information only. It confronts us with covenant responsibility. It calls us to remember, guard, observe, walk, repent, return, obey, and bear fruit worthy of the Kingdom.

Scripture References Cited

  • Leviticus 23:2 — Yehovah identifies the Feasts as His appointed times, His moedim, holy convocations His people are to proclaim.
  • Deuteronomy 6:4–9 — The Shema calls covenant Yisra’el to love Yehovah with the whole being and to diligently teach His words in lived, daily faithfulness.
  • Numbers 11:12 — The imagery of a nursing guardian helps illuminate the embodied reliability and steadiness tied to the Hebrew concept of emunah.
  • Habakkuk 2:4 — The righteous one lives by emunah, covenant faithfulness before Yehovah.
  • Matthew 5:17–19 — Yeshua declares He did not come to abolish Torah or the Prophets, but to fulfill them.
  • Luke 4:16 — Yeshua’s custom was to enter the synagogue on Shabbat, demonstrating His Torah-shaped life and practice.
  • Luke 22:15 — Yeshua eagerly desired to eat the Passover with His disciples, showing His participation in the appointed times of Yehovah.
  • John 10:22–23 — Yeshua is present in the Temple courts during the Feast of Dedication.
  • Romans 1:17 — Paul cites the righteous living by faith, drawing from Habakkuk’s covenantal framework.
  • Romans 11:17–21 — Paul describes Gentile believers as wild olive branches grafted into the cultivated olive tree and warns against arrogance toward the natural branches.
  • Galatians 3:11 — Paul again cites the righteous living by faith, reinforcing the continuity of the apostolic witness with the Tanakh.
  • Galatians 4:4–5 — Yeshua is sent in the fullness of time, born under Torah, to redeem those under Torah.
  • Ephesians 1:9–10 — Yehovah’s revealed purpose is to bring all things together in Messiah.
  • Hebrews 10:38 — The writer of Hebrews also draws from Habakkuk, presenting enduring faithful living as central to covenant perseverance.

Referenced Resource

I cite Two Minds at the Same Text by Daniel Schwartz in this teaching as a helpful scholarly reference for considering the contrast between Greek and Hebraic ways of engaging the biblical text.

Listener Takeaways

  • Do not treat Torah as an obsolete religious artifact. Receive it as covenant instruction from Yehovah.
  • Do not detach Yeshua from His Jewish, Torah-observant, covenantal context.
  • Do not read the Brit HaDashah as though it replaces the Tanakh. Read it as the continuation and fulfillment of Yehovah’s covenant story.
  • Do not reduce faith to mental agreement. Recover emunah as faithful embodied loyalty.
  • Do not treat the Feasts of Yehovah as irrelevant shadows. Study them as His appointed times, rehearsals, and holy convocations.

Reflection Questions

  1. What inherited assumptions have shaped the way I read Torah, Yeshua, Paul, and the apostolic writings?
  2. Where have I been tempted to spiritualize commandments that Yehovah gave as concrete covenant instructions?
  3. How might my understanding of faith change if I recover emunah as faithfulness rather than mere belief?
  4. What would it look like for me and my household to become serious students of the moedim of Yehovah?
  5. Am I reading the Bible as one continuous covenant story, or as two disconnected religious systems?

Closing Exhortation

Beloved, the goal is not to sound more Hebrew. The goal is not to win theological arguments. The goal is to recover the biblical worldview of the covenant people who received, guarded, proclaimed, and lived the Word of Yehovah. When we recover that lens, Scripture begins to come alive in ways many of us have been missing for years.

So, what do you say we lay down the foreign lens, pick up the Hebraic one, and return to reading the Bible the way the covenant people of Scripture understood it?

Parashat Ki Teitzei: Cursed on a Tree and the Covenant of Peace: Called to War, Comforted by God, and Drawn Near Through Messiah

by | Aug 19, 2026 | Blog, Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Episode Overview

Beloved, in this installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we take up Parashat Ki Teitzei, one of the most commandment-rich portions in the entire annual Torah reading cycle. At first glance, Ki Teitzei may appear to be little more than a long collection of ancient civil, criminal, family, and warfare statutes. But for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, this parsha contains Gospel-rich treasures embedded right in the body of Yah’s loving instructions in righteousness.

This teaching focuses on three powerful threads: the Torah of the timely disposition of criminal remains in Deuteronomy 21:22–23 and how it points directly to Golgotha; the Torah of the captive woman in Deuteronomy 21:10–14 and how it foreshadows the nations being drawn near through Messiah; and Isaiah 54, the Haftarah of consolation that proclaims Yah’s unshakable covenant of peace.

What This Teaching Is About

In this episode, I push back against the notion that Deuteronomy is dry, archaic, or irrelevant to us in the 21st-century West. Ki Teitzei contains 74 of the commandments traditionally counted among the 613 mitzvot, and yet within all of that legal instruction, Yah has embedded realities that speak directly to redemption, covenant identity, Messiah’s work, and the hope of restoration.

The focus is not simply on learning Torah facts. The focus is on recognizing how Torah, when read through the witness of the Spirit and the apostolic writings, points us to the redemptive ministry of Yehoshua HaMashiyach and calls us into greater covenant faithfulness.

Main Teaching Threads

Thread 1: The Torah of Timely Disposition of Criminal Remains

We begin with Deuteronomy 21:22–23, where Torah instructs that the body of one executed and hung on a tree must not remain there overnight, because the one hanged is accursed of Elohim. This was not Torah prescribing hanging as the method of execution. Rather, the hanging of the executed body functioned as a public display that the sentence had been carried out and that sin had brought forth death and shame.

Beloved, this matters because the Apostle Paul reaches back to this very mitzvah in Galatians 3:13 to explain what happened to our Master on the execution stake. Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah by becoming a curse for us. He was not cursed because of His own rebellion. He was cursed because of ours. He took upon Himself the curse that our disobedience deserved so that we might become the righteousness of Elohim in Him.

The cross, beloved, was not a divine afterthought. It was not some tragedy that the Father retrofitted into His redemptive plan after the fact. Torah had already embedded the legal framework of Messiah’s atoning work some 1,500 years before Golgotha. This is not replacement theology. This is fulfillment theology at its greatest potential.

Thread 2: The Torah of the Captive Woman

We then return to the opening verses of the parsha, Deuteronomy 21:10–14, the Torah of the beautiful captive, or yefat toar. Israel is at war, and an Israelite soldier sees a woman among the captives whom he desires to take as his wife. Torah does not permit him to simply seize her and treat her as a possession. She must be brought into his house, her old identity markers are removed, and she is given a full month to mourn the loss of her father, mother, former life, and former identity.

From a deeper, midrashic reading perspective, this captive woman foreshadows the nations being brought near unto Yah through Messiah. Those of us who were once outside the covenant, strangers to the promises, and alienated from the citizenship of Israel have now been drawn near by the blood of Messiah. But that drawing near requires the stripping away of the old identity, the old garments, the old means of survival, and the old manner of life.

This is not a surface-level adoption of religious culture. This is covenant transformation. It is a genuine surrender of the former life and a genuine coming into the household of Elohim through Yehoshua Messiah.

Thread 3: The God Who Sings Over His Scattered Ones

The third thread brings us to Isaiah 54, the Haftarah reading for Ki Teitzei and the fifth reading in the traditional Jewish season known as the Seven Weeks of Consolation, or Shiva D’Nechemta. After the grief of Tisha B’Av, Jewish tradition walks through seven weeks of prophetic comfort leading toward Yom Teruah and the Fall Feasts.

Isaiah 54 opens with Yah commanding the barren one to sing. Not because her loss was imaginary. Not because her suffering was insignificant. But because what Yah is about to do in restoration is larger than what was lost in judgment. The deserted one is told to enlarge her tent, lengthen her cords, and strengthen her stakes because Yah is preparing to multiply her children and restore her cities.

And then comes the anchor of this Haftarah: “For though the mountains be removed and the hills be shaken, My loving-commitment is not removed from you, nor is My covenant of peace shaken.” This is Brit Shalom, the covenant of peace. The same covenant language seen with Phinehas in Numbers 25 and echoed in Ezekiel’s restoration promises stands as Yah’s declaration that His covenant love does not depart from His people.

Key Takeaways

  • Ki Teitzei is not dry legal material. It contains Gospel-rich spiritual treasures for those willing to slow down and receive what Yah has embedded in His Torah.
  • Deuteronomy 21:22–23 provides the Torah framework Paul uses in Galatians 3:13 to explain Messiah’s redemptive work on the execution stake.
  • Yeshua became a curse for us, not because of His own sin, but because He willingly took upon Himself the curse our rebellion deserved.
  • The Torah of the captive woman reveals Yah’s mercy toward the vulnerable and prophetically foreshadows the nations being brought near through Messiah.
  • Those who come into covenant must surrender the old identity, old garments, old way of fighting, and old manner of life.
  • Isaiah 54 speaks comfort to the barren, scattered, and forsaken one, calling her to sing and enlarge her tent in anticipation of Yah’s restoration.
  • Yah’s Brit Shalom, His covenant of peace, is not shaken even when the mountains and hills of our lives appear to move.
  • Elul may be Jewish tradition, not Torah, but it can still offer meaningful spiritual reflection as we approach Yom Teruah and the Fall Feasts with discernment.

Episode Flow

  1. Opening reflection on how the Gospel of the Kingdom is often hidden within Torah passages.
  2. Introduction to Parashat Ki Teitzei and its place in the annual Torah reading cycle.
  3. Context for the sixth biblical month, Elul, and the approach of Yom Teruah.
  4. Overview of Ki Teitzei as the Torah portion containing 74 traditionally counted commandments.
  5. Thread 1: Deuteronomy 21:22–23 and the curse of the one hanged on a tree.
  6. Paul’s use of Deuteronomy 21:23 in Galatians 3:13 to explain Messiah’s redemptive work.
  7. Thread 2: Deuteronomy 21:10–14 and the Torah of the captive woman.
  8. Messianic reflection on the nations being drawn near into the commonwealth of Israel.
  9. Thread 3: Isaiah 54 and the prophetic comfort of Yah’s covenant of peace.
  10. Closing exhortation to receive the season with discernment, humility, and covenant faithfulness.

Memorable Lines and Themes

  • Torah did not hide the work of Messiah from us; Torah pointed to it all along.
  • The cross was not a divine afterthought; it was embedded in the legal framework of Torah.
  • This is not replacement theology. This is fulfillment theology at its greatest potential.
  • The captive woman reveals that Yah’s mercy reaches even to the vulnerable outsider.
  • The nations are brought near, but the old identity must be stripped away.
  • Yah commands the barren one to sing, not because the loss was not real, but because the restoration will be greater.
  • Even if the mountains move, Yah’s covenant of peace does not move.

Primary Scriptures Cited

  • Deuteronomy/Devarim 21:10–14 — The Torah of the captive woman.
  • Deuteronomy/Devarim 21:22–23 — The one hanged on a tree is accursed of Elohim and must be buried the same day.
  • Deuteronomy/Devarim 23:14 — Yehovah walks in the midst of the camp.
  • Deuteronomy/Devarim 25:17–19 — The command to remember what Amalek did.
  • Numbers/Bemidbar 25:10–15 — Yah’s covenant of peace with Phinehas.
  • Isaiah/Yeshayahu 54:1–10 — The barren one is commanded to sing; Yah’s covenant of peace will not be shaken.
  • Isaiah/Yeshayahu 54:10 — Yah’s loving-commitment and covenant of peace will not depart.
  • Isaiah/Yeshayahu 63:7 — Yah’s steadfast covenant love and compassion.
  • Ezekiel/Yechezqel 34 — Restoration language connected to Yah’s covenant care for His people.
  • Ezekiel/Yechezqel 37 — Restoration and covenant of peace language.
  • Romans 3:2 — Israel entrusted with the oracles of Yah.
  • Galatians 3:13 — Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah by becoming a curse for us.
  • Ephesians 2:11–19 — Gentiles once far off are brought near by the blood of Messiah.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 — Messiah made sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
  • Hebrews 4:16 — Boldly approaching the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find help.
  • Philippians 2:12 — Working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Additional Sources Cited

  • The Scriptures, 3rd edition. Northriding: Institute for Scripture Research, 2009. Cited for Deuteronomy 21:22–23, Galatians 3:13, and Isaiah 54:1–10.
  • Hall Harris III et al., eds. The Lexham English Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012. Cited for Ephesians 2:11–19.
  • Tim Hegg, Studies in the Torah: Deuteronomy. TorahResource. Referenced regarding the ancient understanding of suspended remains, the curse of the one hanged on a tree, and Messiah becoming a curse for us.

Terms and Concepts Mentioned

  • Ki Teitzei — “When you go out,” the Torah portion covering Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19.
  • Haftarah — The prophetic reading paired with the Torah portion.
  • Shiva D’Nechemta — The Seven Weeks of Consolation between Tisha B’Av and Yom Teruah.
  • Elul — The sixth biblical month, traditionally associated in Judaism with repentance, return, and preparation for the Fall Feasts.
  • Yom Teruah — The Feast of Trumpets.
  • Yom HaKippurim — The Day of Atonement.
  • Qillat Elohim — One who is cursed of Elohim.
  • Yefat Toar — The beautiful captive woman of Deuteronomy 21:10–14.
  • Brit Shalom — Covenant of peace.
  • Chesed — Yah’s steadfast covenant love and loving-commitment.
  • Commonwealth of Israel — The covenant citizenship language Paul uses in Ephesians 2.
  • Stavros — Execution stake or staff.
  • Golgotha — The place of Messiah’s crucifixion.

Reflection Questions

  1. Have I been reading Torah merely as ancient law, or have I been asking Yah to show me Messiah and Kingdom truth within it?
  2. What does it mean for me personally that Messiah became a curse for me?
  3. What parts of my old identity, old garments, and old ways of surviving still need to be surrendered to Yah?
  4. Where is Abba calling me to enlarge my tent in faith before the visible fulfillment arrives?
  5. Am I approaching this traditional season before the Fall Feasts with discernment, humility, and covenant faithfulness?

Closing Encouragement

Beloved, may this teaching help you see that Ki Teitzei is not simply a lengthy list of statutes, but a Spirit-filled witness to Messiah, covenant transformation, and Yah’s abiding compassion. May the truth of Messiah becoming a curse for us deepen your gratitude. May the Torah of the captive woman remind you of what it means to be drawn near and transformed. And may Isaiah’s promise of Abba’s covenant of peace be your solid foundation as we move toward Yom Teruah and the Fall Feasts of Yehovah.

Re’eh: What Does It Mean To Truly See?

by | Aug 6, 2026

Episode Title Re’eh: What Does It Mean to Truly See? Episode Overview Beloved, this week’s Torah Reading is Parashat Re’eh, found in Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17. And the parshah opens with one simple, yet spiritually loaded admonishment from Moshe to the people of Yah:...

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Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About

by | Jul 28, 2026

Episode Title: Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About And greetings, saints of the Most High. In this special installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we take up a Jewish traditional memorial day that many in our faith communities have likely never heard taught,...

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UFOs, UAPs, and the Unseen Realm: A Messianic Response to a World Looking Up

by | Aug 12, 2026 | Podcasts

by Rod Thomas | The Messianic Torah Observer

Shalom and greetings, beloved Saints of the Most High. In this installment of the Messianic Torah Observer, we stepped into a subject that many in our Faith community either avoid altogether, casually dismiss, or hand over to the secular world to define for us: UFOs, UAPs, and what Scripture reveals concerning the unseen realm.

This discussion was not entered into for sensational purposes, nor was it offered as entertainment. Rather, it was approached as a necessary biblical and Messianic response to a confused world that is increasingly looking up and asking questions that governments, secular scientists, journalists, and religious institutions are struggling to answer. And beloved, if Yah’s covenant people remain silent when the world is asking spiritual questions, then the Kingdom of Darkness will gladly fill that vacuum with deception, confusion, and counterfeit narratives.

The central burden of this teaching is simple: the modern UFO/UAP phenomenon must not be interpreted through a secular, science-fiction, or alien-visitation worldview. It must be interpreted through the grid of Scripture, Torah, the prophets, the writings, the apostolic record, and our Master Yeshua’s warnings concerning deception, signs, wonders, and the spiritual conflict that marks this present age.

Episode Theme

The heavens are not empty space. The heavens are Yah’s created realm, ordered under His authority, populated with spiritual beings, and presently involved in a conflict that spills over into the affairs of humanity. Therefore, when the world speaks of “non-human intelligence,” the people of Yah must bring to the table the biblical categories of malakim, watchers, sons of God, principalities, powers, cherubim, seraphim, and the adversary and his hosts.

Key Takeaways

  1. Silence is not always spiritual maturity. There are times when silence is wisdom, especially when folks only want to argue, speculate, or engage in idle talk. But when genuine questions arise and we have a biblical answer, we are called to be ready to give that answer with meekness and reverence.
  2. The world is asking spiritual questions with secular vocabulary. Governments and pilots may use the term “non-human intelligence,” but Scripture has already given us categories for non-human beings that are neither extraterrestrial nor imaginary. They are spiritual, interdimensional, and subject to Yehovah’s sovereign authority.
  3. The alien narrative replaces biblical cosmology. The modern world has largely rejected the unseen realm, and because it has no spiritual language for what it is encountering, it defaults to theories of extraterrestrial civilizations, ancient aliens, and interplanetary visitors. But the Holy Writ does not present such a worldview.
  4. Scripture reveals a populated and contested heavenly realm. From Job, Daniel, the Psalms, the prophets, the apostolic writings, and Revelation, we see that the heavens are ordered, inhabited, and involved in spiritual conflict. The unseen realm is not myth. It is part of Yah’s created order.
  5. Deception is a major end-time strategy. Yeshua warned that false messiahs and false prophets would produce great signs and wonders if possible to deceive even the elect. Paul likewise wrote of powerful signs and lying wonders, while John described global deception connected to supernatural manifestations.
  6. Torah, Messiah, and the Ruach anchor us. We are not left to chase disclosure narratives, government admissions, or secular speculation. Torah grounds us in Yah’s order. Messiah centers us in the Kingdom. And the Ruach HaKodesh equips us with discernment.

Scriptural and Cited References

Matthew 5:13–14 — Yah’s people are called by Master Yeshua to be salt and light in the world, which frames why believers cannot abandon difficult cultural and spiritual questions to secular interpreters.

Got Questions Ministries, Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered — Cited in connection with the call for believers to be peacemakers, offer compassionate ministry, manifest Yehovah’s love, and point the nations to Yehovah through Yeshua HaMashiyach.

1 Peter/Kefa 3:15 — The apostolic charge to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts and always be ready to give an answer for the hope within us, with meekness and fear.

Genesis 1 — Establishes the heavens as part of Yah’s created order, providing the foundational structure for biblical cosmology.

Dr. Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm — Referenced for the biblical category of the “unseen realm” and the scriptural reality of non-human intelligences operating within Yah’s created order.

Job 38 — Yah’s questioning of Job reveals that the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy at the laying of earth’s foundation.

Daniel 10:13–20 — Provides a glimpse into conflict in the unseen realm, where spiritual princes resist Yah’s messengers.

Revelation 12:7–9 — Describes war in heaven, the dragon and his angels, and their being cast down to the earth.

Ephesians 6:11–12 — Identifies the believer’s struggle as being against rulers, authorities, world rulers of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Psalm 82 — Presents Yehovah standing in the divine assembly and judging among the elohim, showing order and accountability in the unseen realm.

Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7 — Shows heavenly court proceedings and the adversary appearing among the sons of God.

1 Kings 22:19 — Micaiah’s vision of Yahweh seated on His throne with the host of heaven standing beside Him.

Books of Jubilees and 1 Enoch — Referenced regarding traditions about malakim/watchers who abandoned their appointed station and were associated with the Nephilim narrative.

Daniel 4:13–23 — Mentions watchers and holy ones involved in observing and acting within Yah’s creation.

Genesis 6:2–4 — References the sons of God, the daughters of men, and the Nephilim, a key passage for discussing boundary-crossing spiritual rebellion.

Genesis 18–19 — Shows malakim appearing in physical form, eating, speaking, and interacting with Avraham and Lot.

Luke 1 — Records Gabriel’s physical appearance to Miriam concerning the birth of Yeshua.

Acts 12 — Records an angel physically freeing Peter from prison.

2 Thessalonians 2:9 — Warns of powerful signs and lying wonders associated with end-time deception.

Revelation 13:13 — Describes the false prophet performing signs, including calling fire down from heaven.

Matthew 24:24 — Master Yeshua warns of false messiahs and false prophets who will produce great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Final Exhortation

Beloved, the heavens declare the glory of Yah. They do not declare the coming of alien saviors, interplanetary benefactors, or enlightened cosmic guides. The only Savior, Redeemer, King, and coming Judge is Yeshua HaMashiyach. So let us not be moved by fear, curiosity, speculation, or the world’s latest narrative. Let us be anchored in Torah, centered in Messiah, filled with the Ruach, and prepared to give an answer to every man that asks us for the reason of the hope that is in us. Amein and amein.

Re’eh: What Does It Mean To Truly See?

by | Aug 6, 2026

Episode Title Re’eh: What Does It Mean to Truly See? Episode Overview Beloved, this week’s Torah Reading is Parashat Re’eh, found in Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17. And the parshah opens with one simple, yet spiritually loaded admonishment from Moshe to the people of Yah:...

read more

Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About

by | Jul 28, 2026

Episode Title: Tu B’Av: The Day Nobody Told You About And greetings, saints of the Most High. In this special installment of The Messianic Torah Observer, we take up a Jewish traditional memorial day that many in our faith communities have likely never heard taught,...

read more